i still don't necessarily see the point...

If this myth is tragic, that is because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? The workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks, and his fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that can not be surmounted by scorn.

—"The Myth of Sisyphus" by Albert Camus

additional commentary

well thank god

this is the first stitch of good news i've heard all week

e-mail hookup

if you need a good, reliable e-mail address with spam filtering, we're now offering accounts at youraunt.net. lemme know...

this is pretty fucked up right here

a new peta campaign equates factory farms with concentration camps ...somewhat extreme, but effectively disturbing

It's a Sad, Sad Day In the Neighborhood

Fred Rogers, my neighbor and yours, is dead at 74. Those of you with zip-up cardigans in your wardrobe might consider rocking one today in tribute.

horse-sploitation

mr. ed is making a comeback, and this time he's speaking ebonics.

up next on the hollywood agenda is a remake of anna sewell's children's classic, black beauty, to be entitled black booty.

son of sam

did you know that uncle sam was actually a butcher? makes sense if you consider the attrocities we're in for. the gods we choose... the things they mean.

on a lighter note, how 'bout an uncle sam slasher flick? baha.

shattering glass dreams

the dea seeks to redirect the urls of online headshops—that have been busted under recently-decided-to-strictly-enforce anti-drug paraphernalia statutes—to the dea's own website.

allow me to reiterate... north korea has nuclear weapons pointed at us, there are 170,000 troops standing by to aid & abet the theft of 11% of the world's oil, there's a network of several thousand independent terrorist cells day dreaming about trophy virgins lurking around the globe, and all john ashcroft can think about is keeping us from buying bingers and bats and hammers and sidecars and spoons and bubblers oh my.

i hear nixon was as anti-drug as he was because he wanted to get back at all the hippies who were protesting the war. seem familiar?

say...

anybody wanna buy my gameboy advance? they just released the backlit version.

even greater uses for excess duct tape

3m, makers of scotch tape and other fine adhesives, offer a handy-dandy tutorial on the manufacture of duct tape wallets on their canadian duct tape promo site. in fact our very own robot polisher, martin o, sports one, and is mighty proud of it.

if such things tickle your fancy, take a look at duct tape fashion, who offer their own collection of duct tape wallets, as well as hats, belts, and other accessories for sale online.

there are also the duct tape guys, who have devoted their lives to the humorous exploits of duct tape, and provide a list of many wonderful uses for duct tape on their website, as well as a collection of their own duct tape fashions, including this lovely and all-too-appropriate t-shirt. the duct tape guys are no pushovers, however. here's their take on duct tape for homeland security.

finally, if you want to cringe in painful agony, check out the trailer for the upcoming release of duct tape forever, red green's new frighteningly awful-looking b-movie.

ascii text 3d stereograms

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ER_J]KUMS\QPER_J]KUMS\QPER_J]KUM\QPER_J]KUM\QPER_J]KUM\QPER_J]KUM\QQPER_J]KUM

CQE_PSVJ^COJCQE_PSVJ^COJCQE_PSVJCOJCE_PSVJCOJCE_PSVJCOJCE_PSVJJCOJCCE_PSVJJCO

HTXZQDDUTZUXHTXZQDDUTZUXHTXZQDDUZUXHXZQDDUZUXHXZQDDUZUXHXZQDDUUZUXHHXZQDDUUZU

EYZIHVFQ[K`CEYZIHVFQ[K`CEYZIHVFQK`CEZIHVFQK`CEZIHVFQK`CEZIHVFQQK`CEEZIHVFQQK`

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ZNFDRGB`JKZVZNFDRGB`JKZVZNFDRGB`KZVZFDRGBKZVZFDRGBKZVZFDDRGBKZZVZFDDDRGBKZZVZ

NQAQLHPZQ\X`NQAQLHPZQ\X`NQAQLHPZ\X`NAQLHP\X`NAQLHP\X`NAQQLHP\XX`NAQQQLHP\XX`N

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this is rad as hell. i've always loved 3d stereograms. i wonder what type of use this could have with say, a project like hierarchies. or you know what else would be hot? maybe a 3d cartoon strip in which you could get dialogue to appear in 3d caption bubbles. (c/o boingboing)

evil quiz

How evil are you?
"the mental must always stay calm. you must let nothing move you, be it good or bad. for when the mental can no longer be moved, there is no longer good or bad: there just is. when there just is, you have the power to form and shape. thus witness the wrath of the math." — jeru the damaja

mobius scores mobius

I am infinity

You may worship me,
but from afar
what number are you?

