TAKE THAT! EAT THE CLICHE MIDDLE FINGER PHOTO THAT MEANS NOTHING, YOU FADDING INFIDELS!

I have always thought about doing this...

It was my desire to find all the evil in this world and in the USA and expose it. Why? Because just as a cocaroach fears the light then so too does evil seek to hide itself. There is a long standing natural tendency for those who do bad things to cover themselves.

My religious friend would say its all due to Satan who rules this earth. Perhaps thats where the truth lies.

For Satan is evil incarnate and I see evil everywhere. But what is evil? Some people think that I am evil because I do not see civil authority as being good. But to someone like me, it is Civil Authority which is evil.

Mans law is far from perfect. We see this constantly. I call myself an Anarchist because I reject the notion that man's law is infalible. I see that the US court system is flawed and protects the rich and powerful. The poor man has no chance at justice.

Men and women who work their entire lives are left with nothing. They struggle to acheive a standard of living. They have two jobs. But then old age catches up. They are stricken and ill. Medical bills and bills in general eat up their life savings leaving them with nothing. In the end they loose their homes and their possessions. Some end up in nursing homes, others become burdens to their children, and yet others become homeless.

I saw a woman who was in her 80s on the street begging for change. Some may say she was a con artist who was feigning poverty to gather change. Others may say it was her fault for not saving her money. But she was old feeble and stooped over. What does this woman have to look forward to in life? Some day they will find her frozen to death on the sidewalk. They will pick her up and dispose of her like all the other trash that litters the sidewalk on a winter day buried under the snow waiting for the spring to thaw when the dumpsters drive by and sanatation workers pick it all up and dispose of it, so that the office workers and executives and all the other good people of the city can go to their jobs and not be bothered with such ugliness on their way to work. After all, who wants to have their morning capiccino and croisant and have to look at dead homeless people.

Religious folks like to say that they are doing their part to end homelessness. I think its a great thing that people like the fine folks at the Pacific Garden Mission, Chicago Christian Industrial League and The Olive Branch are really helping those in need and I support them. But Shelters themselves can only serve as bandaids to fix a huger problem. Shelters will, in very cold days force people out. This is because they do not have enough space to house the lowest elements of the city.

I have been under much fire for the comments I have made about Police Officers. I do not hate police but only those who abuse their power. Society trusts certain people to serve society. They are to enforce laws (good or bad) and to keep peace. But in any unjust society, it is the police who are forced to uphold injustice. This is why the German Police in the Nazi Era, the Soviet Police or the Guarda Civil in Franco's Spain were loathed and feared.

Today, in the United States we have a situation where people are fed lies. We are told we live in a free society. Yet we have innocent people beated and killed by police officers. I have seen a case in which a man was held in custody of the police. Three officers beat this to death. They were let off scott free. Not so much as a day in jail. Another group of cops beat a guest at a wedding to death. The officers were off duty and drunk. They too were realeased. When these men were acquitted they were enthusiastically cheered by their fellow officers.

Now does anyone know why I am angry?

I have seen also how the Law can easily manipulated by those who are sinister and have evil intent. I found that Mortgage Brokers can be truely sinister people. Its not just that they are deceptive and will charge excessive fees for their services but in some cases they will force people to pay for services they don't even perform. They will coerce the buyer to sign an application with hidden clauses. Then, several months later will force them to
pay excessive fees for a mortgage that they did not even get for the client. What you say? This is illegal. Surely there are laws agaisnt it! Well guess again. Its all in the contract you see.

When I was in business law many years ago I was told that for a contract to be valid you needed several elements. First you need a quid pro quo... which is to say you need to offer a good or service in exchange for compensation. You need both partners to be knowledgable of the agreement as well.

Well in the case of this evil Nazi pig broker, there was no such thing. But as several attorneys told me, a contract is a contract. If you put your pen to anything you are owned!

So to make a long story short... do not trust any evil bastard who tells you to sign something. Read and reread the document. Do not be afraid to bring documents of your own. Tell the sonovabich that its your money and if he or she tells you thats not how they do business than run... RUN FOREST RUN... DON'T WALK out of the place.

Long ago I ranted and raised a stink about the evilness of Building Inspectors. Not that its not a bad thing to be careful about what you build, but in most places in the planet, the only time a building is inspected is when the property is bought or sold. In my dirty, filthy little ghetto community, its common practice for the building department to make surprise inspections on property. They will invade one's house with no other reason other than someone, lets say an anonymous person like an ex-wife or a pissed off building contractor who overcharged so you told him to piss off, reports you. So the bastard comes to your house.

Being Mr. Good Citizen, you know your constitutional rights. You know there is something in there which tells you that you have the right to be secure in your house without a search warent. The inspector says nothing and leaves.

Then you get a notice in the mail by certified delivery. You have to go to court. Failure to appear will result in arrest and fine.

You are treated like a criminal. You are forced to open your door to strangers. They are rude. They tell you what can and cannot stand in your house.

