God, Please Save These Troubled States

Even though I just broke that rule.

If you need any more proof that we all need to become pro-gay activists, that we still live in a hostile climate of rampant homophobia, let me enlighten you to a man named Mark Smith.

He's a constitutional attorney. (Unfortunately.) A former law professor. He's mostly known for being a conservative commentator.

Anyway. This is all just lead-up to my point. He was on CNN yesterday, talking about why homosexuals can't be allowed in the military.

Check it:

• CHETRY: Mark, in your opinion, do you think don't-ask/don't-tell is successful?
  
  MARK SMITH, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR & CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY: Well, I think we have to keep in mind that the military is about winning wars.

  And, as a civilian, I'm not comfortable second-guessing the military with respect to military policy during a time of war. To me, putting openly gay people in the military is a social experiment. And now is not the time for it.

  But, certainly, there -- there certainly are concerns about having, you know, openly gay people in the military. I mean, the example I like to give is if -- for example, if you put me in a platoon with nothing but, let's say, Hooter waitresses, that's going to distract me, and I'm not going to be focused on winning the war. I am going to be focused on other things.

  And that's the sort of tension, that, frankly, can hurt the morale and hurt the fighting mission. So, to me, I understand what the military is getting at. And I'm not here to second-guess military decisions on these kinds of critical issues about winning wars.

You're kidding, me, right?

A NEWSFLASH TO EVERY HUMAN BEING THAT TRIES TO MAKE THIS POINT:

HOMOSEXUALS ARE ALREADY IN THE MILITARY, YOU MORONS.

And thanks to Pam's House Blend for this stupendous graphic, which brought tears of joy to my eyes:

Your email may sleep soundly now. Robert Alan Soloway was arrested yesterday!

Is it bad that all I can think of is someone sending people packages of this:



DID YOU EVEN KNOW THEY HAD MORE SPAM VARITIES THAN JUST REGULAR OLD SPAM????? I feel like my entire worldview was shattered 45 seconds ago.

Hopefully, a federal grand jury will go after the top 10 Chain Mail Creators soon, too.

This is more proof that God is dead and the end of the world is here. Kevin Federline is writing and recording a second album.

A SECOND ALBUM. MEANING HE SOMEHOW THOUGHT THAT, AFTER HIS FIRST PIECE OF GARBAGE, PEOPLE WANTED TO HEAR MORE.

Sigh.

There soon will be a reality TV show where contestants will compete for a kidney transplant.

We are all doomed.

This past weekend, I went to two of the final Good Riddance shows.

I first heard Good Riddance when I was 11; just before my 12th birthday, a friend at school handed me a tape with "For God and Country" doubled up on it. (The album was on both sides.) I was just getting into skateboarding at the time and this was the perfect album to skate around my sketchy neighborhood in the outskirts of Riverside. I can't tell you how many times I listened to that album while skating down to the park, riding up and down the hills, trying to avoid all the shit that would fall out of the trees that overhung the sidewalk.

I saw them for the first time at The Showcase Theatre in Corona 2 years later. Since then, I can't count how many times I've been a part of their shows. 20? 30?

It doesn't matter. My friend Mikkei, his gal Shauna, and I all took the trip up to Santa Cruz on Sunday. After fooling around town all day (including the longest bout of Mario Kart I've ever played and far too much vegan food at The Saturn Cafe), we all got to be a part of their final show.

As cliche as this sounds, words can't describe what the experience meant to me. Beyond being a large part of my childhood, my teenage years, my high school life, Good Riddance has had an enormous impact on my politics. On my ethics. On my musical taste. (I swear, I hear Good Riddance in half of the shit I write.)

As I stepped away from the stage after the impromptu Black Flag cover, I could feel tears welling my eyes. I didn't cry, but I probably should have. I'd feel better about this than I do right now.

I miss you already, Good Riddance. The punk/hardcore scene will never be the same.



Photos:

Gallery of shots from show at The El Rey (Hollywood) on May 25, 2007.

Gallery of shots from my day in Santa Cruz and the show at The Catalyst (Santa Cruz) on May 27, 2007.

Videos:

From The El Rey:

No Trigger - You Said It

Good Riddance:
More Depalma, Less Fellini
Last Believer
Letters Home

From The Catalyst:

Good Riddance:
Heresy, Hypocrisy, and Revenge
Weight of The World
Without Anger
Out of Mind
A Credit To His Gender
Last Believer
Fertile Fields
Shadows of Defeat
Letters Home
Indoctrination
Not So Bad
30 Day Wonder
Steps
Shit-Talking Capitalists
Libertine

Call for Encore.

Pisces/Almost Home
Winning The Hearts and Minds
Mother Superior
Waste

Good Riddance leaves the stage.
Good Riddance - Nervous Breakdown (Black Flag)

Good Riddance: Both to the band and to being a kid again. We all have to grow old. I just don't want to accept it.

This is where I'm buying all my clothes from now on:

Christian Domestic Discipline Store.

COULD YOU IMAGINE ME WEARING THIS?



THIS IS THE FUNNIEST SITE ON THE WHOLE INTERWEBZ.

(Thanks, BoingBoing.)

Funny that I just left someone a note about this very issue here on Buzznet.

But this is a prime example about how I'm treated like a second-class citizen simply because I was born with a different sexual preference than the mainstream.

I can't donate blood. The FDA has a lifetime ban against giving blood if you've ever engaged in sex with another man. (Not women. Also, I'm put in the same category as anyone who's used intravenous drugs or been paid for sex. Nice.)

Even though the other three leading centers for blood donation have proposed to remove the ban because of it's absurdity, the FDA still asserts it's necessary. You know, because only gay men get HIV.

Sigh.

(Crossposted at Pam's Houseblend.)

 However, even though the horse is clearly dead, Poland's government-appointed childrens' rights watchdog is pitching a fit over this:



Unfortunately, I'm serious.

Ewa Sowinski is "concerned" about the "homosexual undertones" the purple Teletubby gives off.

Sigh.

It's bad enough your son died. I know how terrible it is to lose someone you love dearly.

