Using Water As A Weapon

Not all injuries come from bullets

I'm reminded of this because living in a desert climate, water can mean the difference between life and death.

Imams On A Plane - How Scary!

I'm so sick of being terrorized by terrorists. In fact, I was sick of them years ago; which is why their propaganda stopped working on me after 9/11.

Oh wait? Did you assume I was talking about Muslim "extremists"? No. No. I'm talking about the fear-mongers in control of the U.S. Government and media airwaves. Their constant barrage of Arab-bashing and dividing of humanity has caused plenty of people to still be afraid of their own shadows.

Omar Shahin, former director of the Tucson Islamic Center, was among the six detained Nov. 20 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. He said they hadn't done anything suspicious. The imams had prayed on their prayer rugs in the airport before the flight.

After they boarded, a passenger, alarmed by their activity, passed a note to a flight attendant. The men were taken off the airplane, handcuffed and questioned.

"It was the worst moment in my life," Shahin said.

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I understand exactly why Shahin feels that way. Sideways looks, locking of the car doors, asking for citizenship status - there are some things that a huge chunk of this country experiences everyday in subtle forms that hardly ever gets talked about and addressed in a meaninful way that exposes its stupidity and offensiveness for what it is.

Racial Profiling has always been a blight upon the history of this country. My grandmother tells stories about those few months when her father was on an "extended vacation" because he got sent to one of the concentration camps for Italian immigrants during the Second World War. The same fate handed down upon the heads of Japanese immigrants after Pearl Harbor.

Oh, but think about National Security™, Man Eegee! Don't you want to protect the homeland?!? You should do your patriotic duty, as should the others, and make the sacrifice for the greater good.

I say, "What a load of macaca to that."

The day that the dominant race is rounded up like animals after another anthrax attack, or perhaps another bombing of a federal building in the heartland, or the next cult decides that their patron comet hath arriveth is the day that I'll eat plenty of crow and say - okay, now we're equal.

Until then, I'll join the six Imams along with the NAACP and other human rights organizations in praying for the day that justice is finally visited upon the heads of those who continue to treat people like dogs.

Beaner or Spic - Take Yer Pic

So let's see, how many names can a Proud Anglo call someone they've never met while they remain safely secure behind the cloak of anonymity?

Spanish-- yet ANOTHER reason to hate the Beaners

Patriotic Americans can rattle off any number of reasons to demonstrate how our Spic-- oh sorry, "Latino" infestation is the worst plague our country's had since AIDS. Here's another one-- Beaners have truly the worst, stupidest, lamest, laziest, most incompetent, ugliest, most useless f***ed-up language ever made. Spanish is a cultural abbomination that only the Spics could love.

Let's see, in English we have the great writers, and playwrights that everybody in the world wants to imitate, we have Milton, Tolkien, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Austen, the Brontes, Blake, Kipling, Whitman, Poe, Lovecraft, Mellville, Frost, Eliot, Emerson, even modern great writers like King and Grisham. We've got the greatest singers like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley, Aerosmith, U-2, Guns 'n' Roses, Streisand, Sinatra, Martin and Lewis, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey-- you name it, we Anglos dominate it. We've got the greatest TV shows and movies. In short, in all branches of literature, music, TV and movies, English just rules over the pathetic gobbledygook known as "Spanish," 'nuff said.

And in Spanish, what do the Beaners have to match up to English? They've got, oh, uh, lemme see here-- oh yeah, that's right, Julio Iglesias. Since they have such a brilliant-o great-o singer like Julio, this clearly goes to show the great artistic heights of Spanish and Spic culture. NOT.

Oh, yeah, Spanish can also take great pride in its ghetto-pimp, no-talent, ugly, sorry-ass hip-hop dumbass wannabes like Daddy Yankee and Don Ommar or talentless little sluts like Shakira or Paulina Rubia who stink up the airwaves emenating from an otherwise decent radio. Wow, we Anglos are all so impressed by your talent. NOT.

