| (no subject) |
[Sep. 4th, 2004|11:03 am] |
Who here listens to Charles Bronson
Aren't they the shiiit?!?!?!?
Sorry that was random |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 18th, 2004|05:03 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
I've been back since the 12th... and I have yet to write anything here.
I was thinking about doing a piece about the NYC or Washington Police state.
But then got lazy
I did nothing my whole trip except get ridiculed by my grandfather and argued for the ideals of anarchism with my grandmother without actually saying 'I am an anarchist' (i'm afraid my ex-FBI grandfather would shoot my azz)
Anyways, I just bummed around while I was there and saw some movies..
Colateral
Bourne Suprancacy
The Village
(in order from best-est to worst-est)
all were pretty darned good though
anyhow... new yorks a police state
end of story...
I'll elaborate later... yea right...
why am i um at 5 am? |
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| Dont Trip! |
[Jul. 29th, 2004|01:56 am] |
I'm leaving for two weeks
Going to NYC (Not for any conventions but just as a vacation)
then a day in Washington (same as above)
and to Myrtle Beach South carolna (Jesus USA)...
While I'm gone I should be writing so maybe when I come back they'll be somthing of substance for me to put up in here
I'll see what happens |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 25th, 2004|01:43 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blah | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Thug Murder - I Fought the Law | ] |
The Democrats and their police buddies are planning to contain dissent in a hidden protest cage. This is what contemporary American democracy looks like and put a lie to the argument that the Democrats are the lesser of two evils.
An area designated for organized protests appears enclosed by mesh and chain link fencing near the site of the upcoming Democratic National Convention, in Boston, Wednesday, July 21, 2004. A new federal lawsuit has been filed against the city over the fenced-in protest area that has been called a 'demonstration zone,' and a 'free speech zone.'
http://parkerpettus.com/fleet/index.html
check that out for some pictures of the beast.. |
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| The "Good War" Myth of World War II |
[Jul. 25th, 2004|01:39 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bored | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Thug Murder - Dice | ] |
The "Good War" Myth of World War II
The "Good War" story of World War II is a Big Lie, used today by the likes of George W. Bush and John F. Kerry to create a mind set in which America's rulers are the good guys who, despite all of their faults and foibles, are saving the world from the really really bad guys.
FDR told Americans that the war was about fighting fascism and tyranny. But FDR lied about his real war objectives, just as Hitler lied to the Germans and Japanese militarists lied to the Japanese people to get them to fight the bloodiest war in history.
( Read more... )
Its worth the read guys, I swear to your god |
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| 10 Reasons Why George Bush Should Be Fired (And 9 Why John Kerry Won't Be Much Better) |
[Jul. 19th, 2004|01:57 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | blah | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Self Destruct | ] |
If you're looking for reasons to be disgusted with George W. Bush, here are the top 10:
1. The war in Iraq. Over a thousand soldiers and counting have died to subdue a country that was never a threat to the United States. Now we're trapped in an open-ended conflict against a hydra-headed enemy, while terrorism around the world actually increases.
One of the silliest arguments for the invasion held that our presence in Iraq was a "flypaper" attracting the world's terrorists to one distant spot. At this point, it's pretty clear that if there's a flypaper in Baghdad, the biggest bug that's stuck to it is the U.S.A.
2. Abu Ghraib. And by "Abu Ghraib" I mean all the places where Americans have tortured detainees, not just the prison that gave the scandal its name. While there are still people who claim that this was merely a matter of seven poorly supervised soldiers "abusing" (not torturing!) some terrorists, it's clear now that the abuse was much more widespread; that it included rape, beatings, and killings; that the prison population consisted overwhelmingly of innocents and petty crooks, not terrorists; and that the torture very likely emerged not from the unsupervised behavior of some low-level soldiers, but from policies set at the top levels of the Bush administration. Along the way, we discovered that the administration's lawyers believe the president has the power to unilaterally suspend the nation's laws—a policy that, if taken seriously, would roll back the central principle of the Glorious Revolution.
Two years ago, when Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was running for governor of Maryland, I noted her poor oversight of a boot camp program for drug offenders where the juvenile charges had been beaten and abused. "It's bad enough," I wrote, "to let something like institutionalized torture slip by on your watch. It's worse still to put your political career ahead of your job, and to brag about the program that's employing the torturers instead of giving it the oversight that might have uncovered their crimes earlier. There are mistakes that should simply disqualify a politician from future positions of authority." Every word of that applies at least as strongly to Donald Rumsfeld and to the man who has not seen fit to rebuke him publicly for the torture scandal, George Bush.
3. Indefinite detentions. Since 9/11, the U.S. government has imprisoned over a thousand people for minor violations of immigration law and held them indefinitely, sometimes without allowing them to consult a lawyer, even after concluding that they have no connections to terrorist activities. (Sirak Gebremichael of Ethiopia, to give a recently infamous example, was arrested for overstaying his visa—and then jailed for three years while awaiting deportation.) It has also claimed the right to detain anyone designated an "enemy combatant" in a legal no-man's land for as long as it pleases. Last month the Supreme Court finally put some restrictions on the latter practice, but that shouldn't stop us from remembering that the administration argued strenuously for keeping it.