But that doesn't mean that you get to sue the people YOUR drunk, seatbelt-less, distracted son CRASHED INTO.

It makes absolutely no sense at all. Stop using your son's death to suck money out of other people.

An investigative reporter claims to have the 500 missing Rove emails that mysteriously were "deleted." And in these emails is proof that the Justice Department is "infested with operatives taking orders from Rove to steal upcoming elections for Republicans and permanently alter the Department."

Holy. Fuck.

Could this be true??????

Courtesy of the United States.

We foolishly rejected the Kyoto Protocol back in 2001. 6 years later, we're foolishly rejecting Germany's bid to get us to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Seriously. Read what we had to say:

• "The U.S. still has serious, fundamental concerns about this draft statement," it said in red ink comments at the start of a copy of the draft communique seen by Reuters on Friday.

  G8 president Germany wants the meeting to agree targets and timetables for steep cuts in emissions and increases in energy efficiency in transport and power generation.

  "The treatment of climate change runs counter to our overall position and crosses multiple 'red lines' in terms of what we simply cannot agree to," the U.S. comments continued.

  "We have tried to 'tread lightly' but there is only so far we can go given our fundamental opposition to the German position."

Fundamental opposition??? This is all Germany is asking us:

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel, supported by British Prime Minister
  Tony Blair, wants agreement to curb the rise in average temperatures this century to two degrees Celsius, to cut global emissions by 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and to raise energy efficiency in power and transport by 20 percent by 2020.

SHE'S NOT FUCKING ASKING YOU TO SACRIFICE YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD, ASSHOLE. STOP ACTING LIKE IT.

Again, we are doomed.

I don't shop there, so I haven't, but in light of a new lawsuit against the retail company, maybe you should reconsider shopping there.

Connecticut's Attorney General has sued Best Buy for purposely deceiving customers through a faulty bait-and-switch.

Here's how it goes. You see something on Best Buy's website, advertised for x price. You go into the store. You ask how much said item is. They tell you: price y. But you say, "Well, I saw it online for price x!"

The Best Buy employee directs you to a kiosk, where he pulls up the Best Buy "website" to show you that it is advertised as price y. You can't argue with that, so you pay price y.

Here's what that employee failed to tell you:

• "Previously, the company confirmed that store employees have access to an internal Web site that looks nearly identical to the public BestBuy.com site..."

That site the employee showed you? It's fake.

Assholes.

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN LAST NIGHT'S SEASON FINALE. MIND-BLOWING SPOILERS AHEAD.



Well, what the hell?

Let's go down what we know:

13 confirmed deaths. 2 suggested deaths. (Charlie and Naomi.)
13 of The Others died.
Walt appeared to Locke, who seems to know more about what the island is.
Penny has no idea who Naomi is, meaning Ben may not have been lying about who she was.
Jack called for help successfully.

But the most important revelation was that all of the Jack-centric flashbacks weren't flashbacks at all: They were flash forwards.

They get off the fucking island.

So we've got 7 god-awful months until season 4 starts. Time to start theorizing.

Hi y'all. I do more than just write for Buzznet; I'm starting to take photography just a tiny bit more seriously.

I use the office's communal digital camera when I can. It takes WONDERFUL macro shots.

Anyway, check 'em out:

Immigrants' Rights Rally: I took pictures of the massive rally on May 17, 2007 right outside my apartment. The rally was in support of immigration reform that benefits immigrants. It was also a vigil for those injured by police brutality during the May Day Protest of 2007.

Protest Mural: I pass this mural everytime I'm passing through Silverlake, and especially when I'm on my way to Vegan House, my favorite vegan restaurant in LA. It's gorgeous, playful, colorful, and makes a great statement about the L.A. activist youth. I like to think I'm the edge kid.

My ex-dog Sandy: The few photos I have of the dog I only had for 2 days. Watch this video for the full story.

Enjoy guys!

Passive-Aggressive Notes from Roommates, Neighbors, Coworkers, and Strangers.

The title is self-explanatory. Let me give you a few examples:



Nice.



Story of my life. Especially when I lived in dorms.




Hmph. Someone's a bit testy.

But more in a whimsical matter. Still, it's insane.

Hasan Elahi was put on a government terrorist watchlist, apparently by "mistake." To prove he's an innocent man, Elahi has put the past three years of his life online.

Every single day.
Every single meal.
Everything he's bought.
Everywhere he's gone.
Where he is right this very moment.

His site, TrackingTransience.net, keeps going down. (I assume from the insane traffic it's been getting.) What I find so interesting is that, as Elahi puts it, by placing everything about his life online, he puts Big Brother out of business. (And Big Brother is indeed watching; he's logged hits from the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Office of the President.)

It's an odd reversal of roles and I admire Elahi for taking these matters into his own hands.  "It's economics," he says. "I flood the market."

Genius, really.

I want to know if Jessica Vaughan actually has any understanding of what came out of her mouth last night on PBS.

The immigration reform battle in Washington certainly has brought out the best in people, like Lou Dobbs asserting that we have the capacity, as the United States, to just deport every undocumented immigrant.

Right.

Anyway, during last night's episode of Newshour on PBS, Jessica Vaughan had a suggestion on how to curb illegal immigration:

Make "this a more inhospitable place to be for people who are working in the country illegally.” She added that “people are eventually going to give up and go home on their own. And that’s what the American people most definitely wants to see happen.”


..............................................................................................


Speechless. How do you respond to such lunacy? And how do you make the work environment here "inhospitable"?

I don't get it.

This Sunday, at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, I will watch Good Riddance play for the last time in my life. It's a bittersweet thought, one made a tiny bit more awesome to learn that it will be recorded for a posthumous live album.

You don't listen to Good Riddance? There is clearly something wrong with you.

All you have to do is preach to inner-city 10 year olds and ask for their address.

Because it's never ok to talk to strangers, kids. Unless, of course, they're from Jesus!

(Cross posted from Shakesville.)