We Anglos-- or maybe gringos, you like that one better?-- we hate your sorry fat asses here in more ways than anyone can count, it's hard to choose, anymore. Spanish is nothing more than noise pollution, and we Americans look forward to the wonderful day when we wouldn't again have to hear any loser mumbling "por favor" or "gracias" here in this Anglo country anymore, that would be almost as great a day as the United States winning WWII since we'd finally get to rid our country of this infestation. And don't even start up with the BS about how "the border crossed us," oh boo-f***ing hoo, this is Anglo turf now-- you Beaners not only lost the Mexican War, you got your SORRY ASSES HANDED to you by the Anglos, no doubt while you were busy goofing around and babbling in your monkey tongue and screwing your senoritas while the Anglos were out there marching on Mexico City. You suck-- just deal with it.

I can think of nothing better than to dedicate myslef to eradicating this verbal diarrhea known as Spanish from the US, as should any patriotic Gringo. The sooner we can rid ourselves of Hispanic stench in all its forms, the better off we'll all be. Have a nice day and don't choke on your tacos, Beaners.

Signed,

Anglo and Proud of It, the Gringo who haunts your dreams at night
Proud Anglo | | Email | Homepage | 11.25.06 - 9:56 pm | #

Beaner and Spic - along with a whole other slew of adjectives that provided the warm salve of comfort to the rotting insides of whatever loathsome creature crouched at their keyboard to type such filth.

There was a time when my jaw would drop to the ground at such raw hate. Unfortunately, it is something that I come in contact with on a regular basis, more so now that the vigilante movements have been born from the ashes of the white supremacist movements.

The in-your-face macho tirade is not what worries me, however. This type of crap can easily be fought back by society (I think). It's the subtle fear mongering that keeps my mind racing at night. The politicians who advocate for English-only legislation because they pretend to have the best interests of the people at heart.

"Your children will be more productive workers and successful citizens if they speak English."

The forked tongues that spread that message to my grandparents and parents are the reason that my Spanish abilities come thanks to textbooks instead of oral history. I resent it.

There are scales in the eyes of Americans that must be lifted if we are to understand that this is not a country where equality through diversity is respected. The term assimilation is one that creeps me out to the bone because it is code for "assimilation to the Anglo culture". It is enforced as a means of stamping out any identity that comes from a persons' roots if they do not come from the same power structured-plant as the "Founding Fathers".

It's ironic that racism is getting another round of attention in this country - all thanks to a former television star. My small town family even discussed it over the Thanksgiving weekend. Perhaps through the dialog we'll move further down a path towards mutual respect that involves the honoring of all heritage - not just the dominant one.

sunday stroll downtown. and uptown. and inbetween town too!

It's Sunday again, and the end of a very full week! In more ways than one, for many of us! Not that I stuffed myself this Thursday or anything... I find that when one is the cook, the food just doesn't hold as much interest... of course, some might say that that is what everyone says, when the cook is me, but we won't mention that!

First up... gasp! Boran is having an art fair, and I went to Family Man's place to find out what it was all about (because he usually always has his finger on the pulse of the events and fairs) and.... there was nothing there! This is sheer pain for us nosy people! Thus, I am making a petition. Cover your ears!

Dear Boran (and Family Man too),

Please tell us what the Art Fair is all about.

Thanks!

Whew! Sorry about that. Now that that's out of the way (and once you recover), on with the tour!

Since we are already there, Boran has made progress on the painting of the stuff surrounding the car! More lights and shadows and stuff, and the beginnings of planting. Also, EPA 451... lol, took me a minute to get that one, but it works! And, tata, so long, seeya!

Whew! Family Man hasn't completely fallen down on the News for the Nosy job! Olivia (parvum opus) has made it to the second round of voting in the Canadian Blog Awards for best photo blog! Go vote! You can vote once for her EVERY DAY! Also, it may be just me, but I am not quite sure that Muciod Man will catch on... then again, some things do tend to spread like a virus! And his backup can be the Kleenex Brigade, who the evil NyQuillians are always trying to make redundant!

