American Zealot

Implicit Association Tests.

2006-03-24T03:20:00.000-08:00

Harvard University helps us figure out whether we are bigots or fair minded.

A small group of psychology professors offer a fascinating vanity excercise called the Implicit Association Tests, whereby the participant is tested for preferences of certain demographic groups over others by testing how they associate each with descriptive words and terms.

The Implicit Association Tests.

My results:

Slight preference for blacks over whites.
Slight automatic preference for dark skin over light skin.
Moderate automatic preference for thin people over fat people.
Strong automatic preference for other people over Arab-Muslims.
Your data suggest little or no association between European American and African American with Harmless Objects and Weapons.

Interesting considering about 85-90% of my friends are non-black, but when it comes to love interests I tend to stay black (although I am pretty much down for whatever :) and have been all over the map.)

The last one isn't so suprising because I am PRO GUN PRO GUN PRO GUN so I do not associate weapons with negative concepts, and therefore cannot choose one group to connect negatively with weapons.

Part of the evaluation algorythms, I am sure, has to do with the timing of the choices you make. Someone who is nervous about what he will pick will move slower when asked to take part of the test that mixes the words and the images or names than someone who has no hang-ups about the subject at hand. Very interesting stuff, to say the least.

There are some people I know - a lot of people - that I think should take these tests because they would be embarrassed at their results. THAT MEANS YOU!

I was right about Terry Schiavo

2006-03-14T03:32:00.000-08:00

From the National Review, in an article discussing euthanasia:

The threat of euthanasia is already a reality for some American children. Haleigh Poutre, the 12-year-old Massachusetts girl severely beaten by her stepfather last fall, had spent only eight days in the hospital when her state custodians began fighting for the right to remove her ventilator and feeding tube. Doctors had diagnosed her condition as a persistent vegetative state, but Haleigh recovered before they could euthanize her.

Haleigh’s case reminds us that child euthanasia can happen in any nation that has lost respect for the intrinsic value of life and the inviolable dignity of the person. The chilling reality is that although our depraved indifference to the sanctity of human life may not be as advanced as Holland’s, we are moving in that direction. "

Not too long ago in an independent libertarian rag called the Bruin Standard (UCLA), I argued that the Terry Schiavo incident was about life first, and not law or liberty.

In actuality, I argued that Schiavo should have been left in the hands of her mother who cared for her in hopes that she would miraculously ressurect. It was best, I said, that we err on the side of life and not death.

What does little Haleigh think of her parents who tried to kill her by starvation while she was a vegetable, who wouldn't wait for her and would not hold out hope?

Pathetic. They should be starved for having no common sense or patience with their own damned daughter.

School Segregation in Full Effect

2006-02-24T03:42:00.000-08:00

California schools are the most segragated public schools in America. What happened to the liberal "left coast"?

How lame.

Do I really care? No. I do not subscribe to the idea that non-white students need to be exposed to white students in order to get a good or decent education, although I do think that white kids that are raised up around nothing but white kids run a danger of being allowed to believe that the larger community is or should be homogenous - when, especially in California, it obviously is nowhere near homogenous.

I suspect that the definition of segregated means white versus non-white majority student populations, although the populations of non-white majority schools are not homogenous, when in Los Angeles there are many Latino and black students sharing facilities, as well as sizeable populations of Asians and Middle Easterners (Persians, Armenians, etc.).

If and when I have kids - private school, definitely, if I can afford it.

Too beaucoup...

2006-02-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

The mo-fro is just too beaucoup...

Also: I wrote a column for the Daily Bruin. I guess they agreed with me this time around.

Say a prayer for me during midterms.

Jerky for you to chew upon.

2006-02-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

From Reason Magazine:

"Anyone who has ever taken an undergraduate course in moral philosophy will remember the moral dilemma posed in the "trolley problem": You are standing next to a switch in a trolley track and you notice that a runaway trolley is about to hit a group of five people who are unaware of their danger. However, if you switch the track, the trolley will hit only one person. What do you do? Most undergraduates say that they would switch the track; after all, five lives are worth more than one.

In the second version of the problem, you are standing on a bridge over a trolley track beside a fat person. Again you notice that the runaway trolley is headed toward five unaware people. Do you push the fat person onto the track to stop the trolley? Notice the moral calculus is the same, one life to save five. But in this second version most undergraduates say that they would not push the fat stranger onto the track. (We will simply ignore the issue of whether or not you should jump onto the track to save the five people—that's for a graduate level moral philosophy seminar.) "

Very appealing, this Reason Magazine. I might have to subscribe. Actually on second thought I won't. Free online is probably just as good. Until they get a swimsuit issue like Sports Illustrated, I just might have to pass (yes, I do get SI in the mail).

Love is in the Air

2006-02-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

"Will you be my Valentine Shanaynay?"

Well have a great Valentines Day. I caved in and got a few flowers for a lady friend, under duress of course.

Surely anyone who knows me can guess that I am not thrilled at the thought of a corporate sponsored celebration of love. But you can only swim upriver for so long. Even my parents ate the bait; their anniversary is February 14th.

So at least I can be thankful for three things today: no kids, no wife, and I am not a Mormon. They are really partying on Valentines Day, no doubt, in their own special little way...

Black History Month Makes Me Want to Jump off the Santa Monica Pier

2006-02-08T00:44:00.000-08:00

So everyone is acting like they like black people again.

It must be February.

Black History Month makes me want to just jump off the Santa Monica pier and call it a day. Well, not really, suicide is for losers, but it is depressing nonetheless.

Blacks have no family coherence, no respect for each other and not nearly enough businesses, money or good sense to make up for the missing intangibles.

How is it that, as a group, we were more wealthy in the 1920's than now owning an estimated 45 times more land in 1900 than now(**edit: it's more like 15 or 20 times more**), or had stronger families in the 40's during Jim Crow than in the modern age?

I have my ideas why, but I won't fo too deep into them because it's such a downer (there are three converging influences 1)massive unmitigated, un-dealt-with collective anger and alienation/self-loathing 2)Marxist/jealousy-based attitude towards government and 3)liberal attitude about morals; the last two infect the entire country all too often amongst the poor, but the first is particularly bad for blacks). All I can say is that I will spend the rest of my life fighting socialists and collectivists and their subversive and seductive philosophy of decadance and entitlement.

At least we can be reminded of HOW NOT TO DO THINGS this time of year. Thanks, liberals! Oh, and for the record, I love being black and wouldn't change it for the world!

Watch out for "the Jazz Ambassadors" - your back, that is.

2006-02-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

According to Variety, a new movie about Duke Ellington's Jazz band in Iraq in the 1960's is in the pipeline, and it looks good.

Morgan Freeman can usually get me into a movie theater, but this film looks like particularly saucy fare.

In the 1960's, the United States effectively precipitated revolution in Iraq, a geopolitical shift that was a direct cause of the rise of Saddam Hussein.

Duke Ellington's world-famous jazz band was branded a goodwill ambassador and sent to Iraq for a short tour, to help win over the hearts of the clammy-palmed aristocracy in Baghdad, and later, to provide court entertainment for our beloved Emperor Saddam Hussein.

