Thursday, August 7, 2008

Iran War Inevitable

Seymour Hersh reports on the impending war with Iran

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all

Immortal Technique - Tell the Truth

Disgusting War Pigs

Its one thing to hold up an image for the sake of yourself. Its another thing to use that image and completely subvert it in reality, to dupe the public, and run all the way from the bank in mad gaffing laughter.

Such is America's experience with its political leaders. And the next generation of power hungry fascists shows little hope. For instance, Barack Obama's constant shift to corporate-interests has made even his positive campaign gain black eyes and stunning jabs by his once won-over supporters. Now, for domestic spying by the government, for drilling in nature preserves, for war with Iran, all come to dominate his discussions. Its remarkable that he has not been brutalized by the public or the media for such disdainful moves and outright fraud.

And to speak of their visits to AIPAC, the globalist kingmaker of the world, plotting which Arabs to bomb next. Whenever Barack Obama or John McCain, or Nancy Pelosi go to AIPAC, and promise to protect Israel at all costs. I become absolutely disgusted by the social arrogance and political pigheadedness of our supposed national heroes. Rather than standing up for our principles of freedom, peace, and prosperity, these bozos promise to protect everyone in the world, but us. And it is true, all they care about is protecting those who scratch their back. Yes, that's right, big oil companies, communication conglomerates, the military industrial complex, and resource guidebooks from communist China. How dare they rub our good name in the mud, and go around waving flags, piping of their good deeds and benevolent nature. Bullshit! You and I know it, don't believe them, do not compromise with them, and do not buy into their games of playing social doctor to cure the world! All anybody ever wants, is to be left alone! That's all we ask for, and if these clowns knew the first thing about America, they would know what it is the nation wants and need.

So, this election cycle, don't trust the media, don't trust the shiny image they might give you or the excuses or practicalities they'll tell you why you have to vote a certain way. Remember, the answer lies with YOU, and only you can make change in this country. So when they tell you one leader is fit to become king and lead us all at his little tantrums or raging whims, do not accept it! We are the people that are the rulers, not them! It's time to regain what once was ours and restore the Republic and ourselves.

Returning the Ether

When America witnessed its first people powered technological revolution in the early 1910s and 1920s, millions of hobbyist radio operators started up stations beaming around the country, drawing in listeners, and also with the ability to converse between two places over the ether. Since the federal government began regulating bandwidth in 1927, and ultimately placing all radio control within government-backed corporate power, Americans have lost one of the greatest tools of the free market in communications.

However, with the government's socialist mandated switch to digital television on February 18, 2009, maybe there is a chance to regain the ether. After this date, no longer will television signals be broadcast through the air, via Earth's electromagnetic waves. Instead of throwing such an ingenious and influential resource to the dustbin of history, it seems logical and highly beneficial to use the ether and encourage a deregulated market of citizen television broadcasters.

Now, if our government really believes in personal and economic freedom as the paradigm for an equal society, why not take a chance and start a Revolution!?

It only seems fair to return this valuable possession back to the people, who basically created and expanded the invention, making lives better. Rather than throw it to protect an aging, decrepit bureaucracy, which benefits no one but the top. Think of the advancement in journalism, the arts, and community activism if only the people could retain this powerful outlet for a voice.

Again, as Tomas Masaryk once said,

"Democracy is not only a state form, it is not only what is written in the institutions, democracy is the opinion on life, which counts on the trust of the people, in humanity, in humanness and [democracy] is not opinions without love, and not love without opinions."

It is time we push for democracy on every level of our lives, because as of now, our government paradigm reflects corporate-fascism. Its the system of choice for dictators, and the brainchild of Benito Mussolini. Now, most Americans believe in the system, but if The People could harness a communication tool for culture, entertainment, and art , and use this to circumnavigate the corporate message, our lives would immediately improve.

This, I strongly believe. But, in order to have a free culture, a free society, we need openness in our most influential medium, the ether.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

The Ron Paul Story

The Ron Paul Story video was mailed out to homes in District 14 in coastal Texas during his 1996 campaign to win back a Congressional seat after an eight year political hiatus.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The End of Free Speech

Police Oppression and Complete Degradation of First Amendment Rights outside of the 2004 Democratic Party National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.

Includes the "free speech" cage, military helicopters, and more.

Speeches by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xom2SPUbl48

(Mysteriously, the embed option has been disabled. Some can't handle the truth!)

