Bush confirms "War on Terrorism" and "War on Iraq" are the same

from Bush's recent speech at Fort Bragg:

The troops here and across the world are fighting a global war on terror. The war reached our shores on September 11, 2001...Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war.

Wait a minute. I thought we went to war with Iraq because of the WMD's. Oh yeah, and in case that wasn't enough B.S, we also invaded Iraq to "free their people", right?
I'm going to say this for the last time: SADDAM HUSSEIN DID NOT ATTACK US ON SEPTEMBER 11TH. Thats why we invaded Afghanistan right after Sept. 11th, because Osama bin Laden was behind it. And about that, does anyone know how many troops we sent into Afghanistan after 9/11? 11,000. Seems like a lot, but there are more police in Manhattan than that!

It is becoming quite obvious that this "War on Terrorism" is not about protecting the American people. Fact: Iraq holds the second largest oil reserves in the world. I wonder why we really invaded....

Here's another steaming log of manure from that speech:

Some of the violence you see in Iraq is being carried out by ruthless killers who are converging on Iraq to fight the advance of peace and freedom. (my emphasis)

"Advance of peace and freedom", so thats what they're calling invasions these days. You've got to admit, you could feed a lot of people with Bush's speeches. Feed them boloney sandwiches!

sorry

Industrial Hemp

by Ralph Nader from his weekly column, "In The Public Interest"

Congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian from Texas and an obstetrician who has delivered over 6000 babies, is trying to deliver our farmers from a bureaucratic medievalism in Washington that keeps saying "No" to growing industrial hemp.

Many farmers want to grow this 5000 year old long fiber plant that has been turned into thousands of products since being domesticated by the ancient Chinese. That is their heresy. The enforcer is the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Washington, DC, which has placed industrial hemp on its proscribed list next to marijuana.

Detailed petitions signed by agricultural groups, agricultural commissioners, International Paper Co. and others were presented to both Clinton and Bush to take industrial hemp off the DEA list and let the states allow farmers to grow it. The DEA turned the petitions down cold.

The arguments for this great, sturdy and environmentally benign plant are legion. In over 30 countries where it is commercially grown, including Canada, France, China and Romania, industrial hemp has been used to produce hemp food, hemp fuel, hemp paper, hemp cloth, hemp cosmetics, hemp carpet and even hemp door frames (Ford and Mercedes).

Factories, food stores and paper manufacturers are free to import raw hemp or finished hemp materials from foreign countries. Last year, about $250 million worth of hemp products were purchased from abroad. But federal law in the US prohibits farmers or anyone else from growing it on US soil.

click here for all of it

Why, after hearing all the reasons why growing industrial hemp is practical, does Congress keep turning its back on it? There's always this:

There are those like former CIA chief, James Woolsey, who support growing hemp to reduce our reliance on imported oil. More broadly, industrial hemp advances the growth of a carbohydrate-based economy instead of a hydrocarbon-based economy.

Could it be because many people in our government are in the oil business? Or is it because of the many fools in our government who still believe in this "War on Drugs" who falsley see hemp as another name for marijuana? Whatever the reason, its costing the American people money and air quality, and its just one area of many where our government is not helping us.

Nike rips off Minor Threat album art

From Pitchfork, courtesy of RealArt

Exhibit A: Classic cover art of Minor Threat's self-titled 1984 compilation.
Exhibit B: Nike Skateboarding's poster image for its "Major Threat" 2005 East Coast Tour.

And

Just to make sure Dischord hadn't truly gone back on everything they've ever stood for, we asked a representative from the label if Nike had asked to borrow the image. They said the following: "No, they stole it and we're not happy about it. Nike is a giant corporation which is attempting to manipulate the alternative skate culture to create an even wider demand for their already ubiquitous brand. Nike represents just about the antithesis of what Dischord stands for and it makes me sick to my stomach to think they are using this explicit imagery to fool kids into thinking that the general ethos of this label, and Minor Threat in particular, can somehow be linked to Nike's mission. It's disgusting."

Click here for the rest.

Okay, if you don't understand what this is about, its simple: Nike has these ads for some skate tour that totally rips off the album art from Minor Threat's "Complete Discography". The Nike ad says "Major" where the Minor Threat cover says "Minor", and Nike's background is dark blue instead of red (there's a remastered version of this album with a light blue background). On the Minor Threat cover, it shows a guy sitting on a step with his face burried in his crossed arms that are resting on his knees. There's a good view of the guys combat boots, so Nike just cut those out, Photoshop'd in a pair of their over-priced, sweatshop-manufactured garbage, threw in some logos, and they're just "borrowing" album art, not copying it.

