the 2004 falsies awards

this is a pretty sweet article dedicated to spreading information about the disinformation...

as the world shifts

yes it is my opinion that Bush and his cronies are a bunch of wankers...how else could you explain that prick staying on vacation as over a hundred thousand people are confirmed dead in the tsunamis around the Indian Ocean and then to "up the offer" to $35 million? give me a break, that's ridiculous...this was hurtful to the nth degree and to top it off it was a powerful enough storm to shake the planet...but not apparantly enough to rouse the president from clearing brush in Texas...hell even Linkin Park was able to donate some cash...I'm sure Jessica and Ashleigh Simpson didn't stir either...we are a selfish breed aren't we?...that's what we need to focus on during our new year's eve celebrations...how to embrace our fellow man and how to reshape our future into positive reflections of our species...myself most firmly included.

phil speaks out

Phil Anselmo who was one of the main members (and main reasons they broke up too apparantly) of Pantera has videotaped his statement regarding Dimebag Darrell's death...I'm not quite sure why he blames the "heavy metal media" for the band's break-up but whatever...he sounds a tad drunk or something which I guess is understandable when you lose someone you loved and worked with so much...I guess it's no real surprise that Dimebag's family didn't want him to go to the funeral but damn if that must not have hurt 'em...

and how's this for "blog of the year"

so Time Magazine fresh on their ridiculous heals of announcing that the Messiah of the Right, Bush was their "man of the year", also boasts that Powerline is their "blog of the year"...of course, that blog is a powerhouse for the right and is thusly exposed by the Star Tribune...oh have the right won...they have all the power, they have all the money, and they trample us with gusto of the religious kind while pounding on their chest as if to say to the fallen left "get up, I want to bitch slap you around some more"...but the ironic thing is, they more often than not are the hypocrites who bite into everything they so ironically shake their fist at...take for example how the GOP big donors cash in on smut...or how they suppress the very democracy they tout...well it all comes back in the end, I suppose.

speaking of music projects

if you have a music project and are yearning for some good samples, then check out this massive thread on tranceaddict...and before you ask, yes there's links to sites that have non-trance sounds ya shizz

waking up early after staying up oh so late

as I continue to ease into my vacation, I swiftly shift sleeping patterns...last night I finally caught Shaun of the Dead which absolutely was one of the funniest zombie flicks I've ever seen...British humor is, well British humor but this was a great movie...and yes I did write a review of that and a couple other DVDs that I've watched...well damn if the Rams aren't closing on a possible playoff spot...I'd love to see them get there though they probably don't deserve a spot though most of everyone but Atlanta and Philadelphia don't deserve a spot in the NFC...speaking of football my fantasy teams did alright, one finished in first and then third in the playoffs, the other finished 7th (I got crushed all too often) and was 5th in the playoffs...not too shabby...the second team I must admit was a team that I didn't draft because I wasn't able to make the draft, no excuses but I did find that kind of interesting...after the package with our yankees-boston OPENING DAY tickets at YANKEE FUCKING STADIUM show up from FedEx I plan on sending out some promotional materials for my new CD that I know all of my faithful readers (all two or three of you!) have totally checked out...hey I mean, there IS a free downloadable MP3 of probably the most "accessible" song on the album, and of course you can sample all the tracks as well...alright now back to work.

yummy food stuff

as with all holiday festivities, food is a big ingredient to having a good time...excuse the pun...and one mistake we often make is calling new mexican food tex-mex...and here's a great guide to veggie eating in the Maryland/DC area...though this is a bit more local...alright well it's off to work real quick and do some other chores and then I can eat some good lunch. yum!

nifty political signs from the founder of Dischord Records

I thought that some of these political signs in Ohio were pretty funny...they were made by the founder of Dischord Records...

