Baseball does suck, Sav, don't waste your breath. I just wanted to point out that the link to the Eco essay I posted below is working again.
by at 11:17 AM
Lawless, you're so fucking right on that last post it hurts. At work we're switching health care "providers." I overheard a conversation in the cube next to me , this dude says "I'll never use an HMO because then you'll end up with foreign doctors." Then the lady he's talking to says "My doctor is Indian, and he's great, but he's no longer on the same health network." Then this stupid fuck says "What, did he ride in to work on his camel?" SO I walked over and said, "Don't look now -------, it looks like you forgot to wear your white hood and sheet." I don't even think he understood me. Nationalism.
Bigotry is now in vogue. Even yesterday I became involved in a conversation about how "the Pakistani family down the street doesn't have to pay taxes, they're dirty people and when they get their couch dirty, they just buy a brand new Neman Marcus one, it's not fair to Americans, and the blacks all get welfare," just a disgusting tirade by an old white lady who doesn't know her head from her ass and can't understand why anyone dark skinned would have any money unless it was obtained less than honestly. It's disgusting what's going on here right now, how much misinformation there is out there, how much hate, how much distrust, how much blame is being flung around for the hard times we're about to endure. We were all immigrants at one time. Now people want to change what America is all about and close up the doors. I don't fucking like it at all. Nationalism.
I was going to write about baseball today, but I'm too fucking angry. Maybe later.
Bigotry is now in vogue. Even yesterday I became involved in a conversation about how "the Pakistani family down the street doesn't have to pay taxes, they're dirty people and when they get their couch dirty, they just buy a brand new Neman Marcus one, it's not fair to Americans, and the blacks all get welfare," just a disgusting tirade by an old white lady who doesn't know her head from her ass and can't understand why anyone dark skinned would have any money unless it was obtained less than honestly. It's disgusting what's going on here right now, how much misinformation there is out there, how much hate, how much distrust, how much blame is being flung around for the hard times we're about to endure. We were all immigrants at one time. Now people want to change what America is all about and close up the doors. I don't fucking like it at all. Nationalism.
I was going to write about baseball today, but I'm too fucking angry. Maybe later.
by at 9:51 AM
In a conversation the other day I noted there was a fine line between nationalism & patriotism. Judging by the person's face they only somewhat understood. Let's put it this way...
When you buy an American flag without checking where the flag was made after the government tells you the country has been attacked, that is nationalism. When you buy an American flag made by American union labor after YOU feel the country has been attacked, that is patriotism.
We as a country need to be very careful how we behave from here on, whether it be as nationalists or patriots. As of now I fear it is the former.
When you buy an American flag without checking where the flag was made after the government tells you the country has been attacked, that is nationalism. When you buy an American flag made by American union labor after YOU feel the country has been attacked, that is patriotism.
We as a country need to be very careful how we behave from here on, whether it be as nationalists or patriots. As of now I fear it is the former.
by at 8:28 PM
The last time Republicans publicly made unfounded charges such as those issued by the Bush administration was during the salad days of the Cold War. Anyone remember the Junior Senator from Wisconsin whose crusade to rout out Communists in the federal government yielded but one Army dentist with vague socialist affinities? I don't know about you but I find it rather unsettling-- and have since September 11th-- that charges and accusations have been bandied about by our leaders in Washington without the public distribution of genuine proof linking bin Laden, the Taliban, et al to the heinous crimes committed on that fateful day. Not one shred of documentation has been given to the public linking anyone thus accused. Here we are, activating our reserves and mobilizing our mighty armed forces... for what? For all I know the Backstreet Boys were the masterminds. Now we have to endure Jesse Helms accusing Iraq of being behind the deeds. What the fuck are we doing? What ever became of innocent until proven guilty by a court of peers? Whatever became of no one shall have charges levied without reasonable cause? Oh, that's right. OJ, Baretta, Condit. We as a society have become so quick to judgement that we have blinded ourselves of the Bill of Rights. So go ahead, give them over to the various law enforcement agencies vying for them, you were never using them anyway. We've never been free in the first place, merely only tasted it.
I love my country. I love democracy, everything it stands for, everything our founding fathers established. But I don't have to love the execution. So until the government releases bona fide evidence I refuse to point fingers and support "war" against any person. The only thing I can do is help those who have been hurt by it. Donate your rebate check to the American Red Cross.
BTW, anyone else notice the slap on the face Dubya gave Sen. Charles Schumer while walking the congressional aisle after his speech last week? Wow!
I love my country. I love democracy, everything it stands for, everything our founding fathers established. But I don't have to love the execution. So until the government releases bona fide evidence I refuse to point fingers and support "war" against any person. The only thing I can do is help those who have been hurt by it. Donate your rebate check to the American Red Cross.
BTW, anyone else notice the slap on the face Dubya gave Sen. Charles Schumer while walking the congressional aisle after his speech last week? Wow!
by at 5:16 PM
"There are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is."
Is this an excerpt from 1984? No, it's a comment by White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer, regarding a comment Bill Maher made on ABC's Politically Incorrect.
