I Give Thanks for:

An international terrorist, elected and not caught,
Given years of protection and fear

For a wage so low, i must choose to live, or to die
for no reason to ask for anything moral

For a life under scrutiny,
For more Torture,

For more dead Soldiers,
For more unmarked bodybags.

For more badly tested drugs,
When we have more than we need,

For another 2 year old,
Kept from Being one.

For more jail cells,
For more invented Crimes

For more money,
going to crimes.

What do i give thanks for??
Nothing anymore.

I am sick of being a capitalist whore.
Aren't you?

Neck Direction

Welp... The Neck's been pretty dead for a while. Yeah, there's been some posts here and there. But it just ain't gettin' the same amount of love it used to. And that makes me sad. Sure, I haven't helped much. I've been busier with other things, particularly Jewschool — which lord knows I never expected to take off like it did. And I know everyone else has been busy with life and whatnot.

But alas, anywho, I've been thinking... Maybe it's time to fold it in? Or maybe relaunch with a new model? Perhaps we should switch to Spectacle and make the site more encyclopedaic? (Is that a word?) Maybe it's time for a new design?

I thought perhaps launching Overt Innuendo woulda helped things a bit. That site's even deader. I'm ready to wrap that one up all together.

What's the deal kids? Is it time to put the Neck to rest? Or can we figure out something to reinvigorate it? And while you think on that, I'd like you to keep in mind the classic Crimethinc quote that may bespeak some of the contribution issues we've been having: "YOUR POLITICS ARE BORING AS FUCK."

Maybe we need to get more radical... More radical in our approach to discourse all together. What are your thoughts people?

Buy Nothing Day N26

As we all know, Nov. 26,is Buy Nothing Day. On a day when people are killed for $26 dvd players, we are encouraged to sleep in, be with our loved ones, and actually communicate. Turn off the TV, disconnect from this Media Spectacle that has become the spiritual norm that has become our lives.

However, as we know, most people are unaware of this, and moreover, cannot comprehend what we are talking about. Sometimes, we can't even comprehend it. So i have come up with a plan. (Drum Roll please...)

Download these and print them out. On Tuesday, late at night, go down to your local Wal-Mart, Kmart, whatever, and stick these things on just about everything. Look like you are shopping, but discreetly place the sticker on the send or third item, etc etc. Use common sense and judgement, but lets use some social marketing on this one. Lets get this out. If we are faced with another four yeas, lets give it all we have, and take back the culture.

Use the comments for more ideas. And please, if you have a few extra bucks, let's get some ads on CNN.

Damn, i wrote this months ago. Relevent still. Nothing changes.