There were just enough changes done to the picture so that it doesn't infringe any copyright laws, so all Ian MacKaye and all his friends and fans can do is just be pissed about it. Of course, one thing to do that we all should have done a long time ago, if we hadn't already, is boycott Nike. I mean, isn't it obvious? But not just boycott them, we have to tell people why they shouldn't buy Nike products, and I don't mean yelling at people for wearing Nike shoes. That won't do any good. I think a good idea would be to picket (peacefully) outside of a Nike outlet or retailer, with signs that tell the truth about Nike's evil ways.

At the very least, we should at least get on a casual soapbox about it every now and then if Nike comes up in a conversation with our friends and peers. I know I will....

Batman Begins AND ENDS

Warning: if you haven't seen Batman Begins yet, don't read this and go see it.
Okay, so the new Batman movie was pretty good. Its longer than any other Batman movie I've seen, and some may say its "darker".

There's plenty of action scenes, but the way they did it in this one is kind of Braveheart-ish, in that, the camera shakes a whole lot to add to the effect. Some could argue that it makes it seem like you're in the fight with Batman, but if you're supposed to feel like you're IN the movie, why isn't it 3D? Batman does fight much faster in this film, though, and that adds to the fact that he's younger, so cudos for that.

I don't really get why he was in Japan for a while, maybe I missed something, and the whole thing with the League of Justice or whatever it was with their conspiracy about bringing down all the kingdoms of the human race seemed a bit much, but it works.

Since this movie is called Batman Begins, you can guess that it shows parts of his childhood in detail, which it does. It even shows the part where his parents get killed. Once this part happens, you can assume that this film is an attempt to line up with the Michael Keeton Batman movie from back in the day, but you'd be wrong. The guy who shoots Bruce Wayne's parents in the new film is caught when Bruce is in his 20's and is assassinated on his way out of the courtroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was supposed to become the Joker!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And just when you start to think, "Hey, this movie is separate, it has nothing to do with Joker anyway," at the very last second of the movie, a "calling card" is found from a new villain. It was none other than a JOKER card, AND they added that the guy was a CONVICTED MURDERER.

Think back to the film with Michael Keeton. Jack Nickelson BECAME Joker DURING that movie, which takes place LATER than the new film. So this new film should be called "Batman Begins AND ENDS", because it doesn't line up with any other movie that could show how Batman "ends".

Of course, one could also argue that each Batman movie that came after 'Batman' and 'Batman Returns' was a new interpretation of the Batman story, but even if thats true, none of them ever re-told how his parents died (although I believe in Batman Forever he says that Joker killed his parents), so why does this new "prequal" change the freaking story? How hard would it have been to have the guy live instead of die and to just NOT have the Joker card at the end? Survey says: Not hard at all.

N'AWLENS TRIP

I have't blogged the past couple of days because I was visiting my brother in New Orleans. It was my second trip there, I had much more fun this time.

The first day we went to the French Quarter for a little while, and I made a joke about why it hasn't been named the "Freedom Quarter" yet. I had some gumbo at this little resturant, real good stuff. Then we went to the famous Cafe Du Monde and had some French doughnuts called "men-yays", I can't remember how to spell it but thats how its pronounced.

We passed by this brass band made up of kids my age who weren't all that great at their instruments but was still cool. We saw a few other live shows going on at that very same time around town, along with some street performers--New Orleans = better than Houston.

I stayed with my brother at the Navy Base. Thats right, I stayed on a military base, it was no big deal (he's a musician). The barracks are like freaking hotel rooms, with their own kitchens! I went with my brother to "work", which was a long-ass rehearsal with the Show Band. They kick ass. We got lunch at this cajun grocery store, I got an awesome po-boy and a bottle of Big Shot Cola, a N'awlens drink.

Now that I look back on the trip, we didn't do very much but it was cool to hang out with my brother again.

Happy Flag Day

So basically, the first version of the stars and stripes was officially recognized on June 14, 1777. That was the one with thirteen stars. Now through centuries of conquest, warfare, and robbery, we've got fifty stars on that there flag. God bless America, yo.