For a clearer indication of where we're heading, take a look at an essay by Umberto Eco.
Gentlemen, welcome to the New Political Correctness.
Is this an excerpt from 1984? No, it's a comment by White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer, regarding a comment Bill Maher made on ABC's Politically Incorrect.
For a clearer indication of where we're heading, take a look at an essay by Umberto Eco.
Gentlemen, welcome to the New Political Correctness.
by at 11:03 AM
GOLDANGIT! Peep this list of Clear Channel's Banned Songs.
Two things:
1. Judas Priest can still cause controversy. "Heads Are GOnna Roll" appears on the list. (Actually, with our nation's war-hawk urges, I'm surprised they don't play it 'round the clock.)
2. WHAT? NOW I CAN'T HEAR DIO'S "HOLY DIVER??" Talk about demoralizing.
Two things:
1. Judas Priest can still cause controversy. "Heads Are GOnna Roll" appears on the list. (Actually, with our nation's war-hawk urges, I'm surprised they don't play it 'round the clock.)
2. WHAT? NOW I CAN'T HEAR DIO'S "HOLY DIVER??" Talk about demoralizing.
by at 12:21 PM
Once again I'm finding myself in slack mode, unable to post. The last two weeks have been awful for a lot of reasons, and I'm just coming out of a sort of depressive state. Let me tell you what I've witnessed....
- Friday the 14th, one of my friends from a local band got mugged shortly before his show began. The nerve of people to take advantage of a situation like this.
- Tuesday the 18th, at my very office in the burbs, an armed man with a female hostage (or accomplice?) carjacked a vehicle, fired on police, stole a police car, and then carjacked a second car and got away. The frightening thing about this was, there was not even a peep about it on local news. Probably deliberately so. (Actually, I didn't witness this myself. I was too hung over to come in to work. Once again, sometimes the safest place to be is not at work!)
- At my friend's house on Friday the 21st, as we were sitting on the open air porch, a bunch of gang banging little punks started to open fire at each other, causing all to run for cover and duck. Is this what they call "friendly fire?"
I just lost a little of my faith in humanity this week, seeing so many people not rising to the occasion. Amidst all of this national pride and flag-waving, Americans still love to kill and hurt each other. Some people just can't be reached, apparently. We're certainly not disproving the words of many Middle Eastern leaders, who content that we brought this upon ourselves, that we are our own worst enemies. I can only pray that in the coming weeks and months, that I begin to see some of that milk of human kindness that crisis' tend to bring about. Please, America, don't fuck this one up. Be good to your brothers.
That is all I have to say about that.
I wonder if they'll give us Nostradamus status in the history of world events: I seem to recall Rusty predicting on this very site a while back that we would be at war with Iraq within a year, and now it looks like it's coming to pass.
Make sure you read the below post. Once again Michael Moore's saying what some of us are thinking and can't articulate. Right on!
And finally, here's an interesting item: The Strokes' US debut record has been pushed back a week to delete the song "New York City Cops." ("New York City cops, they ain't too smart.") I don't know how to feel about this. Is it going to be alright to release it 6 months from now? A year from now? Ever again? Are we allowed to be critical of the police in New York anymore? Of the police anywhere in America anymore?
On the other hand, I was listening to "Cop Killer" on Friday night minutes before the gang fire. You bet your ass I was happy when they came roaring down the street.
- Friday the 14th, one of my friends from a local band got mugged shortly before his show began. The nerve of people to take advantage of a situation like this.
- Tuesday the 18th, at my very office in the burbs, an armed man with a female hostage (or accomplice?) carjacked a vehicle, fired on police, stole a police car, and then carjacked a second car and got away. The frightening thing about this was, there was not even a peep about it on local news. Probably deliberately so. (Actually, I didn't witness this myself. I was too hung over to come in to work. Once again, sometimes the safest place to be is not at work!)
- At my friend's house on Friday the 21st, as we were sitting on the open air porch, a bunch of gang banging little punks started to open fire at each other, causing all to run for cover and duck. Is this what they call "friendly fire?"
I just lost a little of my faith in humanity this week, seeing so many people not rising to the occasion. Amidst all of this national pride and flag-waving, Americans still love to kill and hurt each other. Some people just can't be reached, apparently. We're certainly not disproving the words of many Middle Eastern leaders, who content that we brought this upon ourselves, that we are our own worst enemies. I can only pray that in the coming weeks and months, that I begin to see some of that milk of human kindness that crisis' tend to bring about. Please, America, don't fuck this one up. Be good to your brothers.
That is all I have to say about that.
I wonder if they'll give us Nostradamus status in the history of world events: I seem to recall Rusty predicting on this very site a while back that we would be at war with Iraq within a year, and now it looks like it's coming to pass.
Make sure you read the below post. Once again Michael Moore's saying what some of us are thinking and can't articulate. Right on!
And finally, here's an interesting item: The Strokes' US debut record has been pushed back a week to delete the song "New York City Cops." ("New York City cops, they ain't too smart.") I don't know how to feel about this. Is it going to be alright to release it 6 months from now? A year from now? Ever again? Are we allowed to be critical of the police in New York anymore? Of the police anywhere in America anymore?