According to this article, the CIA had planted spies in the band, and they participated in the coup of 1963. The film apparently will revolve around how privvy Ellington was - or rather, was not - to the subterfuge unfolding right under his nose, from within his beloved band.

If only I could get to the point where I am influential and important enough that the CIA is embedding spies in my posse and entangling me in world-shaking espionage without my consent. Would make things so much more interesting, so much more sexy.

Definitely putting it on the to-do list.

Other films to watch out for:

The Last King of Scotland - based on popular novel by Giles Foden.

Idlewild - musical starring rap duo Outkast, certainly not to be missed.

That should be enough free advertising for the movie industry for a while...

Found this to be interesting.

2006-02-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

It occured to me a while ago that people are far more racist than they either realize or would admit in polite company.

Blacks are racist in that they are hateful in an angry, vindictive way.

Whites are racist in a condescending, intellectual way. Many white people also believe in myths of racial purity, but do not realize it.

The other groups tend to either side with one of these two.

Some are truly functional non-racists, though, although it is rarer than it should be I think.

Very old, tired, irritating, the race thing.

My top result for the SelectSmart.com selector,
Racism Selector,
is Colorblind

Update on the Bruin Alumni Brouhaha

2006-01-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

UCLA's own conservative pugilist laureate Andrew Jone's organization, the Bruin Alumni Association, has attracted far more national attention than expected.

Mr. Jones told me over the phone that one day not too long ago, he had to attend to over 20 interviews in a single day about the controversy.

The Los Angeles Times has printed a response to the BAA's campaign on it's website. It is not clear whether or not this article was in print as well.

Saree Makdisi, UCLA professor of literature, resoponds.

At this point, I want to say that as someone who knows this man personally, the media might attempt to portray him as otherwise, but he is a man of integrity and conviction and not simply a caustic trouble-maker as some would have him seem.

I do agree that many professors have a leftward tilt, but the real problem is, as I am now learning, is that many young people in school are not being exposed to the non-liberal side of things. Whether or not the BAA's methods are particularly effective or correct remains to be seen, I think.

Vegetarian? ME?

2006-01-23T17:01:00.000-08:00

So it's settled. I am a vegetarian. I learned a little bit too much about industrial meat production and I am thoroughly disgusted.

First it was the force-feeding of geese to produce the "fat livers" needed to make foie-gras that caused me to swear off foie-gras. Then, it was the revelation that all other meat was produced in a similary barbaric fashion.

So now, all I eat is vegetable products and fish and seafood.

Watching the "Meet Your Meat" documentary started it all. I think that any conscientious person who is honest with themself will watch this film and feel the same way - industrial meat production is repugnant. Google it and see what I am talking about. Pay special attention to the section on Goose livers.

So from now on, it's only fish and seafood and such like that can only be caught for consumption, or at least farmed in such a way that I am not repulsed by the concept of consuming the animal after what they have been through.

And, honestly, I thought that free and prosperous people like Americans would be physically healthier if they ate LESS meat.

It doesn't require nearly as much protein as the average American consumes to be healthy and vivacious.

I can feel the effects already. Double bonus is the fact that I already did not consume dairy product because of allergies. I feel like a million bucks.

Do not fret, people, because I am still pro-gun, pro-market, and pro-individual. I am still a libertarian through and through. But when someone asks "Where's the beef?" I can now say with confidence, "Who give a shit." Because I certainly don't.

Life goes on without meat. If there is one thing about me it is that I am NOT a petty person, and whether or not someone eats meat is a somewhat petty detail in the scope of things.

Read this articel in the National Review called Crunchy Conservatism ReconsideredL

No this does not explain me as a person, but it explains the concept that being conservative/libertarian and vegetarian are not at all incompatible.

Live and let live, right? And I don't even like animals. You know I probably wouldn't have posted this if I didn't drink that whole bottle of Chardonnay with dinner. The recipe had wine in it too. Ah well. Till next time.

Bruin Alumni take on City Hall

2006-01-18T21:12:00.000-08:00

The spankin' new watchdog organization, the Bruin Alumni Association, who's charge is to fight the rising tide of Marxist/communist/liberal influence at UCLA, and all of our Universities, is making headlines.

Welcome to UCLAProfs.com, where it is open season on every loose-lipped liberal professor on the UCLA faculty.

See:

Los Angeles Times chimes in.

The article is one of the LATime's current "most e-mailed stories."

It seems that the little guy can in fact take on City Hall - especially if he dangles $100 bills as bait.

Look out for updates, people.

Black Grand Wizard of the KKK???

2006-01-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

What you talkin' 'bout, Willis???

Alito, Schumer, racism, public housing and more: a bramble-bush of nonsense and political manipulation

2006-01-14T00:31:00.000-08:00

I hate politicians. Here is an episode of political subterfuge infused with all the silly, ugly things we can expect from the political sector.

Recently, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has been running the gang of 14 gauntlet, with the Democrats siccing the predictable "he's a racist, anti-woman christian fundamentalist conservative" dogs on him, hoping to make a crass political spectacle of his nomination hearings like they always do. However, it has not been easy because, it seems, Alito does not really have much to answer for - except, perhaps for one questionable incident early in his career where he, well, looks a little bit racist.

One of his most enthusiastic accusers is Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York, who pretty much led the pack in pegging him as a black-hater - yes, I know, how original.

It seems, though, that Mr. Schumer himself has been party to racist government coercion in his hometown of Brooklyn NY, NY, where he tried to get a housing project full of black people condemned so that the units could be resold to whites.

Read a purported first hand account of Schumer's low-brow racist politicking here.

In a just, libertarian system, the government would not subsidize apartments for "low income" residents, provide rent assistance, or otherwise dictate what kind of people live where and for what price.

This is not the world we live in, so we have to put up with racist hypocrites using the government to divide and conquer, like Schumer apparently has in his past.

Then he has the nerve to obstruct and smear Samuel Alito, who, even at a cursory glance, seems well suited to sit on the nation's top court (although I cannot say for sure - but these kinds of manipulations are NOT convincing, ONLY irritating).

Only time will tell if we as a nation will ever be able to be representing by people who will not sink to the lowest common denominator in pursuit of power.

These clowns make me roll my eyes.

New Year, New Opportunities

2006-01-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

So it's 2006 - ITS STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN.

More manipulative quasi-ideological prattle coming soon - as soon as I get off of my ass!

Hate in the Black Heart

2005-12-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

Many a commentator and pundit have pegged a phenomenon of prejudice in the black American heart, whereby white poeple are seen as the enemy who must constantly atone for it's sins against blacks past, present, and future. Berkeley Author and Linguist John McWhorter had written that many blacks, especially those talking heads who have taken it upon themselves to speak for all black people, have decided to never "let whitey off the hook."

From the time that he wakes until the time he goes to bed, he should feel consumed by guilt for being white in a country where whites have historically mistreated and stolen from blacks with impunity.

One of my favorite unapologetic black pugilists, LaShawn Barber, has penned a piece explaining why she feels the unction to criticize black people's often irrational fixation with convicting white people to guilt, and other manipulative racial politicking (like affirmative action), instead of placing blame and attention where it should be - on black people for avoiding the cultural self-critique we really need about education, scandalous crime rates, and family life.

