The Daily Diatribe

VACATION!

2009-07-16T19:22:00.001-07:00

No radio contact for about a week . . . so good luck to ya! Ciao.

Vacation.

2009-07-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

I leave for vacation in a couple days and just do not give a shit about the world's woes or the state of our collective being . . . So, Diatribes will be few and far between for a couple of weeks, Ciao!

Just can't do it tonight.

2009-07-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

After seeing that Palin actually raised almost $750,000 for her PAC fund I just cannot stomach writing about all the bullshit that IS America. People are going broke left and right, yet some give their money to charlatans in the hope that they will save them or represent their viewpoint to the rest of the world. Just another permutation of the evangelical preachers who ripped off dumb Americans during the '70's and '80's . . . It's fucking horse-pussy I tells ya! Ciao.

Lao Tzu Baby!

2009-07-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

Some wisdom for the ages from my spiritual guide . . . LAO TZU! Enjoy!

"In governing a people and in serving Heaven,

There is nothing like frugality.

To be frugal is to return before straying.

To return before straying is to have a double reserve of Virtue.

To have a double reserve of Virtue is to overcome everything.

To overcome everything is to reach an invisible height.

Only he who has reached and invisible height can have a kingdom.

Only he who has got the Mother of a kingdom can last long.

This is the way to be deep-rooted and firm-planted in the Tao.

The secret of long life and lasting vision."

#59

A study in contrasts.

2009-07-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

In China the latest civil rights shitstorm is centered around the Uighurs, an ethnic minority who have seen their land and culture stripped away by the Han Chinese for sixty years. The Tibetans get most of the Chinese-abuse-of-human-rights spotlight thanks to the Dali Lama, but it is just as bad for all of the minority groups that have been folded into the Chinese Empire. The Chinese have gone after the Uighur protesters with a vengeance, killing and imprisoning hundreds while demonizing them as having deep connections with terrorist groups like al Qaeda. That is complete bullshit designed to try and soften the harsh fact that the Chinese simply will not tolerate any dissent within the ranks of those it considers its 'citizens.' The Han are the ultimate racists and have a deep set mistrust and sense of superiority over other ethnic groups. The awful truth is that China will not stop these abuses of power and they will not admit any wrong doing in territories they have stolen from these groups. The saddest part about it is that the crimes committed by the Han Chinese will never be fully disclosed to the West, we can only guess how bad it actually gets during these moments of social protest.

We do know how bad it is in Mexico. The entire nation is embroiled in a drug war of unheard of proportions. The Drug Cartels are waging an open assault on the police and government troops and due to the severity of corruption it is often unknown which is which. There have been reports that officials at the highest levels of government often have direct connections to the Drug Lords. The sheer number of drug related deaths is staggering and much of the violence spills over the border into America. Despite our economic downturn our thirst for drugs is directly responsible for much of this violence. This vicious cycle will end no time soon and if the violence continues Mexico may be poised to become a failed state. Its all about supply and demand and until the demand goes down it will keep getting worse as the Cartels fight for more of a market share and better protection from corrupt officials and police.

There are two examples of people in nations with serious problems. They may not have it as bad as Somalia or the Sudan, but they are living in the shadow of fear and violence each day. Here in the US clothing manufacturers have started to readjust they way they label clothes to make fat people feel alright about themselves. A size 10 a decade ago is now a size 14. So, if you wore a ten back then and now you still do you have gone up 4 sizes. So, while the world suffers we still get fatter and get told that it is OK. The level of delusion and neurosis in this nation infuriates me to no end. What the fuck? We are alright with obesity? We are at the key moment in our history, the moment where our civilization begins its dramatic decline . . . sweet dreams! Ciao.

The very first Diatribe!

2009-07-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

I was feeling lazy tonight so I looked up this day in 2000 and lo and behold there was the very first Diatribe I ever wrote! Lounge in the golden glow of a bygone era, Enjoy!

"7.10.2000

The human genome project - portal of infinite knowledge into the human condition and panacea to all that ails us? Or instead a meaningless string of letters in arbitrary sequence that has no intrinsic meaning? I tend to agree with the latter assessment.

The findings generated by both public and corporate entities was hailed as the greatest discovery in decades, and that may well be true. Yet, its use and actual content is highly suspect. To translate its meaning and practically apply it within the world will take decades, if not centuries. It is the rough outline of the human code, but can it actually be considered the key to unlocking the mysterious essence of who and what we truly are? There is also the question of whether or not the genome code can have any use in its current incarnation. The deep research that will begin with it will inevitably reveal that the methodology employed to create it is an overly simplistic objectification of the actual essence of genetic arrangement and structure.