I can't believe this story, posted on Pam's Houseblend, originating from After Elton. After Elton just published their second half of a story on gay newsmen and I'm shocked to discover that the executive producer over at FOX News, who are single-handedly responsible for some of the most virulent anti-gay messages on the air right now, is openly gay.

FOX is ok with it.
Bill O'Reilly is tolerant.
So is Sean Hannity.

David Brown is open around the office. His colleagues know he's gay. So do his superiors. And he brags about how tolerant and accepting everyone is.

David Brown, I want you to explain the following:

• Bill O'Reilly asserting that if same-sex parents were ok and natural, then people could get pregnant by eating a cupcake.
• Bill O'Reilly assuring the world that there is no homosexual persecution in Mexico. He said, "...don't wear a dress and you'll be ok."
• Bill O'Reilly constantly lying/manipulating/misrepresenting facts pertaining to gay marriage.
• Bill O'Reilly worried about fascism and gay cannibals.
• Bill O'Reilly hates The New York Times for publishing so many gay-positive stories.
• Sean Hannity supports the use of the word, "faggot" by Ann Coulter.
• Have you read this book?

I don't need to go any further.

My question to you, David Brown, is a little personal. You don't have to answer it. (And I don't expect you to even see this.)

What's it like to look in the mirror in the morning?  Does it ever dawn on you that, as you take home your weighty paychecks each month, your actions are fueling the fire of homophobic hatred in thousands of hearts at home? Or does your bank account keep you happy?

You are nothing but scum to me.

It fills me with such utter delight!

I'm not going to go on my usual rant about the incompatibility between homosexuality and Christianity; instead, I'm going to point out something much funnier in this story about two bishops who won't be invited to....well, what I can best understand as some sort of Anglican summer camp. For bishops.

The archbishop in charge of the invitations said this:

• "I have to reserve the right to withhold or withdraw invitations from bishops whose appointment, actions or manner of life have caused exceptionally serious division or scandal within the Communion," Williams wrote in his invitations, which were sent out on Tuesday.

Now, the first sentence in the article:

• The archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual head of 77 million Anglicans worldwide, has not invited two wayward bishops to a major conference next year, a move likely to stir controversy in the deeply divided communion.

Looks like the archbishop of Canterbury is going to have to retract his own invitation this year.

Lovely.

Seriously?

I don't put any sort of faith in surveys and the statistics pulled from them; I hardly think that choosing a random selection of 1,000 people who are Muslim, and then extrapolating that to 2.35 million Muslim-Americans....doesn't that seem quite absurd to you?

But that Yahoo! article up above you certainly succeeds at sensationalist reporting and I can't wait to hear how many right wing talking points will be derived from this drivel.

I mean that, too. Look at the kind of shit they put emphasis on:

• One in four younger U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances, though most Muslim Americans overwhelmingly reject the tactic and are critical of Islamic extremism and al-Qaida, a poll says.

That quote is structured to suggest that a quarter of the Muslim youth is ok with suicide bombings, when I'm sure the issue isn't that black and white.

In addition, the article also seems to lend sincerity and validity to the study by saying this:

• The survey by the Pew Research Center, one of the most exhaustive ever of the country's Muslims,

WHAT THE HELL? They only polled 1,050 Muslims! How is that "exhaustive"??? That's only .04% of the entire Muslim-American population!

I really hate our media system.

Or leaked. Not sure.

The folks over at Bad-Religion.net have somehow gotten their hands on "Heroes and Martyrs," only this time it appears to be a mastered version of the song, as opposed to a live recording.

Check it out. It clocks in under 1:30. Fast. Catchy. And the chorus has a most wonderful three-part harmony. I dig it.



Hahaha! Look, it's Bobby Schayer.

Do people just become complete morons once a small child is put in their possession?

(By the way, I'm listening to "The Mariner's Revenge Song" by The Decemberists while writing this. It's kind of odd.)

A woman running a day care in Lafayette, Tennessee HID 3 CHILDREN IN A STORAGE ROOM so that she wouldn't fail an inspection by Human Services. She put them in a pen, pinned a blanket over the top, and left them, crying, and then tried to disguise the storage room with a sign that said, "Private Day Care does not go beyond this door."

YOU IDIOT. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WATCHING KIDS?

Because, for the last seven years, they've allowed homosexuals to openly serve in their military.

And guess what?

There aren't any problems.

I can't wait to read all the bogus statements that will claim that it's because they're British and the British are already "pretty gay." Sigh.

Seriously.

I was running this yesterday morning and my foot landed in a hole hidden by the thick grass I was on. After I sprained my ankle, I cried out to Satan. That asshole.

When I got home, I was pretty peeved. There was this kid practicing his trumpet next door to me. That goddamn horn....fuck. Piercing. So I went over to his place, beat down the door, dragged the kid to the roof of the building, and threw him 8 stories to his death.

That's a true story I made up.

So then, when I get back to my apartment, the baby above starts crying. She was only 2 months old, but she should know better by now, right? So I bolted up the stairs, grabbed her, and stuck her in the microwave.

Also a true story I made up.

Why did I do this? Because I was goddamn possessed! I couldn't help myself, guys. Satan is just soooo powerful. He controlled my actions and led me to sprain my ankle, throw a kid off the roof, and stuff an infant in a microwave. What an asshole!

Good thing I now know there's someone else out there who is just like me.

That's what Exxon-Mobil is, though I'm not the slightest bit surprised at all. In fact, I expected it.

At the beginning of this year, Exxon Mobil finally started to make the transition towards acknowledging that not only is global warming a problem, but that it's a direct (and indirect) cause of human action. They even pledged not to fund an organization known to denounce global warming.

Great. A step in the right direction. Unfortunately, they've been exposed for taking 14 steps backwards.

As I said, I'm not surprised. Whatever best serves their interests!

I shall resume blogging as usual. Ain't nothin' here to stop me!

President Bush recently threatened that he'd veto a defense spending bill that included a pay raise for deployed soldiers. Without even going into details, it seems like a ludicrous notion in and of itself. I thought the president wanted to send a good message to the troops?..........

Last night, on Keith Olbermann's Countdown, Todd Bowers, an Iraq war veteran, broke down the pay raise. (Click the link for a video.)