Can it happen to you? Ugh... yes...

But really now, we live in a free country don't we? We must count our blessings. We got a great President who is leading our troops to triumph over the forces of darkness. Our enemies are out there and they are organized, all the Michael Jacksons and their evil pediophilia, all the sodomites who are trying to have their gay marriage, all illegal aliens, all anarchists and communists who are opposed to our way of life. All black muslams, all who oppose prayer in school. Yes we need more prayer don't we. Prayer and guns. Lets stock our schools with guns and Bibles. We will abolish shows like South Park which corrupt our youth and ridicule sacred institutions like the US Presidency. Common Sam and Sally America... let us join our beloved President and do our part to create this New World Order.

See that man on the corner? He been there every day. He looks like a child molester so lets lock him up. The statistics state that one in three children are molested. So where are the molesters? They are not comming out so we must look for them. Lets start interviewing children. Lets arrest everyone suspicious. Should we let the Constitution get in our way when freedom is at stake? Every thirty seconds a woman is beaten. Or is it every eight? Who cares, do we even know where these statistics come from? How dare you question our wisdom! You must be an abuser!

Do we care if a man is beaten? OF COURSE NOT! Men have no rights. You get a divorce? ITS ALL YOUR FAULT! Women are never at fault! You must give it all up... your house, your car, your life! You got a kid. Well we will let you see him or her every two weeks. Oh, and don't be late with that child support check...

TO BE CONTINUED....
Criminal
03-26-2004, 04:31 PM
I find it remarkable at how brilliant that the Rebublican party has proved themselves at selling lies to the American public. What is more amazing to me is the people who will believe them. They have actually got working class people to believe that they too share the republican vision of America. In the past, racism was a good way to lure poor whites to support the conservative agenda. This took the form of opposing desegragation, opposing rights and priviliges extended to immigrants (as was done in California under Pete Wilson) or blatent race bating at the expense of middle-eastern americans. During the Clinton years, Asiatic americans were targetted. This occurred after allegations of bribery by Chinese businessmen. Also, after a Chinese-american scientist was named in allegations of spying at Los Alamos NM, more anti-asian accusations were made. When Al Gore visited a Buddist Temple to raise funds for his campaign, he was lambasted by the media.

But now days, racism does fly too well. George Dubya has tried his hardest not to portray himself to be a racists. After all, minorities vote too. So he did put a few blacks in high position and spoke to crowds in Spanish and unvailed his new amnisty for Mexican laborers (important to note, this amnisty only applies to Mexicans). But that still leaves a problem for the Republicans. You see, they need to appeal to lower class voters. They may get a few minorities to vote their way but few will. Blacks and hispanics are, on the average not as wealthy as the whites so naturally they will know that the republican platform is a raw deal. So what can Dubya do?

Well there is one really true way to enlist the support of poor americans. That is to appeal to their sense of patriotism. Working class whites have a higher rate of war veterens. They take issues like the American Flag to heart.

Another issue which the right uses to enlist support is religion. The Bible Belt is a gold mine for right wingers. There Bush and his friends can talk it up on school prayer, the pledge of allegence and gay marriage. They can get great milage by getting these people to support them in supporting constitutional ammendments. They talk about God, marriage, family and so on. They talk about "family values", whatever thats supposed to mean. They will yap and yap about censorship.

Of course, its really funny when you think about it. This notion that having enforced prayer will reduce gang violence, or that pledging allegence will make incidences like Comumbine. Or that these same people who harp on the whole prayer issue will turn around and say how its so important to keep guns. Guns and Bibles made america great!

God, Guns and the American Flag made America great. Lets keep em all.

But those of us who know really do know. We know that real faith in Jesus has nothing to do with waving the American flag. Christ's kingdom is not of this world. Bush and his flag wavers are not agents of God. Nothing in Bush's past, nor his present day conduct shows him to be a religious man. He may pray and talk about God, but his actions have shown him to be something other than what he pretends to be.

Yet I talk to these religious zealots. They may be poor. They may be marginally employed. Yet they will say that God will take care of them and they don't need the government.

The Guns issue is yet another way the right sells itself to the working people. Working class folks, especially those who live in rural areas love their guns. They like to hunt. They pride themselves in the number of weapons they have at home.

Everyone has a right to pursue a hobby, but its like, if you try to pass any laws, no matter how reasonable about guns and they will shoot you down, no pun intended. Handguns are not for hunting. They are for killing people. So why keep them around?

Conceal and carry a good idea? What does that do that is good? Allow our cities to become Dodge City? Instead of arming our people why not de-arm? Societies with tight gun laws have less violent crime. That is a fact. So what are we waiting for?

But that the thing, if Republicans are to appeal to the rural folks who worship their guns, then they have to support the whims of gun owners.

The US Flag is a symbol which arrouses all sorts of passion. Since 9/11 it seems to be everywhere, from postage stamps to the cereal boxes. Patriotism is something everyone seems to have in time of war.