Rumsfeld admits plane was shot down, then CNN edits the transcript

well apparantly our wonderful lefty media folks at CNN took it upon themselves to edit our nutty Secretary of Defense when he made the following admission:

"DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: And to change that way of living, would strike at the very essence of our country. And I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples' heads on television to intimidate, to frighten -- indeed the word "terrorized" is just that. Its purpose is to terrorize, to alter behavior, to make people be something other than that which they want to be."

Note that he said "shot down the plane over Pennsylvania"...

here's the altered transcript

which now reads:

"RUMSFELD: And the thought of turning over this country to the people who behead people on television and videos, to the people who consciously, purposefully kill innocent men, women and children, would turn this part of the world and this country back to darkness. And we simply can't let that happen."

isn't that wonderful? but yeah it's not as interesting as gay penguins!...

a lovely holiday

this x-mas was especially fun!...my wife and my in-laws are going to see the Yankees get their butt whipped by the World Series champion Boston Red Sox...how awesome is that? we'll have to plan a nice little trip up to New York City around this great opening day frenzy!...I've never been to Yankee Stadium so this is extra special to me...I also received quite a bit of other worthy gifts, much more than I ever thought!...also to note as I pound out review after is that we're linked up to the power pop blog who digged one of our reviews...nifty world we live in eh? now back to work for me.

socialism and its many forms

I thought that this was an interesting quick read on the various socialistic political statures that some may or may not fall into...right now I'm reviewing a great Latin band called Grupo Fantasma...they're good stuff and not your typical fare for an x-mas eve stereo set-up...I truly am enjoying my time alone today...the grocery store was absolutely packed as was the movie store so I just avoided it...saw the Bourne Supremacy last night with the wife and it was pretty good, packed with one helluva an action-filled car chase through Moscow...which is a city I really would love to see sometime (though certainly not during their winter!)...speaking of Russia, it looks as if Putin is strengthening his country's economy even more with the purchase of Yukos by creating a huge energy giant owned by the state...of course our White House objects because our vested interests (read: Bush's campaign donors) wanted it for themselves and sure there's plenty of criticism that can be drawn towards Putin for corruption and much more, but honestly do we have any soapbox to stand on? I think not. hey you can't assume that we can be the only super-power forever right? Now we're going to have to seriously consider an alliance between China and Russia as the most powerful in the world, especially considering all the strides that both countries have made to secure oil production...they could have only seen our illegal war into the Middle East as a last ditch effort to grab up some oil for ourselves when our plan to launch the pipeline across Afghanistan had failed due to the Taliban...there's a lot going on in the world, in hushed circles, and nervous hands are wringing...we've got a stupid cowboy on one side, and on the other, the world.

besides who are we to complain about state-owned or controlled anything when we've got the GOP-controlled and manipulated media at our whim and multi-national companies who helped the neo-cons push for a "free market" utopia in Iraq only to see it unequivocally fail and terrifically at that as we could barely make out the jet streams from Bremer's fleeing airplane...merry x-mas soldiers, you'll be away for a long time indeed.

it's always the ruling class

as the american leftist points out it most typically is the ruling class that divides and conquers and conquests and boasts and theorizes on dastardly deeds while they award themselves gobbling amongst themselves in this heated and disjointed quiet known as real life. get me a bucket, the pukes and blood's a-coming.

tis the season for WWIII

anyone else slightly nervous about Russian and China?...well Putin's already raising his eyebrows in our general direction and we're not helping anything by basically accusing Russia of poisoning our presidential hopeful in Chechnya...as China and Russia negotiate on energy together and prepare to unite militarily...it's as if they think that perhaps our assault on Iraq would somehow give us military bases to counter their boosting economies...or something...maybe I'm a theorist or whatever but I'd be highly skeptical of Bush's intentions in the Middle East...

just got back from Ocean's Twelve...not as good as the first movie but was worth a matinee price I suppose...it sucks as it looks like I'll be going into work on my day off on monday...now that's some bullshit!

