[For Dion and Melbourne Dumb Punx] Neo-Nazi Bombers Sentenced for “Hooliganism”

Posted on November 4, 2008 by @ndy
    “If Russians are so interesting to you, move to Russia.” ~ Fruitsalad, Melbourne Punx Forum, October 2008
    “As I stated on the Bombshell forum Andy, you are a liar, a hypocrite and no better than the trash that you fight against.” ~ Dion, December, 2007
    “Anarchy is a fag. Thanx to the people who have supported us… and to the random people letting us know about this anarchist knobjockey Mr Moran.” ~ Chunga (The Worst), September 2007

Neo-Nazi Bombers Sentenced for “Hooliganism”
UCSJ
November 3, 2008

“Three neo-Nazis who planted a shrapnel-filled bomb in an night club hosting an anti-fascist rock concert were sentenced to short prison terms for “hooliganism.” The defendants received sentences ranging from two and a half to four years for planting a bomb at the “Roks Club” in St. Petersburg on October 13, 2007. A security guard noticed smoke coming from a bag the defendants had placed on the stage and took it outside, where police defused it. Rather than convicting them of extremism or a hate crime, the court found that the defendants, who are members of the “Slavic Union” and were found to be in possession of neo-Nazi paraphernalia, set the bomb because of “personal dislike” for people inside the club. Initial charges of terrorism were for some reason dropped, leading to accusations by anti-fascists that the father of one of the defendants, a police officer, was influencing the proceedings.”

Surely not.

On a related note, see also Neo-Nazis, Obama, and the real domestic terrorists, Orcinus, November 2, 2008

Earlier…

Neo-Nazi Violence in St. Petersburg
UCSJ
October 18, 2007

“Neo-Nazis attacked concert goers at a St. Petersburg night club and placed an explosive device in the building, according to an October 15, 2007 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. The Rox Club was the scene of the violence on October 13. Around two dozen neo-Nazis armed with pipes and bottles attacked five club goers inside the venue; other attacks took place nearby, including a stabbing that left a victim hospitalized in serious condition. Security extinguished the explosive device, which neo-Nazis took credit for on one of their web sites. While none of the attacks appear to have had a racist motivation, neo-Nazis regularly attack anti-fascist youths and youths belonging to other sub-cultures like fans of rap and punk music.”

DOA : Smash the State, “anarchy is a fag”, and neo-Nazis armed with pipes and bottles (October 17, 2007)
[For Dion] Anti-fascist Activist Killed in Moscow (October 1, 2008)


“No offence but honestly who gives a shit about some skinhead in Russia.” Nowave, Melbourne Punx Forum, October 2008

    Punk ain’t no religious cult
    Punk means thinking for yourself
    You ain’t hardcore ‘cos you spike your hair
    When a jock still lives inside your head

    Rant long and loud
    Repeat ’til you’re blue in the face
    Ever get the feeling you’re always on a losing streak?

    Their silence is deafening
    From the havens of thieves and kings

    Empower those who serve to deflect suspicious minds
    Action and answers as likely as a reversal of time

    Their silence is deafening
    From the retreats of tamed apologists
    Their disdain is crippling
    For those whose crises they have fixed

    I am your “untermensch” – a trace of filth to be scraped off
    A trace of filth to be scraped off

    Yet when it’s you who’s in their debt
    The strong-arm brings you to your knees
    So much for “progressive authority”
    A trace of filth to be scraped off

    Power for the powerless – well, where?
    Screaming at the wall to make more sense…

    … I melt back into indifference

    The silence is deafening
    The silence is deafening
    The silence is deafening

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, State / Politics, War on Terror | Leave a comment

Free Lex Wotton Rally : Melbourne, Friday, November 7

Posted on November 4, 2008 by @ndy
    Update : Video of rally held in Melbourne, with indigenous speakers from Australia, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and West Papua. Lex was sentenced to six years in prison.

Free Lex Wotton rally : Solidarity on Wurundjeri land
Friday, November 7, 2008
1.00pm
Melbourne County Court
Cnr of William & Lonsdale Streets
Melbourne

Brought to you by Camp Sovereignty.

