Saturday, October 29, 2011
Divide And Conquer
From "The Devil's Kitchen" blog. Mr. Devil writes from somewhere in the U.K.
For NuLabour, substitute "Democrat" or "Republican", depending on where your bread is buttered.
For QUANGO (Quasi-Non Governmental Organization), you can safely substitute The Fed, ACORN, SEIU, or any other Band Of Brothers living off the government tit.
It's one of the oldest strategies in the book: divide and rule. And few governments in living memory have been so adept at it as NuLabour: it has been at the heart of many of their policies. They have divided the peoples of the Union; they have divided, through QUANGOs and censuses emphasising differences, black, brown and white peoples of the Union. Through jealousy they have divided rich and poor.
"Fear not," says the government, "for the state—and only the state—can save you!" And then they proceed to divide some more.
Devolved governments (but with little power), harsher sentences for "racist" crimes, and the stealing of more money from "the rich" to hand out as gifts to the poor.
The brilliant bit about this tactic, as applied by NuLabour, is that it encourages people to think of each other group not as fellow human beings, but as people below or different from them. "They aren't a person like I am, they are just a toff/darkie/Muslim/Scot/Sassenach/Taff/idiot, etc."
And so people get angry and demand solutions, they demand concessions for their own particular group and guess what?—the state can help you, friend, for the state is the friend of everyone. The state is the righter of all wrongs, the great arbiter, the generous donor of largesse. And as each group is appeased so the jealousy and resentment of the others are inflamed and they demand special treatment for themselves and more shoddy treatment for "those others".
And so it is that the government have been able to put through some disgusting laws, by aiming them at groups that the other groups dislike. 42 days detention without trial?—well, it'll only apply to terrorists, and they're all Muslims or at the very least darkies, eh?
The scrapping of double jeopardy, habeas corpus and trial by jury?—well, that'll only apply to the eeevil criminals (no matter that they have yet to be proven such). Oh, and the darkies, of course. And the poor.
The confiscation of your assets before you are even found guilty, or reversing the burden of proof for the confiscation of assets? Well, that'll only apply to drugdealers and the like.
And none of these people are really human, are they? Not like me.
And that's how they get us; that's how they pass those laws. And, they say that they won't use them except in the most exceptional circumstances, and only against those people who aren't really human.
For NuLabour, substitute "Democrat" or "Republican", depending on where your bread is buttered.
For QUANGO (Quasi-Non Governmental Organization), you can safely substitute The Fed, ACORN, SEIU, or any other Band Of Brothers living off the government tit.
It's one of the oldest strategies in the book: divide and rule. And few governments in living memory have been so adept at it as NuLabour: it has been at the heart of many of their policies. They have divided the peoples of the Union; they have divided, through QUANGOs and censuses emphasising differences, black, brown and white peoples of the Union. Through jealousy they have divided rich and poor.
"Fear not," says the government, "for the state—and only the state—can save you!" And then they proceed to divide some more.
Devolved governments (but with little power), harsher sentences for "racist" crimes, and the stealing of more money from "the rich" to hand out as gifts to the poor.
The brilliant bit about this tactic, as applied by NuLabour, is that it encourages people to think of each other group not as fellow human beings, but as people below or different from them. "They aren't a person like I am, they are just a toff/darkie/Muslim/Scot/Sassenach/Taff/idiot, etc."
And so people get angry and demand solutions, they demand concessions for their own particular group and guess what?—the state can help you, friend, for the state is the friend of everyone. The state is the righter of all wrongs, the great arbiter, the generous donor of largesse. And as each group is appeased so the jealousy and resentment of the others are inflamed and they demand special treatment for themselves and more shoddy treatment for "those others".
And so it is that the government have been able to put through some disgusting laws, by aiming them at groups that the other groups dislike. 42 days detention without trial?—well, it'll only apply to terrorists, and they're all Muslims or at the very least darkies, eh?
The scrapping of double jeopardy, habeas corpus and trial by jury?—well, that'll only apply to the eeevil criminals (no matter that they have yet to be proven such). Oh, and the darkies, of course. And the poor.
The confiscation of your assets before you are even found guilty, or reversing the burden of proof for the confiscation of assets? Well, that'll only apply to drugdealers and the like.
And none of these people are really human, are they? Not like me.
And that's how they get us; that's how they pass those laws. And, they say that they won't use them except in the most exceptional circumstances, and only against those people who aren't really human.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Why Libertarians shouldn't support the Texas Rangers
This hurts me.
I don't want to write this again.
I've written it before.
Here's why libertarians shouldn't support The Texas Rangers baseball team in The World Series.
Waaaay back when George W. Bush was just a pup, he was the front man for a group that bought The Texas Rangers baseball team. Bush brought a 2% share of the team using borrowed money. ($600,000.00) They wanted a new ballpark.
Bush's buddies could've built a new ballpark themselves, but why should they? You were there for them. Bush threatened to move the Rangers out of Arlington. His cartel spent about $125,000.00 campaigning for a 1/2% increase in the Arlington sales tax. The voters approved it. Bush and Company then trampled property rights, seizing land via Eminent Domain.
That's right. They stole the land on which the ballpark was built.
All in all, the Bush gang profited from a total subsidy of $205 million dollars.
(Did he send you a thank-you note? Me neither.)
They had paid $86 million for the Rangers.
They sold The Rangers nine years later for $250 million.
The team still stunk.
So what was different? Why the added value?
It was all in the stadium that YOU bought for them. The $164 million dollar profit was $38 million dollars less than the money that we put into the team ! ! !
My arch-nemesis Dr. Ralph likes to refer to the Iraq war as one of history's worst "bait-and-switch" deals.
The following is also David Cay Johnston's "Free Lunch", pg 79:
"What followed (after the Rangers purchase) was an early indicator of Bush's extraordinary success at marketing. Bush is arguably the greatest salesman of our time, having sold not just friends but political opponents on a war costing more than a trillion dollars and thousands of lives with the kind of pay-no-attention-to-that-pool-oil-under-the-engine polish that used car salesmen only dream about."
Ok, they stole the land, they built a mega-stadium on the land, sent you the bill, and then sold the whole thing to Nolan Ryan and kept the overage.
Why do we put up with this?
I think it's because Juvanal said it best, somewhere around 100 B.C. Give us bread and circuses and World Series appearances, and we'll support anything.
I don't want to write this again.
I've written it before.
Here's why libertarians shouldn't support The Texas Rangers baseball team in The World Series.
Waaaay back when George W. Bush was just a pup, he was the front man for a group that bought The Texas Rangers baseball team. Bush brought a 2% share of the team using borrowed money. ($600,000.00) They wanted a new ballpark.
Bush's buddies could've built a new ballpark themselves, but why should they? You were there for them. Bush threatened to move the Rangers out of Arlington. His cartel spent about $125,000.00 campaigning for a 1/2% increase in the Arlington sales tax. The voters approved it. Bush and Company then trampled property rights, seizing land via Eminent Domain.
That's right. They stole the land on which the ballpark was built.
All in all, the Bush gang profited from a total subsidy of $205 million dollars.
(Did he send you a thank-you note? Me neither.)
They had paid $86 million for the Rangers.
They sold The Rangers nine years later for $250 million.
The team still stunk.
So what was different? Why the added value?
It was all in the stadium that YOU bought for them. The $164 million dollar profit was $38 million dollars less than the money that we put into the team ! ! !
My arch-nemesis Dr. Ralph likes to refer to the Iraq war as one of history's worst "bait-and-switch" deals.
The following is also David Cay Johnston's "Free Lunch", pg 79:
"What followed (after the Rangers purchase) was an early indicator of Bush's extraordinary success at marketing. Bush is arguably the greatest salesman of our time, having sold not just friends but political opponents on a war costing more than a trillion dollars and thousands of lives with the kind of pay-no-attention-to-that-pool-oil-under-the-engine polish that used car salesmen only dream about."