28 vs 82

maybe she was just dyslexic and thought he was 28?...or maybe not.

rock the classic

our friends at Rockstar are now offering a free and LEGAL download of the complete Grand Theft Auto 2 game...how crazy is that?...it's a big 350mb zip file but certainly worth it...and my old roommate now has a blog...bizz ya shizz...is the day over yet?...argh! update on the wife is that she needs physical therapy...BOO!

and I stretch

This morning had the HOV lanes open...why?...because a big tanker truck exploded on I-395 this morning...yuck...and I thought it was a holiday-type related thing...apparantly not...my wife told me one of her co-workers' grandmother died by freezing to teeth after accidentally locking herself in the garage or something...how horrible...tis the season to be depressed no doubt...today's horoscope has me at :

"You have a knack of being friendly and charming without being overly familiar. It is easy to keep members of the opposite sex at arm's length now, so arrange important meetings where neutrality is a valuable commodity."

what's up with that?! keep the bitches (yes that's sarcastic) away from me! hahaha...my wife speaking of the opposite sex is currently at the foot doctor getting an assessment...hopefully all is well...I'm quite worried since one of her toes is still numb...that's just odd!...I'm sure everything will be fine but again, tis the season to be depressed...watched an interesting special on North Korea last night...that place is fucked...talk about Big Brother...it's an entire nation of double-speak...a total human rights violation...people eating bark?! gross...we sit up here in our plush homes with our giantic gas-guzzling SUVs worried that we can't buy a big flat-screen TV for our bathroom and meanwhile people are eating bark!? fuck. but honestly there's no doubt in my mind that if we ever went to war with them, they'd kick our ass...why? I've never seen people literally crying and tearing themselves apart because "the great leader" passed away...shit people lined up for hours to see reagan's "body" but it was NOT even close to the same...the whole place is brainwashed and would fight to the death in an instant I'm certain...but we need to help and fix that nation and convince them that mr. r'oney isn't a diety...but it sure does make you appreciate what you have, that's for sure...merry fucking christmas.

and here's to free trade in Africa!

one more day of work after today then I'll be free

well not really free, but at least not at work suffering from a nasty build-up of nasal congestion and a still-slightly-sore throat...yuck...work continues in the snore pattern, testing, testing, fixing silly stupid bugs, and more testing...I swear this release that we're working on never seems like it will end! and we still have a month or so to go...boo!...I chit chatted with one of my old buddies today and she seems to be doing good, but seems distant, almost lonely and perhaps she is...my dumb little brother needs a good wrestling as he seems mired in depression as you do when you're in the group of teen and have bad parent relations...he's being stupid about wanting to put college off for a year...so it seems as if I need to step it up and be a good big brother and offer him more advice...hopefully him and my other brother can come up and visit me over the holidays which would be nice...maybe we can get together for new year's eve or something...neither of them drink which is a good thing not only are they too young but damn if they need booze to help screw 'em up...I did enough of that for them!...just finished "shopping" for christmas if you can call it that...this year is small and only really one "BIG" and one "SMALL" present...to be honest it doesn't really feel much like x-mas this year, my brother in law is outta town, my wife has to work, my family isn't really doing anything and while my in-laws are getting together, I think I'm gonna avoid that scene...this x-mas needs to be about reflection, some solitude (not really), music, and some work around the house...I'd still like to go up to DC or Philadelphia or Atlantic City or something, somewhere for x-mas, because that, my semi-loyal friends and readers would be fun...I type loud...it's quiet here in the office and all I hear are distant phone rings and my endless chattering on the keyboard...cube life is weird sometimes...depressing often but a necessary evil to continue in the vein of normal day-to-day life...my grade for my statistics class was posted...an A...whoohoo!...it's funny how much you change in your scholastic and academic world when you're not busy being in college and doing nothing else really...damn if I wasn't a major slacker back then!...oh well, life goes on right?...there was a guy who used to drive me to class, we were friends and he took basically all the same classes as me for the most part (he was in the same major or collegewhatever you want to call it)...anyways he was always a tad on the troubled side...his brother was cool but calling him a bit of a recluse would have been an understatement...I could never really understand why, I mean they both were quite personable once you got past that shield of shyness...but they both pretty much preferred their online life better...or perhaps that life preferred them better...well whatever it was, it always made me curious...now I feel like I'm almost like that...sure, I have plenty of friends from work and we've even hung out afterwards and no one would say I'm the anti-social butterfly here, but at home and outside of work I don't really do a whole lot of socializing...guess I don't really prefer it...wonder what Dr. Phil would tell me?...anyways I was just wondering whatever happened to my buddy...he wound up having a kid with some girl he met on the Internet and then she wound up leaving him after a plethora of bad financial problems on both their ends and if I remember correctly she took his kid too...NOW that's some bullshit...I hope he's good but try as I might, I can't find a way to get in touch with him, despite the fact that's he's an online junkie...damn it...oops, now I gotta go to a meeting...what fun it truly is!

