DEprogramming Starter Kit

Moving

2007-01-22T11:41:00.000-05:00

Everything must go!
Not really...I may come here to rant politically, virtually screaming my frustration with politics into the net. However, I'm wanting to get away from that and move forward.
I've started a new blog to help hone my multimedia and writing skills, hopefully parlaying it into something that might provide a bit of scratch. I've spent too much time giving too much credence to various political cretins arguments, that I find pinned down.
With that, please drop by my new blog Complex 39. I hope to fill it with commentary, photography, interviews, etc.. The work I hope will reflect a Ballardian/RAW/Post-Industrial world.
A nod to Adams via Charlie...Thanks for All the Fish....

Complex 39 at http://complex-39.blogspot.com/

Lost a friend today

2007-01-18T21:25:00.000-05:00

He was 43. Only had trouble in the past 9 months and no one saw this coming.
Nice guy. Great upright base player. We weren't especially close, but I had known him for about 10 years. Always a pleasure to have around. Thanks for the cigars...

From his brother Scott:

Hello

Jon **** ******* passed away the morning of Wednesday January 17th at home in his apartment in ******** at around 8:15 AM. It appears he died of complications from a sudden seizure. He probably was unconscious before he even knew what was going on, and passed away quickly without suffering.

I'd not been able to reach him over the course of the afternoon Wednesday, and when I called his place of work, he'd not come in and they'd not been able to reach him. On hearing this I felt worried and headed over immediately to his place and let myself in. I found him already gone.

Police, paramedics and others of that sort came over and were professional and warm. Their appraisal of what had happened was the same as mine. He'd had serious seizures of an epileptic grand mal type starting 9 months ago, and even though the meds he'd been taking for that had seemed to be helping, there's just no way to completely protect against this kind of circumstance.

It had been his 43rd birthday this last weekend, and he and I had a great weekend up in New Hampshire visiting with our parents. He'd been in excellent spirits, had a notable glow of well being and happiness. We had great family time together. Tuesday night he'd had a filmed interview and rehearsal with Lenny and the Piss Poor Boys, and they say he'd been in fine form, happy and laughing and doing some of what he loved best.

If it just has to happen that someone has to go, this is as good as it gets. Top of the game, enjoying life, and no warning or suffering.

But I miss him so bad. He was an amazing person, and my only brother. I loved him so much. Still do.

RIP Jon

Kryptonite

2007-01-15T09:04:00.000-05:00

http://kittenwar.com/

You just have to see it. Prepare to waste time...
It might even get a warm, fuzzy reaction from a certain Englishman I know.
Kate and I have taken the strategy of picking the "less cute" cat, just to buck the system.

VS.

Brain...Hurts...

2007-01-13T08:57:00.000-05:00

but it's that sort of good hurt that comes with exercise. It doesn't get much better for me than R.A. Wilson commenting on the work of physicist John Bell and his theorem.

Reality Ain't What It Used To Be: Thirty-five years after Bell's Theorem
by Robert Anton Wilson Published November 1, 1999 in Whoa!

Bell's Theorem, a mathematical demonstration by physicist John Stewart Bell published in 1964, has become more popular than Tarot cards with New Agers, who think they understand it but generally don't. Meanwhile it remains controversial with physicists, some of whom think they understand it, while others frankly admit they find it as perplexing as a chimpanzee in a Beethoven string quartet. (More...)

Poof! And he was gone....

2007-01-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

Robert Anton Wilson, "Occupation: Mind Fucker"
January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007

RAW Essence
January 11, 2007

Robert Anton Wilson Defies Medical Experts and leaves his body @4:50 AM on binary date 01/11.

All Hail Eris!

On behalf of his children and those who cared for him, deepest love and gratitude for the tremendous support and lovingness bestowed upon us.

(that's it from Bob's bedside at his fnord by the sea)

RAW Memorial February 07
date to be announced

From Wikipedia (attention Charlie)

RAW described himself as a "Model Agnostic" which he says "consists of never regarding any model or map of the universe with total 100% belief or total 100% denial. Following Korzybski, I put things in probabilities, not absolutes... My only originality lies in applying this zetetic attitude outside the hardest of the hard sciences, physics, to softer sciences and then to non-sciences like politics, ideology, jury verdicts and, of course, conspiracy theory." More simply, he claims "not to believe anything," since "belief is the death of thought."

Some great quotes from Old Bob:

“If you think you know what the hell is going on, you're probably full of shit.”
“Belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence.”
“The Bible tells us to be like God, and then on page after page it describes God as a mass murderer. This may be the single most important key to the political behavior of Western Civilization.”
“. . . there are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind. This is one such period, if you haven't noticed already.”
“The shock of discovering that most of the power in the world is held by ignorant and greedy people can really bum you out at first; but after you've lived with it a few decades, it becomes, like cancer and other plagues, just another problem that we will solve eventually if we keep working at it.”
“The most thoroughly and relentlessly Damned, banned, excluded, condemned, forbidden, ostracized, ignore, suppressed, repressed, robbed, brutalized and defamed of all Damned Things is the individual human being. The social engineers, statistician, psychologist, sociologists, market researchers, landlords, bureaucrats, captains of industry, bankers, governors, commissars, kings and presidents are perpetually forcing this Damned Thing into carefully prepared blueprints and perpetually irritated that the Damned Thing will not fit into the slot assigned it. The theologians call it a sinner and try to reform it. The governor calls it a criminal and tries to punish it. the psychologist calls it a neurotic and tries to cure it. Still, the Damned Thing will not fit into their slots.”
“I don't believe anything I write or say. I regard belief as a form of brain damage, the death of intelligence, the fracture of creativity, the atrophy of imagination. I have opinions but no Belief System (B.S.)”
“Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt. . . . Idealists regarded everybody equally corrupt, except themselves.”

I'll see you on the flip-side, Bob.

Ungood

2007-01-11T08:31:00.000-05:00

Now that they've had their practice...a hurried effort to get us into Iran before W leaves office? They'll start finding documents that secures Iran's complicity in plots directly against the U.S. as all low level diplomats tend to carry. Maybe with enough affronts they'll provoke the Iranians. Maybe they'll just preempt it.

US forces storm Iranian consulate
US forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized six members of staff.

So wrong...

2007-01-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

...yet it feels so right!
Conflagration...setting the baby sitter on fire.

"Just browsing"

2007-01-07T14:24:00.000-05:00

An older post tip from Schneier. Fucking brilliant is all I can say....

Improv Everywhere Mission: Best Buy
The idea for this mission was submitted by a stranger via email. Agent Slavinsky wrote in to suggest I get either a large group of people in blue polo shirts and khakis to enter a Best Buy or a group in red polo shirts and khakis to enter a Target. Wearing clothing almost identical to the store's uniform, the agents would not claim to work at the store but would be friendly and helpful if anyone had a question. There aren't any Targets in Manhattan, so I decided to go with the two-story Best Buy on 23rd Street.

Chips...

2007-01-05T10:33:00.000-05:00

...you can't have just one.
RFID that is. Also known as Radio Frequency Identification. How'd you like one of these implanted in your neck? For tracking purposes? Of course not. But if THEY wanted to, THEY could. And we willingly give THEM the ability. (I decided on the caps. Dramatic, no?) Check your cards. Anyone with a prox reader could scan your info if they got close enough.
Who do you want to give that ability to?
Here's a neat article about disabling RFID in a card using one of my favorite pieces of technology
(Hint --------->>>>>>>>)
How to Disable Charter One PayPass RFID chip

Transmogrification

2007-01-03T10:11:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the absence. I've been pondering those things that folks ponder when they reach a certain age.
With more explanation forthcoming, I'm exploring and returning to my inner geek. I've proven my machismo and the ability to mete out brutality for those that can buy it, but it's always been a means to and end...and I had started losing sight of the end.
I have this artistic bent that really enjoys social sculpting that I need to get moving on. Kinetic art as well.

Fun link:

The main difference between us and the other apes is that we're too dumb to see that we're apes.

Here's a sticker Kate got me for the recent holy-daze.

A big fucking hat tip...

2006-12-22T10:25:00.000-05:00

...and thank you to American Short Timer for this.
I may be out of the Army, but you know what? I'm still a good soldier. Nay...a great American soldier. See that word in front of soldier? That means I don't believe shit blindly. That means that I don't suck up to kings or wannabes. That means that I'm anti-authoritarian.
I digress...
I want to see what they've come up with. I'm still a good intel analyst. I still like thinking about IPB's, Intsums, OOTW, and A-B-C....easy as 1-2-3.
I still fight battles in my head.

11 foot ladder. And the question is...

2006-12-22T10:02:00.000-05:00

What do I show you when you show me a 10 foot wall?

Funny shit spotted by Schneier.
Can you imagine what would happen if Bush didn't respond so effectively to the attacks on 11/9/2001? It's all the high level security measures that we've taken to keep ourselves safe, of course.
The con goes on. A well known fact about confidence games...people don't like to admit they've been had. So we can go on with these "security measures" (quotes quite deliberate)indefinitely.

When Computer-Based Profiling Goes Bad

2006-12-18T08:52:00.000-05:00

Rob Schneier has a clipping about the problem of relying on computers to profile for threat. Human's are bad enough at it...

Sacred Chao

2006-12-18T08:48:00.000-05:00

I'd like to get my hands on this...

2006-12-17T16:20:00.000-05:00

The US military has released a new manual on counter-insurgencies - its first guide on the topic for 20 years. (Link)

Common sense, I'm sure. 99.44% of intel is nothing but common sense. Something weird happens between the generation of "product" and when policy makers finish reading it.

Blurt!!!

2006-12-17T04:15:00.000-05:00

I'm from a part of America that's supposed to be real normal.
Factories. Apple pie. Soldiers.
Jim Jarmush is from home. Lux Interior is from home. Chrissy Hynde...
and the response to the hardcore, anti-American, pro-terrorists from Kent State
From this
Came this

They tell us that
We lost our tails
Evolving up
From little snails
I say its all
Just wind in sails
Are we not men?
We are devo!
Were pinheads now
We are not whole
Were pinheads all
Jocko homo
Are we not men?
D-e-v-o
Monkey men all
In business suit
Teachers and critics
All dance the poot
Are we not men?
We are devo!
Are we not men?
D-e-v-o
God made man
But he used the monkey to do it
Apes in the plan
Were all here to prove it
I can walk like an ape
Talk like an ape
I can do what a monkey can do
God made man
But a monkey supplied the glue
We must repeat
O.k. lets go!

DEVO formed after members of the band witnessed the shootings of several students on the campus of Kent State University, of which they were attending at the time.

Cashing in the bill of rights

2006-12-17T02:41:00.000-05:00

REDUX.....sorry bu this is where I come from....I'm not sure I can fake it any more.
I'm a good...no...a great investigator.
I can't tell you the operations I've detected...disected...disinfected...
I'm great at seeing patterns. Analyzing...
But they're still...they're still...they're still...
THEM!
What?!?!...am I finally gonna get the next nod from someone who's skills I don't respect?
Will I get the ok from the next fucking pencil neck?
Or the ok from the next meathead?
I'm not enough of either to get a nice hug. I worry either one.

My generation's fathers went to 'Nam.
They came home and didn't say shit.
We felt that silence.
We knew.
We reacted.
We never thought anyone could be so stupid as to believe the same old lies.
Bu they did...
I think my country left me...
So again I broadcast...

Interrupting all programmes

This is radio clash from pirate satellite

Orbiting your living room,
Cashing in the bill of rights
Cuban army surplus or refusing all third lights
This is radio clash on pirate satellite

This sound does not subscribe
To the international plan
In the psycho shadow of the white right hand
Then that see ghettology as an urban viet nam
Giving deadly exhibitions of murder by napalm

This is radio clash tearing up the seven veils
This is radio clash please save us, not the whales
This is radio clash underneath a mushroom cloud
This is radio clash
You dont need that funeral shroud

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty

Hands of law have sorted through
My identity
But now this sound is brave
And wants to be free - anyway to be free

This is radio clash on pirate satellite
This is not free europe
Noh an armed force network
This is radio clash using audio ammunition
This is radio clash can we get that world to listen?
This is radio clash using aural ammunition
This is radio clash can we get that world to listen?
This is radio clash on pirate satellite
Orbiting your living room,
Cashing in the bill of rights
This is radio clash on pirate satellite
This is radio clash everybody hold on tight

A-riggy diggy dig dang dang

Go back to urban nam

US 'troop boost in Iraq likely'

2006-12-16T08:40:00.000-05:00

US President George W Bush is likely to boost troop levels in Iraq next year, an administration official has said. (BBC)

Who the hell is advising this guy. The US made it clear we're sick of his handling of the war, yet it looks like Bush intends on sending more troops. The ISG published a plan (not a great one, but one that made sense) calling for reduction of troops. Additionally, it called for diplomatic work with...heaven forbid...Syria and Iran. That was the first thing he threw out. Why? Probably pride. Yeah...they suck. But then again the whole region kinda sucks and we put our dick in it.
Just a few fucking dip shits who think they know how to fucking soldier and make war, the majority never having served nor thought about the world in non-rhetorical, objective, operational terms.
Will this make them feel better "Regrouping is not the same as retreating."
W...will you please just take a deep breath, gently put the gun down...and step back.

Funny
I don't know why this struck me as particularly funny but...
What do you get when you've got a problem and you call the police?
You've got a problem and a cop.

Lyrics
Rudy's on the midway
And Jacob's in the hole
THe monkey's on the ladder
The devil shovels coal
With crows as big as airplanes
The lion has three heads
And someone will eat the skin that he sheds
And the earth died screaming
The earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming of you

Well hell doesn't want you
And heaven is full
Bring me some water
Put it in this skull
I walk between the raindrops
Wait in Bug House Square
And the army ants
They leave nothin' but the bones
And the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming of you

There was thunder
There was lightning
Then the stars went out
And the moon fell from the sky
It rained mackerel
It rained trout
And the great day of wrath has come
And here's mud in your big red eye
The poker's in the fire
And the locusts take the sky
And the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming of you

Mercy Seat

2006-12-14T10:46:00.000-05:00

Marv from Sin City. "Mercy Seat" done by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and then a version from Johnny Cash. Good stuff.

It began when they come took me from my home
And put me in Dead Row,
Of which I am nearly wholly innocent, you know.
And I'll say it again
I..am..not..afraid..to..die.

I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
Those sinister dinner meals
The meal trolley's wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

Interpret signs and catalogue
A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog.
The walls are bad. Black. Bottom kind.
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath gathering at my hind

I hear stories from the chamber
How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might I say it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that's what I'm told

Like my good hand I
tatooed E.V.I.L. across it's brother's fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.

In Heaven His throne is made of gold
The ark of his Testament is stowed
A throne from which I'm told
All history does unfold.
Down here it's made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And God is never far away.

Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway I never lied.

My kill-hand is called E.V.I.L.
Wears a wedding band that's G.O.O.D.
`Tis a long-suffering shackle
Collaring all that rebel blood.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is burning
And I think my head is glowing
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all this weighing up of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And I've got nothing left to lose
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is glowing
And I think my head is smoking
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all this looks of disbelief.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway there was no proof
Nor a motive why.

And the mercy seat is smoking
And I think my head is melting
And in a way I'm helping
To be done with all this twisted of the truth.
A lie for a lie
And a truth for a truth
And I've got nothing left to lose
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is melting
And I think my blood is boiling
And in a way I'm spoiling
All the fun with all this truth and consequence.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A life for a life
And a truth for a truth
And anyway there was no proof
But I'm not afraid to tell a lie.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
But I'm afraid I told a lie.

Johnny's version

Who is this guy?

2006-12-05T09:27:00.000-05:00

This guy's a nut. And he makes more sense to me (especially through his painting) than just about anyone other than R.A. Wilson.
Boston's a nutty place.

"The main thesis of mind-physics holds that consciousness and matter are both manifestations of a more primary entity, and that the processes of manifestation exhibit equivalent invariances for both consciousness and matter. When the program for mind-physics is complete the subject-object dichotomy of modal logic, the polarity of concept-percept, and the antagonism between morality and technology will all come to an end. Then the non-repeatable experiment will be understood to be more primary than the traditional repeatable experiment." - Paul Laffoley

Got 10 minutes?

