Visit David Rees excellent Get Your War On site. He has been commenting the american "war on terrorism" since 2001 with his weird cartoons. Operation: Enduring Freedom is in the motherfucking house!
Sunday, October 31, 2004
gandhi
"Democracy and violence can ill go together. Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side."
per
Later Per joined us. He's the evil genius of neoliberal propaganda! Just read his blog and see for your self (only in swedish). He's not only an evil genius, he's also a very good friend and a fun guy to drink beer, Gammel Dansk or coffee with. I totally recommend it! Oh, and I'm sorry about yesterday Per, I blame it on society, the neoliberal conspiracy, George W. Bush and the espresso overdose!
thomas
This is my old pal Thomas. Yesterday we went out for a couple of beers. Sad to say, I'm such a bad drinker nowadays. I almost fell asleep after two beers. Then I started to drink loads of coffee - that was a bad idea... Had a massive espresso overdose and my brain stopped working... scary!!! Sorry Thomas!
martin luther king jr.
"There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it."
fern
The fern in my window. It's constantly struggling to stay alive.
-Feed me! Love me!
Well I'm trying, Really...
Saturday, October 30, 2004
thank you for the music
It seems like Zucchero is dying. It's sad 'cause it was such a great place once upon a time. Now it only serves as a good example of how NOT to run a business. It feels like I'm working inside a reality tv-show where people are getting voted out on a daily basis. Or maybe like I'm part of Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Niggers" - ten little nigger boys worked at Zucchero, six got fired and then there were four... As I told you before, we had a very fun and popular Italo Disco party with DJ Albion last monday evening. Or at least that was what I thought. Now I know that two of my friends and, from now on, former co-workers (the same ones that helped out making the evening a big success!) got fired the day after with some lame "we can't afford to pay your wages anymore" excuse. They didn't even get a notice or a "thank you for your help during all these years". I'm probably next on the "who to fire list" after this little blog... Maybe I should start to look for a new job right away...
...and then there were none...
Friday, October 29, 2004
weird science 2.1
anger management #4.1
Det är denna bidragssnyltande lättja som är den verkliga anledningen till DN:s förtjusning över skattesubventionerade hushållstjänster. Äntligen kan man göra något åt dessa förargliga snyltare. I stället för att vara "sjuka" eller "arbetslösa" tvingas de att bli avdragsgilla pigor och drängar åt borgerskapet - genialt! Dessutom kan man snabbt "integrera" invandrare och nya EU-medborgare genom att göra även dem till pigor och drängar. Nu kan de äntligen sluta att tära och börja skura istället. En ny enorm låglönesektor öppnar sig, miljarder kan tjänas och man får ett effektivt vapen att hota gnälliga och missnöjda arbetare med. Potentialen är enorm. I framtiden har du en piga eller så är du en piga.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
r.i.p. john peel
team america
What Team America has to say about the next attack from terrorists:
A: -From what I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. has gathered it will be 9/11 times a hundred.
B: -9/11 times a hundred... Jesus! That's...
A: -Yes, ninety-one thousand one hundred.
C: -Basically all the worst parts of the bible.
What more is there to be said??
Thursday, October 21, 2004
weird science 1.2
In the october issue of Wired there's a very interesting article about the so called "Intelligent Design" theory. This is a pseudo scientific theory promoted by the conservative "think tank" the Discovery Institute as a way to get Creationism back into the American classrooms. They do it with the help of old Reagan administration officials and Moonies. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The new right seems to love pseudo science, it's so convenient! You can prove whatever you want with it. If someone disagree with you - then you just accuse them of being atheist liberals or socialists! Or even better - of not being objective! Simple. Often they even seem to believe their own pseudo scientific fantasies. The Neo-liberals have their precious Chicago School of Economics (When will the creationists get their first Nobel prize? The Chicago boys have eight!), the Randians have their Objectivism (these guys are almost as far out as the Raelians) and the Neo-conservatives and the Christian Right have creationism and the Intelligent Design theory. Will the left ever be able to beat that? Hope not!
the devil made me do it!
This is me listening to the swedish band Cult of Luna and their song "Arrival". Dark...
Sunday, October 17, 2004
paranoia agent
Paranoia Agent is one of the best anime series I've ever seen. It starts as a mysterious case for the police in Tokyo Musashino. The victim's testimony is doubtful, she is suspected to have commited the crime herself. But soon after, the next victims appears and things change. Always involved a young boy with a baseball bat, wearing golden rollerblades. The main characters are tired police officers. a stressed out designer, a prostitute, a homeless old lady, a young incest victim and a competitive school kid among others. It maybe sounds depressing, but the story is a beautifully told surreal fairytale detective story! Sounds weird? It is!