Speaking of Olivia (and we were), she has more inner bits! These ones remind her of mop heads, but they remind me of little dancers feet, doing floor exercises. What's your opinion? And, to top off her blog competition toppings, she has a bug! It's well known that no one can resist bugs (in photos, at least) so there's the winning photo right there! And, in case you've forgotten in the past 2 minutes... don't forget to vote! Parvum Opus, best photo blog.

This is going to be the first real test of the Eegeeroots! If she wins, Olivia promises to ... to... uh... to not be a politician! I bet none of the others have, so obviously the Eegeeroots choice is Olivia! Yay!

[UPDATE!] Original James has a Thanksgiving Weekend postmortem, chock full of interesting, informative and thought provoking posts. Also, the Iraq Week in Review. Over at Nothing Is (which is where Jazzy James hangs out) it's all about Sunny Murray! What a find... get yours here and here.

About catnip... I have good news and bad news. The bad news... she's too good! By getting herself on two lists for the Canadian blog awards, it appears that caused people to split their votes (or instead of and), and so she just missed out being in the top five. The good news is... she's still good! So next year she won't be on the best new blog list and we can concentrate the votes on the best liberal blog list. UNLESS... she goes and gets herself on the best blog list too. Sigh! Such a burden. Anyway, the Sunday Food for Thought today? All I can say is "awww". Also, she thinks that if Britain loves Ignatieff so much... they should have him! I agree! And it seems there is controversy over the burned mosques in Iraq... who is telling the truth? catnip investigates!

It's almost New Years! And you know what that means. Well, one of the things, anyway... time to visit katiebird! Well, not that we don't visit her every week, but still - it's not every week that she writes about the lean plate club holiday challenge! And New Years is a holiday! So... you see? Well, read the story and you will. Also, get firmed daily and if you haven't lounged about yet, well... why not? There's a magic moment in the lounge, even as we speak!

[UPDATE THE LAST! maybe] About Nezua's computer... it seems that the problem it's having is one that that model is known to have, so they are going to fix it for free! Hopefully. Yay! He's still not back yet, but did manage to sign on from another computer briefly, and has left us a diary entry (actual diary type, recording various thoughts, not article type scoop diary) and a story that just wants to make you go grrrr.

ILJ is taking a satirical look inside John McCain's brain! Gotta laugh, cuz otherwise it's scary in there!

Deano's back! And in the purple! Here is your chance to be an art critic, so toodle on over and critique!

All done! I think... some haven't updated, but if I've forgotten anyone, let me know!

Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Remember that the original holiday was meant as a celebration of unity and community. The Native Americans that met long ago with the immigrants in New England were very connected to the earth and understood the importance of fellowship. Let that spirit of Peace embrace you not only on the actual day, but during the preparation as well. Far too many people stress out with the cooking and cleaning - let those moments also be celebrations with loved ones.

Things I'm thankful for:

• the examples of Peace that have been given to us by figures such as Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Cindy Sheehan.
• my family - my roots - for all that I've been taught directly and indirectly
• my friends - in real life and on the web - for the dialogue, friendship and the occasional debate ;-)
• the voters - for taking the first baby steps in restoring the balance of power to this country. We have much work to do still.
• the Food Network - for the awesome recipes that I used this year to make two turkeys for a community meal aimed at the homeless and those without family to celebrate. The chocolate pecan pies are for my nana's casa so hopefully props will be deserving for those too. Heh

Have a safe and restful holiday weekend, everyone. I pray for safe travels of anyone who reads this humble blog as well as your family members who may be joining you for the holiday weekend. Paz ~ Man Eegee

Oh, and how could I resist posting this:

Vote early and often Sunday Tour!

I bet you thought all the voting was done and over with, didn't you? Little did you know! It's that time again... time for you to vote today, tomorrow and every day! Well, at least until we hear that...