Enter The Cell here.
Wikipedia article at Paul Laffoley.
Fansite at Myspace here.

Terror attack in the Heartland

2006-12-03T19:36:00.000-05:00

On 9/11/2006 a terrorist hoping to utilize his vehicle as a car bomb failed in his attack. No one noticed.

A Michigan man described as a bookworm by relatives has wandered the Midwest since August, looking for a medical clinic to attack with his 2004 Saturn compact car, authorities said. (Article here)

Commentary from the Boston Phoenix "Quiet warfare - Few have been paying attention to that other ongoing terrorist threat"

Sounds familiar...(8/10/06)

2006-12-02T10:23:00.000-05:00

Thirty-nine percent of respondents (USA Today/Gallup) ... favored requiring Muslims, including U.S. citizens, to carry a special ID "as a means of preventing terrorist attacks in the United States.

Tell me again what the hell 39% of this country ever did to earn their citizenship?

Salted or plain?

2006-11-30T07:51:00.000-05:00

Hunter at DailyKOS pointed this out:

"Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush."

“Lohse says his study is no joke. The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse’s study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person’s psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.’”

The rest of the article here.

"Detroit Industry"

2006-11-27T08:07:00.000-05:00

Diego Rivera and the Detroit Institute of Arts
I meant to mention that on my visit to Detroit, Kate's dad took us to the DIA. Rarely do I give any consideration to art (let me qualify that...I don't give much consideration to formal art because it's formal art. It really has to stand on its own merits to me. ), but the "Detroit Industry" murals by Diego Rivera were amazing. I won't go into detail...I'll leave the links, but if you look at the north wall...flathead Fords!

Detroit Industry, North Wall
These are zoom-able pictures of the murals.
These are close ups and a discussion of the panels.

Elections

2006-11-23T07:39:00.000-05:00

A pretty good explanation for how American government works. From the Daily Show.

Extremely Fucked Position!

2006-11-21T08:33:00.000-05:00

I had just watched a CNN reporter describe and IED attack on the military convoy he was in. He had mentioned that the IED was an Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP), which is a type of shape charge. The driver was blown out and the a-driver was vaporized.
Now, I haven't been doing my own personal MI analysis on the region just because it's so fucked and I get frustrated. The reality on the ground isn't matching the bullshit coming out of the proponents mouths (I know, I know...fucking obvious).
What got me about the EFP's though, is that they show a level of sophistication higher than even I anticipated. I guess a little of the Administration's argument had been seeping in. In averaging out the two sides of the debate, I still ended up over weighting the pro-Iraq war voices. That insurgents are using EFP's though, means there is enough communication among enough enemy combatants to where they can learn and apply advanced munitions. This means they've got a lot of breathing room.
And now they're fucking assassinating their own comedians!!!
I think it was Sun Tsu who said "Remove your armies and flee with the wind when the one's who make us laugh are slaughtered."
Another fucking pipe dream War on Something-of-the-Month bullshit.

This is fucked.

Another discussion for later: How to get out of the quagmire: What to do when the cookie jar's busted.

Points for recognizing the man on the right before reading further.

Where can we derive an historic analogy?
Hint:
Iraq +/- Yugoslavia.

Some Americans Lack Food, but USDA Won't Call Them Hungry

2006-11-16T21:50:00.000-05:00

By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; Page A01

Can't say much more than that. 12% going hungry. Yay us!

Another set of facts...

2006-11-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

...for the damn, dumb, ignorant fuckers.

What Everybody Doesn’t Know About Fiscal Responsibility
Bernard Wasow, The Century Foundation, 8/17/2004
Everybody knows that free spending Democrats need to be reined in or they will bust the budget. Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility while Democrats spend every penny they get, and more. Such has been the conventional wisdom for decades.

There is only one thing wrong with this homily: it flies in the face of the facts. Since the end of the Second World War, every Democratic president has left the national debt smaller relative to GDP than his predecessor. And since Richard Nixon’s second term (completed by Gerald Ford) every Republican has done the opposite, raising the national debt relative to income. There may be no political cliché more blatantly false than the idea that Republicans are fiscally conservative.

(From zFacts.com)

Ok...now can we have this dialogue

2006-11-09T09:35:00.000-05:00

Talking tough is not the same as knowing what the fuck you're doing.

Strategy versus Tactics (Wikipedia)
The terms tactics and strategy are often confused: tactics are the actual means used to gain a goal, while strategy is the overall plan, which may involve complex patterns of individual tactics. The United States Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms defines the tactical level as

...The level of war at which battles and engagements are planned and executed to accomplish military objectives assigned to tactical units or task forces. Activities at this level focus on the ordered arrangement and maneuver of combat elements in relation to each other and to the enemy to achieve combat objectives.

If, for example, the overall goal is to win a war against another country, one strategy might be to undermine the other nation's ability to wage war by preemptively annihilating their military forces. The tactics involved might describe specific actions taken in a specific locations, like surprise attacks on military facilities, missile attacks on offensive weapon stockpiles, and the specific techniques involved in accomplishing such objectives.

And this is where the WoT fucked up. A shitbag was appointed who had a hidden agenda that made him and everyone blind to that tactical problems with the implementation of their strategy. Some military people who had the balls and/or brains to call it like it is,

"...the former head of the U.S. Central Command and Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief Middle East envoy until 2003, retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, called for the resignation of Libby, Abrams, Wolfowitz and Feith, as well as Rumsfeld, for their roles in the attack." - (Neo-Con Agenda: Iran, China, Russia, Latin America...
by Jim Lobe)

some got swept up in their own fucking careers and ideology. The fear mongering ideologues talk a lot of shit and convince a lot of people, but they are still full of shit.

Countering threats that uses terror as one of their primary weapons involves a tactically focused response, rather than an ideologically driven one. That is the strategy. This means the response will also be complicated and multifaceted...more complicated than a quick political sound bite might convey.
Single biggest weapon? Economics. The two biggest guns we can develop are 1) Energy independence and 2) Economic development of the more impovershed regions in the Islamic world.
Second priority (aside from the obvious withdraw from Iraq) is to further develop nimble, rapid response units with deep tactical level intel capabilities while having rapid access to central intelligence databases (those would be of the legal kind). Deemphasise centralizing the control of intel and emphasise the contributions to a "big picture." Right now you can just feel the micromanagement oozing from all of those political pores. We need to encourage the idea that intel for this type of warfighting is somewhere between traditional military intelligence and investigations.

I'm am concerned that the American populace has only responded to the failures of the administration and their war fatigue rather than developing any true understanding of what the issues are. They know something went wrong. Do they know what will work right is they hear it? Just because I can't stand the administration doesn't mean I think the Democrats might actually do it right. They're still politicians (ergo lawyers...eh Charlie?).

But alas...it does bring me some joy to watch BushCo get their ass handed to them.
Fucking limp dick motherfucker.

Damn dumb ignorant...

2006-11-07T07:10:00.000-05:00

...fuckers!
Everytime I travel, that's all I can think. I was in line griping to Kate about how fucking useless the direct security measures are at airports. The couple in front was laughing (I bitch funny) but the guy eventually said "True, but I'd rather they did this than the alternative."
Now that's exactly the dumb fucking nonsense I'm talking about. Let me paraphrase what he said to illustrate. He said "I would rather see my liberty trashed, and money and time wasted, so I can have the illusion of effective security than effective security." I was thinking about this when I saw the fucking fat familly disembarking their plane each with a different GAP sweatshirt. All four of them. But I digress...
Two things put me over the top specifically, the "random" boarding pass check and the liquid rule.
It has become quite apperent to me that the Transportation Safety (they always guise it in safety...this is for your own fucking good) Authority (-actually it's Security Auth., but same damn difference) is looking for the Keystone Cops of terror®.
Liquids must be in 3oz containers inside of quart ziplock bags. The containers must be labeled so they know what's inside the container. Now, when they mean labeled, they mean with a product name because it's obvious that the terrorists® they're looking for are too fucking stupid to change out the contents.
One can get their boarding pass online, unless one's number comes up randomly and they have to check in at the counter (because online the system doesn't print big fucking letters that indicate special screening). Not that anyone with nefarious intent could figure this out. So, we get whacked with this. Ok fine...since we're not terrorists®, we'll go to the fucking counter and get our boarding passes. We get the passes and off to the line. I've got the standard pass and Kate's got the one with the big ol' letters. To protect security I won't say what those letters are because, and I say again, it is obvious to the DHS and the TSA that terrorists® are too damn stupid to figure this out and um...just leave the fucking airport at this point. So the prescreen comes and they take two of Kate's bottles for being unmarked. I think they took the shit out back and put a round in each one. Then the guy who's job it is to make sure the name on the pass is the same as on one's ID kindly highlights the Super Secret Special Service code or some such nonsense on Kate's pass and tells her to expect an extra search. Now, I know it's immpossible to generate a fake pass on one's printer and no one ever used a fake ID (aside from the millions of adolescents buying booze, but again they are much more cleaver than your typical terrorist®).
Kate's like "crap" and hands me her liquids. Now I'm thinking "Oh shit" the screening may be bullshit but that's suspicious behavior. Here's the person with the special check trying to unload her liquids to the one that isn't. We've had it...we're gonna be interrogated. I'm gonna get fucking slammed and rectally probed after being beaten for an hour in some back room. Not good...
So we merrily get to the metal detectors where I pull off half of what I'm wearing and Kate's lead around the X-Ray machine to the special screening area. This is a screening that always stimulates a game in my head of "How many ways can I think of to beat this system can I think of in 30 seconds" because...well...I like to think I'm a somewhat competent security man . So, by number 79 or so, I'm shaken out of my rage and putting my boots back on.
Kate gets her special search, which did not include checking her bag for anything or the liquids. Just a little swab to drop into the sniffer machine...because again...terrorists® are fucking retards and would be caught here because they had been rolling in explosive material all day long. I wonder what happens on the 4th of July?
After all this bullshit...they don't even provide enough space to put all your shit back on. Pack up as best you can, hoping you didn't loose your ID, boarding pass, dignity, or any of the other shit you need to keep yourself from going to Guantanimo...

...as long as you don't mind a little...
Investigation...
Humiliation...
and if you cross your fingers...
Rehabilitation!
Know Your Rights! -The Clash

Fucking Bullshit!
All this bullshit "security theater", as Bruce Schneier is fond of calling it, keeps me from fucking looking out for fuckers who are truly suspicious, as every fucking 2 minutes I've got some automated asshole recording telling me to report suspicious shit to someone who may or may not be important. What...you think I'm going to forget? Opps...ummmm....those guys in the corner with the fucking bomb, twiddling their moustaches...what was I supposed to do again?
So this fucking adminstration geared up by employing a lot of people in virtually meaningless jobs, for shit money, looking for things rather than behavior.

And God forbid the when the terrorists® try carrying something rectally.

So here's to the damn, dumb, ignorant American who buys this shit as fucking security.
Fuck you! You fucking embarrass me.
We were attacked and you can't even be bother to think about this shit rationally, methodically, and go out get informed. You are not Americans. You are some other thing that fell out of maternal wombs that just happened to be over this land. You do not deserve this nation.

"DHS","TSA", and "KBR" are registered trademarks of Halliburton
Number One Observatory Circle, Wash. D.C.

"Terrorist","Terror","WOT", and "Jesus" are registered trademarks of USA, Inc.
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Wash. D.C.

There were times in its history when the United States came close to suggesting what a utopian project might be, but the less appealing sides to American life now seem to be in the ascendant‹there¹s a self-infantilism strain that gives America the look of Peter Pan¹s Never-never land. However, the future may well be a marriage between Microsoft and the Disney Company‹an infantilized entertainment culture imposed on us by the most advanced communications technology. - J.G. Ballard

RAW help

2006-10-28T08:46:00.002-04:00

Who is Robert Anton Wilson you ask?
Here's a 10 minute film that might help...

From Rev. Ivan Stang's blog:

Time to Repay RAWilson for All the Slack

Pope Bob (Robert Anton Wilson) loaned us SubGeniuses a LOT!

Most of what he loaned us were ideas. We took those ideas and ran with them. We did all KINDS of things using his ideas. We started every manner of experiment, inspired by his experiments. Many of those experiments PAID OFF.

I have said many times to interviewers that were it not for Robert Anton Wilson (and the late great Robert Shea, who co-wrote Illuminatus), there would be no Church of the SubGenius.

Although Pope Bob was tough enough to beat childhood polio in his youth, now that he is old, it has returned to harass him. He busted his ass his whole life, writing, lecturing, and selling books -- and if you think those jobs are EASY, try it yourself. He shared part of his mighty brain with the world, supported his family, and even survived the loss of a child and his wife without GIVING UP. But nothing lasts forever, and now it's down to the wire. (More...)

RAW needs some bucks for failing health. I'm kicking in. If there's one guy who has be the most influential in putting my head on straight, it's Bob.

Donation information:

Any donations can be made to Bob directly to the Paypal account olgaceline@gmail.com.
You can also send a check payable to Robert Anton Wilson to
Dennis Berry c/o Futique Trust
P.O. Box 3561
Santa Cruz, CA 95063.

Terrorize

2006-10-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

Main Entry: ter·ror·ize
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"Iz

1 : to fill with terror or anxiety : SCARE
2 : to coerce by threat or violence

I guess if Bin Laden's too busy to threaten Americans, the good ol' GOP will have to do it for him.

US Republicans launch terror ad
Republicans want to portray a tough stance on terrorism
The US Republican Party has launched a controversial terror-linked TV advertisement to bolster support ahead of mid-term elections next month. (BBC News)

No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices. - Edward R. Murrow

Hua! Open letter from a Ranger

2006-10-20T09:51:00.000-04:00

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice:
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.

Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,
Kevin Tillman

Disneyfication

2006-10-19T07:34:00.000-04:00

I read this before, but it made exceptional sense to me this morning:

... here's where i'm coming from. we are not on the precipice of a great magnificent clash of cultures and it's either vanquish them now or we're doomed and brown-eyed tomorrow, or the lord's second-coming depends on the demise of a particular tribe, or the ascendancy of another tribe. it's all horseshit. the cold war was a scam. there was no international communist conspiracy to vanquish capitalism. there was no missile gap. the domino theory was a scam. the goddamned SPACE RACE was a scam. the missile defense shield is a scam. the war on terror is a scam. there is no such thing as an al qaida organization. it's all bullshit. it's all madison avenue packaging with disney story-lines. designate a token baddie, find yourself a righteous hero (oh me! ME! ME! ME! ME! teacher teacher teacher pick ME!). this fulfills everyone's expectations nicely. (More from American Short Timer)

And a little glimpse of the ugly reality:

...they were waiting for day-old bread and frozen dinners packaged in slightly damaged boxes. These families are among a growing number of military households in San Diego County that regularly rely on donated food. (Helping the hungry on base, Many military families rely on donated goods October 13, 2006 San Diego Union-Tribune))

For Middle Child...

2006-10-18T21:43:00.000-04:00

Every tough guy I knew had a crush on Joan Jett when we were kids in the 80's.
A little snippet from Wikipedia:

With the Blackhearts, she had several singles in the top ten, including the #1 "I Love Rock 'N Roll" cover, originally by The Arrows, as well as covers of Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover" and Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me". "Bad Reputation", whose accompanying video narrates the story of the rejection of Joan by major labels and the creation of her own record label, was also a hit.

Enjoy the song that made her famous...

Friday night...

2006-10-15T10:17:00.000-04:00

At almost 50, she's as bad ass as ever. I was worried about the "old rocker", pillar of salt thing, but not with Joan. Her new stuff was fantastic and of course the old stuff lost nothing over the years.

No fly list

2006-10-12T10:22:00.000-04:00

Behind the scenes at Homeland Security (this'll probably get me put on a list somewhere).

is over 20 years old.
How painfully relevant this movie is today.... It's like a training manual.