On the other hand, I was listening to "Cop Killer" on Friday night minutes before the gang fire. You bet your ass I was happy when they came roaring down the street.
by at 12:04 PM
Credit the following to our buddy Michael Moore:
We have made it to Columbus, Ohio for the night and are staying just a couple of blocks from the state capitol building where Governor Rhodes gave the order on May 4, 1970, to send the National Guard to Kent State. There they opened fire on hundreds of unarmed students, killing four and wounding
many others.
Few dared to call it a terrorist act committed by the state of OhioÖ but, there I go again. Off message! Stay focused on the main themes, Mike: ìAMERICA UNITED!î ìSMOKE ëEM OUTTA THEIR HOLES, HUNT ëEM DOWN, AND GIT ëEM!î ìTHE SLEEPING GIANT HAS BEEN AROUSED!î and ìREMEMBER THE POSTER IN THE OLD WEST: ëWANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE!íî
I have a question to all the war hawks out there: When you listen and look at our Commander-in-Chief, do you really think THIS is the guy who is going to kick some major league ass? Iím just asking all you conservative drum beaters out there -- man, you must be *embarrassed* that this is the best we have to offer.
I know we are all supposed to be supportive of Mr. Bush, at the moment, but has it dawned on anyone that he is not, in fact, the ìpresident?î I hate to bring up a thorny subject, but this is the man who *lost* the election. He got the *least* number of votes between the two major party candidates. His
brother oversaw a rigged vote in Florida.
I am so, so sorry to bring this up now, but the tragedy of the past week is EXACTLY the kind of horrible circumstance many Americans feared weíd find
ourselves in -- A NATIONAL CRISIS UNDER A LEADER WHO IS NOT THERE BY THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. It is a tribute to the goodwill of the American public that they have rallied behind George W. Bush as best they can, ëcause he and his fake flight jacket is all we got right now in the Oval Office.
Someone needs to get in charge and propose some real solutions to bringing the perpetrators to justice and preventing this -- as best as possible -- from happening again. Instead, what we have is Bush speaking like a wind-up doll, mouthing a bunch of nonsense clichÈs, repeating them over and over and over.
But occasionally his batteries run out -- and he goes off on some unintelligible tangent. You can see his handlers desperately trying to cut him off and whisk him away. You watch in awe and you ask the question that none of us even wants to contemplate right now, and that no one will dare to ask, so I might as well take the hit and be the one: THIS is the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful country on earth? Who amongst you feels secure tonight? What enemy is going to be afraid of *this* guy?
Bush keeps calling what we are in ìa war.î Has anyone told him that the more he keeps using this word, the more HE puts US in jeopardy? A ìwarî implies that two sides are participating in an action to kill as many of the other side as possible. Bush and the pundits use the word like itís a one-sided deal, like weíre going to be the only ones doing the bombing. War means we bomb them, then they bomb us. Thatís what war is, you idiots. We strafe Afghanistan, then the terrorists drop a canister of chemical weapons in the New York subway. We send in a group of commandos and wipe out a camp of Muslims, they take out the Sears Tower.
All of you who are screaming for war: are you prepared to pay the price, to take thousands of more casualties? Because, my big, macho-talking friends, THAT is what this kind of war would be like. America is a complex and open society with a massive and intricate infrastructure that is fragile and vulnerable and susceptible to easy attack and disruption. IT CAN BE BROUGHT DOWN WITH A BOXCUTTER. Let me repeat that:
IT CAN BE BROUGHT DOWN -- IT CAN BE BROUGHT TO A TOTAL STANDSTILL -- BY A BOXCUTTER!
Nearly a week with no stock market, no commercial television, no professional sports, three days with no planes in the air (for the first time since 1911), no airports open, the country essentially shut down. A week later and the phone lines still donít all work. A boxcutter, folks! Do not be misled into thinking he with the biggest missile is going to win this ìwar.î
We will never be able to protect all of us from this kind of terrorism. Back and forth, more buildings bombed, more planes downed, more innocent American lives lost. When does this end? After we have killed every terrorist? When exactly is THAT scheduled to happen? Or is it just when we kill Osama bin Laden, *then* we win the war? Are you serious? We couldnít even assassinate Hitler during a massive World War that lasted 6 years!
Bush now says this is ìa war against the evil people in the world.î Oh, really? THAT war! Yeah, we should be able to defeat ìevil,î oh, sometime in
the next millennium or two. Get a grip. ìWarî is not going to get the justice we demand or make us more safe. You know it and I know it. There is a different way to go, and I will lay it out in a later letter, but to simplify it for now and put it in a nutshell, it goes like this:
One billion people on this planet have no clean drinking water. Two billion have no electricity. Three billion have never made a phone call from their home. We have the money and the people-power to alter ALL of this. We also have the moral imperative to stop supporting repressive regimes and corporations who exploit these people.
When we decide to help improve these billions of peopleís lives, we will pull the rug out from under the terrorists who need those they send to their deaths to be poor and exploited and angry at us. The multi-millionaire bin Laden isnít going to give up HIS life!