Led by:

    Robbie Thorpe (Krautungalung, Gunnai Nation)
    Shiralee Hood (Nyoongar, Kurnai Nation)

    International Indigenous Solidarity

    Marcelo Chimbolema (executive member of CONAIE, Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador / Indigenous Council of Ecuador)
    Marisol Salinas (Mapuche Nation)
    Eduarado Issa Flores (National Coalition for the Defense of Workers’ Organisations, Water, Basic Services, Environment and Life, Bolivia)
    Sina Brown (Aotearoa Te Ata Tino Toa)

    Liz Thompson (Free Lex Wotton NOW)

Note that this rally is part of an ‘International Day of Action’ called by Lex’s family members, and coincides with the day that Lex Wotton is scheduled to have a sentence hearing in Townsville (Queensland); the rally is in support of Lex and is also intended to be a celebration of Aboriginal sovereignty. Those attending are requested to bring banners and placards in support of Lex, but not stalls.

For more information : freelexwotton[at]gmail[dot]com : Facebook

[In Sydney : Rally outside the Sydney District Court, Downing Centre, 143-147 Liverpool St (cnr Elizabeth St), City, 1pm, November 7.]

Background:

An all-white jury has returned a verdict of ‘guilty’ in the trial of Palm Island leader Lex Wotton for ‘rioting with destruction’.

Mr Wotton is facing a sentence of up to life in prison. He has been remanded in custody to reappear in Townsville District Court on November 7 before Judge Michael Shanahan.

The verdict was met initially with silence from Mr Wotton’s friends and family, who have been in court every day during the three-week trial. But as the reality began to sink in, his mother, Agnes, cried out ‘No justice’ as Correctional Services officers led Mr Wotton into the rear of the courthouse.

His wife Cecelia, and his children, were assisted from the courtroom by friends. They sobbed outside as a crowd of around 20 supporters looked on in stunned silence.

Later, the group braved the media scrum waiting outside the courtroom. Cecelia had to be assisted into a taxi, unable to speak and barely able to walk.

Mr Wotton was charged after the November 2004 uprising on Palm Island, in which a police station, adjoining courthouse, a police residence and a vehicle were destroyed by fire.

The uprising occurred after the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee, a 36-year-old Palm Island man who had been arrested for public nuisance by Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, the officer-in-charge of the Palm Island police station.

Within an hour of his arrest, Mulrunji lay dead on the floor of a police cell, a victim of massive internal injuries, including a ruptured spleen, four broken ribs and a liver that had been ‘almost cleaved in two’ from a huge compressive force.

A subsequent coronial inquest found that Snr Sgt Hurley was responsible for the death. It also uncovered numerous breaches of procedures by Queensland Police in the ensuing investigation.

The community erupted on November 26 – a week to the day after the death – after they were told at a town meeting that a pathologist’s report had found Mulrunji’s death was an accident.

After several years of fully paid leave while awaiting trial on manslaughter charges (of which he was acquitted) Snr Sgt Hurley has since received a promotion, and is now an Inspector of police working on the Gold Coast.

He received a $100,000 compensation payout from the Queensland Government for property lost in the fire, and his legal bills were covered by the Queensland Police Union and via fundraising efforts by QPS members.

Posted in State / Politics | Leave a comment

Anarchism In The U.K – Episode 6 : Ian Bone & Si Mitchell

Posted on November 3, 2008 by @ndy

From: Whitechapelanarchist
Added: 01 November 2008
EPISODE 6 PART A: Ian “Class War” Bone interviews filmmaker Si Mitchell about anarchism, activism, Genoa and Seattle riots, plus his films Crowd Bites Wolf and Big Rattle In Seattle as part of his ongoing show on Resonance FM.

EPISODE 6 PART B
EPISODE 6 PART C
EPISODE 6 PART D

In the course of the interview, Ian and Si make reference to an article by George Monbiot, written partly in response to Crowd Bites Wolf. It was published in The Guardian on May 1, 2001, and titled ‘Violence is Our Enimy’. An extract:

…Four or five years ago, video newsreels such as Undercurrents and Conscious Cinema broadcast heroic images of peaceful campaigners being dragged away and beaten up by police. Today the means of instruction have changed. Crowd Bites Wolf, a commemoration of last September’s protests in Prague, produced by a collective called Guerillavision, celebrates anarchist attacks on police lines, including a firebombing in which a policeman – who had not been issued with fireproof clothing – was severely burnt. Another sequence frames a police helmet as if it were a target in a video game before the helmet is struck by a rock and its occupant collapses.