hipster by proxy

apparently, i'm norah jones' next-door neighbor
she lives two-three buildings over from me

yes, it's true...

we live in a world where the threat of terrorism is imminent and very real. but now that we've made sure that you've got your duct tape and plastic wrap, we're going to divert or funds and attention away from pursuing this frankenstein our foreign policy has created and instead focus our attention on a more prevalent danger: cheech & chong. (c/o fonadi)

armor holdings empowering oppression

after last weekend's shenanigans, cran and i decided to do some investigation into the manufacturer of the flex-cuffs that were used to restrain us during our arrest. here's what i found out:

the cuffs are manufactured by monadnock, a police equipment manufacturer owned by armor holdings, inc.

"Armor Holdings Incorporated. The principal activity of the Company is to provide security risk management services to multi-national corporations, governmental agencies and products to law enforcement personnel through two operating divisions: ArmorGroup Services and Armor Holdings Products. ArmorGroup Services division provides sophisticated security planning and risk management, electronic security systems integration, consulting and training services, intellectual property asset protection, business intelligence, computer forensics and investigative services. Armor Holdings Products division manufactures and sell a broad range of high quality branded law enforcement equipment. Such products include ballistic resistant vests and tactical armor, duty gear, less-lethal munitions, anti-riot products and narcotics identification kits. Law enforcement equipment accounted for 61% of 2000 revenues and security services, 39%."

at the moment they're looking to dump their services division and focus solely in equipment/armor/weapons manufacturing. here is their corporate profile, including their top exec's earnings, and here is their 2001 annual report.

a search on opensecrets.org reveals the following contributions on behalf of the company and its top execs:

• $5000 to the nrcc
• $1000 to ohio republican dave hobson, who has an attrocious voting record
• $1500 to ohio's 7 star pac, the soft-money love child of ohio senator mike dewine, coincidentally, another scumbag voter
• $2500 to pioneer pac, another republican action committee
• $2000 to andrew crenshaw, yet another big winner

for a florida company they sure seem to pay a lot of attention to ohio, don't they? well they've got a good reason... 7th district congressman hobson sits on the house appropriations committee and is responsible for overseeing military spending, some of which, of course will be doled out to armor, particularly because they now employ hundreds in hobson's district having recently acquired ohio-based o'gara-hess, a leading provider of armor shielding to the us military. gotta love the kickbacks.

unfortunately i couldn't find anything supershady (beyond the fact that armor provides paramilitary equipment to local and federal law enforcement agencies to help revoke american civil liberties and oppress the nation's citizenry, going as so far as to make political contributions to keep the flow of criminals coming) with the exception of their tear gas manufacturing facility in casper, wyoming. seems the epa is interested in what's going on over there and has labeled the facility a superfund hazardous waste site.

anywho, that's about all the dirt i've got.

jesus fucking christ

it just can't get any more ridiculous

any questions?

this is your war. this is your war on drugs.

ok now somebody really did blow up the spot

a huge oil fire is raging off staten island right now... an oil refinery exploded while fueling a barge. the plumes of smoke rise 5,000 feet in the air and are visible from 40 miles away. tv news reports that it was not an act of terrorism. pretty freaky nonetheless.

somebody blew up the spot

just a quick heads-up... amiri baraka, the nj poet laureate who became entangled in a web of controversy after penning his poem "somebody blew up america" (which some sensationalists who apparently don't know how to read pegged as both anti-semitic and anti-israel, momentarily myself included) will be reading at the bowery poetry club tonight, tomorrow and sunday, two sets per night at 8 & 9:30, for $20.

sheer brilliance

outstanding spoof of the dhs ready.gov website (c/o boingboing)

saying goodbye to an old friend

my sophomore year of high school, my sister aliza was in love with this dude jay, a local landscaper just a couple years older, who had a kind and playful personality that tickled her fancy. she used to follow this dude around all the time and so eventually she became enmeshed in his clique of landscaper, mechanic & contractor buddies, spending a lot of time with his friends joe, romeo, dave, brian, and brian's older brother andrew, to name a few. they'd all get together at brian and andrew's house every night and drink and smoke and play video games and talk trash and so on.