$6. Per average servicemember. PER MONTH. That's the percentage Bush is willing to veto over.

6 measly dollars.

Holy fuck.

Kiki Kannibal has not been banned or deleted from Buzznet. Kiki has been a colorful and unique asset to this site. Like everyone else, she is welcome here.  Buzznet is an online home to a wide array of diverse people and opinions. We value this diversity and encourage our members to participate in the ongoing interaction that is part of any vibrant social network. However, certain standards of civility are expected to be met, and Buzznet does reserve the right to take action when individual users violate the spirit of community.

That said, please refrain from leaving abusive comments to any Buzznet staff or any fan of Kiki Kannibal or anyone else on this site or elsewhere.  Keep in mind that things said online are also read by actual human beings on the other end of the world wide web.

Not too long.
Not unwashed.
No mohawk.
No weird designs.

Derek Jackson's hair was simply too short.

TOO SHORT!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone please rationalize this for me.

A DOG. NURSES TIGER KITTIES.

Life doesn't get much better.

And one with incredibly thick eyebrows, at that. God, that makes me SO boring.

I believe it's integral to pay attention to what the Democratic and Republican candidates are saying, leading up to the primaries and onto the actual 2008 election.

Case in point: During the most recent Republican debate a couple days ago, both Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani demonstrated a complete ignorance of human rights laws, history, and our current political environment.

How so?

Mitt Romney would like to double the size of Guantanamo. Nevermind that the detainee prison openly violates human rights and the Geneva accord. (And nevermind that President Bush has even publicly stated that he'd like to shut it down.)

• The White House has said it aims to close the Guantanamo camp, but Romney said during the debate, "My view is, we ought to double Guantanamo."

  He added that terrorism suspects should be kept in the military prison camp to keep them without access to legal counsel.

  "I want them in Guantanamo where they don't get the access to lawyers they get when they're on our soil. I don't want them in our prisons. I want them there," said Romney.

It's apparent that Mitt Romney doesn't give a shit about American law NOR international law.

Let's move on to Rudy Giuliani:

• Giuliani, who was mayor of New York during the September 11, 2001 attacks, said extreme interrogation techniques would be justified if an attack was being planned.

  "I would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they could think of," said Giuliani. "Shouldn't be torture, but every method they can think of."

  Those methods could include the controversial use of "waterboarding," he said.

  "I would support them in doing that because I can see what can happen when you make a mistake," he said.

HE WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT!

Don't let this happen.

DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE. SPOILERS AHEAD!



A Charlie-centric episode in which, suprisingly, Charlie didn't die. The episode operated in 5 flashbacks, Charlie's "greatest hits," which all composed a note Charlie wrote to Claire. Accepting his fate that he needs to die in order for Claire and Aaron to get rescued, he swims down to The Looking Glass, an underwater Dharma station.

But he discovers there are two women inside!

I enjoyed the episode. It obviously existed to set up the season finale, but I enjoyed the character of Charlie. If he kicks the bucket next week, I'll be pretty bummed.

Discuss. And speculate about next week's gnarly episode.

Ah, my beloved gypsy punks, deliver me from musical mediocrity!

It looks like July 10, 2007 will be the day we are lifted on high from the depths of shitty music with Super Taranta!

Here's what Eugene Hutz has to say about it:

• With Super Taranta! Gogol Bordello is going to conquer the world. Everything on the album is taken to the next level. It’s more direct, more abstract, more focused, with more dark humor. The dub parts are deeper; the fast parts are faster, its pure orgasmo hysteria.
  
  Victor has been a fan since the beginning of the band and we often spoke about making an album together. He’s not afraid to experiment in any way; he’ll go wherever we’re willing to go. If we say: ‘This track is gypsy speed metal dub,’ he says: ‘OK let’s do it.’ No hesitation.”

That's precisely what I want to hear.

Especially Congress. WHO JUST INVITED RUSH LIMBAUGH TO SPEAK.

It's for a summer lecture series. But get this: It's "for interns to hear prominent members of government speak about their personal experiences in public services."

Since when was Rush Limbaugh a "prominent" member of the government?

LKJDSFFHJKFDSHJFDKLJFEJKL234%^%#^5432#

Fuck, that is such a terrifying sentence to type. I truly hope I'm wrong.

But Steve Benen over at Crooks and Liars just made a great point. Just before we went to war with Iraq, President Bush had a special counsel with Pat Robertson (everyone's favorite Christian!) to consult with him about what he should do. Shortly thereafter, we went to war.

Not that they're inexplicably tied. Just stating the facts.

But that's also why Benen finds it disturbing (as do I) that James Dobson met with the president to discuss Iran.

Besides the fact that Dobson has virtually no foreign policy experience and is in no way qualified to give advice about Iran, I'm going to remind all of you on Buzznet why this man should not be listened to:

• State Universities are breeding grounds, quite literally, for sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV), homosexual behavior, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, alcoholism, and drug abuse.
• One of the problems with sex education... is that it also strips kids - especially girls - of their modesty to have every detail of anatomy, physiology and condom usage made explicit.
• My observation is that women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership.
• [P]ain is a marvelous purifier. . . It is not necessary to beat the child into submission; a little bit of pain goes a long way for a young child. However, the spanking should be of sufficient magnitude to cause the child to cry genuinely.
• Some strong-willed children absolutely demand to be spanked, and their wishes should be granted. . . [T]wo or three stinging strokes on the legs or buttocks with a switch are usually sufficient to emphasize the point, 'You must obey me.
• Isn't it amazing that there's such a sizable number of people in the media and in the liberal community that despise this country and its freedoms, and they're doing everything they can to undermine it?
• Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth.
• [T]he boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are decidedly different from the games he would play with a little girl. He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger. [SERIOUSLY. What the fuck????]
• Christians have made arguments on both sides of this question. I certainly believe that God is displeased with America for its pride and arrogance, for killing 40 million unborn babies, for the universality of profanity and for other forms of immorality. However, rather than trying to forge a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the terrorist attacks and America’s abandonment of biblical principles, which I think is wrong, we need to accept the truth that this nation will suffer in many ways for departing from the principles of righteousness. "The wages of sin is death," as it says in Romans 6, both for individuals and for entire cultures.