Um, ok. I am, more or less a very peaceful guy. in fact, I love peace. I don't like to fight for anything really. except when I see the face of great evil. And, um, seems to be a 52 year old gray-haired white man, and uh, some greasy swine he caries around with him. He calls them advisors, I call them criminals.
I am not a controlled puppet. the only people pulling my strings are my crappy job, paying way too much in taxes, and a fear, not of being stuck by some terrorist, but by some nazi police state. Maybe I’m just paranoid. Too many Alex Jones videos. Or maybe I have no reason to trust the words that come out of any politician's mouth anymore, and it is time to take this country back to the people. We need to get down on our knees as a nation, apologize to the planet we have utterly fucked and offended, take our country back from people who are not out to help America, but to destroy it.
if we want this democracy, this country to work, we need to have ideas, we need to speak out against injustice, and we need to somehow, for a more perfect union. I'm not talking Kerry and Bush need to become butt-buddies, (ok, who knows what happened at skull and bones, this is after all, a one party system, big business v big business) but we need to figure out just what the hell we are doing as a country, where we want to take the country, and grin and bear it.
Most people believe me when I speak, I keep quiet most of the time, and rarely if ever go on snafu-like rants, but hell.
We are now embroiled in a quagmire in Iraq, a sovereign nation we really didn't have much reason to invade. in doing so, we raised hatreds around the world, in both Arab and Non Arab countries.
And we managed to do this only 17 months after the worst (hopefully)non-government backed attack nation, and planet, has ever ever seen.
at a time when we could have asked the world for help with anything, and some of it we got, we instead looked at what appears to be a rogue CIA operative in a little defenseless third world country. it was, and is not a war. it is a massacre, slowly bordering on genocide. and for the first time ever, we really are the enemy.
We are led by a man who says he takes his orders from god, but I know the president doesn't think that highly of me. His actions say he takes his orders from a energy-military-industrial complex.
So Oil, Power, guns, God, and government. Damn, impressive I’d say. the man is obviously a nutcase, as he worships money, and the greedy corporations that will stop at nothing to make more money, including, killing not only children from some "hostile" nation, but killing children of his own country. Don't the use tanks to gas people who have those kinds of ideas, and a compound of cultists to help carry them out? I mean, they do have a large arsenal in there, and they torture kids on a nice warm Caribbean nation. Did I tell you they have a very good, free healthcare system on this tiny Caribbean nation. haha
We have seen one of the worst cases of corporate greed, and the corporation had huge influential ties to the government. I call that Fascism. And I know that ain’t pretty.
We have so many policies in place right now, that we are going to see something pretty scary in the next, five ten years, and we are all going to be just horrified when we finally see it. Something about oil, living space, teenage pregnancies (now and then), religious zealotry, intolerance and pure insanity, on both sides of the argument.
You know, crush the meek, make them strong to throw gas on the fire, and wholesale slaughter of the innocents. It sounds horrible. I know. I see it. There is a huge divide I feel, and it’s not just a political partisan divide, it is a schism in reality divide. Seems We have All become zombified, to our own little ideals and differences.

But really, what are or differences. Are we really all that different Ki? All I am looking for is a little happiness, a decent paying job, good, affordable, if not free, healthcare, a feeling justice is being done, and that can sleep at night. I have honestly not gotten a good night sleep in years. I see everything falling to shit, and too much fighting and hate. Am looking for solutions, but have too many question.
Are we spending to much on a war stoners and heroin addicts are winning? Are We fighting a war of ideas with the wrong set of ideas, ideas which only inflame the minds of those we are fighting, and those being fought for? Have we all gotten way off-topic, and are now locked in for good in our own ideology that we can no longer look at each other, listen to each other, and constructively progressive ideas so that we, and a group of animals, can come together and co-exist, happily, peacefully and prosperously?
Have we gotten to the point where we are our houses and our checkbooks, where our values are represented numerically, and our crosses, stars, and moons are used to advance intolerance, hate, and conformity?
It seems we have. I have feelings like this is all deja-vu, and I feel like I can see something. I could be crazy, but I have a bad habit of being right. Or at least have such a grip on reality, that it’s almost insanity with pure truth. I am losing the plot, or maybe we all are here. Who knows. It’s just truth is stranger than fiction, and I have seen a whole lot of crazy shit, and it’s starting to get worse.

Meet AG, The New Pick For AG

Praised be the lord, John Ashcroft is gone. But just who might we be dealing with now in his stead? Why, none other than Alberto Gonzales. Initially a lawyer representing Halliburton, Bush appointed Gonzales his legal counsel while serving as governor of Texas, where Gonzales helped execute roughly 150 inmates. Gonzales was later appointed to the Texas Supreme Court where he ruled in Halliburton's interest after receiving a $3000 bribe from them, sparking a row of controversy. Finally, he was appointed to White House legal counsel when Bush took office, and has since caused the greatest controversy by helping cover up war crimes, being responsible for the infamous "torture memo" which caused such a furor earlier this year.

But here's an interesting question, and perhaps gets to the root of this appointment. Gonzales testified on the White House's behalf regarding the Plame leak, which is still an open investigation. This begs the question — can the guy who represented those being investigated now be entrusted to continue in this task without prejudice? Mmmm, I think not. And considering one of them mothafuckas is guilty as sin, it only figures they're going to put their man on the inside to make sure nothing ever comes of it.

Nytche.

[Update] More on Gonzales' scumminess.

Bush To Push Gay Marriage Amendment

So sayeth Rove...

