Angry White Kid

Funny

That's right, it's time to get your war on. And I'm still working on this picture posting situation. Bear with me.

Halloween

Sometimes I wish I had a digital camera to take pictures of stupid people. And then I could post them here.

Last night was Halloween party night, since Halloween is on a Sunday. A lot of people like Halloween. I don't. It's like any of the other ridiculous holidays, except people dress up differently for this one. I just don't see the benefit of wasting time and money to get a costume together, wear it the whole night as it's falling apart and then having to explain who you're dressed up as to every other knucklehead around. It's much easier to just not dress up and say, "I don't like Halloween," and that's the end of it.

So, Angry White Kid's Halloween awards go to the following:

Stupidest Costume: Some guy at the first party I went to was dressed as a cowboy and had a little bulge in his back. Apparently he was supposed to be George Bush with the bulge from the debate. Come on kids, you can do better than dressing as some obscure internet rumor.

Person Who Had Too Much Fun: This year we have two winners. One is passed out guy in the hammock on the porch of the third party. I put pumpkins on him. That was fun. Other is passed out guy sitting in front of our house under a tree when we walked home. Some people said he was meditating, but I stand by saying he was passed out. I tried to wake him to get him to move to this nice bench and grass area a block away, but he wasn't having it. After crazy/manic/tweaker guy who likes to knock on windows at 3 AM and tweaker guy's friend who tries to sell me stolen bikes and moves baby grand pianos my new creedo is so long as they're not in the house, then I ain't gonna worry about it.

On the Elections

I will be so happy once these elections are over. I don't even live in a swing state and all this nonsense is making me ill. But there are som cool things on this year's ballot, so I thought I'd give my thoughts. As an anarchist, voting always has presented an awkword situation. Earlier I posted "Nine Reasons Not to Vote" but I myself haven't been convinced that voting is so horrible. Theoretical anarchist arguments against voting just aren't gonna sway the populace and in my opinion we should use whatever tools available, including voting, to effect change. That being said, here are my choices:

President: Leonard Peltier, Peace and Freedom Party.

Not because I like that socialist garbage, but cause I love Leonard.

US Senate: Marsha Feinland, Peace and Freedom Party.

Yeah, I know, I still don't like that socialist garbage, but no way in hell am I voting for Barbara Boxer.

US House of Representative: Barbara Lee, Democratic Pary.

One of the very, very few good politicians out there. Not perfect, but very good.

Statewide Propositions:

Prop. 1A, "Protection of Local Government Revenues": Yes.

Prop. 59, giving public more access to government info: Yes.

Prop. 60, maintain two-party system: No.

Prop. 60A, sell surplus state property: Yes.

Prop. 61, money for children's hospitals: Sure, though it's just a bandaid solution. No pun intended.

Prop. 62, top primary vote getters go on general election ballot, regardless of party: Yes, maybe we can elect good candidates. But most likely not.

Prop. 63, tax the rich, increase mental health services: Yes.

Prop. 64, won't let you sue companies: No.

Prop. 65, take money from the locals, gives it to the state: No.

Prop. 66, rewrite three strikes law: Hell Yes! People should not spend 25 years to life in jail just cause they broke the law three times. Pete Wilson, you're a fascist.

Prop. 67, raise phone taxes to give to insurance companies: Uh, no.

Prop. 68, tax "Indian Gaming": Hell No! White people are just all upset now that after 500 years of oppression, some indigenous folks are making money of people who can't understand math.

Prop. 69, collect DNA of every person arrested: No. Thanks, but this damn government has invaded my privacy enough.

Prop. 70, 99-year gambling contract: No. Anything that last for 99 years, like Hong Kong or the Panama Canal, just isn't a good idea.

Prop. 71, stem cell research: I really don't know. Stem cell research is good, but I just think corporations are gonna make a lot of money and then develop drugs to sell to us at outrageous prices.

Prop. 72, makes businesses pay for health care: Yes.

Oakland Measures:

Measure Y: Hell NO!!!! Yeah, we need violence reduction. But 63 more kops, especially in Oakland, that's asking for more dead people of color. Oakland kops are insane and we don't need anymore. There's already too many. Makes me nervous.

Measure Z: Hell Yeah!!!! Decriminalize marijuana. Shouldn't people be allowed to smoke a freakin' plant if they want to?

Real News on Fox News?

Yeah, but only because one of the Electronic Intifada guys was on. Check it out.

