Flexing our Muscles

More Prisons? Dumb Idea
from The Tyee

I've been saying this all along, but no one around me seems to listen:

How does throwing people in jail curb crime when more and more perpetrators are allowed to be created?

There's an obvious reason why our government wishes to incarcerate more people, and combatting crime isn't it. People try to brush me off with a cute chuckle when I bring forth the subject of the profitability of prisons. They say, "Oh, it doesn't happen here."

Bollocks!

In the Conservative regime's continuing efforts to cozy up to its demigods to the South, you will see more privately-owned-and-operated prisons spring up, and, of course, with private ownership comes the utilization of inmates for cheap labour, meaning when you make a purchase over the telephone, you'll be having a chat with an inmate, and the clothes on your back will have been put together by inmates. It thus follows that, with an increasing demand for dirt-cheap labour, more and more people will have to be locked away, and all the while, they'll continue to whisper sweet nothings into your ear about the need to "get tough on crime".

The Red Pill

I don't know what to say anymore.
The world is at war, but few seem to care.
Brain-dead television has my friends and family in its clutches.
The world is running out of resources, yet people consume more and more.
My scholastic life served only to groom me into a machine that makes more money for the elite.
Our government continues to neglect the people who put it in power by serving only the well-to-do.
Billions suffer globally so that I and those around me may live in luxury.
On top of that, I'm staring at another forty years of loneliness and depression under corporate serfdom.

I wonder if this is all but a bad dream...

Breaking the Barrier of Communication

An open letter to the people of Iraq, from Stan Goff

Hadji Girl, by the United States Marine Corps

From the other side of the information war...

"Leanon crisis an international conspiracy"

Are you listening, Stephen?

Are you that determined to smooth things over with your pal, Ol' Dubya, that you will stand aside him in support of continuing carnage in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere?
Are you going to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the mass condemnation of said carnage?
Were you able to appease yourself and your small circle of supporters by posing for photographs on a plane with 100 lucky Canadian citizens while thousands more of your own constituents and millions of locals continue to live in fear for their lives?
Do you really care about Canadians, or anyone else, for that matter?
Were you paying attention when they protested the war in Israel?
Are you listening to people like Riverbend, who sees what life is really like in Iraq?
Do you even want this war to end?

Random Tasks in Sequence

When I gaze upon a city landscape, I am reminded of a motherboard.
Buildings resembling elements storing bits of information,
Streams of people carrying out pre-designed tasks,
In perfect harmony,
Like a vast, finely-tuned machine.

Can electrical impulses dream?

"Freedom" in Haiti

Haitians march for Aristide's return

Find out more about the land in which Canada is helping its big American brother spread freedom and democracy.

Flooding in Korea

This is the view of Yeouido in central Seoul, adjacent to the Han River. Those are the tops of buses.

Read here for more details.

"Israel has the right to defend itself."

Harper defends Israeli air attack

By now, you should all know where I stand on this issue, and it's not alongside our prime minister nor this newspaper.

parenthood

my parents raised me to live in the world as it is
as slimy and underhanded as it may be
they told me to strive for monetary success
because i can't change the world, they say
stocks and bonds
the car and the mortgage
these, i was told, were what i was to attain

should we be teaching our children how to achieve material status?
should we be teaching them how to adapt to an already cruel world
rather than strive to end said cruelty?

i'm afraid to bring children into this world
one with so much emphasis on the superficial
in which possessions, charm, athleticism and looks bring forth status
i'm afraid for these future generations
as i am for the rest of us.

story of my life

"poor you" par Daniel Johnston

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

hi, how are you?

Every morning he got up
Dreading each moment he had to be awake
He'd look at the floor, scribble on gum wrappers
He never found a better way to joke around

The clock would tick and time would slow
There wasn't anywhere he wouldn't go
To avoid having to see anyone
He'd sit in a chair and lean against a wall
But that didnt seem to matter much at all

But late at night he had a saviour
In his sleep, in his dreams
She came to him and she said
"poor you, poor you
No one understands you
Poor you, poor you"

And every word that everyone would say
Got mumbled up in his head
Like mumble-jumble and everywhere he went
It seemed like everyone was saying to him,
"Blah blah blah"

But late at night, he had a mistress
In his dreams, in his sleep
And she would say "poor you, poor you"
No one understands you
poor you"

This story, though, not well told
Is not that old
It's not that funny, it's not that great
But I know it to be true

Because late at night, I have an angel
In my dreams, in my sleep
And as she runs her fingers through my hair
As I lay on her lap
And she says, "poor you, poor you
No one understands you, poor you
poor you"

the path to righteousness

heaven and hell do not exist
not as the book describes them
reward and punishment do not await us in the afterlife
heaven and hell are right here

God is not some supreme magistrate
God is love
God lives within all of us
to love God is to love and respect our fellow beings
and their habitats
as well as our own

there is no need to worship the cross
the instrument of death
used to execute Jesus

there is no need to worship the bible
mere words on a page
concocted by man

there is no need for a house of worship
or propagandists clothed in the garments of the elite
posing as "representatives of God"

if you carry hatred, intolerance and apathy in your heart
you are not going to hell when you die
you're already there.