Ok, they stole the land, they built a mega-stadium on the land, sent you the bill, and then sold the whole thing to Nolan Ryan and kept the overage.
Why do we put up with this?
I think it's because Juvanal said it best, somewhere around 100 B.C. Give us bread and circuses and World Series appearances, and we'll support anything.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
I am the 99%
Ken Jennings, the guy who first won big on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" (I think) has a new blog.
Go here.
Here's a pic from the site:
Go here.
Here's a pic from the site:
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
First Mexican truck to enter U.S. interior sometime soon. I hope.
From The San Diego News, via a link from Radley Balko:
SAN DIEGO -- The first Mexican carrier is set to roll into the U.S. interior within days, but American trucking union leaders and two California congressmen haven't given up on stopping the cross-border trucking program that had been stalled for years by safety concerns and political wrangling.
The stall has had little to do with safety concerns. It is about the political wrangling and protecting the constituents of some politicians that they've bought at auction prices.
U.S. Reps. Duncan Hunter and Bob Filner said they'll take a bipartisan stand at the border Wednesday in San Diego to voice concerns about the bilateral pilot project that will allow approved Mexican trucks to come deep into the United States. Hunter is a San Diego-area Republican, while Filner is a Democrat whose district includes California's border with Mexico.
They will join Teamsters union President James Hoffa and Todd Spencer, the owner-operator of the Independent Drivers Association, in a last-ditch effort to block Mexican trucks from being granted full access to U.S. highways.
The trucks are crossing a river, a river that has symbolic meaning because of a war we had with Mexico. This river became known as a "boundary".
Boundary (noun) (bound*a*ry) 1. In the geographic sense, an arbritrary listing of lines of latitude and longitude to be filled in on maps with different colors. 2. In the political sense, the far edges of your cage.
Allowing Mexican trucking companies to deliver the goods rather than transfer them onto U.S. haulers at the border will put American jobs and highway safety at risk, the union leaders say.
Horseshit. According to Marc Levinson, author of "The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger" the ancestors of these same union parasites once tried to unload and reload each shipping container as it entered U.S. "boundaries". They didn't understand that the entire point of the shipping container was to load the thing at Point A and not have the load touched by thieving little Jimmy Hoffa hands until it was unloaded by the customer at Point B. The unions insisted that they had a right to "strip and stuff" every shipping container, even if the load was going to be placed right back in the same shipping container.
All Jimmy Hoffa wants is to get his hands on the load.
Washington on Friday approved the first Mexican trucking company, Transportes Olympic, nearly two decades after the hotly contested provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement set off lawsuits and a costly trade dispute between the neighboring countries.
If I want to hire Transportes Olympic to haul a load from Juarez to Fort Worth, it really isn't Jimmy Hoffa's business. It is the U.S. government's business, unfortunately. They own the roads. But they've also established that it is illegal to discriminate against people for racial reasons, and that's the only angle these clowns have to fight with.
Transportes Olympic employees were busy Wednesday finishing the preparations for its historic, maiden trip.
The long-haul truck will cross the border Friday at Laredo, Texas, and head about 450 miles north to Garland, Texas, to deliver industrial equipment, said Guillermo Perez, the transport manager at the firm in the industrial Monterrey suburb of Apodaca, about two hours south of Laredo.
The company was also the first approved under the 2009 pilot program before President Barack Obama's administration cancelled it. Mexico retaliated by placing tariffs on 99 agricultural products worth more than $2 billion annually.
As well the should have. It's called NAFTA. It is a free-trade agreement, kinda. We've been in violation of the law for about 20 years.
Mexico cut the tariffs in half this summer after Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon approved an inspection and monitoring program for the companies that had been approved in 2009. The Mexican government has vowed to lift the rest once the truck heads out of the border zone Friday.
"We're really excited," Perez said in a telephone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. "Now we can provide door-to-door service so it's about a 15 percent savings for companies."
Eliminating and lowering idiotic trade barriers like this one helps you to afford the computer on which you're reading this rant. It's how you got the clothes that I hope you are now wearing.
Opponents say the fight isn't over.
Hunter has co-authored a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., that would require the pilot program to be ceased in three years and Congress to vote on the issue again.
"There's absolutely no upside to the program," said Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Hunter's office.
Yes there is an upside, you flak-catching hack. If I want to hire these people to haul a load, then I get to have my way.
That's always an upside.
Plus, I won't have to hire Hoffa goons. (Remember Jimmy Hoffa? The guy who said "let's take out those sons-of-bitches", in reference to The Tea Party?)
And I get to save money, which means that in the long run, you get to save money.
"It's a good example of foreign interests overtaking American interests, at the expense of jobs, security and safety. The program was a bad idea when it was created under NAFTA and it's a bad idea now. It should be stopped right away."
At the expense of jobs? If it's about saving jobs or creating more jobs, let's just mandate that loads can only cross The Rio Grande on wheelbarrows and that they can only move up Interstate 35 on hand carts pulled by the less fortunate of our society.
If it's about security, let's end the idiotic drug war. Safety will increase 100-fold on both sides of the river that we currently use as a boundary, just like safety increased when we ended our alcohol war with Canada at the end of Prohibition.
If it's about safety, take a look at one of the trucks that Transportes Olympic will use on these loads and then compare them to the rigs that haul the U.S. Mail. Case dismissed. There will be no comparison.
Criminal activity has been a problem for years even within the U.S. government's strictest trusted carrier programs. Drug trafficking organizations have smuggled tons of drugs inside trucks driven by approved truckers coming from inspected and certified facilities inside Mexico.
And they do this because there is a fortune to be made in doing so. End the monopolies that we've granted to the Mexican Drug Lords and their U.S. Enablers, and the smuggling will end. No one ever got rich by smuggling coals into Newcastle. Or by smuggling more bullshit into a political protectionist argument.
"The beneficiaries of opening borders will be few and the casualties will be plenty," Spencer told The Associated Press on Wednesday. His organization represents small independent trucking businesses.
He doesn't represent all of the small independent trucking businesses, as the article implies. He doesn't represent mine. (I'm the General Manager of one.)
Trade runs both ways. The outfit that I work for sells stuff in the U.S., and we sell stuff outside of Jimmy Hoffa's boundaries. We also purchase stuff from overseas and sell it inside the Hoffa enclosure in which most of you folks live. I don't need Hoffa and his Washington puppets in the way.
Anything is good as long as it helps weaken the cage so jealously guarded by U.S. Reps. Duncan Hunter and Bob Filner and union boss Jimmy Hoffa.
Proponents say especially strict safeguards are in place: The U.S. government is paying for electronic monitoring devices to be installed in all Mexican trucks used in the program.
Mexican trucking companies had to fill out an application, pay a fee and then submit the names of any drivers who will participate so they can undergo national security and criminal background checks by the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security.
Inspectors will check out the trucks for safety violations, verify the drivers' qualifications and administer oral English-proficiency exams.
The program's long delay has cost companies in both countries millions and hurt bilateral relations, proponents say.
"We certainly hoped that it cannot be stopped," said James Clark, director of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce's Mexico Business Center. "The U.S. has been in violation of the NAFTA agreement ever since the beginning of the trucking issue. Mexican trucks have every right to come into the U.S. under NAFTA as long as the trucks are fully inspected to U.S. standards and the drivers speak English."
About 70 percent of goods from the $4 billion trade between the two nations is transported by land to its destinations according to the Mexican government.
And all of that stuff is currently being unloaded at the border and reloaded onto another trailer. That's a total waste.
End of rant.
Thanks for listening.
SAN DIEGO -- The first Mexican carrier is set to roll into the U.S. interior within days, but American trucking union leaders and two California congressmen haven't given up on stopping the cross-border trucking program that had been stalled for years by safety concerns and political wrangling.