4. The culture of secrecy. The Bush administration has nearly doubled the number of classified documents. It has urged agencies, in effect, to refuse as many Freedom of Information Act requests as possible, has invoked executive privilege whenever it can, and has been very free with the redactor's black marker when it does release some information. Obviously, it's impossible to tell how often the data being concealed is genuinely relevant to national security and how often it has more to do with covering a bureaucrat's behind. But there's obviously a lot of ass-covering going on.
And even when security is a real issue, all this secrecy doesn't make sense. Earlier this year, the Transportation Security Administration tried to retroactively restrict two pages of public congressional testimony that had revealed how its undercover agents managed to smuggle some guns past screeners. Presumably they were afraid a terrorist would read about it and try the method himself—but it would have made a lot more sense to seek some outsiders' input on how to resolve the putative problem than to try to hide it from our prying eyes. Especially when the information had already been sitting in the public record.
The administration has been quick to enforce its code of silence, regularly retaliating against those within its ranks who try to offer an independent perspective on its policies. While the most infamous examples of this involve international affairs, the purest episode may be the case of chief Medicare actuary Richard Foster, who apparently was threatened with dismissal if he told Congress the real projected cost of Bush's Medicare bill. Even if the White House didn't know about the threat—and I strongly suspect that it did—it created the organizational culture that allows such bullying to thrive.
5. Patriot and its progeny. The Patriot Act sometimes serves as a stand-in for everything wrong with the administration's record on civil liberties, and at times is blamed for policies it didn't create—those detentions, for example. Nonetheless, there's plenty of reasons to despise a law that allows warrantless searches of phone and Internet records; that gives police the right to see what books you've bought or checked out of the library while prohibiting the library or bookstore from telling you about the inquiry; that requires retailers to report "suspicious" transactions and, again, prevents them from telling you that they've done so. And there are plenty of reasons to despise an administration that rammed this bill through at the eleventh hour—and still wants to extend its reach.
6. The war on speech. Not all of the White House's assaults on our freedoms are linked to the war on terror. In March 2002, Bush signed the McCain-Feingold "campaign finance reform" bill, whose restrictions on political speech in the months approaching an election—i.e., at the time when political speech is most important—are so broad that they've forced a filmmaker, David T. Hardy, to delay the release of his documentary The Rights of the People until after November because it mentions several candidates. Bush approved this bill fully aware that it was a First Amendment nightmare; it's generally believed that he did so assuming that the Supreme Court would strike down its unconstitutional elements. Surprise: The Court weeded out a few measures but left most of them in place.
That's not to say the government hasn't done anything to increase the amount of political speech. Its ham-handed crackdown on "indecent" broadcasts—an effort that is to the cultural realm what McCain-Feingold is to the political sector—has turned Howard Stern into Amy Goodman.
7. The drunken sailor factor. Fine, you say: We all expect a Republican president to molest our civil liberties. But this one has poached the Democrats' turf as well, increasing federal spending by over $400 billion—its fastest rate of growth in three decades. Even if you set aside the Pentagon budget, Washington is doling out dollars like crazy: Under Bush, domestic discretionary spending has already gone up 25 percent. (Clinton only increased it 10 percent, and it took him eight years to do that.) "In 2003," the conservative Heritage Foundation notes, "inflation-adjusted federal spending topped $20,000 per household for the first time since World War II."
Of all those spending projects, Bush's Medicare bill deserves special attention. It will cost at least $534 billion over the next decade, and probably more. And it doesn't even deliver on its liberal promises: It does much more to distribute new subsidies and tax breaks to doctors, HMOs, and the pharmaceutical industry than it does to help seniors. The Medicare bill is to Bush's domestic policy what the Iraq war is to its foreign policy: an enormous expense of dubious merit that's come under fire from both the left and the right.
8. Cozying up to the theocrats. There are those who believe the White House is being run by religious fanatics, and there are those who believe it's mostly paying lip service to Bush's Christian base. I lean toward the second view. But whether he's cynical or sincere, there's nothing good to be said for the president's willingness to demagogue the gay marriage issue (and throw federalism out the window in the process), or—worse yet—to restrict potentially life-saving research on therapeutic cloning because it offends that constituency's religious views.
9. Protectionism in all its flavors. Bush has repeatedly sacrificed the interests of consumers to help politically significant industries, giving us tariffs on products from steel to shrimp. This doesn't just make a mockery of his free-trade rhetoric—it's also bad policy.
10. He's making me root for John Kerry. I haven't voted for a major party's presidential candidate since 1988, and I have no plans to revert to the habit this year. The Democrats have nominated a senator who—just sticking to the points listed above—voted for the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, McCain-Feingold, and the TSA; who endorses the assault on "indecency"; who thinks the government should be spending even more than it is now. I didn't have room in my top ten for the terrible No Child Left Behind Act, which further centralized control of the country's public schools—but for the record, Kerry voted for that one too. It's far from clear that he'd be any less protectionist than Bush is, and he's also got problems that Bush doesn't have, like his support for stricter gun controls. True, Kerry doesn't owe anything to the religious right, and you can't blame him for the torture at Abu Ghraib. Other than that, he's not much of an improvement.
Yet I find myself hoping the guy wins. Not because I'm sure he'll be better than the current executive, but because the incumbent so richly deserves to be punished at the polls. Making me root for a sanctimonious statist blowhard like Kerry isn't the worst thing Bush has done to the country. But it's the offense that I take most personally.
Managing Editor Jesse Walker is author of Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America (NYU Press).