and completely unrelated, the new album by NINE is awesome...great Swedish hardcore band.

and really is this a joke?

because someone certainly must be on the drugs if they take the very unofficial Top 100 Industrial "Metal" Bands List seriously...though it's certainly amusing it bears no relation to the fact that my beloved Skinny Puppy is and will always be a firm #1...

another tragic death in the music world

why do the likes of ashleigh simpson be allowed to continue to plague the world with her cannon fodder of wasted soundwaves when geniuses like John Balance from Coil sheds his mortal coil (pun most certainly intended)...though he looks quite peaceful there...and finally as I prepare my sick-ass-self to leave work for the day, I must get the Otto Von Schirach album...NOW!...only $12 too.

viking kittens!

and dude, they know how to rock the boat!...

now I can move to Europe

not only does Italy have the best pizza in the world but they're also implementing a smoking ban which just opens the door to me! whoohoo! Ciao! (of course I think the method of doing it, is a little Fascist, no surprise in Mussolini country though)...and speaking of that while me and my wife were there, they were having elections and it was amazing to see what a plethora of choices they had...even a communist party! wow!

is it really much of a surprise?

That the ridiculously stupid "patriotic" song by Chely Wright was being pushed up the charts by deliberate deception??? how totally and utterly classless. as a chinese lady just said at work, it's "kludge upon a kludge!"...haha now that was funny.

snapcase breaks up

their reasons were kind of silly and sound a little ego-maniacal but snapcase has broken up...damn.

boxing and fireman santa

literally just a second ago a parade of fire trucks with Santa on top just passed by...wonder what the Manassas fire department has planned for Kwanza...anyways, this morning I watched the re-airing of the Glenn Johnson v. Antonio Tarver light-heavyweight boxing match...WOW...although Tarver put on a better show and probably did win (his numbers were better and I totally thought he had won) I was happy to see that crown-wearing neophyte get his ass handed to him in the final and deciding round...Tarver barks all about and shows himself off and was rather annoying to watch him as he walked in wearing a fucking crown...meanwhile Johnson is much more, just, well, nice...and he won. astounding!...and one thing to note for HBO, please in the future if you're going to re-air a pay-per-view fight that I want to see, don't ruin it by telling me who won before you re-air it!...argh!...I was happy to see the big goofy Vitali awkwardly swing his way to victory, damn that was a commanding fight...the opening fight of the night was Andre Ward's professional debut...you may remember him from Athens were he got gold...if I remember correctly there was some bit of controversy because he talked about going pro immediately to cash in and get some money...well he looked, well, raw...I dunno, I like watching boxing and all but damn if I don't hate the stupid business and promotion behind it...and I swear it's all still run by the mob, some of the upsets that have happened just reek of injustice and tampering don'tcha think?...and was that really Ice T in the ring??!?! or was I just imagining it?