Barber's Post

Although I have to admit that commenting ad-nauseum about race becomes tedious and boring-as-hell to me, and that I often consider racial politics a "ghetto" of current events and politics (because of how low-brow and childish the discussion often becomes), it seems that these issues are forefront in the minds of many people in America and, therefore, from time to time, still need to be fleshed out.

So here's the kicker: race doesn't matter, as long as the system is ABSOLUTELY race-neutral. Nothing more is needed and nothing less is acceptable. Now, go do something interesting instead of dwelling on this crap any more, alright?

In Love...

2005-12-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

...with the philosophy of libertarianism.

Nice cartoon from the society for individual liberty, by a man named Lux Lucre. Pretty spiffy.

For whom does the bell toll? Why, it tolls for Tookie

2005-12-13T01:20:00.000-08:00

"Well, it's a little late for that, darlin, but you got a lotta moxie and I like that!"

Let's look beyond the absurdity of the fact that this is a grown man named "Tookie" and have a moment for this man, whose life of intimidation, terrorism and hatred came to an end at 12:01 am December 13, 2005.

I feel nothing but a small amount of satisfaction from this man's execution, and I ain't afraid to admit it.

The evidence against this man is overwhelming, and he deserves what he got for his heinous crimes.
Try to guess which one in the pic is me...

ENGLISH, MTHERFCKER DO YOU SPEAK IT

2005-12-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

"Describe what Marcelous Wallace looks like....Does he look like a BITCH."

Happy M*therf*cking holidays.

Abortion...again. YAWN, I know, but it has to be said.

2005-12-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

Just to let you all know, I am not the only one who realizes that the abortion rate and crime rate in black communities in this country have been simultaneously rising in recent decades - 70's, 80's, 90's etc.

LaShawn Barber notes that author of the blockbuster book "Freakanomics" Steve Levitt has some explaining to do regarding a claim made therein whereby increasing abortion decreases crime.

Most people can see for themselves that this relationship does not exist, because the assumptions behind it are false. Crime is not caused by children being "unwanted." It is caused by moral permissiveness, which has been on the rise in all of America's communities for over 50 years now. Add crack-money to the mix, and you have a deterioration of moral values which leads to the kinds of conditions in our inner-cities whereby black males are completely AWOL as far as being the moral and family leaders that they should be.

Anyhow, getting swamped with work so won't be posting that often until finals are over.

The "Tupack Shakur Act of 2005"

2005-11-15T16:47:00.000-08:00

Cynthia McKinney, the Congresswoman from Georgia, has intiated the passage of a bill that would federalize the investigation into the death of Tupac Shakur, the popular rapper shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996.

As if the Federal Legislature has not shown itself to be a complete waste of the American people's time and hard-earned money, with the pork and the filibustering and the ridiculous "gouging inquiries," this embarrassment of a woman takes up precious government time with this paranoid bill.

McKinney compared it to the Martin Luther King investigation, and said that it is necessary because the Freedom of Information Act was not strong enough a statute to get the bottom of the mystery of Tupak's murder.

A reminder: McKinney is famous for having diarrhea of the mouth and making ugly, ill-conceived accusations without substantiation, the most prominent instance of which is when she blamed the Bush administration of dereliction of duty for ignoring it's own knowledge of plans for the Sept. 11 attacks and suggesting that President Bush was therefore culpable.

If you want to read the text - it is ridiculously long, melodramatic and convoluted - you can read it here.

This is right up there when kooky liberal Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee complained about hurricanes not being named after blacks (i.e. "hurricane LaTasha"). Liberals do lots of dumb things, but this is so petty and stupid you want to slap yourself back to reality because it is so unbelievable.

This is a good time to mention that I will be writing a multi-post piece called "Democracy Doesn't Work" and legislators like Lee and McKinney will be at the top of the evidence list.

-------------------------------------------

the Ultimate Black Contrarian Website

2005-11-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

Get into it.

Issues-Views.com

Can you handle the truth?

Democrats sink to new, racist low

2005-11-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

So the Democrats are down to throwing things at people to get their point across.

Marlyand Gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Governor Michael Steele was welcomed to a recent campaign rally with a shower of Oreo cookies by black Democrat attendees.

Yes, you read correctly: black Democrats threw cookies at this man at a rally to express their displeasure with him being a conservative.

Please, Democrats everywhere, be more childish because I assure you that throwing food is not tacky enough.

Who would have known that being a Republican would be such a crime only a few decades after the Republican party defended the rights of and even supported affirmative action for black Americans? Such is the life for a black man or woman who dares stray from the liberal orthodoxy and the Democrat party.

He should have thrown hammers and sickles back at that howling mob of f*cking communists (excuse my French, but this is extremely irritating story to me).

The Democrat party is a damned ghetto - devoid of anything resembling principles of freedom and liberty.
-------------------

UCSD Porno TV -

2005-11-01T09:47:00.000-08:00

A UCSD student named Steve York aired a porno - featuring himself - on a student-run television station, and after a member of student government criticized him for doing so, he made a remix where the student senator's head was superimposed on the head of the porn star he was screwing. Forgive me for laughing.

Should I post a link? Nah - i'll leave the smut to UCSD. UCLA shall remain mysterious.

Needless to say it isn't that great, but it is student porn. Isn't this how Girls Gone Wild started at that other bastion of class and style, USC? Think this guy is just following their lead? Wonder how much money he'll make after this...

Rosa Parks: A Fitting Symbol

2005-10-31T02:32:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Rosa Parks has died, at the age of 92, in Detroit Michigan. Her body is currently laying in state in our nation's capitol, and the media is ablaze with nostalgia and lionizing tribute. Trying to augment her story with commentary seems tacky, but there are a few things that should be said about her legacy.

1) I would fancy that her disobedience was borne more of her being fed-up with having to defer to disrespectful people on a daily basis rather than a calculated attempt to start a political movement. Like it was said in the movie barbershop - she probably didn't get up because her "feets was tired" and she was tired of complying with petty, demeaning treatment on behalf of whites in her community.

2) Just as Mrs. Parks did not need a "black leader" to push her into action against and unjust regime in her own immediate community, black people all over the country do not need a central figurehead to solve black problems in other parts of the country. Complaining about a lack of "black leadership" is mostly, in my opinion, the desire of some to see a unified black rebellion idealized in the militantism of the 70's realized, although such a rebellion never happened even during the height of black nationalist fervor. There is also little evidence that Mrs. Parks would have approved of the black nationalist movement. (If there is, and I am missing something, someone please correct me.)

3) Rosa Parks should be held up high as an example of how simple acts of principled courage can change even the most entrenched injustices. Huge government programs and expenditures are absolutely unnecessary to effect change.

So, RIP, Rosa Parks and thanks for everything. America owes you.

-------------------------------------------------

All I Want for Christmas is the Extermination of Whitey

2005-10-21T03:48:00.000-07:00

A NC State University faculty member has decided that the only way black people will be free is if Whitey is exterminated. He suggested genocide out loud and without irony on a C-SPAN broadcast of a forum about black American issues, and according to the column linked below, his name is still on the website for the Africana studies department at NC State University.