Ah. Let the lunatics speak for themselves.

Last night, I attended a Special Task Force of the City Council, which was essentially an emergency meeting of the Los Angeles City Council. The meeting, held across the street from my apartment at Charles White Elementary School, was meant to give the community an update on the investigations being conducted into the events of May 1, 2007. (May Day Protests.)

For the record, this is what happened to me. I was dragged across the asphault on Wilshire Blvd for just trying to go home. I stood on top of my apartment and watched the LAPD rid the area of everyone who was around.

When I heard about the meeting last week, I knew I had to go, not only for opportunity to speak, but because I was concerned about police presence in my neighborhood. I knew from overhearing conversations in my building that quite a few residents in the area were planning on showing up early, so I left work just before 5pm. I dropped my bag at my apartment, grabbed a notepad and a pen, and headed across Wilshire to the elementary school.

There were 6 news vans on the north side of Wilshire. ABC. NBC. FOX. KTLA. 52. There were even more across the street and reporters and citizens were streaming in and out of the front entrance to the building. I walked up the double set of stairs to the main courtyard. I signed in at the table in front of the entrance that led to the school auditorium. Camera men were rushing by, yelling on their phones about connections and transmissions. I feared that this meeting wouldn’t be for the community; it was going to become a media circus.

I followed the maze of stairs down to the lower level in the school’s auditorium. I was surprised to find that, despite the media section on the left overflowing with cameras and reporters, the actual auditorium seats themselves were pretty empty. I walked straight to the front and sat in the first row, just a bit to the right of the podium where members of the community were going to be allowed to speak. A man named Raymond was sitting next to me, one seat away. Raymond was an interesting guy, mostly for his ability to be frightening loud and to remember the most banal minutia about EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. I envy that kind of memory, even if mine is pretty damn good.

The 5 City Council Members present were:

Ed P. Reyes (My Council Member)
Jack Weiss
Wendy Greuel
Jose Huizar
Jan Perry

By 6:00PM, the room was nearly full and the meeting began. Ed Reyes opened the meeting with a bunch of rhetorical nonsense that, apparently, was so unimportant that I did not feel the need to take any notes. Sigh.

Jack Weiss made secondary comments and stated that what we needed was to assure public confidence in the LAPD again. No one reacted to what he said.

Wendy Greuel added that the purpose of this meeting was to promote “transparency” in the proceedings and the investigations and, more importantly, “to listen to [us].”

The only thing notable that Jose Huizar said was in his opening sentence: “I am not happy to be here.” Thanks, asshole. Glad to know you care about your community.

The first of MANY exasperated and frustrated outbursts from the collective audience of community leaders, residents, and activists came shortly afterwards. Ed Reyes began to speak on Item 1 on the agenda (which is: “Role of The City Council in overseeing investigations into the events that took place in MacArthur Park on May 1, 2007”) and made the comment that we needed to “rebuild the confidence that the Rampart Division has spent years building up.” This was met with heated cries of frustration and disbelief. Rightfully so, as the Rampart Division of the LAPD is known for being insanely controversial.

As Ed Reyes attempted to move on to Item #2, an audience member stood up and said he would like to make a statement and comment on Item 1. He was denied, but he quickly came back with a rebuttal, invoking the Brown Act of California. (This guy came prepared and I was so impressed.)  Read about the Brown Act here. Essentially, it’s illegal for any meeting to not be open to the public, and ALL ITEMS on an agenda that have not been discussed before are open to a public commentary. Throughout the meeting, this was routinely violated. In fact, a motion was approved by the public to allow public comments (and passed with a very hearty “AY!”), but this was ignored as well.

But on to even more pressing items. Chief William Bratton was next to speak. He droned for over half an hour about filing this report and opening this investigation and BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. I wanted to put a rifle in my mouth, both because I was so hopelessly bored and because I was so frustrated that our time was being wasted. We were told the meeting had to end at 8:30 and that was in less than 2 hours.

Two notable things Chief Bratton said:

1)    He made it very clear he was more concerned about using the video evidence to arrest those who initiated the attacks on the LAPD. I brought up this point later when I got a chance to speak.

2)    He made it very clear that he wanted to assuage the anger that media expressed for    the way they were treated. He made no point to say the same thing about the citizens and innocent victims

There were many calls for Bratton to resign and stop lying to us at that point.

Assistant Chief Bill MacDonald spoke next. The only interesting thing he said was that he was going to open a counter-terrorist investigation into the “anarchist faction” that was “masked” and agitated the LAPD. This was met by many loud groans.

During both of these presentations, it seemed that the Council Members were only capable of asking questions that simply rephrased exactly what the Police Chief and Asst. Chief had just stated. My personal favorite came when Jack Weiss asked exactly how complicated the investigations will be, right after Asst. Chief MacDonald did EXACTLY that. Were they purposely wasting our time?

Realizing that we were frustrated and restless, Ed Reyes began calling speaker cards to allow the public to speak. I had turned mine in early and, in between taking notes, I had written out what I wanted to say. The first speaker was a man by the name of Bob Woolridge. He very quickly aligned himself with the LAPD and criticized everyone else for upsetting the police. He was booed and shouted at heavily during his 2 minutes of allowed time and when he referred to the protestors as “these people,” suffice to say, people got pissed.

And then, just two speakers in, Ed Reyes called my name. And for the first time in many years, I felt that nervous flutter before speaking. I hadn’t felt it in many years from my days of debate and mock trial in high school. I’ve always been pretty ballsy about speaking in public; but as I stood in an elementary school auditorium, those familiar tones of tan, that dusty tile floor I remember so clearly, I suddenly felt as if I was about to be graded.

Here's a picture of me, taken by Marc Brown, just seconds before I went up. (Raymond is on the end.)




Shit, my hearts pumping again. Ha.

Here is what I said to the council, almost verbatim. (I winged it in a few parts.)