around this time i was developing a much better relationship with my sister and since we had so much in common at this point and so many overlapping friends and interests, she'd bring me along rather often to hang out with this crew over at brian and andrew's house. and while i was in school with andrew & brian's youngest brother eric and his friends, the guys noticed i was a step above their triviality and treated me with respect and decency, even if and when they were fucking with me.

andrew was a good guy. he had a great sense of humor, a deep laugh, and he was an adventurer. he loved rock climbing and skiing, winter camping, you name it—wherever there was adventure he would seek it out. if i recall, he was how aliza originally found out about new paltz... because that's where andrew would go to climb. (aliza and i both eventually wound up at school there and she stayed living there for 6 years.) andrew also had exceptionally great taste in music and we often swapped grateful dead tapes and discuss the finer points of say, one version of "sugaree" over another.

andrew was also in love with my friend kate who i was in love with too, but andrew didn't know she was gay. i remember having to break it to him. phew.

but you know, life moves on, people grow apart, and i haven't seen andrew in years. last i'd heard he was still landscaping, and hanging out in the basement, which is cool man, so long as he was okay with it.

well after work yesterday i got an unpleasant surprise: a call from my mom. andrew killed himself the night before last. something about a girl. don't know any details. but it's really sad and disappointing. andrew was a good guy regardless of whatever he made of his life in the eyes of our society. he was a good, honest person, who cared about people and was surrounded by friends that cared about him. he had a spirit of adventure that inspired many. and i hope that that spirit lives on.

judaism teaches that suicide is a baaaaad decision, and that the things that tortured you which led you to suicide will be amplified and plague you worse so in the afterlife. for andrew's sake i hope this is farthest from the truth more than anything else i can imagine. and in fact, for the falseness of this statement, i pray.

i'm sorry you had to go brother. damn.

today's polititrix

nobody makes anti-war demonstrators look bad more than we do ourselves | u.s. plans new noocular arsenal | would you like a side of freedom fries with that | political muscle halted gao investigation of cheney's energy commision

you need a coversheet on your t.p.s. report

today my c.o.o. asked if i had any ideas for how we could get our employees to be more responsible for keeping their data accurate in our room scheduling software. i responded by recommending terry tate, office linebacker.

spamassassin

if you've got an e-mail address at the44.net or your domain is hosted by the 44, please by advised that we have just added spam and virus filtering to our server. if you would like me to switch it on for your account, please notify me at your earliest convenience.

extra extra

iran invades iraq, sea lions 'arf' in terror

want evidence of police corruption?

click here to see a cop on horseback on the sidewalk riding up to a girl and kicking her. just hit the 'next' button to follow the progression. since when is it illegal to walk on a sidewalk?

what is actually illegal is the way that the city violated the terms of the permit agreement which stated that they would not prohibit people from reaching 1st avenue, which they did, as i myself experienced, and then attacked the crowd which refused to be complacent in the face of tyranny.

from the "another world is possible" mailing list, c/o crandan:

United for Peace and Justice, sponsor of the Sat, Feb 15 rally in New York against the Iraq invasion, and the New York Civil Liberties Union are collecting accounts of police brutality and misconduct. If you have observations and/or first-hand complaints about any such behavior, PLEASE contact the NYCLU at nyclu215@aol.com!

Some additional info about Saturday's rally, from today's UFPJ press conference:

* Police broke at least two provisions of their agreement to provide rally space to UFPJ on Sat: 1) to provide access to First Avenue as far north as necessary to accomodate protesters, and 2) to keep side streets open between First, Second, and Third Avenues so that protesters could easily get access to the rally site. Instead, police sealed off all side streets starting that morning and closed the northern end of First Avenue.

* Mounted police appear to have trampled activists sitting in at Times Square. At least two clearly identified medics and one clearly identified legal observer were arrested. One victim may have suffered a severe spinal injury, was hospitalized, and lawyers have not been able to find this individual's location.

* Some arrestees were held in buses and some kept chained up outside police precincts for at least an hour and a half without gloves or other protection against the bitter cold. People arrested early in the day were held at precincts as long as 48 hours before being arraigned. Lawyers were not allowed access to their clients for up to 12 hours, during which police interrogated arrestees.

* Many subway lines were shut down for much of the day, and the Metro North stopped running early. Times Square subway station, the busiest in the system, was conpletely closed. Announcements about the subway closings said only that they were due to an "ongoing police investigation."