"Exterminating Whitey"

Strange that someon who benefits directly from a vastly white taxpaying public would have these kinds of views, but it is also an abomination that this intemperate radical is teaching the future elite of our country how to think. I won't even get into the notion that this moron fronts himself as an intellectual defender of black America - lets just say that this fool and his ilk certainly do not represent me.

On a lighter related note - why is CSPAN the best damn cable channel period?

Tipped off by a few associates,

I took it upon myself to take in a debate

between honey-tongued defender of the Iraq War and Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens, and toe-tag leftist foamer George Galloway.

Watching the two Brits snipe and volley wasn't quite riveting (Galloway is unbearable), but it was good entertainment nonetheless. Not to be missed.

-------------------------------:/-----------------------------------------------------------

"A Nation of Sheeple"

2005-10-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

The title of this column is enough to make you want to learn it by heart.

The indefatigable Walter Williams strikes again with "A Nation of Sheeple"

Media Exaggerations and Hurricane Katrina

2005-10-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

Columnist Mark Tapscott has written a column about how media alarmism and rumor-mongering during the hurricane Katrina drama was unfounded and irresponsible.

He mentions that the histrionics and lies spread about the Superdome and the vagabonds that wandered the streets of New Orleans after the storm cleared and demonstrates how false reporting led to unnecessary delays in aid arriving in the city.

Of course, I waited a while to comment on the hurricane until about six days after (see archives), but I mentioned that the media was concentrating on stupid things like the looting instead of covering the relief effort and the plight of the stranded. Looting footage certainly made for harrowing television, but the harm such...misappropriated attention caused to the relief effort should cause the media great shame.

Tapscott is one of my favorite columnists. Read the article, and realize that what the media reports, or rather, what it chooses to spend broadcast time reporting makes quite a bit of difference. I am not sure that the media knows how much power it has over these kinds of things.

Dare I say it, but the media also might have been a bit racist in their coverage of the hurricane, but that's just a feeling I have and can't back up with any overt examples. The condescending tone of the reporting was rather stark (Geraldo Rivera should have won an Oscar for his melodramatic performance), and I didn't believe the claims made and heard about some of the more gruesome things like rape and murder. People - even black people - simply would not put up with a murderer or rapist living int he same room with them; the stories weere simply too ridiculous to believe.

Fox News, CNN, bloggers - take note.

How you will vote in the special election:

2005-10-05T00:26:00.000-07:00

Here is how you, the informed and saavy voter, will cast your ballot in the special election.

PROP 73: YES
Minors shall not be allowed to get an abortion without consent of their parents. Unless you subscribe to the silly notion that abortion is a matter of privacy for every woman no matter what, minors can't even go the La Brea Tarpits on a school field trip without a permission slip. Abortions are dangerous, and, usually, pregnancy is not. There is a provision for Judicial intervention for best interest or health of the minor. Parents should know.

PROP 74: YES
This proposition would allow school authorities to dismiss a teacher with tenure in the pulblic school system after two unsatisfactory performance evaluations and would lenthen the probationary period for non-permanent teachers to five years; it is currently two years. This is not as good as instituting a charter-voucher system, but I do think it would help to get higher quality teachers into the system. It seems a bit of overkill extending the probationary period to five years, but the other part of the statute (dismissal after two unsatisfactory evaluations) is worth the vote.

PROP 75: YES
Unions will no longer be able to use funds collected as dues from the membership for political contributions without explicit consent provided anually by the membership. This sounds unenforceable, but nothing makes me happier than seeing unions hamstrung even further from exerting political power. It is also an ethical victory in that Union membership should not presume a certain political or party orientation. Those who are members of unions will also be less inclined to vote in lockstep with the union, and take a more independent approach to voting. (Once my mother told me that she voted for Gray Davis because he supported the teacher's union; Davis OWNED the teacher's union).

PROP 76: YES
This is, in short, a spending restraint for schools. Yes on spending restraints. Public schools don't need more money, they need people who actually care about education (students, teachers, administrators, community leaders, etc).

PROP 77: YES
Reforms the gerrymandering process. Apparently, this reform will save us money because it will only happen every ten years and gives power to retired judges and takes the gerrymadering process out of the hands of the legislature. Althoug I think a more scientific, less human-dependent, approach to legislative apportionment could be found, judges are ostensibly less idiologically and politically compromised than legislators are, so maybe it will be a good thing. Again, less spending, more YES.

PROP 78: NO
Expands government role in healthcare by providing subsidized drugs to low income Californians. The answer is no.

PROP 79: NO
Provides for reimbursements to pharmacists and other vendors for discounting drugs to those in the program provided for in PROP 79. Again: hell no.

PROP 80: WTF? NO
Okay, whoever came up with this one needs to be slapped. This would make it so that all electricity retailers would have to have 1% more per year of the power they sell be derived from renewable sources until 20% of the power they sell comes from renewable sources. This is ridiculous. Rolling blackouts now, rolling blackouts - and higher prices - forever after this, if it passes.

This is how you, the smart California voter, shall vote.

Bill Bennet's Comments about Black Abortion

2005-09-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Former Reagan advisor Bill Bennet is catching flack because he stated on his radio show that "You could abort every black baby...and the crime rate would go down."

Before everyone furrows their brows at what he is saying, realize that he is absolutely wrong.

The black abortion rate has exploded over the past thirty years, and the black crime rate has also expanded virtually parallel with it.

However controversial Bennet's comments might sound out of context - he's dead wrong.

Farrakhan the Fraud

2005-09-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

There are few people I hate more in the world than Louis Farrakhan. In fact I can only think of one, and that is because she is even more shrill than he is, you can believe that such a person exists (her name: Maxine "I'm a loudmouthed bitch and not ashamed of it" Waters).

Whenever this man says something stupid, he is protrayed as a "black leader" speaking for at least a large minority of black Americans by the media. Rarely does Farrakhan say something non-stupid.

The most recent gaffe: "If the Red Cross can't do the job, then they need to be taken out of there and have someone else put in there to do it." This man is crazy. I am sick and tired of seeing him on television ostensibly speaking on behalf of black people in this country saying psychotic things like this. He also said that the black parts of New Orleans were flooded on purpose by the evil white man's invisible hand, as if it was even possible, and got national face-time for saying it.

Well, shit, I can say some crazy stuff too, look: A very merry unbirthday. To who? To me. Imagine, just one birthday per year. Ahhh, but there are 364 unbirthdays. Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea, a very merry unbirthday to you!

Now where's my face-time, Fox? CNN? Anybody?

Not only is Farrakhan a nutty hatemonger who, typically, blames all of his problems on white people, and anti-Semitic in addition to his anti-white, he is involved intimately with adversarial foreign Arab interests in Africa. This is mind-blowing considering the disrespect that black Africans have to endure at the hands of hateful Arabs in the North of Africa and in the Sudan.

