An Assortment of Rodentia
CDs in Play: Super Furry Animals, Rings Around the World. David Bowie, Low.
The Freedom to Silence Others
Perhaps you have heard something about the controversy surrounding whosarat.com. (if you want to see the site itself, Wikipedia has a link to it) The site was created as a means of "outing" informants and agents. Started by a guy named Sean Bucci, who has been in court on dealing charges, the site claims that it is not promoting violence against informants, just putting their info out there so people (I would assume people in the "alternative economies" specifically) would know who to avoid, etc. It seems an interesting way of using the First Amendment to shut people up.
Someone is going to end up dead because of this site. The site says that they want listings tied to non-violent crime, but come on... Bucci is fighting charges related to marijuana dealing - how many deaths have occurred in the US (and in Canada) related to dealing? Having met dealers in the past, they are not all bad guys - some are down right descent human beings actually. But they were small-time hippie types and violence is a fact even in the marijuana trade. Cross the Hells Angels and see how forgiving they will be. Shop someone connected in with the Angels, get your file and photo posted on whosarat.com and see how long it is before you get bumped off.
Dead Despots
And in what some will see as a hypocritical turn, Augusto Pinnochet is dead and 
the world is a richer place for it. Too bad it didn't happen back in the 1970's, thus preventing the loss of thousands of lives. There isn't much I can say about Pinnochet that hasn't been as eloquently, articulately or as succinctly put by others so I am not going to bother. My one regret in his dying is that he won't serve any time for his crimes - embezzlement and money laundering, allegations of chemical and biological weapons production and proliferation, allegations of cocaine trafficking and more importantly thousands of people murdered, kidnapped, tortured and disappeared. Margaret Thatcher and George W. H. Bush are both known supporters of Pinnochet, which shouldn't be so surprising. But are free market economies really worth so much in terms of the suffering, misery, bloodshed and loss of life? The moral answer is no.
the world is a richer place for it. Too bad it didn't happen back in the 1970's, thus preventing the loss of thousands of lives. There isn't much I can say about Pinnochet that hasn't been as eloquently, articulately or as succinctly put by others so I am not going to bother. My one regret in his dying is that he won't serve any time for his crimes - embezzlement and money laundering, allegations of chemical and biological weapons production and proliferation, allegations of cocaine trafficking and more importantly thousands of people murdered, kidnapped, tortured and disappeared. Margaret Thatcher and George W. H. Bush are both known supporters of Pinnochet, which shouldn't be so surprising. But are free market economies really worth so much in terms of the suffering, misery, bloodshed and loss of life? The moral answer is no. Should God choose to show Augusto Pinnochet mercy, then so be it. But I cannot find it within me to feel anything but disgust and revulsion for monsters like Pinnochet, Jorge Rafael Videla, Alfredo Stroessner, Luis García Meza Tejada, Anastasio Somoza García, Efraín Ríos Montt and so many other.
posted by Magnus at 15:00
5 Comments:
The establishment of free markets is not worth the cost of human lives. Pinochet was not a hero. He was an evil man. Thatcher and Bush Sr. have no credibility when it comes to their insincere rhetoric about liberty, and that is because they were Pinochet supporters.
Now that he's dead, maybe he can ask Abraham to send the souls of his victims to bring him water to assuage his thirst in hell.
Nicely put.
Wikipedia also has an article on the conviction of former Ethiopian President, Mengistu Haile Mariam. (albeit in abstensia) Monsters on the left don't seem to have problems getting tried, but the ones on the right seem to avoid it easily enough.
David said...
Wikipedia also has an article on the conviction of former Ethiopian President, Mengistu Haile Mariam. (albeit in abstensia) Monsters on the left don't seem to have problems getting tried, but the ones on the right seem to avoid it easily enough.
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That's because greed is good, David. Long live evil. Long live opression. Long live Hitler. Long live Saint Fond (an oppressor in Daph de Sade's book, Juliette.
It is a disgusting world. And we all end up being in conspiracy with either the oppressors or the oppressed. And the latter still get tried for crimes they never committed. Trumped up? Okay, sure, but the ultimate conviction, sentencing and execution gets the powerful kings, statesmen, presidents, prime ministers a free masturbation session while viewing their handiwork.
We all have both the urge to fight against oppression mightily and bravely and the urge feel its really cool to hurt people, make people suffer more and more, make ourselves more and more... we all have this in us. Those people who deny it I would feel very suspicious off.
(Well, if you deny wanting to help people, to fight for good people, let's just say you are weird, cynical about yourself, and are trying to redeem so much bad in yourself and others. Maybe we should trust you more? I don't know).
For the record, I am pretty sure that I read, either on Al Jazeera.news.net or on Wikipedia that Mengistu Haile Mariam is still alive and guarded 24 hours a day in the rich part(not many of those!) of Zimbabwe, befriended by that holiest of wackos, Robert Mugabe. Sure, Chavez has nominally included him among his friends in the non-aligned group, but he's include Achmedinejad (whom I sure won't last very very long, just a little long, considering the recent Iranian polls).
Yeah, all the Heile's were pretty bad. Remember what happend eventually in Ethiopia? Not just the sensational images of starving children you see or have seen to sell Bob Geldof's fat image but by the seaside, real people, nomads walking the desert, not just refugees, but farmers... The media was very stupid with how they reported it.
They pretend they've gotten better, but they only care about wackos, charlatans, and the super-rich. If I ever see one more drooling programme on CNN over this the world's largest yacht or that, the world's most lavish super-jet, I'll have to go on a rampage. But wait, I've already done that. I've already ranted on the street. And I'm just as bad when I demand for fast service at 10 minute-waits for starbucks in Taiwan(yes, I really did yell at the woman). But there were three people serving something like 8 customers. Yes, I am going crazy here in Taiwan, but how long does such a thing take. Service here in Taiwan sucks. I don't care that they're friendly, they're friendly back at home. And Starbucks is just a job. Just get me my coffee. I don't plan on buying more than one or two!
I've gone crazy as you see. But you see, I'm just getting as bad as everyone else!
Anyway, to get back to my point, sure, there's Anderson Pooper, but I'm starting to wonder whether he really cars. Such a star image, a glamour image, ooooohhh Anderson with your whitish blond hair, and you met Osama face to face. Why didn't you challenge him you nit-wit? Why didn't you rail against him. And why don't you rail against the other side?
I should stop drinking Starbucks'. I didn't drink it today, but still...
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