I really enjoyed that
Did YOU? |
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| P-Diddy is in the house |
[Jul. 19th, 2004|01:45 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | bored | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Capitalist Casualties - Parents of the devil | ] |
P. Diddy at Thursday's NAACP convention in Philadelphia Photo: MTV News
Ass-Kicking P. Diddy Meets With Kerry, Young Republicans 07.16.2004 3:44 PM EDT
The campaign trail got a bit more crowded on Thursday, as P. Diddy threw himself into the fray, meeting with presidential hopeful John Kerry and later talking with young Republicans in an effort to place young people and their problems front and center in the race for the White House.
Diddy has made a great deal of noise about his interest in making sure that urban issues are addressed in this year's election, and now he's taking those issues directly to Democrats and Republicans. The hip-hop mogul began by meeting Thursday with candidate Kerry at the NAACP convention in Philadelphia, where Kerry had addressed the organization earlier in the day. The two met privately, but Diddy has publicly made it clear that he's concerned about issues involving the economy, education and health care.
After a quick helicopter jaunt back to New York, Diddy met up with young Republicans gathered as part of the Bush campaign's Party for the President Day. "We are here to understand what's going on with the beautiful Republican party," Diddy said as he stormed the event. "We heard y'all were strong. Y'all won the last election. We want to see what y'all are about."
The Bush supporters were happy to oblige, extolling the virtues of their party. "They let you choose how to spend your money," Bush supporter Britta explained. "They let you choose what school your kids are going to go to, and that's what you need. All you need from the government, whichever side it is, is for them to move out of the way."
As the day closed, Diddy remained firmly in the middle of the road and committed to bringing his issues to the candidates. "I am nonpartisan," he explained of his equal-opportunity ambush. "I'm gonna stick my nonpartisan foot up Bush's ass, up Kerry's ass. Republicans and Democrats, my foot is so way up your ass right now it's crazy."
—Adam Hootnik and Robert Mancini
That made me laugh alot
specifically:
"Republicans and Democrats, my foot is so way up your ass right now it's crazy"
I can't wait for the B&B Party (Bling and Bitches)
Headed by P-diddy himself... his child sex havin self |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 14th, 2004|12:40 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  thirsty | ] |
Dispersing Demonstrations--Or Chemical Warfare?
James Brooks, The Electronic Intifada, 12 July 2004
"On June 10th, 2004, the two clinics in Al-Zawiya treated 130 patients for gas inhalation. The patients were children, women, old people and young men. Dr. Abu Madi related that there was a high number of cases of [tetany], spasm in legs and hands, connected to the nervous system. Pupils were dilated... Other symptoms included shock, semi-consciousness, hyperventilation, irritation and sweating." [1]
Thus reads a report by medical units serving the West Bank village of Al-Zawiya, where nonviolent resistance to Israel's impending wall has been extraordinarily resolute. According to the medical report (procured by the International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC), "the gas used against the protestors is not tear gas but possibly a nerve gas."
The following day, Israel's 'Peace Bloc', Gush Shalom, began a press release with the following quote from Al-Zawiya: "What the army used here yesterday was not tear gas. We know what tear gas is, what it feels like. That was something totally different.... When we were still a long way off from where the bulldozers were working, they started shooting things like this one (holding up a dark green metal tube with the inscription "Hand and rifle grenade no.400" - in English). Black smoke came out. Anyone who breathed it lost consciousness immediately, more than a hundred people. They remained unconscious for nearly 24 hours. One is still unconscious, at Rapidiya Hospital in Nablus. They had high fever and their muscles became rigid. Some needed urgent blood transfusion. Now, is this a way of dispersing a demonstration, or is it chemical warfare?" [2]
The incident in Al-Zawiya appears to be the tenth attack by Israeli soldiers using an "unknown gas" against Palestinian civilians since early 2001. We have photographs of the canisters. We have film of victims suffering in the hospital. We have interviews with Palestinian and European doctors who have treated the victims. And we presumably have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of survivors. But we know nothing of their fate. Despite the evidence, we have not inquired.
Though it is a state secret, Israel's development of chemical and biological weapons has been known and analyzed for decades. From the typhoid poisoning of Palestinian wells and water supplies in 1948 [3,4] to the conversion of F-16s into nerve gas 'crop dusters' in 1998 [5], Israel has always demonstrated a strong interest in developing CBW agents and methods for their dispersal.