The stall has had little to do with safety concerns. It is about the political wrangling and protecting the constituents of some politicians that they've bought at auction prices.
U.S. Reps. Duncan Hunter and Bob Filner said they'll take a bipartisan stand at the border Wednesday in San Diego to voice concerns about the bilateral pilot project that will allow approved Mexican trucks to come deep into the United States. Hunter is a San Diego-area Republican, while Filner is a Democrat whose district includes California's border with Mexico.
They will join Teamsters union President James Hoffa and Todd Spencer, the owner-operator of the Independent Drivers Association, in a last-ditch effort to block Mexican trucks from being granted full access to U.S. highways.
The trucks are crossing a river, a river that has symbolic meaning because of a war we had with Mexico. This river became known as a "boundary".
Boundary (noun) (bound*a*ry) 1. In the geographic sense, an arbritrary listing of lines of latitude and longitude to be filled in on maps with different colors. 2. In the political sense, the far edges of your cage.
Allowing Mexican trucking companies to deliver the goods rather than transfer them onto U.S. haulers at the border will put American jobs and highway safety at risk, the union leaders say.
Horseshit. According to Marc Levinson, author of "The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger" the ancestors of these same union parasites once tried to unload and reload each shipping container as it entered U.S. "boundaries". They didn't understand that the entire point of the shipping container was to load the thing at Point A and not have the load touched by thieving little Jimmy Hoffa hands until it was unloaded by the customer at Point B. The unions insisted that they had a right to "strip and stuff" every shipping container, even if the load was going to be placed right back in the same shipping container.
All Jimmy Hoffa wants is to get his hands on the load.
Washington on Friday approved the first Mexican trucking company, Transportes Olympic, nearly two decades after the hotly contested provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement set off lawsuits and a costly trade dispute between the neighboring countries.
If I want to hire Transportes Olympic to haul a load from Juarez to Fort Worth, it really isn't Jimmy Hoffa's business. It is the U.S. government's business, unfortunately. They own the roads. But they've also established that it is illegal to discriminate against people for racial reasons, and that's the only angle these clowns have to fight with.
Transportes Olympic employees were busy Wednesday finishing the preparations for its historic, maiden trip.
The long-haul truck will cross the border Friday at Laredo, Texas, and head about 450 miles north to Garland, Texas, to deliver industrial equipment, said Guillermo Perez, the transport manager at the firm in the industrial Monterrey suburb of Apodaca, about two hours south of Laredo.
The company was also the first approved under the 2009 pilot program before President Barack Obama's administration cancelled it. Mexico retaliated by placing tariffs on 99 agricultural products worth more than $2 billion annually.
As well the should have. It's called NAFTA. It is a free-trade agreement, kinda. We've been in violation of the law for about 20 years.
Mexico cut the tariffs in half this summer after Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon approved an inspection and monitoring program for the companies that had been approved in 2009. The Mexican government has vowed to lift the rest once the truck heads out of the border zone Friday.
"We're really excited," Perez said in a telephone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. "Now we can provide door-to-door service so it's about a 15 percent savings for companies."
Eliminating and lowering idiotic trade barriers like this one helps you to afford the computer on which you're reading this rant. It's how you got the clothes that I hope you are now wearing.
Opponents say the fight isn't over.
Hunter has co-authored a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., that would require the pilot program to be ceased in three years and Congress to vote on the issue again.
"There's absolutely no upside to the program," said Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Hunter's office.
Yes there is an upside, you flak-catching hack. If I want to hire these people to haul a load, then I get to have my way.
That's always an upside.
Plus, I won't have to hire Hoffa goons. (Remember Jimmy Hoffa? The guy who said "let's take out those sons-of-bitches", in reference to The Tea Party?)
And I get to save money, which means that in the long run, you get to save money.
"It's a good example of foreign interests overtaking American interests, at the expense of jobs, security and safety. The program was a bad idea when it was created under NAFTA and it's a bad idea now. It should be stopped right away."
At the expense of jobs? If it's about saving jobs or creating more jobs, let's just mandate that loads can only cross The Rio Grande on wheelbarrows and that they can only move up Interstate 35 on hand carts pulled by the less fortunate of our society.
If it's about security, let's end the idiotic drug war. Safety will increase 100-fold on both sides of the river that we currently use as a boundary, just like safety increased when we ended our alcohol war with Canada at the end of Prohibition.
If it's about safety, take a look at one of the trucks that Transportes Olympic will use on these loads and then compare them to the rigs that haul the U.S. Mail. Case dismissed. There will be no comparison.
Criminal activity has been a problem for years even within the U.S. government's strictest trusted carrier programs. Drug trafficking organizations have smuggled tons of drugs inside trucks driven by approved truckers coming from inspected and certified facilities inside Mexico.
And they do this because there is a fortune to be made in doing so. End the monopolies that we've granted to the Mexican Drug Lords and their U.S. Enablers, and the smuggling will end. No one ever got rich by smuggling coals into Newcastle. Or by smuggling more bullshit into a political protectionist argument.
"The beneficiaries of opening borders will be few and the casualties will be plenty," Spencer told The Associated Press on Wednesday. His organization represents small independent trucking businesses.
He doesn't represent all of the small independent trucking businesses, as the article implies. He doesn't represent mine. (I'm the General Manager of one.)
Trade runs both ways. The outfit that I work for sells stuff in the U.S., and we sell stuff outside of Jimmy Hoffa's boundaries. We also purchase stuff from overseas and sell it inside the Hoffa enclosure in which most of you folks live. I don't need Hoffa and his Washington puppets in the way.
Anything is good as long as it helps weaken the cage so jealously guarded by U.S. Reps. Duncan Hunter and Bob Filner and union boss Jimmy Hoffa.
Proponents say especially strict safeguards are in place: The U.S. government is paying for electronic monitoring devices to be installed in all Mexican trucks used in the program.
Mexican trucking companies had to fill out an application, pay a fee and then submit the names of any drivers who will participate so they can undergo national security and criminal background checks by the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security.
Inspectors will check out the trucks for safety violations, verify the drivers' qualifications and administer oral English-proficiency exams.
The program's long delay has cost companies in both countries millions and hurt bilateral relations, proponents say.
"We certainly hoped that it cannot be stopped," said James Clark, director of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce's Mexico Business Center. "The U.S. has been in violation of the NAFTA agreement ever since the beginning of the trucking issue. Mexican trucks have every right to come into the U.S. under NAFTA as long as the trucks are fully inspected to U.S. standards and the drivers speak English."
About 70 percent of goods from the $4 billion trade between the two nations is transported by land to its destinations according to the Mexican government.
And all of that stuff is currently being unloaded at the border and reloaded onto another trailer. That's a total waste.
End of rant.
Thanks for listening.
Are you going to take your stand with the drummers of the Occupy Wall Street movement?
There will come a time when every man, woman and child will have to answer this question: Will you stand with The Drummers of the Occupy Wall Street Movement?
Or are you going to stand with The Man, The Oppressors, The 1%, Those Who Aren't Palestinian Enough, and The Evil Rich?
There will come a time when you will all have to answer this question. We, the drummers, we're taking names and keeping score.
Pick a side, dammit !!!
Here's an email from the so-called Occupy Wall Street "movement", outlining their strategy to silence the voices of the people. OWS is over after Tuesday:
Friends, mediation with the drummers has been called off. It has gone on for more than 2 weeks and it has reached a dead end. The drummers formed a working group called Pulse and agreed to 2 hrs/day at times during the mediation, and more recently that changed to 4 hrs/day. It’s my feeling that we may have a fighting chance with the community board if we could indeed limit drumming and loud instrumentation to 12-2 PM and 4-6 PM, however that isn’t what’s happening.