Explaination

2006-09-23T09:02:00.000-04:00

Electronic aids, particularly domestic computers, will help the inner migration, the opting out of reality. Reality is no longer going to be the stuff out there, but the stuff inside your head. It's going to be commercial and nasty at the same time. - JG Ballard

I want to thank those that keep checking back here to listen to my latest indignation. I know most of you I'm not informing as much as commisurating with. Hopefully the tide has been turned for now.
I've been absent from posting regularly for a couple of reasons. One, my desktop went down and my laptop's been acting sketchy. Two, I'm preaching to the choir (it's a great choir, but I'm starting to sound like a broken record.) While I have something new to say here and there, it's not on the regular.
Lastly, I've been thinking about expanding format a bit.
I'd like to get into photography. I like photographs of open, urban spaces. You know the kind...anxiety inducing photos because of their scale, berift of actual humanity. I want to photograph JG Ballard's stories. I'm looking to collect the ephemera of the dying space age.

Funny...I almost had forgotten the space shuttle had exploded a second time. That's a shame...

The American Dream has run out of gas. The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. No more. It's over. It supplies the world with its nightmares now: the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Vietnam. - Ballard

Fetish

2006-09-12T07:22:00.000-04:00

Ugh...I'm a bit nauseous . A whole day of sachrine coated, masturbatory, fetishizing of September 11, 2001. Now I'm all for honoring the fallen and remembering history, but the disingenuousness of many Americans outpouring of synthetic emotion brought about by years of Mickey Mouse social engineers making good little consumers("Hey look at me! Lookie, lookie, pay attention to me! I'm such a great person, I have a tear for the fallen! Yay Me!!!).

Let's put this shit into perspective shall we:

Rank¹	Causes of death	All persons	Causes of death	Male	Causes of death	Female
	All causes	2,448,288	All causes	1,201,964	All causes	1,246,324
1.	Diseases of heart	685,089	Diseases of heart	336,095	Diseases of heart	348,994
2.	Malignant neoplasms (cancer)	556,902	Malignant neoplasms (cancer)	287,990	Malignant neoplasms (cancer)	268,912
3.	Cerebrovascular diseases	157,689	Unintentional injuries	70,532	Cerebrovascular diseases	96,263
4.	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	126,382	Cerebrovascular diseases	61,426	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	65,668
5.	Unintentional injuries	109,277	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	60,714	Alzheimer's disease	45,122
6.	Diabetes mellitus	74,219	Diabetes mellitus	35,438	Diabetes mellitus	38,745
7.	Influenza and pneumonia	65,163	Influenza and pneumonia	28,778	Unintentional injuries	38,745
8.	Alzheimer's disease	63,457	Suicide	25,203	Influenza and pneumonia	36,385
9.	Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis	42,453	Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis	20,481	Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis	21,972
10.	Septicemia	34,069	Alzheimer's disease	18,335	Septicemia	19,082

Source: U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 2005.

So, while I respect those who've suffered loss on that day, the rest can shut the hell up and let these folks have some peace. No ABC mocumenteries, no politicos pontificating on the various evils of the world, no TV's breaking to commercial in their all day 911 marathon...

Side note...you were close Puma. It was actually Panama City Beach, FL for a week of floating in the pool. I got in the ocean a bit, but there are other things in there that I can't see and that creeps me out. I had enough of the creppy, crawlies in the Army. I will rarely subject myself to them voluntarily anymore.

I am here...

2006-09-06T12:11:00.000-04:00

I'm taking a much needed rest
Kate's giving me grief about my wit ("the table's not stable" on which I type and she tries to read on her own computer)
Peeled and grilled shrimp
Slept
Spending a lot of time by the pool more than the ocean (to paraphrase WC Fields "fish fuck in it.")

Hope all is well with the rest of you

Lulled....

2006-08-31T10:15:00.000-04:00

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular." -- Edward R. Murrow

Keith Olberman suggests fascistic creep into the government...

Fuck you, Mr. Rumsfeld, and your snivelling, cowardly minions.

Sorry for the absence....

2006-08-26T10:01:00.000-04:00

...for those of you who check here for something new. More to come soon.
Now, for a word from one of the U.S.'s elder statesmen.

Demeaning Democracy
Cheney Paints Lamont Victory As Helping Terrorists
August 13, 2006
By Edward M. Kennedy

Vice presidents are notorious for serving as an administration's chief attack dog, and time and again Dick Cheney has been unleashed to accuse anyone who is opposed to the Bush administration of aiding the terrorists. But this time he has gone too far.

The comments he made on the result of the Connecticut Democratic primary - that it might encourage "the al-Qaida types" who want to "break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task" - are an attack not just on Democrats, but on democracy itself.

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What happened in Connecticut is in fact a model for democracies everywhere. The people of the state heard a vigorous debate between two competing visions of how to protect this country. Young citizens became deeply involved, and turnout was high. The primary reminded us of the miracle of our democracy, in which the nation is ruled by its people - not by any entrenched set of leaders. There are few better messages we could send the world in these troubled times.

Cheney's comments about the election were ugly and frightening. They show once again that he and his party will stop at nothing to wrap Republicans in the flag and to insinuate that anyone who votes against them is giving aid and comfort to the terrorists. It's obvious that this administration lacks basic respect for our fundamental freedoms.

Cheney and his crowd are all for free and open elections - as long as they turn out their way. They are all for free speech - provided it supports the administration. They are all for the rule of law - as long as the law does not prevent them from doing whatever they want to do. When elections, speeches or laws are inconvenient, he does not hesitate to declare that they are helping the terrorists. I can think of no graver offense against our democracy.

Ned Lamont's victory in Connecticut scares Cheney for one simple reason: It demonstrates that a free and independent people can and do hold public officials accountable for their words and deeds.

If the terrorists are indeed paying any attention to the Connecticut primary results, they must be worried.

The people of Connecticut spoke out loud and clear in favor of change. Ned Lamont will stand strong for the people of Connecticut, and put tough and smart foreign policies ahead of the politics of fear and more "stay the course" failures. Republicans will stop at nothing to make sure that the November elections are not a referendum on their misguided policy in Iraq or on the way they have run our country for the past six years. Unfortunately, this time the facts are getting in their way.

The American people are ready to change an administration that let Osama bin Laden escape. They are ready to change a Congress that let precious years go by without demanding the implementation of the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission to keep us safe.

They are ready to change a policy on Iraq that has drained our resources, weakened our security, stretched our troops and recruited new terrorists.

The November election will teach Dick Cheney and others of his ilk that they cannot use fear to cling to power. As Will Rogers said, "It's no disgrace not to be able to run a country nowadays, but it is a disgrace to keep on trying when you know you can't."

Edward M. Kennedy is a U.S. senator from Massachusetts.

Or as Johnny might put it to Dick Cheney...

Cheap metaphor (what's a meta for?)

2006-08-12T10:57:00.000-04:00

"Why do you hate drivers?"
"What the hell are you talking about, Jim?!?" I asked. "You just hit two pedestrians, a cop car, and knocked down that stop sign! Your driving sucks!!!"
"You're not doing any better" Jim shot back.
"Fuck you! I'm not behind the wheel!"
"Still, you aren't able to do any better."
"I haven't been given the chance." Jesus this argument was insane.
[smash]
"Damn it Jim...Gimme the fucking wheel! What're you...drunk?"
"Nah, I haven't had a drink since the 80's when I found God."
"You're gonna get us killed. The neighborhood's getting pissed."
"Fuck 'em. When they learn 'Jim's Road Rules' then everythings gonna be ok."
"Let me drive, Jim! You just went through a living room."
"Fuck you! I'm a great driver, even without a license. Shit, I've never seen you drive so you must be fucked up on the road" Jim scolded. "And why do you hate drivers?"
"I don't Jim. Drivings fine, I love racing, I love mechanics, I love the highways and byways. It's just that you suck at it."

They're getting ever more sophisticated

2006-08-04T08:31:00.000-04:00

On a tip from DailyKOS:

Where did that video spoofing Gore's film come from?

Thursday, August 03, 2006
By Antonio Regalado and Dionne Searcey, The Wall Street Journal

"...computer routing information contained in an email sent from Toutsmith's Yahoo account indicate it didn't come from an amateur working out of his basement.

Instead, the email originated from a computer registered to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp."

Something as innocuous as YouTube being utilized by big business to control opinion. Corporate influence is everywhere and deeper and more direct in our everyday existence than one can fathom.
They're like a virus:

Ad Placement Gets Extreme
Look for publicity messages on everything from eggs to air-sickness bags as companies compete for offbeat niches to create that extra bit of buzz
By Joseph Pisani
Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET Aug 2, 2006

One can even earn a few bucks throwing ads on your car or getting temporary tattoo's. And as I understand it, some firms are paying folks to talk up their products with friends and aquaintances. Not that any in my circle would that I can think of, but I've made it quite clear that I'd kick in anyone's fucking teeth if they came at me with a product assault.
So I continue to rant. Big money will own us all...

Atheists for Jesus

2006-08-02T08:52:00.000-04:00

"when I say that I am "for Jesus", I do not mean to imply in any way that I have converted to Christianity or that I now believe Jesus to be a god. What I do mean is that I have come to have a great deal of respect for the teachings of Jesus. My respect for Jesus is not based on the Cross, but rather on the Mount--not on His death and supposed resurrection, but on His teachings as exemplified by the Sermon on the Mount."
More at Atheists for Jesus

Intermission

2006-08-01T10:30:00.000-04:00

What a Beautiful World!

Why does Bush hate America?

2006-07-30T07:13:00.000-04:00

Some interesting quotes from one of the primary founding fathers regarding the media:

"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." --Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823.

"I am... for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the Constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents." --Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 1799.

"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions." --Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 1804.

Yet our fearless leader would like to see reporters punished for discussing programs that many American's might possibly object to. Mind you, there were no discussions in depth of the actual mechanics of these programs, just that they existed. There were claims that "we're at war!" by golly. Yet, personally I have yet to see a declaration of war.

The press is the ombudsman of the people. The charge of a "liberal" bias in the media is a misnomer. By it's very definition, an meaningful press is at odds with any government agency. If you want the good news from the government, al you've got to do is ask for the brochures. If you actually want something to think about and want to think for yourself, then you're going to need a media that's contentious.
If questioning daddy is a liberal thing, so be it. Color all great Americans liberal then. I grew up, left the house, and became my own free born man years ago.
Funny though...I'm see a lot more buyer's remorse among the conservatives I know...

Coming up for air...

2006-07-26T06:49:00.000-04:00

I'm into day four of not smoking. I'm still sort of laying low so as not to overload myself with anything but the basics.

I did want to put down some quick notes for anyone who might be interested:
The patch isn't a cure all. The first day was difficult as the nicotine was getting into my system and my system was adjusting to the lower, yet continuous level.
St. John's Wort is really helpful in maintaining an even temper, thus reducing the likely hood that I'll want a smoke after pulling someone's lips over their head.
Valerian Root is another helpful herb. It promotes great sleep as the nicotine from the patch gives all those strange dreams.
Cinnamon Sticks really help through the worst cravings. Inhale like you're smoking it. It's all psychological bullshit anyway.
Do what you can to stimulate and support the production of dopamine in your body. Protein's got the amino acid tyrosine which supports the production of dopamine. I've got beef jerky coming out the ears.
Be carefull of caffeine; it can swing both ways.
I'm fairly dexterous, but the first day my cordination went to hell. Very stange experience, because I really didn't feel as if anything was different. I was dropping shit all day long and spilling drinks everywhere. Good way to get bullshit and have a smoke if you're not ready for it.
The addiction really seems to alter one's brain. It's like being possessed. Cravings come and go which normally can be dealt with straight on, but there's also a little voice that really looks to create whole false scenarios to provide justification for having a smoke. So iconically, I am putting a face to this in my mind and and disassociating with this disembodied entity.
Fear of all close to me having to deal with my painful, miserable, drowning death was my motivation, alongside of my hatered of the rich, tassle toed executives who profited on my loss when I was young (no excuses as I grew older 'cept that I was already addicted by then), but my boss being able to quit recently...a former Marine who trained with the SAS and fought at the battle of Hue...indirectly gave me the guts to quit.
There's no reason to fall off the wagon unless one falls for that little, negative voice. From my last attempt several years ago, one cigarette won't actually feel like you imagine it. It won't be as satisfying as the craving makes you believe it will and you've undone a lot of hard, bullshit that you've already gone through and will just have to cover that territory again.
Quitting is a one direction effort, it isn't a method of cutting back. Conversely, smoking leads to ever increasing consumption. You gotta keep in your mind that quitting is quitting and that the process will take several weeks/months but each day usually will be easier that the last.
It's an adventure for me to see if I can't recondition/reprogram myself. Folks have been programming us for years whether in ads, books, theology, politics, etc., but how many of us take the time to DE/REprogram ourselves?

Here's some free software I've been using which I'm hoping to prove useful to my programming ends:

BrainWave Generator (Theory here) - I was skeptical at first, but when I had a continuous, recurring headache and tried the "headache" setting, it eliminated the headache with minutes.

Virtual Hypnotist - "It includes features such as voice recognition, speech synthesis, subliminal messages, completely customizable scripts (featuring a unique scripting language), videos, audio, and lots more. Its purpose is to simulate a real hypnosis session as much as possible."
Since I haven't ever been hypnotized and I'm using so many different methods to quit, I can't really gauge the effectiveness of this method. I can say it's pretty damn relaxing, and I know if something's repeated enough , people will believe...

I'll be back to posting regular in a few days. Glad to see the Bush plan has stablized the region. Fucking dipshit.

DEprogramming

2006-07-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

Being a smoker and a I like to think, a student of behavior, I've had an interesting and first hand look at the mechanics of the behavior/reward system. I can sit and look at myself and see the years of programming initiated by the market place and then embraced by my psyche and physiology. I have no doubt in my mind that the purveyors of tobacco products knew full well that their marketing strategies had an incredible appeal to young adolescents...those fuckers! 25 years of self-image reinforced by chemical stimulation. I started when I was twelve or thirteen and have only had two, two month attempts at quitting.

As of Sunday, July 23rd I shall endevor to DE/Reprogram myself to no longer engage in the behavior.
I shall:

Attempt to diminish the physiological attachment by using transdermal nicotine replacement, diminishing the intake over the course of eight weeks
Modify my habits by altering behavior including location of activity and activity itself, particularly by engaging in a variety of activities so as not to replace one compulsion with another
I will attempt to use negative reinforcement in conjunction with the other activities in the form of using a rubber band around my wrist in which I will give myself a small, painful snap each time I feel an urge
Modify my food intake by eating smaller portions of higher quality sugars, more frequently earlier in my waking day
One compulsion I am willing to accept as a replacement is the intake of water
I have obtained scripts and software to modify those scripts for hypnotic induction to reinforce the DEprogramming

Fuck those assholes. They've taken enough of my mother-fucking life. They've taken enough of my and my family's money. The mother-fuckers knew full well that their product alters the mind at its very core. They knew full well that their product can trump reason. They had billions of dollars and I was just a kid with a couple of bucks and a crush on Maggie M.. Goddamn them to hell. They stole from me.
Hopefully I'm stong enough to beat their trojan horse.
Fuckers!

Fourth Generation Warfare

2006-07-13T10:31:00.000-04:00

I may have mentioned Fourth Generation Warfare in some of my prior posts when discussing the type of warfare we see today.My interest in 4GW came well before I had enlisted in the service and was not only informed by academic papers, but also the works of Alvin Toffler who's works I highly recommend for any student of current geo-political issues.

Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) is a concept defined in 1989 by a team of American analysts, including William S. Lind, used to describe warfare's return to a decentralized form. (Fourth Generation Warfare - Wikipedia)

From the article "Fourth Generation Warfare" at Defense and the National Interest.

One way to tell that 4GW is truly new is that we don't even have a name for its participants—typically dismissing them as "terrorists," "extremists," or "thugs."

Name calling, though, is not often an effective substitute for strategy.