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Friendly City and its fragile Violet Crown



Austin, Texas; home of freedom lovers from all over the world, the city is amongst the most vibrant and diverse in today’s American landscape. Bursting at the seams, some studies conclude that the next two years will bring an approximate 70,000 more people to the open-minded haven of the state. While the rustic, Old Southwest ideal may have brought the masses to the tiny town with a big heart, their pocketbooks are bringing the slick, sexy and exclusive atmosphere to the center of Texas. Many have commented on Austin’s 21st century transformation, such figures like former Gubernatorial Candidate Kinky Friedman dubbed it Old and New Austin. However trite it may sound, his analogy hits it right on. The difference is as stark as night and day.

When I first came to Austin from the “Sim-City” prairie metropolis of Dallas, I did not at first understand the jagged hills and cliffs, the rustic, natural, and often unpretentious side of Austin life. But, soon I grew to love its aura of smallness, community, and old-time Texas wisdom. I learned of its limestone structures, its creeping tangled oaks, branching out almost horizontally against the mounds of sod, rock, and wheat. Those who experience the culturally rich array of stores, hang-outs, and dives of the Friendly City never forget its serenity and down-to-earth honesty. The people seem to carry some of it with them, waving to bikers on the roads, easy to put out a hand to help and meet an acquaintance; community-minded, selfless and frank. While these characteristics may all ring of ideal and never completely true to life, it is that moment one feels amongst the plain of Zilker or the small peaks amongst Barton Creek. The still thriving original establishments of Waterloo decidedly make up the soul of the ever-evolving inlet.

And to see the new wealth coming into town, all rendered wards of debt. To build upon the empire and to know what made it great is to advance its searing grip. But, in reinventing the city, in commoditizing its mystique with cookie cutter pillar residencies by outside interests is to construe the truth and destroy the violent crown which once sat over these picturesque hills. The new developments are swift and all-encompassing. In the past three years, a boom in construction, even in times of economic bust, has changed the landscape and entire population makeup of areas of the city. Perhaps most visible are the new luxury condominiums built downtown off of Town Lake. More disturbing is the destruction of the West Campus community by high-rise scams and deliberate overpopulation and exploitation of a small and once serene community. Such are the wastelands the majority of Austinites will endure.

While the Austin City Council prides itself as an independent community-trusted arbiter, it could not be farther from the truth. They openly plot with high price developers, specifically working with developer-tied Cid Galindo, who ran for a council seat and eventually lost a run-off against former Neighborhood Association head Laura Morrison. It is not a question of government interference, rather their compliance in a corrupt system where again the people are ignored and the high dollar interests pandered to.

Everyone’s in business, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But, I believe it is in the best interests of this city to only buy good investments for the future of the community.

So, I urge Austinites, long time residents and newcomers to learn the history of this city and why it has become the beam of fire, which insatiably draws all nearer.

Revisiting Dubai, Inc.

Sheik Mohammed's dream of a new age, internationally-renowned, culture conscious Middle East city may be more than his own. While he boasts of his creation in building a Dubai of luxurious resorts, government backed corporate projects, and an entirely new international trade city, Sheik Mohammed serves as a merely a rich surrogate. As the European and American elite search for new places abroad to live and store wealth, Dubai in the Strait of Hormuz has become a playground for the most wealthy on the planet. A city which touts its creativity and culture, now relies on ultra-rich English speaking tourists to prop up the massive investment. The Bedouin tribes of the UAE have been long forgotten by the oil-sucking monarchical tyrants of the Middle East. Forming ties with Americans, like the George H W Bush's of the world, are more poignant on their pocketbook and world power gauge than sitting satisfied in the present with their countrymen. They are the product of greed and ruthlessness, without a home or morals to call their own. Their allegiance remains only to the clanking of coins, the age-old devil's number consuming what small amount of good heartedness which may have been there. They have no ideology, beyond that of power, and laws, regulations, and justice mean nothing to them. Sheik Mohammed and his thuggish debauchery seem not much different than those which occupy US government offices, bunkers, and nuclear weapons labs. They will not stop at any costs, and unlike what Steve Kroft and CBS's 60 Minutes would have you believe, they do not just come from the Middle East.

In Steve Kroft’s 60 Minutes “Visiting Dubai, Inc.” story on Sheik Mohammed on August 3, 2008, Wallace describes a rapidly changing Middle East, modernizing at the behest of its monarchical rulers who speak perfect English, admire America, and indulge in what their traditional culture would consider taboo. The Sheik drives a large white Mercedes-Benz SUV with Wallace, and speaks of the type of excitement often used to describe Las Vegas. Exhibiting his belief in the free market and the power of entreprenuership, Wallace paints The Sheik as a masterful visionary, unbound from previous backwardness and advancing his glamorous city for the betterment of the international community. The report is not without criticism of Dubai, Inc.'s system of business. However, the story paints the picture of one of reflections of Arab mentality and dreams. However, it could not be farther from the truth.