The US has already killed a third as many Iraqi civilians in 18 months as Saddam killed in 24 years

I'll just send you over to Juan Cole for the breakdown on this study. He doesn't think it is accurate, but neither is the 16,000 civilians killed number that is repeated in the US media, when they take the time to actually talk about the people being brutalized under occupation.

Divestment Train Keeps on Rollin'

First the Presbyterians, then the Anglicans, then the National Lawyers Guild and now Pax Christi.

The 10th anniversary assembly of Pax Christi Aotearoa-New Zealand, held in Auckland on 1-2 October, endorsed the Anglican Peace and Justice Networks and Presbyterian Church of the United States in their recent call for divestment in Israel modelled on the popular boycott of apartheid South Africa.

“We are constantly reminded by the current President of Pax Christi International, Michel Sabbah, who is also Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, of the suffering of his Palestinian people”, said Kevin McBride, national coordinator of Pax Christi Aotearoa-NZ.

I don't know if this is just the New Zealand Pax Christi, or the whole organization. To be honest, I don't even know what Pax Christi is. If it was just New Zealand, it wouldn't be that suprising, as NZ has had very tepid relations with Israel in general - mainly because Israel keeps sending spies there. Regardless, it's good news. They also stated they would begin pressuring the Catholic Church to divest. Forgive my cynicism, but I would be astounded if the Vatican decided to divest. I mean really, when in its centuries long existence has that abomination of organized religion ever spoken out about an ongoing atrocity (let alone not commiting one itself)?

To read the whole Pax Christi press release, click below.

Vote or Die?

I know I've been posting up entries like crazy today, maybe that's just cause I got some free time on my hands. Anyway, I wanted to share this. I think it's funny. Perhaps it deserves an explanation, but I don't feel like it. Google will guide you. Here, I'll even give you keywords: "P. Diddy" "Citizen Change" "Vote or Die."

PS- Click on the comic to see the whole thing. I haven't figured that out yet. The "post preview" and the actual post often come out entirely different. My apologies. Oh yeah, and check out The Boondocks.

Eminem Video Rips Bush

I've never been a big Eminem fan, and I don't even think this song is that great, the video rocks. And supposedly it's getting played on TRL, pretty much the only show that still plays videos on MTV. Anyway, cause free videos are fun, and political ones are better, you can see it here.

Who al-Qaeda Wants to Win

To be honest, I don't think al-Qaeda really cares who wins the elections. Both Bush and Kerry talk about more wars and continued blind support for Israel, which are about the best possible recruiting tools for such organizations.

However, I was reading al-Jazeera and came across this little gem. I think we should give it to all the morons, like Dick Cheney for one, who keep ranting about how the terrorists want Kerry to win.

A week after the Madrid attack, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which claims to act on behalf of al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the bombing and declared a truce in Spain to see if the new government would withdraw its troops from Iraq, but warned that it was gearing up for new attacks.

This part of the declaration was widely reported. However, very few mentioned the more ominous part of that declaration, short of excerpts which were reported by the BBC and Reuters.

The declaration turned its attention to President Bush, saying: "A word for the foolish Bush. We are very keen that you do not lose in the forthcoming elections as we know very well that any big attack can bring down your government and this is what we do not want.

"We cannot get anyone who is more foolish than you, who deals with matters with force instead of wisdom and diplomacy.

"Your stupidity and religious extremism is what we want as our people will not awaken from their deep sleep except when there is an enemy.

"Kerry will kill our nation while it sleeps because he and the Democrats have the cunning to embellish blasphemy and present it to the Arab and Muslim nation as civilisation.

"Because of this we desire you [Bush] to be elected."

Defend Academic Freedom

After 9/11, when the far-right became the self-appointed guardians of everything, one of their favorite places to target has been the universities. This is especially true of Middle Eastern studies departments. American Likudniks such as Daniel Pipes and his organization CampusWatch have targeted professors (and students) whose views they don't like.

Mainly those targeted are professors who speak out on the Palestine/Israel conflict. CampusWatch has gone after Edward Said, Sami Al-Arian, and many others. Just take a look at their website - sorry, you have to find it yourself, I'm not giving you the link - and tell me what they're doing is not a neo-McCarthy witchhunt. (On the side, Pipes was also appointed by Bush to the US Institute of Peace, albeit during a congressional recess so he wouldn't have to face confirmation.)

Now they are targeting Professor Joseph Massad of Columbia University. The reactionary New York Sun and New York Daily News have called for him to be fired. His colleagues are fighting back and asking all those concerned about academic freedom to sign a petition on his behalf.