My father used to put me to sleep with his war stories. I must have heard each one 50 times. Yet there were some truely unforgettable stories he had.

On a cold and rainy morning in December of 1941, in Ft. Lewis Washington, a group of men from the 163rd infantry were roused. It was cold and the men did not have breakfast. They were tired and miserable. Shivering in the rain they were addressed. Then the articles of war were read.

These men were draftees and volunteers. Many of them had served in the Oregon, Idaho, Montana or Washington National Guards. Their military careers predated the attack on Pearl Harbor, as the first draft began long before this disaster.

The Articals of War now replaced the US Constitution. No longer could these men live under the guarantee of Life Liberty or the Pursuit of Happiness.

"For the crime of dissertion in the face of the enemy, THE PENALTY IS DEATH... or as the Court Martial may advise.

For the crime of insubordination in the face of combat, THE PENALTY IS DEATH.... or as the Court Martial may advise.

Fior the crime of collaboration with an enemy power, an enemy agent or a foreign national hostile to the United States, US Military or US President, THE PENALTY IS DEATY... or as the Court Martial may advise."

The litany of crimes punishable by death went on endlessly as the men struggled to stay awake in the cold rain.

One of these men was a my father, a Private.

My father was a Private when he enlisted and was discharged as a Private First Class, about 5 years later.

I recently had a talk with him about the current war in Iraq. My father is a man in his 80's. He is a life long Republican. He has been one ever since he voted for Wendel Wilke in his unsuccessful bid for the US Presidency against Roosevelt in 1944. Like most Republicans he does support the war. He is not enthusiastic about President Bush who he sees as being sanctimonious but he does see the defense of the US as being important.

One thing that bothered him a lot is this constant display of the US flag everywhere.

He told me, "The flag has a distinct purpose. Its not something to be used to get candidates elected. It is not for selling goods and products. Its something that should be respected."

He found it downright commical that someone wants to have a constitutional ammendment banning flag desecration.

"What use is that? Its a complete waste of time and effort. Politicians should be spending their time on something more meaningful like lowering my taxes!"

I would have to agree here.

When some guy put an American flag on the ground as part of an art exhibit, and put up photos of the flag on a coffin, he did it as a means of expression. Maybe it was a stupid prank by some dumb kid. I don't know. If you burn a flag in front of me, I could not care less. I would think you are an idiot for doing so but thats your right to be an idiot.

When I see some capitalist ***** advertizing some good or service and put up a big US flag, that offends me more than seeing someone burning the flag.

To me the US Flag is a symbol of something, but only a symbol. It does not live. It does not have emotions. It is merely textiles woven and colored in stars and stripes.

A Cross, a US Flag, a Swastika, a red star or a hammer and sickle, they are all symbols and not in and of themselves good or bad.

My own wish is that Political leaders would stop waving symbols, whether its the Stars and Stripes or a Bible, and instead focus on the true meaning of what these symbols are all about. Instead of waving a Bible, why not read whats inside. Why not see what Jesus says about love for one another. Instead of waving the flag, how about remembering what the creators of the flag said about liberty and justice. Instead of forcing the Pledge of Allegence, should we not focus on the wording of this pledge?

With Liberty and Justice for all.

And that truely means for all!

Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness!

TO BE CONTINUED...
Criminal
04-02-2004, 03:38 PM
A while ago I saw an HBO produced movie about the McMartin Child Abuse trials in California. It was called "Indictment". It stared James Woods. It was pretty damm chilling. It told the story of this one family day care center in California. Some dopy broad who was schiczophrenic and an alcoholic. She went to the police and told how her kid was molested at the day care center. That sparked a witchhunt where something like 100 kids were interviewed and after being coerced by a "professional" examiner (really, some quack without any qualifications) charges were broght against 7 workers. These charges were in some cases too ridiculous to be taken seriously, such as that kids were flown to Palm Springs and taken underground and raped. Some were proven to be false such as that they were taken to church and raped on an alter (the church doors were locked at all times during the day and the pastor himself had the key). At the end, only one young man was put on trial but the jury, seeing it was all crap acquitted him. The result was a great deal of outcry by the public. All across the country more and more witchhunts took place.

So what is the moral of it all? Its that if you are in any position where you can be charged with abuse than you best cover your ass. Remember that Sex Abuse is the only crime where the burden of proof is on the accused. This applies to everyone from teachers to Parents to day care workers.

Watching the story about Michael Jackson on TV it really struck me that the guy must really be off his rocker. Not that Jackson was ever considered sane by anyone but to admit to anyone that you sleep in the same room as kids, and to say it on TV is just plane insanity.

Jackson may be innocent of having sex with kids, but everyone knows that you should never put yourself into a position where it even looks like something is bad. At his age I think Jackson should know better.