Last night the drumming was near continuous until 10:30 PM at night. Today it began again at 11 AM. The drummers are fighting among themselves, there is no cohesive group. There is one assemblage called Pulse that organized most of the drummers into a group and went to GA for formal recognition and with a proposal…
At this point we have lost the support of allies in the Community Board and the state senator and city electeds who have been fighting the city to stave off our eviction, get us toilets, etc. On Tuesday there is a Community Board vote, which will be packed with media cameras and community members with real grievances. We have sadly demonstrated to them that we are unable to collectively 1) keep our space and surrounding areas clean and sanitary, 2) keep the park safe, 3) deal with internal conflict and enforce the Good Neighbor Policy that was passed by the General Assembly…
In the meantime, there are other drummers who refuse to acknowledge OWS or the GA as a body they are interested in, and these drummers show up on site when they fell like it and drum when they feel like it. Over the weekend, it was for 10 or 11 hours straight, until late night.
So in the meantime, while we are grateful for the negotiations and positive relations with Pulse, we recognize that the issue of whether we’re evicted over drumming or not remains. For that reason we are asking for people to show up during quiet hour shifts, to ensure that drumming does not start....
And from one of the other messages, here are some Wall Street sympathizing pigs, enemies of The People, calling for more pawns to enforce the whims of the non-rhythmic, reactionary agenda:
We’re in serious need of bodies here. The drumming will happen daily from 12-2 and 4-6pm, that’s OK. But that means that we need folks in these shifts:
2-4 PM: people here to make sure drumming doesn’t start
5:45–8 PM: ppl here to make sure drumming stops at 6 PM sharp and doesn’t start again
8–10 PM: ppl here to make sure drumming doesn’t start
This is an all-call. Really really need help, tonight. There are some fabulous drummers here who have been in mediation with OWS and the community board for weeks. There are a small handful of drummers who have been violent, agro, and committed to playing as loud as they can, for as long as they can (until 11 PM this weekend).
Tomorrow night is the community board meeting, they are logging when they hear drumming and keeping a record. If we can show that we’ve made progress in implementing the Good Neighbor Policy that limits drumming then they won’t call for our eviction (they in fact have been bending over backwards to support and defend us). If we can’t get support here tonight at 6pm, or tomorrow, then we are facing an eviction vote at tomrorow’s meeting, in front of all the cameras, and we lose the electeds and allies who’ve gone to bat for us.
This is a final ditch effort as it’s been weeks of false promises and failed enforcement, so we may be close to the end of OWS over this issue this week, but we have a fighting chance!
And finally, we see the traitors in our midst....
Unfortunately there is one individual who is NOT a drummer but who claims to speak for the drummers who has been a deeply disruptive force, attacking the drumming rep during the GA and derailing his proposal, and disrupting the community board meeting, as well as the OWS community relations meeting. She has also created strife and divisions within the POC caucus, calling many members who are not ‘on her side’ “Uncle Tom”, “the 1%”, “Barbie” “not Palestinian enough” “Wall Street politicians” “not black enough” “sell-outs”, etc. People have been documenting her disruptions, and her campaign of misinformation, and instigations. She also has a documented history online of defamatory, divisive and disruptive behavior within the LGBT (esp. transgender) communities. Her disruptions have made it hard to have constructive conversations and productive resolutions to conflicts in a variety of forums in the past several days.
DRUMMERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE ! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS !!!
Or are you going to stand with The Man, The Oppressors, The 1%, Those Who Aren't Palestinian Enough, and The Evil Rich?
There will come a time when you will all have to answer this question. We, the drummers, we're taking names and keeping score.
Pick a side, dammit !!!
Here's an email from the so-called Occupy Wall Street "movement", outlining their strategy to silence the voices of the people. OWS is over after Tuesday:
Friends, mediation with the drummers has been called off. It has gone on for more than 2 weeks and it has reached a dead end. The drummers formed a working group called Pulse and agreed to 2 hrs/day at times during the mediation, and more recently that changed to 4 hrs/day. It’s my feeling that we may have a fighting chance with the community board if we could indeed limit drumming and loud instrumentation to 12-2 PM and 4-6 PM, however that isn’t what’s happening.
Last night the drumming was near continuous until 10:30 PM at night. Today it began again at 11 AM. The drummers are fighting among themselves, there is no cohesive group. There is one assemblage called Pulse that organized most of the drummers into a group and went to GA for formal recognition and with a proposal…
At this point we have lost the support of allies in the Community Board and the state senator and city electeds who have been fighting the city to stave off our eviction, get us toilets, etc. On Tuesday there is a Community Board vote, which will be packed with media cameras and community members with real grievances. We have sadly demonstrated to them that we are unable to collectively 1) keep our space and surrounding areas clean and sanitary, 2) keep the park safe, 3) deal with internal conflict and enforce the Good Neighbor Policy that was passed by the General Assembly…
In the meantime, there are other drummers who refuse to acknowledge OWS or the GA as a body they are interested in, and these drummers show up on site when they fell like it and drum when they feel like it. Over the weekend, it was for 10 or 11 hours straight, until late night.
So in the meantime, while we are grateful for the negotiations and positive relations with Pulse, we recognize that the issue of whether we’re evicted over drumming or not remains. For that reason we are asking for people to show up during quiet hour shifts, to ensure that drumming does not start....
And from one of the other messages, here are some Wall Street sympathizing pigs, enemies of The People, calling for more pawns to enforce the whims of the non-rhythmic, reactionary agenda:
We’re in serious need of bodies here. The drumming will happen daily from 12-2 and 4-6pm, that’s OK. But that means that we need folks in these shifts:
2-4 PM: people here to make sure drumming doesn’t start
5:45–8 PM: ppl here to make sure drumming stops at 6 PM sharp and doesn’t start again
8–10 PM: ppl here to make sure drumming doesn’t start
This is an all-call. Really really need help, tonight. There are some fabulous drummers here who have been in mediation with OWS and the community board for weeks. There are a small handful of drummers who have been violent, agro, and committed to playing as loud as they can, for as long as they can (until 11 PM this weekend).
Tomorrow night is the community board meeting, they are logging when they hear drumming and keeping a record. If we can show that we’ve made progress in implementing the Good Neighbor Policy that limits drumming then they won’t call for our eviction (they in fact have been bending over backwards to support and defend us). If we can’t get support here tonight at 6pm, or tomorrow, then we are facing an eviction vote at tomrorow’s meeting, in front of all the cameras, and we lose the electeds and allies who’ve gone to bat for us.
This is a final ditch effort as it’s been weeks of false promises and failed enforcement, so we may be close to the end of OWS over this issue this week, but we have a fighting chance!
And finally, we see the traitors in our midst....
Unfortunately there is one individual who is NOT a drummer but who claims to speak for the drummers who has been a deeply disruptive force, attacking the drumming rep during the GA and derailing his proposal, and disrupting the community board meeting, as well as the OWS community relations meeting. She has also created strife and divisions within the POC caucus, calling many members who are not ‘on her side’ “Uncle Tom”, “the 1%”, “Barbie” “not Palestinian enough” “Wall Street politicians” “not black enough” “sell-outs”, etc. People have been documenting her disruptions, and her campaign of misinformation, and instigations. She also has a documented history online of defamatory, divisive and disruptive behavior within the LGBT (esp. transgender) communities. Her disruptions have made it hard to have constructive conversations and productive resolutions to conflicts in a variety of forums in the past several days.
DRUMMERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE ! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS !!!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Quotation of the day
Our quotation of the day is from The Gospel According To Saint Thomas Sowell, via a commentary from Cafe Hayek.
One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.
Yep. That nails it.
One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.
Yep. That nails it.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
The Occupy Wall Street movement discriminates against drummers !!!
This irritates me more than it should.