Felons Lose Bid For Voting Rights

The Supreme Court today refused to hear a case which could have reinstated voting rights for felony offenders, including ex-convicts, making no remarks whatsoever.

I gave my raise to...

BOB. That's Doktor Reverend FONADI people. Hehe, now it gets interesting.

The Real Election Map

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That ain't so bad, is it?

Here's The Evidence: FL, OH & NM Were Rigged!

Ah one, ah two. And this? Well this makes me want to scream.

Election Blues

Reposted from OrthodoxAnarchist.com: Okay, I confess. I didn't vote in this election. I missed the deadline to file for an absentee ballot. I can provide a number of excuses, but I suppose that's all they are: Excuses. I was sick. I was super busy with school and trying to sort out my volunteer work. It was the chagim and the country was shut down for 2/3rds of September, which meant few opportunities to send outgoing mail and faxes. But I guess I was just too lazy or it wasn't important enough to me, especially after I learned that absentee ballots aren't even counted before a winner is declared. Hell, Bush was declared winner before even the votes at the polls were all counted. Three states haven't even handed their results in yet and Kerry's conceded.

I suppose I felt less guilty about this once I learned that no one I know actually received their absentee ballot here, and they all had to fill out federal write-in ballots at the embassy. I went to the embassy to do the same. They told me I couldn't unless I'd filed for an absentee ballot. So I didn't vote.

I did work on the election though. I helped organize Operation Bubbe, sending hundreds of volunteers down to Florida, which, as AK noted, apparently wasn't enough. But I did my part nonetheless. Didn't I?

Truth be told, I'd also been playing with the idea of "not voting" as an intentional statement, as avowed by quite a number of anarchists and non-statists before me. To vote, the position goes, is to give legitimacy to the state and further, to sanction all the horrific things which follow once the lever's been drawn. I'm not so sure how comfortable I am with giving sanction to any actions of the US government at this point. I can not recall the last time the US government did something I was happy about, something I agreed with, or something I liked. So, why give sanction to it? To get Bush out of office? I never believed we would anyway. I figured he'd either steal it again or use a terror attack to declare himself emperor. And this brings me to my greater point in all this, which is about having faith in the democratic process.

An Election Night chat:

shleve: michael barone just did a lengthy analysis of ohio...seems he thinks it'll break for bush

mobius: the urban centers haven't come in yet. and considering the amount of fraud which has taken place there, of course it'll break for bush. they rigged it.

shleve: have faith in democracy, dan

mobius: oh please. democracy in america is an illusion.

shleve: as opposed to where?

mobius: it exists only to placate the masses by giving them the impression that they have control when the reality is that they are naught but subservient to the whims of the wealthy elite.

I know it sounds harsh. And I struggle with my faith in American democracy as much as I struggle with my faith in the god of Israel. But when elections like this and the one before it transpire, Job I am not.

I mean, we can start with the proprietor of Ohio's electronic voting machines (which have been repeatedly hacked) promising to deliver Bush the election, if you'd like. But let's move on, shall we, to more imminent voter fraud: Ohio ballots chucked for not being on thick enough paper. Republican committees calling and mailing Democrats to tell them that Election Day is November 4. Republicans making false challenges to the eligibility of Democratic voters and The Supreme Court upholding their "right" to do so. Fake letters being sent to black voters allegedly from the NAACP telling them that if they have unpaid parking tickets or outstanding child support payments they wouldn't be permitted to vote. Democratic voter registrations being thrown in the trash by a Republican agency hired to register voters. Millions of eligible voters purged from voter rolls. People posing as election officials coming to retrieve absentee ballots from the elderly. Voting machines which change people's votes to Bush after they hit 'enter.' And the punchline? Ashcroft's Justice Department is seeking to be the sole entity permitted to bring forth any lawsuits in these cases! This is what democracy looks like?

Here's The IHT reporting on election monitoring:

The global implications of the U.S. election are undeniable, but international monitors at a polling station in southern Florida said Tuesday that voting procedures being used in the extremely close contest fell short in many ways of the best global practices.

