2nd Anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson's Death

And so, some links.

"Where the Buffalo Roam", movie, 1980, Bill Murray

1978 BBC Interview

The Murder of Hunter S. Thompson

Short Film about the mystery around Thompson's Death

More on murder conspiracy

Red Heart Junk Day

I'm tired of all the red heart junk today. Stupid cliches everywhere. Cheap chocolates, garish cards, silly rubbish. St. Valentine was imprisoned and executed for his beliefs. What has all this got to do with him?

And you gotta love the guilt trips the commercials lay on you. "If you really love someone, you should buy them things." So if you can't afford anything, you don't really love them? Or maybe the idea is that they might love you more if you give them things?

How about some social justice instead of more cheap, mass produced consumer goods or things with ridiculously artificially inflated prices like diamonds? The human suffering involved with their production hasn't got a damn thing to do with love.

Zappy New Year

It's rolled into the new year, which I spent by myself while my significant other delivers fast food to people for 12 hours straight. Not quite alone, I am chatting to my friend in Ottawa. Talking about everything from Dalits to Lee Scratch Perry and swapping stupid links on YouTube.

I needed a new song to start off the year. Something appropriate as a theme. And so I picked...

Rise Above - Black Flag

Jealous cowards try to control
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
They distort what we say
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
Try and stop what we do
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
When they can't do it themselves
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
We are tired of your abuse
Try to stop us, it's no use

Society's arms of control
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
Think they're smart, can't think for themselves
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
Laugh at us behind our backs
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
I find satisfaction in what they lack
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
We are tired of your abuse
Try to stop us, but it's no use

We are tired of your abuse
Try to stop us, it's no use

We're born with a chance
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
I am gonna have my chance
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
We are born with a chance
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
And I am gonna have my chance
Rise above, we're gonna rise above
We are tired of your abuse
Try to stop us, it's no use

Rise above
Rise above
Rise above
We're gonna rise above
We're gonna rise above
We're gonna rise above

Career Opportunities

I just read my entry from 2006/08/31. Damn. Yeah, I thought the call centre was bad but the food service business where I went was worse. It was just as stressful and actually let me see an even greater display of humans acting like assholes. I even started to drink so I could get to sleep at night. I didn't want it to come to that but when you're lying awake at 2 am with your mind racing, hating the idea of where you have to go the next day, knowing if you don't fall asleep it will be even worse, and that the last two tranquilizers you've been saving for months should only be used in case of an extreme panic attack...well, then you go with the alcohol.

Anyway, I'm not there anymore. What a marvellous Christmas present to me. Thank God. But I go to another place to serve food soon. It seems to be less horrible but only time is going to see that out. Will this ever end? Am I being transformed into some kind of customer service robot, my mind constantly screaming in frustration inside my skull?

"I believe I can see the future,
Cause I repeat the same routine.
I think I used to have a purpose,
Then again, that might have been a dream."

- Everyday Is Exactly The Same- Nine Inch Nails

Fair Trade, Economics, and Local Goods

Now this is just a post I made in a discussion on VeganPorn in a discussion about an article in The Economist that claimed fair trade and organic farming were bad for the environment and people. Yes, a bit lazy just recycling something, I suppose.

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Re: Responses

Posted by anarchistgrouch @ 2006-12-23 16:12:36 EST

Sod it. How's this, get rid of most trade. Oh noes, what an unholy idea in this grand day and age! No trade! Kill the crazy heretic!

What if everyone just grew their own food. Eat what's in your backyard (literal and figuratively). The poor suckers who can't grow anything because their back yards suck will have to just get give some extra stuff that others have. Oh, but that would be so boring and uncool...(And yeah, I'm going to have to move where the coconuts and molasses are since I will be eating turnip and taters if I stay in Newfoundland. No, I'm no stranger to agricultural labour. Pass the machete.)

The developed world is sitting there able to put anything they want in their mouths no matter how far away it come from. If you want it, you have to have it, you deserve it if your tongue and belly ask for it. The poor grow the coffee, the cocoa, all the high priced items and they end up eating a bit of rice at the end of the day.