In short, there can be no doubt that the project is an astounding scientific exercise, but its applicable value will be negligible in the future - this is already being borne out as the media hype quickly fades and legalities regarding the project take precedent over its scientific merits. - TAL"

G8, I'd rather have a V8 . . .

2009-07-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

The world is chaos and one of the gravest issues we face as a species is the not so slow destruction of the environment that makes our very being possible. The G8 met today and has set forth a plan that should put us all at ease. Knowing that the most powerful nations on the planet have forged a single vision for a better future for all human beings is pretty amazing. Today it has been decided that they agree that climate change is real and that we must do something about it. A historic day indeed! One reporter said that today the world's leaders had made a commitment to move towards an incremental change that could one day result in the beginning of an international coalition to start deciding what, when and how to control green house gas emissions. We hit a fucking home run today baby! It is the same tired bullshit we hear every time these assholes get together. I think that the G8 Summits are more of an excuse to get the world leaders together for lavish meals and hookers at five star hotels around the globe than to actually do anything meaningful.

'Oxfam spokesman Antonio Hill said: "Today 17 countries, responsible for more than 80 percent of the world's emissions, agreed for the first time that it'd be nice to take the road which stops the planet heating up by more than 2 degrees.

"While G-8 countries continue to speed in the opposite direction, towards a cooked planet and climate catastrophe, poor people want to know whether rich countries will now actually turn around before it's too late."' (CNN.com)

I can answer that! They won't! We will keep talking about it until it hits us right between the eyes. Al Gore will make his millions trading carbon credits and cap and trade policies will shuffle numbers around as the actual emissions keep pouring into the atmosphere. Nothing will be done because . . . everybody now . . . IT WOULD BE BAD FOR BUSINESS! The great irony is that BUSINESS is going to fail in the end anyway, it just wants to take the rest of game down with it. I'd like my V8 now . . . Ciao.

Priorities.

2009-07-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's strange. I wanted to do a little research about the recent cyber attacks on government websites in the US and South Korea and I get nothing but stories about celebrity death. I just have to know about the fucking trivia, ya know! Who cares if the whole thing is going down in flames, give me more celebrity DEATH! It has all become a joke, but at least I found some information once I went beyond our mainstream splash pages. Over the weekend a hacker managed to inundate a number of critical government websites with millions of page hits that rendered the sites inoperable for legitimate use. It was a primitive attack, but effective enough to be called "massive" by US security experts. It is suspected that the attack may have its origins in North Korea, however it is too soon to determine exactly who is responsible. The beauty of this kind of attack is that it is often impossible to track down the actually person or persons who write and launch the code. Regardless, a second wave of malicious code hit South Korea early this week which has prompted the suspicion that North Korea must be behind the attacks.

At this point I have to wonder if we see North Korea as a high school prankster unworthy of punishment or too grave of a threat to take on directly. What the fuck? They have launched multiple missile tests in the past couple of weeks, they are holding two US journalists in labor camps - they are employees of Al Gore - and Kim Jong Il repeatedly refuses to negotiate or compromise with any nation on the planet. And the world sits by watching and North Korea's citizens starve to death while the elite toss threats at the world and drive gold plated Benzes. I have written this many times before, but I have to ask again: why do we do nothing about North Korea? I also have to ask why the fuck are we so invested in Afghanistan when there is no possibility of success? Asking these questions will get me nowhere and I think I know the answers already, but that does not mitigate my frustration. Africa is rotting and much of our own nation is facing a third world scenario and the money is pouring into the Middle East and the financial sector. Bush . . . I mean, Obama is really fucking up.

We are fed the same bullshit line about how 'glacially slow' the political process is and that change is 'hard' in Washington. Gee, that is the same shit we heard for eight years and it's funny how fast Goldman Sachs and the rest got billions of our tax dollars when we are told a few months later that Universal Health Care is just too expensive. I also find it maddening that we are now being told that our top officials 'underestimated' how bad the economy is. Bullshit, they knew and robbed the store one more time full-well knowing that the stimulus money would no fucking good. The only priority in our government is perpetuation of public sector failure to profit a tiny elite in the private sector. We do nothing to help those women in North Korea or the North Koreans themselves because there is no money in it. And we take it and accept it and watch celebrity funerals to keep distracted. FUCK! We need to scream and march 'cause change is not coming any time soon, unless we make it ourselves. Ciao.

Cannot compute . . .