"liberal catnip is voted best progressive blog and best new blog and Olivia (parvum opus) is voted best photo blog in the Canadian Blog awards!"

But we've not heard that yet and we have through Tuesday to get them through the first round. So... go vote! Daily! Just as if you were being firmed daily, as katie would say. If I was putting words in her mouth, that is. Just look for their blog names in those categories, click the little round thingy beside their names and then hit submit!

Okay and what else is going on... hmmmm,

Gasp! Nezua is having Troubles! Computer Troubles - the endless crash syndrome, to be specific. I know those well, sigh. Heh, as an aside, doesn't this sound familiar?

On one hand, I laugh. Because I've never felt confident in storing a combination of my address book, my recording studio, my drawing table, canvas, portfolio, novels-in-progress, file cabinet, record collection, and attic boxes o' memorabilia all together in one magical, untouchable, unknowable bundle o' electrons and silicon. And then on the other hand, because I do it anyway, I freak out when I'm done laughing.

It does to me! Anyway, he may be offline for a bit, sadly. It's at times like this when it seems like a really good idea to have capitalist friends! This reminds me that I'd love to start a "Emergency Bartering and Care and Feeding of Artistic, Clueless About Money Lefties Who Give Away Their Work For Free" fund (I'd be one of the customers!) because, boy, do we need one. And bartering skills and caring for one another is an age old (even though now much derided by some) thing in various communities. Anyway, it's not hobby horse time, it's tour time! So there is lots of new stuff there tho, scroll down, scroll down!

It's ILJ's one year anniversary! Happy Blogiversary! Finally someone has one close to tour time, instead of in the middle of the week! He has a wonderful retrospective on his past year, how it all came about, and goals and stuff. And I'm not just saying that because there is a note there for me, me, me! Go read!

I dunno... me, I think supersoling might be asking a bit much. Sure, it would be a much more pleasant... for someone... way of dealing with this, but... omg trying to imagine world leaders doing things the Bonobo Way. Gack! Also, this resonates, for sure.

[UPDATE!] Original James wonders who Jesus would audit? Definitely someone who is anti-war, no doubt. Or... maybe not. Also, even tho sometimes it seems as if progress is made by inches... those inches add up! News on the campaign against the School of the Americas (regardless of what they are calling themselves now). Over at Jazzy James, he has an album that is what it is, and which sounds interesting. Also, Marion Brown: Duets. And more stuff... go look! and listen! Reminds me of spending the day in one of those Music City store booths, headphones on and spinning albums.

How can you resist a story about Eat Watches? Working OR broken? You can't, so go read about katiebird's watch! Glycemic indexes may not be quite as fun, but are very useful! Also, don't forget to get firmed daily and to lounge around!

Sparks are flying from that fluffy pink house on the corner! And Janet has No Apologies! Good for her. Also, here (below) and there, she has an article that she wrote a year ago that is just as wonderful today. Read on!

[UPDATE AGAIN!] For a minute I thought that catnip was so excited about being up for Best New Blog and Best Progressive Blog at the Canadian Blog Awards (go vote!), that she forgot to think for Sunday... but I was wrong! She is indeed thinking lots of thoughts about Stuff this Sunday! Also, I love this tradition of wearing the clothing of the host country for photos at these summits... makes for a great time. For the viewers! And Kissinger is talking again, about the Iraq occupation. Worry.

Family Man has been really slacking off on slacking, lately! In fact, have you noticed that you can get exhausted just reading about his efforts to achieve slack time!?

Hot rod! Okay, well maybe not... but the car in Boran's painting is red! Woo hoo! Mind you, the hills are also red at this particular time, but still! What if the coal mine is the entire world? Who notices the canaries then? And shoo, you!

Where the META is MoBetta, catnip has a very interesting footnote to her "What is Progressive Politics, Anyway?" query. I need to get over there and comment... I've got stuff to say! I know, I know... hard to believe.