Historically warfare has always contained elelments of 4GW, so I don't personally think it's "truly new" except as it's now being used as the most common combative method by sub/trans-national groups. Toffler suggested that we would see exactly these issues arise in his 1990 work Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century as a result of cultural, psychological, emotional, economic backlash to fundamental changes in socio-economics as profound as the shift to agrarian or industial based societies.
So why do I know the government is currently engaging this whole problem wrongly (aside from the obvious that our incursion into Iraq isn't costing 7 billion and there are no WMD's)? Listed below from the same article at DNI are elements the comprise 4GW. How many of these can be address by a massive, heavy mauever based military? My contention is that we were retooling for 4GW through the 90's, but those that profit from industiral age based warfare were losing profit, many of whom have a warm relationship with members of this administration. Real efforts to engage 4GW on the material supply front would require smaller, decentralized, and innovative manufacturing, none of which would support the traditional players from the Cold War.
Also by looking at the list, one can see the behavior of combatants in 4GW is directly informed by organized criminal narco-traffickers. As an example, when addressing Cosa Nostra we relied on tactical level operations and policing efforts to keep the threat to a minimum. We didn't invade Sicily, not because we believed the problem was contained but because it would be ineffective. As long as there's an incentive (in this case, black market profit based on prohibitions) there will be those who engage in the operations.
So what's the solution? Address the basic incentives for engaging in 4GW. Again, very few of these can be address by Cold War Armies and thinking. Unfortunately, the operational and motivating elements of this type of warfare are often frustrating for those that want easy answers. There are a lot of people protecting their individual self-interest by ignoring modern war fighting and clinging to the old industrial based ideas of production line killing. From politicians, to industrialists, to citizens with alternate agendas, to outdated cold warriors, there are a lot of people who don't want to really win the WOT.
Personally, when I was in (and one of the reasons I finally called it quits) was enlisting at the first major thinking shift among some of the Army. You could see how the old thinkers felt rudderless with the fall of the Soviet Union while many progressive thinkers we gearing up to engage a new type of enemy and embraced the leaner, more professional force. Unfortunately, the old guard didn't relinquish their outdated thinking that easily. Just as the British clung to their line formations, cursing the barbarous colonials and their reprehensible tactics, the old guard rose up with the return of an administration incestuously friendly with the military industrial complex.

explosion in drug trafficking, with associated money flows and corruption to the extent that trafficking organizations are the de facto governments in a growing number of areas
worsening income inequities combined with a general decline in standards of living in many Third World countries, particularly in Africa and Central/South America
continued exponential increase in the world population
a growing "demographic youth bulge" in Third World countries, where un- / underemployment is already severe [cited in recent CIA testimony]
escalating sectarian violence as evangelizing religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.) clash over influence in rapidly growing Third World countries
survival of non-representative governments in the Third World that use religious and ethnic animosities and anti-American sentiments to distract from their own corruption and economic mismanagement
insertion & maintenance of a largely Christian American Army into the heart of the Muslim Middle East
accelerating AIDS epidemic in parts of the Third World [~30% of adults in Botswana are HIV-positive]
rise of Third World mega cities with populations exceeding 20 million
growth of worldwide connectivity (CNN and the Internet, for example)
ease of global transportation (24 hours between any two points)
increasing scarcity of arable land and water
increasing world demand for petroleum as China and India increase their consumption
disintegration of the Soviet Union and continued instability in that region
end of the bipolar world order and of the interpretation of events through a Cold War filter
ready availability of small arms and other weapons from the end of the Cold War
growing use of pre-adolescent children as combatants
resurgence of violent ethnic and ideological groups (e.g., Rwandan Interahamwe, and of course al-Qa'ida), which are becoming increasingly transnational
safe havens for these groups in areas of Africa, Asia, and South America where any effective government (even if corrupt and incompetent) is lacking
beginning of cooperation between transnational ideological groups and traditional criminal organizations such as narcotrafficking cartels
continued growth in wealth and influence of multinational corporations that sometimes have incentives to perpetuate corrupt, non-democratic regimes
emergence of the US as the only conventional / economic superpower and the inevitable resentment this causes

Finally, from Col Michael D. Wyly, USMC (Ret) in his 1995 article Fourth Generation Warfare:What Does It Mean to Every Marine?

First, we must expect the unexpected in terms of new kinds of enemies
Second, we must come to grips with the fact that our traditional form of warfare, i.e., high tech with overwhelming firepower delivered from a distant standoff, no longer solves problems.
Third, the Corps must be a bastion of Americans who really do support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Until we vote out the archaic thinkers, I wish you all good luck and keep your heads down.

AI is now!

2006-07-08T09:09:00.000-04:00

Annual spending in 2004 on advertisment was $141.1 billion in the U.S.. I've heard people often claim that ads "don't affect them."
Well, maybe not a single ad, but the bombardment of images on the periphery define what we expect of the world whether we like it or not. Let me ask, if ads don't work why is so much spent on them? If they have no impact and comanies are spending so much on them, then why would anyone believe that companies should be entrusted to keeping up there part of "trickle down economics."
We should ask how much of our views, outlook, and opinions are shaped by these agents. Left or Right, Progressive or Conservative, "Are you really who you are?" Is the language we use to define ourselves to ourselves honest or is it tainted by sterotypes implanted by some artificial intelligence?
Again, I recommend The Corporation. In the late 19th century, corporations were given many rights of the average citizen even though they traditionally were only allowed to exist for a couple of years until whatever specific function they were to address was achieved. By the FBI's phychological standards, The Corporation shows that these organizations are by definition "Psychopaths." Not the individual members mind you, but considered as a whole entity. I truly believe a corporation is AI, and very few have noticed. And it's an AI with a directive willing to kill, exploit, and has no fear of death or consequences to its individual components.
We really need to regain control over these behemoths before it's too late.

Mountain of Liberty

2006-07-06T06:51:00.000-04:00

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. - Jefferson

Erosion occurs by the loss of indiviual grains of sand. This is the crux of the argument to defend Liberty at every turn, regardless of how benign a given incursion might seem. The mountains of Liberty are reduced to deserts by the power of corporate seas.
Kate's concerned about the Trademark Dilution Revision Act (H.R. 683) currently before congress and now, so am I. Apparently the law forgot to protect "fair use", news reporting, and non-commercial use of trademarks. Effectively, as Kate pointed out, should the media be covering an event such as the Enron scandal (Enron being trademarked) they can sue reporters for even mentioning the name. They could sue photographers for taking pictures of their company that they don't like, even if they're guilty of crimes.
Even if a photograph or art had another subject in it and a corporate logo happened to be in the background, the photographer or artist could be at risk, "...if you had a corporate logo incidentally in a photograph and if it was famous enough to fall under trademark dilution, then you’d fall into the statute and could be on the receiving end of a lawsuit,” says Stephen Morris, who works in the Copyright and Government Affairs department of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA)." (Trademark Two-Step, DIGITAL PHOTO PRO Magazine)
Now, anyone's picture is fair game from a public way and you still have the right to privacy on private property provided you've taken steps to protect that privacy, but it seems as if corporations want more rights than citizens now.
My contention is that at the root of it all, it really isn't about conservative v. liberal thought. In this country those two political poles are actually just a fragment of a larger political structure. The two poles are also played against each other while the puppet masters keep pulling the strings so we're too busy pissing and moaning about flag burning for us to notice we've got a hand up our ass. What the issue really is, is that corporations have the money and connections to usurp our nation and our ideals, and enslave its citizens. They have the money to buy people who will make convincing arguments as to why they need more power and how it will only benefit us all, all while the reality isn't matching the rhetoric.
On this front, here's a link to Public Citizen to take action "Tell Congress: Don't Allow Big Corporations to Chill Artistic Expression"

Bayes' Theorem

2006-07-01T08:41:00.000-04:00

How about some mathematics?

("Everyone at NSA certainly knows Bayes' Theorem.")

or

Why Does the NSA Engage in Mass Surveillance of Americans When It's Statistically Impossible for Such Spying to Detect Terrorists?

By FLOYD RUDMIN

"...mass surveillance of an entire population cannot find terrorists. It is a probabilistic impossibility. It cannot work.

What is the probability that people are terrorists given that NSA's mass surveillance identifies them as terrorists? If the probability is zero (p=0.00), then they certainly are not terrorists, and NSA was wasting resources and damaging the lives of innocent citizens. If the probability is one (p=1.00), then they definitely are terrorists, and NSA has saved the day. If the probability is fifty-fifty (p=0.50), that is the same as guessing the flip of a coin. The conditional probability that people are terrorists given that the NSA surveillance system says they are, that had better be very near to one (p_1.00) and very far from zero (p=0.00)."

"...The whole NSA domestic spying program will seem to work well, will seem logical and possible, if you are paranoid. Instead of presuming there are 1,000 terrorists in the USA, presume there are 1 million terrorists. Americans have gone paranoid before, for example, during the McCarthyism era of the 1950s. Imagining a million terrorists in America puts the base-rate at .00333, and now the probability that a person is a terrorist given that NSA's system identifies them is p=.99, which is near certainty. But only if you are paranoid. If NSA's surveillance requires a presumption of a million terrorists, and if in fact there are only 100 or only 10, then a lot of innocent people are going to be misidentified and confidently mislabeled as terrorists." (Complete article here)
Oopsie...our bad.

"Bully!"

2006-07-01T07:27:00.000-04:00

The only good "Bully!"

“...The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government. Not only should he recognize this obligation in the way he leads his daily life and in the way he earns and spends his money, but it should also be recognized by the way in which he pays for the protection the State gives him.... “

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. "

"No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it."

"No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience."

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public."

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase it's usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very properity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not guilty.""

"The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead."

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life."

"The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly."

I suppose a good number of presidents fashion themselves after T.R. particularly when it comes to militarism, but the difference is that Roosevelt's was an informed militarism. While I don't agree with all his policies, he was at least a man of character, conviction, and action. No deferments.

Resume

2006-06-30T09:39:00.000-04:00

I've been looking to move on in my career so I've been working quite a bit with my resume. Here's an example I don't want to use. No wonder the NeoCon credibility is on the wane...I just wandered what took so long. This is a bit embarrassing.

Past Work Experience

Ran for congress and lost.
Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.
With father's help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.

Accomplishments in Previous Positions

Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog-ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
Set record for most executions by any governor in American history.
Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my father's appointments to the Supreme Court.

Accomplishments As President

Attacked and took over two countries.
Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
First president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history.
After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
Set the record for most campaign fundraising trips than any other president in U.S. history.
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in U.S. history.
Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in U.S. history.
Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in U.S. history.
Presided over the biggest energy crises in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
Presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
Dissolved more international treaties than any president in U.S. history.
My presidency is the most secretive and unaccountable of any in U.S. history.
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history (the 'poorest' multimillionaire, Condoleezza Rice, has an Exxon oil tanker named after her).
First president in U.S. history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
First president in U.S. history to order a U.S. attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in U.S. history.
First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the human rights commission.
First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the elections monitoring board.
Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in U.S. history.
Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
Refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
First president in U.S. history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. elections).
All-time U.S. (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
My biggest lifetime campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in U.S. history.
First president in U.S. history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
First president to run and hide when the U.S. came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
First U.S. president to establish a secret shadow government.
Took the biggest world sympathy for the U.S. after 9/11, and in less than a year made the U.S. the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in U.S. and world history).
With a policy of 'disengagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
Fist U.S. president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
First U.S. president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the U.S. than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated U.S. law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive.'
Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capital building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
In the 18 months following the 9/11 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in U.S. history.
In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the U.S. has ever been since the Civil War.
Entered office with the strongest economy in U.S. history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.

Records and References

At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available)
AWOL from National Guard and deserted the military during a time of war.
Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker (they can be reached at their offices of the Carlyle Group for war-profiteering.)

Source: Kelley Kramer

Now, where can I find a rich father....

New list

2006-06-27T07:37:00.000-04:00

See these guys? What do they all have in common? That's right, they commit acts that are considered heinous and criminal by most of the world. These assholes use terror as a weapon against civilians. What else? That's right, they all have firearms.
In the interest of following through with our knowledge database so we can more easily detect terrorists, I recommend we institute a national database of all gun owners, manufacturers, dealers, and ranges. It only makes sense if this is how we're going to fight terrorism. Doesn't the president have a right to know who owns guns?

What's the problem anyway, if you're not doing anything illegal?

Aided and abetted by the media “elite,” anti-gun groups continue to attack NRA’s efforts to protect confidential law enforcement data from abuse in court. Over the past several years, amendments to appropriations bills for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) have contained provisions to prevent access to firearm trace data and firearm dealers’ records, except for legitimate criminal investigations. (The Truth About H.R. 5005, Current Legislation, NRA-ILA)

Is the NRA on the side of the terrorists?

Hitler Cats

2006-06-26T08:33:00.000-04:00

There's obviously a conspiracy afoot to defame the good name of cats (I noticed Charlie's laying low...hmmm). Anyway, here's some of the mean propaganda. How low will they stoop?!?!
Hitler Cats

Cosmic Variance

2006-06-23T08:25:00.000-04:00

I was checking out a physics blog new to me called Cosmic Variance and was suprised to see Joe turning up again:

I didn’t know anything about punk rock, and certainly didn’t come close to appreciating the genius of the Clash. Sure, I knew Rock The Casbah from the video on MTV (although little did I suspect it would some day become a conservative rock anthem, the Clash being secret Republicans at heart). But I didn’t at all understand the skill and passion with which the band blended hard-core punk sensibilities with a disparate palate of musical influences. (Bhindi Bhagee)

It was this comment to the post in particular that struck a chord:

But as his recent work in general and this song in particular point out, he died in love with the world, and not just his corner of it. You could do worse in this life.

That's an important sentiment to me.

And to be clear, the writer was being snarky about the conservative rock anthem. The Clash if anything, were Social Democrats.

He's Watching You

2006-06-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

Since we're on a war footing and being vigilant for anti-Americanism, here's some things to keep on the look out for from fascists who might want to subvert our way of life. Generations of family going back to the 1700's stood up to the ever present threats to this country, let's not let them down now.

From Laurence W. Britt's research of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos's Greece, Pinochet's Chile, and Suharto's Indonesia, here's some common indicators of fascism:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous” acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and “terrorists.” Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism. Ruling elites always identified closely with the military and the industrial infrastructure that supported it. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute. The military was seen as an expression of nationalism, and was used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the ruling elite.

5. Rampant sexism.
Beyond the simple fact that the political elite and the national culture were male-dominated, these regimes inevitably viewed women as second-class citizens. They were adamantly anti-abortion and also homophobic. These attitudes were usually codified in Draconian laws that enjoyed strong support by the orthodox religion of the country, thus lending the regime cover for its abuses.

6. A controlled mass media.
Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.

7. Obsession with national security.
Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.” A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.

9. Power of corporations protected.
Although the personal life of ordinary citizens was under strict control, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised. The ruling elite saw the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure military production (in developed states), but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of “have-not” citizens.

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.

12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
Most of these regimes maintained Draconian systems of criminal justice with huge prison populations. The police were often glorified and had almost unchecked power, leading to rampant abuse. “Normal” and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or “traitors” was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.

14. Fraudulent elections.
Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.

Liberal!

2006-06-17T08:29:00.000-04:00

Nigger, uppity bitch, spic, gook, raghead, fucking tree hugger, commie, injun...
So many people to fear and hate and so little time. What a pain in the ass to have to have a name for each one of them. And what about those race and gender traitors that want to cross over to the other side and threaten the power base? What to call them? One word?
Liberal! That's it. That'll cover up the real bigotry and frame it in something acceptable. Liberal does nicely to place the argument as something reasoned.
Just call all you hate "liberals" and no one will know.
"You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do. - B.F. Skinner

2006-06-04T08:21:00.000-04:00

I've been of the opinion, being mechanically inclined and a rat rodder, that mechanics is easy, art is hard. Just about anything man has created is nothing more than binary...processes based on yes-no/true-false. Art introduces "maybe" or at least a process so complicated, that as Chaos Theory suggests, one would need a computer as large as all of the universe to understand the mechinics of all of the universe.

Peoplehater's "Car Hunt"

I could teach just about anyone to build a given motor that would perform in a given, quantified way. Can one teach to write a book as accepted as art as Anna Karenina? A work as lasting as Persistence of Time? A song as interesting as Filipino Box Spring Hog?
So I really dig Kinetic Art...Machines that do something unexpected. We've grown so distant from technology lately. Sure it's everywhere around us, but we no longer understand it. There was a time that we took pride in beating the machine. When a piece of equipment broke, our parents or grandparents would haul out the tools and fix it. It would only go to the shop because we lacked the time, parts, or tools to fix it. But we still owned it. Technology iwas one thing we could truly own. Today, we can operate the technology, but we don't own it. Some engineer somewhere has lent us the devices for us to operate...to be dazzled by its pretty little function. We've become a world of technological voyeurs. We use tools but rarely create our own anymore.
I'm no Luddite, I love machines, but I think we have a rather unhealty relationship with technology today. Especially the soul stealer - television. Everytime you turn it on think about how many ads are bombarding your subconscious mind. Even better, after every show think about how much closer to death you now are and ask "Was it worth it?"
With that, I remembered Survival Research Laboritories. Dangerous machinists building dangerous and massive pieces of art. The mechnical meeting the arts. Founded by Mark Pauline (who blew one of his hands off mixing rocket fuel - talk about dedication to art) the group does performance art pieces on a large scale using flame throwers, jet engines, robotics, animal carcasses, etc.
Fasciniating shit!