The UFPJ is calling for NYPD Chief Ray Kelly to step down. Leslie Cagan of UFPJ says a lawsuit may be contemplated against the city.

i see this as even greater justification for resistance.

keep layin em on

another take on saturday's rally from alternet

simple twist of fate

google buys blogger ... google is evil

just got back from central booking...

click here for my full in-depth account of my arrest (with crandan) at saturday's rally.

Springfield's Greatest Hits

Whether you're of the opinion that The Simpsons has "jumped the shark"or not, their 300th episode airs on Sunday (2/16). To commemorate the occasion, Entertainment Weekly offers up their list of the top 25 episodes in the show's history.

is it any surprise?

colon powell is full of shit

reclaim the streets feeder march

click here for details on where to meet saturday

user input time

ok kids... it's been a while since we gave birth to this new behemoth ... the questions are as follows:

• how do you like jakeneck so far?
• what would you like to see more of?
• what would you like to see less of?
• how can we increase our readership?
• do you have any general suggestions?

take a minute or two to think about it. this site is yours as much as it's ours, so let us know.

and once again, if you'd like to contribute to jakeneck, e-mail me your writeups for a couple of weeks. if you're stuff's coherent and interesting, i'll set you up with a username and password so that you can post to the main page too.

like groovy man

this is bugging me the fuck out

yes, well...

this is anything but funny because it's sadly true. i, however, prefer the crimethinc mentality which suggests that living in the moment of revolution is the only possibility of freedom. somehow i don't think bagge quite gets that tho.

what if...

i know it's a stretch, but could it be possible that the reason the upj demonstration was denied a parade permit was in order to corral all the demonstrators into a confined area so that the feds could send a suicide bomber in there to take out a bunch of demonstrators, thus turning all the opponents of war into staunch supporters? kill a few protesters and the entire anti-war movement along with 'em...

doesn't seem all that unquestionable... especially if you believe in a connection between september 11th and operation northwoods.

le merde post

yes, it is true that the french have strong economic ties with iraq. it's undeniable and unfortunate. and truth be told, i never did like the french much. but yesterday's front page story in the new york post was gross and inexcusable. wiping his ass with the very notion of unbiased reporting, author steve dunleavy—an australian tabloid journalist imported to the u.s. by rupert murdoch himself—went as so far as to call the french smelly as he berated them for their lack of support for the u.s. in its standoff with iraq. standing in the american cemetery near omaha beach in france, he writes:

The air is chill, but I feel an unnatural glow of rage — I want to kick the collective butts of France.

These kids died to save the French from a tyrant named Adolf Hitler.

And now, as more American kids are poised to fight and die to save the world from an equally vile tyrant, Saddam Hussein, where are the French?

Hiding. Chickening out. Proclaiming, Vive les wimps!

where does this arrogant fuck get off? he doesn't know one person who served or died in the second world war, living halfway around the world, yet he has the nerve to come off like some indignant american patriot?! and for what? to instigate hatred? to stir up animosity against the french who have no justifiable reason whatsoever to enter armed conflict with iraq, just as we do not? to sell newspapers?! to propagate lies? so fat pigs can get fatter?

fuck steve dunleavy right in the wrist. i hope he gets a cramp that prohibits him from laying pen to page ever again and a throat infection that prohibits him from ever speaking. THIS IS YOUR CIVILIZATION KIDS! THIS IS WHAT WE'RE FIGHTING FOR! BULLSHIT ON A PLATTER.

where is the feast we were promised?

the new doors suck ass

sick bastards

this one's for the bukowski fans out there... reminds me of this show perverts i saw at the upright citizen's brigade theatre once upon a way back when

DEMONSTRATION PERMIT DENIED, judge cites "homeland security"

Dear Friend of United for Peace and Justice:

To our great shock and outrage, Federal Judge Barbara Jones ruled this morning that the City of New York can deny United for Peace and Justice a permit to march on February 15. Citing "heightened security concerns," she ruled that we may only hold a stationary rally, for which we have been granted a permit for First Avenue stretching north from 49th Street.

We are accepting the rally permit, and our massive demonstration to stop the Iraq war will go forward no matter what. But we are appalled by this attack on our basic First Amendment rights, and we will continue to fight for the right to march. Our attorneys, the New York Civil Liberties Union, have already filed an appeal, and we are asking all of our supporters to protest passionately against this attempt to stifle the growing opposition to Bush's war.

