jewschool.com is live in effect. also check out recent work for no games involved, the artists formerly known as the 3rd message; an all new bar mitzvah disco, and this mockup for the forthcoming rebirth of shtv.

Letter to Congresscritter Nadiya Velazquez, Wmsbrg, Bklyn

Just sent this to my Congresswoman...

Could you just smack Charles Rangel across the back of the head during your next encounter, please? Does this fool really believe that he's going to quell this nation's inclination towards military action through mandatory enlistment?

Rangel told CNN last night, "I'm going to introduce legislation to have universal military service to let everyone have an opportunity to defend the free world against the threats coming to us [...] I'm talking about mandatory service."

"When you talk about a war, you're talking about ground troops, you're talking about enlisted people, and they don't come from the kids and members of Congress.

"I think, if we went home and found out that there were families concerned about their kids going off to war, there would be more cautiousness and a more willingness to work with the international community than to say, 'Our way or the highway.' "

Is this man a putz? Or did he just forget that 150,000 Americans, as young as 19, died in the jungles of Vietnam with "Congressoinal Approval?"

The corporations that control this country don't care who they kill so long as they can earn a dollar. And if that means plowing over Iraq so Bush can enact his pre-"election" strategy for global domination, further empowering his "oiligarchy," I suppose we concerned Americans can't do anything except bend over and take it.

But to force us to take up arms on behalf of these bastards and their vile agenda--you gotta wonder whose side Charles Rangel is on. God forbid this bill should be introduced, let alone enacted. In his foolish blindness of "good intent," Charles Rangel will see to the death of an entire generation of American youth.

Ms. Velazquez, since you're my rep and Mr. Rangel is not, could you please express these concerns to him on my behalf?

Thank you ever so much.

2012 not the end of days but beginning of new ones

just received this mail from axiom, producers of the ever-popular new agey prophet's conference, which i had the pleasure of attending in may of 2001. the e-mail is about mayan calendrics researcher carlos barrios who claims that the apocalyptic theories of 2012 (the allegedly projected date of "the end of the world" according to the mayan calendar) are horseshit—the world will not end, he says, but rather be born anew.

"Anthropologists visit the temple sites," Mr. Barrios says, "and read the steles and inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It's just their imagination... Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed. The indigenous have the calendars, and know how to accurately interpret it, not others."

this brought to mind, of course, terence mckenna's timewave zero, so i just figured i'd share it here with you. [additional resources: 1 | 2] and here's more on the subject of 2012 from norlonto.net (keep an eye out for their subliminal messages), and ever more from deoxy.org.

pretty interesting if you're into scary hippie mysticism and cult science. i know i am! ;)

9/11 commission chairman tied to bin laden

former new jersey governor thom keane, recently selected to replace henry kissinger in heading up the 9/11 investigation commission, has ties to bin laden and al qaeda. yes, friends... george bush chose another oil man to investigate 9/11. keane is a director of the hess corporation who along with delta are partnered in drilling operations with saudi princes linked directly to the al qaeda network—specifically khalid bin mafhouz, osama bin laden's brother in law. would this not constitute a conflict of interest?

[updated 10:59] oh, and bush's choice for sec chairman is also a crook.

north ko-who?

iraq, iraq, iraq... it's all you ever hear out of the bush administration's collective mouthpiece anymore. and why? we ain't got nothing on them, tho they've sure got plenty on us. yet while the shrubbery drive ahead with their pre-election plan for global domination (even at the disgust of the world's citizenry), an actual threat to world stability is emerging in the asia-pacific—one that is being treated with all but indifference: north korea.

it all began in january, when bush declared north korea, along with iran and iraq, an "axis of evil." months later, bush stonewalled the north koreans who were interested in discussing their nuclear weapons program. but rather than a diplomatic conversation, bush gave them a diplomatic middle finger, so north korea reopened their program, only to then have bush get in their face about it. and then, to top it off—without a shred of evidence—the idiot prince of north america went as far as to accuse north korea of developing nukes for iraq.

now, shortly after reopening a nuclear reactor plant, north korea has begun expelling UN nuclear inspectors from the country and threatening the US with catastrophe. yes, kids, the threat of war is impending. just yesterday, the north koreans began installing machine guns in a UN demilitarized zone. these people aren't fucking around, apparently.

but the US is. today's news shows that the US has no interest in pursuing military force against north korea, a country which, unlike iraq (where our current attention is focused and which has complied with UN demands every step of the way), we know for certain is developing nuclear weapons with intent to attack america. but bush and his cronies are too busy chasing ghosts to care.

but perhaps there's another reason for bush's flimsiness on this issue. bush recently won support for his missile defense program, but would he have won that support without there being an actual nuclear threat? sure, he can attack iraq in order to further fuel his oil empire—they're easy prey... a nation of starving people. but to divert military attention to a nation that could actually give us a run for our money in a war? one that, if defeated, would remove any impending nuclear threat, thus eliminating the "desperate need" for a missile defense system? let's just say it wouldn't be economical for bush's business partners.

thus action against iraq rolls forth steadily, the real threat to US security is given nearly no attention at all, and the dollar—the almighty dollar—has become a sword of damacles swinging over our nation's head.