Saturday, October 16, 2004
the truth is on vacation
Last days there have been a lot of comments in the media about Wall Street Journal's Middle East correspondent Farnaz Fassihi and the private email about the situation in Iraq that she sent to some of her friends. Later a copy of her email began circulating on the internet where it created a big fuss. Some people asked the obvious question: "Why can't reporters on the ground occasionally speak to the 'public' like this one occasionally spoke to her friends?"
As a result of all this fuss, Farnaz Fassihis employer, the Wall Street Journal, started to react. It seems like they didn't like it when their reporters wrote things like: "Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days is like being under virtual house arrest."
"I can't go grocery shopping any more, can't eat in restaurants, can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't look for stories, can't drive in any thing but a full armored car, can't go to scenes of breaking news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't speak English outside, can't take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't linger at checkpoints, can't be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling. And can't and can't. There has been one too many close calls, including a car bomb so near our house that it blew out all the windows. So now my most pressing concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story but to stay alive and make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive."
As a result of the e-mails it seems like Farnaz has been forced by the Wall Street Journal to take a vacation. The LA Times writes: "Wednesday, two of the paper's (Wall Street Journal) staff members - both of whom asked not to be identified - said they had been told that Fassihi would not be allowed to write about Iraq for the paper until after the election, presumably because unauthorized publication of her private correspondence somehow called into question the fairness of her journalism.
In point of fact, no one has questioned the content of Fassihi's reporting nor alleged that it has been in any way biased."
The LA Times continues:"So was Fassihi told not to write about Iraq by WSJ editors until after Nov. 2? It seemed an easy matter to resolve, though, as it turns out, very little in this uneasy moment yields to easy resolution.
Paul Steiger, the Journal's managing editor, was unavailable by phone Thursday, but his spokesman, Robert Christie, accepted a question on his behalf and agreed to put it to the editor: Had Fassihi's e-mail been the subject of discussion among her editors and had they decided that its dissemination should prevent her from writing about Iraq until after Nov. 2?
Christie forwarded Steiger's response by e-mail: "Ms. Fassihi is coming out of Iraq shortly on a long planned vacation. That vacation was planned to, and will, extend past the election."
A follow-up question seemed in order and was sent to Steiger, through Christie, by e-mail: "If this correspondent wishes to write about Iraq for the Wall Street Journal, is she free to do so?"
Steiger's reply, via his spokesman, was this: "She is going on a long-scheduled vacation outside Iraq and has no plans to work during that time."
The truth is on vacation. There is a small possibility that it will be back after the November election.
great forgotten misfits from the past #1
Number One in my new collectors series of Great Forgotten Misfits from the past is Major General Smedley Darlington Butler who, by the time of his death (June 21, 1940), was the most decorated U.S. Marine in history. He came forward to Congress in 1933 to reveal a coup d'etat plot against President Roosevelt sponsored by big-money interests. He was twice the recipient of the Medal of Honor, one of only nineteen to be so honored. As a testemony of his career in the U.S. military and as a "high class muscle man for Big Business" he wrote "War is a racket" in 1935. Some quotes from this very interesting man are:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National city Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902 - 1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested."
"Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service."
Could you find a better candidate for the Number One position in my collectors series of Great Forgotten Misfits from the past? Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was a true american hero and misfit! He clearly showed that the neoliberal and conservative assertion that "democracy always follows in the fotstep of capitalism" is pure bullshit. Capitalism doesn't care the least about democracy or tyranny. It cares about profits. If the profits are made in a democracy or with the help of brutal military force doesn't matter. Let Major General Butler be remembered.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Some Cultural Input No. 3
Todays input is three groundbreaking albums. First the re-release of the classic first album by White Noise "An electric storm". It's hard to describe it, some of the songs are close to trip-hop, others are scary cinematic soundscapes and then you have some catchy weird electronic pop tunes upon that. The thing is that the album was recorded in 1968-69 and released by Island records in 1969. Way ahead of its time.
Second is the classic Talking Heads album "Remain in Light". It was produced by Brian Eno and had some great guest musicians like Adrian Belew. Listen to the futuristic funk groove in songs like "Crosseyed and Painless" and "Houses in Motion". It's impossible to be still and the music feels very modern and cool. This album was released in 1980 but it could've been released today and still feel like a modern and original album. It's easy to hear where the Rapture found their inspiration.