Olivia is stacking the deck! Surely no one else who is up for Best Photo Blog (go vote!) in the Canadian blog awards knows a thing about inner bits! This one reminds me of some sort of exotic sea creature. Also, the sun is posing! See? what did I tell you. Proof right there, Best Photo Blog!

Oh! Our Manny isn't feeling well but I'm sure it's not because he ate a whole orange cheesecake by himself! He probably shared some with Bud. Get well soon, Manny!

I forgot! I was going to do a plug... and now that I've remembered, I'm going to do it. I really like firefox, now that I've gotten it working for me, but there is an addon for it that I just love. Well, more than one, but if you do research or like to gather articles or even snippets of them and keep them all in one place... Scrapbook is the addon for you! There are others that save links online, and in sort of a community (think digg or furl, etc) type fashion, but this takes a snapshot of an entire page, and you can copy and paste from it, highlight stuff before (or after, I think) saving (offline), organize into folders, search the folders and all sorts of things. Such a time saver/organizer I've found it to be, so you might like it too! Okay, that's all.

All done! I think? Maybe. Unless I've forgotten you, in which case you should yell and stomp your feet and tell me so! Okay, well you can just leave a comment too.

A Diary From a Year Ago

I wrote this diary on October 20, 2005 on another blog. I've been wrestling with the same emotions ever since....

*YOU DON'T SUPPORT THE TROOPS*

This is really starting to hurt my soul lately.

I don't have a magnet or sticker on my car. I've been called names that would make you sick. I live in the Redneck part of a Blue State between "Bumfuck" and "You've Got a Purdy Mawf", California.

I've had some rather hairy scary encounters with some of these people who are going totally postal. Here's a snippet of another type of postal encounters.
Each morning I pin up another Whispering Campaign notice and as well as another "Bring Them Home Now" postcard on the USPS bulletin board that I received from Veterans For Peace at the UFPJ concert.

The gentlemen there treated me like I was a queen and gave me a stack of cards 2 or 3 inches thick that I carried all the way home to California. (Me meeting a new life-long friend, Jim Staro of VFP)

After some rather harrowing experiences with the Deliverance people around my county lately, most of which have never served a day in their life let alone served a hungry person a bowl of soup... I wasn't sure how a reunion would be with a certain young man I had watched grow up.

My young friend has been in Iraq since he turned 18. He spent 3 tours there. I was sure he had heard I had marched. I was sure he was told what a horrible person I am for not supporting Bush. I wasn't too sure if he would still like me. I wasn't sure of what I would or could say to him if we ever met.

As fate would have it... this is how we reunited.

Turns out I didn't have to say anything to him he had come up behind me as I was pinning yet another "Bring Them Home Now card on the board. Our eyes met. He just came up to me and hugged me. Then he cried. He came home after risking his life to find most of his friends and family hadn't even bothered to VOTE. He cried and said over and over again, "they don't care".

I've had people scream at me, call me names, try to rip flags from me... holding a Marine in my arms as we reassured each other and reunited... was almost like being in DC again. It was a "Welcome Home" for both of us to each other.

"If you don't support the War President you don't support the troops." What a complete crock of a mind fuck that is on American Citizens.

I dare anyone to say that the young man above doesn't support the troops. He was at the DC March. Along with hundreds of thousands of others who were there because they do support the troops. I dare anyone to say that Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, CodePink etc etc - do not support the troops. If one believes that then they are a blind fool.

Supporting the troops has NOTHING to do with one's dissent of this piece of shit President or fucked up Administration. In fact, if one actually did support the troops they'd be demanding answers from this government.

It's not just politics. It's also about HUMANITY.

I was asked at Camp Casey DC if I had lost anyone probably because I couldn't quit the flow of tears as I walked along the white crosses. I started to say no. Another man corrected me and said that we ALL lost them. That all those Soldiers and Marines are OURS. THEY ALL ARE OURS.

Time Warp.... to another morning...

I got my friend in touch with Iraq Veterans Against the War just now.... I hope he can find some peace and support there...