I am a drummer. Not a great one, but I get by.
I was in the drum lines at Ole Miss and Delta State.
Here's a picture of me, way off in the background, thumping the skins at Jazz Cafe.
Yes, I've heard all the jokes.
What do you call a guy who hangs out with four musicians? A drummer.
How can you tell a drummer is at your door? The knocking speeds up.
How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb? None. Thank God they have a machine for that now !!!
And now we have this freakin' outrage:
All occupiers are equal — but some occupiers are more equal than others. In wind-whipped Zuccotti Park, new divisions and hierarchies are threatening to upend Occupy Wall Street and its leaderless collective. . . .
Facilitators spearheaded a General Assembly proposal to limit the drumming to two hours a day. “The drumming is a major issue which has the potential to get us kicked out,” said Lauren Digion, a leader on the sanitation working group.
But the drums were fun. They brought in publicity and money. Many non-facilitators were infuriated by the decision and claimed that it had been forced through the General Assembly.
“They’re imposing a structure on the natural flow of music,” said Seth Harper, an 18-year-old from Georgia. “The GA decided to do it … they suppressed people’s opinions. I wanted to do introduce a different proposal, but a big black organizer chick with an Afro said I couldn’t.”
To Shane Engelerdt, a 19-year-old from Jersey City and self-described former “head drummer,” this amounted to a Jacobinic betrayal. “They are becoming the government we’re trying to protest,” he said. “They didn’t even give the drummers a say … Drumming is the heartbeat of this movement. Look around: This is dead, you need a pulse to keep something alive.”
The drummers claim that the finance working group even levied a percussion tax of sorts, taking up to half of the $150-300 a day that the drum circle was receiving in tips. “Now they have over $500,000 from all sorts of places,” said Engelerdt. “We’re like, what’s going on here? They’re like the banks we’re protesting.”
(The drummers are learning that if The Collective gives, then The Collective can also take away. - TWS)
All belongings and money in the park are supposed to be held in common, but property rights reared their capitalistic head when facilitators went to clean up the park, which was looking more like a shantytown than usual after several days of wind and rain. The local community board was due to send in an inspector, so the facilitators and cleaners started moving tarps, bags, and personal belongings into a big pile in order to clean the park.
But some refused to budge. A bearded man began to gather up a tarp and an occupier emerged from beneath, screaming: “You’re going to break my f***ing tent, get that s**t off!” Near the front of the park, two men in hoodies staged a meta-sit-in, fearful that their belongings would be lost or appropriated.
First they came for The Drummers, but I did not speak out, for I was not a Drummer....
I am a drummer. Not a great one, but I get by.
I was in the drum lines at Ole Miss and Delta State.
Here's a picture of me, way off in the background, thumping the skins at Jazz Cafe.
Yes, I've heard all the jokes.
What do you call a guy who hangs out with four musicians? A drummer.
How can you tell a drummer is at your door? The knocking speeds up.
How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb? None. Thank God they have a machine for that now !!!
And now we have this freakin' outrage:
All occupiers are equal — but some occupiers are more equal than others. In wind-whipped Zuccotti Park, new divisions and hierarchies are threatening to upend Occupy Wall Street and its leaderless collective. . . .
Facilitators spearheaded a General Assembly proposal to limit the drumming to two hours a day. “The drumming is a major issue which has the potential to get us kicked out,” said Lauren Digion, a leader on the sanitation working group.
But the drums were fun. They brought in publicity and money. Many non-facilitators were infuriated by the decision and claimed that it had been forced through the General Assembly.
“They’re imposing a structure on the natural flow of music,” said Seth Harper, an 18-year-old from Georgia. “The GA decided to do it … they suppressed people’s opinions. I wanted to do introduce a different proposal, but a big black organizer chick with an Afro said I couldn’t.”
To Shane Engelerdt, a 19-year-old from Jersey City and self-described former “head drummer,” this amounted to a Jacobinic betrayal. “They are becoming the government we’re trying to protest,” he said. “They didn’t even give the drummers a say … Drumming is the heartbeat of this movement. Look around: This is dead, you need a pulse to keep something alive.”
The drummers claim that the finance working group even levied a percussion tax of sorts, taking up to half of the $150-300 a day that the drum circle was receiving in tips. “Now they have over $500,000 from all sorts of places,” said Engelerdt. “We’re like, what’s going on here? They’re like the banks we’re protesting.”
(The drummers are learning that if The Collective gives, then The Collective can also take away. - TWS)
All belongings and money in the park are supposed to be held in common, but property rights reared their capitalistic head when facilitators went to clean up the park, which was looking more like a shantytown than usual after several days of wind and rain. The local community board was due to send in an inspector, so the facilitators and cleaners started moving tarps, bags, and personal belongings into a big pile in order to clean the park.
But some refused to budge. A bearded man began to gather up a tarp and an occupier emerged from beneath, screaming: “You’re going to break my f***ing tent, get that s**t off!” Near the front of the park, two men in hoodies staged a meta-sit-in, fearful that their belongings would be lost or appropriated.
First they came for The Drummers, but I did not speak out, for I was not a Drummer....
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Anachronistic protesters
From Samizdata, on the Occupy Wall Street movement:
This isn't so much a political movement as a form of historical reenactment. That's why the OWS protesters are so vague about what they want - because what they want is to be camping out at a mass 1968-style protest. There's little difference between them and Civil War reenactors, except that the Civil War guys understand that it's not real and the outcome of their mock battles won't have any effect. The 1968 reenactors down on Wall Street have the quaint belief that what they're doing is real.
And from the comments:
They know so little (most of them) that they don't know the difference between reality and fiction. Which, by the way, is an indictment of our education system.
Moreover, they don't care about the difference.
I went to a university in California in the 1980s. We had the same phenomena then. People would protest for causes they knew nothing about. I'd talk to them and after establishing they knew nothing about apartheid in South Africa or whatever the cause du jour, they said that they were pursuing their business or law degrees so they could live the conspicuously consumptive young urban lifestyle; condo by the beach, a nice BMW convertible, etc.
They were protesting whatever, it didn't matter to them, so they could feel good about themselves. Sort of a variation of "I gave at the office." They gave to "the cause" while in college so they could be selfish the rest of their lives.
Of course, these people may be protesting the fact that they went deeply into debt making bad life decisions no one forced them to make, such as getting worthless degrees, expecting they'd just be handed a high-paying job requiring just as little effort as their lazy tenured professor asked of them, and now they're finding out they aren't going to live that easy, conspicuously consumptive lifestyle they imagined was theirs by right.
Now they're throwing a tantrum. But I see the selfishness part hasn't changed. They aren't protesting bailouts; they're demanding more for themselves. They want someone else to work to pay for their college loans, their credit card debt, the mortgages they want to get, ad infinitum.
In other words, they want to live like ante bellum plantation owners while someone else works to support them.
I take issue with that last sentence. They don't want to live like plantation owners. Many of them want to live like plantation slaves - with a "guaranteed" job that also includes 3 hots and a cot and some kind of healthcare.
The picture of the anachronistic OWS protesters came from here. The picture of the anachronistic Civil War Reeanactors with a tank came from here.
This isn't so much a political movement as a form of historical reenactment. That's why the OWS protesters are so vague about what they want - because what they want is to be camping out at a mass 1968-style protest. There's little difference between them and Civil War reenactors, except that the Civil War guys understand that it's not real and the outcome of their mock battles won't have any effect. The 1968 reenactors down on Wall Street have the quaint belief that what they're doing is real.
And from the comments:
They know so little (most of them) that they don't know the difference between reality and fiction. Which, by the way, is an indictment of our education system.
Moreover, they don't care about the difference.