He has sat at meat with these same Sudanese government officials.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, Farrakhan and Arab extremist Muammar Qadafi, are in cahoots:

"On January 23, Minister Farrakhan and Colonel Qaddafi reached an agreement to launch a campaign to exert black and Muslim influence in the upcoming U.S. elections can only be viewed as a cynical covenant between two haters. With the Nation of Islam leading the effort, Colonel Qaddafi said that blacks, Arabs, Muslims and native Americans will exercise their political muscle "and enter the election period as a card stronger than the Jewish card in the elections campaign." Colonel Qaddafi had already agreed to bankroll the effort: in September he promised to spend up to $1 billion to launch a Muslim lobby in America."

Now we can add traitorous to the list of his disreputable personal traits.

Farrakhan has also been accused of accepting Saudi oil money to set up community programs in black communities all over the country (sound familiar, like the Madrasas maybe?).

In fact, I have a creeping suspicion that he doesn't really think of himself as a black man. Yes, this is extremely controversial I know, but all of his white- and Jew-bashing aside, he has never explicitly called himself a black leader or black man. I think he is a Muslim radical first and foremost, through and through.

Hopefully this demagogue and fraud contracts some horrible disease and dies, soon. Please, Christian God, see to it and see to it expeditiously.

Crime around the World: US not exactly the worst off, but murder rate is far too high

2005-09-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

A quick survey of crime in the "westernized" world.
It is a complex picture:

Violent Crime in the "developed" world.

Gun ownership in the Western world with relation to gun ownership - but it is Guns & Ammo Magazine.

Other interesting statistics, according to the all-knowing internet: rape is more common in South Africa, Australia, Jamaica, Canada and Zimbabwe than in the United States.

A larger portion of the population has been a victim of crime in 14 countries than in the United States, with several generally low-crime countries like Sweden and Canada reporting more victims per capita than the US, with Australia, New Zealand and the UK the top three in terms of proportion of crime victims per capita.

Murder is an enormous problem in the United States, but there are still 23 countries in the world doing worse, with Colombia the sickest in this regard (x15 the US) and South Africa in second place (x10 the US rate), with Russia x5 the US rate, Mexico x3 the US rate, and Zimbabwe and Thailand x2 the US murder rate.

The US has a very high gun murder rate (fourth highest in the world), but a moderately high overall crime rate, with Finland, Denmank, the UK, and a few Caribbean islands faring worse.

There are ten counties with robbery rates higher than in the United States, with Spain experiencing robberies 10 times as often, per capita.

The US has a very high assault rate, but the rates in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are very similar. The US, UK and New Zealand have a higher assault rate than Zimbabwe and Jamaica, and a much higher assault rate than in Mexico (road rage maybe?).

There are 16 countries with more burglaries per capita than in the United States, with Australia faring the worst, and Dominica and Denmark second and third.

8.5% of prisoners in the United States are female, compared to 20% of those in Thailand (probably due to the massive prostitution there, I would guess) while 8 countries have proportions of female prisoners higher than that in the United States.

Andorra, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have prison populations composed of more than 50% foreign nationals (unbelievable).

Then there is suicide - it is more common (slightly) in the United States than in Japan, even though I always thought it was the other way around, the highest suicide rates are in Australia, New Zealand, and all over Europe.

Urban Homestead idea is GENIOUS

2005-09-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

This is genius. President Bush, in his address to the people in New Orleans today unveiled a new plan to offer homesteads to poor people so that they may build on the land.

Now the Lord knows that I am no fan of big government, but this might be our chance people.
Offering Federal land, which is the People's land by extension of our Republican system of representation, for people to own and build homes on, is ingenious for two reasons.

1)Getting people out of public housing is a major step to repairing the damage in our inner cities. This will not fix all of the ills therein, but it will give some people who truly feel trapped in the ghetto a chance to get out.

2)Once poor people take advantage of free land, which will be built upon either with a mortgage or through charity, the government is off the hook. No one can claim that Bush or the Federal government has done nothing for the poor after this, at least for a couple of generations. The Federal government doesnt need a real estate portfolio anyhow. Give it away.

Lets see how this works, and, in related news, lets see if the Federal Legislature will get some good sense and forgo this $200 billion planned expenditure to help the south get itself together after Katrina. Private charity can handle anything the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama could possibly need.

Best Libertarian Blog: No, it isnt this one.

2005-09-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

No no, this blog sucks.

Libertarian Outlook: now that's a spicy meatball.

Bufoonish Governor and Mayor Attack Each Other After Katrina

2005-09-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

Governor Blanco of Louisiana and Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans are playing the blame game, and they are placing their bets on each other.

Even the matter of mandatory evacuations became a point of contention between the two, with Mayor Blanco proving herself to be a completely incompetent blockhead of a governor given her comments.

Blanco claims that she had apprehensions about ordering mandatory evacuations because she feared that fleeing residents would carry disease with them out of the city. Thats right, braindead Blanco did not think the drowning/starvation/death by thirst of the people of New Orleans was secondary to concerns about yet-unidentified diseases being taken out of the city. The mealy mouthed politician stated that "We wouldn't want the next wave of people getting ill and perhaps dying from terrible diseases..." - outside of New Orleans, that is. What a peach this woman is.

So Mayor Nagin was left with the responsibility of administering evacuation of his embattled city, and he did, twice. The first time was five days after Katrina had come and gone, a masterstroke of planning and leadership that will surely put the name Nagin into the history. He managed to get enough buses, 500 or so, to the hellhole formerly known as the Superdome in order to have it evacuated as quickly as possibly, as the people were running out of food, water, and their wits after five days of having nothing. The Superdome was emptied within 48 hours, most within 24 hours. Meanwhile, next door at the convention complex, another 10,000 people waited until day seven to recieve medical treatment and evacuation assignments. Mayor Nagin probably didnt notice the people in wait next to the Superdome being that he was sitting pretty upriver in Baton Rouge, waiting for the President to descend down from Washington to save the day.

Mayor Nagin lamented: "I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision." He could have easily defied her authority and ordered the evacuation without her consent, but we can't expect executives in government to make decisions on their own, now can we?

As anyone can see, we are surrounded by idiots who, that even in times of unprecedented crises, can't make up their damned minds to help their constituents survive. This is exhibit A of do-nothing government failing to do it's job correctly. Everyone should be advised: never wait on your elected officials for protection if you can help it. It is always better to help one's self first as best that one can.

Cleansed by the Waters?

2005-09-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

New Orleans cleansed by water? I suppose that is a valid spiritual interpretation.

Not a secret that Louisiana harbors corruption and decadence like no other place on earth. Even the slavedrivers and pirates couldnt stand it.

New Orleans Heavy on my Heart

2005-09-02T05:11:00.000-07:00

Anatomy of a Catastrophe in Nouvelle Orleans, Louisiana, as prophesied by National Geographic.

Some thoughts, now that a week has passed since hurricane Katrina smote the city of New Orleans.

1)Looting: Non-issue as far as I am concerned, so what if people are taking Playstations and Jordans? This just does not matter in the larger scope of things. People are drowning, starving, and dying of thirst and losing their minds, and all the media can do is blather on mindlessly about looting? How stupid. Yes, hoodlums and vagabonds will get what they crave for a time being - anarchy - but when the goods are gone, then what? Let us concentrate on keeping order and getting those people out of there, the stuff can be replaced. No, I do not condone looting, and no, people should not be shot on site for stealing, that is so stupid I cant believe it. Things do not come before life.