In 1992 an El Al 747 flying nerve gas ingredients from the US to Israel crashed into an Amsterdam apartment building. [6] According to Salman Abu-Sitta, president of the Palestine Land Society, the respected Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad followed up the crash with an in-depth investigation of the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), Israel's CBW complex in Nes Ziona. The paper reportedly found "strong links" with several US CBW and medical research centers, "close cooperation between IIBR and the British-American biological warfare programme", and "extensive collaboration on BW research with Germany and Holland." [7]
At IIBR, doctors publish world-class research in acetylcholine, the mother lode of nerve gas design. The Nes Ziona complex is reputed to have invented an "undetectable" poison-needle gun for "clean" assassinations. [8] In September 1997, two days after Jordan's King Hussein told Israeli PM Netanyahu that Hamas was seeking negotiations, Mossad agents in Jordan attempted to kill Hamas leader Khaled Misha'al with a lethal dose of fentanyl. [9]
For years, rumors persisted that Israel was using or testing unknown chemical agents on Palestinian civilians. The rumors began to reveal their substance February 12, 2001, when Israel began a six-week campaign of "novel gas" attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. By chance, American filmmaker James Longley arrived in Khan Younis, Gaza in the middle of the first attack. That afternoon he began filming the victims. His award-winning film, Gaza Strip, documents the naked reality of Israel's chemical weaponry--the canisters, the doctors, the eyewitnesses, and the hideous suffering of the victims, many of whom remained hospitalized for days or weeks. [10]
The February 12 gassing of neighborhoods in Khan Younis presaged the attacks that followed. When the gas canisters landed, they began to billow clouds of either white or black, sooty smoke. The gas was non-irritating and initially odorless, changing to a sweet, minty fragrance after a few minutes. One victim recalled, "the smell was good. You want to breathe more. You feel good when you inhale it." The smoke often shifted to a "rainbow" of changing colors. [11,12]
From five to thirty minutes after breathing the gas, victims began to feel sick and have difficulty breathing. A searing pain began to wrench their gut, followed by vomiting, sometimes of blood, then complete hysteria and extremely violent convulsions. Many victims suffered a relentless syndrome for days or weeks afterward, alternating between convulsions and periods of conscious, twitching, vomiting agony. Palestinians agreed: "This is like nothing we've ever seen before." [13]
Forty people were admitted to Al-Nasser Hospital "in an odd state of hysteria and nervous breakdown", suffering from "fainting and spasms." Sixteen gas patients had to be transferred to the intensive care unit. Doctors "reported the Israeli use of gas that appeared to cause convulsions." [14]
At the Gharbi refugee camp, thirty-two people "were treated for serious injuries" following exposure to the gas. Dr. Salakh Shami at Al-Amal Hospital reported the hospital receiving "about 130 patients suffering from gas inhalation from February 12." [15]
Bewildered medical personnel had "never seen anything..like the gas at Tufa." Victims were "jumping up and down, left and right..thrashing limbs around", suffering "convulsions..a kind of hysteria. They were all shaking." Others were already unconscious. An hour or two later, they would come to. And the convulsions and the vomiting and disorientation and pain would return. [16]
The following day, February 13, Israeli forces again deployed the strange new gas canisters in Khan Younis. Over forty new gas victims, "including a number of children..from 1 to 5 years-old", arrived at Al-Nasser Hospital and the hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. [17]
The news began to trickle out. "Palestinian security services have accused the Israeli army of using nerve gas during a gunbattle yesterday", reported AFX News Limited, noting "the army has strongly denied the charges." [18] The Voice of Palestine reported that "specialists believe that this is an internationally banned nerve gas." Those who inhaled the gas "suffered a nervous breakdown and vomited blood." [19]
The next day, Deutsche Presse-Agentur quoted Dr. Yasser Sheikh Ali from Al-Nasser Hospital: "Israel has been using a powerful type of tear gas against the Palestinians that causes convulsions and spasms." According to DPA, more than 80 Palestinians...reported that Israeli soldiers had used the white smoky gas, but Israel denied doing so." [20]
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that on February 15 three more canisters of the poison gas were fired at houses in the Khan Younis camp, and "another 11 Palestinian civilians, mostly children, suffered from suffocation and spasms due to gas inhalation." [21] British journalist Graham Usher wrote that Khan Younis civilians were "incapacitated" by "a 'new' form of toxic gas." [22]
PA President Yasser Arafat publicly "accused Israel of using poison gas." The IDF issued a second denial. Israeli Communications Minister Ben-Eliezer called reports of gas casualties in Khan Younis "incorrect and false." Senior PA minister Nabil Shaath said that a sample of the gas would be sent to "an international center for analysis." [23] The results, if any, were never divulged.
On February 18, Israeli soldiers near the Neve Dekalim settlement reportedly fired four poison gas canisters at Palestinian houses in Khan Younis. Later that afternoon, more canisters were fired, forcing Palestinians to flee their homes. PCHR reported that "41 Palestinian civilians, mostly children and women, suffered from suffocation and spasms." [24] By PCHR's count, 238 Palestinians were affected by poison gas attacks between February 12 and February 20. Twenty-seven of the victims were still hospitalized on the 22nd. [25]
On March 2, an unknown gas was used against civilians in the West Bank town of Al-Bireh. Israeli soldiers reportedly fired "canisters of a highly effective black gas similar to the one used in Khan Yunis three weeks ago." [26]
Twenty-four days later, Israeli forces east of Gaza City used a gas that "left symptoms different from those of the..gas used first.. in Khan Yunis starting from February 12..", although several similarities also appeared. In this attack the onset of abdominal pain seemed to be delayed. [27]
On March 30, medical professionals in Nablus reported Israeli soldiers using the new poison gas against Palestinian demonstrators. [28]