I do wonder though, if Jackson was not Jackson. If he was Tony from the meat markett down the street and he had kids sleeping over at his house I would think he would be behind bars. You see, if Tony from down the street has kids over than he is a pervert. If Michael Jackson doing it, he may be given some odd looks but he still gets off. Tony does not have high powered lawyers. He does not have a fan club. He is just some odd guy who sleeps with kids and that is not cool down in the hood.

My father tells me of a time when it was not thought odd about adults taking kids camping. I think we can even see this in movies. Do we remember the movie Mr Smith goes to Washington? Jimmy Stewart was a kindly man who liked kids. He took them camping and taught them bird calls and stuff. Looking at this in this day and age doesnt it all seem strange?

#######################

About the murder of those americans in Iraq. Yes we all know the ugly pictures. It gave me one hell of a nightmare. These bodies were cut to pieces and burned up so they did not even look human. Yet these were human beings. They were 4 young men, all armed forces vetrans.

But I heard something more about this I found disturbing. These four were all private contractors who worked for the army. In other words, the army is now outsourcing its work. One may even say its a lucrative career to be a defense contractor. What works for corporate america also works for Uncle Sam.

***************************

I heard a news report on how when patrons of bars and discos give attendents their drivers licenses, how the licenses are scanned. Currently, you can learn all kinds of things about people. You can access data bases and learn about someones buying habits, their credit rating, wheter they wear glasses and other things.

How many data bases are you in? Have you ever considered that you may be on a "Do not fly" list? Immagine how much of you life is known by others.
Criminal
04-08-2004, 11:52 PM
If America is not a police state than why is it that you can be a police officer and do anything you goddam please. Why is it that a bunch of cops in New York force a plunger up the ass of an Haitian immigrant and get off. Why can another cop fire point blank into the face of an african immigrant?

In Chicago we have cops beating people to death for no reason other than the person says something. They get off scott free. Why? Because they are cops and in the city a cop can do anything they damm well please. You whistle at a female cop and you are marked for death.

In Chicago a detective by the name of Burge beat confessions out of suspects. He did this for years, Some of his confessions led to death sentences. He did not give a **** if the suspects were innocent or not. Why should any of it matter. They were poor and mostly black so it didn't matter.

Today Burge was forcably retired. He lives in Florida and is enjoying the time of his life. Meantime some of his victims are still in jail.

Some of his vicitms were prosecuted by the Illinois Attorney General Richard Daley. Thats right, the current mayor of Chicago.

The Burge case was one that most in city hall would prefer to forget. Why? Because he made the mistake of getting caught.

Yet Daley sits in his throne today. Nobody would oppose him. He has the Democratic Party machine on his side so how could he be opposed.

Reminds me of what the late Mike Royko said about Richie's infamous daddy, "The only difference between Dick Daley and Joe Stalin was that Stalin killed more people."
Criminal
04-18-2004, 07:14 AM
So why always be so negative? Why continuing saying what the hell is wrong with the US? Why not say what needs to be built in place of this evil, corrupt system we live under?

Perhaps its because the very first step in creating a new system is recognizing the old way is wrong. You need to get people angry enough to take action. Every revolutionary knew the creative use of anger. Ghandi was angry, though he also knew how to love. Mother Theresa knew anger at the inhumanity was a key role in her love for the poor. Jesus was angry at corruption and smugness.

I too am angry. I am angry at brutal cops, corrupt businessmen, complacincy, selfishness in the face of poverty and lack of humanity in general.

So where do we go from here?

Being a Syndicalist, I do support labor based democracy. That is to say, I support workers taking the reigns of their own industry. People produce and share. To each his or her own according to their needs. This must be cooperative and without compulsion.

Having read William Z Foster's excellent book on the subject I understand the society that must be created.

But is it really practical to built a classless society on common wealth? Can we abolish capitalism voluntarily? What about small businesses and farms? If we abolish the wage system (which I favor) what do we replace it with? A meritocracy may be nice (as Foster suggested) but how to we assure that those promoted in a meritocracy can be honest and will not take the lion's share of the goodies?

Furthermore, anarchistic societies have failed because they could not fend off attacks from stronger and more cohesive units. The Spanish Anarchists were destroyed by the Socialist led Spanish Republic. The French Anarchists tried from 1878 on to 1968 to create a free society. They were crushed in the 1870s and in 1968 they were sold out by the collaboration of labor leaders with the Gaulist right wingers. Anarchist revolts in Hungary and Poland against the Communist kleptocracies were brutally crushed in 1956. In 1968 the attempt to creat "Socialism with a human face", a free thinking socialist and pacifist movement was destroyed by Soviet Tanks. Solidary fought in Poland in the 1980s. In the end the Poles won their freedom but their leaders chose Capitalism and crushed the embers of anarchism in poland by surcumbing to the lure of easy money.

But I do believe that Anarchism has a future. Not really in the form that classical anarchist envisioned. That is to say, it might not be ushered in by the labor movements. After all, today's workers are not class consiece. We seldom hear terms like "proletarian" or "working class" today outside of some limited leftist circles. But rather, the future of anarchism is that it needs to change its lables.