This is a fetishisation of violence, a sadistic pornography of pain. A few years ago, it would have been furiously dismissed. Today I am sure that the great majority of activists are privately horrified by these images. But they appear to have lost the will to speak out.

It’s not hard to see why. While funny, inclusive, colourful events, organised by women as well as men, still take place all over the country, some of the key planning meetings for the big demonstrations have become dominated by a handful of aggressive and overbearing men. People questioning their plans are dismissed as “reformists” or “middle class wankers”. Inverted snobbery (articulated in some cases by men whose estuary accents come and go as the occasion demands) has become a powerful weapon against competing ideologies…

Posted in Anarchism, Film, History | Leave a comment

Creative (and c r e e p y) Australians

Posted on November 3, 2008 by @ndy

Creative Australians

Several years ago, a former moderator of Stormfront Downunder, David Innes, arranged to have his personal website hosted by a racist crank from South Australia called Colin Campbell III, aka “Reverend Col Campbell 3rd, Komandant WCOTR”. Col’n was at that time (mid-2006) the Australian representative of the White Crusaders Of The RaHoWa!™ — one of the many splinters from Matt Hale’s Church of the Creator.

“Not White? Not Welcome!” boasted NetworkWhite.Net.

Since then, despite starring in a feature in Zoo magazine on ‘The Most Dangerous Men In Australia’, David has been denounced as a Race Traitor™, given the boot from Stormfront Downunder by his Yanqui masters, and the position of Fat Controller has been taken up by his brother and fellow Nutzi, Paul Innes, under whose expert guidance the forum has rapidly declined in popularity.

The idea that Paul Innes is also a ZOG™ agent is of course completely preposterous.

As for Col’n, he and his fellow Creators — one in Victoria and one in Queensland — are engaged in a ding-dong battle with the other Creator in Australia, the Reverend Patrick O’Sullivan, for legitimate title to the reins of the Church Down Under. While Col’n and the other pair maintain a number of Creator sites — not without a few hiccups along the way — Patrick has denounced the other mob as being agents of ZOG JOG™. Rather than maintaining a web presence, Patrick spends his valuable time putting stickers up around town and treating fellow Stormfront members to brief, angry missives. Patrick’s own mob is now known as ‘The Creativity Movement’ (TCM), and he is listed by the US-based cult as the main (and only) contact for Australia (PO Box 1622, Collingwood, 3066, Victoria, [email protected]). According to Col’n:

For those that are not in the know, TCM is an abbreviation that refers to a group who call themselves “The Creativity Movement”. Prior to TCM’s formation in 2003, any reference to “the Creativity Movement” was in relation to all Creators, no matter what their status was within The Church. Since that date, things have changed. The name is now more or less owned by the group calling themselves “The Creativity Movement”, and can no longer be used as a blanket reference to all Creators. In Australia, the name “Creativity Movement” is a registered trademark (sealing date, October 8 of 2008) purchased by TCM’s local representative in Melbourne, Patrick O’Sullivan.

On April 6, 2005, ‘Pontifex Maximus’ Matt Hale was sentenced to a 40-year prison term for his attempt to solicit the murder of Judge Joan Lefkow, who had ruled against Hale’s Church in a patent case. Lefkow was vilified as a “probable Jew,” “criminal judge” and “kike- and nigger-loving” traitor. Hale’s projected release date is December 6, 2037.

Since his incarceration, Hale has become something of a martyr for Creators, as well as other Nutzis. Recently, William ‘Bill’ White, Pontifex Maximus of the “American National Socialist Workers Party” (ANSWP), has been arrested and jailed for allegedly using his website to solicit another person to injure a juror in Hale’s case on account of their role as the foreperson of the jury that convicted him.

Oops.

Creepy Australians

Closer to home, fellow Stormfront member Dr James Saleam recently made a trip to Wellington to address several score boneheads belonging to the New Zealand National Front as they gathered outside the Parliament building. While there, ‘Jim’ took the opportunity to have himself photographed fondling a book which once belonged to Ash, one of the individuals involved in FightDemBack! in New Zealand.