My name is Mark Oshiro. My address is [NO YOU’RE NOT GETTING MY ADDRESS]

[A man interrupts me. “Don’t give them your address.”]

I don’t care.

[Same man: “They’ll come knocking.”]

I don’t care. I dare them too.

I was born here in LA. I’ve lived in the city the last four years. I currently live across the street in the Park Wilshire apartments. I began working for Buzznet.com and our offices were located across the street in the American Cement Building. I photographed and took video of both the May Day Protests this year and last year in 2006. I’ve also been an activist for many social causes for the past 8 years.

I was treated like a criminal on May 1, 2007. I was dragged by 5 LAPD officers across the asphault on Wilshire Blvd just while trying to go home. I was forced to sit on a curb, sitting on my hands, for 45 minutes. I had to sneak back into my own home. I was told that this was for my own safety. [I turn and look directly at Bratton.] I ask you, from whom was I being kept safe from? I’d say it was from the LAPD.

My concern is this: What happened on May 1, 2007 is simply a repeat of what happened in 2006. No one seems to be talking about the “riots” that took place in response to police action after the protest was over last year. I witnessed and (captured on video) police rush and beat unarmed protestors operating within the rights of their permit and their right to assemble. There was NO City Council meeting, NO special task force, and only ONE fleeting mention of the event on NBC. Exactly a year later, the police violence is repeated. Only this time it escalates to include tear gas and rubber bullets.

My question to the council is, “Does this mean anything to you?” And what should all of us expect to see in 2008? We do NOT need verbal promises and we don’t need verbal assurances. We need policy change to ensure our confidence in the LAPD. There has not been a single mention of any possible disciplinary action for any LAPD officers who may have broken policy.

So I’m scared, and I’m sure all these people are too, that we won’t be given that.

I sat back down, amid applause and cheers. My adrenaline had kicked in about 10 seconds in front of that council and I wasn’t nervous anymore. I felt confident; not that the council would do anything, but that I had said my part.

I listened to everyone else who came up to speak. Sofia Gonzales spoke alongside her attorney. She had been struck on the head and in the eye by a police baton and begged Bratton to justify the pain she felt. He stayed silent.

Cynthia Anderson Barker, a civil rights lawyer, gave an excellent speech about how the police reforms created since the violence at the Democratic National Convention in 2000 had been violated on May 1, 2007. She stated that she had 4 clients suffering from head trauma as a result of the beatings. (Head strikes are considered excessive use of force.) In addition, she also presented facts that showed that the city was failing to provide any physical or mental treatment for the victims of the attacks.

Summer Reese, a local activist, presented her side. She witnessed police beating protestors and the Aztec dancers a full hour before the first shots of rubber bullets were fired. She knew that the “anarchist” attacks were merely protestors acting out to aggression from the police, who, in reality, initiated the violence first.

My old friend Federico Gonazles, whom I’ve volunteered with at Libros Revolucion in downtown LA, gave a rousing speech entirely in Spanish and received the largest crowd response.

I left the meeting frustrated and unsatisfied. Quite a few reporters took statements from me and I have an interview later this week with someone from the L.A. Weekly. I’ve also been told I appeared on the news last night.

But I fear that none of this will matter.

CNN's front page.

Doesn't Didn't he believe that all death was divine retribution?

Either way, I am not sad at his passing. But I'll miss his batshit crazy, pseudo-Christian ramblings. Less to laugh at.



Is that a photo of himself behind him??? HE'S ALREADY HAUNTING HIMSELF.

WHAT THE FUCK? THIS IS SO FUCKING RIDICULOUS THAT I MUST INSIST ON USING ALL CAPS BECAUSE, IN MY HEAD, I'M SHOUTING.

THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION IS DONATING ALL THE CONFISCATED LIQUIDS THAT ARE POTENTIAL SAFETY THREATS TO HOMELESS SHELTERS.

THAT MEANS ONE OF TWO THINGS:

1) THEY ARE HOPING THESE DANGEROUS "LIQUIDS" WILL EXTERMINATE ALL OF OUR NATION'S POOR AND DOWNTRODDEN

OR, MORE IMPORTANTLY:

2) THEY AREN'T FUCKING DANGEROUS TO BEGIN WITH.

MY HEAD JUST HIT MY TABLE. HARD.

If this is true, then goddamn. Lock me up.

Meaning at it's absolute worse, because this is so absurd, I can't even begin to wrap my head around the story that a Pasadena online newspaper is looking for writers to cover local news.

BUT YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN INDIA.

THE COUNTRY.

Let me try this again. James MacPherson, who edits and publishes www.pasadenanow.com, believes he can save money by hiring writers who live in India.

Pasadena is about 20 minutes east of Los Angeles.

INDIA IS LIKE 20 MILLION MILES AWAY.

INDIA.
INDIA.
INDIA.
INDIA.

Thanks for turning journalism into a fine business art, James MacPherson.

Did I just break my own "no name-calling" rule? Bah. I MAKE THE RULES. I CAN BREAK THEM.

Ha. Back to more serious issues at hand. A group of teachers, while their students were on a field trip, staged a fake gun attack on their own students. As a "learning experience." (Those aren't my words.)

I simply don't have any words for this. There's the obvious, which I already stated in this blog title. But I'm more concerned with the long-term effect this is going to have on these kids.

I had a gun put in my face last year. It wasn't the first time. I live in LA, so, unfortunately, it probably won't be the last. That doesn't make the experience any less traumatic, even if I'm (sort of) used to that level of violence.

That being said, I can't imagine how these kids are coping. They're from Mursfreesboro, Tennessee. Have you even HEARD of that place? Do guns even exist there???

Not the point. The point is that this is going to be far more than just a "learning experience" for these kids. When you have a gun pointed at you, you're not thinking proactively. You just want to survive.

Yeah, that seems ridiculous. But it's true!

Maybe you've seen the recent ad spots that www.chemistry.com has been running, in which they claim that over 1 million people have been rejected from eHarmony.