British journalist Jonathan Cook reported a March gas attack on the schoolyard of Al-Khader village, near Bethlehem. Thirteen year-old Sliman Salah was playing when a gas canister landed next to him, "enveloping him in a cloud of gas described by witnesses as an unfamiliar, yellow colour." Large doses of anti-convulsants were required to control the boy's seizures and maintain consciousness. His symptoms "were finally brought under control five days after his exposure to the gas. But Salah's father says the boy is still suffering from stomach pains, vomiting, dizziness and breathing problems." [29]
In its March, 2003 special report, Israel's Secret Weapon, BBC Television reviewed this series of gas attacks, noting, "The Israeli army has used new unidentified weapons. In February 2001 a new gas was used in Gaza. A hundred and eighty patients were admitted to hospitals with severe convulsions....Israel is outside chemical and biological weapons treaties and still refuses to say what the new gas was." [30]
In my amateur analysis of the reported comments of victims, eyewitnesses and medical professionals regarding this series of attacks, I identified thirty-three distinct symptoms attributed to the unidentified gas. All but three of these symptoms appear to be typical of nerve gas poisoning. [31] Tareg Bey, a chemical warfare expert at the University of California-Irvine, told the Chicago Reader that the symptoms described to him "all fit really well to nerve gas", though he was puzzled by the reported fragrance and skin rashes. [32]
In an October 9, 2003 article, Jennifer Loewenstein and Angela Gaff asked, "What gas is Israel using?" They reported the story of Mukhles Burgal, a Palestinian prisoner caught in a brutal attack inside Israel's Ashkelon prison. The "guards forced their way into the crowded cell, spraying two canisters of some type of gas. Some of the 14 prisoners passed out...The effects of the gas were severe muscle spasms and an overwhelming sensation of not being able to breathe." [33]
Two days later, Palestine Monitor reported that Israeli forces in Rafah were allegedly "firing gas grenades containing a black gas believed to be adamatite [adamsite?]- the use of which is forbidden according to international law. Medical authorities urged people to avoid the gas at all costs, as it not only causes difficulty in breathing but seriously affects the nervous system." [34] For some reason, PCHR's press release from the same day, an apparent source of these reports, is no longer available. [35] On the 14th, eyewitness Laura Gordon wrote, "The army used some kind of nerve gas for the first time in Rafah, leaving people in convulsions for days." [36]
Following the recent gas attack in Al-Zawiya, town officials reportedly told Al Ayyam newspaper, "the Israeli occupation troops were using an illegal substance that caused nerve spasms and that several cases had been transferred to Nablus hospitals." [37]
The PA's International Press Center reported that "official and public sources in... Al-Zawya... asserted that those who have inhaled the tear gas IOF troops fired at them four days ago are still suffering from the effects of the gas...a number of those citizens have already had amnesias or partial memory loss, in addition to cramps...in addition to strange cramps every three hours... those who inhaled the gas are still suffering severe pains in the joints and nausea for four days now. Eyewitnesses recalled that the Israeli soldiers were keen on picking the empty tear gas canisters.." Journalists told IPC "that the gas was in different colors they have never seen coming out of a tear gas canister before, and that some gases had an unrecalled smell." [38]
According to IMEMC, "..tens of demonstrators who inhaled this gas had partial memory loss. Dr. Bassam Abu Madi told IMEMC that the some of those who inhaled the gas had severe choking and some contraction in their feet and arm muscles. Eyewitnesses said the gas has a strange smell and a reddish-brownish color." [corrected copy] In a follow up story, IMEMC concluded that "protesters were attacked with gas that is not like the tear gas. Those who inhaled the gas suffered some memory loss while others had other symptoms of a nerve gas. Yet this was not medically confirmed for lack of laboratories to inspect the gas canisters collected from the scene." [39]
Al Jazeera reported the opinion of Awni Khatib, a professor of chemistry at Hebron University; "the new symptoms-particularly the violent convulsions experienced by some Palestinian protesters outside the village of Sawiya [Zawiya], southwest of Nablus-suggest..that the Israeli army may be using a new class of chemicals that lie somewhere between normal tear gas and chemical weapons." [40]
Israel's repeated use of highly toxic unknown chemicals against Palestinian civilians is now an open secret. We can expect these attacks to continue until a concerted effort is made to determine the facts and hold Israel accountable. So far, the international human rights community has steadfastly ignored the mounting evidence.
When will professional investigators begin to retrieve and test the gas canisters? Why has no one but James Longley bothered to document interviews with victims, doctors, and other eyewitnesses? In a world in which one country's mere possession of chemical weapons can be an excuse for international retribution, how another country's use of chemical weapons against civilians be dismissed as a "regrettably excessive" tactic of crowd control?
For those of you who can't read...
What that is say is that Israel seems to be using a very highly toxic nerve gas on palistine demonstrators and prisoners
The nerve gas is also banned by international law
they refuse to admit that they have used this gas
and this is pissing me off
read it
and discuss it.. if you want... |
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| Please help out guys... |
[Jul. 12th, 2004|11:40 pm] |
In less than 48 hours, Congress will vote on an amendment to the
U.S. Constitution that would permanently deny marriage equality to
same-sex couples. This is unprecedented -- never before has our
Constitution been amended to take away anyone's rights. We've got to
fight back.
Please sign on to our emergency petition to Congress to stop this
divisive amendment
Help Save Gay Marraiage! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 1st, 2004|11:46 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  artistic | ] |
So a girl comes to our door today, she's my age, black and lives right around the corner from me (thus an oak park resident).
She's collecting money for her church (a nice thing to do even with my lack of support for organized religion), and she tells my mom that shes seen me before and also happens to be a junior, but she doesn't go to OPRF...
because they won't let her go.
Now that confused me...
OPRF is a public high school. My family, her family, and everyone else's family in Oak Park... pays (incredibly high)taxes so that every 'young person' may attend a public school.