I went to a university in California in the 1980s. We had the same phenomena then. People would protest for causes they knew nothing about. I'd talk to them and after establishing they knew nothing about apartheid in South Africa or whatever the cause du jour, they said that they were pursuing their business or law degrees so they could live the conspicuously consumptive young urban lifestyle; condo by the beach, a nice BMW convertible, etc.
They were protesting whatever, it didn't matter to them, so they could feel good about themselves. Sort of a variation of "I gave at the office." They gave to "the cause" while in college so they could be selfish the rest of their lives.
Of course, these people may be protesting the fact that they went deeply into debt making bad life decisions no one forced them to make, such as getting worthless degrees, expecting they'd just be handed a high-paying job requiring just as little effort as their lazy tenured professor asked of them, and now they're finding out they aren't going to live that easy, conspicuously consumptive lifestyle they imagined was theirs by right.
Now they're throwing a tantrum. But I see the selfishness part hasn't changed. They aren't protesting bailouts; they're demanding more for themselves. They want someone else to work to pay for their college loans, their credit card debt, the mortgages they want to get, ad infinitum.
In other words, they want to live like ante bellum plantation owners while someone else works to support them.
I take issue with that last sentence. They don't want to live like plantation owners. Many of them want to live like plantation slaves - with a "guaranteed" job that also includes 3 hots and a cot and some kind of healthcare.
The picture of the anachronistic OWS protesters came from here. The picture of the anachronistic Civil War Reeanactors with a tank came from here.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Someone has hit the "mute" button !!!!
If you don't hear much from our president for the next week, here is the reason why.
Doesn't the Secret Service know how important this is ???
Doesn't the Secret Service know how important this is ???
Monday, October 17, 2011
My Spamcatcher has a sense of humor
I got all the emails from the Republicrats and the Demoblicans during the last presidential election. I like to keep informed.
My spamcatcher has a great sense of humor, and tried to give me a warning about Joe Biden. Enjoy.
Whited --
I need to ask you one last thing before tonight's midnight deadline:
If you know you're going to donate to this campaign eventually, what's stopping you from doing it right now?
If you're going to be a part of history in 2012, it's time to get off the sidelines.
So, before midnight, will you chip in what you can and say you're in?
This has never been about Barack and me.
We're just two guys. It's folks like you out there who will decide this election.
And what you're capable of is incredible -- if you decide to do it.
MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "my.barackobama.com" https://donate.barackobama.com/Friday-Deadline
Thank you,
Joe
My spamcatcher has a great sense of humor, and tried to give me a warning about Joe Biden. Enjoy.
Whited --
I need to ask you one last thing before tonight's midnight deadline:
If you know you're going to donate to this campaign eventually, what's stopping you from doing it right now?
If you're going to be a part of history in 2012, it's time to get off the sidelines.
So, before midnight, will you chip in what you can and say you're in?
This has never been about Barack and me.
We're just two guys. It's folks like you out there who will decide this election.
And what you're capable of is incredible -- if you decide to do it.
MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "my.barackobama.com" https://donate.barackobama.com/Friday-Deadline
Thank you,
Joe
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Multiple Trustafarians exposed
There are moments that are so phenomenally delicious, so incredibly wonderful, so freakin' great, that I thank The Lord Zhool that I get to be alive for these moments.
One was the release of the ClimateGate emails that showed the impartial scientists plotting to keep skeptics out of peer-reviewed periodicals, hiding declines in warming, and the like.
Another was when John Kerry got busted for keeping his yacht out of state to avoid paying a ridiculous amount of taxes.
And how can we forget Warren Buffett's advocacy for higher taxes, while his own Berkshire Hathaway has been in a two-year lawsuit to avoid paying a billion dollars in higher taxes?
Yesterday I threw up a random video of an incoherent Occupy Wall Street protester.
It seems I wasn't alone in thinking the guy was hilarious.
It turns out, he's a Colombia Grad Student. And what makes it better is that he has a freakin' trust fund set up by his grandfather.
Where are all the "Trust Fund Babies Against Capitalism" signs?
Never mind. I found one on Michael Shanklin's Facebook page.
Mike's comment:
One was the release of the ClimateGate emails that showed the impartial scientists plotting to keep skeptics out of peer-reviewed periodicals, hiding declines in warming, and the like.
Another was when John Kerry got busted for keeping his yacht out of state to avoid paying a ridiculous amount of taxes.
And how can we forget Warren Buffett's advocacy for higher taxes, while his own Berkshire Hathaway has been in a two-year lawsuit to avoid paying a billion dollars in higher taxes?
Yesterday I threw up a random video of an incoherent Occupy Wall Street protester.
It seems I wasn't alone in thinking the guy was hilarious.
It turns out, he's a Colombia Grad Student. And what makes it better is that he has a freakin' trust fund set up by his grandfather.
Where are all the "Trust Fund Babies Against Capitalism" signs?
Never mind. I found one on Michael Shanklin's Facebook page.
Mike's comment:
Saturday, October 15, 2011
You MIGHT Be A Fleabagger....
I've been kinda busy and haven't had time to comment on the Occupy Wall Street groups, and that has been frustrating. As far as rationality goes, these characters make the occasionally confused "Keep Government Out Of My Medicare" Tea Partyers look like Mr. Spock.
Yeah, there's some bad stuff going on, and Washington is stealing from the middle to protect the top. So why aren't they protesting in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C.?
Good Lord in heaven, what a crew. Anarchists for Big Government. Privileged Ivy Leaguers rioting for free tuition, supplied by working plumbers, retailers and electricians. An uprising against theft, but with nary a word spoken about the thieves in Washington who do the stealing. And they have to pay Mexicans to show up to protest !!! This is not the diversity we were promised !!!!
I mean, these children do know who Wall Street supported in the last presidential election, right?
And they do know who has given Wall Street its money's worth in bailouts and handouts, right?
Incredible.
For those who are interested, here's a sampling from the rolling Twitter Feed at #YouMightBeAFleabagger. Constantly updated, of course, so hit this link.
If you think everybody should have a job, as long as nobody gets rich enough to hire anyone, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think the only reason you aren't receiving a government handout is because of those "Zionist bankers". #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you hid your North Face jacket in the back of your Prius & bought a ragged Hoodie at Goodwill to protest in #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think sleeping in a park really changes the world #YouMightBeAFleabagger
#YouMightBeAFleabagger if you protest for "justice" at the same time you demand other people's money.
If you think that only 1% of the population should carry the other 99% #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think government corruptly hands taxpayer money to preferred corporations, and the answer is more government, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think the 90% unemployment rate amongst post-modern, bi-sexual haiku majors was caused by Goldman Sachs #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think the immigrant guy who owns the convenience store should pay for your interpretive dance studies, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
#YouMightBeAFleabagger if U blame Jooooooooooos instead of Dodd/Frank Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
If you're paying $50k/year for a college degree that will qualify you for a $20k/year job, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If your idea of a "good time" is spitting on women Coast Guard officers... #YouMightBeAFleabagger #fb http://nation.foxnews.com/occupy-boston/2011/10/14/occupy-boston-protesters-spit-coast-guard
* If you enjoy the smell of destitution in the morning and want the rest of the world to embrace it as well... #YouMightBeAFleabagger *
#YouMightBeAFleabagger if your Messiah Obama raised the most money evah from Wall Street donors.
If you think Obama is part of the problem...but you're probably going to vote for him anyway #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If your Mom urges you go out and protest so she can have a chance to clean the basement #YouMightBeAFleabagger
#YouMightBeAFleabagger if you say you are for the environment and then trash and defecate in parks.
38 minutes ago »
If you use the iPhone 4 your parents gave you to send anti-corporate tweets from the park you've turned into a dump, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think you're cleaning up Wall Street by taking a dump in the middle of it, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you hate Nestle Corp but plead for hot chocolate on #needsoftheoccupiers, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you hate cops but love IRS agents, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
Yeah, there's some bad stuff going on, and Washington is stealing from the middle to protect the top. So why aren't they protesting in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C.?