The observers said they had less access to polls than in Kazakhstan, that the electronic voting had fewer fail-safes than in Venezuela, that the ballots were not so simple as in the Republic of Georgia and that no other country had such a complex national election system.

Nytche! The electoral system is more reliable in third world countries than it is in the country imposing electoral democracies on the rest of the world! The irony sure as shit ain't lost on me.

What am I suppose to have faith in precisely? The ability of Republicans to lie, cheat, and steal their way to the top? The ability of Americans to cognitively reach coherent conclusions as to what the best choices for themselves are when they've been stoked with fear and hatred of an enemy other and fed the patently false contention that if they vote for Kerry they put their lives in jeopardy? You're taking about a country where fake wrestling and watching people drive in circles are the leading forms of entertainment!

And then, well, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Because, none of this would matter if the election wouldn't have been so close to begin with. How in God's name could Bush and Kerry have been neck n' neck?

Pollsters had focused on terrorism, Iraq and the economy as key issues in the run-up to yesterday's election and those were, of course, big factors in Bush's 3 million-vote margin.

However, "moral values" was the single top issue cited by voters, and social and religious issues such as gay marriage, gun ownership, and abortion loomed large, according to exit polls by television networks posted on websites today.

Bush voters said they valued his clarity, leadership and religious faith — while Kerry scored much higher with those who placed a premium on intelligence, compassion and being an agent of change.

Lying to the nation to go to war, overseeing the deaths of over 100,000 Iraqi civillians, overseeing the deaths of over 1,000 American soldiers and the wounding and dismemberment of thousands more, permitting the use of torture and other abuses, and robbing American taxpayers with no-bid reconstruction contracts for your own company — these are moral values? It's staggeringly stupefying! Rather, to these people, morality is determined by whether or not you allow homosexual couples to enjoy the same rights as heterosexual ones, whether you let women determine what they can do with their own bodies, and whether or not you are permitted to own a fully-automatic assault rifle, which, G-d willing, you should never even need — particularly if you trust your government to defend you (which you must if you voted for these assholes)!

If these are your vaules, why are you fighting a war on terrorism? Why are you against the Taliban? These are the people you want in power! They'll stone queers to death in the streets, put your women in burqas, and give you all the ammunition you could hope for! They'll never take "under G-d" out of the Pledge of Allegiance, you'll have your prayer in schools, it's everything you could ever hope for! What? Is it the Jesus thing? They believe in Jesus, read the Qu'ran!

Even Rushkoff is now arguing that we need to stoop to catering to religiopaths in order to manifest a just society. God, and you wonder why I'm sick to my stomach?

Ariela was offended by my remarks, "Dear America, you make me sick." I originally intended to write, "Dear America, 52% of you make me sick." But really, I'm just sick of the process. I'm sick of the nature of the discourse. I'm sick of the focus on non-issues. I'm sick of the game America is playing. And I'm sick of the fact that Americans aren't sick enough of these things as well.

Thomas Jefferson, where are you when we need you? You valued liberty and freedom, justice and truth for all people. You believed in the power of people over the power of wealth. And you believed in G-d with great conviction. Why can't we all be more like you? Why can't we have an America that was created in your image? Why must we suffer four more years of this monster, Bush?

So yeah, my faith in democracy? It's faltering. My faith in America? It's nearly absent. Because liars and cheaters can quite literally get away with murder. After four years of corruption, you'd expect something would stick to these bastards, but the degree of accountability levied by their opponents seems entirely outweighed by the corruption of a justice system and a press that are indebted to the very institutions which they are employed to pursue. Where are the checks and balances? When you control all three branches of government and the press, they no longer exist. For me, the amount of complicity and apathy towards this fact is simply unbearable. Now that the revolution has been marginalized (the Left a dead horse) and the center sits on the fence, which is the seat of inaction, the Right is might and a new day dawns tomorrow, which sadly looks quite a bit like yesterday.