Third, Brian Enos "Before and After Science" from 1977. The German influence is clear. Some of the tracks were recorded in Conny Planks studio outside Cologne and both Roedelius and Moebius from Cluster participates on the track "By this river". The song "Backwater" sounds a lot like Bowies "Heroes" (Eno produced both Heroes and Low the same year). Otherwise the album is a weird mix of Can like Kraut-Funk (Jaki Liebezeit plays drums on a track), proto-new wave and beautiful pop and ambient tracks. When you take a close look at what Brian Eno has made through the years... it's incredible. His albums with Roxy Music, his solo albums and all his great collaborations with artists like Nico, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Devo, U2, Cluster, Harmonia and so on. He totally rules!!!
walking superorganisms
Read the fascinating article, People Are Human-Bacteria Hybrid, in Wired.
"More than 500 different species of bacteria exist in our bodies, making up more than 100 trillion cells. Because our bodies are made of only some several trillion human cells, we are somewhat outnumbered by the aliens."
I'm a walking superorganism! I have aliens in my body! Could it get any cooler than that?
anger management #3
Är det den mest patetiska kampanjen någonsin? Troligen.
Har aldrig träffat någon chef som tar ansvar för allt - deras paradgren brukar vara att lägga över ansvaret på personer längre ner i hierarkin. Det fixar jag också. Det var hans fel!!!
that's the colour of my room
I've just finished a major refurnishing of my appartment. From now on there will be no more CD:s, DVD:s and other types of junk on the floor... at least for a while... Plenty of new shelves and plenty of new space will solve all those problems.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
veckans boktips
Två kanon böcker. The Corporation finns både som bok och som film. Filmen/boken är knäckande bra och inte alls så partisk som titeln och omslaget kan få en att tro. Den tar upp aktiebolagsformens historia och diskuterar bl.a. de problem som uppstår när man börjar betrakta aktiebolag som människor. Aktiebolag är bra på att vara bolag men betydligt sämre på att vara människor. Bolagsformen gör det lätt för dess chefer och ägare att gömma sig bakom vinstintresset och den anonymitet bolagsformen erbjuder. Bland de intervjuade finns Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky och en mängd företagsledare. En fantastiskt intressant dokumentär.
Efter att ha sett alla tre avsnitten av The Corporation så måste jag lägga till att det här är en av de mest skrämmande filmer jag någonsin sett! Man fick en hel del att fundera på. Se dem!
Över till något helt annat. Jennifer Government är en spännande och träffande sci-fi satir. Den utspelas i en nära framtid där multinationella företag styr världen. Vänta, sa jag framtid? Paranoia cha cha cha!
Thursday, October 07, 2004
anger management #2.5 - suffragette city
I media talas det ständigt om terrorister, extremister och fundamentalister. Helst ska de vara muslimer från något arabiskt land. Damen på bilden ovanför var en s.k. extremist. En del skulle säkert vilja påstå att hon var en terrorist. Men hon var varken muslim eller arab. Hon var en engelsk dam som hette Emily Wilding Davison. Emily var en s.k. suffragett. De kämpade för kvinnlig rösträtt i nittonhundratalets början. I juni 1913 kastade hon sig framför kungens häst under det traditionella derbyt på Epsom Race Course. Det finns t.o.m. en film bevarad från det tillfället. Hon dog några dagar senare av sina skador. Tidigare hade hon suttit i fängelse ett flertal gånger, bl.a. för att hon och några av hennes väninnor hade kastat stenar mot politikern David Lloyd George's (the Liberal Party) bil när han var påväg till ett möte i Newcastle. Stenarna var insvepta i Emilys favorit motto "Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God". Suffragetterna var inte rädda för att använda våld. I februari 1913 sprängde de en del av David Lloyd George's hus - han var troligen englands mest kända politiker på den tiden. Han antogs dessutom stödja kvinnlig rösträtt.
Terrorister eller frihetskämpar? Det är inte alltid så lätt att veta. Kanske kan man vara både ock. Den enes terrorist, den andres hjälte.