Exactly why the Jew-hating Jim agreed to have his photo taken — and why he gave permission to Queensland-based neo-Nazi Jim Perren to publish it on his blog, ‘Whitelaw Towers’ — is unexplained. (The caption which accompanies the photo reads “Australia First spokesperson Jim Saleam checks out Asher Goldman’s favorite [childhood] book… hopefully to get some insight into the twisted mind of a Zionist. The inscription reads ‘To our darling Asher on your third birthday love mummy and daddy’.”) After all, it was only a few months ago, in September, that Dr. Jim registered his disapproval of a political prank directed at his party during local council elections: “There are a number of standard lines people tend to trot out when they want to oppose us,” he said. “This Nazi rubbish is one of them”. Being pictured holding a childhood book which once belonged to a young Jewish man — a number of whose relatives perished in the Holocaust — is just… well… c r e e p y.

And just the kind of thing you’d expect from a Nutzi.

Speaking of anti-Semtiic creeps, and returning to the earlier theme of creativity…

Tales from the Creeps: A White Nationalist Horror Story

[Via Unity News]

“Happy Halloween.

In honor of the holiday, the Hatewatch staff dug deep into our photo archives to unearth the creepiest image to crawl out of the white supremacist movement in quite some time. Here you go:

Though it resembles a promotional still from the 1960 horror flick The Brides of Dracula, starring Peter Cushing, the photo (which apparently circulated among white supremacists on the Internet) actually shows Women for Aryan Unity activist Victoria “Vickie” Cahill standing over the embalmed (we hope!) corpse of David Lane, one of the inner-circle members of the Bruders Schweigen, or Silent Brotherhood, a white nationalist terrorist organization also known as The Order…

…Cahill has raised the ire of another prominent female in the white nationalist movement — Abby Chelf, the wife of Randal Krager, leader of the racist skinhead gang Volksfront — by distributing an essay that was harshly critical of Christian Identity, a bizarre racist interpretation of the Bible that is practiced by as many as 50,000 white nationalists, including Chelf.

Cahill subscribes to Wotanism, the racist neo-pagan religion promulgated by Lane.

Titled “Christian Identity, The Synagogue of Satan,” the essay called Christian Identity practitioners “direct enemies of our folk and our Heathen roots” and “a weed that needs to be viciously ripped out.”

Judging by the blistering responses on Volksfront’s website, it’s safe to say Chelf and her fellow Volksfront skins are looking to smash Cahill’s pumpkin.”

    Creativity Alliance :
    http://www.creativityalliance.com
    Creativity Queensland (Rockhampton) :
    http://www.qcotc.asn.au/
    Creativity South Australia :
    http://sacreator.org/
    Creativity Victoria :
    http://creatorvictoria.blogspot.com/

    ~ versus ~

    The Creativity Movement (“Mobilizing Nature’s Finest Since 1973”) :
    http://creativitymovement.net/

    ~ versus ~

    ‘Christian Identity, The Synagogue of Satan’ :
    http://allfatherwotan.org/identitysatan.html

Bonus!

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism | 19 Comments

All roads lead to Rome

Posted on November 2, 2008 by @ndy

Italy students protest education reforms
AFP
The Sydney Morning Herald
October 30, 2008

Thousands of angry students opposed to planned cuts to the Italian education budget protested outside the Senate on Wednesday, some clashing with right-wing supporters of the conservative government. Some 5,000 protesters chanted against what they said was the “destruction of public schools” as the Senate approved cuts totalling more than 9 billion euros ($A17 billion) with the loss of more than 130,000 jobs in primary schools. Clashes later in nearby Piazza Navona left four people injured including a policeman, media reports said. Two people were arrested…

Unfortunately for them, it appears that a small group of Italian neo-Fascists, armed with belts, chains and sticks, attacked students, a number of whom then responded in kind (see above, ‘Before’ and ‘After’). The fascists were soon reinforced by police before being taken away in a van. It seems possible that at least one policeman was with the fascists, presumably in order to help co-ordinate their actions.

de Gondi of European Tribune writes:

…the police did not intervene for over five minutes. The fascists- approximately sixty in all- first attacked the youngest children, no more than 14 years old, with clubs. The crowd berated the police for not intervening to protect them. After several attacks militant leftists from the “occupied social forums” intervened against the fascists. An isolated group of fascists was allowed to escape through the police barrier. [Curzio Maltese of la Repubblica] who was pursuing them was blocked by the police. The police finally broke up the fight and hauled the remaining fascists away.

The student movements consider the provocation and the tardiness of the police to intervene as a deliberate design to smear the movement as violent.

