083106

"i hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

- hunter s. thompson

i know this is an old one.

filmmaker harmony korine on letterman:


083006

"now is the time to fall in love now now now but not with the world with that one special her, just do it, just do it now, just change your whole fuckin life in the space of a heartbeat, do it now... but nah..."

- irvine welsh

082906


don't ask me what the fuck that says.

082806
mp3 downloads of sleater-kinney's last show (crystal ballroom, august 12th) for those who are interested. there's a 168.4 mb zipped file available for download as well.



082806
lawrence basich of honolulu explains why hawaii is not legally a u.s. state.

from honolulu advertiser:

i've read with interest several letters regarding behavior of native hawaiians at the recent statehood celebration at iolani palace. on olelo tv, u.h. english prof. ruth hsu moderated a couple of forums with keanu sai, a ph.d. candidate at the university of hawaii, and william e. lawson, a legal researcher. in these forums, it was made clear that when the treaty of annexation was passed in 1898 in the u.s. house and senate, they could not get the constitutionally mandated two-thirds vote for passage and resorted to a joint resolution for passage, which was not a legal way to annex an area to the u.s. threfore, hawaii was never legally a territory of the u.s. since hawaii was never a territory of the u.s., it could not be made a state as was done in 1959. therefore, hawaii is not, and never was, a legal state of the u.s. also hawaii never gave up its sovereignty, so i guess this is still the kingdom of hawaii. now, what was wrong with native hawaiians protesting statehood?

082706
the weakerthans - the reason

how i don't know how to sing
i can barely play this thing
but you never seem to mind
and you tell me to fuck off
when i need somebody to
how you make me laugh so hard

how whole years refuse to stay
where we told them to, bad dog
locked up whining in a word
or a misplaced souvenir
how the past chews on your shoes
and these memories lick my ear

i know you might roll your eyes at this
but i'm so glad that you exist

how we waste our precious time
marching in the picket lines
that surround those striking hearts
and the time is never now
and we know who we should love
but we're never certain... how

i know you might roll your eyes at this
but i'm so glad that you exist

i know you might roll your eyes at this
but i'm so glad that you exist

i know you might roll your eyes at this
but i'm so glad that you exist

082306
"krafty," new order:


"a little piece of me," walls of jericho:


"t.k.o.," le tigre:


"seven deadly sins," flogging molly:


"what's left of the flag," flogging molly:


082206
today, my co-worker asked me if i have a myspace page.

"i used to, but not anymore."

what happened?

"too trendy."

there, i said it.

all the cool kids join stumbleupon, motherfucker.

082106
wow, i guess calling this thing a "blog" is stretching it a bit, huh?

082106

"picasso is a painter, so am i; picasso is spanish, so am i; picasso is a communist, neither am i."

- salvador dali

where do you stand on the moralty-based political spectrum? take the moral politics test.

my results:

you scored -4.5 on the moral order axis and 5 on the moral rules axis. the following items best match your score: 1. system: socialism 2. variation: extreme socialism 3. ideologies: social democratism, international socialism 4. u.s. parties: no match. 5. presidents: jimmy carter (77.79%) 6. 2004 election candidates: ralph nader (81.12%), john kerry (68.36%), george w. bush (39.04%)

fuck that.

081606
subcomandante marcos made it into this week's issue of time:

apparently, leading a leftist revolution from the jungles of southern mexico leaves plenty of time for literary pursuits. zapatista spokesman subcomandante marcos has co-written a noir mystery novel, the uncomfortable dead, with spanish crime author paco ignacio taibo ii. the story of detectives investigating a government-backed murderer, due in u.s. bookstores next month, isn't the masked rebel's first stab at fiction. in 1999, marcos, a former professor who travels with a pet rooster, wrote a children's book, story of the colors. his new work is an effort to raise awareness of the zapatistas and cash for charity. nice try. but he seems to be gnoring another cash cow. nothing says back-to-school clothes like a ski mask and fatigues.

080906
this is pretty exciting: test drive unlimited. an upcoming video racing game set right here on the island of oahu! i am definitely picking this one up.

the good news: a port for the pc will be available.

the bad news: it's not due out until the end of october.

from honolulu advertiser:

hawaii has been the backdrop for everything from network t.v. dramas to cable talk shows to major motion pictures. but video games? next month, atari inc. is unveiling its latest contribution to the gaming world: "test drive unlimited," a game set exclusively on oahu. we're talking about more than 1,000 miles of open roads for gamers to race on simultaneously, from waikiki to waimanalo, without worrying about speeding tickets or killing innocent bystanders.

080106

"the lawful kingdom government has returned, we are claiming our nationhood and our national lands starting with the baby, kahoolawe. we look forward to working with all hawaiians in moving our nation forward."