In the US today, "Socialism" has become a dirty word. Wose still, "Anarchism" is grossly misunderstood. To many americans, Socialism is understood as being "anti-Americans". Anarchism is, to many, about a breakdown of social order and the rule by anti-social elements as was the case of the LA riots.

For this reason, many potential socialists and even many anarchists have abandoned their faith in the traditional mechinisms of socialism or anarchism and have put their faith in the long discredited political system. This is why they vote for the democratic party. Some have even went so far as to endorse conservative democrats such as Bill Clinton. The overall belief is "They are better than the alternative". Thus it becomes, now as before, a dilema, a choice between two evils.

I do see that the future of the "revolution" as being a choice to build a mixed society such as that which exists in Northern Europe. I see a Swedish or Danish model as being the goal for the leftist movement in the US.

Denmark does have corporations. It does allow free enterprise on a limited scale. It does have a class of small farmers, who purchase farm equipment as a collective group and who work together to sell goods on the markett.

Danish labor unions are powerful and cannot be ignored by political leaders. Danish political leaders all support the extensive social services offered to the people. To do otherwise would mean political suicide for them. Danes have access to free public healthcare, low cost or no cost public housing, generous unemployment benifits, free public education as high as the college level.

When Danes speak of being conservativism it mostly pertains to immigration policy (liberals and socialists prefer liberal immigration and conservatives oppose this), foreign policy (conservatives are pro-US and libs more non-interventionist), religion (state church vs. no state church) and so on.

Now Scandanavia is a socialist, or at least a Social-Democratic system. But, as far as I can see it is the type of system which seems to work best for the majority of the nation's population.

There are a few negatives in these systems. In all these nations, taxes are high (which american conservatives are all too quick to point out), some personal freedoms are absent in Sweden, where there is a great deal of bureaucracy. In one case in Sweden, a family lost custody of their children because they refused to give up custody of their mentally retarded child (I read this in Reader's Diagest, admittedly not an impartial news source). Netherlands has a rather sorted and uncertain policy of euthenasia which I believe can be dangerous as it can be misused.

I do see these problems as a potential dangers which should be examined as any new system is started. But if the US can build a Socially consiece system while advoiding the pitfalls other systems have encountered, than I see no reason why we cannot make it happen here.

It may seem ironic but the nations in Europe which are most progressive, Denmark, Sweden, Norway or Netherlands, are all monarchies. I see this as an irrelevent point, but interesting nonetheless.
Criminal
04-24-2004, 03:29 AM
Can a nation be sustained on a diet of lies, tyrany and injustice? If you look to history you will know that the answer to this is obvious. Slavery is an enduring institution. It has existed so long that it seems to be deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Rome and Greece had flourishing slave trades. So did the Byzintines and mideval societies of Europe and the middle east. So did the civilizations of the far east and India.

Throughout history we see how those in power not only exploit the enslaved people they rule but also change history to reflect their version of what is true.

We see that Moses led his people out of bondage. The story of the Exodus may be a story about liberation of an oppressed people would it end with that. But the story goes on how Moses is given directives from God himself. We are told how he ordanes the slaughter of all who dwell in the promised land. The story continues in the book of Joshua how the people of God exterminate the people of Canaan.

We do not have the story of the fall of Jerico from the perspective of the people who suffered the seige. We do not know what sort of horror that mothers endured watching their own children slaughtered. We do not know what kind of dispair the men felt as they were helpless to protect theri own families. The writers of the Bible does not want us to feel for them. When we are told these stories in Sunday school, do the teachers dare tell us the entire story or do they sugar coat everything?

We learn from Homer about the seige of Troy ending in the sack of the city after a very long seige. Homer tells about how the city is destroyed and its inhabitants killed. As a means of justifying this war crime, he adds that the city earned the wrath of the greeks because a Trojan prince took the wife of a Spartan king.

(to be continued)
Criminal
05-07-2004, 04:23 AM
I cut that last one short because I was forced to.

But shall we continue?

There are few things more annoying than people who will tell you that its necessary to sacrefice freedom for the sake of keeping us free. "Freedom isn't free" seems to be the slogan of the new age of uncertainty.

I get very bothered when I hear older people say how young people have no appreciation of what freedom they have. I get upset at immigrants who try to say that people should keep their mouths shut and appreciate that we live in such a wonderful country.

I ask, is the US really all that free?

Its true that the government does not oppress us overtly. You do not have examples of people being abducted and then dissapearing into thin air like what has happened in Argentina.

But people do loose their freedom none the less.

Sherman Austin, also known as Antigovernment from the rage forum ran a website. He was arrested and sentenced because of things he published. We still have people harassed and fired from work for supporting labor unions. Consumers are ripped off daily. Finance companies lie cheat and get away with murder. The courts don't care. Lawyers don't care. Politicians don't care.