Christian Ristow's "Subjugator"

Another "disgruntled" special operator

2006-06-03T11:06:00.000-04:00

How many disgruntled Special Op's guys does it take to make an army?

From Stan Goff at Feral Scholar:

An Open Letter to US Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq
By STAN GOFF
I was a soldier for most of the time between 1970 and 1996. I signed out on my retirement from 3rd Special Forces in Ft. Bragg. I had also served in 7th Special Forces, on three Ranger assignments, with Delta for almost four years, as a Cavalry Scout for a while, and in the 82nd Airborne Division as an infantryman. I started my career in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

His disgruntledness is showing...

In the course of that career, I heard everything you have heard and felt everything you have felt about "loyalty."

Tricky thing, loyalty.

Nowadays, when I talk with some of you, or when I hear conversations recorded with you, I hear many who have very serious reservations about these wars of occupation. I had more than reservations from the get-go about Iraq and Afghanistan, and I opposed them as hard as I could, and so did millions of other people around the world.
But that brain-dead piece of shit in the White House who is legally your boss, and all his handlers, starting with Vice President Dick "Halliburton" Cheney they sent you to do this thing anyway.
They talked themselves into believing this would be and these are their words a cakewalk. They surrounded themselves exclusively with others who echoed what was already in their minds; and they punished and villified and isolated anyone who told them what they didn't want to hear. Because they made up their minds to conduct these invasions years ago, and with the attacks of September 11 in which Iraq's role was exactly nothing they figured now was their chance to conduct the re-disposition of the old Cold War military into their new plan to build permanent bases in Southwest Asia.
Since they'd made up their minds, they didn't want to hear anything except rosy scenarios for their plans, because these reptile-minded, preppy gangsters are like spoiled children who can't abide anyone fucking up their toy-emperor fantasies.

The letter is a good read. Posted at DailyKOS by Christopher Day.

More Haditha and the WOT

2006-06-02T08:06:00.000-04:00

Review the history and analyze the mistakes. If a refit of management is needed, do it. Accountability, damnit! The fallicy of the right's argument is that it supposes that if you don't support current strategy and tactics, then one must have wanted to do nothing. This protects them from the argument that something needed to be done, but this administration fucked it up. That's the key...THIS ADMINISTRATION FUCKED IT UP! I don't know if it was general, acute incompetence or more likely the actions were driven by a broken, discordant, and delusional ideology.
Funny, "Staying the course" sounds a lot like the definition of stupidity - repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different result.
Anyway...
This would be a breakdown in C&C:

[Haditha is] a feral place where the marines hardly washed; a number had abandoned the official living quarters to set up separate encampments with signs ordering outsiders to keep out; and a daily routine punctured by the emergency alarm of the dam itself with its antiquated and crumbling machinery. (Oliver Poole - Telegraph.CO.UK)

This is a post from a Marine posted to Haditha:

From about March - June of 2004, the Haditha dam was my home base of operations. I was there with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, attached as a Combat Videographer. Aside from a few Operations that took me away from the town, I lived in the dam.

There are a few things about the degradation of living conditions in Haditha that make me insane with rage. The first, we all know there are millions of dollars missing from the books in Iraq (pure fucking graft) and while that might not be enough to complete the job of fixing the dam, put it would put a dent in it. Our Marines would at least be able to live better than they are right now.(More...)

This is exactly a war of attrition. This also is a war of choice. The "Decider" decided to invade Iraq against my wishes (see I'm a citizen that the government serves). I reluctantly supported Afghanistan and then came the "Bait and Switch."
I wanted sustained operations in Afghanistan from substantial, yet non-permanant bases in the southern region and with little direct exposure to the populace. We would establish a robust and quiet intelligence network in SW Asia, integrating our operations with the likes of Germany's GSG9 and France's DST and DNAT (checkout Evaluating the Effectiveness of French Counter-Terrorism at Global Terrorism Analysis), and doubling or trippling our Special Forces. Delta in particular comes to mind as the primary force to deal with this type of warfare. Special Operational Forces of America (SOFA - Green Berets), who specialize in interacting with locals and utilizing fighters, would be expanded. We would establish grants to SW Asian locals to develop their own, non-resource based economy. We would invest in infrastructure and schools. We would help develop a strong middle class there (as we should be doing here). We would have made greater, but low key overtures to Iranian President Kahtami. Would would invest in Russia's oil fields while developing alternative energies. We would give a basic mission to our intelligence organizations without micromanaging the effort and without personal agenda.
When we've reduced the threat in the real WOT, then maybe we could look at Iraq.

Haditha

2006-06-01T06:42:00.000-04:00

And so it begins. At a certain point in any war of attrition, C&C breaks down. The military is now ordering a "Core Values" training program in response to the killings in Haditha. This will be, in effect, soldiers sitting around bored, as some JAG officer drones on about not slaughtering civilians.
Some right wing extemists are claiming that the left is trying to exploit the issue. Jesus fucking Christ...how fucking whacked is that?!? Who're the one's actually exploiting it for political gain with divisive rhetoric? With the exception of their postition to undermine democracy, the right is becoming increasingly irrelevant and lacking credibility. The facts just don't live up to the dream.
Haditha is a sign that this Iraq thing was a bad idea, poorly planned, and leads eventually to what trained killers do...kill! I'll admit something to you...however much I value my integrity, honor, and professionalism when I was in the service, I couldn't promise that I wouldn't end up getting involved in something like that. I would like to think I wouldn't, but the fact is that in conflicts with no tangible forward movement, this shit happens. Excusable...no! Expected...yes!
The right (and many on the left) gleefully sent other mother's sons in to police a world that in reality, very few people gave a rat's ass about until the whole WMD's thing. With arrogance, everybody thinks "Of course we're noble. As a culture, we couldn't ever possibly do any harm." The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
With that in mind, maybe the right will understand this...a little reminder:

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14)

What Haditha tells me as a former intel analyst is that a military in its natural course is in its third or fourth year of trying to control people who aren't responsive. It tells me C&C and morale is breaking down because the action doesn't live up to the propaganda. It tells me that the troops are frustrated at being trained to kill then being asked to police a people.
If indeed the allegations are true, those pulling the triggers need to be held accountable, as well as those in charge (Command and Control means responsibility goes all the way up the chain...the chain of command is a two way street). But we also need to remember that as a society, we put those weapons in these men's hands and put them in the cage.

"Have a Happy Holiday"

2006-05-28T09:17:00.000-04:00

It's Memorial Day Monday and people say "Have a Great Holiday" or "Have a Great Weekend." I suspect most vets like myself, have a job where they have to work. On behalf of the millions that have died in wars, many of them forgotten, I say "Shut the hell up!"
To those that have forgotten:
2464 U.S. troops and counting. While you're out grilling, I hope you have a wonderful fucking holiday. I don't think you deserve it. In the U.S. the idea was that soldiers sacrifice for the Constitution, which talks about secure borders and individual rights. Rights you're willing to piss away because you just woke up and realized there's a risk associated with liberty. Wouldn't want to dirty your hands as a civilian seeing that rights are protected, would you now? Oh, that's right, now there's terrorism around every corner and we have to be vigilant. You want to know a secret? It's been around every corner since time immemorium. It's just that one group made a loud enough bang for you to notice. In the past, our founders knew of the risks, yet were willing to take them. Why are you so willing to throw them away?
Another thing I wanted to point out...Sympathy with Terrorists™. On the left is those opposed to Iraq, accused of supporting terrorists. On the right is a right wingers thoughts on terrorism.

Remember, the holiday was brought to you by young men and women who send their regrets that they can't attend. Maybe, if you're really sincere, you can go out and buy another fucking yellow ribbon magnet.

16 Shells from a 30.06

2006-05-24T08:49:00.000-04:00

Something for Charlie. You might be interested to know that Torr's also a big fan of TOm Waits (as am I) and credits him as a big inspiration for the Kings of Nuthin'.

Shit out of Luck

2006-05-20T09:20:00.000-04:00

Finding that my last music selection was a favorite among young girls, I had to repair my wounded ego. A shortened version of my buddy Torr's song, Shit out of Luck.Needless to say, the Kings of Nuthin' are not very popular with the Boston Fire Department (who even sent a chief to one of their shows once to shut them down if they got a little too drunk and started playing with fire again).
And yes, those are Torr's teeth who's had to have his uppers replaced as he had a bad habit in the past of having them kicked out. He's calmed down considerably since then. Spike on bass (miss you man), Tommy and Slick on sax, Zack on piano, Necro on washboard,Liam on drums,Justice on guitar.
They've just come out with their third album, Over the Counter Culture (love the play on words). This follows the albums, Get Busy Livin' or Get Busy Dyin' and Fight Songs for Fuckups and EP's Shit out of Luck and Punk Rock Rythm and Blues.
Funny, but the kings sound is the soundtrack I've always had in my head.

Catchy tune

2006-05-18T08:40:00.000-04:00

And I'm a scotsphile anyway.
Figures, these guys credit Merle Haggar, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams and Ray Charles as well as punk as their inspiration.

Question

2006-05-14T02:51:00.000-04:00

At what point would you defend your civil liberties?
At what point would you defend the civil liberties of your children?
At what point would you defend the civil liberties of your mother?
At what point would you defend the civil liberties of your father?
At what point would you defend the civil liberties of your neighbor?
At what point would you defend the civil liberties of your countrymen?
At what point would you defend the civil liberties of your of the world?
What would you kill for?
What would you die for?

The "Decider"

2006-05-11T08:32:00.000-04:00

Note to President: You command the soldiers, not the population. You are NOT the "decider."
I know this is a little confusing, so here's a little help with the concept:

a person responsible for the administration of a business

persons who administer the law

having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.; "the executive branch"

administrator: someone who manages a government agency or department

You see, administering the law means the law comes from somewhere else (something called Representitives who work on the behalf of us). There's no decision to be made, just take your orders and go. Get it? We (the American Citizens) are the deciders. Now, I know you're confused and this has led to some confusion among some 31% of your bosses, but it really is simple. We give you the laws and you see that they're implemented (and yes, you have to follow it too. You're just a citizen like the rest of us).
Now, if you don't like the position, there are other positions available that might better suit your career path. North Korea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc. may be more akin to what you have in mind.

To Anacreon in Heaven

2006-05-10T08:01:00.000-04:00

So our fearless leaders are bent out of shape about the national anthem being sung in spanish (Impatient Senators Target Borders, Anthem - AP)
Hell, why stop there. As Sen. Daniel Akaka from Hawaii pointed out, what about this latin crap?!? E Pluribus Unum my ass.
Let's not stop there. Hell, we need to take out all the spanish corruption of english...you know...undo the damage. Words like rodeo, canyon, etc.
And what about the French corrupting our speach. We should remove every last bit of that garbage. Words like absurd, country, culture...
Lastly, the dirty, Nazi scum have managed to inluence our language also. We beat the bastards, yet they ultimately won with their infiltration into the very core of our culture. Tackle, kindergarten, and hamburger all need to go.
Essentially, we need to strip it down to its very origins and reassert the core of english again. Its been too corrupted over the years to even recognize it anymore as what it orginaly was...Celtic.
Being that the language of the ancient Celts isn't english, we then have to strip that out too.
After all is said and done, those that think the national anthem should be pure in language need to speak out in the pure language. It would go something like this "___________________!"

The orginal national anthem from the musical part

To Anacreon in Heaven, where he fat in full glee,
A few fons of Harmony fent a petition,
That He their Infpirer and Patron would be;
When this anfwer arrived from the Jolly Old Grecian
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
"no longer be mute,
"I'll lend you my Name and infpire you to boot,
"And, befides, I'll infruct you like me to entwine
"The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's Vine.

George W. Bush arrested for OUI

2006-05-08T09:32:00.000-04:00

Ok, so they want to make hash about Pat Kennedy's accident (Kennedy says medications a factor in D.C. car accident - Chicago Tribune).
Fucking hypocrites, suck on this:
and this:

and this: Noelle Bush, daughter of Florida Governor Jeb Bush

"The Meaing of it All"

2006-05-05T07:49:00.000-04:00

I've been reading the book of three lectures from Richard Feyman. Good stuff. I also really enjoyed two other books from the brilliant quantum physicist Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman and What Do You Care What Other People Think?.
Here's a passage from the lecture titled The Unscientific Age regarding reason and advertisements that struck a chord with me:

As I say, I know a lot of people. Ordinary people. And I think their intelligence is being insulted. I mean there's all kinds of things. You turn on the radio; if you have any soul, you go crazy. People have a way—I haven't learned it yet—of not listening to it. I don't know how to do it. So in order to prepare this talk I turned on the radio for three minutes when I was at home, and I heard two things.
First, I turned it on and I heard Indian music—Indians from New Mexico, Navajos. I recognized it. I had heard them in Gallup, and I was delighted. I won't give an imitation of the war chant, although I would like to. I'm tempted. It's very interesting, and it's deep in their religion, and it's something that they respect. So I would report honestly that I was pleased to see that on the radio there was something interesting. That was cultural. So we have to be honest. If we're going to report, you listen for three minutes, that's what you hear. So I kept listening. I have to report that I cheated a little bit. I kept listening because I liked it; it was good. It stopped. And a man said, "We are on the warpath against automobile accidents." And then he went on and said how you have to be careful in automobile accidents. That's not an insult to intelligence; it's an insult to the Navajo Indians, and to their religion and their ideas. And so I listened until I heard that there is a drink of some kind, I think it's called Pepsi-Cola, for people who think young. So I said, all right, that's enough. I'll think about that a while. First of all, the whole idea is crazy. What is a person who thinks young? I suppose it is a person who likes to do things that young people like to do. Alright, let them think that. Then this is a drink for such people. I suppose that the people in the research department of the drink company decided how much lime to put in as follows: "Well, we used to have a drink that was just an ordinary drink, but we have to rearrange it, not for ordinary people but for special people who think young. More sugar." The whole idea that a drink is especially for people who think young is an absolute absurdity.
So as a result of this, we get perpetually insulted, our intelligence always insulted. I have an idea of how to beat it. People have all kinds of plans, you know, and the FTC is trying to straighten it out. I've got an easy plan. Suppose that you purchased the use for thirty days of twenty-six billboards in Greater Seattle, eighteen of them lighted. And you put onto the billboards a sign which says, "Has your intelligence been insulted? Don't buy the product." And then you buy a few spots on the television or the radio. In the middle of some program a man comes up and says, "Pardon me, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but if you find that any of the advertising that you hear insults your intelligence or in any way disturbs you, we would advise you not to buy the product," and things will be straightened out as quickly as it can be.
Thank you.

Sounds good to me.

MyCatHatesYou.Com

2006-04-30T08:48:00.000-04:00

I haven't had much time lately, so I apologize to everyone for checking in and finding nothing new.
Meow, asshole
For a little fill...
I was watching one of my cats (I have three which I know is almost getting a bit weird...no mas...but the third came as a mission of mercy) this morning jump around. A fly had gotten in the house. After a couple seconds, he got it and ate it. I started to do a quick check to see if there was any chance of it being harmful to him when I remembered this bit that's been floating around the internet for some time now.

DAY 752 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from shredding the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant and cough it up on the carpeting.

DAY 761 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair...must try this on their bed (again).

DAY 762 - Slept all day so that I could annoy my captors with sleep depriving, incessant pleas for food at ungodly hours of the night.

DAY 765 - Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was...Hmmm. Not working according to plan...

DAY 768- I am finally aware of how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was chosen for the water torture. This time however it included a burning foamy chemical called "shampoo". What sick minds could invent such a liquid. My only consolation is the piece of thumb still stuck between my teeth and the tiny bit of flesh under my claws.

