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Testing the Color Accent feature. Seems like one of those features you won’t use that very often. We’ll see…
>McCain or Obama? Does it really matter in the long run?
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As for The US presidential election 2008, scheduled for November 4, people ask “McCain” or Obama? Who’s the best?”. I’d rather rephrase that and ask: Who’s the least bad of these two guys?
Because let’s face it, the outcome won’t make such a big difference, at least not when it comes to foreign politics. US politics are not run by its presidents.
Choosing between two evils, I’d go for Obama. Simply because he’s an intellectual human being, but that’s pretty much it. McCain, a 73 year old soon to be dead Bush clone who has no problem forming an alliance with the Christian extreme right (and look at Sarah Palin, a member of the NRA, who is against abortion and who advocates that creationism could be taught alongside evolution in biology class!), should be no option at all, in my opinion.
Obama at least wants to improve foreign relations, but he’s still in the hands of the lobby and will be forced to be yet another marionette, or else he’ll be crushed. The lobby is that powerful.
As I see it, the most important thing is to get rid of the neocons and to make the Israel lobby less influental. Israel still remains the top recipient of US foreign aid, which is absolutely insane knowing the current state of the world. In February, Bush requested an aid budget of $20 billion dedicated to Israel, a 12 percent increase over 2007 (Egypt is the second largest recipient, at about $1.5 billion). Israel has plowed US money into developing technology companies and buying US weapons, which pretty much says it all. That kind of support won’t stop just because Obama becomes the next president. He cannot afford that.
With McCain as president the imperium of the United States will probably fall faster than expected… He will finish the failure and collapse that Bush started, and it will not be nice. Remember, they are both war presidents.
On another note: USA have its fair share of extreme nutcases (like every other country). Will they really accept a black president?
>Female blues singers – The vocal ghosts
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I’ve never been a fan of blues music. I like the stories that surround the genre, and I like that distinct bad sound quality of really old blues tracks, but when thinking of blues I think of wining men repeating themselves over and over again… And you know people who say all reggae sounds the same? That’s what blues is like to me. It all sounds the same.
But this weekend I passed that treshold of ignorance and realized it’s not like that at all. I’m still no big fan of blues, though. I own one single record and that’s it. No mpthrees, no movies, no books, nothing but that cd I bought this weekend. 24 tracks all sung by female blues singers. Yep, that’s right, female blues singers from way back in the 1920’s. I hardly even knew they existed, to tell you the truth.
Because things were quite different 90 years ago, especially on the gender role front. Women’s rights were a total joke and racism and discrimination was the normal state of the day; especially in the music business, and, I guess, especially in the blues business. Imagine being a black woman singing the blues then… What did people think about their stuff back then? How were they marketed to the public, if at all? How many copies were made? How many were sold? How are people able to find these ultrarare, superobscure recordings? There must be some mad stories to tell here.
However, many of these artists only recorded one song and for the most part there’s no information whatsoever to be found about them. Still most of these tracks are filled with so much emotion. Seems like many of them worked at carnivals, touring the vaudeville circuit. Some accompanied silent films. Still, there must be stories to tell. There are stories everywhere.
I found it strangely mesmerising listening to these old vocal ghosts (especially right before falling asleep at night). These women are wining and crying about just the same things that the men usually wine about, but from a woman’s perspective of course. In other words, they’re just as miserable as the men (Oops!). The title alone says it all: Oh, run into me, but don’t hurt me! A craving for sex, lust and feelings, ”between crudeness and despair” as stated in the liner notes.
Now you’re layin’ up in my bed, between my two white sheets
I can’t see and smell nothin’, but your doggone feet
And I’m thru, tryin’ to make a man of you
And if you can’t bring a job don’t you look for your daily stewI worked hard from Monday until late Saturday night
And you’re a dirty mistreater, you ain’t treatin’ me right
And I’m thru, cookin’ your stew and beans
And you’re a dirty pot hound, dirty as any man I’ve seen
Lucille Bogan, Pot Hound Blues (1929)
Did some google work and found that the Document label has released 14 CD’s that includes the complete output of obscure classic female blues singers from the 1920s/early ’30s. Well, the one I got is enough for now, but if I get hooked I guess this wiki article will keep me busy for a while. Always exploring, too much is never enough.
You may listen to samples of the songs at the Allmusic site.
>Jim Goad – Till truth do us part
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One of these guys is Jim Goad. Guess who.