When all the people in the Middle East have food on the table, a decent home, a good job, and democratic control over their own lives, who among them is going to be convinced to sacrifice his life by crashing himself into a tall office building?
Sure, there will always be those who go insane and kill without reason. The British saw that in a Dunblane schoolyard, we saw it in Oklahoma City. There will always be religious fanatics willing to kill and be killed because they believe God has so ordered them. Ask the families of the assassinated womenís clinicsí doctors in Buffalo and Florida about those willing to commit evil in the name of religion in America.
There IS a way to protect us from further attack, to lift the rest of the world out of its misery, but it requires some smarts and some guts, two things in short supply in Washington these days.
We have made it to Columbus, Ohio for the night and are staying just a couple of blocks from the state capitol building where Governor Rhodes gave the order on May 4, 1970, to send the National Guard to Kent State. There they opened fire on hundreds of unarmed students, killing four and wounding
many others.
Few dared to call it a terrorist act committed by the state of OhioÖ but, there I go again. Off message! Stay focused on the main themes, Mike: ìAMERICA UNITED!î ìSMOKE ëEM OUTTA THEIR HOLES, HUNT ëEM DOWN, AND GIT ëEM!î ìTHE SLEEPING GIANT HAS BEEN AROUSED!î and ìREMEMBER THE POSTER IN THE OLD WEST: ëWANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE!íî
I have a question to all the war hawks out there: When you listen and look at our Commander-in-Chief, do you really think THIS is the guy who is going to kick some major league ass? Iím just asking all you conservative drum beaters out there -- man, you must be *embarrassed* that this is the best we have to offer.
I know we are all supposed to be supportive of Mr. Bush, at the moment, but has it dawned on anyone that he is not, in fact, the ìpresident?î I hate to bring up a thorny subject, but this is the man who *lost* the election. He got the *least* number of votes between the two major party candidates. His
brother oversaw a rigged vote in Florida.
I am so, so sorry to bring this up now, but the tragedy of the past week is EXACTLY the kind of horrible circumstance many Americans feared weíd find
ourselves in -- A NATIONAL CRISIS UNDER A LEADER WHO IS NOT THERE BY THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. It is a tribute to the goodwill of the American public that they have rallied behind George W. Bush as best they can, ëcause he and his fake flight jacket is all we got right now in the Oval Office.
Someone needs to get in charge and propose some real solutions to bringing the perpetrators to justice and preventing this -- as best as possible -- from happening again. Instead, what we have is Bush speaking like a wind-up doll, mouthing a bunch of nonsense clichÈs, repeating them over and over and over.
But occasionally his batteries run out -- and he goes off on some unintelligible tangent. You can see his handlers desperately trying to cut him off and whisk him away. You watch in awe and you ask the question that none of us even wants to contemplate right now, and that no one will dare to ask, so I might as well take the hit and be the one: THIS is the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful country on earth? Who amongst you feels secure tonight? What enemy is going to be afraid of *this* guy?
Bush keeps calling what we are in ìa war.î Has anyone told him that the more he keeps using this word, the more HE puts US in jeopardy? A ìwarî implies that two sides are participating in an action to kill as many of the other side as possible. Bush and the pundits use the word like itís a one-sided deal, like weíre going to be the only ones doing the bombing. War means we bomb them, then they bomb us. Thatís what war is, you idiots. We strafe Afghanistan, then the terrorists drop a canister of chemical weapons in the New York subway. We send in a group of commandos and wipe out a camp of Muslims, they take out the Sears Tower.
All of you who are screaming for war: are you prepared to pay the price, to take thousands of more casualties? Because, my big, macho-talking friends, THAT is what this kind of war would be like. America is a complex and open society with a massive and intricate infrastructure that is fragile and vulnerable and susceptible to easy attack and disruption. IT CAN BE BROUGHT DOWN WITH A BOXCUTTER. Let me repeat that:
IT CAN BE BROUGHT DOWN -- IT CAN BE BROUGHT TO A TOTAL STANDSTILL -- BY A BOXCUTTER!
Nearly a week with no stock market, no commercial television, no professional sports, three days with no planes in the air (for the first time since 1911), no airports open, the country essentially shut down. A week later and the phone lines still donít all work. A boxcutter, folks! Do not be misled into thinking he with the biggest missile is going to win this ìwar.î
We will never be able to protect all of us from this kind of terrorism. Back and forth, more buildings bombed, more planes downed, more innocent American lives lost. When does this end? After we have killed every terrorist? When exactly is THAT scheduled to happen? Or is it just when we kill Osama bin Laden, *then* we win the war? Are you serious? We couldnít even assassinate Hitler during a massive World War that lasted 6 years!
