Bill Hicks on Letterman Tonight!

No, that's not a joke. Apparently TV audiences are finally ready for something recorded fifteen fucking years ago.

1993 censored Bill Hicks segment from the ‘Late Show’ to be broadcast on Letterman this Friday, January 30

This is what I think CBS, the producers of the Letterman show, the networks and governments fear the most - that one man free, expressing his own thoughts and point of view, might somehow inspire others to think for themselves and listen to that voice of reason inside them, and then perhaps, one by one we will awaken from this dream of lies and illusions that the world, the governments and their propaganda arm, the mainstream media, feeds us continuously over 52 channels, 24 hours a day.

What I realised was that they don't want the people to be awake. The elite ruling class wants us asleep so we'll remain a docile, apathetic herd of passive consumers and non-participants in the true agendas of our governments, which is to keep us separate and present an image of a world filled with unresolvable problems, that they, and only they, might somewhere, in the never-arriving future, may be able to solve. Just stay asleep, America. Keep watching television. Keep paying attention to the infinite witnesses of illusion we provide you over 'Lucifer's Dream Box'.

I have never before in my life had the thought, "I should watch Letterman tonight."

For those who don't know, Bill Hicks wrote much of my political platform posthumously.

Depression 2.0

Best quote yet on the current financial crisis.

How bad is the crisis going to get?

But it is to easy to single out the bankers - a banker said.

That made me laugh. A lot.

I Still Hate War

During my weekly telephone conversation with my dad I mentioned to him that so far I was fairly impressed with the direction Obama was taking things. Both of my parents are staunch Democrats and active in the party. He asked me, "Wishing you would have voted for him now?"

"Not at all. There are still too many things I don't like about the man."

This is one of them.

Barack Obama, meet Lyndon Johnson

On Friday, President Barack Obama ordered an Air Force drone to bomb two separate Pakistani villages, killing what Pakistani officials said were 22 individuals, including between four and seven foreign fighters. Many of Obama's initiatives in his first few days in office -- preparing to depart Iraq, ending torture and closing Guantanamo -- were aimed at signaling a sharp turn away from Bush administration policies. In contrast, the headline about the strike in Waziristan could as easily have appeared in December with 'President Bush' substituted for 'President Obama.' Pundits are already worrying that Obama may be falling into the Lyndon Johnson Vietnam trap, of escalating a predecessor's halfhearted war into a major quagmire. What does Obama's first military operation tell us about his administration's priorities?

During the Democratic primaries he talked and talked about ending the war in Iraq. Once he had seized the nomination he started talking about escalating the war in Afghanistan. First week in office and he goes and blows up what may or may not have been legitimate targets inside a country we aren't even at war with (yet).

As any responsible gun owner can tell you, knowing when not to use your weapon is just as important as knowing how to use it. He may not be hawkish, but he is definitely not a man of peace.

That attack was straight out of Bill Clinton's play book. Very disturbing.

The First Week

President Obama has put me at ease, at least a little bit. In his first few days he has gone through and done enough to show that he intends to not be the total shit bag that our last President was.

Let's start with one of my favorite issues.

Obama lifts ban on abortion funds

President Barack Obama has lifted a US funding ban for groups providing abortion services abroad, reversing a policy of his predecessor, George Bush.

The policy known as the 'global gag rule' had stopped US government money going to groups which perform or provide information about abortion.

Hurray! Dead babies! And not the kind that are left in piles due to illegal wars but the sort who were unplanned for and unwanted from the get-go. Yay!

Moving on, he has taken an important first step in changing the 'War on Terror' by ending the methods of terror used by the Bush junta.

The power of the pen

On Day 2 of his administration, President Obama reverses key Bush "war on terror" policies, signing orders that end torture, close the CIA's black sites and phase out Guantanamo.

Rather than handing out goodies to his close friends, he has frozen White House salaries.

Not Bush's White House anymore

The memo for the salary freeze (which will apply to about 100 White House aides making more than $100,000 a year) said that in "a period of severe economic stress," the move is "a signal of our shared commitment to restoring the country's economic vitality." "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," Obama said at a ceremony where he signed the orders and greeted the staff.

He still has the toughest bit ahead of him. People expect him to 'fix' the economy.

Obama pushes recovery plan, lifts Bush funding ban

U.S. President Barack Obama launched a drive on Friday to get his $825 billion economic recovery plan through Congress, predicting lawmakers would resolve differences before a mid-February deadline.

"We are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with and dealt with rapidly," Obama told reporters as he met Democratic and Republican congressional leaders at the White House.