2)Preparedness: First line of defense is common sense, so any time a hurricane is dead set on New Orleans, given its peculiar topography, residents should leave for higher ground - period. That being said, the city should have had a contingency plan in place for mandatory evacuations. Mayor Nagin getting 500 buses from surrounding school districts to get people out of the Superdome - five days after the storm had come and gone - is a grotesque example of too little, too late.

3)The Disposessed: The Superdome is undoubtedly a hell hole right now, and all I can say about the things going on in there is God help 'em. Hopefully the military and Red Cross can get things moving to get those people some help.

4) Rebuilding: Yes, rebuild it, but make it smaller and virtually indestructable. It is possible. New Orleans is an American treasure, actually older than the Union, and deserves the full support of American society, just like any other city would recieve in times of calamity. The Dutch Sea Wall is an example we can follow for a city built in an utterly waterlogged swamp. Not too long ago, the Netherlands lost thousands when the sea overtopped levees after a North Sea tempest. America can do it.

Say a prayer for the Crescent City, a city dear to my heart and soul (the cultural heart of my immediate family - my mother was born there, right along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain) and remember that but by the grace of God, go we.

Conservatives and Libertarians Leaving the Republican Party?

2005-08-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Constitutional Party website.

Libertarian Party Website.

Should conservatives and libertarians leave a Republican Party gone astray? See trackbacks.

Tapscott's original post.

Trackback to LaShawn Barber and the comments on her site.

Famine in Niger: Husbands hogging food from their wives.

2005-08-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

Seems there is more to the famine in Niger than meets the eye.

Apparently, in Niger, the husbands control all of the food for the family, and in polygamous arrangements, apparently, the husband controls food stores for all of their wives and children.

Husbands lock the food up when they go to look for work in Nigeria, and all their wives and children go without.

Assholes.

Crenshaw High, Los Angeles, Loses it's Accreditation

2005-08-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

My alma mater, Crenshaw High, loses its The Accrediting Commission for Schools of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges seal of approval .

As embarrassing as it is, my old high school has lost it's credibility as an institution of learning. Let me vouch for the handful of high-achieving students that I know are there and say that the administration is only partly responsible for what is going on there. It is a matter of cooperation - I know that there are some kids in that school that kick ass.

Having said that, maybe this shocking turn of events will force the school to devise a scheme to get it's student body under control, mainly, to get them to do their homework and respect the teachers.

For the Accreditation commission to drop the axe like it did, it cited major failures in the academic sector - according to the LA Times article linked above, less than 1% of 11th graders meet standards for math, and less than 15% meet standards for english.

Say a prayer for my sister, who will be a junior there next year.

Is Bush Squandering the Conservative potential?

2005-08-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

Conservative UCLA Law Professor Bainbridge Criticizes President Bush and the Iraq War

Professor Bainbridge has given up. He reckons that the war is a "war of choice" and a case of injudicious "multitasking," and it is a distraction usurping political energy that should be used to do the things that he believes a fully conservative administration (which is the case int he Federal Government, except for our left-leaning judiciary) should be doing.

The pursuit of small government has been put on the back burner according to Professor Bainbridge. Of course, he does not acknowledge the fact that much of the most conservative small-government policy/ideology actually isnt very attractive or popular, inside the Republican party or out. Chalk it up to lack of understanding amongst the people. There is little that Bush can do about that. However, for Bainbridge to parlay this issue into an anti-war viewpoint is off the mark. In fact, I think the guy is shooting blanks with this post.

Most provocative of his claims, I believe, is that the war in Iraq was not necessary. He contradicts himself in the space of a single post, by lambasting the "smoke'em out" approach that underlies Bush "bringing the war to the terrorists" by moving the locus of the battle to the middle east. He says our troops have become flypaper for terrorists. Then he says that we shouldnt be doing it because we are drawing more fanatics into the fight - which is exactly the point of going into Iraq.

Bainbridge is complaining that the Iraq engagement is failing or is a quagmire, basically, because it is working out exactly like it is supposed to. To add insult to injury, Bainbridge evokes the hackneyed "new Vietnam" argument to solidify his point. I would appreciate it if influential people like Prof. Bainbridge would stop gainsaying our policy and out troops and let them do their job, just like they hav in the past in Japan, Germany, and South Korea.

2005-08-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

McCain is too Ridiculous to Win in 08' - or is he Just Crazy Enough?

2005-08-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

John McCain keeps on trying to disqualify himself for consideration for the 2008 Presidency with his remarks on global warming.

In this article, Senator McCain exclaims with the sureness of a (false) prophet that global warming is "obvious in the far north."

Allow me to be the first to say that John McCain is crazy. Flat-out cuckoo for cocoa puffs. He should be on the other side of the debate, trying to get the public to remember to think logically and understand that global warming is a theory - that means that it isnt truth, just a possible, even probable, reason for world temperatures rising.

HAVING SAID THAT - only the most fanatical would disagree with the notions that not only has global warming happened before it could ever be blamed on human activities, but that it actually could be a good thing.

It took me exactly five minutes to find some evidence that global warming has occured before human beings walked the earth. The NOVA PBS site provides a great, reliable explanation. Note the statement about the earth, at some times in history being "completely ice free." Apparently, mass melting has happened before the last large "freeze" or ice age (from which the earth has been warming for the last 100,000 or so years).

Here is a site that argues the benefits of global warming. I say, if this climate change is occurring, we might as well embrace it, because chances are that people have no choice anyway. Personally, a winterless climate sounds like paradise, because I hate cold weather. I like to go skiing for a day or two, then come back down the mountain to reality - but thats just me.

Globalwarming.org is one of the most interesting sites on the internet in my opinion, and one of the most honest. Yes, it's agenda just seems contrarian at first glance, but the truth of the matter is that the case they have to make is the accurate one: mankind has nothing to worry about with regards to global warming.

Why, look at this: even though the Arctic icecap is shrinking, the Antarctic Glacier is growing, according to the most mainstream of the mainstream news outlets, USA Today.

The issue of climate change is complex and, frankly, not worth losing our heads over - so please, someone, anyone, explain to me why John McCain has allowed himself to be sucked into the Al Gore-esque paranoia of the global warming fatalists, and where is he getting the audacity to propose expensive economic regulations to "curtail" a global phenomenon that we might not even have any real power to affect? Why is John McCain losing his damned marbles right before the 2008 elections...good question...

Yahoo News story, from the Associated Press on Clinton-McCain global warming photo-op in Alaska .

Hilary Clinton is involved - be very afraid.

Bruin Alimni Association: a New Alumni Vanguard

2005-08-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

A new vanguard of UCLA alumni has formed in order to keep watch over the spread of political activism in UCLA lecture halls and classrooms.

The Bruin Alumni Association , founded by the illustrious Andrew Jones, has taken it upon itself to attempt to put a damper on the radicalism simmering in the halls of academia in Westwood.