In Kroft’s style of journalism, we see and judge the Arab through American values. But despite the facade of a hardball story, Kroft does little to confront the true cause for all the growth in Dubai. To point at ourselves is a good place to start. Without American investment and support, Dubai would little be where it is today. The Sheik's strong connection with the Bush family was enumerated in the report during a brief segment on the failed 2006 Dubai-US ports deals. But, this one publicized media event was only a microcosm of what is really happening. Americans, in surprising numbers are more than ever living abroad or spending part of the year in a house on another continent. While this practice still is strictly affordable only for the highest elite, it is one of all the more enticements now. With the ability to hold money and wealth offshore without taxation and independence of the US government, many choose the option as a safe-haven in event of an economic crisis. But, most surprisingly, the ones with interests in Dubai are the ultra-wealthy who have a high stake in our governments. Not only diplomats or ambassadors either. For instance, our own Governor of Texas, Mr. Rick Perry, was living abroad in Europe during the 2008 June Mansion Fire. He has also made several trips to Iraq, Dubai and many other oil hot beds in the Middle East. Furthermore, Bush's support of the 2005 Security and Prosperity Partnership which ties together Mexico, the United States, and Canada into one economic and political union, further unmasks the internationalist intentions of the ruling American elite. More and more it seems their interests align with those of international corporations, disavowing any allegiance to America, working for the corporate good over the good for the people of this great land. And corporate welfare is far from out of fashion. The U.S. Government still subsidizes the most grossing industries in the world, in the interest of the "American people". But, the American people know better. The enemy isn't a rich Arab billionaire dressed in a strange robe and headdress, although he may be an accomplice. The true enemy is those who work to knowingly sell out the American people at half price and gleam with greed as the coins illuminate the coffers of crooks, creeps, and war pigs.

The corporate media will never give the people the true story on who really is to blame for the devaluation of the U.S. dollar, the so-called "free-trade" agreements which outsource American jobs to the Third World, and the secret agreements which completely subvert the United States Constitution. Once Steve Kroft gets serious on finding the real crooks and exploiters, the enemies of freedom and liberty, can the American people take his newscast seriously and learn about the true culprits, dismantling our nation, piece by piece.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Mike Dillon's Go Go Jungle

Mike Dillon's Go Go Jungle performs July 27, 2007 at The Parish in Austin, Texas.

$50 Million Dollars to RNC Cops


One of America's most entertained buzz-words in the first decade of the 21st century must without a doubt be "security". With a complete public perception and attitude change being steered by federal and local governments, it's no telling what the change in the level of trust and openness has wrought amongst American society.

Perhaps even more frightening is the idea that these vague, intrusive and often unnecessary measures taken in the name of "security" may be making our world in fact more dangerous. Recently, it was announced that both seats of the two major party conventions this year, Denver and St. Paul-Minneapolis, will receive $50 million security grants. While officials have not yet announced exactly how all of the money will be spent, so far in Minnesota, $34 million will be paid to over 5,000 law-enforcement personnel agencies for the four-day long event. This almost doubles the annual highest-grossing national event, Bonnaroo Music Festival, which rakes in a whopping $20 million revenue per annum.

It is shocking that whenever a society unfairly marks a problem, throwing unimaginable sums at the issue will solve it. Hardly true, more likely, these massive gifts to cops will make a mockery of justice and protestor's Constitutional rights to free speech. Citizens should expect to be greeted with thousands of police in full-fledged riot gear. Why would so many enforcers be needed for such a large, peaceful and unarmed citizenry?

In addition, equipment costs will run about $5 million with another $5 million for supplies and $1 million for travel alone. When was the last time the Libertarian Party or Green Party got this kind of security loan? Such an unfair use of taxpayer money to fund a corrupt and aging, broke system is an atrocity all Americans should express outrage over.

And most curiously, where does all this equipment, gear and high tech surveillance products go once the GOP has packed off and moved on after Labor Day? Most likely to stay in the Twin Cities for future purposes, uses and oppression of peaceful citizens merely making a greviances against their supposed free and open government.

While the city councils of Denver and St. Paul must vote to approve the grant, the conclusion is already foregone. A caged-in free speech zone, a token mic and stage provided by the city is their solution. Yes, America is free, you can speak freely as you want as long as its done where we tell you you can. It makes me wrench from the acrid puke ridden stench rising up from the floorboards of these corrupt temples of shame. And all along, my comrades deride me for crying out loudly, SHAME, SHAME, as ungrateful and immature. Well, we will win those who doubt us, those whom may not see behind the veil our government and media pulls on our entire existence and understanding of history, we will win them.