But for some reason she is not a aloud to attend.
Any thoughts?
Plans of action?
Whatever the case I need to have a talk with her myself (my mother was the one who had a chat with her), I want to know the exact situation before I go barging into the school with rash remarks and no knowledge of the situation...
That whole event disturbed me
...Wow, its weird, I see murders, and hear about death and rape on the news all the time, and I'm never really affected.
But when someone can't go to a place I hate... I'm disturbed
God, my emotion tank is high, thusly... confused |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 25th, 2004|01:36 am] |
FIRESIDE BOWL!
Sun. Jun. 27 - 9PM - All ages -
Music with Meaning is a benefit show with all proceeds going to Rape Victim Advocates. Since December 2001, over $2,000 has gone to charity and 145 acts have been featured. For more info, please go to fetormusic.com.
JESUS & THE DEVIL
Jesus and the Devil hail from the South side and play gritty, Detriot-Style roughrock.There's a tuneful presence behind the screaming axes that gives rumor to potential.
QUARTERS ONLY
Quarters Only creates fun, poppy songs that will make the harshest of critics smile. For fans of mu330, No Doubt and any other decent ska band, Quarters Only is a fresh band that will get emo kids to stop riding thier bikes in the rain and enter a dance contest.
OREFISAURUS (may have canceled?)
Orefisaurus’ brand of pop punk includes elements of hard rock, game show music, power balladry, swing, spy/surf rock and the occasional 12-tone composition.
THE NIX
THE GUNSNAPS (MY BAND BITCHES!)
The Gunsnaps were formerly the argyle kids. They are a punkish hardcore group who puts on a a good stage show.
Come see the show or you support rape. |
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| Only In America |
[Jun. 20th, 2004|11:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | grumpy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Rage Against The Machine - New Millenium Homes | ] |
A Republian candidate for the South Carolina Senate wants 'Confederate Souther Americans' declared a minority group entitled to the same protections as blacks and Hispanics. 'Confederate Southern Americans are a seperate and distinct people,' said Ron Wilson'Confederate Southern Americans are tired of being the 'whipping boy' for the rest of the county.' Wilson says states have the right to secede from the union, though he does not think secession is necessary at this time.
I hate the South in general... |
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| This is why I hate Texas |
[Jun. 20th, 2004|10:01 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | angry | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Capitalist Casualties | ] |
Taken from syndicalist
Notable items from the GOP party program from the state I'm in--Texas. Christianity/religion figures into nearly all of these:
Religious Freedom
· "The Republican Party of Texas affirms that the United States
of America is a Christian nation." [8]
· "Our Party pledges to exert its influence to restore the
original intent of the First Amendment of the United States
Constitution and dispel the myth of the separation of Church and
State." [8]
· The 2004 party platform opposes efforts to restrict display of
the Ten Commandments and other religious symbols in government
buildings and other places maintained by tax dollars. [7]
· The platform supports using tax dollars to fund faith-based
social programs and calls for allowing religious organizations "to
address vital issues of the day" without losing tax-exempt status
(thus opening the door to explicit, partisan political activity by
religious organizations). [4]
Civil/Equal Rights
· "The Party supports amendment of the Americans with
Disabilities Act to exclude from its definition those persons with
infectious diseases, substance addiction, learning disabilities,
behavior disorders, homosexual practices and mental stress, thereby
reducing abuse of the Act." [14]
· Republicans went on record endorsing the repeal of laws that
have expanded opportunities for voter registration. The party also
wants to require re-registration of all voters every four years laws.
[6]
· Echoing calls by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land that
threaten an independent judiciary, the platform supports the
impeachment and removal "of federal judges who abuse their
constitutional authority or are no longer acting on good behavior."
[5]
· Republicans state that it should be a felony to issue a
marriage license to a same-sex couple "and for any civil official to
perform a marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple." [10]
· Defining marriage as a "God-ordained, legal and moral
commitment only between a natural man and a natural woman," the
platform supports a federal constitutional amendment that bans
same-sex marriage and opposes "granting of benefits to people who
represent themselves as domestic partners without being legally
married." [10]
· The platform opposes hate-crime laws (which increase penalties
for crimes that target people based on hatred for their religion,
race, sexual orientation and other characteristics). [8]
· The platform supports "covenant marriage" (which endangers
battered spouses because it would allow couples to divorce only after
a waiting period and counseling, even in cases of domestic abuse) and
advocates rescinding no-fault divorce laws. [10]
· The platform condemns homosexuality, supports criminalizing
sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex and calls
on Congress to "withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from
cases involving sodomy" (an implicit criticism of last year's U.S.
Supreme Court's ruling that overturned sodomy laws). [10]
· The platform opposes the adoption of children or foster
parenting by gay men and lesbians. [10]
· "We oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who
oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in
traditional values." [10]
· The platform calls for constitutional protection of a fetus
and, until then, strict limits and regulation of abortion and
abortion providers. [11]
· The party supports corporal punishment and "parental authority
to discipline," mentioning it at least four different times.
