Pollywogs!

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I promise to update with the final Pearl Jam installment soon.  Kelley somehow snagged tickets for the Eddie Vedder solo tour, a stop on the northern point of Manhattan:

…so hopefully I get NYC written before I get yet more stuff to write about…I’m drowning in my own sloth…

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Here a couple random links from my ‘toblog’ pile (thanks Firefox 3 for making that organizational challenge that much easier!)…

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As I mention time and time again, the government pushing propaganda upon the public is unlawful.  My desire to smash the state grows with every passing day:

In a “trip report” he filed with his Pentagon handlers, CNN’s Gen. Shepperd explicitly acknowledged both the blatantly propagandistic purpose of the trip, as well as the extremely limited and controlled scope of information to which he had access in a single-day trip (7434). Shepperd stated:

“Did we drink the ‘Government Kool-Aid?’ — of course, and that was the purpose of the trip.” In his Pentagon report, Shepperd added the obvious: that “a one day visit does not an expert make,” that “the government was obviously going to put its best foot forward to get out its message,” and that “former military visitors are more likely to agree with government views than a more appropriately skeptical press.”

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Justice for Tracy Ingle:

Tracy Ingle was asleep in his house when armed police using a no-knock warrant burst in. Unsure about what was happening, he reached for a non-functioning pistol, but began to drop it as soon as he realized who they were. The gesture was too late — officers shot him 5 times.

Mercifully, he survived, but despite not finding any drugs in his house, Tracy is being charged with two felony counts of Aggravated Assault, drug paraphernalia and running a drug premises. He is in very poor physical shape and obviously not doing well psychologically, due to the incident. Many people in his town and even family find it easier to believe the police would not make such a big mistake. Of course Tracy’s neighbor — who saw the whole thing — believes him, but the police have intimidated him to near silence. Everyone who speaks to his neighbor privately hears his story, but after the police “questioned” him for 4 hours and “advised” him not to get involved, he has refused to testify or go on the record.

How the hell is a no-knock warrant granted?  And once they shoot the guy five times, he is charged with aggravated assault?  They found a roach in his ashtray and they charge him with drug paraphernalia?

WHAT.

THE.

FUCK.

I know if ANYONE busted down my front door with no warning in the middle of the night, I would do everything in my power TO KILL THEM, as should any private citizen.  The entire reason we formed this new country was to get away from tyranny and oppression.  This police state bullshit has got to stop.  These affronts to freedom and liberty need to be challenged in the Supreme Court, where WE DECIDE ONCE AND FOR ALL IF THE CONSTITUTION IS SIMPLY A SCRAP OF PAPER FOR THE FASCISTS TO WIPE THEIR ASSES WITH or if we still believe in the ideals upon which this country was founded.  And no, they are not Christian ideals you stupid fucks:

“The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history…It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.” - John Adams

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This link just makes me angry.  Smash the state, fuck the system…it must be nice to be able to loan your own campaign tens of millions of dollars…

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Speaking of fucking the system, anything we can do to reduce the power and influence of big business (and I use this term in the most profound sense, those gigantic multinational corporations who actively seek to get a stranglehold around the world in every manner which they can, those who have grown to the size where domination is a very real and achievable goal) has a big thumbs up in my book.  That includes both growing your own food and buying more locally, from smaller and independent sources:

But industrial agriculture has simply responded that if we’re feeding more people more cheaply using less land, how terrible can our food system be?

Now that argument no longer holds true. With the price of oil at more than $120 a barrel (up from less than $30 for most of the last 50 years), small and midsize nonpolluting farms, the ones growing the healthiest and best-tasting food, are gaining a competitive advantage. They aren’t as reliant on oil, because they use fewer large machines and less pesticide and fertilizer.

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The high cost of oil alone will not be enough to reform American agriculture, however. As long as agricultural companies exploit the poor and extract labor from them at slave wages, and as long as they aren’t required to pay the price for the pollution they so brazenly produce, their system will stay afloat. If financially pinched Americans opt for the cheapest (and the least healthful) foods rather than cook their own, the food industry will continue to reach for the lowest common denominator.

But it is possible to nudge the revolution along — for instance, by changing how we measure the value of food. If we stop calculating the cost per quantity and begin considering the cost per nutrient value, the demand for higher-quality food would rise.

Heh heh heh he said revolution, heh heh heh…

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I’m having a major case of deja vu here, I may have posted this before, or I may have just thought “I have got to do this some day”, or it may just be the blood-red rage pulsing through my head, the desire to tear it all down, to burn Washington, to have a violent revolution, to fight for liberty, truth and justice…and I’m just talking about someone wanting to see your receipt!

Here’s a scenario that is familiar to anyone who has ever set foot in Wal-Mart, CVS, Rite-Aid, or any of a dozen other major retailers. After you have made a purchase, collected your bags, or packed everything into a shopping cart, you head for the exit. Just as you approach freedom an alarm sounds (usually a sequence of ugly, electronic grunts) and a robotic voice (always female) announces: “Please return to the checkout.” Other customers immediately look in your direction, and an employee begins to approach you. What’s your next move?

If you possess an ounce of personal pride or perhaps two ounces of fortitude, then the 100 percent correct move is to proceed immediately out the door. Why? There are many reasons, chief among them being that rational adults should not instantly obey mechanical voices (unless that voice instructs us to exit a burning aircraft). Also, if you haven’t stolen anything and therefore do not require interrogation, there is absolutely nothing that should compel you to linger post-transaction. It’s depressing enough simply being there in the first place. Another good reason to make a quick exit is that you aren’t being paid to assist some giant retailer with its security measures. You aren’t part of the team, and you didn’t clock in. The clearest reason for leaving the store, however, is that there exists absolutely no legal obligation to remain there, and the store has no right to detain you.

Please peruse the entire site, the writing style is excellent.  I am almost sure I’ve posted this before.

Oh, to have balls that large.  One day, I’m doing it, I swear to the flying spaghetti monster.  I’m going to hear them ask that I stop.  I’m going to look at them in the eye and squeeze my nutsack.  I will say ‘why don’t you go call the police”, turn, and walk away.

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FUCK THE SYSTEM FUCK THE SYSTEM…whether it is a receipt, illegal propaganda, illegal police checkpoints…we’re talking about fundamental offenses to REAL ideals this country was founded upon.