Good Lord in heaven, what a crew. Anarchists for Big Government. Privileged Ivy Leaguers rioting for free tuition, supplied by working plumbers, retailers and electricians. An uprising against theft, but with nary a word spoken about the thieves in Washington who do the stealing. And they have to pay Mexicans to show up to protest !!! This is not the diversity we were promised !!!!
I mean, these children do know who Wall Street supported in the last presidential election, right?
And they do know who has given Wall Street its money's worth in bailouts and handouts, right?
Incredible.
For those who are interested, here's a sampling from the rolling Twitter Feed at #YouMightBeAFleabagger. Constantly updated, of course, so hit this link.
If you think everybody should have a job, as long as nobody gets rich enough to hire anyone, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think the only reason you aren't receiving a government handout is because of those "Zionist bankers". #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you hid your North Face jacket in the back of your Prius & bought a ragged Hoodie at Goodwill to protest in #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think sleeping in a park really changes the world #YouMightBeAFleabagger
#YouMightBeAFleabagger if you protest for "justice" at the same time you demand other people's money.
If you think that only 1% of the population should carry the other 99% #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think government corruptly hands taxpayer money to preferred corporations, and the answer is more government, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think the 90% unemployment rate amongst post-modern, bi-sexual haiku majors was caused by Goldman Sachs #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think the immigrant guy who owns the convenience store should pay for your interpretive dance studies, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
#YouMightBeAFleabagger if U blame Jooooooooooos instead of Dodd/Frank Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
If you're paying $50k/year for a college degree that will qualify you for a $20k/year job, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If your idea of a "good time" is spitting on women Coast Guard officers... #YouMightBeAFleabagger #fb http://nation.foxnews.com/occupy-boston/2011/10/14/occupy-boston-protesters-spit-coast-guard
* If you enjoy the smell of destitution in the morning and want the rest of the world to embrace it as well... #YouMightBeAFleabagger *
#YouMightBeAFleabagger if your Messiah Obama raised the most money evah from Wall Street donors.
If you think Obama is part of the problem...but you're probably going to vote for him anyway #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If your Mom urges you go out and protest so she can have a chance to clean the basement #YouMightBeAFleabagger
#YouMightBeAFleabagger if you say you are for the environment and then trash and defecate in parks.
38 minutes ago »
If you use the iPhone 4 your parents gave you to send anti-corporate tweets from the park you've turned into a dump, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you think you're cleaning up Wall Street by taking a dump in the middle of it, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you hate Nestle Corp but plead for hot chocolate on #needsoftheoccupiers, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
If you hate cops but love IRS agents, #YouMightBeAFleabagger
And in closing, if you can watch this tragedy without laughing, you have a heart of stone.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
More stunts from the people who can't deliver the mail.....
The great Radley Balko has devoted a significant part of his life to freeing wrongly convicted prisoners.
Here's his latest cause:
Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner is set to be executed on November 9.
I wrote about Skinner for Slate last year. While the Troy Davis execution was awful because there were significant doubts about Davis’ guilt, and the Willingham execution because there has since been an overwhelming consensus among forensic arson experts that he was convicted with junk science, the outrage in Skinner’s case exceeds both—and that’s despite the fact that Skinner may well be guilty.
Skinner (who has already come within an hour of execution) is about to be executed despite the fact that there is testable DNA from the murder weapon, the rape kit, hairs one of the victims was found clutching, and a jacket left at the crime scene similar to one worn by another possible suspect, all of which has yet to be tested.
And it’s even worse than that. The state started testing on the hairs a decade ago. When preliminary mitochondrial testing came back negative as a match to either Skinner or the victim, the state just decided to stop further testing....
....I have no idea if Hank Skinner is guilty. Neither does the state of Texas. The difference is that I and anyone with a lick of conscience would prefer we find out before the man is put to death.
Seems that Texas officials would just rather not know.
Here's his latest cause:
Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner is set to be executed on November 9.
I wrote about Skinner for Slate last year. While the Troy Davis execution was awful because there were significant doubts about Davis’ guilt, and the Willingham execution because there has since been an overwhelming consensus among forensic arson experts that he was convicted with junk science, the outrage in Skinner’s case exceeds both—and that’s despite the fact that Skinner may well be guilty.
Skinner (who has already come within an hour of execution) is about to be executed despite the fact that there is testable DNA from the murder weapon, the rape kit, hairs one of the victims was found clutching, and a jacket left at the crime scene similar to one worn by another possible suspect, all of which has yet to be tested.
And it’s even worse than that. The state started testing on the hairs a decade ago. When preliminary mitochondrial testing came back negative as a match to either Skinner or the victim, the state just decided to stop further testing....
....I have no idea if Hank Skinner is guilty. Neither does the state of Texas. The difference is that I and anyone with a lick of conscience would prefer we find out before the man is put to death.
Seems that Texas officials would just rather not know.
Monday, October 10, 2011
For all the kids with the cool Che Guevara t-shirts
For all the kids who think that wearing mass-murderer t-shirts are cool:
Go here to read more about Che's body count.
Go here to read more about Che's body count.
The Occupy Wall Street protest song
I don't care which side of the Wall Street protest divide you're on, this is funny.
It's from the geniuses at Reason magazine.
Come gather round people
come and join your hands
we're taking Wall Street
and we're making demands
and we're heeding the call
and we're crying for help
only 1% of us have wealth
but first we need posters
we need to make signs
but to do so it seems
that we need some supplies
We need poster board
I can't make it myself
but it's 10 cents a sheet
at the store it's on sale
an example of economies of scale
it's so evil
They're saying that freedom
has done little to stop
Corporations from keeping
the wealth at the top
But at what point in history
would a kid and a king
both have clean water to drink?
George Washington was
the richest man of his age
But he lost all his teeth
at a very young age
Because they didn't have Scope
and they all crapped in trays
we're not wealthy?
now there's fountains on streets
from which clean water pours
Four dollar generics
at all big box stores
a sultan and student
both have iPhone 4s
it's not fair
Come gather young people
come on everyone
and I'll tell you a tale
of a fortunate son
He's born in a country
and given vaccine
and rendered immune
to all kinds of disease
the Kardashians are on
all his TVs
it's not perfect
Banks don't need bailouts
on that we agree
so let's start up a group
and let's take to the streets
because if we do that then
you know what that means
we're racist.
It's from the geniuses at Reason magazine.
Come gather round people
come and join your hands
we're taking Wall Street
and we're making demands
and we're heeding the call
and we're crying for help
only 1% of us have wealth
but first we need posters
we need to make signs
but to do so it seems
that we need some supplies
We need poster board
I can't make it myself
but it's 10 cents a sheet
at the store it's on sale
an example of economies of scale
it's so evil
They're saying that freedom
has done little to stop
Corporations from keeping
the wealth at the top
But at what point in history
would a kid and a king
both have clean water to drink?
George Washington was
the richest man of his age
But he lost all his teeth
at a very young age
Because they didn't have Scope
and they all crapped in trays
we're not wealthy?
now there's fountains on streets
from which clean water pours
Four dollar generics
at all big box stores
a sultan and student
both have iPhone 4s
it's not fair
Come gather young people
come on everyone
and I'll tell you a tale
of a fortunate son
He's born in a country
and given vaccine
and rendered immune
to all kinds of disease
the Kardashians are on
all his TVs
it's not perfect
Banks don't need bailouts
on that we agree
so let's start up a group
and let's take to the streets
because if we do that then
you know what that means
we're racist.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The Top 100 Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
National Socialist Radio listeners have participated in a project to compile The Top 100 Science Fiction And Fantasy Books.