The first time I saw it, about two weeks ago, I nearly had a heart attack of joy. (I don't know if that's even possible, but I'm all about gregarious exaggerations this morning.) I know someone who works at eHarmony and I also know (from them) that they're not the biggest fan of we gays. (Us gays?)

Anyway, click the link above to see the ad they're running. (Chemistry.com, that is.) Also, you'll read this:

• "We're trying to reach the whole world - people of all spiritual orientations, all political philosophies, all racial backgrounds," [Neil Clark] Warren says. [Founder of eHarmony.]
  

  ...Warren says eHarmony promotes heterosexual marriage, about which he has done extensive research. He says he does not know enough about gay and lesbian relationships to do same-sex matching. It "calls for some very careful thinking. Very careful research." He adds that same-sex marriage is illegal in most states. "We don't really want to participate in something that's illegal."

KJKLJ;AF@#$#$%%$^9U0DFGSJLK;SDF$

I'm a fan of letting people choose who they want for, no matter how much I may despise the candidate they choose. That's the whole point of a democracy.

But I'm going to draw a line in the sand right now:

If you vote for Rudy Giuliani in any sort of fashion, I will stop being your friend. Instantly. No questions asked. Because I will know that you're an uninformed moron.

How will I know that? Because Giuliani's campaign team just turned down an appearance at an Iowa farm because the people who aren't it were poor.

Even worse? That's not even an exaggeration.

• Deb and Jerry VonSprecken received a call last weekend from Rudy Giuliani's campaign, asking if they'd host a campaign rally on their Iowa farm. They were delighted to accept, and started making preparations. Then the campaign called back.

  “They wanted to know our assets,” she revealed, and added that she and Jerry have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle.

  Later she received a call from Tony Delgado at the Des Monies location.

  “Tony said, ‘I’m sorry, you aren’t worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the Death Tax right now.’ then he said they weren’t going to be able to come,” Deb continued.

  The Death Tax is a federal version of the Iowa Inheritance Tax.

  The VonSpreckens then called Delgado back and told him how upset they were that the event had been cancelled, how much work they had done and that they had been expecting 75-100 people at their farm.

  “I invited him into my home,” Deb said of Giuliani, fighting back tears.

Oh.
Hell.
No.

Wait! It gets worse.

• And it doesn't even end there, by the way. Turns out the campaign called them back after all that, according to the paper, and offered them a consolation prize: The opportunity to get their picture taken with Rudy. The couple dismissed this as an effort to "cover their butts" -- presumably meaning that the campaign was hoping they wouldn't go to the media, or something.

This is just....wow. It's so blatant!

Fuck Rudy Giuliani.

And I'm sure conservative radio host "Gunny" Bob Newman would be the first to volunteer to help out.

Check out what this asshole said:

• NEWMAN: I want -- tell me if I'm wrong or tell me if I'm right. I want every Muslim immigrant to America who holds a green card, a visa, or who is a naturalized citizen to be required by law to wear a GPS tracking bracelet at all times. And the FBI and the NSA should monitor their phones and their emails, all communications -- electronic -- at all times, as well as bug their places of work and their residences. If they don't like the idea, or if they refuse, throw their asses out of this country. All mosques and community centers as well as Muslim organizations must be monitored. We know with the arrests today that the Muslim terrorists are absolutely, positively here -- and we invited them to our country! And I think maybe it's time that we should stop doing that. Call me kooky, but I think maybe it's time for a little moratorium on Muslim visas, period. Hey, I'm sorry, guys -- I know that a lot of you are great people. I know you just like to do business here or become a U.S. citizens and be a peaceful person. I know that. But you know what? You better get control of your own people. Once you get control of them, then come see us again and we'll think about -- however many decades down the road it is -- we'll think about maybe opening our doors to you again. But you are doing absolutely freaking nothing to help, to, to help this nation. And that's that.

Yikes. That's certainly tolerant, logical, and rational.

Not so much the people serving in it, but the douchebags who support that assinine, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Just three days ago, I blogged about Petty Officer Jason D. Knight being called back to duty, despite being openly gay. (And having been discharged because of it.)

Well, now the Navy has decided to reverse its decision and discharge Knight under that same policy...AGAIN.

YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. We already know that you let him come back, being openly gay. And because he told someone that you were being blatantly hypocritical because...well, GAYS CAN FIGHT TOO. IT DOESN'T FUCK UP THE MILITARY.

Anyway, because he decided to let the world know about this contradiction, you're going to give him the middle finger just 17 days short of him completing his current tour.

You can't do anymore damage control. In fact, this is probably the worst thing you could possibly do. Because you make your organization look like a spiteful fuckwad. Even worse, as Pam's Blend points out in the second link above, the number of felons you allow back into the military has doubled in the past three years! You'd rather have felons serving than someone who might want a dick in his mouth?

But seriously. Let's extrapolate that. Do you honestly think that, on the battlefield, deep in the trenches, a man like Jason Knight will turn to his fellow soldier and proceed to rape him out of some intrinsic homosexual desire? (I know Knight served in the Navy. I'm just making an example.)

So. Once again. Fuck the U.S. Military for perpetuating the myth that, as a gay man, I can't be around other straight men. I might go crazy!

Assholes.

GO ROB A STORE. WEARING WOMEN'S PANTIES WHILST DOING SO.

I swear, it will change your life.

More importantly, fuck Yahoo! News for not included any photos of this incident. You dropped the ball.

Someone go Photoshop crazy. Now!

Better than the new Nine Inch Nails, Broadway Calls, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Pig Destroyer. COMBINED.

And there's no music in it at all!

Go here. Don't read the story. Go immediately to the right side, where it says, "Audio" in big bold letters. Click the play button. And listen to what happens when a cop eats pot brownies with his wife.

100% hysterical. I have never heard anyone so confidently assert they're dead.

Discuss.

I definitely think this story is the winner. (Via BoingBoing.)

A dead fawn is placed outside a Tacoma theatre. Dressed in infant clothes.

I don't have a witty joke. Or anything.

Only this:

Actually, he looks more dumbfounded in that picture.