Drove over to the Post Office and found that my young friend was waiting for me there. He didn't have my phone number and figured that I'd show up at some point. This struck me hard -- he was just waiting.

He had some pictures he asked if he could show me. Some were of where some of his pals had spent their last minutes. He said that at the time he thought their loved ones might want to know where they had died and so went back and took photographs of the areas.... but that he can't ever give them up or doubts anyone will want to see them.

He said that in the short time he's been home he's never felt "so far away". No one wants to talk to him about anything. Just me and his Dad but says he's worried about freaking out his Dad all the time. Gave him my number and said he could call anytime.

I mainly just listened. There were times when I was even able to make him smile a bit. I hope I did alright.

*I see a kid of barely 21 and he now looks like an old man when he tries to smile.*

Mandarin Orange Cheesecake Open Thread

I feel like crapola, maybe some Vitamin C will help...


Click the pic for a recipe

The Electric Slide of Politics

Anyone else having a hard time keeping of track of which step we're on?

The country stepped to the left (marginally) last Tuesday with the Dems winning, trotted a few paces forward when Bush fired Rummy, then backtracked when he renominated John Bolton to the U.N. with a snowball's chance in hell of getting confirmed, and now Trent "I Heart Segregation" Lott is back in the GOP leadership saddle to fuck up the entire rhythm.

Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the No. 2 post Wednesday for the minority GOP in the next Congress.

Lott returned to the center of power by getting the position of vote-counting GOP whip, nosing out Sen. Lamar Alexander (news, bio, voting record). Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record) told reporters that Lott beat Alexander by a 25-24 vote.

After an intense evening in which both men lobbied colleagues during floor votes, the Republican caucus elected Lott, a one-time whip and majority leader, by secret ballot. Lott will be the GOP's second-in-command to Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) of Kentucky, who was elected unanimously to be the Senate minority leader in the new Congress.

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Secret ballot - how fitting. The racists do their best lurking in the shadows. And make no mistake, Trent Lott's only regret is that he was caught making his remarks four years ago that were offensive to a wide number of people. From the December 2002 issue of Time Magazine:

Lott...took the podium and declared, "I want to say this about my state: when Strom Thurmond ran for President, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

The room, jammed with well-wishers, a handful of reporters and one of those ever present C-SPAN cameras, went silent for a moment. And so did the rest of Washington, for a few days. But Lott had set off a time bomb. During the 1948 race Lott was referring to, Thurmond had broken with the Democratic Party over President Truman's expansion of civil rights for black Americans. Thurmond ran for President as the nominee of the States' Rights Party, also known as the Dixiecrats. Its platform was built almost entirely around a pledge to uphold "the segregation of the races and the integrity of each race." Thurmond won 39 electoral votes on his vow that "all the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches."

Lott's apparent nostalgia for the days of Jim Crow segregation was denounced as "fundamentally racist" by former Vice President Al Gore. In a terse written statement, Lott apologized to "anybody who was offended" by his "poor choice of words." But the Washington Post reported that Lott had used almost identical words in praise of Thurmond's segregationist campaign during comments in Mississippi in 1980. A slip of the lip suddenly looked like a pattern and opened a public exhumation of Lott's long record of votes and statements hostile to the civil rights movement.

Congratulations GOP, you seem to be following your conservative base's demands by returning to your rotted roots after losing badly in last week's election. You're going to find out rather quickly, however, that a majority of us have left the dance floor in disgust at your behavior.

Captain Obvious Strikes Again

But don't challenge the status quo! Dog forbid you call the inequality - Inequality. That just makes you a reverse racist.

Flawed government policies and negative stereotyping of minority men have limited their economic opportunities, a new study says. It urges improved health care and education for minorities and less media consolidation.

The study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research and policy group that focuses on issues that affect minorities, examined the impact of U.S. policies on men of black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American descent.

It said the media and entertainment industries overrepresent minorities as criminals and whites as victims and law enforcers. Blacks are twice as likely as white defendants to be subject to negative pretrial publicity, it said. For Hispanics, three times as likely.

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