i just figured out what i'm doing for new year's

rave act defeated

while it may be reintroduced next year, the rave act has been knocked down! the bill would have prosecuted club owners and party promoters if and when drugs were found to be on their property, essentially discouraging anyone from hosting rave parties. the people's campaign against the rave act was so successful, two of the bill's original sponsors dropped their support. who says we can't get anything done?

can't buy me love

you've seen the real doll. you may have even seen the real hamster. but have you ever seen a pay-for-porn site featuring people fucking real dolls? ever wanted to fuck a muppet? and who could ever forget the shemale real doll? certainly much more interesting than these japanese love pillows, and of course the run-of-the-mill inflatable bunch. well, there is always the love ewe. just don't get caught around town with one of these things, cuz, ya know, if it looks bad, generally speaking...well, you get the point.

randizzle mah nizzle

random link harvesting at its finest

• bush wants to institute yet another new internet monitoring system that would potentially track surfing habits.
• coffee, tea, or should we feel your pregnant wife's breasts before throwing you in a cell at the airport and then lying about why we put you there?
• who will defend liberty?
• surprise that special someone.
• of anarchy and alchemy.
• nestle is suing the starving nation of ethiopia.

domo-kun battles the powerpuff girls in this outstanding flash game from the brilliant minds at the excrutiatingly-slow loading, but still impeccable newgrounds.

he even owns my favorite brand of falafel

George Soros, billionaire philanthropist and anti-prohibitonist, has been nailed for insider trading by a French court.

Mr. Soros has made a ton of money speculating on world markets. Quantum Fund, the hedge fund he heads, has controlled as much as $110 billion at one time. His influence over markets is such that the New York Times has credited him with being able to increase the price of his investments simply by revealing that he has made them.

He's not been uncritical of money's influence, however. In The Capitalist Threat, he warned of how capital can undermine democratic values, claiming, "The main enemy of the open society, I believe, is no longer the communist but the capitalist threat."

Soros's projects include The Open Society Institute, and the Drug Policy Alliance. He has funded nearly every medical marijuana ballot measure in the US.

[some numbers yanked from David C. Korten's When Corporations Rule the World].

where do i sign up to become a meal?

George Bush is accused of rape!

It seems that our president may have kidnapped and raped a woman and her husband. Don't believe me? There's a police report to prove it. I wonder why we didn't hear about this on the 10 o'clock news?

Strom's Little Secret

If THIS is true, which it appears to be, then WTF?!?

illuminati reevaluates p.r. strategy

much in the way operation tips mysteriously disappeared from the citizen corps website, the information awareness office has gotten rid of its creepy eye in the pyramid logo. gee, i wonder why. (c/o politech)

ashcroft's suckerpunch

apparently being hoodwinked by authorities into placing themselves under arrest, hundreds of unnatrualized arab californians were arrested when they turned out to comply with a new law requiring them to register with the INS as arab muslim residents of the united states. can i get a stunned "what the fuck?"

how incredibly sad

stereolab guitarist/vocalist mary hansen died in a cycling accident last monday. stereolab (who fucking rule) were about to embark on a uk tour to promote their new lp. she'll be buried this friday in her native australia.

hello kitty vibrator anyone?

the year in ideas from the sunday times magazine

oh this is brilliant

england's oldest anglican bishop threw his congregants for a loop this sunday, when he preached that the tale of jesus is in fact the "story of a baby born to an unmarried mother from a religious family with all the cultural and social pressures you can imagine. the shepherds, far from being the loveable characters in nativity plays, were actually then on the fringes of society. and the wise men, in addition to bearing gifts, were on a mission from herod to discover the whereabouts of the baby jesus so he could be killed." niiiice. that spices up my holiday! er, wait, no it doesn't. i'm jewish.

damn drunken elephants

"They smashed huts and plundered granaries and broke open casks to drink rice beer. The herd then went berserk killing six persons."

Ass Fingering Videogames

I’ve been a videogame connoisseur back since 1982 when I was “the man” for having Colecovision over Atari 2600. I never knew it would come to this, but a Korean company has created a videogame for Japan in which the object is to stick your finger in an ass. Haven't we always wanted to do that in a videogame? I guess we know why they didn’t release it over here.

requiem for a ring

just caught this lotr trailer on tv, and was sure i'd recognized the music i'd heard in the background. sure enough, i soon discovered it was in fact a remix of clint mansell's theme from requiem for a dream.

formerly of the uk's pop will eat itself, mansell, a brilliant electronic composer, was also responsible for much of the soundtrack for the film pi and is signed to trent reznor's nothing label.

he also, incidentally, backed out of doing rushkoff's spoken word cd of ecstasy club (which i was to produce) right after he landed the gig for the requiem soundtrack. sigh.

the riaa: talkin' more shit than roto-rooter

already found guilty of price-fixing earlier this year, new research reveals that the riaa has tinkered with its earning figures in order to fabricate a decline in sales when in actuality they're making money hand-over-fist—more so than they ever have before. what ever would lead them to do such a thing? i can think of at least one good reason. hell, i could think of two. (c/o boingboing)

"Pointless trash exploiting urban decay. Lewd and irresponsible."