- henry noa

from honolulu advertiser:

a native hawaiian sovereignty group took two boats from maui to kahoolawe yesterday, landed on shore, set up a rock altar and planted a flag laying claim to the island. the 18 members of the group calling itself the reinstated hawaiian kingdom is challenging u.s. sovereignty over land taken during the 1893 overthrow of the hawaiian monarchy, said henry noa, who identified himself as the group's "prime minister" by cell phone from the undeveloped island. a few hours later, state officers arrested two of the members and issued citations to the rest for entering a restricted area. "our purpose is to reclaim our national land," noa said. "we're staking our claim here. we're not terrorists. we're far from being terrorists. we're reasonable people." kahoolawe is the smallest of the eight main hawaiian islands, and was established as a state reserve in 1993. it is seven miles southwest of maui and covers about 44 square miles. access to kahoolawe is restricted because it is hazardous after decades of military training. ranchers once tended sheep and goats on the mostly lava-rock island, but it now has no permanent residents. members of the reinstated hawaiian kingdom, which was formed in 1999 and claims 3,000 citizens, say their action on kahoolawe is justified by the 1993 apology resolution, in which congress voted to apologize for the role the united states played in the overthrow of the hawaiian kingdom. "they did not have the right to take it. that's what they admitted," said dale albertson, a big island district representative for the reinstated hawaiian kingdom. the reinstated hawaiian kingdom is one of several native hawaiian groups seeking various ways to restore native hawaiian rights and rule in the islands. the state office of hawaiian affairs is moving ahead with its vision for a hawaiian government within the framework of the united states, according to o.h.a. administrator clyde namuo. "it's too bad that people are trespassing," namuo said. "the united states was apologetic, but i'm not sure you can say that's the basis for reclaiming land." noa said his group maintains that the u.s. government is the one trespassing on kahoolawe, and it plans to continue efforts to reclaim its land and national identity.

080106

"our being is becoming, not stasis. our science is utopia, our reality is eros, our desire is revolution."

- murray bookchin

murray bookchin
january 14, 1921 - july 30, 2006



murray bookchin dies at 85.

from sf indimedia:

murray bookchin, the visionary social theorist and activist, died during the early morning of sunday, july 30th in his home in burlington, vermont. during a prolific career of writing, teaching and political activism that spanned half a century, bookchin forged a new anti-authoritarian outlook rooted in ecology, dialectical philosophy and left libertarianism. during the 1950s and 60s, bookchin built upon the legacies of utopian social philosophy and critical theory, challenging the primacy of marxism on the left and linking contemporary ecological and urban crises to problems of capital and social hierarchy in general. beginning in the mid-sixties, he pioneered a new political and philosophical synthesis—termed social ecology—that sought to reclaim local political power, by means of direct popular democracy, against the consolidation and increasing centralization of the nation state. from the 1960s to the present, the utopian dimension of bookchin’s social ecology inspired several generations of social and ecological activists. his influence was often cited by prominent political and social activists throughout the u.s., europe, south america, turkey, japan, and beyond. even as numerous social movements drew on his ideas, however, bookchin remained a relentless critic of the currents in those movements that he found deeply disturbing, including the new left’s drift toward marxism-leninism in the late 1960s, tendencies toward mysticism and misanthropy in the radical environmental movement, and the growing focus on individualism and personal lifestyles among 1990s anarchists. in the late 1990s, bookchin broke with anarchism, the political tradition he had been most identified with for over 30 years and articulated a new political vision that he called communalism. bookchin was raised in a leftist family in the bronx during the 1920s and 30s. he enjoyed retelling the story of his expulsion from the young communist league at age 18 for openly criticizing stalin, his brief flirtation with trotskyism as a labor organizer in the foundries of new jersey, and his introduction to anarchism by veterans of the immigrant labor movement during the 1950s. in 1974, he co-founded the institute for social ecology. during the 1960s - 80s, bookchin emphasized his fundamental theoretical break with marxism, arguing that marx’s central focus on economics and class obscured the more profound role of social hierarchy in the shaping of human history. his anthropological studies affirmed the role of domination by age, gender and other manifestations of social power as the antecedents of modern-day economic exploitation. at the same time, he criticized the lack of philosophical rigor that has often plagued the anarchist tradition, and drew theoretical sustenance from dialectical philosophy—particularly the works of aristotle and hegel, the frankfurt school, and even the works of marx and lenin. during the past year, even while terminally ill in burlington, bookchin was working toward a re-evaluation of what he perceived as the historic failure of the 20th century left. he argued that marxist crisis theory failed to recognize the inherent flexibility and malleability of capitalism, and that marx never saw capitalism in its true contemporary sense. until his death, bookchin asserted that only the ecological problems created by modern capitalism were of sufficient magnitude to portend the system’s demise.