Jim Goad has been challenging the status quo of humanity and everyday stupidities for aeons. He’s probably most (in)famous for his and his late wife’s fanzine ANSWER Me!, where the fourth issue is known as “The rape issue”. The article “It’s a rape, rape, rape, rape, rape, rape world” can be read here (PDF).
As always, people judge the book by its cover. As always, people are wrong (I come to think of the awesome band Today Is The Day and the song title The cold harshness of being wrong throughout your entire life…). Most often it’s peoples’ own prejudice and ignorance that stands in their way of rational thinking and simple understanding. That’s why they’re living fake lives. There’s no time for understanding in these peoples’ lives, cuz there are TV shows to watch and shit to be bought. Exhume to consume.
Don’t let the truth anywhere near me, you crazy bastard! I ain’t got time for no truth, boy!
I’m interested in Goad’s truths, because I believe he’s got some in stock. The truth is one ugly motherfucker, but ugliness is not something we’d like to be acquainted with, so we choose the easy way out. Goad tends to choose the hard way. Always the hard way. And when you like it hard, you’ll be looked down upon with suspicion by Them -the evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerers of death’s construction…
Now check these quotes from various interviews and columns, straight out the mouth of this unholy Goat.
Many of the racial problems in America are caused by the fact that people are innately tribal, and politicians know how to exploit that biological fact. And since power is built on money, it is in politicians’ best interest to fan racial unrest—even when it’s done under the guise of anti-racist touchy-mushy let’s-all-hold-hands propaganda, because anti-racism still keeps everyone’s attention fixated on race—to divert attention away from financial inequities. They do this because they know that it works.
[…]
I tried to make it clear in The Redneck Manifesto that it’s unwise to ask a sociopath for advice about running society. I do think it’s ironic that people are more worried about words such as “nigger” than they are about the fact that most of the nation, black and white, is being squashed down into an abject, powerless peasantry whose government treats them all like prison inmates. But hey, it’s OK—even though our standard of living is shit compared to a generation ago, at least we don’t say “nigger” no mo’.
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Back in ’95, when the District Attorney of Billingham, Washington, took a pair of newsstand owners to trial for selling ANSWER Me! #4, it was truly surreal to see layouts from my magazine blasted onto a white wall with an overhead projector. “Basically, it tells you how to rape everyone”, the DA told the jury. It’s always unsettling when a stranger seems certain of your intentions and motivations, when they couldn’t be further from the truth. This sense of anguish is heavily compounded when the stranger in question has the power to destroy your life.
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This whole idea of someone objectively “deserving” punishment for their actions is an antiquated, pseudo-biblical concept and almost entirely foreign to me.
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The Ebola virus and similar detergent products underpin what we’ve always said in ANSWER Me!: The best humanity can hope for is to be eventually crushed by nature.
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In my writing, I try to focus on things which seem obvious to me, but about which society is rampagingly hypocritical.
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I tend not to hold accidents of birth against people. I am much more attuned to willful decisions people make than skin color or genitalia. How do they deal with you one on one? How ethical are they?
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Any monotheistic religion is years behind any religion the East came up with. Apparently monotheism is one of the building blocks of modern society. I think the Hindus, Buddhists and Dhaoists are all light years ahead of Western religion.
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I remember when the Oklahoma City bombing happened, everyone immediately thought it was at the hands of Arabs. Wait a second. There are Americans so disgruntled that they blow things up? That was an exciting idea.
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Every black guy who was in my cell said he respected nazis and no one else because they presume everyone is tribal and everyone is a racist. They know where they stand with the nazis. They’re not going to stab them in the back. They will stab them while looking at them, which is preferable.
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I think we all know what is wrong with us. The question is – Do you have the bravery to confront it?
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You are not better because you are a black woman. You’re a human being. You are just as bad as I am. That’s egalitarian. These people who claim to be anti-sexist and anti-racist are sexist and racist. I don’t see equality in intellectual aptitude but everybody is prone to be an asshole. That’s the only equality I know of.
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Nothing that humans do surprises me but the way they tend to cover it up is what repels me.
More Jim Goad:
The redneck speaks
Prayin’ hard
Humanism without humans
>Graffiti – Art Crime – Hardcore tagging
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BLAZE
And now for the part of graffiti that the majority of people hate the most, and that I – of course – love the most: TAGS! I was about to write something pretentious about the beauty and individuality of the tag, when I found German writer REW had done just that in the magnificent book Writing – Urban Calligraphy and Beyond, so I just copied parts of his text…
Watch the videos, check the pictures (click on them for larger size) and read his writings. Give it a try. There’s more than meets the eye.