Denny and a lot of other bloggers have participated in a meme where you copy the NSR list, highlight the ones you've read, and provide any commentary that would encourage others to read some of the titles that you've enjoyed.
I'm not a huge fan of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre, mostly because any time the hero gets in trouble, the authors can instantly save him with a time warp, an enchanted spatula, an unexpected invasion of liberators from the planet Nekthar, or a magical stimulus package. But I was surprised at how many of these I've read.
Enjoy !
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
This is the ultimate fantasy trilogy. A friend of The Whited Mama, Mrs. Merritt, recommended it to me when I was in the 8th grade. Mrs. Merritt had read the series 3 or 4 times. I devoured these puppies. You've never known true joy until those hobbits get rid of that dang ring.
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
You will laugh until you cry. I almost ruptured a gut during the sequence where Marvin The Paranoid Android gets left behind in the space time continuum and has to park cars at The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe for billions of years until he can rejoin his buddies in "the present". Please don't judge this thing by the movie adaptation. This is brilliant stuff. I wish it could have been number 42 on this list, though.
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
The first book in the series is pure, undiluted greatness. Herbert creates an entire culture that the reader can totally buy into - grammar, traditions, religion, coming-of-age rituals, laws, diet, clothing, the works. The second is good. The third is blah. All the other stuff after that is dull. I bet if you read the first one, you'll still try to read the all the rest, kinda like a crack addict trying to get that old feeling back.
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
Yes, Big Brother is watching you. And he's not happy that you're reading anything on this site.
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The best anti-censorship book EVER. Read it, and you'll never forget the temperature at which paper spontaneously ignites. Bradbury's best?
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
I didn't read all of this. Therefore it is only half-highlighted. I usually liked Asimov's non-fiction essays more than his novels.
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
"And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins."
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
Hilarious. Joyous. Wonderful storytelling. Loved it, loved it, loved it. And they didn't screw up the movie. Inconceivable. I don't think that means what you think it means. And I am not left-handed. Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
As Timothy The Tax Cheat Geithner will tell you, "some are more equal than others". Animal Farm - we're living on it.
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
Watchmen is a graphic novel. For people over 60, that's what they're now calling lengthy comic books. I liked it ok, but didn't think it was worth inclusion in Time magazine's Top 100 Novels list. Because of this graphic novel, all references that I make to "Ozymandias" are misunderstood.
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
I think I finished it.
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
I grokked it in a big way. One of the best libertarian novels ever written.
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
Frankenstein isn't about being afraid of a monster. It's about how horrible it would be to live as a monster.
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
Even if you haven't read PKD's books, you're probably familiary with some of the movies they spawned - Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report. This theme seems to have driven Philip K. Dick stark raving mad.... How do we know that we really experienced something in the past? How do we know that we weren't all created 15 minutes ago, with common non-contradictory memories? This guy makes my head hurt.
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood has a typing fit where she imagines a religious fundamentalist takeover of the U.S. after nuclear war makes most of the women sterile and races are segregated again, and nobody can wear makeup and women can't drive cars. Kind of a left-wing rape fantasy.
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
I think I own all the volumes of this, but I'm saving them for my old age.
I read this in the North Sunflower Academy library when I was too young to understand it. I need to revisit this one. Every time Barack Obama discovers that some Socialist/Keynesian policy will not work, it reminds me of the chimps crowding around the metal tower and discovering how to use tools.
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
This is a big fat story that you can get lost in, with a good vs. evil plot. King has a great time destroying the world and populating it with dozens of memorable characters: Trashcan Man, Mother Abigail, The Walking Dude, and that washed-up, one-hit-wonder, rock singer. This is one of my favorites. Buy the really long uncut version.
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
If bookstores still exist 50 years from now, Ray Bradbury will probably be shelved in the Literature section, not Sci-Fi.
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
My friend Roger and I were discussing this one last night. If you take away someone's free will with drugs, is he still a human?
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
Imagine a semi-fascist society where everyone lives to serve the state, and the state assigns them their careers, and some of them are sent off to fight giant bugs. Good stuff. Bad movie. It's so bad that you'll watch it over and over. "It's an ugly planet ! A BUG planet !"
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
I've not thought about this before, but this one belongs on the list for the same reason as Frankenstein. Frankenstein is about how horrible it would be to live as a monster. Watership is about how horrible it would be to live as prey.
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
Haven't read it, but it's on my Bucket List.
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
Read it a long, long time ago. Those underground Morlock things gave me bad dreams.
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
Read it after I went on the ride at Disneyland, sometime in the 4th or 5th grade.
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
Read it in Jr. High School and thought it was ok. Tried it again a few years ago, and it wasn't ok.
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
If we ever make contact with other planets, this is what The Feds will use to justify more spending.
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Phenomenally dull stuff. Like George Lucas discovered in doing Star Wars Episodes 1,2, and 3, there are times when you should produce something great and then leave it alone.
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
Pure, undiluted greatness. I love, love, love this book. Love it, love it, love it. I will give you a dollar if you read this book.
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
This is one of the darkest things I've ever read, and I'm a fan of darkness. Post-apocalyptic meldown. Two people trying to get from Point A to Point B. You never get the names of the two main characters, the man and the boy. This might be McCarthy's best novel, in spite of serious competition.
64. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
If you like Zombie combat, this is your book.
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
Greatness. Nothing but Bradbury short stories, tied together with a guy who is tattooed all over. If I remember correctly, you don't have to read them in order, which makes for convenient bathroom reading. (You know, for when you just need something to keep you occupied for five minutes.)
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
I think Lewis's theological parables (Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce) are better than these. I don't think I ever finished the 2nd one.
That's the list. I hope it was helpful. I'm going to try to read the Vonnegut stuff.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Steve Jobs - R.I.P.
"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as “bad luck.” - Robert Heinlein
“I don’t know what Steve Jobs’s politics were, I don’t much care, and in any case they are beside the point. The late Mr. Jobs stood for something considerably better than politics. He stood for the model of the world that works. . . . That old Motorola cinderblock would cost about $10,000 in 2011 dollars, and you couldn’t play Angry Birds on it or watch Fox News or trade a stock. Once you figure out why your cell phone gets better and cheaper every year but your public schools get more expensive and less effective, you can apply that model to answer a great many questions about public policy. Not all of them, but a great many. . . . I was down at the Occupy Wall Street protest today, and never has the divide between the iPhone world and the politics world been so clear: I saw a bunch of people very well-served by their computers and telephones (very often Apple products) but undeniably shortchanged by our government-run cartel education system. And the tragedy for them — and for us — is that they will spend their energy trying to expand the sphere of the ineffective, hidebound, rent-seeking, unproductive political world, giving the Barney Franks and Tom DeLays an even stronger whip hand over the Steve Jobses and Henry Fords. And they — and we — will be poorer for it.” - Kevin Williamson
“I don’t know what Steve Jobs’s politics were, I don’t much care, and in any case they are beside the point. The late Mr. Jobs stood for something considerably better than politics. He stood for the model of the world that works. . . . That old Motorola cinderblock would cost about $10,000 in 2011 dollars, and you couldn’t play Angry Birds on it or watch Fox News or trade a stock. Once you figure out why your cell phone gets better and cheaper every year but your public schools get more expensive and less effective, you can apply that model to answer a great many questions about public policy. Not all of them, but a great many. . . . I was down at the Occupy Wall Street protest today, and never has the divide between the iPhone world and the politics world been so clear: I saw a bunch of people very well-served by their computers and telephones (very often Apple products) but undeniably shortchanged by our government-run cartel education system. And the tragedy for them — and for us — is that they will spend their energy trying to expand the sphere of the ineffective, hidebound, rent-seeking, unproductive political world, giving the Barney Franks and Tom DeLays an even stronger whip hand over the Steve Jobses and Henry Fords. And they — and we — will be poorer for it.” - Kevin Williamson
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