the maggot posts

the maggot hammer posts again and life is good. but it's almost 3am and I need to sleep...great Redskins game tonight but the Capitol Steps show tonight was even better...we were recorded for their upcoming NPR's New Year's show...pretty cool, tune in so you can hear my obnoxious laugh, we were literally 5 feet away from the stage...the restaurant Aria Trattoria at the building (I refuse to call it by its name or I could be thusly cruel and say I forget its name but I digress...) was damn good food-wise but pretty horrible in the service department...seriously their Margherita pizza was the closest thing to the best Italian pizza on Earth...yum, that makes me hungry. AGAIN.

new Sworn Enemy rules

our buddies over at quite possibly the BEST hardcore music site have put up some of the new Sworn Enemy songs up in the heralded MP3 format for your downloading (legal too!) pleasure...and by the way Sworn Enemy's website should not be confused with these pro-Israel/pro-American nutjobs who love Ollie North (apparantly they missed out on his traitorship and illegal selling of 'merican arms to who are now our "sworn" enemies--I love puns)

also these guys make great posters and are ironically named "Strength of One", not to be confused with my old buddies' former band who apparantly broke up for whatever reason, which sucks because I liked 'em enough to throw them on Smother.Net's second compilation CD...good bands always break up these days don't they? remember Vision of Disorder??? well their old website VOD.com is now a video-on-demand website...boo!

Speaking of bands, I really miss playing in bands...whether it was drums or singing or whatever, hell it was fucking guns out fun...my first band ever was really REALLY good now that I re-listen to our tracks that we actually recorded...we could have been huge I'd bet because we actually wrote pretty decent pop-rock/alternative/whatever/punky type songs...but it wasn't meant to be I suppose and we broke up but then formed another band that was equally fun but then we fizzled after several years and shows and we WERE big, but in Malaysia...hell we were even given a pretty spot-on review in Metal Hammer for crying out loud! but in typical J-Sin lashing out-ness (thanks mom, your influence is maddening at times) I helped bring about its demise, certainly with help I guess...but damn if I don't miss all involved with quite possibly some of the best moments of my life in music and otherwise!...regret is always a 20/20 type of thing isn't it?...so switching the subject:

just got a call from one of the wife's co-workers, we went bowling with her and her brother and a couple other folks a couple of weeks ago...well anyways they're trying to get a little get-together for new year's eve...that might be fun, though I most certainly will not drink more than a couple of beers if I'm to drive, f getting busted for drinking and driving, that's some shizz and VA (rightfully so) has really cracked down on it and I'm sure the bacon will be out in full force that evening...

another cool upcoming label (I'm going to try to help promote their stuff after downloading a few mp3's) is Perfect Victim Records

Almost half of Americans are for limiting Muslims' rights

no real shocker there, but the Detroit Free Press reveals how absolutely disgusting and ignorant the fear mongers have made 'merica...revealing quotes:

"The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious."

(read: WASPy Conservative Christians)

"Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim-Americans."

(read: watch the nightly news that's wrought with stories of "how can we scare the shit out of you", "how you're going to die today", "deadly insects are going to infilitrate your body and kill you", and "new research suggests that if you eat or drink this, you're 50% more likely to die")

"The survey showed that 27 percent of respondents supported requiring all Muslim-Americans to register where they lived with the federal government. Twenty-two percent favored racial profiling to identify potential terrorist threats. And 29 percent thought undercover agents should infiltrate Muslim civic and volunteer organizations to keep tabs on their activities and fund-raising. "

My thoughts on the whole racial profiling thing is just use some common sense please...most likely the 90-year old lady who's flying from New York City to Miami is probably not a terrorist and doesn't have to be searched...however we do live in America where you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty...if there's some shifty eyed dude you might want to concentrate your efforts on him first...but let's not forget that the Oklahoma City bombing was done by a WASPy conservative too...most serial killers are white men...etc...turn off the TV people...and read some better news...

build your own matrix!

with the nifty freaky thing called second life...you could be a flame-totting Santa Claus in no time...yes that's weird...

brothers in arms trailer

check out the gnarly trailer for Brothers In Arms...sweet.

odb, you silly drug head

and sadly but to no surprise, it was drugs that killed ODB

the few, the proud, the rich

Our forgotten branch of the military, you know the branch that helps ensure that Rumsfeld cheap war just gets the money to go to the wrong places...meanwhile, Staughton Lynd is helping to put an end to the terrible stop-loss program while Bruce Mulkey writes of Peace on Earth (or lack thereof)...$3.2 trillion worth of lack thereof when we hit 2008...

shut up dude, and hang up your cell while you drive, ya shizz.