Bush now says this is ìa war against the evil people in the world.î Oh, really? THAT war! Yeah, we should be able to defeat ìevil,î oh, sometime in
the next millennium or two. Get a grip. ìWarî is not going to get the justice we demand or make us more safe. You know it and I know it. There is a different way to go, and I will lay it out in a later letter, but to simplify it for now and put it in a nutshell, it goes like this:
One billion people on this planet have no clean drinking water. Two billion have no electricity. Three billion have never made a phone call from their home. We have the money and the people-power to alter ALL of this. We also have the moral imperative to stop supporting repressive regimes and corporations who exploit these people.
When we decide to help improve these billions of peopleís lives, we will pull the rug out from under the terrorists who need those they send to their deaths to be poor and exploited and angry at us. The multi-millionaire bin Laden isnít going to give up HIS life!
When all the people in the Middle East have food on the table, a decent home, a good job, and democratic control over their own lives, who among them is going to be convinced to sacrifice his life by crashing himself into a tall office building?
Sure, there will always be those who go insane and kill without reason. The British saw that in a Dunblane schoolyard, we saw it in Oklahoma City. There will always be religious fanatics willing to kill and be killed because they believe God has so ordered them. Ask the families of the assassinated womenís clinicsí doctors in Buffalo and Florida about those willing to commit evil in the name of religion in America.
There IS a way to protect us from further attack, to lift the rest of the world out of its misery, but it requires some smarts and some guts, two things in short supply in Washington these days.
by at 8:50 PM
Dead or Alive.
That's mighty brave talk from a man who deserted the National Guard for nine months during the Vietnam War. While he flew sorties over lines of cocaine, Americans shed blood.
Dead or Alive.
Brave talk from a so-called President who was AWOL for the first 48 hours of this mess.
Dead or Alive.
Yes, reassuring words from one who has a Secret Service escort and a bunker to hide in.
That's mighty brave talk from a man who deserted the National Guard for nine months during the Vietnam War. While he flew sorties over lines of cocaine, Americans shed blood.
Dead or Alive.
Brave talk from a so-called President who was AWOL for the first 48 hours of this mess.
Dead or Alive.
Yes, reassuring words from one who has a Secret Service escort and a bunker to hide in.
Excuse me while I vomit.
by at 12:29 PM
this ain't no party!
this ain't no disco!
this ain't no fooling around!
i looked at today's front page of the sun times today to see a full-page photo of osama bin laden hovering over a map with the headline "wanted: dead or alive!"
"holy shit!" i thought to myself. "it's just like the wild west! that crazy texas motherfucker!"
these sound like fighting words to me. it's really sad to see it, but it looks like we're going to war.
i do not want to go to war. to put it simply, i don't think anyone, or any state, has the right take any life. just my person belief. i would think jesus would think the same thing.
but if your (not my) president wants to go to war, then i don't want to hear any garbage about destroying embryos for stem cell research, or deny the women the right to an abortion. he will send our young men and women into that meat-grinder they call afghanistan to die, but he will not budge on killing the unborn?
my overall point is, your president is a hypocrite, and we should all be very skeptical under which ausipices we go to war. if we go into iraq......i don't even want to speculate.
you want to go to war? fine. fuck it. let's go to war. but you'd be better be ready to die to fight terrorism. could you do it?
this is crusty renegade signing off.
this ain't no disco!
this ain't no fooling around!
i looked at today's front page of the sun times today to see a full-page photo of osama bin laden hovering over a map with the headline "wanted: dead or alive!"
"holy shit!" i thought to myself. "it's just like the wild west! that crazy texas motherfucker!"
these sound like fighting words to me. it's really sad to see it, but it looks like we're going to war.
i do not want to go to war. to put it simply, i don't think anyone, or any state, has the right take any life. just my person belief. i would think jesus would think the same thing.
but if your (not my) president wants to go to war, then i don't want to hear any garbage about destroying embryos for stem cell research, or deny the women the right to an abortion. he will send our young men and women into that meat-grinder they call afghanistan to die, but he will not budge on killing the unborn?
my overall point is, your president is a hypocrite, and we should all be very skeptical under which ausipices we go to war. if we go into iraq......i don't even want to speculate.
you want to go to war? fine. fuck it. let's go to war. but you'd be better be ready to die to fight terrorism. could you do it?
this is crusty renegade signing off.
by at 9:59 PM
Just an addendum to Sav's post: Cleveland, OH area residents rush to arm themselves. Somehow, I don't think self-defense is the only thing on their minds. [from The Plain Dealer]
by at 4:53 PM
I just read that all NASCAR events have been canceled for this weekend. This could potentially be big trouble for Americans of Mddle-Eastern descent. Think about it: there's going to be no football, no baseball, and no NASCAR, which gives the toothless hicks of this nation nothing better to do than hassle innocent Americans. Please, NASCAR officials, I beg of you, don't cancel NASCAR. Give our Americans with Middle-Eastern backgrounds at least a few hours to walk the streets without being hassled, and consider rescheduling.
This is Johnny "Savage" Cochryde, saying good night, and God bless (intelligent people in) America. Guess you can't expect much less out of Bridgeview.
This is Johnny "Savage" Cochryde, saying good night, and God bless (intelligent people in) America. Guess you can't expect much less out of Bridgeview.
by at 4:39 PM
Wow. We've witnessed one of the most important events in history. This country is never going to be the same. I've found it difficult to even get my shit done in the last two days.