The biggest enemy to freedom is apathy. You tell someone about what evils exist and they answer, "So what?" You point out that innocent people are sent to prison, its "Thats not my problem?" People care more about paying their taxes than children dying. They don't care about unemployed people as long as they can have their 6 figure incomes rolling in.

Meantime the poor is divided by the conservatives so they can stay in power. Blacks are divided against whites. Politicians will yell to the poor whites about the evils of afirmative action. Why should the black man get the job that you want? Or they will use religion to appeal to the poor and ignorant. Some woman in a trailor park in Oklahoma may not like the fact that she can't support her kids, but you talk about how God will strike down this land because of Gay marriage and see how she nodds her head. The Gun issue is yet another way to get support from the ignorant poor. A steel worker in Bessimer Alabama may be in fear of his job, but tell him how the Democrats will take away his right to go hunting and see how his attitude changes. An old veteran may not make enough on social security to live, but talk about the "War on Terror" and wave the bloody shirt and you can guess which candidate gets his vote.

But in truth, what can Bush offer the poor? The old myth states that if you want welfare you vote Democrat, but if you want a job vote Republican. But has the Bush presidency given us those jobs? The economy sucks, and anyone who does not know that is blind.

Anyone who thinks that a spoiled rich kid whose only qualification for the presidency is that his father was president, and who never worked a day in his life really knows what life is like for average americans is living in a fantisy world.
Criminal
05-30-2004, 11:23 AM
I hate parking tickets. I hate towing ordinances. I hate enforcement of building codes. I hate nosey, prying public officials whose livlihood is making lives miserable for people. I hate enforcement of the law when its directed against ordinary people whose only crime is being poor, uneducated, inexperienced in legal matters or otherwise are not a threat to others. I envision a perfect world where there are no parking meter cops, building inspectors, dishonest buisniness people, brutal cops, vicious corrections officers, nazi like librarians, mean shopkeepers, dictatorial bosses, gestapo-like security people at rock concerts, bar bouncers on a power trip, rude and crude bill collectors, nasty and unscrupulous repo men and all mean people in general. I believe that there should be special prisons for all people in the above category. I have fantisies about being the comadant of such a place. The prison I would run would not be a place of torture (though I would not rule such practices out in some hard to teach cases) but of education. I would teach the words "please" and "thank you". Basically it would be to teach bad people what they should have learned in grade school. Because many of the above mentioned people were once school bullies who ignored what the teacher told them about playing nice, I would conduct my re-education in a setting of a public school. All my "kids" would have to sit still in little chairs. I would attach electrodes to their bodies. When one of them exhibited uncivil behavior I would send a surge of electricity to them. This is not lethal electricity but just enough to get their attention.

I would act out scenerios, "No you, Mr. angry bill collector, lets pretend we are on the phone shall wee?"
"When are you going to pay your ****ing bill?"
(Surge of electricity)
"No no no no... that will not do, Mr. angry bill collector... now let us try this again, shall we? Now don't forget your please and thank you...."

You get my point?

In my perfect world there will be no such thing as a victimless crime. Adults will be free to make their own mistakes as long as nobody else is hurt.
Criminal
05-31-2004, 10:32 AM
From the era of the Comstock laws the government has put itself, in a rather paternalist way in the role of defenders of public Morality. This is why gambling is prohibited in a lot of places, though many communities now cannot resist the appeal of easy money so this taboo has melted down. The smell of money has that effect. Prositution is another law. Once prevelent in the 1900s, the sufferagette era, along with the prohibition crusades drove the world's oldest profession underground and unlike liquor, there was no repeal of this. Liquor laws, which are the worlds oldest laws. The first codified laws in Babylon regulated the taxation of tavern keepers. Later years saw attempts at the complete abolition of liquor. The 18th ammendment prohibited the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages. This well intended law created a horrible mess for the federal authorites to clean up.

There were various reasons why prohibition happened when it did. This occurred at the end of the first world war, at a time when patriotic conservativism was at an all time high. The religious movements had enjoyed a new popularity. The returning soldiers from the war had visited lands like France and had encountered the free and decadant lifestyle of the europeans. They came back with stories of drinking in the streets, free love, women who smoked and played cards and decadant dancing.

These stories shocked the prudish american moralists. They insisted that there was a correlation between the libertine lifestyle of the europeans and the growing tide of Bolshivism which swept europe in the post war years. That is why the prohibition came into being.

It is also noteworthy that women first gained the right to vote in 1919. This is no accident really. For the first time in history, women went to the workplace in large numbers during the first world war. The war industries became staffed with women. Their power could no longer be ignored. What else is notible is the role women played in the prohibition movement.

Carrie Nations, the firey temperance leader led the charge. Taking axes to saloons she led a revolution of a sort.

Yet the vice and crime that marked the Prohibition era prooved that the public really did not want a program of strict moralization. Liquor was imported across state borders. Booze was distilled in bathtubs. Young people continued to drink at football games. The only difference than before was that liquor was made without taxation. The major liquor distributers were now men like Al Capone and not legitimate businessmen.