We will provide you with more information soon on this rapidly evolving situation. For now, we encourage you to keep organizing and mobilizing for February 15 -- we have a legal permit to rally, and we cannot and will not let the NYPD and the Bush Administration silence our cry for peace.

More than 300 cities around the globe will be holding protests this weekend against the Iraq war: Let's make New York City's protest the biggest, most passionate anti-war gathering of them all.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1) KEEP MOBILIZING FOR FEB. 15: The NYPD wants to discourage people from coming to this protest -- we need to redouble our efforts to make February 15 an enormous gathering for peace. Please contact Fran Geteles asap (fgeteles@igc.org or 212-663-8048) if you are organizing buses or trains. Check out our website at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/feb15 -- we've added lots of new information.

2) SPREAD THE WORD: Forward this message widely, post the assembly location on your website, tell everyone you know that the February 15 protest is indeed happening and that we have a permit to rally at 49th Street and First Avenue.

3) SPEAK OUT: The denial of our right to march sets a very dangerous precedent for free speech in this country -- we ask you to raise the biggest ruckus you can about this attack on our rights. Some suggestions:

>>Fax a statement from your organization to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg insisting on our right to march on February 15. Fax#: (212) 788-2460

>>Ask sympathetic elected officials, community leaders, and/or celebrities to contact Mayor Bloomberg and demand that the City issue a march permit.

>>Contact your local media, write letters to the editor, call in to radio talk shows, get the word out about this outrageous denial of our Constitutional rights.

>>Make phone calls of protest to these officials:
*NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg: 212-788-9600, 212-788-3010, 212-788-3040
*NYC Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly: 646-610-8526
*NYPD Chief of Department Joseph Esposito: 646-610-6710

>>Send emails protesting the denial of our march permit Mayor Bloomberg: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
Commissioner Kelly: rkelly@nypd.nyc.gov
Chief Esposito: jesposito@nypd.nyc.gov

>>Sign this online petition supporting our right to march: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?FEB15

If you're not already on our email list, you can receive future updates like this one about the February 15 mobilization by visiting http://unitedforpeace.org/email.php

Thanks for your support -- we can still prevent this war, and together we will win the right to march.

Sincerely,
The February 15 organizing staff of
United for Peace and Justice

a terror-level orange ii

so i get to work today and, just upon entering the front doors, immediately notice something different about the layout of our lobby. there are barricades, guards everywhere, and security is crawling up my ass, double checking my bags and asking for my i.d. card—something staff doesn't usually get put through. then i remember, we're at level orange and the fbi has issued a statement urging jewish institutions to be on alert.

is there really a reason to be worried? i think not. rather, i'd be more inclined to believe that these threats are being manufactured in order to garner public support for "son of patriot", the newest fecal gathering on ashcroft's constitutional toilet paper.

"take your eyes off iraq kiddies! look at the blinking orange light! oooh scaaaaaary!"

i hate days like this. the terrorists have won. and they're at the crawford ranch snorting lines off of strippers' tits right now. and i'm sitting at work...and at the end of the day, they'll have 1/3rd of the money i've earned.

damnit.

higher education

smoke 'em if ya got 'em

extremist expulsion

the bastard child of the patriot act will soon be making its way through congress, and intends to grant the federal government even MORE sweeping surveillance powers, as well as essentially the death of the freedom of information act, and best of all: the ability to expel suspected terrorists and their supporters from the u.s.

welp, according to the fbi, who is a terrorist? apparently, we are!

Anarchists and extremist socialist groups -- many of which, such as the Workers' World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival Against Capitalism -- have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States. For example, anarchists, operating individually and in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle.

don't fucking tell me i'm paranoid.

this is horrifyingly sickening. SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT AMERICA. IMPEACH BUSH!

more to make you mad

the illusion of democracy

'spect and praise to the most high

happy birthday to the late prophet
robert nesta marley

don't miss the cannabis cup band's marley tribute tonight @ bb king's

six point four equals make out

i don't necessarily remember the circumstances under which chris nine bestowed me with a bootleg of gary wilson's debut lp, you think you really know me, but i know it was a defining moment in the evolution of my musical taste. 25 years after its initial release (and i know i'm late on reporting this because the media was all over it already), wilson's album reached cult status and has since been re-released by motel records, along with his follow-up, forgotten lovers. [here's the pitchfork review, the free williamsburg review, an about.com interview, and the original cover art.]