Things are getting back to normal, or so it seems. The music websites are back to keeping us updated. The webcam girls, after a couple of days of acting like they gave a shit about the outside world, are back getting their attention on in cyberspace. They'd better enjoy it while they can. As Rusty was saying last night, it's quite possible that the party is over. The days of living for the new television season, of living life for recreation, could be over forever. We're going to war with someone, damnit! I hope you're ready to die for your freedom. You'd better get out there and start fucking in the streets, damnit, because pretty soon you're going to be on a warship surrounded by men with guns! (Sorry, had to inject a little humor there, because this is all so depressing.)
I don't want to jump to any conclusions about who is responsible. The threat might be from the Middle East, but it might not. (I'll remind you of Oklahoma City: The first name people were screaming was Osama Bin Laden, when it turned out it was one of our own.) This all seems too convenient, doesn't it? W. gets to go to war with the Middle East, isn't that what he was gunning for in the first place? Forget being the 'education president,' military spending is going to increase dramatically. Let's not forget that there are A LOT of nations angry with the United States, not to mention plenty of people right here at home. However, I realize that this matters little. America is going to go after someone, and if they tell us that Afghanistan, Iraq, or Idontgiveafuckistan is the culprit, we're going to act accordingly. It's not like the American people are going to be able to see the evidence and judge for themselves who is responsible. If the establishment tells us it's Laden, it will be Laden, end of story.
Unfortunately, it's playing out like this. Americans have got their story straight. It's a conspiracy. Every A-Rab, from the guy working at 7-11 to the doctor that removed my tumor, is in on this whole thing. They've been itching to destroy democracy, biding their time, waiting for the perfect moment to catch us off guard and take this place over from real Americans. To do our part as good Americans, we need to act quickly out of hate and fear to drive this terrible force from our communities. Please do your part and kick the shit out of the next dark-skinned person you see.
I hope you can detect my sarcasm. My point is, violence breeds more violence. We need to be calm and as rational as possible while we mourn the lives of the thousands who have died. Don't let your sadness turn to anger, and your anger turn to hate. Don't believe everything you read and see on TV. Stay paranoid. As far as the investigation goes, I can only pray that justice will be done and we'll find the true culprits.
In fact, we're lucky Native Americans haven't retaliated against the establishment yet. We sure did a number on them, didn't we?
Things are getting back to normal, or so it seems. The music websites are back to keeping us updated. The webcam girls, after a couple of days of acting like they gave a shit about the outside world, are back getting their attention on in cyberspace. They'd better enjoy it while they can. As Rusty was saying last night, it's quite possible that the party is over. The days of living for the new television season, of living life for recreation, could be over forever. We're going to war with someone, damnit! I hope you're ready to die for your freedom. You'd better get out there and start fucking in the streets, damnit, because pretty soon you're going to be on a warship surrounded by men with guns! (Sorry, had to inject a little humor there, because this is all so depressing.)
I don't want to jump to any conclusions about who is responsible. The threat might be from the Middle East, but it might not. (I'll remind you of Oklahoma City: The first name people were screaming was Osama Bin Laden, when it turned out it was one of our own.) This all seems too convenient, doesn't it? W. gets to go to war with the Middle East, isn't that what he was gunning for in the first place? Forget being the 'education president,' military spending is going to increase dramatically. Let's not forget that there are A LOT of nations angry with the United States, not to mention plenty of people right here at home. However, I realize that this matters little. America is going to go after someone, and if they tell us that Afghanistan, Iraq, or Idontgiveafuckistan is the culprit, we're going to act accordingly. It's not like the American people are going to be able to see the evidence and judge for themselves who is responsible. If the establishment tells us it's Laden, it will be Laden, end of story.
Unfortunately, it's playing out like this. Americans have got their story straight. It's a conspiracy. Every A-Rab, from the guy working at 7-11 to the doctor that removed my tumor, is in on this whole thing. They've been itching to destroy democracy, biding their time, waiting for the perfect moment to catch us off guard and take this place over from real Americans. To do our part as good Americans, we need to act quickly out of hate and fear to drive this terrible force from our communities. Please do your part and kick the shit out of the next dark-skinned person you see.
I hope you can detect my sarcasm. My point is, violence breeds more violence. We need to be calm and as rational as possible while we mourn the lives of the thousands who have died. Don't let your sadness turn to anger, and your anger turn to hate. Don't believe everything you read and see on TV. Stay paranoid. As far as the investigation goes, I can only pray that justice will be done and we'll find the true culprits.
In fact, we're lucky Native Americans haven't retaliated against the establishment yet. We sure did a number on them, didn't we?
by at 10:05 AM
Lawless J, I like the Maginot Line reference--it's one I've heard with increasing frequency on some political message boards. Another apt parallel would be Hadrian's Wall--that also did a good job of keeping picts and celts out of the Roman Empire, didn't it? Myopic reliance on military technology or other such nostrums for defense/offense almost always spells disaster. Commie rebels in Vietnam? We'll just bomb them into the stone age. Narcoterrorists in Colombia? Let's drop some Napalm! And on and on it goes ...