…to the majority of people, who hardly ever think about this aspect or simply don’t understand it, the shapes and histories of tags mean absolutely nothing, least of all appeal to them. ”I enjoy those large, vidid images! But I don’t see the point of the small, black scribbles on the wall. Those are ugly!” Sound familiar?
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I should point out that there will always be people who, even if they are familiar with the subject of tags, simply don’t like their aesthetics and would rather see a pristine wall. These people get extremely upset when it gets ”soiled” again. This is a topic that should be considered in a different discussion on property and personal values. I would like to talk about the tag itself instead, its form and its essence. I’d like to talk about the fact that a tag is very different from banal ”smears” such as a few random brushstrokes in a room that’s about to be repainted anyway. Tags are the result of very specific needs that have accompanied humanity for thousands of years. Tags are about spreading a message, about drawing attention to something.
[…]
No matter if 74,000 posters all over the city shout out that a new Volvo is finally available, or if Peter lets Maria know that he has fallen for her on the wall that’s on her way to school, or if a writer leaves his tag at representative locations – the parallels are obvious. Especially when it comes to writing, there are a number of different reasons for tagging. The most obvious one is fame and recognition from simply generating as many tags as possible at many conspicuous locations in different parts of a city or districts. Another big motivation for tagging, and this aspect I’d like to emphasize here, is working with different styles!
In addition to spreading their own name, there are some writers who place a lot of importance on the form and the individual style of a tag. This might be about how an ”R” or an ”S” should be shaped, what the ideal proportions are, if it would look better broad and long or slim and tall, if a certain line of a letter should be long or short, if it should be round and curved or straight and angular, if the transition between the letters should be gradual or distinctly separate, or which, if any, further elements or other ornaments should appear next to the tag. Such criteria and viewpoints are used to define and measure the quality of your own tags and those of other writers.
Based on this, it is easy to see and understand that not each and every one, but a large number of the tags we encounter in the streets (and fortunately every once in a while still on trains) possess individuality and beauty as defined by the studied commitment to the task and the constant evolution of an individual, stylish tag honed by years of practice.
OXBOE
DELTA ONE
ZASD (onelines where the pen never leaves the surface)
Alphabet by ZASD
Alphabet by AKIM
BABBO
But then again, sometimes it’s all about All Out Destruction…
>Francis Parker Yockey
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In this century it is of scant importance what language a European speaks and in what geographic area he was brought up. Of importance only is the spirituality that permeates his inner life.
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In this century the idea of vertical race is dead. We can now view race only in horizontal terms – the race one feels in oneself is everything. The anatomic-geographic group to which one belongs means nothing.
[…]
Our touchstone of comradeship and belonging is spiritual-ethical, not the old one of birth-place, cephalic-index, eye-colour. In the 20th century, the century of elective affinities, materialistic tests are pure stupidity.
The Enemy of Europe (1953)
These are the words of Francis Parker Yockey, American born philosopher (who highly praised European high culture), most often labelled fascist, Nazi revivalist, anti-Semite, anti-American and far right mystery man.
I tend to enjoy reading about these guys and their ideas. I’m fascinated by their explicit ways of looking at the world, I find it dedicated and to the point (even though often narrow-mindedly romantic), whereas the mainstream equivalent philosophers and historians are extremely limited when it comes to sensitive subjects due to their political correctness. They often end up straight hypocritical or plain lame and grovelling, and I find that a waste of time.
I do not necessarily agree with everything I read, be it Spengler, Nietzsche, Pound, Yockey or whatever politically incorrect dude you might find in here. However, when I find something of importance to me, I treat it as I treat all kinds of knowledge. I don’t care if it’s right, left, wrong… As long as it means something to me it is of relevance. Simple as that.
And I think the above quote proves just that; even though you’re a dick in the public eye, you still might have some interesting stuff to communicate.
Here’s a review of the Yockey biography Dreamer of The Day (1999).
>Thoreau – Walden
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“The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?”
Like most people ever interested in politics, independence and philosophy I’ve come to check out H.D. Thoreau every once in a while. I first read Thoreau back in 1989, when I was 14. I read Civil Disobedience, or Resistance to Civil Government as was its original publishing name in 1849, and it completely seduced my mind. Some of the first words are there forever: ”That government is best that governs not at all”, as well as ”I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government”. I believe that’s what started my political awareness/interest, reading a 140 year old lecture and finding so much modern truth. When I started reading about Holocaust revisionism some ten years ago and the way these revisionists are put in prison for asking questions I immediately remembered this quote as well: ”Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison”.