DAY 771 - There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the foul odor of the glass tubes they call "beer." More importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies". Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

DAY 774 - I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The Bird on the other hand has got to be an informant. He has mastered their frightful tongue (something akin to mole speak) and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room his safety is assured. But I can wait, it is only a matter of time.

Images from MyCatHatesYou.Com

Felix practices his ventriloquist act with a "Bobo
the stupid, big-headed monkey" hand puppet.

If you've ever lost your leopard...
Flip out like a Ninja!
Not enough? Check out Joel Veitch at Rathergood.com. Inexplicable!
"Angry" is one of my favorites!

Cold Medicine

2006-04-23T08:29:00.000-04:00

I've had a few things on my mind lately...

The reason I named the blog DEprogramming Starter Kit was to remind myself to keep questioning the most fundamental things that I or we as humans accept as fact. For instance, my most often used analogy for the illusion of reality and the fact we make approximations about the universe is the nature of right angles. Look at anything square/box like. Take two of the sides where they intersect and we assume we have a straight line. But if we really look closely, that which composes the edge of the intersection is really an assemblage of atoms. Atoms are comprised of electrons orbiting a nucleus. The key to that idea is orbiting of the nucleus. Orbits are based on Pi...an irrational number...no definitive end...infinity. Einstein suggested a model that space/time is curved. We have nice little sayings such as "The shortest point between two points is a straight line." True conceptually but not necessarily in reality. For more to speculate regarding our linear language v. the curved reality of things, Phi is also a wonderful and weird number. Check out GoldenNumber.net.
Physics is metaphysical and metaphoric for me. It suggest so much about the truth of the matter...that we actually know very little and we assume much. I'm not embarrassed or ashamed that I'm so small an entity in such a phenomenally wild, weird, and fucking cool universe. I'm embarrassed when I get too cocky and assume that because I sometimes can predict the actions and motivations of my fellow monkeys that I'm pretty cool. I'm embarrassed when I take myself too seriously and get too angry with other monkeys for their monkey behavior.
Linear projections/extrapolations are nice and helpful for us when we need to swing from one branch to the next, but when trying to get beyond basic concepts that keep us alive for the day they really start to distort reality when we project out too far.
Another thing that awes me and I'm still trying to figure out what it means to me is the fact that if we observe something, we affect it. We are not removed from the rest and that our minds actually are integrated with the mechanics of reality. We consider ourselves passive until we influence the macro world with our hands, but we now know that the very act of looking at...of contemplating...a quantum field will cause it to collapse into a probable form!!! For more, think about the meaning of the "Double Slit" experiment where a photon is neither/both a particle or a wave until we use something to measure it one way or another. The photon has to know what our intentions are before it becomes one or the other based on our apparatus.
Anyway...I try to remain humble about what I know, not necessarily compared to my fellow monkeys, but compared to how much knowledge there is out there. Can I see the universe through different lenses? Can I construct new and really weird rule set that govern the universe that is as valid as another? By comparing the two templates of reality, can I see differences that suggest a third bigger truth? One day spent looking at the world around in terms of subatomic physics, the next in the context of symbolic communication and informational control, and the next in terms of primate behavior.
We've had our entire lives spent absorbing someone else's programming about the nature of reality. We accept these few models and make absolute statements about logic, politics, spirituality, colors, cats, dogs, etc. and continue working in finite terms in an infinite universe. The only truth I've been able to come up with is that the mere fact that we say infinity...that we see Infinity like a ghost out of the corner of our eye...that we can conceptualize it to a degree suggests that all things are true...

I think I'll stop there because the next thing I had on my mind will open a can of worms that probably deserves its own post. I've been thinking about the nature of crime, human behavior and motivation, and the very dark things that helps me be a successful investigator.

Please Stay Tuned

2006-04-22T09:17:00.000-04:00

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

I returned a couple of days ago from my romp in Las Vegas. After defiling my body for hours on end, day after day, I have come down with a rather unplesant cold causing my rage levels to run low. Boots are still on, however.

Las Vegas is worth going to once in one's life, if only to say that you've been there. If you plan on going, read no further as this will be a plot spoiler.

I don't plan on ever going to Las Vegas again. This was my third time, but I was obligated to a wedding on this occasion.
Las Vegas is in the business to get every last penny from you. That may seem obvious, but I think we have an idea that they'd at least do it with class. Well the classy part of Vegas I assume died with the Rat Pack. Las Vegas is now just cheap. The booze has gone up to standard prices. The machines are occupied with none of the beautiful, exciting people...not even the mildly interesting people. No more coins come tumbling out if you hit for ten after spending twenty, just little claim slips. If you're lucky, you'll have a machine that has a recording of coins hitting the catch tray. Every little amenity is charged. Comps (complimentary gifts) are accrued methodically through points. The last grace is a free beer or cocktail every half hour as you mindlessly push buttons (the levers take to much effort). Moving sidewalks that guide across the vast entrences, but not even a stationary one out. No benches, no place to sit as you plod along for miles with the rest of the suckers. The walls are even designed to be of no use for a quick refresher. The only respite one can get is buy sitting in front of a machine, a bar, or if your lucky, a coffe shop with one or two tables...but only if you're buying.
If you look at the skin of the casinos for more than a moment or so, you see the plastic, rotting veneer. They've traded the Naugahyde for crappy vinyl. The lights have recently been turned up to see each and every pimple on the butt of base America, because...hey what the hell...we're not looking anymore.
The city itself is made up of massive strips of strips occupied by strip malls. No one is on the streets. Miles and miles of civilization artifact, yet no life outside of the Strip. Traffic jams on the freeways...apperently people moving from one flat, nondescript part of the city to the next.
Even the music weekender I went to was problematic. I'm sorry, but the Southern California fasionistas made it rather unpleasant. With their posturing egos, they truly destroyed the communal feel that I've had at other weekenders in New Jersey, Indiana, and so on . Give it a rest and enjoy the music and dancing, guys. (As always, the Rockabillies and Teddy Boys from Europe were great. I gotta get to Hemsby one of these days.) I did have fun running around with my crowd from Boston and the NYC crowd, but it seems our goal is less about proving anything and more about drinking and bullshitting.

The surrounding mountains are still there and as majestic as ever.

Las Vegas is no longer what it was...it's just cheap.

Ready for the nukes?

2006-04-09T09:36:00.000-04:00

Nukes a possibility if U.S. decides to attack Iranian sites, report says
By Seattle Times news services

The Bush administration, which publicly advocates negotiations to halt Iran's nuclear program, is accelerating military planning for possible attacks against Iran and has not ruled out using tactical nuclear weapons, according to a new article.

To be fair...

But four Pentagon, military, and administration officials who participate in high-level deliberations on Iran and who were granted anonymity to speak candidly rejected the article's contention that the Bush administration was considering nuclear weapons in a possible strike against Iran.

From Reuters...

A former senior defense official is cited as saying the military believed a sustained bombing campaign against Iran would humiliate the leadership and lead the Iranian public to overthrow it, adding that he was shocked to hear the strategy.

That worked so well the first time around.
My thinking is that the administration is selectively "leaking" information and using the nuke thing to scare the crap outta Iran. However, because they're dumbshits, they don't realize that the rest of the fucking world is also listening and it's driving more of our "allies" to realize that we're just plain batshit crazy. Now their backpeddling.
And what the fuck anyway. Before Iraq we had Khatami, a reformer and moderate who was going to blows with the religious extreemists in Iran. We blow up their neighbors and then Iran elects a hardline government. Go figure. The only way that one didn't see that coming is that one really was hoping for an all out war against all of Islam stemming from their deepest, darkest race/cultural/religious hatred.

Here's a rub...
More and more military is coming out against the administration. Sure, you can still find monkey trigger pullers who don't get it and will avow the admin no matter what they do, but the military by and large is comprised of Americans who still view the big picture as important; Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hapiness rather than the vindictive, militaristic, fascist (yes, I said it and more and more countrymen are coming to believe it's true).
Gen. Zinni's been making the big noise lately. Of course there's the argument that "well, he's promoting a book." That's a bullshit argument. Until you can prove that's greed's the motive, that's just speculative talk designed to duck the argument. Attack the credibility of anyone that disagrees with you.
How's this for Zinni credentials: "Following his retirement from the Marine Corps, the Bush administration thought so highly of Zinni that it appointed him to one of its highest diplomatic posts -- special envoy to the Middle East." ("Gen. Zinni: 'They've Screwed Up'" CBS News)
How about Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who doesn't have a book?
"...Paul Eaton suggest the public has had too little truth about how we got into the mess in Iraq, and how bad it is now." ("Should Rumsfeld Resign?" NPR's On Point)

And then former top operations man at the Pentagon, Lt. Gen. Greg Newbold "Inside the military family, I made no secret of my view that the zealots' rationale for war made no sense. And I think I was outspoken enough to make those senior to me uncomfortable. But I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat--al-Qaeda. I retired from the military four months before the invasion, in part because of my opposition to those who had used 9/11's tragedy to hijack our security policy. Until now, I have resisted speaking out in public. I've been silent long enough." ("Why Iraq Was a Mistake" Time)

As I read the news, I see more and more blatant coruption, lies, distortions, justifications, excuses... Many have known it for years, but the general populace seems unresponsive to the sheer glut of bad news about this administration. For those of you that say it's all the "Liberal Media" I say go back to sticking your head back in the sand. Where there's smoke and all that... It's a raging inferno of malfeasance.
My indignant bucket is about full. If Americans can't wake up in a fit of patriotism and see how we've been fooled and fooled again and this adminstration needs to be dragged to the table to held responsible, then it's not worth it and I'll be officially ashamed of my country, not just embarrassed by a few. Too many people relying on the fact that they popped out of a womb in some hospital in the U.S. as being all it takes to be a good American. The sniveling, craven, servile attitude by so many, combined with the abivilent, selfish, consumer heard mind of so many more makes me wonder what the hell makes an American now. Hell, maybe we should let all the illegals and new immigrants stay and deport everyone else. At least they'll turn out for something. Waving a flag and buying a yellow magnet isn't shit. Any asshole can toe the company line. To think and to question is the American Way.
The reality is that many that identify the right hide behind thin veils of traditional conservative thought, trying to conceal the truth of their feelings. They fear thus they hate. Easy as that. It's very telling to me that Karl Rove admitted to getting beaten up by a girl when he was a kid:

"At the age of 9, I put a Nixon bumper sticker on the wire basket in the front of my bicycle. Unfortunately, the little Catholic girl down the street was a couple years and about 20 pounds on me. She was for Kennedy.
When she saw me on my bike with my bumper sticker for Nixon, she put me on the ground, flattened me out and gave me a bloody nose," he said." (Washintong Post)

A little tip for insecure right wingers: You would not believe how big you look if you come off as a tough guy but show compassion and concern for others. It suprises the hell out of folks when they hear my real values. They expect me to be the typical goon, talking up the latest football game, making rape jokes, and spouting worship for the almighty BushCo.

New law...anyone who feels that a preemptive war is worth waging must vote directly. This vote is cast by enlistment. Enough soldiers means we can go to war. The rest of the already existing military remains CONUS in a defensive posture.

Ok...I'm off to Las Vegas for a four night bender at the big Rockabilly Weekender. Take care all and be safe!

Intel Dump

2006-04-03T08:37:00.000-04:00

Taken from Intel Dump, a response to former Drill Sergeant and Infantry Officer J.D. Henderson's question "Is Iraq already at a state of civil war?" A response from boots on the ground:

Carl, the 11B (mail):
I just came from a memorial service for two of our dead.

Last week, I had the great misfortune of watching half of my patrol go down as dead or wounded. The IEDs turned one mortarman inside out. I was the one who got to the door to save him, but there was nothing to save. We had to assault out.

We few Americans on the patrol actually were a distinct minority. It was a joint combat mission with the IAs. They were the targets. We were the "collateral damage" this time.

A LT and a gunner were wounded. The irony is that the MITT fellows were OK.

So I'm not really in the f******* mood for hearing any discussion about how we're not stuck in the middle of a civil war, because we are.

The IAs, as good as they have become, are not representative of a professional military force. They derive almost wholly from the Shi'i, with a few former Pershmerga thrown in and some token Sunnis.

Until the IA can recruit a more diverse crop into the mix, the IAs will become the brunt of the fighting. To the Sunni insurgency, they are the face of heresy they portend the usurping of their former overlords.

It's a civil war. A nasty, brutal, bloody civil war. The only thing that's kept the lid on it is the presence of 140,000 CF.

The sad thing is that it's a war the vast majority of Iraqis don't want, just as the Balkan wars in the 1990s were unthinkable to most in Sarajevo or Belgrade or Tirana. But here we are.

The question now is, What policies can we use, in conjunction with a nascent Iraqi government to make a difference for the good of the people of Iraq?

I hate to even use the term "government" for that mottled mass, more like a "shakedown racket."

Moqtadr al-Sadr wants blood and has the Iranian cash and their plastique to do it.

So do the Sunnis who are much better at killing than he is.

And the Kurds are willing to walk away with a handshake. They have their own country, and their own mini-war in Kirkuk.

Could this have been prevented by a more competent American occupation?

We'll probably never know.
3.29.2006 2:30am

For the best dialogue on Iraq and Military Policy checkout the Intel Dump. Not just a bunch of monkeys pulling triggers.

When writing about today's non-linear battlefield, the site's founder and Army Intel Officer Philip Carter wrote:

"The Army (and to a lesser extent the Marine Corps) must reshape its entire force, front to back, to fight the noncontiguous, nonlinear battles. Every vehicle must have sufficient armor to protect its crew; every convoy must have the right mix of light and heavy weapons to protect itself; every unit must be equipped with night-vision goggles and global positioning systems; every soldier must have the skills and training to fight as an infantryman."

I would go a step further and say every standard soldier needs to know how to fight like a Combat MP. That's not from a specialist rivalry point of view. I say it because MP's are trained to work in an environment where the enemy is in among the civilian population and MP's are more equipped to sort them out. Along with Special Forces, meaningful Civil Affairs, and honest Intel, modern battle fields resemble more and more gangland streets. No country is going to wage a full frontal war with the U.S. Unfortunately, Low Intesity Conflict doesn't generate the revenue that industrial based war does and the military industrial complex, which Eisenhower warned of, wants . There are no more monolithic enemies. We can ill afford to think in outdated monolithic terms such as "the Axis of Evil."

Jim Hightower

2006-04-02T10:02:00.000-04:00

Old School Texan. Hightower is a self described Progressive Populist, trying to get the word out in the vein of Will Rogers. He's a former politician, writer, speaker, etc. (FYI Charlie, there has been a pardigm shift there. Carpet Baggers coming down, playing cowboy dress-up, and appealing to the populist sentiment without the sense of "Live and Let Live" of the cowboy code.) I fixed the link so I encourage everyone to check his site out and take a listen to his radio commentaries that you can find archived there.

Here's a post I thought was particularly interesting about our vanishing middle class."Keeping Up Appearances: Homeless Members of the Middle Class Adjust to Living in their Cars"
But for the grace of god...

Who said this?

2006-03-30T08:08:00.000-05:00

You might be suprised who uttered these words (I'm quite frankly not suprised)

“I understand the people who are doing this and where they’re coming from..." "Delusional ideology is a big factor, and there’s a huge amount of venal corporate activity. Halliburton and other companies are making so much money that they don’t want to see it changed.”

“Saudi Arabia is the root source of Islamic extremism and terrorism,” he said. “But this administration keeps the public blinded to the fact because it makes so much money from the monarchy.”

“At every turn, in the upper levels of our administration, they refused to listen to what they did not want to hear..."

“The henchmen of Hitler said it. The henchmen of Pol Pot said it. Every low-life tyrant has said it, but it is the duty of every American citizen to stand up and say it when something is wrong,” he said. “This administration has wrapped itself in the troops. They’ve learned from Vietnam to say, ‘If you don’t support me, you don’t support the troops,’ but they’re hiding behind those kids.”

Rome News-Tribune, GA

"Utter debacle. But it had to be from the very first. The reasons were wrong. The reasons of this administration for taking this nation to war were not what they stated. (Army Gen.) Tommy Franks was brow-beaten and ... pursued warfare that he knew strategically was wrong in the long term. That’s why he retired immediately afterward. His own staff could tell him what was going to happen afterward."