Some guy sits in an office and manipulates some data and he's rolling in cash. Some other guy works like a ox, sweats and strains and bleeds, shortens his life span by heavy physical labour, and gets an amount so small it's insulting. And I'm sure there's enough of these people that, given a switch of circumstances, could be doing the other's job. It's not like we've evolved into the shining uber-class and a horde of squatty slaves yet....have we? Why don't so many people see there is something wrong with this picture? Is their only thought "Well, it's not me, thank my lucky stars, now pass my extra tall brand name mochachinattafrappcrappawhatever. I don't want to think sad thoughts."

My parents are here in Canada. They are quite well informed, have useful skills, not stupid, probably made some bad choices during their lives in this big useless game called capitalism. Their last immigrant ancestor got here over 100 years ago so we can't go and say "Well, things will get better for the next generation," like is usually done for the immigrant workers who get the grunt jobs in the economy. They're about to head into their 60's and will still be working physical labour jobs. It's so _nice_ to hear about them getting injured on the job and how they carry on because they need the money. There are people out there who would look down their noses at my parents, like lords of the manor gazing upon the unwashed peasants who sleep in the same hut as the sheep. If it's not sneering, it the patronisation, the assumption that they are stupid, uneducated, lower class, proles/peasants who should just fulfill their worker role in life. Or that the only reason they are in that spot is because they were lazy! Lazy, of all goddamn things. Now, I seriously don't appreciate that. Actually, it makes me so angry I want to crush the snotty little empty arrogant heads of people who think things like that.

I'm 28 years old. I went to university. I didn't make the right choice for what I took there. Now I'm working minimum wage. Is this my future? To run around serving people crappy food I wouldn't eat if someone paid me to?

I hate being forced to participate in a hierarchy.

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Christmas Overload

I'm getting overloaded by the overly everpresent Christmas crap. Wild eyed people, sweaty faced and panting about how they just got back from the mall. Toys they HAD to get for their children. Getting hyped up about spending money. People feeding one another's commercially induced hyperactivity. And hearing Christmas music which seems to be more about modern Christmas decorating paraphanelia of silver bells, bows of holly and plastic Santas on the lawn than anything to do with either the birth of Christ or the period of darkness and hibernation the land goes through.

I actually like Christmas. But this rubbish is ruining it.

And I'm not much fond of the non-stop Christmas music. It's like being hit in the head with a hammer. Sometimes I actually think that might be more pleasant. You know what I like to listen to at Christmas? Reggae. And sometimes Hawaiian ukulele stuff. And maybe some Beatles thrown in.

On another note, I might go back to the call centre to work. I can't handle the negative atmosphere where I work now, from the customers or the boss. That man has really gone out of his way to make the staff hate him. Not only that, but he runs the place in an inefficient and half-assed fashion. He could do so much better, both in business and as a human being. But he doesn't seem to care. Sad.

Room For Jello

“Here we are as a people proccupied with screwing each other, in more ways than one, and does it bring fulfillment to the soul or happiness? No, it does not.”- Jello Biafra

Just a little link to a video clip from a documentary about one of our favourite spastic ranters.

I often get through days at work by humming (or singing under my breath) "Pull My Strings", "Let's Lynch the Landlord", "Holiday in Cambodia", and other Dead Kennedys tunes. Sometimes I throw in "Karma Police" - Radiohead, or "London Calling" - The Clash, or "Hindsight" - The Headstones. One way to deal with being treated like a retail service robot.

Someday I might tell you about my lifelong fear of landlords. It involves a long set of stories and starts when I was only 2 years old - my second earliest memory is of being evicted. I don't really know what happens to people when they get to be in a position where they can look down their nose at someone and pretty much do all kinds of things to completely screw around with their daily life and existance - but I don't like it. "Renter" is one of those words with the same kind of vibe as "trash" or "welfare".

Presently, you should see the army of earwigs I have in this damp basement. I found one in my showergel scrubbie this morning. I don't know what's worse, roaches or earwigs. I mean, with roaches you can turn the lights out and when you turn them back on, they all have appeared for the party and you can step on them. No, but that's not very veggie is it? Hey, it's been awhile since I did that. But these earwigs, what with the pinchers and climbing in crevices and falling in my kettle and climbing in my cereal box and sitting in the bathtub...did I mention the pincers? The only thing worse I can think of is giant centipedes. I'll take spiders anyday over giant centipedes.