The Advisory Board for the organization is a veritable parade of nationally prominent scholars and authors who spent most or some of their academic careers at UCLA. Membership includes the likes of:

Stephen Thernstrom, author if the groundbreaking "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning."

Prof. Walter E. Williams, world-renowned economist, member of the Mt. Pilorin Society, and author of "More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well"

and others.

Support this organization! The website should be updated soon, so keep checking in on it. Maybe pressure from famous alumni can bring UCLA faculty activism under control or at least bring more attention to a real, bonafide problem.

Ebony Magazine Creator Dead, but Discussion is Very Much Alive

2005-08-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

Founder of Ebony and Jet magazines John Johnson died recently, and the commentators and bloviators are chiming in on his legacy as publisher of the nation's most popular black-oriented publications.
On LaShawn Barber's Corner, the question arose: why it is okay to have Ebony magazine and not Ivory Magazine?

I think a better question is whether or not Ivory magazine would be acceptable or appealing enough to exist in the first place. My comment were left on her site, so please take a gander.

Most of us have enough brains to know that is is simply a matter of the market getting what it wants, but for some people it isnt that simple, I guess.

News Corp. has a new Chief

2005-08-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

Roger Ailes, top cat at Fox News Channel and largely responsible for the network's dominance of the cable news market, is now the head of 35 FOx News television stations.

In this Washington Post article, Ailes is identified almost immediately as a "former Republican operative" - without explanation as to what that is supposed to mean.

:/ whatev

Maybe he can get Fox to recommission Married with Children and Martin - and rehire the old writers for the Simpsons to save what was at one time the best show on television.

The Many Shades of the United Nations

2005-08-15T04:29:00.000-07:00

Like a prism cast into the light, a recent set of resolutions that have been voted on in the UN Commission on Human Rights has separated the free from the unfree, and identified the many shades of color between the two extremes.

If you werent already privy to the fact, the United Nations Human Rights Commission is grotesquely-comedically mis-delegated, with such trustworthy and upright regimes as Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Cuba and the Sudan sitting in judgement of the human rights abusers of the world. According to the article linked below, several resolutions in which certain regimes around the world were to be singled out as just or unjust, transparent or undemocratic, so on and so forth, revealed the divisions that exist between the free regimes of the world and the oligarchies and authoritarian states of Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. Interestingly, save Cuba, Latin America was more-or-less aligned with the US and other western states in terms of voting.

A quick synopsis of the votes were re-published on the Townhall website, here. The series of votes, as it seems, were like a protracted train wreck, debacle after debacle where free countries sided against totalitarians and quasi-totalitarians and their allies, depending on the particular vote in question. The votes were such an embarrassing joke the even Kofi Annan asked that the commission be dissolved due to it's complete and utter impotency. Annan was clearly nonplussed and personally disappointed with what he saw.

For once, Mr. Annan is on the right side of the issue.

Niger is actually pronounced KNEE-GAIR, people.

2005-08-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

An unfortunate famine is beginning to take hold in Niger in central West Africa, so I thought I would give people a heads up on how to pronounce the name of the country of the hour correctly. I was told once that Niger is pronounced KNEE-GAIR, like a Frenchman trying to disprespect a black man, got it?

Just to give an example of how all economies are intertwined - right here in Los Angeles, quite a few jobs have been lost in the movie industry to Canada, mostly due to the fact that Canadian municipal governments, like the City of Toronto, offer production subsidies of up to 45% of costs. Many movies are cheaper to make in Toronto than in Los Angeles, so, of course, the production moves to that city, even if only for a job at a time, to take advantage of the lower costs.

Now lets look at Niger. This is a country that sits at the edge of the Sahara whose only real reliable source of water is the Niger river which makes an appearance in the southwestern corner of the country and meanders out again almost a quickly as it enters. Due to the aridity of the climate there, most cultures that developed there were nomadic, and the people moved with the weather. Now, the people have become sedentary, and combine low rainfall with a plague of locusts and an insecure economy, and there you have it: a famine developing in Niger.

Where is the United Nations, which gets over 22% of it's funding from the US? Is the United Nations not supposed to jump in when things like this happen? What the hell is it doing with our money? And when will nations all over the world realize that their insisting on provided corporate and agro-welfare to their farmers only keeps people like the Nigarians, who we can say are legitimately dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, broke and desperate?
How many poor people have to starve before the agro-welfare stops?

Look Who the Communist Party is Linking...

2005-08-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

One day I wondered who the Communist Party USA would think is worthy to link to it's site. So I went to a few other collectivist sites as well and surveyed what websites they thought appropiate to provide a link. This short, scary little "Collectivism Online" survey included the Communist Party USA, the Fabian Society, Socialist Party USA, and the World Workers Party (which publishes the free publication Workers World, which is supposedly a "job search" magazine distributed for free in most large cities - you might have seen the little kioks on the street next to the free Apartment Rental magazine and free porno mags. Communists, although morally corrupt, are nothing less than clever).

Socialist Party USA website didnt have links, but they are on a listserve called riseup.org - or something. Enough said.

The Fabian Society, which spawned every quasi-socialist NGO with global influence in the world including the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, had only links to European unions and other collectivism-prone groups.

World Workers Party - at www.workers.org - was a bit more interesting. One of the links on this site was to a group called the International Action Center, which was founded by Texas-born former LBJ Attorney General Ramsey Clark, an outspoken supporter of Saddam Hussein and textbook blame-America-first cry baby.

Then we come to the CPUSA website. The Communist Party website had links to the John Kerry campaign website at one point - as well as the now discredited Move-on.org. Their link page is the most interesting and detailed and should be looked at by anyone who cares about what the communists are thinking.

Just something I was thinking about while bored.

Old Black Men Inexplicably Contracting Diarrhea of the Mouth

2005-08-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Harry Belafonte is at it again. Toe-tag Republican hater and classic actor and singer Mr. Belafonte is attacking Condoleezza Rice and other black Americans serving in the the Bush Administration by calling them "black tyrants" - because, among other things, the Republicans "stole" the last election, making the entire party and everyone connected to it guilty of despotism. Crackpotterty at its finest.

Mr. Belafonte, along with other completely incoherent hysterical liberals such as Judge Mathis and Jesse Jackson, managed to hijack a celebration of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, screeching at slobbering crowds of sheep that the republicans are "nothing but thieves" and should be locked up for their tyranny. See the story here.

Now its sad enought that something like the Voting Rights Act is being turned into a partisan cleaver issue (if we want to get partisan about it - over 90% of Republicans voted for the bill, while less than 70% of Democrats approved it - hmm...) but I am wondering when people will realize that the Democrat party is absolutely and unacceptably - and embarrassingly - vulgar and shrill. How can anyone call themselves a member of such a group? It blows my mind, but I guess people have their reasons.