Background

An estimated two-and-a-half million people gathered on October 25 in Circo Massimo in Rome to protest the Italian government’s ‘reforms’. The demonstration was called by the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party, PD), whose leader Walter Veltroni was defeated by Berlusconi in Spring 2008. However, Rome was not the only city where people demonstrated. All over Italy, students, teachers and families gathered in public squares to express their disagreement with government policy. Some students have occupied universities and secondary schools despite threats by Berlusconi, who warned that he was willing to send the police in ‘to restore order’ (government control). In fact, Berlusconi has stated that ‘squares are not the place to discuss political issues, issues which should be discussed only in the Parliament’.

de Gondi again:

Student agitation has been going on since Mariastella Gelmini presented “her” reform, more aptly known as “Tremonti’s School Cut.” It has built in intensity since the beginning of October.

In short, each school or faculty set up its own website(s) that simply networked into a complex intercommunicative system, now known as l’Onda, the Wave. Students could join emailing lists by signing up at their faculty or school. The students- as well as teachers and deans- quickly set down basic guidelines for action that would allow the maximum of activity without unequivocally breaking the laws. Schools would allow for spaces and time lots for self-governing student activity that would not compromise classes. All loopholes and ambiguities in the law were exploited to the maximum so as foil any pretext by authorities to intervene.

This network, l’Onda, which continues to grow in vitality, is responsible for this “new way” of protesting which consists of apparently spontaneous happenings decentralized throughout the territory. It’s very much like a living organism that has no head or tail, nor can be dismembered or decapitated. Excuse the crude language but the metaphor is apt. Every segment is the head and the body. So it all appears very spontaneous and improvised but to the contrary is highly organized. The movement causes disorientation because it appears to be far greater than what it is. But at the same time it is light and quick. The city of Rome has been chaotic for the past ten days because the students make themselves strongly present everywhere without totally occupying the territory. In fact, most people enjoy the chaos and goad on the students. Anti-student comments are very rare.

Most of the initiatives testify to the brilliance of the student organizers, such as public classes in major historical squares or even slums. The classes are so fascinating that many people stop what they routinely do just to listen and participate in the lessons. These educational events act as content-rich disruptive events in the average citizen’s daily life. They have helped immensely in winning over much of the population to the students’ protest and totally isolating the government in its boob tube castle.

All attempts by government propaganda to smear the movement have been ineffectual since the students have been very quick at turning government snippets upside down or turning them into a counter-slogan. To this the students add recurrent taunts against government figures, a leitmotif of insults, usually associated with that age-group, but which becomes a strong tool.

It is in this frustrating context that the government has sought to raise the level of conflict as hoped by Cossiga, the editorialists of the Berlusconi press, and sundry sycophants. In Piazza Navona and Bologna the government found grist for their attempt to criminalize the movement.

As usual, the fascists are the willing tools of the authorities. (‘Cossiga’ is former Italian President Francesco Cossiga.)

Oh yeah. Polish antifa prepare…

Posted in Anti-fascism, Student movement | 1 Comment

Phil Ochs : Ringing of Revolution

Posted on November 2, 2008 by @ndy

[For Leigh, Leigh, and PEte.]

In a building of gold, with riches untold,
lived the families on which the country was founded.
And the merchants of style, with their vain velvet smiles,
were there, for they also were hounded.
And the soft middle class, crowded in to the last,
for the building was fully surrounded.
And the noise outside was the ringing of revolution.

Sadly they stared, and sank in their chairs,
and searched for a comforting notion.
And the rich silver walls, looked ready to fall,
As they shook in doubtful devotion.
The ice cubes would clink, as they freshened their drinks,
wet their minds in bitter emotion.
And they talked about the ringing of revolution.

We were hardly aware, of the hardships they beared,
for our time was taken with treasure.
Oh, life was a game, and work was a shame,
And pain was prevented by pleasure.
The world, cold and grey, was so far away,
in distance only money could measure.
But their thoughts were broken by the ringing of revolution.

The clouds filled the room in darkening doom,
as the crooked smoke rings were rising.
How long will it take, how can we escape,
Someone asks, but no one’s advising.
And the quivering floor responds to the roar,
in a shake no longer surprising.
As closer and closer comes the ringing of revolution.

So softly they moan, please leave us alone,
as back and forth they are pacing.
And they cover their ears, and try not to hear,
with pillows of silk they’re embracing.
The crackling crowd is laughing out loud,
peeking in at the target they’re chasing.
Now trembling inside the ringing of revolution.