Republicans also advocate eliminating prohibitions on corporal
punishment in order to attract more foster parents. [12, 13, 16]
· The party supports laws that bar Child Protective Services
from removing an abused child from his or her home, even in cases of
"immediate danger to the child's physical health or safety." [13]
· The platform calls for requiring people who report child abuse
to identify themselves and their contact information. [13]
· The state party platform calls for a ban on stem-cell research
(which experts believe holds the promise of cures for a variety of
diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's). [12]
Public Education
· The platform supports "child-centered school funding options"
that use tax dollars to pay for tuition in private and religious
schools (vouchers). [15]
· The party calls for schools to emphasize "Judeo-Christian
principles" and for including Bible-based "theories" like
"intelligent design" about the origin of humans in science textbooks
(which would, in effect, water down discussions of evolution). [16,
17]
· Republicans support health education that promotes abstinence
from sex "until heterosexual marriage with an uninfected person" and
oppose any other instruction on methods of preventing pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases. [15]
· The party calls for the Legislature to restore to the State
Board of Education full authority to censor public school textbooks
that "undermine belief in America and our Constitutional Republic,
promulgate anti-American propaganda, and contain unchallenged biased
viewpoints." [14]
· The platform supports "local control" measures for public
schools (which would mean the elimination of basic quality education
standards like teacher certification and small class sizes). [14]
· Republicans called for the repeal of "government-sponsored
programs that deal with early childhood development" (Head Start) and
phasing the programs out "as soon as possible."[16]
Good Government
· The party "understands government ownership of land to be
the cornerstone of socialism." [4]
· Republicans officially call for privatizing Social Security
and "gradually phasing out the Social Security tax." [13]
· The platform calls for U.S. withdrawal from the United
Nations. [24]
http://www.theocracywatch.org/texas_gop.htm |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 12th, 2004|10:53 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Oi Scouts - Revolution | ] |
(In refrence to anybody but Bush)
Goodness that makes me laugh |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 8th, 2004|12:55 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
I've been learning alot over the last few months. More than I have learned in my entire lifetime I would say.
I'm not really talking about personal things i've learned (this is my 'political' journal, other shit is in crazylife), but more about wordwide things.
I used to think I knew shit in 8th grade when I started listening to Anti-flag and I told everyone to hate american because they were stupid fascists and only had song lyrics to back me up.
Thankfully I am passed that.
Over the last month in a half especially I feel I have become much more aware of what is happening in the world around me.
I dunno what sparked this sudden change of mindset but I feel I am starting to not only be aware of issues, but understand how they effect me, and the rest of the world.
In 8th grade anarchism was my fad, I never thought of it as a actual political system (or lack of...) as much as a political statement, it showed my 'rebellion'
Ha
I look back on me now and wish I could go kick my ass and tell old me to shut up and read a paper or open a book
To be fair I still dont read history much.. books on history i mean, i know blurbs.. I know many many many blurbs of history, but when it comes to books... lets just say its becoming harder and harder to read with out.. drifting
But I am trying, and devoting plenty of time to learning.
This summer I plan to dedicate some time to a Food Not Bombs and a Anarcho-teach in of sorts thats bi-weekly or somthing, I'll feel like I'm doing somthing.
The other cool this is recently I've been able to discuss anarchism face to face with people, not just over the internet where I can look up someone elses ideas.
OK, ok, I'm not great on Anarchist history, but I have the gist of it down, and a retort for most things.
I'm getting there.
Its a long trek ahead
I'm gonna keep trying to read I think
That shall help
Oh well... what a meaningless... self obsorbed little rant
There goes 5 minutes of my life
I have finals tomorrow
And its 1 am... yay |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 7th, 2004|10:50 pm] |
A Few Select Reagan Quotes, I stole these, but thats a-okay:
"Facts are stupid things.."
—Reagan, '88
"...a faceless mass, waiting for handouts."
—Reagan, '65, describing Medicaid recipients.
"Because Vietnam was not a declared war, the veterans are not even eligible for the G. I. Bill of Rights with respect to education or anything."
—Reagan, '80
"Taxes should hurt. I just mailed my own tax return last night and I am prepared to say `ouch!' as loud as anyone."
—Reagan, '70, after approving California's largest tax increase in history. Reporters soon pointed out that Reagan didn't pay a cent on state taxes that year. For all his talk about shrinking government, California's state budget more than doubled under his governorship, from $4.6 billion to $10.2 billion.
"I know all the bad things that happened in that war. I was in uniform for four years myself."
—Reagan, '85, justifying laying a wreath at a Nazi cemetary in Bitburg. Reagan spent WWII in Hollywood, making films.
"They haven't been there. I have."
—Reagan, '85, justifying his policies on Nicaragua. Ronald Reagan had never visited Nicaragua.
"They have eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country..."
—Reagan, '85, praising the government of P.W. Botha in South Africa, during the height of Apartheid.
"I cannot recall anything whatsoever about whether I approved an Israeli sale in advance or whether I approved replenishment of Israeli stocks around August of 1985. My answer therefore and the simple truth is, 'I don't remember, period'"
—Reagan, Feb. '87
"Mr. President, why don't we openly support those 7,000 guerillas that are in rebellion rather than giving aid through covert activity?"
"Well, because we want to keep on obeying the laws of our country, which we are now obeying."
"Doesn't the United States want that government replaced?"
"No, because that would be a violation of the law."
—Reagan, ''87. At the time of the press conference, the U.S. was giving the indiscriminately murderous Contra guerillas covert aid, in direct violation of the law. Reagan's lie was so obvious that members of the press corps laughed loudly and openly at his statements.
"A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not."
—Reagan, Mar. '87
"If the question comes up at the Tower Board meeting, you might want to say that you were surprised."