There is little a President can do to get an economy back on track unless he wants to resort to a more Socialist agenda. That probably wouldn't go over too well in the good old U.S. of A. Then again, the time might be ripe for people sick of 'free market' shenanigans that left the working taxpayers hit way too hard because of the actions of private business. We'll have to wait and see.

Now, can Obama rise to the challenge of hearing the voices of Americans and do something meaningful for millions who supported him? Can he make one small step towards ending the war on (some) drugs?

5 million strong to petition Obama to legalize weed

That would be a truly bold movement towards real change.

Obama Promising to Ruin American Way of Life

More Change!

Only a few more days until we get some much needed change.

Obama sells out to Wall Street | Salon

After President Bush this week asked Congress to release the bank bailout fund's remaining $350 billion, Obama pledged to veto any bill rejecting the request, meaning he is beginning his presidency not by 'turn[ing] the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street,' as he once pledged. Instead, he is promising a mushroom cloud unless lawmakers let taxpayer cash continue flowing to the biggest of Big Money interests.

Woot! Change!

Pravda Means Truth

So lovely.

Yes George, you served your master well - Pravda.Ru

Now George it is over. Your Faustian deal gave you eight years of illegal and undeserved power.

And did you make the most of it! You stole elections without hesitation, you lied without compunction, you started illegal wars without any consideration for international law, you shredded the Constitution without any respect for the check-and-balance system, you opened up concentration camps without any concern for the rule of law, and you maimed, tortured, and murdered without any regard for fundamental human rights.

You fiddled while New Orleans floundered, while your cronies in the oil industry drove prices through the roof, while war profiteers ruthlessly plundered Iraq, and while the economy suffered its worst decline in decades.

Yes George, you served your master well.

And he served you. The suffering you inflicted upon others never touched you—aside from a pair of poorly aimed shoes. You were never impeached, prosecuted or even censured as a war criminal. And the fact that you intend—as you stated in your final press briefing—to spend your days lounging on the beach, when you should be spending them in a prison cell, adds just another name to the historical list of evildoers who have been rewarded for their crimes.

More could be said, but why?

Sanctimonious Hypocritical Preaching by the Imperials

I loved the title of the article so much I just had to keep it as the title of the post.

Sanctimonious hypocritical preaching by the imperials - Pravda.Ru

Between extremely complicated election laws, requiring armies of lawyers, double standards for the major parties to the exclusion of third parties, dirty tricks, intimidation, and a media hell bent on serving the power politic and not the people, the system makes sure that reelection rates to the US Congress stay at or above a 95% rate. Most senators die or retire, the only way to clear them from their seats. But what a job, 4 months of actual work, high perks, the ability to be bribed at will (both branches of the One Party system feed from the hands of pretty much the same special interests), tax payer paid retirement and pensions after one stint, and many many other benefits. This on top of the right to vote in your own 10% yearly raise, while most of their constituents have not seen a raise above 3% in 20 years.

Lovely. Because truth, even when it is the ugly, garish truth, is lovely.

And there is nothing quite like calling a spade a spade even if it may seem like the pot calling the kettle black and any number of other old bits of folk wisdom that may fit the bill.

I've been asked more than a few times, mostly at work, why foreigners hate Americans so much. I tell them it is because they, much like ourselves, identify the people of this country with the government that is the public face of the country. That, and we as Americans tend to act like a bunch of spoiled rich kids. We cry about how hard we work for so little when our so little is a hell of a lot. Do we deserve more? Damn straight we do! And so does everyone else on this planet. But let's face it, we let an asshole get away with a rampant killing and torture spree while wrapping ourselves in the American flag. It was right and good of us to do all this because we are Americans!

We don't hold a monopoly on democracy. Our system of democracy is old. Really old. There has to be quite a bit of room for improvement. And when we go stomping around the globe with no regard for the people we crush under foot along the way, we are spitting on the ideals the nation was founded upon. Except for the fact that the our democracy was originally set up by a bunch of rich, white, land owning business men with the idea of creating a veil of opportunity while progressing their own agendas unfettered. That part of the American Dream® is still going strong.

Polls Are Open!

To the left is a poll about the podcast. I know I had initially said that I would bring it back in the new year. I've been having second thoughts about it. To settle the matter, I've opened it up to the public. Just like a real election, you must pick one of the preselected options or else you are just throwing your vote away.

But feel free to voice opinions as comments to this post. I vain enough to read them all.

Arab/Israeli Relations: The Mother of All Clusterfucks

There will be no linking to news stories for this one. There doesn't need to be. Nothing is being said that hasn't been said a (insert implausibly large number here) times.