2009-07-07T23:06:00.000-07:00

Ethnic intolerance, economic meltdown, global warming, the general decay of human civilization and all I see around the global news networks is Michael Jackson's fucking face. It just does not compute, does not compute, does not compute . . . I will never, ever write anything again about that asshole. Ciao.

The Big Scam.

2009-07-06T22:31:00.001-07:00

There is a lot of debate right now about whether or not the Stimulus Plan is working, will work or is doomed to fail. Obviously it is not working as we were told it would. More accurately, we should never have believed it would work the way it was promised to. In the flurry of support and panic that surrounded Obama's entry into office a very big mistale was made: We threw our full faith and support into a system that had not changed one bit. That is not Obama's fault, or at least I hope it wasn't. I hope it was the result of a failed assumption that his brand of change would actually transform the power structure in Washington. It has not. The money has been given out to companies, banks and insiders who are using it to save their own asses. The promose of green jobs and social programs to put Americans to work for the benefit of Americans have failed to materialize due to reluctance to take on the money due to the government regulations attached to it. It is a fucking sad state of affairs when companies and states refuse Federal Funds because they may have to change and improve the way they do business.

I say 'business' because the systemic collapse that is slowly happening right in front of us is about profit, pure and simple. If a company is forced to lose in the short term, even if it means a robust and responsible future, they will balk. That attitude of greed extends to the top and no matter what Obama professes he is not doing a damned thing to bring actual change to America. So far the smoke and mirror approach that Bush took is being repeated in a more sophisticated and atriculate manner, embodied by a man that cannot be criticised in good faith because he is historic. Obama's race has a symbolic importance that almost erases any notion that he could be dead wrong or perhaps the architect of another big scam to fuck tax payers out of even more money. If you look at the statistics the recession is still going strong and all indicators show that it is poised to get much worse. The only 'hope' I have seen has been manipulated by heavy hitters like Goldman Sachs to generate more money for the power elite.

FDR took many risks and had no clear idea if any of them would pan out. Things got worse on his watch before they got better, but he got things moving and he got them moving fast. The glacial demise that we are immersed within is rife with tales about 'the impossibility of immediately implementing funds for public projects' and the 'importance of maintaining the financial sectors fiscal well being.' That double speak barely hides our harsh reality, the reality that we are in for more of the same shit that Bush doled out. I think that the rest of America would be just fine if the credit card companies failed, if Wall Street collapsed and big oil died. With our keepers out ofthe loop to take most of our income we would be able to spend locally, create our own green revolution and decide for ourselves how to educate and provide health care for our children. Instead we are being bled to death and getting no benefit whatsoever. Sleep tight! Ciao.

Lao Tzu Sunday.

2009-07-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

Some much needed sanity on this post-insanity Sunday . . . Ladies and gentleman . . . I present LAO TZU! Enjoy!

"Without going out of your door,

You can know the ways of the world.

Without peeping through your window,

You can see the Way of Heaven.

The farther you go,

The less you know.

Thus, the Sage knows without travelling,

Sees without looking,

And achieves without Ado."

#47 Dedicated to the newly captive Abby Lass.

The 4th.

2009-07-04T18:02:00.001-07:00

Always a mixed holiday, every year I say it and this is no exception . . . we have done so much with this great experiment, but we have also squandered countless opportunities to truly be exceptional. Right now we are in full squander and that makes it hard to be patriotic. Ciao.

The Queen is Dead.

2009-07-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

The queen of big box troglodyte America is done. Sarah Palin is resigning her post as Governor of Alaska. She did so with the grace of a trailer park whore trying to talk the cops out of arresting her wife-beater boyfriend and explaining that the meth lab out back is really her son's science experiment for school. After spending a day in Palin's America I could not have heard better news when I got home this afternoon. We suffered through Costco, REI and the 82nd street corridor and by the end of it I had had enough fat, loudmouthed, ignorant, Christ-loving, black and gay hating inbred American to last me a lifetime. To see their queen, the one who they hope will come in 2012 and end the national nightmare of a black president, fail so miserably at the basic job she held was inspiring. Obama is far from perfect and is part of the evil machinery that is robbing us blind, but at least he is articulate and at least he is not a fucking hillbilly. Ciao.

Which is worse?

2009-07-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

Chantix and Zyban will now carry warning labels due to the fact that pateints who use the drugs often have suicidal thoughts and severe depression. Another reason not quit my friends! To clarify - to quit smoking. The drugs are used to help nicotine addicts defeat the evil scourge of smoking and end their worldy misery at the same time. Rather than pull these questionable products from the marketplace the FDA has decided that a warning label and maditory doctor's supervision should be enough to keep Joe Camel disciples from sticking their heads in the oven. I think it is total bullshit. They have enough evidence to show that these drugs have a direct and negative impact upon the psyche and to me that is enough to jutsify their discontinuation. Yet, because pharmaceutical firms have the money and clout they can keep money makers like these on the shelves.