Walden or Life In The Woods (1854), appeared to me some years later, and I remember being quite disappointed since it lacked the immediate “instructions” and guidance I was hoping to find back then. Sure, I got the message, but I was looking for action, not contemplation.
Now, having recently seen the stunning movie Into The Wild, I picked up Walden and studied it again, this time with so much joy. It was as inspirational as when I first read Civil Disobedience, but on a completely different level. I found it quite cool to realize that a lot of the stuff he’s writing about in Walden is where my ideas are right now. It took me another 14 years to arrive there, and now I really appreciate Thoreau’s great piece of art.
I wonder where I’ll be in another 14 years… I’ve got so much more reading to do. Must prevail!
Check this page for thorough information about the man and his works.
Some excerpts from Walden:
There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. It is human, it is divine, carrion. If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life, as from that dry and parching wind of the African deserts called the simoom, which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated, for fear that I should get some of his good done to me — some of its virus mingled with my blood. No — in this case I would rather suffer evil the natural way. A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if I should be starving, or warm me if I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever fall into one. I can find you a Newfoundland dog that will do as much. Philanthropy is not love for one’s fellow-man in the broadest sense.
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Some show their kindness to the poor by employing them in their kitchens. Would they not be kinder if they employed themselves there? You boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity; maybe you should spend the nine tenths so, and done with it. Society recovers only a tenth part of the property then. Is this owing to the generosity of him in whose possession it is found, or to the remissness of the officers of justice?
Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind. Nay, it is greatly overrated; and it is our selfishness which overrates it.
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I would not subtract anything from the praise that is due to philanthropy, but merely demand justice for all who by their lives and works are a blessing to mankind. I do not value chiefly a man’s uprightness and benevolence, which are, as it were, his stem and leaves. Those plants of whose greenness withered we make herb tea for the sick serve but a humble use, and are most employed by quacks. I want the flower and fruit of a man; that some fragrance be wafted over from him to me, and some ripeness flavor our intercourse. His goodness must not be a partial and transitory act, but a constant superfluity, which costs him nothing and of which he is unconscious. This is a charity that hides a multitude of sins. The philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own castoff griefs as an atmosphere, and calls it sympathy. We should impart our courage, and not our despair, our health and ease, and not our disease, and take care that this does not spread by contagion.
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I believe that what so saddens the reformer is not his sympathy with his fellows in distress, but, though he be the holiest son of God, is his private ail. Let this be righted, let the spring come to him, the morning rise over his couch, and he will forsake his generous companions without apology. My excuse for not lecturing against the use of tobacco is, that I never chewed it, that is a penalty which reformed tobacco-chewers have to pay; though there are things enough I have chewed which I could lecture against. If you should ever be betrayed into any of these philanthropies, do not let your left hand know what your right hand does, for it is not worth knowing. Rescue the drowning and tie your shoestrings. Take your time, and set about some free labor.
Our manners have been corrupted by communication with the saints. Our hymn-books resound with a melodious cursing of God and enduring Him forever. One would say that even the prophets and redeemers had rather consoled the fears than confirmed the hopes of man. There is nowhere recorded a simple and irrepressible satisfaction with the gift of life, any memorable praise of God. All health and success does me good, however far off and withdrawn it may appear; all disease and failure helps to make me sad and does me evil, however much sympathy it may have with me or I with it. If, then, we would indeed restore mankind by truly Indian, botanic, magnetic, or natural means, let us first be as simple and well as Nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our own brows, and take up a little life into our pores. Do not stay to be an overseer of the poor, but endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world.
I read in the Gulistan, or Flower Garden, of Sheik Sadi of Shiraz, that “they asked a wise man, saying: Of the many celebrated trees which the Most High God has created lofty and umbrageous, they call none azad, or free, excepting the cypress, which bears no fruit; what mystery is there in this? He replied, Each has its appropriate produce, and appointed season, during the continuance of which it is fresh and blooming, and during their absence dry and withered; to neither of which states is the cypress exposed, being always flourishing; and of this nature are the azads, or religious independents. — Fix not thy heart on that which is transitory; for the Dijlah, or Tigris, will continue to flow through Bagdad after the race of caliphs is extinct: if thy hand has plenty, be liberal as the date tree; but if it affords nothing to give away, be an azad, or free man, like the cypress.”