wilson rediscovered the spotlight when beck confessed his adoration of the singer and began covering wilson's songs in concert. if you're familiar with beck's midnite vultures or his performance on sessions at 54, you've already got a great understanding of what wilson's all about—he's sort of like what would've happened if frank zappa was a bad r&b/soul singer entering the age of disco...and dude, that fucking rocks. (:P) actually, martin, aphid and ray took turns making fun of me for playing his album for them. and all i could say was, "you just dooooon't understaaaand!" gary wilson is a cultural phenomenon... the best kind of freak there is. i mean, who else was singing about making people their bitches in the 1970s? you know as well as i do that there's nothing better than hysterically laughing on the subway at 8:30 in the morning from beneath your headphones for no apparent reason.

anyway, motel records is quickly becoming my favorite label, coming in just under ninjatune, as i've now collected everything in their catalog. most exciting, beyond gary wilson of course, are their reissues of the classic bollywood soundtrack hiphop remixes bombay the hard way vols. 1 & 2. volume 1 was produced by dan the automator (famous for his work on kool keith's octagonecologyst, del tha funky homosapien's deltron 3030, and later, gorillaz and lovage) along with dj shadow. volume 2 features work by mixmaster mike and dj kid koala, among others. top that off with their other soundtrack releases, including the classic vampyros lesbos, and you're talking about the makings of an outstanding label.

and i am apparently becoming a fiend for tricked out 70's swinger soul music. i've been listening to al green, james brown, and this baadasssss cinema soundtrack incessantly. next thing you know i'm gonna start building the blaxploitation dvd collection and sporting pimp gear. oh... right.

for chrissakes

ed rosenthal has been found guilty of obeying the law ... here's the op-ed in the times (c/o aphid & starre)

bwahaha this is classic

lord dicky cardboard strikes again (c/o aphid)

i cum in peace

"i piss down the throats of these nazis"

[updated]

The godfather of gonzo believes America has suffered a "nationwide nervous breakdown" since 9/11, and as a result is compromising civil liberties for what he calls "the illusion of security." The compromise, he says, is "a disaster of unthinkable proportions" and "part of the downward spiral of dumbness" he believes is plaguing the country.

great interview with hunter thompson in salon.

good news is you can now read salon's premium stories for free. you've just gotta sit through an ad. click 'one day pass brought to you by, etc.' and you'll get the full text.

interesting how the article points out that our current defense budget is in the range of $400 billion...that's enough money to give $1,256.48 to each of the 290,175,967 inhabitants of the u.s.a. or $58.76 to each of the 6,272,713,913 people living on earth. according to the war resister's league, we're actually spending about $800 billion per year if you count the interest on the debt created by ongoing military spending. according to the center for defense information, this year's $400 billion budget alone amounts to more than 26 times the defense budgets of all our potential enemies (cuba, iran, iraq, libya, north korea, sudan and syria) combined. now look where it's all going. what do you get for that money? the illusion of safety? a strong economy? bullshit! in the meantime, this year's proposed education budget is $56.5 billion: about 1/7th of the defense budget. and according to unicef, the u.s. ranks rock bottom in education.

thompson, of course, wisely responds, "the oligarchy doesn't need an educated public."

why does the citizenry put up with this bullshit? or did i just answer my own question?

mean streets

while his killers may have gotten off scott free, at least amadou diallo is having a street named after him.

wait a sec—what kinda fucked up consolation prize is that?

just can't let it be

phil spector has been arrested for murder... maybe he was mad about this

space shuttle tragedy

in memory of the space shuttle columbia crew
you know i detest g.w. bush... the second i heard he was gonna speak i started praying he wouldn't do something stupid, like mention iraq. but his speechwriters did the right thing today. and i was admittedly stirred.

In the words of the prophet Isaiah: "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."

The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home.

i've always been a space geek. even to this day i still dream about going to space. i was six when i watched the challenger explode. i was crushed. today i cried... i cried hard. maybe i'm too emotional, but this hurts man. this hurts. my blessings and prayers go out to the families of all the crew. but i will especially mourn the loss of ilan ramon. he was my bona fide hero. and he is gone.

[ cnn coverage ]