It is sad that the FDA is essentially a puppet of big business. They have pumped our kids full of psychotropic drugs and with Chantix and Zyban they have questionable products that have a high demand and profit margin. Preying upon the weakness of smokers who desperately want to quit is disgusting and outright immoral if the product makes them suicidal. I know for a fact that there is only one way to quit smoking and that is to have 100% commitmnet and desire to do so and no drug is going to create that for you and these bastards know it. These drugs are not essential or helpful in any way and it pisses me off that drug companies can peddle this shit with full government approval. And while I'm at it I want to address all of you non-smoking fucks out there who demonize we the smokers of the world.

I pay for your fucking health care with the the massive tazes I pay on cigarettes, so shut the fuck up about my future health ruining the public healthcare system - I hlep make that system possible it the first place. Second. Just because I smoke does not mean that I do not give a shit about my health. I excercise and eat better than most people I know and if I have to hear that my diet is pointless becasue I smoke I'll be a health care risk to that person. There is just as much poison in processed foods, the air and municiple tap water as there is in my smokes, so back the fuck off. I cannot go to a bar and smoke and I have to stand down the block from my workplace to take a smoke break, so shut the fuck up and stop selling worse poison to us to get us to quit. FUCK YOU. Ciao.

Miraculous.

2009-06-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that I hate flying. Over the years I have developed a way of essentially becoming unconscious the moment of takeoff so that I am blissfully unaware of my peril. They always say that flying is safer than driving, blah, blah, blah. That truism is bullshit because if something happens during flight you are thousands of feet in the air. Odds of surviving a crash are slim to none and no amount of statistics can change that. The Yemenia Airways plane that crashed in the Indian Ocean yesterday during its landing approach to the tiny island nation of Comoros yielded a miracle that beat the odds - a five year old survivor. When I imagine a planne going down I always try to visualize myself as ending up alive at the end of it, just a vain attempt to soothe my psyche. Yet, I cannot actually believe that just one person could actually make it out of a crash, especially in rough seas.

What a terrifying combination, plane down in the ocean. This kid must have an amazing destiny ahead. Whatever the combination of forces and timing were there is no denying that his survival is a miracle. Just some observations, I hope that he realizes how amazing his story is and that he takes the rest of his life by the balls. Ciao

Some Justice.

2009-06-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

Bernie Madoff got the maximum sentence today, he is facing 150 years in Federal Prison. He deserves no less. Madoff is an unfortunate man because he had no remorse or question as to what he was doing while he was doing it. He lived a lavish life that placed him above and beyond what most human beings could ever imagine and to serve that supreme selfishness he stole from his investors. People who were dumb enough to buy his scheme, but still human beings who thought that their money was going to a reputable Wall Street insider that was looking out for their retirement. His story and punishment are of symbolic importance only. The system crucified Madoff as a means to sate our appetite for blood. In the wake of all the investments scandals and bailouts we needed to be shown that justice will be dealt swiftly to those who bilk the system.

Unfortunately Bernie is only a tiny piece of the problem. The thing that most people do not want to realize or accept is that the financial sector in America is all one big Ponzi Scheme and we are taking it in the ass coming and going. The American people are money generators for powers beyond their comprehension and with each 'investment,' 'insurance' or 'retirement' plan we pay for we are just making the rich richer and ourselves poorer. Factor in the amount of legislation that big business influences and we have our tax dollars taken up by private interests rather than serving the greater good. Why will Universal Health Care fail? Because it is a big money loser, unless it is set up like the private sector's insurance providers. The only way we will get coverage for all Americans is through utilization of a corrupt mechanism that makes the powerful more so. It is infuriating.

Good ideas will never have a chance in this nation - unless we start over. If we could actually get angry enough over Bernie to send him to jail for 150 years maybe we could get angry enough to shutdown Wall Street and untangle their tentacles from the government and the greater economy. Do you know that their has been an upsurge in oil production and a drop in demand for a couple of years now? Then why did prices spike last year? Why are they doing it again this year? Big oil and Goldman Sachs know they can get away with charging whatever they want up to $4 now. They experimented and now each summer it will spike and make them even fucking richer. Madoff represents some justice, by God we deserve more. Ciao.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

2009-06-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

Presenting . . . LAO TZU! Enjoy!