"We have fomented civil war in Iraq. We have probably fomented internecine war in the Muslim world between the Shias and the Sunnis, and I think Bush may well have started the third world war, all for their own personal policies."

"For the first thing, our credibility is utterly zero. So we destroyed whatever credibility we had. ... And I say "we," because the American public went along with this. They voted for a second Bush administration out of fear, so fear is what they’re going to have from now on... this administration has worked overtime to divert the American public’s attention from [Iraq]. Their lies are coming home to roost now, and it’s gonna fall apart."

"That’s Cheney’s pursuit. The only reason anyone tortures is because they like to do it. It’s about vengeance, it’s about revenge, or it’s about cover-up. You don’t gain intelligence that way. Everyone in the world knows that. It’s worse than small-minded, and look what it does. I’ve argued this on Bill O’Reilly and other Fox News shows. I ask, who would you want to pay to be a torturer? Do you want someone that the American public pays to torture? He’s an employee of yours. It’s worse than ridiculous. It’s criminal; it’s utterly criminal."

"Our military is completely consumed, so were there a real threat - thankfully, there is no real threat to the U.S. in the world, but were there one, we couldn’t confront it. Right now, that may not be a bad thing, because that keeps Bush from trying something with Iran or with Venezuela."

Bellaciao

This words are taken from Eric L. Haney (CSM ret.). Here's his bio:

Eric L. Haney was born in the mountains of North Georgia. During his twenty-year military career, he served only in critical, front-line combat units – as a Combat Infantryman, a Ranger, and as a founding operator of Delta Force.

Post-military, Haney has worked throughout the Middle East and Latin America, protecting princes, presidents, and CEOs. He led the protective force that returned President Bertrand Aristide to Haiti. He has negotiated with Latin American guerillas for the safe return of hostages and provided security for international oil companies operating in the most dangerous regions on earth. He has also worked with a group of fellow ex-Delta commandos to rescue American children kidnapped around the world.

Today, Haney lives and works in Los Angeles with his wife, writer Dianna Edwards.

Know Your Rights revisited

2006-03-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

I finally got it! Man, tattoos are addictive. I went in Saturday night to get the logo to the Clash's "Know Your Rights" on my forearm and much to my suprise my buddy DeBarge (who's also with The Curses) at Xtreme Tattoo in North Quincy (south side of Boston) had something else in mind. He whipped up something much more traditional/old school. It looks a little rough at the time of the pic as it's still healing.
In today's world where liberty is sold on the cheap, it was important for me to have a reminder that our freedoms are to be defended and being servile to anything is just that...servile.

This is a public service announcement
With guitar
Know your rights
All three of them

Number 1
You have the right not to be killed
Murder is a crime!
Unless it was done by a
Policeman or aristocrat
Know your rights

And number 2
You have the right to food money
Providing of course you
Don’t mind a little
Investigation, humiliation
And if you cross your fingers
Rehabilitation

Know your rights
These are your rights
Wang

Know these rights

Number 3
You have the right to free
Speech as long as you’re not
Dumb enough to actually try it.

Know your rights
These are your rights
All three of ’em
It has been suggested
In some quarters that this is not enough!
Well..............................

Get off the streets
Get off the streets
Run
You don’t have a home to go to
Smush

Finally then I will read you your rights

You have the right to remain silent
You are warned that anything you say
Can and will be taken down
And used as evidence against you

Listen to this
Run
-The Clash

For your listening pleasure.

Been there...

2006-03-27T08:08:00.000-05:00

Being Poor (more here...)

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV. (or knowing you can't ask for anything 'cause you know ma can't afford it - Snag)

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won't hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing... (more)

Predator

2006-03-20T22:28:00.000-05:00

So, tonight I had to go out and grab this guy. My partner and I are trying to come up on him without giving ourselves away, but the jangling of keys, handcuffs, and other misc. junk tips him off. Of course he looks back and assumes that too familiar posture. He bolts, we chase. A block and a half later my partner, with longer legs than I and he doesn't smoke, gets his hands on him. I watch for the next five or ten seconds that it takes for me to catch up. He's not really cooperating. Not really fighting, just trying to shake loose. I get there and use my personal gift of knowing exactly how to knock someone down. Just the right balance, knee in the back, chest shoving him forward, grabing his arms...and then he breaks my fall as I smother him with 220 pounds. Still not quite down, I pick him up and drop him again, this time he breaks his fall with his forehead...clunk! No real damage, but it sounds creepy. He doesn't want to give up his arms...this always fails for them...keeping his arms under him. It just takes a little patience. Grab near his elbows and slowly wrench. Wrench hard. A little over wrench so when he frees up a little, his wrists are in perfect place for the cuffs. A little verbal coaxing like "Gimme your mother fucking arms, fucker!!!" Get one wrist in and hold...my partner all the while making sure he doesn't roll or whip his other arm out. Now Dan's turn. Crank the other arm out, hold, and cuff. Catch your breath. Yank him to his feet and then the slow recovery walk back to the office.

At one time it was cool. But now...and I don't regret making anyone face the consequences...I remember most vividly towards the end of the wrestling...I remember the scream. Not really a scream, but a squeal. I've heard it before from others about the same moment in a physical apprehension. The terror and frustration and regret and pain...two large guys on top...hurting...wrenching...cranking. Hunted down like an animal...no mother...no father...no lover...no children...no one to help you. Just you and us. You are at our mercy. You didn't think about this happening. You didn't consider what we could do to you if we got our hands on you. It seemed so easy...non-confrontation little crime. But we're good at what we do. And now we have the power and justification. And you're there with no one to help you. You're not a bad guy...you just wanted/needed. You needed that status symbol or junk money or whatever you used to justify what you planed to do. Lesser of two evils right? Like going through withdraw or committing just one little crime. Just for today. Tomorrow you'll try and get clean...but today...just today.
But at that moment you are an animal to us. You are to be hunted. I don't consider your humanity...just what I have to do. But know that in 99% of your faces I do see the humanity when all is said and done. I really do feel sorry for where you got yourself.
Know that at some level it haunts me, that little noise you make as I'm crushing you. Maybe not necessarily for you personally, but for a world that pits me against you. There's something here that you want/need (as far as you believe) and I'm hunting you. It's our individual roles that we have been assigned. I am going to believe that you are a good person. Someone loves or loved you. Are you a psycho? A liar? Evil? Maybe. But I am going to believe you are a good person underneath. Doesn't mean I let my guard down. Good people can be extremely stupid. Doesn't mean I'm going to let you not have to face consequences.
Just know this... I remember blood (mine and yours). I remember tears of grown men facing not only me but all the rest of the baggage they had with them after my successful hunt. I remember the tears of the young girls, too damned stupid to know what the real world is about. I remember the fear of the sickness the junkies show when they are facing withdraw in a jail cell.
The blood and shit and piss and tears and vomit...
When I am done being a predator, I remember your scream of fear and sorrow and regret.

Cathartic? I dunno...

A few quick musings

2006-03-20T09:51:00.000-05:00

The "Founding Fathers" were not Americans. They were Brits.

Jesus was not a Christian. He was Jewish.

V for Vendetta (which I recently watched) is a futuristic tale about government abuse, fascism, and theocracy. The political right hates it, becuase it's a left-wing propaganda attack on this current government. If the tale is fiction, how does the right recognize that it is similar to their government if the current government is nothing like that?

Some words from Jefferson

2006-03-18T07:59:00.001-05:00

...or Why does Tom hate America and side with the terrorists?

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.
Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.
Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct
Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

I wonder how Jefferson would look upon the events today and the government's response?

Cool, clear, water...

2006-03-16T06:40:00.000-05:00

About 10 years ago I started thinking about the problem of fresh water. I suspected it was running low. I thought if one wanted to make a lot of money in the next ten to thirty years, investment in desalienization and hydro technologies may be a good bet. My suspicions were supported a few years later by this:

UN Highlights World Water Crisis
Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News
June 5, 2003
"To more than two billion people, fresh, pure water is more valuable than gold. "

There also was Bechtel's (them again) attempt at regulating water supply in Bolivia that led to riots and their eventual withdraw in 2000.
This morning I read this: Kenyans Fighting Each Other for Water - Yahoo News
If you think there's trouble brewing over oil, just wait. See what thirsty people will do for water.
So a crisis seems inevitable. And it seems inevitable that corporations are going to jump right in their and make as much profit as possible off the lack of water. And they've been really good with not worrying about their customer base dying off (tabacco comes to mind). So is it ethical to invest in these schemes? They'll claim they're providing a needed service. For now the world sees water as a right and not a privilege. It won't be too long before it's a commodity.

Points for knowing where the title of this post is from.

Walk the Line

2006-03-13T08:27:00.000-05:00

If you haven't noticed, I dig music. Or more closely, the culture that's inherent to a given musical style.
Anyway...I saw "Walk the Line" Saturday night. I had deep reservations about anyone doing Johnny Cash. It turns out Pheonix was really good. No, he didn't sound like Cash...no one could. With that in mind, he captured an aspect of the young JR. The cleft lip and just strange shoulders gave me pause, but he still conveyed an essence of Johnny. Reese Witherspoon was flat out phenominal as June.
A quick timeline of music: My academia left mother buys me a record player and Johnny Cash albums for Christmas when I was 5 (about all she could afford at the time from a yard sale); at 13 I try pop music, but hate trying to compete in the mainstream social game (I knew I wasn't going to be able to compete by playing by their rules). I gravitate toward outsider music with the likes of Blondie and Devo.; at 14 I discover the Clash and make my way through the Punk Rock scene and end up as A SHARP (skinheads against racial prejudice); Punk dies as the corporate world gets ahold of it and markets Grundge; I find the budding Rockabilly and Psychobilly music scenes. Johnny Cash is venerated by a new generation of kids.
Coop
With the co-opting of Punk into the mainstream, corporatised world of pop crap, the soul had to go somewhere. With the help of the Ted's who preserved much of the culture, the new "Rockabilly" or "Kustom Kulture" was born at the death of punk (late 80's or early 90's). Borrowing much from our days in punk, we grabbed music that had the soul but not the dictates of the commercial world. No 1950's poodle skirts, satin jackets or a "Greatist Hits" albums. Thinking of a gift? A gift certificate to a tattoo parlor or a bottle of whiskey would do nicely. Maybe some Low Brow art. It's not trying to re-live the 50's in some Happy Days weekend fantasy. The culture is borrowing many of the styles of the period, but it knows it's 2006.

Coop

So a nod to the founders of the sound and fury of Rockabilly...Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Burnette, Eddie Cocharan, Gene Vincent, Johnny Cash, and of course the home of it all...Sam Philips and Sun Records.
Oh yeah....that guy Elvis too.

Man! Luther Perkin's guitar still haunts me. Johnny once said that Luther looks like "Death on white bread."

They called me...

2006-03-11T08:54:00.000-05:00

...a terrorist sympathizer, unpatriotic, weak willed, traitor, UnAmerican, and many more when I questioned the leadership of this administration. Now that the conservative pundits and their followers can't deny the reality anymore, they're back peddling and denying their words (The Great Conservative Walkback - Hunter at Daily KOS).
Well, fuck that. They played their hand and showed their real character. They would hang anyone that dared question them and their fearless leader. Now his approval rating is at 37%. 63% of us are traitors I guess. But that can't be, now can it.
So it's time to make excuses. Make sure no responsibility is taken for being wrong. Explain support for incompetence away in another blind faith myth.
Fuck that. Maybe I'll forgive, but never forget. The right has learned nothing. Even if the rhetoric is toned down a bit, I've still seen how weak in character they are.
There's a lot of people born onto this land (I can't really call the servile "Americans") that I don't feel too much kinship with. You hated me, even though I was born here, I served this country, and I valued your citizenship.

"Patriotism is love for your fellow countrymen above all others. Nationalism is hatred for all others beyond all else." - George Orwell

"Cerise. Call the Police."

2006-03-10T08:05:00.000-05:00

Hey gang...had a bit of hiatus as indignation is settling in as a normal state for me. I'm coming to accept that this may very well be the burning of Rome as Nero fiddles. The terrorists are winning and they haven't had to attack us here but once significantly. We're eating ourselves alive. Did they predict our power brokers would exploit it this way. That the Bin Ladens have had so many personal dealings with the Bush family, did Osama know that George H's son was incompetent? (BTW, sorry but I'm not even debating the relative merits of the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, etc. It's self destructive, period.)
So with that, I want to celebrate the fourth aniversary of the color coded threat level (Bill In Portland Maine reminded us of this in a post at Daily KOS).
First, here's the code:

Low = Green
Guarded = Blue
Elevated = Yellow
High = Orange
Severe = Red

Looking at the Department of Homelands Security's site, as of this writing, the threat was last up dated on the 23th of January. Not today, not yesterday, but a month and a half ago. And it's Yellow (The country remains at an elevated risk, Code Yellow, for terrorist attack). So in four years, all we've gotten to is yellow. Fucking meaningless bullshit. War on Poverty, War on Drugs, War on this Idea, War on that Idea...You can't win a war on a fucking concept with tangible weapons! The War on Terror is like a War on Illness and one blowing their fucking head off to stop a runny nose.
Now in actuality, each day since 9/11 has ended up really being Green (No attacks). And no, don't tell me an influx of security guards making shit money is the reason they haven't attacked us yet. The reality of it is that since the founding of this country, we've been at Blue (General risk of terror attack). Life is kinda like that.
Check out this piece from 2004. Beat/Spoken Word poet Ken Nordine's "'Colors' of Security" on NPR.

Herde's another "Color" piece from Nordine featuring J.R. "Bob" Dobbs.

The video that defines...

2006-03-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

...how I see socio-politcs. When I consider the world aesthetically, this video either defined my vision or captured it. I'm not sure which came first.

Interrupting all programmes

This is radio clash from pirate satellite

Orbiting your living room,
Cashing in the bill of rights
Cuban army surplus or refusing all third lights
This is radio clash on pirate satellite

This sound does not subscribe
To the international plan
In the psycho shadow of the white right hand
Then that see ghettology as an urban viet nam
Giving deadly exhibitions of murder by napalm

This is radio clash tearing up the seven veils
This is radio clash please save us, not the whales
This is radio clash underneath a mushroom cloud
This is radio clash
You don’t need that funeral shroud

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty

Hands of law have sorted through
My identity
But now this sound is brave
And wants to be free - anyway to be free

This is radio clash on pirate satellite
This is not free europe
Noh an armed force network
This is radio clash using audio ammunition
This is radio clash can we get that world to listen?
This is radio clash using aural ammunition
This is radio clash can we get that world to listen?
This is radio clash on pirate satellite
Orbiting your living room,
Cashing in the bill of rights
This is radio clash on pirate satellite
This is radio clash everybody hold on tight

A-riggy diggy dig dang dang

Go back to urban ’nam

The Clash and Pear Harbor...

2006-03-04T09:39:00.000-05:00

...in Japan, doing the old Rockabilly tune "Fujiama Mama" followed by "Police on My Back." Doesn't get much better than that.

0-60 in 4 seconds...

2006-03-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

...and 50 miles to the gallon! Soy based Bio-Diesel!
They've finally done it! The big automakers finally have broken the grip of big oil!
Ooops...maybe not. I guess it was engineered by some shop class kids at a West Philly school for troubled youth. Gang kids that we should have locked up and thrown away the key on.
Man...this story is an anectdote to destroy a lot of paradigms.
The rest of the story with video here....

And even more bullshit...

2006-03-01T07:17:00.000-05:00

I've been pissed off that the administration had been able to successfully blame the intel community for not stopping 9/11, Al Qaida, etc.
Absolute bullshit. When a tactical level intelligence analyst with a layman's knowledge of political science and sociology such as myself knows these things will happen from open source, it should come as no suprise when stories like this appear:

Intelligence agencies warned about growing local insurgency in late 2003
By WARREN P. STROBEL and JONATHAN S. LANDAY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence agencies repeatedly warned the White House beginning more than two years ago that the insurgency in Iraq had deep local roots, was likely to worsen and could lead to civil war, according to former senior intelligence officials who helped craft the reports.