Ever wonder what the religious right thinks of chart topping albums like Jay Z's The Blueprint and Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP? Well, wonder no more! Read all of the "Plugged In" album reviews at good ole' Family.org.

space station to be demanned because N*SYNC sucks

One contributing factor to the budget crisis was the failure in recent months of commercial flights aboard Soyuz vehicles. Although some seats have been sold to European astronauts, the financial collapse of the project to fly pop singer Lance Bass, and the apparent inability of the Russians to find a paying customer for the third seat on the Soyuz that is set to launch next April, have resulted in losses of between $20 million and $30 million.

nasa's going to evacuate the international space station thanks, in part, to lance bass being a homo and reneging on his bid to fly around the earth. (c/o supanamja)

televanjabronie

this guy and his fucking miracle spring water. i can't believe he's still hawking that shit. just caught him on the idiot box a few minutes ago. i gotta find this tape for you kids...

prete, throbby & i first encountered religious huckster peter popoff on latenight cable ripping bonghits in my parents' basement. the dude was offering this "miracle spring water" in like, one of those little oil tubes you get with a sewing machine or something and a sacred holy red silk handkerchief. "annoit yourself with this free miracle spring water and you shall be redeemed from your affliction!" [insert shaking head gesture here.] what ensued thereafter was about 5 or 6 crank calls to popoff's call center, most notably one placed by rich 'hallelujah!' prete, in which prete used very afrocentric exclaimations of "praise me jesus!" and "hallelujah!" to buffer sentence fragments much as one might use the word "like." like, you know, like like?

another highlight of the evening was throbby's demand of a surplus of miracle water for use in his satanic rituals. teehee.

ah... those were the days. freshly dropped out of college, smoking weed in the basement all day, long before this 9-5 wage slavery business which has sucked my soul dry for near two years now... blargh. strike damn you! strike! you were supposed to be done with your fucking negotiations an hour and a half ago! stalemate damnit!

transit strike imminent?

as of 5 pm, there is still no resolution between the mta and the transit workers union. with, as of this writing, five hours to go, i for one am not hopeful. that's to say, i hope there is a strike so i don't have to go to work! ;)

interestingly enough, twu local 100 president roger toussaint appears to be a life long social activist, having partaken in demonstrations in both his native trinidad and here in the u.s. while a student at brooklyn college. frankly, his willingness to fuck over the entire city's innocent commuter population makes him no caesar chavez in my book, however, as he's certainly not going to be winning anyone's solidarity by leaving them stranded.

hell, to be honest, the service i've been receiving from the mta in the year i've been here in brooklyn has been anything but satisfactory. the demand of a salary increase should at the very least be coupled with a guarantee of outstanding service. but i'm sure, even if they get their raise, i'll still be waiting for the L for an hour and a half on a weeknight. fuckers.

how to ruin america

i think ben stein has changed his mind about george bush

i like the marmut, btw

dead stuffed animals behaving like humans. just for you ray. (c/o boingboing)

it's all gravy

Ask for extra biscuits, get reefer. Otherwise, lose the 'er' and just get some reef.

Hey lunchlady, wanna buy some dope?

stressin' a transit strike? here's all the shizz you need to know for alternate transit—

City of New York: http://www.NYC.gov/transitstrike
MTA: http://www.mta.info
Transportation Alternatives: http://www.transalt.org
NYPIRG Straphangers: http://www.straphangers.org/strike

(c/o nypirg by way of not-the-blog-sarah)

Are you doing your part to topple the Sandinistas? Courtesy of "44an.com", which interestingly enough is Swedish for "The 44", home of some rather odd political type art.

santacon 2002 is coming up this weekend! are you ready for the santarchy?! check out this snapshot gallery of last year's hijinks, courtesy of the brilliant minds (well it's really only one mind) at sexplastic.

from the "well that was obvious" department, courtney love is a apparently a dope fiend

attempting to save face for obvious political reasons, trent lott retracts him some segregation

my brain hurts

Q: How many existentialists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Two. One to screw it in and one to observe how the lightbulb itself symbolizes a single incandescent beacon of subjective reality in a netherworld of endless absurdity reaching out toward a cosmos of nothingness.

religious lightbulb jokes

For the hardcore geek in you:

On December 9, 1968, Douglas C. Engelbart and the group of 17 researchers working with him in the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA, presented a 90-minute live public demonstration of the online system, NLS, they had been working on since 1962. The public presentation was a session in the of the Fall Joint Computer Conference held at the Convention Center in San Francisco, and it was attended by about 1,000 computer professionals. This was the public debut of the computer mouse. But the mouse was only one of many innovations demonstrated that day, including hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, as well as shared-screen collaboration involving two persons at different sites communicating over a network with audio and video interface.

Puts things into perspective nicely. The multimedia presentation is available in fascinating, bite size chunks. Nicely sampleable, to say the least.

the office of homeland security thinks wi-fi is a terrorist's wet dream

senate majority leader trent lott loves him some segregation

new jakeneck live in effect ... give it a whirl kiddies // old site here.