—Reagan, '87, accidentally reading the notes for his stage directions aloud which told him to act surprised should the issue of arms-for-hostages come up.
"They are the moral equivalent of America's founding fathers."
—Reagan, '85, referring to the brutal Contra rebels in Nicaragua, who indiscriminately attacked civilians.
"...an example to the world of the ideals we hold most dear, the ideals of freedom and independence."
—Reagan, '85, praising the Afghan Mujahaddin. These "freedom fighters" included prominent leaders of Al Qaeda, such as Osama Bin Laden, as well as many of the leaders for the Taliban.
"Hollywood has no blacklist."
—Reagan, '60. FBI records have since shown that this was a lie, and that Reagan personally informed on several actors, later shown to be innocent, destroying their careers in the process.
"I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
—Reagan, '66
"If there has to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with."
—Reagan, '69, prior to having national guard soldiers break up a peaceful protest on the UC Berkeley campus. The protesters were teargassed and fired upon with buckshot, killing one protester and wounding at least 128 others.
"... a tragic illness."
—Reagan, '67, desribing homosexuality. When two of his aides were found to be gay that year, he asked for their resignations.
"Maybe the Lord brought down this plague [because] illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments."
—Reagan, '89. Reagan didn't even mention AIDS until 1987, by which time it had spread into the heterosexual population and over 25,000 Americans had died.
"What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice"
—Reagan, '84.
"For the first time ever, everything is in place for the battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. It can't be too long now. Ezekiel says that fire and brimstone will be rained upon the enemies of God's people. That must mean that they will be destroyed by nuclear weapons."
—Reagan, '71
"It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking strips on it, and be home by Christmas"
—Reagan, '65
"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do."
—Reagan '81
"A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?"
—Reagan '66, opposing expansion of Redwood National Park
"I have flown twice over Mt St Helens out on our west coast. I'm not a scientist and I don't know the figures, but I have a suspicion that that one little mountain has probably released more sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere of the world than has been released in the last ten years of automobile driving or things of that kind that people are so concerned about."
—Reagan, '80. At its peak, Mt. St. Helens released 1/40th as much sulfur dioxide as cars do every day.
"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk."
—Reagan, '80. (In fact, a single nuclear power plant can produce up to 22,000 cubic feet of of radioactive waste per year.)
"There is today in the United States as much forest as there was when Washington was at Valley Forge."
—Reagan, '83. The US Forest Service estimated only about 30 percent of forest lands of 1775 still existed 208 years later.
"80 percent of air pollution comes not from chimneys and auto exhaust pipes, but from plants and trees."
—Reagan, '79 |
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| COPS! |
[Jun. 5th, 2004|01:21 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blank | ] |
| [ | music |
| | horror pops (in my head!!!) | ] |
I posted this in my crazylife
might as well post it here
today wasnt bad
except when i was sitting at whittier by myself for half an hour cause my friends suck
but whatever
when me kara angie isaac and my milkshake were chillin
and i see little mike and his pals getting ticketed
and were like what the dillio
then the cops like 'keep moving or i'll write you a ticket!' in the asshole-pompus-i'mbetterthanyou sort of voice
i asked him what he could possibly write me up a ticket for
and he said (also in that asshole-pompus-i'mbetterthanyou sort of voice) 'Do you have somthing to say to may'
and me wanting to stay out of a conflict for parental reasons said 'No' (very calmly, cause thats how i am in conflicts... calm)
and he goes nuts and tells me to stand up next to the car and for kara and isaac and angie to keep movie (apparently milkshake got to stay!)
anyways he proceeded to argue with the skaters, write them court orders (they were in 6th grade!!!!) and argue with the parents.
during this whole thing i'm thinking, why doesnt isaac give me a hang he would know what to say in this sitaution.
anways eventually he gets to me (20 mins-half hour later (my milkshake was dead (r.i.p)))
he told me i was HARASSING HIM!!!
and he asked me if he had ever harassed me before (as if he does this regularly)
i looked him up and down
thought about it
then eventually said no (i am still unsure at this point about whether he has or not, but he seemed to get a kick out of knowing i have been harassed in the past)
he eventually told me i was wasting his time and to 'scram'
fucker
but it was kinda humorous
he was trying to get in my face and yell (AND SPIT!)
but he was shorter than me
so he was looking up
and i tried not to laugh
later i told my mum about it
she said she was 'on my side'
but still said everything i did was wrong
shes so strange
she kept telling me she couldnt afford to bail me out of jail
i said 'how long could they hold me for... a night?'
and she flipped at the idea of me spending a night in jail.. oh well
i also finally spoke to her about the cops who follow me in their cars and told her about the cop who called me a faggot and she was appauled
she said write down the squad car # next time and she will call the station
anyways
yup
that was my night |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 31st, 2004|11:05 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | bored | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Chocking Victim - Praise To Sinners | ] |
Epitaph just got a boost in respect from me
THey release Nomb Chomsky cds
my favorite fan review
'Congratulations Mr. Chomsky. Distorted Morality is the best record Epitaph has ever put out. Although the guitars, drums, and bass are a bit lacking (I assume it was a problem with the mixing), Noam's vocals more than make up for it.'
Horray for Greg Gaffin |
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thefewbecome1's journal
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
oh man
I laugh I laugh I laugh
and thats the news for today