Something else - is it just me or are crotchety old black men coming down with diarrhea of the mouth at an alarming rate. Mr. Belafonte, and his contemporary, Bill Cosby, have both been caught saying perplexing, barely intelligible things about the black people that they dont like. We are all aware of Mr. Cosby's misadventures at the bully pulpit - what with his blanket criticisms of black parents, which could have been worth saying if he would have addressed the right people. Instead the man sounds as if senility is settling in for the long haul. Hopefully I dont have to worry about becoming as looselipped as Mr. Belafonte (who, if you recall, called Secretary Rice a "mammy" or something of the sort - extremely racist, disrespectful and ill-conceived criticism on his part) or Mr. Cosby in the autumn of my life. If so, kill me now.

CAFTA Makes it through the mouth of the lion.

2005-07-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

So CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement has finally made it's way through the Senate. This is a victory for Central America and the United States alike, as free trade and open economies are a boon for everyone. Many of the products you take for granted everyday will become cheaper, and some that you might not have noticed that are more expensive than they should be - like CANE SUGAR (ever notice that corn syrup is the sweetener in most American products? - sugar is too damned expensive, and CAFTA will help make importation cheaper - hopefully) and textiles. Great news for those of us who eat candy for breakfast and icees for lunch.

Some protectionist Republicans have voted against the Bill. These are Senators are the ones who, I think it's safe to assume, are not economic libertarians, and should be watched carefully. You can find a list at the website for The Club for Growth - predictably, RINO's Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania opposed the measure. Those of us with a sweet tooth and a love for freedom and a freer economy and more prosperous community should be overjoyed that this bill has made it through the mouth of the lion, and can now make it's way to the House.

As an added bonus, it is perfectly logical to expect this new trade agreement to be benefitial with respect to the illegal immigration problem that I know we all have issues with. Cheap goods is good for everyone!

Feminist Bitch Gets Her Comeuppance

2005-07-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

Terry MacMillan, author of black-men-aint-shit feminist paraphernalia such as "Waiting to Exhale" and loosely autobiographical "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" just filed for divorce from her 20-years-her-junior husband. This is the man that she met in Jamaica while on vacation and the inspiration for her popular its-okay-to-be-a-whore-because-men-are-dogs novel "...Stella...". Turns out the guy likes men, and, according to MacMillan's suspicions, he used her and her vulnerability as a lonesome single woman to get his American citizenship and escape the island.

She is such a confused feminist bitch she didnt even realize that she had married a gay man; of course, the first time I saw the guy on television, with the gelled hair and earrings and ten layers of lip gloss, I kinda figured that something wasnt quite right. Not my business to really care or anything, but lets just say that this dumb feminist who made herself a millionaire by establishing a cult of man haters after her own heart got what she deserves. Maybe the battle axe will write another book about how her flirting with feminism kept her from being able to tell the difference between a man that she could trust not to have sex with other males while they were married and one that would turn around and leave her ass for Billy and Butch down the block.

Dumb broad is getting her comeuppance, and you can find more info on the legal proceedings at the SmokingGun.com.

Oh, and I just got back from the fishing trip and it was the best thing ever - no phones, email, school, job, just a boat and some fish. I reeled in 4 20-30 pound albacor Tuna in three days, and I must say that I finally feel like a real man now that I have killed my own food. You arent a man until you have killed your own food, seriously.
(Yes this was my first tuna so yes, I ate the heart raw, well a piece of it anyway.)

I am going to quit school and be a fisherman.

2005-07-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

I think I want to quit school and everything and just fish for a living.

I went to the pier in Santa Monica and met a guy who caught three ten pound fish right off the coast here in Los Angeles. (I wont tell you what bait he used.) Even at the risk dying of red tide poisoning or some other exotic sea-born disease, I would happily cut out their little guts and eat them with a corn meal batter and a nice fresh salads of greens and tomatoes and maybe some potato cakes.

My uncle is taking me fishing on a party boat out of San Diego in a couple of weeks. My goal is to get him to take me down to the majestic, teeming, and brilliantly blue Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California. I would suck a dingaling to go fishing for Tuna or Marlin down there (but not my uncles', you sick fucks, :/ ).

Also, I am doing a show for MTV and I think I am going to go fishing or cook fish with some chick (who I dont really give a damn about; I just wanna be on TV).

This summer is indeed turning out to be the Year of the Fish.

Live Aid Benefit Concert racist and paternalistic?

2005-06-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

So is Bono's baby, the LiveAid Concert to benefit Africa, paternalistic and racist? Here is a link to the relevant UK Independent article.

At a radio show in Edinburgh, one of the concert's major organizers Bob Geldof was quizzed by the show host as to why a concert to benefit Africa included no African musicians. I raised an eyebrow at the question my self because it is something to think about. African musicians are abundant and surely the organizers could have found a couple to include in the program.

Of course, charity is basically all about the aggrandizement of donors (which is why charity events are rarely anonymous and usually done with pomp and circumstance), but of course it really doesnt matter. The downtrodden usually dont give a damn about why individuals are giving to them if they are truly desperate.

More interesting is this bizarre interpretation of the race issue by the host of the radio show where Bob Geldof was introduced to this "controversy":

'"If we are going to change the West's perception of Africa, events like this are the perfect opportunity to do something for Africa's self-esteem," he said.'

Am I the only chap who finds it odd that Africa's self esteem, according to this Scot, is predicated on what the British or whoever thinks about them?
I just dont think that's the case.

I think the most important thing to think about with regard to this LiveAid charity event (which will be happening during the G8 Summit in Edinburgh, Scotland) is whether or not the money raised will actually reach the alleged starving of Africa.

I personally dont think anyone is starving in Africa who isnt being starved by their kleptocrat governments (Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, some of the people of W. Africa). Why cant we raise money to end corruption in Africa instead - more lives would be saved by that kind of a moral crusade then by trying to stop what I consider to be a totally contrived starvation crisis.

As a side note: Tony Blair wants to concentrate on Africa and "climate change" at the coming G8 Summit. God I hate self-indulgent jackass politician and their ego-driven crap.

Chris Rock, actually, is a low-brow hack.

2005-05-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

So I think Chris Rock is a complete tool. There are an awful lot of people that think that his infamous "Theres niggers and then theres black people" routine was the fucking height of hilarity. I thought it was totally trashy. In the routine he never really, to my liking, explained the difference between a nigger and a non-nigger black person. It was actually an offensive routine, and I think Chris Rock formulated those jokes just to stoop to the lowest level he possibly could to find common ground with a white audience who's money he wanted badly. I guess a good way to appease and get those people that look down on you to like you is to slink as low to the earth as possible, and it seems it has worked; now that shrill jerk is hosting the Oscars and making millions of dollars for telling offensive and condescending jokes, which sucks because every once in a while the man has interesting insights , like his take on crack cocaine and drug dealers, which was basically that it should all just be legal (interesting little smidge of trivia: in 1985 there were exactly 0 crack related arrests in New York City, but by 1988 there were over 19000 per annum crack/coke related arrests in the city, think about that for a second).

Dave Chapelle is much funnier. "Black Bush" was like the funniest shit ever.

Anyway dont forget that it's Memorial Day, so make sure you have a moment of silence to remember those men and women who put their life on the line for you and your family. Dont be assholes and think that because you don't support the war that you cant show appreciation for our Armed Forces. SO say a prayer for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, CIA and FBI and make something nice to eat with your boyfriend or grandma or whoever you want to spend the day with.