I fear for America's future, insomuch as I fear for our world. And while this seems really like a heaping load of pessimism and negativity, I am still hopeful that we will recover from this lapse of reason soon enough, and that perhaps four more years of Bush and all the horrors that attend it will snap these people out of their blindness and show them that this is simply not what democracy looks like. Conversely I say pray for an impeachable offense. It may be our only hope.

Either way, I don't know if I can handle four more years of Bush's America. I just may have to make aliyah. At least this country's small enough that you may actually be able to make a real (rather than cosmetic) difference. Because showing placards to one another in the streets or spending a night in jail for sticking up for my "inalienable" rights simply doesn't do it for me anymore.

God bless America. Lest we forget, it's only a ride.

Ha ha ha. Ho ho ho. Hee Hee Hee.

I've already linked to Morrissey's statement on the 2004 election. Jon Stewart is so hilarious and dead-on that he's impossibly sexy. Can you imagine him running the country? I can. I think the reason it sounds so appealing to have a comedian in the Whitehouse is that there has been absolutely nothing humorous, light, or amusing to come from politics... ever.
At least 48% of the nation is depressed, despondent, and/or suicidal today. Many of us have pipedreams of finding exile in other countries that just aren't feasible. When someone says proudly, "This is our nation!" and it makes you want to barf, reflect. This is our nation. We have a hand in it. And as pathetic as it is or may seem, there is humor to be found. My personal goddess, Margaret Cho, provides another source of inspiration - with a sprinkle of humor - for my fellow post-Election let-down mopers: Don't Despair, Act."

"I think Bush is probably really scared, if he is smart enough to be. He should be, because he has an enormously difficult task in front of him. There is no way he will regain public popularity. All he can manage to do is not fuck up too badly, which will probably prove to be impossible, as he is the rare maestro of the fuck up. Look at it this way. We might have some fun. Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think."

Chin up. Smile.

A speech I gave to the Kerryokie Watch Party Last Night

To the Deaniacs, the Kucinichites, the Clarkies, the Edwardsians, the Kerryokies and everyone else here,

Those of us on the left, The Progressive, theose of us who know the promise and the Hope of Amerrica,
The Land of the Free,
Those of us who are Patriotic and act,
as opposed to those of us who are legislated,
WE NEED TO SPEAK.

And we still need to yell, scream, fight, and keep going. We need to yell, and keep these bastards accountable. We need to make sure Oklahoma has a progressive voice, the Kerryokies, the Red River Democracy Project, everyone, we need to stick together, we need to fight, and we are a new family of progressive values in Oklahoma. Give us your contact information, let Get It On.

We need to stick together and grow. We need to meet the enemy, our Neighbors and Friends, to create a true democracy, to engage in intelligent debate, and start teh Second American Revolution.

And what beter place to start than Oklahoma? One of the most conservative states in the union, with a loud progressive voice, to keep us on track. We need to keep screaming yelling and fighting for a true progressive change.

'Neckers, we are starting a revolution, and our work is cut out for us, and we need to keep this going.
KICK OUT THE JAMS MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!

Roto-Reuting

Not that it matters to me any longer (since I've sold my car), but for all you gassing folks out there, Kerry means cheaper gas prices?

Again, not that it matters to me (since I don't drink Starbucks), but for all you Buckaroos out there, looks like Starbucks might be shaping up in the next two years. You throw rocks, they notice!

I just sound like such a snotty hypocrite.

Redskins Lose, Kerry Wins

You can put it in the books folks, or call your bookie if you are so inclined, because regardless of all the polls declaring a dead heat between the two candidates, the National Football League has provided indisputable proof that the next President of the United States will be Senator John Kerry.

How could this be so, you might ask? Well, let's take a look at history. Going back to 1936, a span of 16 presidential elections, the outcome of the last home game played before the election by the NFL inhabitants of our nation's capitol, The Washington Redskins, has decided the presidency. When the Redskins win their last home game prior to the election, the incumbent has won every time. But when the Redskins lose their last home game, the challenger has won every time.

So yesterday, when Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers waltzed into Fedex Field and beat the Redskins 28-14, the winner of tomorrow's election was decided.

Congratulations, President Kerry.