With compromised sway we gave it half away,
When we saw that rebellion was growing.
Now everything’s lost, as they kneel by the cross,
where the blood of Christ is still flowing.
Too late for their sorrow, they’ve reached their tomorrow,
and reaped the seed they were sowing.
Now harvested by the ringing of revolution.

In tattered tuxedos, they faced the new heroes,
and crawled about in confusion.
And they sheepishly grinned, for their memories were dim,
of the decades of dark execution.
Hollow hands were raised, they stood there amazed,
in the shattering of their illusions.
As the windows were smashed by the ringing of revolution.

Down on our knees, we’re begging you please,
we’re sorry for the way you were driven.
There’s no need to taunt, just take what you want,
and we’ll make amends, if we’re living.
But away from the grounds, the flames told the town,
that only the dead are forgiven.
As they vanished inside the ringing of revolution.

Posted in Anarchism, History, Music | Leave a comment

Free Lex Wotton Rally, Melbourne, Saturday, November 1

Posted on October 31, 2008 by @ndy

Free Lex Wotton Rally and March
Midday
Saturday
1st November, 2008
Old GPO, Bourke St Mall

Free all political prisoners!
Stop Aboriginal deaths in custody!

For more information:
Tel: 03 9388 0062
Mob: 0419 538 425 or 0401 806 331

Initiated by the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Melbourne.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Token post on US Presidential election

Posted on October 31, 2008 by @ndy

“Who won”, I said, “the election?”
He laughed and I felt like a gringo.

In 1619, at Jamestown, Virginia, approximately 20 captive Africans were sold into slavery in the British North American colonies. 389 years and several hundred thousand African slaves later, a black man is set to become President of the United States.

Three cheers and a loud huzzah.

The victory will come at a price but. About $573,000,000 in fact. (McCain has spent a measly $293,000,000.) As for what difference it makes, as Unkle Ken puts it:

Like many other people, I am delighted to see the Republicans collapsing into well-deserved ignominy, with the likelihood of the Democrats recapturing the presidency and increasing their majorities in Congress. Hopefully the latter will discontinue or at least mitigate some of the more insane policies of the current administration (some of which, such as climate change and ecological devastation, threaten to become irreversible).

Beyond that, I do not expect the Democratic politicians to accomplish anything very significant. Most of them are just as corrupt and compromised as the Republicans. Even if a few of them are honest and well-intentioned, they are all loyal servants of the ruling economic system, and they all ultimately function as cogwheels in the murderous political machine that serves to defend that system.

Of course, Obama and McCain are hardly the only candidates, simply the only ones who have any chance of winning. There are lots and lots and lots of other candidates, and some random dumbass has provided the following guide to some of the more, ah… ‘interesting’ potential Presidents:

Lunatic fringe ’08
October 5, 2008

The Presidential election is less than a month away, so I think it is a good time to look at some of the other candidates besides the two idiots who are actually allowed on TV. As much as there is talk of the need for a viable alternative to the two parties the actual candidates are all a few sandwiches short of a picnic. For example let’s look at the four major minor hopefuls:

Bob “Torquemada” Barr (Libertarian), who, when he sat in Congress, proposed the banning of witches in the military.

Chuck Baldwin (Constitution), who’s running to prevent the New World Order from taking over America and taking our guns and aborting our fetuses (or something).

Cynthia McKinney (Green), who thinks the government killed Tupac Shakur. She also blames the Jews for losing her Congressional seat.

And Ralph Nader.

I rest my case. Here are a few of my favorite lesser known nutters:

Jonathan E. Allen. He writes poetry. He thinks America needs a “Heartquake”. God, I hate hippies.

Jeffrey “Jeff” Boss. Finally someone brought the crazy. “Jeff” claims he knows too much about 9/11, and now the NSA (who are the ones who really carried out the attacks) are trying to kill him. Yet they are letting him run for President. His website is also written in all caps LIKE HE’S SCREAMING.

Thomas Stevens is running on the Objectivist Party ticket. Tom is running to “promote Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism in the political realm”. How this is any different from the Libertarian Party, or the Personal Choice Party, or the Boston Tea Party, is beyond me. He describes himself as a “true adventurer”, because he goes on vacation a lot.

Gene Amondson is an ordained minister, and the candidate of the Prohibition Party. As in the prohibition of alcohol, because that worked out so well the first time. He enjoys painting, and he wrote a cookbook of delicious pies. He also like to stand in front of wineries dressed like the Grim Reaper. It’s good to have hobbies.