"As for holding to fullness,

Far better were it to stop in time!

Keep on beating and sharpening a sword,

And the edge cannot be preserved for long.

Fill your house with gold and jade,

And it cannot be long guarded.

Set store by your riches and honour,

And you will only reap a crop of calamities.

Here is the Way Of Heaven:

When you have done your work, retire!"

#9

It all comes down to money.

2009-06-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days the old realization has dawned upon me again: Human existence is primarily dictated by economics. I have been reading Matt Taibbi's Rolling Stone article about Goldman Sachs and it is revolting. That bank has raped us over and over for the past decade and nothing will ever be done about it. They have a free pass with the Federal government and their tentacles extend through most of the private sector. Goldman Sachs IS the US economy and they do not give a shit about anything but more profit. They manipulate oil prices for profit, they manipulate mortgages for profit and they manipulate insurance for profit. It is utterly immoral, yet they are above the law because they are rich beyond comprehension. Why has most of Obama's legislation been more of the same? Because the uber rich do not want their game to end and they hold the real power.

Just look at two of the most critical issues facing America and the world, the environment and health care. Yesterday Obama and the House managed to narrowly pass an Energy Overhaul bill that promises to reduce green house gases and fund renewable energy production. To reduce greenhouse gases it is more of the same cap and trade shit that everyone knows will effectively do nothing to stem the tide of global warming. Renewable energy? There are coal plants being built right now with bailout money and GM is being floated on our dime and they talk about "renewable energy." They could have taken a fraction of the money spent on GM and coal to build wind turbine plants that could put a million Americans to work. They could have turned GM into a fucking turbine plant, but no. NO, NO, NO say the power brokers. They need to keep their crap game running and giving legs to new industries and technology will slice up too much of their market share. And so it goes.

The health care issue is even more maddening because it directly effects whether we live well, live poorly or not live at all. They say we cannot have universal single payer coverage because it would cost too much. Well, I bet that another fraction of the bailout money would have funded such a plan just fine. They lie to us and they manipulate us and it all so that the established power-elite get to keep making money off of our labor and misery.

Tonight I was listening to a program about Nicola Tesla and his life story is the story of economic manipulation of human beings. His great rival Thomas Edison was a rich bastard who was insanely jealous of Tesla's talent and ambition. Edison managed to block Tesla's incredible innovations through lawsuit, political strong arming and manipulating the media with his war chest. Tesla threatened Edison's ego, but he threatened his wallet more so he crushed him. Tesla's ideas in the 19th century included wireless networking, solar panels, smart electrical grids and anything else you can think of that levels the playing field and makes sense. Well, much of what he hoped for has still never gone into production because his ideas were for the benefit of all and NOT FOR PROFIT. His greatest ambition was to supply free electricity for the entire planet - and his machine, the Tesla Coil, can do it! If we spent a fraction of our current energy budget to make a contemporary version of his invention we COULD HAVE UNLIMITED, CLEAN, SAFE AND FREE POWER! But, there's no money in it so fuck it. Ciao.

Read this article now.

2009-06-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

Matt Taibbi's piece on Goldman Sachs will make you wish you had never ever played by the rules or believed a damned thing about America. Get a transcript and read it, fact check it and prepare to lose whatever faith you have left in the system and the notion of fair play. Ciao.

Icons.

2009-06-25T21:14:00.000-07:00

Over the past decade I have derided Michael Jackson as a child molesting grotesque of a human being. I do not regret any of it and that opinion still stands. However, his death does prompt me to say this: He never had a fucking chance at normalcy. He was forced into stardom by an awful family and once he rose beyond their influence he had no concept of how to be a functional human being. He had too much of everything and too little of what is actually important, emotional support and adult perspective. However, none of that excuses his interactions with kids and the bizarre parenting he foisted upon his own children. He is perhaps the greatest icon of our time, a person who reached the highest high of international stardom only to fall to the lowest lows of recrimination and bankruptcy. He was planning a comeback by performing 50 sold shows in England, they were set up by his management who also happened to own the arena he was to perform in. He had been missing rehearsals and the first four shows were pushed back.

He had a lot of pressure on him and probably did not understand how to deal with it or how he got to that dark place in the first place. His death is going to take precedent over all other news for the coming days. It's strange how we value life. Tens of thousands die every day unjustly and this troubled man will get more adulation than anyone else who dies in the next decade. When I was a kid nothing was bigger than Michael Jackson. I never got it and was criticised for that by my peers - and I still am! Ed McMahon and Sarah Faucett also died this week, but their stories will be lost in the wake of Jackson's death. I think that he represents the tragedy of public life more than anything else. His accomplishments were nothing compared to the arch of his life and his sudden death. The danger of being too famous and too insulated reaches its logical conclusion in Jackson. If nothing else it should serve as a cautionary tale more than a celebration of inherent greatness.