I don't envy Obama on this one. The economy may go up and down but ever since the forming of Islam it has been at odds with everyone else and that goes at least double for the Jews. And while there is a lot of hatred for the Jews, the Arab nations seem to hate Israel specifically even more than Jews in general. And why not? The Palestinians had their hands full trying to throw off the shackles of Britain's imperialism. Then they had to go and add religion to the already volatile mixture. Out with the Queen, in with Moses. Oi!

Is it apparent that my sympathies tend to lie with the Israelis? I'd like to say otherwise, but it wouldn't be true. The Israelis are up against an enemy that will never back down until the entire state of Israel is wiped off the face of all maps everywhere and not a single Jew is left standing on Middle Eastern soil. Not a whole lot of room for negotiation there.

I truly believe that the average Israeli and Palestinian would have very little trouble living side by side if it weren't for a few trouble makers always stirring the pot (and they stir it with rockets and grenades, no less). If the average American can put aside one of the most deep seeded bigotries this nation suffers from in order to vote for a black President, anything is possible. The trouble makers just need to grow up. Stop acting like little children shouting over who was where first, who threw the first stone, just agree to let the whole conflict end and be friends.

There isn't a bookie around who would take that bet.

People want answers. They want solutions and they want them now! Fine...

• Give both sides a bunch of nuclear missiles. They'll either learn to live in a cold war atmosphere or blow each other off the maps. Problem solved.
• Give the Jews Baja Mexico. The Palestinians are way too snobbish about their locale to accept such a trade off. The Jews have shown themselves to be quite pragmatic when push comes to shove. And they did wonders with Israel. They'd turn Baja into a shining gem in no time. The Mexicans living there can either get paid a fair price for their property or choose to stay. I would bet that Jews and Mexicans could live side by side in harmony especially if it meant being able to snub the Palestinians' poor hospitality.
• Exterminate all Muslims. It is a terrible idea but it would end the conflict. I won't even suggest the opposite. Islam is a religion that tries to convert people even by force if they can. Having grown up in such a religion, Christianity, the idea of zealous conversion both frightens and disgusts me. The Jews don't actively proselytize or seek conversions. If one of the two has to go to end this thing, it won't be the Jews. They also write better comedies.

Those are my ideas. Move them to opposite sides of the globe, let them nuke it out, or eliminate the more patently aggressive party.

Or they could just grow up and learn how to get along.

Late News

OBAMA SURFS? Why didn't somebody tell me this before the election?

Sign of Progress

I hate drug testing. I have always hated drug testing. My personal opinion is that drug testing is a violation of basic civil rights because it assumes guilt and requires us to prove our innocence. In most work places refusing a drug test has the same or worse consequences as failing one.

Massachusetts may have done away with this problem.

Pot law could snuff out testing policy

A voter-approved law reducing possession of small amounts of marijuana to a civil offense threatens to unravel drug testing of police and other public employees, the Herald has learned.

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 2, prohibits government agencies and authorities from enforcing any punishment for pot possession with a fine greater than $100, according to the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association, and defines possession so broadly as to include traces of pot in blood to urine to hair and fingernails.

Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless predicted the new law has far-reaching consequences for even school bus drivers and MBTA train operators, who could point to the law and say they can only be fined, not fired, for marijuana offenses.

You are supposed to panic now. They tried really hard to get you to panic so the least you could do is pretend.

OH NOES! Now we have to fire people for not doing their job instead of busting them for going home and slouching on a couch with a bag of chips and a copy of Pineapple Express. I'm terrified.

And it gets worse.

New pot rules may allow having hashish

Massachusetts police may no longer be able to arrest people for having a small amount of hashish, because a new law that decriminalizes possessing up to an ounce of marijuana could apply to other drugs with the same psychoactive ingredient, according to guidelines issued today.

New Flash! Hash contains the same active ingredient as marijuana because it is made from marijuana. In other news, heroin has the same active ingredient as opium because it is made from opium. Should a minor be treated differently for possession of vodka versus possession of beer? But why would a minor want vodka or beer when they could have pot or hash?

Stillman also said teens may gravitate toward pot because the penalty for having an ounce or less is far less than the penalty for having alcohol.

So the law even benefits minors. $100 fine and it is treated like a parking ticket with no permanent record.

Of course law enforcement bitches about it making their job harder. From what I have gathered, law enforcement thinks the easiest way to perform their job is to make everyone into a criminal so they can arrest everybody. Buck up, little boy blue. Do what the rest of the American work force is doing and stop caring. A little pot might help.

A tip of the hat to Massachusetts for passing a sufficiently vague and far reaching law that is a step in the right direction. But can they keep it?