It was during the terrible depression that the 18th ammendment was repealed.

We still see more and more examples of how the government tries to impose morality. The consumption of cannibis, an ancient drug once used by Hindu priests, had been illegal in the United States. Before the 1950s the primary consumers of this drug were bohemians: wealthy playboys and friends who used it during jazz parties. It was seldom used by common people. The 50s saw new classes of drug users. The beatniks, countercultural jazz fans who lived a semi nomadic lifestyle, practiced free love and advocated Marxism, found a new liberation in the use of marijuana.

The 60's saw more use of drugs. The early 60s was an era of hope and inspiration. Idealistic youths went to the south to register blacks to vote. They were met with angry and often violent crowds. Some were beaten and others murdered. Civil rights became the new crusade for northern idealists.

These idealists included many who listended to Jazz or Folk music. They hung out in coffee houses. They were mainly educated people. They were young and idealistic. They loved their president, the handsome, idealistic John F Kennedy. They listened to his words, "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country."

To these young people, the idealism went hand in hand with freedom. It was rational to many of the young that if you want to have freedom than you must begin with your own life. Free love was rampant. Marijuana was consumed. It was an era of idealism.

In the late 60s, the hippies became the new emblem of freedom. Young men grew long hair and beards. People of both sexes wore jeans and sandles. Love beads were worn. Marijuana was consumed. Other drugs were used as well, LSD, Cocaine and Heroin. This was the Vietnam era. The war was something evil. Timothy Leary urged youths to "Drop out, Tune In, Turn on."

The 70s brought the end of Vietnam, the era of disco, heavy mettle and more sexual permissiveness. It was an era of decadence without the same idealism of the previous decade. Cocaine replaced Marijuana as the drug of choice for young elitists.

Yet the laws continued to get worse for drug users.

Ron Reagan and later George Herbert Bush began a "Say no to drugs" campaign which had some success among the country's youths. Yet to merely tell kids to say no did not always work. For that reason more and more laws were passed. Laws were passed to increase prison time for those who sell drugs. Laws were passed giving "three strikes and you're out". Bush appeared on national television and held a bag of crack cocainee. He explained how it was bought in front of the White House. It was a set up deal of course since no one in their right mind would go to the White House to buy or sell drugs. (its full of police 24 hours a day).

What Bush and Reagan seem to be ignoring (but I am sure they were aware) was that in the 1960s J Edgar Hoover was frightened at the growing power of the Black Panthar Party. Believing that the threat of a communist organization in the United States was worse than a few black youths being addicted to drugs, Hoover made deals with the Mafia to bring drugs into the ghettos. He was very conserned that the drugs only end up in the hands of black youths. Knowing that the Panthars were opposed to drugs which were seen as a white mans plot to bring the black man down, Hoover knew that the drug pushers in the african american communities were powerful allies. Thus the FBI became americas leading drug dealer.

Also to be remembered is that in the 50s LSD was a legal drug used in experiments by the CIA. The CIA was looking for ways to develope the ultimate truth serem. LSD was a powerful drug whose use was known to cause self destructive behavior and in some cases psychoses. The subjects of these tests were inmates in psychiatric hospitals, prisoners and soldiers in the US army. Among some of the subjects of these experiments were Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest.

Some subjects of the experiment were volunteers and some were not. In some cases the subjects became mentally ill from the tests. In some cases the victims died.

Today the status of drugs is an issue that many politicians would just as soon avoid.

As the 60s generation evolved and became parents of children of their own, we see an odd return of moral conservativism. The statement usually made by todays parents is "I did that myself but its not for my kids. Don't use drugs because you will be making the same mistake I did."

In other words, it was good enough for the past generation but not for the future generation.

I am always reminded of the stupidity of Bill Clinton when he admitted toking on a dubie in England but not inhaling. To my knowledge, nobody else ever smoked a dubie without sucking it in. Even my mother knew that and she never smoked anything before in her life.

Now we have another president who remains coy about his drug use. George W Bush was asked if he ever used illegal drugs. He avoided the question altogether. His answer was that he made many mistakes as a youth.

I myself would have respected ether Bush or Clinton would they had come clean and said "Yea, I did all that. And I had a good time. So what?"

With Dubya, what his "Youthful indescretion" could result in, in his state of Texas, is a felony which undoubtedly could fetch a lot of jail time. Texas is a state notorious for its harsh drug laws. As Governer, Bush did not attempt to reform these laws. On the contrary, he enforced laws ruthlessly. I would like to ask Bush how many inmates are in Texas Prisons for breaking drug laws.

America is a nation known for its ruthless enforcement of all laws, particularly those in which human beings choose to violate their own morals. That is to say gambling, drugs, prostitution, pornography and so on.

You can say that people blow their paychecks on crap tables. But should we ban all crap tables?

Drugs are bad. I don't use them. But do I want to see cops take away people's property because they are suspected drug dealers. If someone wants to toke on a dubie after work than I couldn't care less.