The other thing to remember is that he served as a template for contemporary celebrity. His maniacal father made sure that his boys became famous and Michael most of all. He was young enough to mold into a entertainment juggernaut by his father and after he went out on his own he was further molded, or rather, deformed by his 'people.' He became a literal monster, but to a large degree he could not help it because he was prohibited from having access to a frame of reference beyond his fantasy world. Now we see thousands of celebrities who follow his path and the results are always horrific - but make for great entertainment for the great unwashed. We need to stop destroying these human beings for our own amusement. The excuse it that we make them rich so we have a right to stalk them or delight in their personal tragedies. Another step towards evolving into true human beings is to deny them the ultimate wealth and deny ourselves the sick pleasure of vicarious disdain. Ciao.

It's actually kind of funny.

2009-06-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

Stephen Colbert made fun of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford over a year ago calling him the "most boring man I have ever met." He also described Sanford as a "manila envelope suck to a beige wall." Well, this boring man has since turned into an international man of mystery. As I am sure most of you are aware, the upright governor of SC took off last week without telling anyone where he was going. He missed Father's Day and sparked a media frenzy of speculation. His initial cover up was almost as ridiculous as the truth, he told the press that he had decided to go hiking on the Appalachian Trail to clear his head after some tough legislative battles he had recently had over the government bailout money. He was one of the guys who said that they would refuse to take the bailout money and he was also a leading contender for the GOP slot in 2012. No more. His story was proven false and hell, who would believe that he would leave his family Father's Day weekend without telling them where he would be if he was just taking a hike. Nope, he flew to Argentina to see his mistress.

A GOP wonk who came off as bland as cardboard was having a torrid affair with a hot Argentinian woman? Awesome! Sure, he was dumbass and his career and family are in ruins, but there are a lot worse ways to self destruct your 'everyday' life. Most right wingers are caught with a man-child lover, drugs or pocketing millions in public funds. But not Sanford, that motherfucker was ballin' in South America! What a way to prove your critics wrong, I bet Colbert has his writers working overtime on this one for tonight's show. I think the main point of this story is actually quit touching - providing he actually loves this mystery woman. It shows the power of love, the fact it can transcend all barriers and rive even the most staid individual to take tremendous risks. I bet he has no regrets and he shouldn't as long as his emotions are genuine. Crap, imagine the boring life of a political hack tied to a family that he probably resents. Then imagine the bold step he took to follow his heart and damn the consequences.

It's fucking awesome! The critics be damned and anyone be damned who crucifies this guy for his actions. If he had been fucking a hooker or cheating with a fellow member of the GOP I could understand a measure of moral outrage, but this is not a pedestrian case. It is an exceptional one and it must have been a hell of an affair for him to take so many risks. Kudos Mark Sanford! Ciao.

Real Information.

2009-06-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

The recent events in Iran have shown the power of new media. Here is a truly amazing example taken from the Website Anonymous Iran which is linked above.

Please retweet this link. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Monday, June 22 in Iran. (If I cannot positively confirm, I have indicated that I can't.)

1. Protests were held throughout Tehran today. The main protest was held at 7 Tir Square where 3-5 thousand people gathered to remember and mourn Neda – the protester killed on Saturday. However, soon hundreds of IRG, police, Basij and plainclothesmen gathered and violently tried to disperse the protesters. It took hours to disperse all the protesters. The security forces used batons and fired tear gas shells as well as firing weapons in the air. Dozens of people were injured, including many women. Helicopters were flying over Tehran for the second day. There were also reports of helicopters firing tear gas shells at people – they have not been fully confirmed.

2. There was also a gathering of about 1,000 people in Valiasr Avenue, meeting security forces who sparked a confrontation. It was not as violent as the one on 7 Tir, but many people were injured there as well. There was a huge rally held by Ahmadinejad’s supporters at Valiasr for his victory speech. The participants were mostly people from the provinces, children and older Iranians. There were also a large number of government employees.

3. News of protests around the country was not relayed through tweets much today; however, sources confirmed that at least some rallies and protests were held in Tabriz where protesters met with violent attacks by the security forces. Later in the night as people chanted Allah o Akbar from the rooftops, there were reports of clashes in northern and western Tehran between protesters and security forces. Chants of Allah o Akbar also echoed across the country. Candles were lit throughout the country in memory of protesters that have been killed so far. The number of confirmed deaths stands close to 50 now and there have been more than a thousand injured.