Howard Zinn skriver en hel del intressant om kvinnornas kamp för rösträtt i sin bok "Det amerikanska folkets historia". De fick kämpa jävligt hårt för att nå några resultat.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
fullmetal alchemist
Thank God for the fansubbers, I've finally watched the final and fiftyfirst episode of Fullmetal Alchemist. This has been one of the best anime series I've ever had the pleasure to see. 51 episodes of fantastic adventures, tragedy and joy. Soon on DVD - don't miss it!
anger management #1 - the george lucas cut
Trots att de kräver att vi ska ”rätta mun efter matsäcken” så stödjer både DN:s och Svenskans ledarsida idén om skattesubventionerade hushållstjänster. Tydligen är det okej att våra skattepengar går till att göra vissa typer av olönsamma jobb lönsamma. I vanliga fall är de borgerliga ledarskribenterna helt emot detta. Marknaden ska ju styra. Men det gäller tydligen inte när det handlar om att göra om arbetslösa ”bidragstagare” till pigor och drängar. Ingen hårt arbetande svensk ska längre vara tvungen att städa hemma. I alla fall inga hårt arbetande svenskar från över- och medelklassen. Jag tycker personligen att det vore bättre att korta arbetstiden så att både fattiga och rika skulle kunna hinna med att städa sina egna hem. Om vi nu ska ”rätta mun efter matsäcken” så borde det gälla alla. Även de rika. Om de inte hinner städa själva och inte anser sig ha råd att betala för städhjälp så går ju det problemet att lösa. Antingen kan de sänka sina utgifter genom att skaffa ett billigare boende och på så sätt få råd att betala för städhjälp. Eller så kan de byta jobb och ta ett arbete med kortare arbetstid så att de får tid över att städa själva. Enkelt.
Tillbaka till kollektivtrafiken. En ny rapport (Fattigdom i Sverige, skriven av Björn Halleröd) från Folkhälsokommittén konstaterar att 1994/95 var 19,4% av Sveriges befolkning ”ekonomiskt fattiga”. 19,4% är ungefär en av fem. DN skrev ju att "Endast en av fem vill ha gratis kollektivtrafik", kan det vara så att det är de fattiga 20% som vill ha gratis eller billig kollektivtrafik? Kanske, kanske inte. Däremot så vet jag att betydligt färre än en av fem ledarskribenter bor i fattiga förorter. De har inte en jävla aning om hur viktig kollektivtrafiken är för oss som bor i förorterna. Vi är tvungna att planera våra liv efter den. Den styr vårt sociala liv och avgör var vi kan jobba och hur mycket mat vi kan sätta fram på våra bord. Det var först när jag flyttade ut i förorten som jag började ha en viss förståelse för vandaliseringen av bussar, tåg, hållplatser och stationer. Att missa nattbussen kan vara jävligt frustrerande när det är minus 20 och när det dröjer minst en timme tills nästa buss kommer. När den väl kommer, om den kommer, får man stå och trängas i en överfull buss som stinker av spyor.
Varför just kollektivtrafik Gunnar Jonsson? Därför att det, liksom skattesubventionerad barnomsorg, är bra för samhället. Människor kan lättare ta jobb långt borta från sina bostäder. Rörlighet på arbetsmarknaden bla bla bla osv. Det borde väl alla borgare uppskatta? Dessutom kan jag som bor i Fiskis åka och hälsa på mina vänner i Alby eller Rinkeby om jag vill. Jag kan känna mig som en del av ett större och coolare Stockholm även fast jag inte har råd med taxi eller en egen jätteSUV. Det borde alla sossar uppskatta. De flesta av våra förorter är rena sovstäder. Det finns knappt några jobb eller nöjesställen här. Vi är oftast helt beroende av världen utanför. Därför är kollektivtrafiken livsviktig för oss. Försämra kollektivtrafiken och vi i förorterna kommer att beväpna oss! Tänk Vietnam, Mad Max eller Itchy och Scratchy. Passa er jävligt noga - subventionera mera!!!
veckans boktips
Har läst tre ovanligt intressanta böcker den senaste tiden. Det är Howard Zinns "Det amerikanska folkets historia", Christopher Reuters "Med livet som vapen" och John K. Cooleys "Oheliga krig".
Böckerna bygger på ny forskning och/eller hederlig undersökande journalistik. De ger läsaren helt nya perspektiv på omvärlden. Slipp det trista gnället från borgerliga ledarskribenter och sensationslystna journalister. Njut av sammansatta analyser utan en massa förutsägbara generaliseringar. Det är jävligt uppfriskande. Collect them all!
Monday, October 04, 2004
sunflower
I have this beauty in my window. I bought it at Bondens Marknad. Please support your grumpy local farmers!!