Keeping in mind the administration's other stances on the international weapons trade and biological weapons (both international treaties it has rebuffed), it seems Dubya desires the rest of the world to become a macrocosm of Texas: a bunch of wild-eyed gamblers sitting at a card table with guns pointed at each other's heads. Meanwhile the US thinks its Kevlar vest will protect it.
NMD: The Defense That Won't Work against The Threat That Doesn't Exist -- Maureen Dowd
by at 11:26 AM
Hey, guess what fellas? Thanks to the help of the mighty Scott Judd of Magnetoshpere and the always charming and sexy Danny Doom, we've got a couple of songs that we can post on an MP3 format! So you know what that means? We finally have something to write about!
We're going to be able to move this site off of the Blogspot server (and remove that dang ad at the top) and move to our permanent home at www.knifeofsimpson.com. There are so many things we can do with this site once we have more room, I can't wait! We can post photos and all sorts of crap!
Tainted meat. Whoah whoah whoaahhwooo. Tainted meat. Whoah whoah whoaahhwooo.
I wonder what W is going to do with his refund check?
We're going to be able to move this site off of the Blogspot server (and remove that dang ad at the top) and move to our permanent home at www.knifeofsimpson.com. There are so many things we can do with this site once we have more room, I can't wait! We can post photos and all sorts of crap!
Tainted meat. Whoah whoah whoaahhwooo. Tainted meat. Whoah whoah whoaahhwooo.
I wonder what W is going to do with his refund check?
by at 10:39 AM
Damn, Illyich, you nailed Dubya's geopolitical missile scheme and revealed what will ultimately be the United States' very own Maginot Line! Doesn't it all ring of the Military-Industrial Complex's doing? I mean, who's to benefit from SDI the most? Certainly not the lives of the people it proposes to save. As it stands, everyone on earth is just friggin' fine while pasty portly Americans all along the Eastern shore are being gobbled up by Socialist sharks... what we really need is a Shark Defense Initiative. Oh wait, we do, it's called conservation, but that's another angry tirade altogether.
Anyway, I've been keeping tabs on this here Bushie fella's missile defense program mostly for financial reasons-- just who's going to pay for this already subsidized hoohaw, the American public? Yup. In fact, we already are and have been since the Gipper was feigning amnesia in the Oval Office. But now we have been given tax relief and the coffers of such social programs like Medicare and Social Security are being depleted. Spin Doctor Ari Fleisher's response to this reporter's question? We will be more actively pursuing privatizing these very programs/ What?! Privatizing Social Security? Do you really want Allstate or some other enormous insurance company representing your interests? Health care in this country is in abysmal shape and in need of a severe overhaul, bearing in mind that we are one of the last industrialized nations without a socialized health care system, and now the administration is talking of privatizing social security? There goes the public's interest. American Democracy was founded by the people for the people. American Corporations were founded by certain people for all the people's money. Bottom line. The only thing Corporate America cares about is what's inside your wallet and how they can more of it. It just won't work. And neither will SDI. Sure, we can throw a few more billions of dollars at the fire while the constituency grows number and dumber with cuts in public education and increasing conservative pressure into privatizing them as well... but maybe that's what the conservatives (and moderate liberals) want anyway, a more ignorant and consuming public so they can build their ineffective billion dollar space toys. A stupid unknowing public would serve them well. But if it weren't for education and the educated like Upton Sinclair, millions of Americans would still be eating tainted beef. Oh wait, they already do, no thanks to any of the FIVE companies that have cornered the agricultural sector while driving the second-oldest (prostitution is numero uno) free market, the family farm, straight into bankruptcy.
And I STILL can't believe how in bed we are with China, the country second only to the United States in annual capital punishment. Here's a country that tells you what religion to partake in, how many kids you can have, what you can say and write, what treasured art you can smash for your Uncle Mao, etc, while we ritualistically cripple the economy and people of Cuba for no other reason than they're Communist and pretty darn close to the US border. Anyone else remember the Tianamen massacre? How about the Falun Gong? And yet we economically serve China's whims and wiles and conservatives want to further open the (economic) borders by pushing for them to be granted world trade status. Hypocites, every last one of us.
Anyway, I've been keeping tabs on this here Bushie fella's missile defense program mostly for financial reasons-- just who's going to pay for this already subsidized hoohaw, the American public? Yup. In fact, we already are and have been since the Gipper was feigning amnesia in the Oval Office. But now we have been given tax relief and the coffers of such social programs like Medicare and Social Security are being depleted. Spin Doctor Ari Fleisher's response to this reporter's question? We will be more actively pursuing privatizing these very programs/ What?! Privatizing Social Security? Do you really want Allstate or some other enormous insurance company representing your interests? Health care in this country is in abysmal shape and in need of a severe overhaul, bearing in mind that we are one of the last industrialized nations without a socialized health care system, and now the administration is talking of privatizing social security? There goes the public's interest. American Democracy was founded by the people for the people. American Corporations were founded by certain people for all the people's money. Bottom line. The only thing Corporate America cares about is what's inside your wallet and how they can more of it. It just won't work. And neither will SDI. Sure, we can throw a few more billions of dollars at the fire while the constituency grows number and dumber with cuts in public education and increasing conservative pressure into privatizing them as well... but maybe that's what the conservatives (and moderate liberals) want anyway, a more ignorant and consuming public so they can build their ineffective billion dollar space toys. A stupid unknowing public would serve them well. But if it weren't for education and the educated like Upton Sinclair, millions of Americans would still be eating tainted beef. Oh wait, they already do, no thanks to any of the FIVE companies that have cornered the agricultural sector while driving the second-oldest (prostitution is numero uno) free market, the family farm, straight into bankruptcy.