4. Sources claim that the government is considering expelling some diplomatic missions because they’ve helped protesters or are accused of masterminding the unrest. The government earlier in the day alleged that the US had paid 400 million dollars to people in order to organize unrest in Iran. They also blamed the UK and Germany – saying the latter was coaxed into taking action by Israel – how Israel manages to coax other countries was beyond our sources… The Guardian Council has now announced that there were 3 million extra votes cast. Other information is unreliable at this point or various sources exist.

5. The government is actively trying to suppress news from getting out. BBC and Al-Arabiya’s correspondents were told to get out in 24 hours, twitter sites are being hacked, people are being tricked into getting out late at night by others chanting in the streets who are actually Basijis and the spread of spam and propaganda on twitter. The government has also established dozens of sites with pictures of protesters, asking people to identify them. At least two of these sites that were based abroad have been taken down by hackers sympathetic to Iranians today.

6. There are sporadic reports coming in from Qom at this point. Sources claim that Rafsanjani who was in Qom has had meetings with clerics inside Qom. It has been also reported – but not confirmed – for the past three days that Ayatollah Montazeri has declared a three days’ mourning period. It likely is a hoax because it has not been confirmed by anyone. What can be confirmed is that the Council of Combatant Clerics – which includes in its members Rafsanjani and Nateq Noori – have backed the protesters. Khamanei is going to lead Friday prayers in Tehran. If there was a speech, we'll have a translation availble here within the hour.

7. Hamzeh Ghalebi, head of Mousavi's youth headquarters and Reza Homaye, another reformist and backer of Mousavi, have been arrested. There have been arrests of numerous other reformists and backers of Mousavi, Karoubi, Noori and Rafsanjani. The total number of people that have been arrested is still anyone’s guess. Reports indicate somewhere between five and ten thousand.

8. Tuesday has been declared a national strike by Mousavi and his backers. Already close to half of the shops in Tehran were closed on Sunday. (Sunday is not a holiday in Iran; Friday is.) It has been reported that in the provinces, people are excited about the news and many important figures in provinces are openly or secretly backing the call. The government is threatening people that they’ll be fired if they didn’t show up at their jobs on Tuesday.

9. Thursday, rallies will be held in Tehran. The location of the major rally in the city has not been disclosed. According to sources, this has been done so that the government couldn’t be prepared. In anticipation, the government has placed thousands of police and Basiji inside Tehran, turning stadiums into headquarters and areas for gathering for these security forces.

10. Our sources have strongly denounced the commercialization of the Sea of Green (That’s what most of them call the protests) by various people around the world. They have especially disliked how some people put advertisements on twitter with #iran or #iranelection on them as well as #neda. They have also shown outrage over the fact that Nokia and Siemens were exposed to have supplied the Iranian government with equipment to help censor their voices on the internet and over cell phones.

11. Finally, Mousavi has yet again called on the people of the world to rally in support of the plight of Iran’s people on Thursday. This is the second time Mousavi has called on citizens of Planet Earth to stand up and support the voices of Iranians.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please try these!:

67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(xbox live port)

(Thanks to Alexander)

There is more real information in this brief report than I have heard in all the mainstream media crap we have access to. Ciao.

Poison me baby!

2009-06-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

The past few years have been rife with food scares here in the US. Europe has had its problems and China . . . well, they feed their people plastic and cardboard so food borne illnesses are irrelevant. But here in the US we have always taken pride in the bounty our stolen land has provided us. Farmers and ranchers made this country possible and their huge productivity helped spawn the transportation and manufacturing industries back in the nineteenth century. Up until the fifties of last century we ate local and fresh, a nation that ate nutritious food free of chemicals and preservatives. Then our next wave of food evolution began and processed foods distributed to supermarkets became all the rage because they were cheap and they were heavily advertised through the new media of television. We began to eat sugary shit, TV dinners replaced home cooked meals and if you didn't have the time or energy to pop a tin tray in the oven you could pick up some fast food on the way home from work. It was novel and it was touted as another aspect of American supremacy in the world.