Michael Jackson Acquited

I can't believe its finally over.

I've never blogged about the trial, probably because the whole thing was stupid. But speaking of the trial, I always speculated that a few of the people really were molested by Jackson and the rest were lying through their teeth.

I wonder if all this negativity toward Michael Jackson has anything to do with him looking creepy. I mean, if he were still black I wonder if so many people would hate him or believe that he was guilty of child molestation. Nah, couldn't be, that kind of crap never happens.

I've finally seen Fahrenheit 9/11

Of course, I already knew the facts about the Bush familys' relationship with the Saudi royal family and the bin Laden family because I have Mike's book, "Dude, Where's My Country". But in the film I got to see Michael and a Marine go around D.C. looking for congressman and asking them to enlist their child into the military, with brochures and a roster sheet in hand. In the movie you only see one congressman that will even bother to talk to Mike, and thats the point. There are 585 members of Congress and only one has a son elisted in the army. If you took 585 average Americans, I guarantee more than one has a child in the military.

There are also some interviews with soldiers in Iraq that weren't available when Mike wrote the book. I like the one that made the point that Halliburton workers make a good amount more money than the soldiers, "driving the same route" every day. F 9/11 also has the footage of those solders who harrassed that detainee who had an involuntary erection. Just before that it showed a soldier tickling one detainee's feet, then wiping his hand on another soldiers jacket, I'm sure just because he got sand on his hand.

There were also some quotes from Condoleeza Rice, Dick Cheney, and Colin Powell from early 2001 that addressed Saddam Hussein. I couldn't believe my ears. They were talking about how little of a threat Saddam Hussein posed to the U.S!
Go figure.

Paul Anka sings "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

I meant to talk about this right after I saw it, but whatever.

I was watching the Late Show the other night, as I do many nights, and was amused to hear that Paul Anka was the musical guest. After a hilarious interview with Robert Klein, Paul Anka went on.

I didn't catch it at first, but when they got to the chorus, it was obvious: Paul Anka was singing a lounge version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I was stunned. I didn't know what to think. Isn't this an atrocity? Is he mocking Kurt Cobain? Does he actually like Nirvana? It was mind-boggling. To this very moment I don't know whether I loved it or hated it. I'll need to discuss it with my brother to get a knowledgable musical opinion first.

Did anyone else see this? If so, what did you think? If not, what do you think anyway?

Jimmy Carter Urges Closing of Guantanamo Detention Facility

From Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former US president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter called for the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be closed, "to demonstrate clearly our nation's historic commitment to protect human rights."

"Our government needs to close down Guantanamo and the two dozen secret detention facilities run by the United States as soon as possible," Carter said Tuesday in Atlanta at a conference organized by the Carter Center.

He also called for an end to the policy of transferring prisoners to countries where there have been reports of torture, and pressed for an independent commission to investigate the US detention facilities.

.....

The Pentagon revealed last week, after wrapping up an investigation, that US military personnel at Guantanamo Bay once kicked the Koran and that a copy of the Islamic holy book was sprayed with urine in another incident, but that overall US soldiers at the camp handled the book with respect.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Monday said that closing Guantanamo would be difficult, since the majority of detainees being held there are considered too dangerous to be set free.

click here for all of it

So the detainees are considered to be too dangerous to be set free. What about the guards who "accidentally" piss on the detainees and destroy their holy book in front of them? Not to mention last year's naked human pyramid scandal.

I've said this before, we are not fighting this War on Terror correctly. You don't stop terrorism by pissing terrorists off, and I'm not saying we have to kiss up to them and be friends and sing and dance and have gay sex in the streets, I'm just saying that these terrorists have a better reason for attacking us than "hating our freedom". Nobody hates freedom, okay? For example, some terrorists hate the fact that we support Israel, who persecutes the Palestinians, among other things that the U.S. is involved in over there.

Remember, Al Qaida and the other organizations like them are Muslim fundamentalists. The only countries that the U.S. has had military conflicts with in the past fifteen years have been Muslim nations. We have thoroughly made ourselves a target of terrorism, and we only play into the hands of the terrorists when we start wars and mistreat prisoners.