All of them look so darn good, but the candidate I’m supporting:

Bradford Lyttle of the US Pacifist Party. Not only does he want to abolish the military he also believes “there is no scientific evidence that masturbation is physically or psychologically harmful”. Finally a candidate talking about the issues I care about.


:: Snog ::

Posted in State / Politics | 2 Comments

Heavy metal in/from Iraq: You can’t stop the music!

Posted on October 30, 2008 by @ndy

Nobody can stop the music!

    Tear down the walls / Wake up the world / Ignorance is not / Bliss / So fed up with the second-best / Our time / Is here and now
    I am the enemy / I am the antidote / Watch me closely / I will stand up… now
    We will rise / Above
    Stereotype fools / Playing the game / Nothing unique / They all look the same / In this sea of mediocrity / I can be anything / Anything I want to be
    I am the enemy / I am the antidote / Watch me closely / I will stand up… now
    We will rise / Above

There are a number of metal bands from Iraq, but fewer in Iraq. Acrassicauda (‘Black Scorpion’) was formed in 2000, while Semi Death formed in 2001. Acrassicauda were forced to flee to Turkey, while Semi Death escaped to Jordan. Prior to this, Iraqi metal bands included Scary Crew, Passage and Striker (according to Semi Death anyway). Other bands include Amargi (formed in 2006, and also forced to flee) and Dog Faced Corpse (“The new & the first death metal band from iraq!”). While Nutzis in New Zealand were parading before Parliament in Wellington, Corpse played a gig in Baghdad on October 25 with Brutal Impact. A cloying account by USA Today:

Nothing else matters: Iraqi heavy metal returns
Charles Levinson
USA TODAY
October 30, 2008

BAGHDAD — At a private dinner club on the banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad, Muthana Mani screamed threats at a wild-eyed crowd of young Iraqis.

“I’ll see you die at my feet! Eternally I smash your face! Facial bones collapse as I crack your skull in half!” he roared.

Two years ago, these kinds of threats in Iraq typically came from members of al-Qaeda, [US forces] or violent sectarian militias. Saturday night, they were directed at 250 Iraqi fans of heavy metal music who fearlessly donned eye shadow, anarchist pendants and black T-shirts and came out of hiding to attend Iraq’s first metal concert in five years.

Throughout the two-hour show, the crowd thrashed about, a sea of sweating bodies and banging heads. They screamed obscenities and broke tables. It was a scene that would have made any American metal fan proud.

It was also another indication of just how much security has improved here. When religious extremists controlled Baghdad’s neighborhoods, being a member of heavy metal’s unique subculture could amount to a death sentence, says Mani, 21, the lead singer of Brutal Impact, one of the two bands that played the concert…

Even as they recited bloodcurdling calls to violence, however, these headbangers carried a message of unity to fans. Brutal Impact is itself a testament to coexistence with two Sunnis, two Shiites and a Christian among its members.

The second band, Dog Faced Corpse, debuted their original song, Consanguinity. It is a call for brotherhood among Iraqis, explains guitarist Amin al-Jaff.

The band’s name refers to apocryphal reports at the height of the killing in 2006 that militants had stitched a dog’s head onto a victim’s headless body…

See also : Baghdad’s refugee rockers, Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, December 6, 2007: “After fleeing the violence in Iraq, the struggling band Acrassicauda has found a home in Turkey.” | Heavy Metal in Baghdad…

    War All The Time


    Courage to Resist
    Who we are and what we do

    In the past few years, tens of thousands of service members have resisted illegal war and occupation in a number of different ways—by going AWOL, seeking conscientious objector status and/or a discharge, asserting the right to speak out against injustice from within the military, and for a relative few, publicly refusing to fight.

    While there are those who would like to dismiss war resisters as “cowards,” the reality is that it takes exceptional courage to resist unjust, illegal, and/or immoral orders. For many resisters, it was their first-hand experiences as occupation troops that compelled them to take a stand. For others, “doing the right thing” and acting out of conscience began to outweigh their military training in obedience.

    Posted in Music, War on Terror | 1 Comment

    …the many moods of…

    Posted on October 30, 2008 by @ndy

    …jonathan richman has a song called ‘summer feeling’. this ain’t it…

    …neither is this…

    …or this…

    …or this…

    …i’m the man you never saw…

    Posted in Music | Leave a comment