I don't blow money on hookers. I am happily married and do not wish to sleep with *****'s. But if someone else does its no business of mine. If a woman wants to sell her ass on the street who cares. If you say you don't want to see it on the street than I can understand. Lets have legalised brothels instead. Instead of turning over money to the pimp, tax the girls instead. If you are to tell me that its wrong that young girls be lured into a life of sin, I would not disagree. But by making it legal you bring it all into the open. You remove the shame of what they do. You get the little girls and boys off the street. You can also use tax money from these operations to institute programs to rehabilitate prostitutes and give them training for other careers. This way only the women who really want to be prostitutes will be doing it.

I would add that prostitutes do perform a necessary function in society. Whether you wish to admit that or not its true. A prostitute will sleep with men who ordinarily will have nobody to sleep with. They give comfort to soldiers abroad, to lonely truck drivers and salesmen. You may say that such men should find Jesus. I have no problem with Jesus, but realistically, sometimes it takes more than religion to satisfy urges. You may say that these men should be with their wives or should be looking for a wife. Sometimes the wife is herself stepping out. Sometimes marriages fall apart. Not everyone can find a wife. What about shy, homely guys who can't get laid? See my point? Yea, hookers are out there for a reason.

Pornography, exotic dancing, its the same thing. In a perfect world everyone would have a perfect mate. But the world is not perfect.

Incidently, women are statisticaly more readily consumers of adult films than men. Couples may do things to enhance their sex lives.

Now we are on this big anti smoking crusade. You can's smoke in public places. You are now legally forbidden to smoke in the house if children are present. Cigerette taxes are through the roof. When is that going to end? I hate cigerette smoke but I don't care if you light up. Its your life not mine.

The way I see it, if our society wants to be paternalistic. If we want our government to force us to do what is good for us than why not ban doughnuts, twinkies, extra cheese pizzas and soda. The US has an enormous problem with obesity and shouldn't the government be involved? In fact, with this lawsuit filed against McDonalds and all that may be the next big crusade by moralists.

When I was in Europe I saw things I found amazing and even a bit shocking. I will never say that the US should allow nude sunbathing in public, as is done in German cities, or allow people to drive at 100 MPH. But isnt it about time that the US take a cue from the europeans and allow adults to make their own mistakes with their lives?

I can best quote Jerry Garcia, "I never said that LSD was ok. I just happen to believe that people should have the right to destroy themselves."
Criminal
06-03-2004, 02:26 AM
So let the diatribe contine!

Anger is good....

Troy, though not historically accurate and certainly not true to the Homerian classic showed a side to war that we seldom see. This was an anti war film set in the most romaticized war of all time. Homer had glorified the Trojan war and shown the conflict from the Greek side. He clouded the conflict with religious iconology. He showed Achilles as being a tragic boy hero, a pure and selfless warrior. Paris was an adulterer. Helen went astray but was guiltless in her love because she had a spell cast on her by Aphrodite, and so on and so forth. Well leave it the the German master of anti-war film, Wolfgang Peterson to cast the war in a new light.

In Troy Helen is a sad girl forced into a marriage to a cruel old man. She falls for the gentle and handsome Paris (played by Orlando Bloom) and this whole incident sparks a war betweem Greece and Troy. The Greeks are led by the meglomanical Spartan King Agamenmon who uses the sedduction of Helen as a pretext for pursuing a brutal war of agression. Achilles, played by Brad Pitt is a youthful soldier of fortune and hired gun used by Agamenmon to ravage the Trojans. Achilles is a vicious young man who believes that all is fair in war. In one scene he sacks a temple, kills the priests but spares Hector, knowing that he would have his day with him in a more public setting.

The movie is told from the Trojan side more than from the Greeks. The greeks are fighting for glory but the Trojans, it is shown are fighting for their survival. In the end, as we all know, the city falls and its inhabitants doomed. But this doom drives home the movies anti war message.

Which leads me to ask, how many times have we seen war glorified in classic liturature and have not bothered to ask what it was like for the loosing side. The side that did not live to tell their tale.

Has a movie ever been made showing the seige of Jerico from the side of the people of the doomed city? Could such a movie ever have been made?

History always favors the victors. Always will. When archeologists dug up the city of Mohave Daro in India, they found a peaceful city sacked and destroyed. The Aryan people who made war on these people later set themselves as the rulers of India. They told their story in the Rig Veda, justifying their conquest as an edict from the Gods. But what do we know about the Dravardian people of India? Will their story ever be told?

Do the Saxons who lost in the battle of Hastings have a story? Will we ever know the stoy of the brave axemen who faced the Norman knights and fought for their own freedom only to be slaughtered? What of their families who became the slaves of the Normans?

Thus is the nature of war mythology throughout the ages. The conquered, the vanished the dead have no story to tell. Only the victors earn the right to tell their story and in the end justify their deeds, no matter how brutal.

That's what she said.