Yep, asbestos made us safe from fire and MSG kept our food nice and embalmed, prolonging shelf life while shortening our own. In 2009 we know that most of the shit available to eat at the supermarket, convenience stores and fast food chains is terrible for us. Yet, after generations of consumption we are addicted to the shit. That is bad enough, but now we are faced with shitty food that is literal poison. Human error, cost cutting and a general disdain for human beings all contribute to incidents like the E-coli infested Nestle cookies that have been recalled. The product was fucking awful to begin with, do they really need to infect it with E-coli? It is almost as if we are happy to be poisoned. "Them cookies taste real good, I do not give a rat's ass if they are gonna kill me." The past thirty years have clearly shown that profit is much more important than human beings in America. Medications have been pumped into us for profit, unsafe products have been rammed down our throats and ton upon ton of malignant "food" to help keep all of the rest down.

Just because something tastes good does not mean you should eat it. I have been guilty of over indulging over the years, but I always come back to vegetarianism. It is the first step to eating well. Then you have to garden or seek out fresh food locally. The body may not be a temple, but it is the only vehicle I know of fro my brain, so it's best to keep it in decent working order. When future generations look back I hope that this era marks the end of cheap shit food. The reality is that in the future they will probably eat even worse manufactured shit and will take chemicals to counteract the food's ill effects. If I can swear off fast food and processed food anyone can, so fucking do it and you won;t get E-coli from a fucking cookie. Ciao.

Humanity.

2009-06-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

"If anyone is on twitter, set your location to Tehran and your time zone to GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut Iranians' access to the Internet down. Cut & paste & please pass it on."

Once again, I am impressed that something besides a questionnaire to find out what dessert "you are" is on my facebook page invites. The above is being circulated to try and keep the flow of information coming out of Iran. The protesters are back on the streets in Tehran and by all accounts neither side is prepared to capitulate. So far Obama has remained very close lipped about the situation and those close to the president are saying that any hopes for a diplomatic future with Iran rest upon that unwillingness to choose a side. Critics say that Obama is sending a mixed message, they contend that he should side with the protesters to show our solidarity with Democratic governments in the region. I contend that Obama is smart to wait and see, if he picks on side over the other and the other side wins he will have an impossible time trying to reestablish meaningful diplomatic discourse after this conflict cools down. It is an unenviable position, but one thing that he said was unambiguous - The Iranian people must decide what is best for them.

That phrase rings true, however, in the position that they find themselves in right now a solution is not clear. The Iranian people appear to be almost equally divided. I could be completely wrong about that since we have little information to work from and I am by no means an expert when it comes to the history and culture of Iran. Most Iranians I have know fled Iran to escape the religious zealotry and the social constraints inherent to the current paradigm. The secular aspect of Iranian life is under the shadow of Islam which makes for a nation that has divisiveness built into its very being. I know that from a moral standpoint the protesters are in the right, if the election was rigged - which it was anyway, the Supreme Leader decides who makes it onto the ballot to begin with - and a majority want Ahmadinejad out, then they should have every right to demand a recount or a new election. Doing so is another story, shit we had two rigged elections in a row here in America and we ended up letting them stand.

What I am taking most from the events in Iran is the passion and the willingness to sacrifice. We should have marched on Washington back in 2000. Just imagine what we may have averted if we had not allowed our political process to be hijacked by evil fuckers. People are marching to try and gain justice and a sense of truth and they are willing to die for that. It is impressive and it shows that humanity still has a chance. We shall see where it ends up, but I would like to believe that Obama will not sit across from Ahmadinejad the next time our nations meet to try and forge a lasting peace. Ciao.

And Iran.

2009-06-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Leader was clear: No more protests or else. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei extolled the virtues of Islam as his supporters chanted anti-Semitic and anti-American chants. He made it clear that the election results were unambiguous and that further protests would be seen as a direct threat to the state. He stressed that Iran is a nation of "one" and that Ahmadinejad was the "decisive victor." So, tomorrow Moussavi and his supporters are slated to hit the streets again, will they be allowed to voice their dissent or will the bloodshed begin? I hope that something good comes of all this. If blood is shed I hope that it brings change and if it is not then that too would be a victory regardless of the outcome. However, if Iran descends into civil war the entire region could devolve. My initial prediction is that we will hear of more of the same in the coming days. I say that because the world is watching and extreme retaliation would make for the kind of press Iran should want to avoid.

My little idea is probably too naive, so let's think about the other possibilities. If the Supreme Leader calls a recount or holds a new election he runs the risk of losing his hold over the nation. The same risk is run if they allow the protests to continue. If they take violent or military action against the protesters America and its allies may see that as a justification for intervention in the name of "Democracy" or "liberty." If the protesters stay home and the election stands then we can at least hope for an uneasy staus quo scenario. I have been shocked by our inaction towards North Korea, but I would truly be shocked if we did nothing if Iran descends into chaos, especially when the struggle in centered upon a "free" election. We shall see . . . Ciao.