So designers have decided to fight back against annoying cell phone users...and speaking of pranky, cranky art people, this was just as amusing...also for those out there that want to write freeware or shareware, I direct your attention to the unsung heros that put up with this kind of nonsense...weak.

The Inuit strike back

Apparantly the Eskimos who are plagued by silly stereotypes of nose-kissing, are striking out against the Big Corporate Anti-Science Whores that have for years (that group just linked is a part of pseudo-Libertarian group that is a shill for Big Business) thrown global warming out as some sort of conspiracy theories among those that oppose Big Business which in reality is just a stupid retort since these people (myself included) oppose the POLLUTION generated by these Big Business Shills...the Inuit, led by the United Nations recognized Inuit Circumpolar Conference charge that indeed global warming not only affects the Arctic wildlife but also will ultimately destroy their struggling way of life and culture...people in America as usual, don't realize how much it's already affected us...I guess the day they make Humvees that fly and float while getting 2 MPG's is just around the corner eh?...good grief...honestly every day I see a big stupid Humvee skirting about town...if you want to drive one of those, go join the army...same with the dickless turds that want to have assault weapons...you want a machine gun? go join the army, since the 2nd protects your right to be in a militia with a gun.

all I got to say is

I got twenty bucks and Wanda's number one.

Mr. Sullivan, you are a douche, sir.

Andrew Sullivan recently in his blog equated the "anti-globalists" with the "murderous Jihadist right" saying that they having finally united (all due to some ridiculous video on the Internet)...he is a douche...I occasionally read his blog but the hypocrisy of a man who's gay and who laments the fact that all of these rightwingers don't support gay rights or marriage but then goes and supports them was one thing...but now he shows how utterly clueless and partisan he really is...how are the blinders sir?

well now

so on Friday evening as I came home I found a nice little box with my FREE iPod in it!...whoohoo! and I thought that thing was a sham but apparantly I was wrong...so yeah, that's fun...this upcoming weekend I will be checking out The Capitol Steps and eating at Aria Trattoria beforehand...looks yummy doesn't it?...as I reviewed bands this weekend I discovered that one band that sent me their CD was a local band featuring members I used to jam with and/or hang out with...pretty small world eh?...they're called Burning Dirty Band and are a little jam band/rock outfit...small world...I need to go get something like this for my car so I can play my iPod in it...whoohoo! I'm happy...other than that I didn't really do shit this weekend...I was a big slacker but I'm sure everyone will forgive me...now what days should I take off for x-mas and the holidays?...