Among the warnings, Knight Ridder has learned, was a major study, called a National Intelligence Estimate, completed in October 2003 that concluded that the insurgency was fueled by local conditions - not foreign terrorists- and drew strength from deep grievances, including the presence of U.S. troops.

The existence of the top-secret document, which was the subject of a bitter three-month debate among U.S. intelligence agencies, has not been previously disclosed to a wide public audience. (More...)

Intel can be brilliant, but still only as good as those who are tasked to act on it. I can tell you from my own personal experience the arrogance and conceit of power. Intel is often treated like a "good idea" but isn't nescessarily respected. Often the main thrust of an argument (product) will be disregarded because we were not able to determine the color of the enemy commander's underwear.
You can have good intelligence, but if the operations people are too suprised by the truth...if the intel conflicts with their world pardigm...then you have a problem of overcoming their ego and ideology.

"Frankly, senior officials simply weren't ready to pay attention to analysis that didn't conform to their own optimistic scenarios," Hutchings said in a telephone interview.

If there are any intellegence failures in the War on Terror™, it is that the intel community hasn't either forced the truth down their throats or just gone around the obstructionists and outed more information.
So the question becomes whether one is more loyal to the Commander-in-Chief or to the people and Constitution of the U.S.. Obviously, my feeling is that they're not one in the same.
Frankly, I suspect we're going to see more and more of this. I suspect that there are many intelligence professionals that are sick and tired of being scapegoated for the failures resulting from bad policy.

An aside-
"What do you think of western civilization?"
"I think it would be a very good idea." - Ghandi

More bullshit...

2006-02-28T08:02:00.000-05:00

White House rejects calls for eavesdropping special counsel
House Democrats say NSA program must be investigated
Monday, February 27, 2006; Posted: 2:02 p.m. EST (19:02 GMT)

No kidding? Who'd have thunk?

"I think that where these Democrats who are calling for this ought to spend their time is on what was the source of the unauthorized disclosure of this vital, incredible program in the war on terrorism," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I really don't think there is any basis for a special counsel. ... But the fact that this information was disclosed about the existence of this program has given the enemy some of our playbook." (cnn.com)

And if someone believes that this has given away any secrets, then they're the only one that would be dumb enough to believe that there isn't SIGINT and ELINT (signals and electronic intelligence). Remember our whole discussion a few years back about listening to the chatter? Hell, the government mentioned it every time they went from Yellow to Mauve or Purple or some such nonesense.
The administration's got a piss poor excuse either way. They either truly believe the enemy is so stupid as to think they're not being wiretapped, which makes the administration incompetent, or they know the enemy has figured it out in which case the wiretaps would be for some other purpose.

Even McCloud (the late Dennis Weaver) was opposed to all this erosion of Liberty by the likes of the Enabling...err...Patriot Act.

Freedom must not only be fought for on the battlefield and in the halls of congress but by every truly patriotic citizen of this great country in the town halls, the homes, the workplaces of America and finally in the voting booth. It is sad that often we don’t realize the value of something until it is taken away from us. It seems to be true with freedom for the process of its erosion is gradual and we won’t realize that it is happening until perhaps it is too late. I’m reminded of the experiment the scientists did with the frog. They put the poor fellow in a container of water in such a way that the frog could vacate it if it wanted to. But the water was pleasantly warm and the frog felt no desire or need to get out. The scientists then began to heat the water - very slowly. The frog continued to swim until one day it woke up and cried out, “I’m in real hot water.” But by that time he was so enervated that he didn’t have the strength to save himself. Are we going to fall into the same trap? Are we going to ignore the slow chipping away of our civil liberties and freedoms until it’s too late?

2006-02-26T09:39:00.000-05:00

Man...booze always seems like a good idea the night before. Urghhhhhhhh......
If some cryptic nonsense ended up somewhere on the net, that was my doppledanger.
Anyone know of an effective hangover remedy?

"I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you. "

2006-02-21T07:33:00.000-05:00

Word on the street is that Frank Miller is coming out with a new Dark Knight graphic novel that pits Batman against Al Qaeda. As Frank Miller says Holy Terror (the name of the story) is "a reminder to people who seem to have forgotten who we're up against."
Frank Miller
However, knowing the Dark Knight series I don't suspect that this adminstration is going to get off the hook. He skewered not only Superman but also the Regan administration in that work. The very core of the character represents a regular joe's response to saccharine lies, corporate malfeasence, political coruption, and the sacrifices required of the nobel and heroic. I suspect only the bad guy will change, but the moral of the story will remain. As with most Batman tales, a corrupt government sacrifices the good of the people for personal greed and power, calling on us not to worship a modern Aries, but for us to become our own superheroes of flesh and blood. Batman tells us that our dogmas, our blind faiths in two dimensional figures (George W.), often lead to our exploitation, disillusionment, and disappointment. Unlike most modern myths and legends, the pantheon of our times, Batman is the symbol of self-empowerment, individualism, and the risks and responsibilities that come with liberty. Batman represents both our nobility and our weaknesses. His is our story of grappling with this dichotomy and of confronting our misplaced trusts. Batman is also the lesson that the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

Alex Ross

The Dark Knight reminds us of two of Nietzsche's lessons; "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you" and "I teach you the Overman. Man is something that should be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?."
"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me. "
Superman represents the external god, the god of fear, the removed god that lords over us and absolves us of our responsibility for our sins, the god that punishes "them" because they're evil and we're not.
Batman is the god within. We find heroism within us not for glory, not for the ends, but as a means of living with ourselves day to day. It is the journey that matters. I personally believe I would cease to exist if there were heaven on earth. Life is "The Struggle" and I am learning to find contentment in that. I value each and every scar I bear.

The myth represents the hypocrisies that come with moral certitude.

Should Miller abondon this mainstay of the character, the "anti-hero", he might as well have written a Superman comic.

"You traveled the world... Now you must journey inwards... to what you really fear... it's inside you... there is no turning back. Your parents' death was not your fault. Your training is nothing. The will is everything. If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely. Are you ready to begin?"

This is often my brand of liberalism,"I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you. "

How does a heart that beats so darkly keep fighting for the oppressed?

Miscellany

Fair and Blanaced
Trot out any old nut and now you've got yourself reasonable doubt.

Ten thousand scientists agree, but we don't have space for all their work here. In the interest of balanced reporting we cite Dr. Bob Milfred, PhF (it's even higher than PhD) of Bob's Academy and Bait Shop. Dr. Milfred assures us that the world is flat (As observed when you look out at the land. Duh!), global warming is just speculation, Intelligent Design has been extensively supported with experimental data, and fetuses are great philosophers and humanitarians that will save the planet. Additional reasearch and development can be obtained from the Milfred Academy for five bucks, with supporting evidence for an additional two-fifty from Dr. Susan "the Lil' Woman" Milfred, PhE. Mrs. Milfred's extensive reasearch comes from the remarkable ability to decode God's word as encrypted in a bucket of bait.
The president will be consulting extensively with Dr. Milfred (Ol' Bob) when he appoints him as the National Science Czar.
Dr. Milfred's credentials include owning a lab coat.

New Boots
Finally retiring the old dogs and getting a new pair. Steel toes, harness, 12" black angus uppers, strider heel. Man, the Double H's lasted through some serious shit. Mud, blood, grease, gasoline, paint, beer, drunkeness, thuggery, engine rebuilds (to include dropping the 351 (5.8L for those on the metric system) on my toes a couple of time), and smashing shit. If I could poem-ize, I'd write an ode to the old beaten bastards.

Women...tell your men that they're the biggest you ever had!

2006-02-20T08:05:00.000-05:00

It might just save the world.

The war on terror. The right says "Well, what better plan do you have?"
I'd tell you if you'd listen.
First...you gotta stop fiddling with the thing you broke. So far Iraq has cost us billions, solidified anger among the Islamic world, encouraged Iran to vote hardline, helped install Hamas as a democratically elected body, made security lines in airports longer with little to show for it, failed to turn up WMD's, divided the nation politically, culturally, religiously, and racially, alienated our allies, weakened the strength of our armed forces, undermined our govenment's system of checks and balances, undermined civil liberties, cost an untold number of civilian lives, and killed almost 3000 troops.
So first we gotta fix that.
Ok, after about ten years maybe we can get back to fighting the war on reactionary extremists that use terror as a tactic.
Here's the plan (not in any particular order):
1) Legally define the word "terrorist." This will aid the law enforcement community by allowing them to develop the tactics they can use. There are no international or national laws that law enforcement will find too much of a burden in their pursuit of criminals. Terror is an act committed by criminals.
2) Leadership needs to clearly state their intentions, be transparent in their actions, yet individual operations will be covert. There is no "front" for this particular type of conflict. We as a nation cannot invade a country with the hopes of fighting them there.
3) Take the 80 billion a year and invest it in Special Forces (ala GSG9), intelligence and language specialists, and making contacts in Areas of Interest (AI's). Groups that use terror operate like the mafia. The FBI doesn't go around blowing up neighborhoods to get at Tony Soprano.
4) Invest in alternative fuels. Monies from oil get funneled to organizations that support reactionary groups. There's been talk about knock off merchandise supporting terror. WTF. Sure maybe some, but this is a really callous attempt to maintain brand strength.
5) Insure that nations that do get a lot of money for oil are investing in education (not propaganda) and health and welafare of their people. These people are poor, yet they see the amount of money their and our oil barons are making
6) Finance R&D for the oil fields of Russia. While we're still addicted we can disperse the amount of capital going to any one country.
7) Make Bush, Cheney, Rove et al, shut the fuck up. It might be great for playing to the anger and fear in American hearts, but the bullshit saber rattling does nothing to ease the anger and fear of our enemy. Hell, just from a practical stand point you want you adversary calm and relaxed before you kick him in the balls.
8) Invest in Afghanistan. If we're going to have bases we should have kept them there. Lacking a sea port might have been a hinderence, but better as far as long term strategy is concerned. We knew the terrain, we had more cause and will to be there, we could have kept the opium production to a minimum, etc.. Afghanistan's now going to come and bite us in the ass. Mark my words. The country's been economically destroyed for so long, it's a breeding ground for discontent.
9) Eleminate the use of torture. It produces bad intel, period! You get much better intel if you have better incentives. Look up Godjohansen's work in this field.
10) Nurture middle east cultural pride. Not based on religion, but on the arts, economics, and humanities. These are a proud people and they feel humiliated by the west. Make them partners, not enemies...including grups like Hamas. We really need to understand the motivation of these people. There is a broad range of individual cultures and histories (Turkmen, Arabs, Persians, etc.) and yet they're unified in their dislike of us. How do you think that happened? Even King Richard the Lionhearted was able to find common ground with Saladin.
11) Stop blowing them up. We keep saying we're bringing Democracy, but when you have no sewage, no clean water, no goods, no services...all you can think about is making it stop. "Democracy" rings hollow when you don't have shit (or all you have is shit). The word makes some of us feel better, but it's meaningless when it comes from the barrel of a gun.
12) Encourage a secular middle class. This is the heart of real democracy. Anytime the middle class disappears, people radicalize. The poor become nationalistic, reactionary, illogical, socialistic while the wealthy live in fear and buy protections from the angry masses. This builds until you reach critical mass and then bang...struggle and strife. When people have their basic needs met...food, education, homes, little amenities, etcetera...they're unlikely to give it up for some bullshit, reactionary ideology. The cartoon thing? It's really a convienient tool for the Islamic world to express their fear and anger with the west. I shouldn't have to explain this, but we've been so dumbed down as a society, that these things need to be spelled out. If someone's asking "Why are they upset about a little cartoon" they really should be asking "Why did someone fucking lobotomize me." It's not about the fucking cartoon.
13) Remove the Military Industrial Complex from the equation. You gotta know that Halliburton, The Carlysle Group, and their ilk are going to influence and advise the government in their own interest and not that of America nor Iraq. No bid contracts and conflicts of interest, all muddy the waters. It's naive to think that corporations are going to do anything more than protect the interests of its shareholders. A corporation (as opposed to a privately held company) is its own entity, bigger than any one CEO and it doesn't care about life or trickling down of it capital. It lives only to create as much profit in as little time as possible. Think about this...if you had money invested what do you want from that investment? You want as big a return as possible, qiuck. You think with your little amount invested, you have no real part in what that company does. But the only thing the corporation has to operate on is many little investors saying "Gimme as much as you can, as quick as you can." So when companies get no bid contracts, tax incentives, and such what do you think they're going to do? Creat jobs? Pay taxes? No...they're going to do what the shareholders have told them to do...turn over as much profit as possible at any expense.
But this is a deeper argument than just a plan for fighting those that use terror as a tactic.
14) Stop saying "terrorist" when what you mean is one that employs terror. What do we mean when we say terrorist? Do we mean white, Protestant, men that terrorised blacks in the U.S.? Do we mean the UDA or IRA? The Tamil Tigers? The revolutionary forces when they engaged Torries? The French Committee of Public Safety? The FMLN or Right Wing Salvadoran death squads? John Brown? Quantrel and his Raiders?
Say "Raghead" or something if that's what you mean. Have the balls to show your bigotry. Little codewords for racism and xenophobia may make you feel better about yourself, but they are only aiding and abetting the enemy. We can't fully work up a good intel product if we can't be honest about our thoughts and intentions. Do you want to fight those that employ terror...then we have to understand their reasoning and complaints, accepting their ideology as being sensable and reasonable to them. If we only want to fight non-Christian, brown, ragheads, then let's do it, but be fucking honest about it. How many times have I heard "We should just nuke the whole area." Even in jest, the joke tells a lot about what the real motives of the teller is.

Ok...that's for starters. This flies in the face of what the adminstration has told us. No fucking shit! Duh! Each point fights the war on terror but does little to promote their short term power grab. Right wingers won't see any logic in this because one or two flaws in their argument means the whole thing needs to be questioned. If the whole thing is questioned , then maybe their fearless leader won't be able to deliver what they really want, the hidden promise of installing their form of Christianity in government operations, continuing denial of the injustices to minorities and women, the ability to be openly hostile to anyone that is not like them in support of their own sense of insecurity, and the satiation of their greed or the "Tyranny of the Masses." I know that seems like a big jump in logic...and I haven't elaborated on the supporting evidence...but it's true folks. It all comes down to a bunch of men afraid that their penises are too small and can't grasp the concept that a tough and respected guy doesn't come from bullying.

Moving mountains?

2006-02-17T22:49:00.000-05:00

Hell, that ain't nuthin'! I can move the entire universe!
And so can you.
According to relativity, velocity is relative. One object in relation to another.
So when you walk, are you moving your body forward or propelling the entire universe behind you?
Think on that one for awhile...

Get your Mojo...

2006-02-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

Brothers and sisters, friends of the revolution
Lemme tell ya something...

In the beginging there was pleasure and it was good.
And four bars and seven drinks ago, in order to form a more perfect Las Vegas
We the weird.. mushroom gobbeling army of insanity
with one nation under Dino do solemely pledge:

I pleasurelegience to Tom Jones, Drinking and Gambling,
to Fornication, Hallucination, to visit the Holy City at least Once a Year,
Lead us not unto Wayne Newton, and deliever us from Michael Bolton.

I pleasuraparo to solemley swear
to go forth, skip work, sleep late
and make pleasure on the planet.
I'm a pleasure Baron, let the drinking begin!!!

A real American! It's difficult to describe Mojo Nixon. Liberal. Libertarian. True Rock and Roll. A big fuck you to the forces of the bland, pop, mindless, consumption death culture that is destroying American cool. All over used words and phrases that just don't do this patriot justice. Just by looking at the song titles should give you and idea of what Mojo's all about. Give a listen. Mojo's politics are mine. I can't explain them any better than his words.
I remember taking a leak alonside Mojo at a Beer Joint in Kansas. He actually hangs out with the crowd he's playin' to. I had the honor of drinking with him a few years later in Boston after a show.

"...the bastard son of Elvis, John Lee Hooker, Lenny Bruce, Foghorn Leghorn and Mr. Rogers."
More Mojo at THE MOJO BOOTLEG SHACK.
Here's the official(?) Mojo Nixon site.

Just flew in from Ft. Lauderdale...

2006-02-16T08:36:00.000-05:00

...and boy are my arms tired.