And what the fuck is behind him? A hot white chick with a plant growing out of her vagina?

Seeing this, I don't feel compelled to use a condom. But I do feel compelled to beat the person who made it.

Oh yeah. You can buy this. Seriously.

On June 27, Tony Blair will step down as Britain's Prime Minister. After a decade of prominence, his reign of mediocrity will end!

Two words:

WARNING: Ridiculously insane spoilers ahead. DO NOT continue reading if you haven't seen last night's episode.



This was easily the most disturbing, shocking, and creepy episode of the show ever. EVER.

I am so goddamn upset that John Locke was shot. He's my favorite character (along with Sayid and Desmond) and it was honestly the last thing on my mind. Just....why???????????????????

But, trying to move on:

We know Ben is an evil motherfucker. He killed his father (as he had asked of John) and participated in the purging of original inhabitants of the island. (The Dharma Initiative.) We learned how he ended up on the island.

But even more mind-fucking than all this was the scenes between Locke, Ben, and "Jacob." Stupendous acting. And, if you freeze-stop one of the frames of the chair, there's actually someone sitting there! In fact, Jacob appeared for exactly 11 frames.

Don't believe me? LostEasterEggs has the screencaps.

Hmmm....doesn't that suspiciously look like Christian Shepard?? (Jack's dad)?

This was, by far, one of the best episodes the show has ever had. How the hell are they ever going to top this????

I CAN'T BREATHE. I AM LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY.

This is it: The absolute best story of 2007:

• Want free baseball tickets? All you had to do last night was show up at Miller Park, home to the Milwaukee Brewers, and let a doctor check your prostate.

  After the "free and confidential" rectal exam, you would have scored two free tickets to a future Brewers game.

JKJFKJKSDF@#$@# 324 90432 #$%$#% %435534#$%

I want to make a gay joke so bad. SO BAD.

Why did they choose this graphic to run with the story????


OH MY HOLY LORD. Did he just receive a rectal exam? HIS LOINS ARE ELECTRIC!!!

Please have at it, Buzznet. Make me proud.

Reason #8,356,657 not to eat at the shittiest of all eating establishments.

Let's get this on!

Susie Felber, of Felber's Frolics, ate at McDonalds for the first time in 15 years. She ordered a Grilled McChicken Sandwich. It's on the "healthy" menu, which, as I understand, completely defies all logic. Anyway, this is what she got:



That's pretty much one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen.

The story has been making the rounds (as it should) and BoingBoing just posted her response to this whole ordeal.

Again. Don't ever go to McDonalds. Ever.

EDIT: Yikes! I'm way behind. This story is exactly two months old. Sorry, Susie. But if it's any consolation, this story caused me to read some of your other blog entries and now I'm subscribed to your RSS feed. You've impressed me.

And, in the case of these students who were investigating public surveillance in Toronto, coincidence seemed to fall in their favor.

Watch the video at the link above. Apparently the bicyclist stopped at a yellow light, preventing the motorist from going. In response, he gets his tooth punched out. And it's all captured on camera.

I can certainly relate to this dilemma (though on a much lesser degree) because I'm a frequent victim of verbal attacks from drivers who are oblivious to a pedestrian's right of way. (Seriously. Try walking around in L.A. There isn't a day that goes by here that I'm not almost ran over.)

Moral of the story: Dude. It's a yellow light.

As I said in my video blog for today, the city of Los Angeles is in quite a flutter over the fire in Griffith Park.

For some more concrete information, as I don't consider my video ramblings to be that fact-filled, BoingBoing has compiled a thorough chronicle of the events, the sights, and the sounds.



Image courtesy of Flickr user Seanbonner. (Let me know if you want me to remove it.)

UPDATE: Look at this awesome photo:



Also, Dante's View, one of my favorite spots to hike to, HAS BEEN DESTROYED.

MAJOR BUMMER. :(

From their forthcoming album, Blackhawks Over Los Angeles.

And good Lord, it rips. So much.

Take a trip over to their MySpace profile to listen. It's catchy. It's fast. And it's got that ridiculous guitar work that I've come to love from these guys. Get on it!

This HAS to be the most ludicrous thing I've read this year. Two states (soon to be four) will restrict record stores from selling used CDs for 30 days after their purchase. It's a "waiting period" to prevent counterfeit and fake CDs. In addition, you can't sell them for cash either; just store credit.

Wait a minute. Since when was reselling counterfeit CDs an actual problem? In fact, who even does that? I've never purchased a used CD at any record store and discovered that it wasn't a real CD. And I've purchased close to 2,000 CDs in my lifetime.

Ken Fisher, of the blog Ars Technica, states:

• New "pawn shop" laws are springing up across the United States that will make selling your used CDs at the local record shop something akin to getting arrested. No, you won't spend any time in jail, but you'll certainly feel like a criminal once the local record shop makes copies of all of your identifying information and even collects your fingerprints. Such is the state of affairs in Florida, which now has the dubious distinction of being so anal about the sale of used music CDs that record shops there are starting to get out of the business of dealing with used content because they don't want to pay a $10,000 bond for the "right" to treat their customers like criminals.

And that's what this essentially comes down to. By selling a CD I don't want anymore, these four states (Florida, Utah, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin) will automatically assume I'm trying to commit an illegal act.

Absolutely lovely. Let's assure the death of the record store even more than the iPod already is.

I can't wrap my head around this.

SLAYER (Awesome!)
MARILYN MANSON (Possibly entertaining...)
BLEEDING THROUGH (What the fuck??? Seriously?)

Such an odd line up. But it's coming to a town near you! (Click that link for dates.)




Slayer photo gallery. (Credit goes to underground999)
Marilyn Manson photo gallery. (Credit goes to kickasschick0000)

Not even a week after the letter John McCain wrote in which he called gays in the military an "intolerable risk," the United States Navy directly contradicts him.

By calling back to duty an openly homosexual sailor having discharged him under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

So, John McCain, try to assert your position now: Do you truly believe that Petty Officer Jason D. Knight is an "intolerable risk" to his crew? Seems that the Navy disagrees with you.

Asshole.