And I STILL can't believe how in bed we are with China, the country second only to the United States in annual capital punishment. Here's a country that tells you what religion to partake in, how many kids you can have, what you can say and write, what treasured art you can smash for your Uncle Mao, etc, while we ritualistically cripple the economy and people of Cuba for no other reason than they're Communist and pretty darn close to the US border. Anyone else remember the Tianamen massacre? How about the Falun Gong? And yet we economically serve China's whims and wiles and conservatives want to further open the (economic) borders by pushing for them to be granted world trade status. Hypocites, every last one of us.
by at 6:01 PM
Hey Aqualung, quit watching the pretty panties run. We've got problems afoot. It seems Buckaroo Bush wants his NMD so badly he's not only willing to tear up the START treaties with Russia, he'll even allow China to resume nuclear arms testing and development of MIRV technology (you know, Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles, those pesky warheads NMD still has a hard time discerning).
So the administration will allow a potentially hostile country to develop new war toys so we can figure out a way to shoot them down. Sounds crazy, right? But wait, it gets better. According to the BushHawks, NMD was not designed for use against the PRC--only against "rogue" nations like Libya, Iraq and North Korea, countries whose weapons programs and ICBM capabilities are far behind China's. What kind of insane, addled logic is this? What ends will this policy achieve? Obviously, it could potentially compromise national security; not only would the Chinese improve their warheads, they'd also perfect defensive countermeasures so as to minimize NMD's efficacy. Any Chinese buildup will likewise precipitate an arms race in the Asian subcontinent as India and Pakistan scramble to counter the new Chinese threat. And since Bush really screwed up negotiations with North Korea from the outset, Kim Jong Il may find a more sympathetic regional partnership with China than South Korea--which was the plan all along, I imagine. Dubya Bush: The Manchurian Candidate.
by at 12:53 PM
it's back to school time and i get see all the pretty young girls go shopping for their low-cut jeans and their skin-thight printed tops... and i see mini-skirts are back!!!
what a time to be young adolescent male in america!
meanwhile school administrators and pto's across the country are debating about wether or not to institute dress codes in schools. it's really sad.
the kids should wear what they want. closthing is certainly a means of self-expression, and they should be able to do it while they can. because once they get their shit-paying jobs in coprprate america, it's going to be nothing but ties and dress suits for those poor kids.
on the other hand, school is not a fashion show, and we shouldn't be tarting up our young people to go to school everyday.
and as i watch the cubs games each night, i'm innundated with back-to-school clothing ads for shops like old navy and the gap and levi, and the only things they're pushing on me to buy are their mini-shirts, halter tops, ship huggin jeans and half shirts. goddammit i don't want to buy any of that crap!
but that must be the only thing that's on sale. daddy gives her daughter $500 to go back to school shopping at the mall with her friends and they come back with party clothes. you see how this works?
maybe the school administrators and pto's and other education advocates band together and fight the real nemesis; our clothing stores and advertising community. if we stopped buying their sweat-shop made, cheap clothes, they'd hopefully get the message and let our children express themselves, and not how they want them too.
i'm going to have a beer and chill out i think. this is rusty renegade, signing off!
what a time to be young adolescent male in america!
meanwhile school administrators and pto's across the country are debating about wether or not to institute dress codes in schools. it's really sad.
the kids should wear what they want. closthing is certainly a means of self-expression, and they should be able to do it while they can. because once they get their shit-paying jobs in coprprate america, it's going to be nothing but ties and dress suits for those poor kids.
on the other hand, school is not a fashion show, and we shouldn't be tarting up our young people to go to school everyday.
and as i watch the cubs games each night, i'm innundated with back-to-school clothing ads for shops like old navy and the gap and levi, and the only things they're pushing on me to buy are their mini-shirts, halter tops, ship huggin jeans and half shirts. goddammit i don't want to buy any of that crap!
but that must be the only thing that's on sale. daddy gives her daughter $500 to go back to school shopping at the mall with her friends and they come back with party clothes. you see how this works?
maybe the school administrators and pto's and other education advocates band together and fight the real nemesis; our clothing stores and advertising community. if we stopped buying their sweat-shop made, cheap clothes, they'd hopefully get the message and let our children express themselves, and not how they want them too.
i'm going to have a beer and chill out i think. this is rusty renegade, signing off!
by at 1:36 PM