Solar Energy

by Ralph Nader, from nader.org

One of my favorite publications--one that you may never have heard about--is the /Co-op America Quarterly: Economic Actions for a Just Planet/. ...Co-op America attracts tens of thousands of members who peruse its National Green Pages to purchase what they need and to invest in responsible ways and support sustainable economic activities. (See www.coopamerica.org and www.greenpages.org).

Obviously, solar energy is high on its priority list. But has there ever been a longer, more proven, more diverse source of energy so continually neglected, ignored, distorted, suppressed or given lip service than the best, most permanent, most decentralized flow of energy on Earth?
.......

Ten years ago Japan's solar electricity output was less than half that of the U.S.A. Now Japan is looking to bigger export markets for solar and is 50 percent of their domestic electricity from solar power by 2030, giving new meaning to the "land of the rising sun."

Germany has sped ahead of the United States as well, creating last year alone 5000 new jobs and generating nearly $3 billion in revenue by expanding more solar power facilities than any other nation.

The American people and our country are being held back from solar power because we let the oil/gas barons set energy policy and limit our choices.

Sure, places like San Francisco and Chicago are showing activity, but until a couple of million Americans bear down on their Senators in the next month, Bush will sign this legislation with oil dripping from his pen and oil dollars spilling lustily into Republican campaign coffers. Do your part, the way Co-op America does.

click here for all of it

I went to Co-op America's website, its pretty good. I did one of the "take action" things where you give your name and address and email and you send this letter that they have typed for you to Exxon, asking them to invest in renewable energy. Its a good feeling. I encourage "taking action".

Racism, still a very real problem

So there's this "Old South White Pride meeting and exhibit" scheduled to happen in either Vidor or Jasper, Texas. And a few days a go an inter-racial couples' house in Vidor, Texas was set on fire and vandalized, "kkk" was spray-painted on the house along with "die" and some racial slurs.

Some may remember, Vidor is the town where that black guy was dragged to his death from a truck by three white guys back in the '90s or something.

I believe that the fire and the meeting are just some last spasms of a dieing breed: The American White Supremecist. Maybe once my generation takes over, this kind of stuff won't happen......yeah right, but here's hoping.

My band is playing a few shows in Winnie, Texas this summer, I've got an idea for those shows that includes burning a confederate flag. I want to see if that would be a big deal to anyone, try to weed out the racists and get them out in the open so they can be tarred-and-feathered or something.

Seriously, whats the deal with people with confederate flag shirts and bumper stickers and crap? My message to them: "You lost, get over it!"

Hearing the news: I can't keep a straight face

Watergate and medical marijuana have been topics in the news recently.

I'd love to comment on them, but its hard when they keep talking about this guy called "Deep Throat". I laugh every time someone says something about him! I can't pay attention to what they're talking about because the friggin' name distracts me! So no comment from me about this Deep Throat, Watergate thing.

When it comes the the medical marijuana topic, I find it quite hilarious when these stiff local news anchors say words like "dope", "weed", and "pot". I dunno why. Its even funnier than when the hispanic anchors all of a sudden pronounce spanish words perfectly after speaking with a straight American accent.

So all I've got to say about Deep Thoat and medical pot is "hahahahahah!".

An Idea for Senior year

I actually came up with this idea during my sophomore year, and I kinda forgot about it for a while. But I'm seriously considering doing it.

My idea is to wear the same clothes to school every day, giving myself a uniform. I'll have like 5 gray t-shirts with no logos or anything and 5 pairs of off-brand jeans.

The daily bland clothing would represent the public school system's design of turning students into corporate tools and cannon fodder; instead of scholars, artists, inventors, writers, or whatever we really want to become.

My uniform would also reflect the authoritarian-minded administrators of my particular school, Baytown Sterling, in that, the clothes are similar to what a prison uniform would be like.

I'm gonna buy the clothes from some place that isn't Wal-Mart, and thats gonna mean something too.

Meh, I'm probably not going to do it but I think its a cool idea.

Crazy-ass summer

Well its not that crazy but I've got a lot of crap on my mind.

My sister got married a few weeks ago, I and the other field officers in band taught the freshman how to march last week, I'm playing with the temporary Cici's Pizza All Star Band for the Bayou Bowl next week, my band is recording an album in a few weeks and we've got like five gigs so far this summer, I'm reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, my parents started asking me about college and getting a job a few weeks ago, and I've got church camp and summer band at the end of the summer.

I didn't have internet all this past week, thats why I haven't posted