more and more people are echoing my sentiments

I'm glad to see that MoveOn had the balls to call out the lame leadership in the Democratic Party for what it is...a bunch of corporate shills that don't know how to fight their way out of a wet paper bag...over the last weekend I pulled out to listen to Neurosis' "A Sun Never Sets"...god what a great band...well anyways, this morning I pulled out their '96 album "Through Silver In Blood"..."Purify" is perhaps one of the most depressing yet intimate tunes on the album...I love how about 8 minutes into the song it all breaks down into this great ride cymbal thing blurred with harrowing distortion and tom hitting then to slowly blend in really skin-crawling bagpipes...what a great band...not to mention their side project Tribes of Neurot who made the most excellent album featuring nothing but the sounds of different insects...now if that's not creative I don't know what is...also on the ride in I pulled out my Ebony Tears album called "Handful of Nothing"...it came out in '99 before all those bands really went ahead and decided to go Gothenburg on us ala At the Gates, etc...anyone else extremely happy that our neighbors to the North think that gay marriage is a-ok?? especially since even the religious-centric Israelis recognize gay couples benefits?...anyone else think our country is just a beacon of racism and bigotry in the mask of religious virtue?...and for those that want to stir up nonsense (read: Rush Limbaugh) about a reporter making the soldier ask the question (he actually merely suggested it and the soldier thought it was a good question), all I have to say is that Rumsfeld's lame ass response doesn't hold up to what the actual company in charge of putting on armor says it can do with no more investment (that is to increase production by 22%!)...but it has to wait for the army to order it to do so...maybe the army is too busy handing out $10 billion to Halliburton...and in a world in which 3.8 million people die in the Congo in only six years I guess it's no wonder that we worry about ridiculous nonsense like terrorists using lasers...oooh they might put bleach in squirt guns next! whatever it's Friday, I should have smiles...

vote for the people's choice

you can go and vote for your favorite movies and music stuff...though what's up with all the "country" music awards, there's nothing else represented!...I want to vote for my favorite bluegrass or crust punk band!

an easier way to get to this site is...

to just type in http://blog.smother.net into your browser...speaking of this site, I think it's high time for some customization and re-skinnin' don't ya?

Dimebag Darrell shot and killed!

Apparantly, last night one of my favorite guitarists in one of my favorite metal bands, Pantera, Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed along with several others onstage...mtv has more on this tragic and bizarre story...but dude!? I mean that's totally wack, I freakin' met that guy at the first Ozzfest!...boo!...I mean I was disappointed that Pantera broke up too but I'm not gonna go shoot people over it!

perhaps an explanation is overdue part deux

after my wonderous, wandering, ranting of a post I figured maybe a clarification was in order especially noting that today is the beginning of hanukkah and whatnot...what I find very disturbing is that some people think that in order for you to be "religious" or to have "faith" you have to subscribe to one of the Big Three which I find a.) extraordinarily arrogant (sort of the "my god's better than your god" variety at times) and b.) extraordinarily exclusive...when I was younger my parents and I had several quite compelling conversations about the subject, I always thought that was awesome about them, that they never tried to forge my mind in one way or ther other but let me figure things out for myself as they helped guide me as much as I needed...indeed, I do "believe" in a higher power (as I always have) which is most certainly defined as "faith" as there is no nor do I require "real" so-called proof...but by no stretch of the means does that entail that I have to accept one person's religion over anothers nor should I accept being dictated to or sermonized...I don't think that if I go to church or temple or any of that, that it somehow makes me more enlightened or somehow lends some sort of creditibility to my belief system...I don't exclude others from my viewpoint, if others have different views, I have no problems accepting them, I may not agree with them but I just only desire that their beliefs not be put forth and dominate over my life and others lives as is seen when people of "faith" try to limit people's marriage rights and what have you (which is a whole source of another topic and a big zig and zag of false intepretations and falsehoods of what God and even Christ's intentions are if you ask me)...I don't think that there's anything wrong with what I believe, if others do, that's fine, but don't expect me to "jump" when you say jump just because you believe what you believe...it is hilarious how those that clutch to faith so quickly deny things like evolution, claiming that God created everything, which is fine and actually something I do believe...HOWEVER...if you believe that God created everything, couldn't you therefore surmise that God created the fact of evolution? and that by creating animals and beings and creatures that have evolved into something higher and different that it was all part of his original "intelligent design"?...doesn't seem like that hard of a topic to wrap your head around...but then again the arrogance of man finds its way into the universe as this all important being that must MUST somehow be more special than all the other animals and beings and creatures in our universe...and for that, I think God has a special punishment perhaps...I mean really, why do people insist on being so damn stubborn and exclusive? oh yeah, I forgot, they're more faithful than I am, because they go to Church or Mosque or Temple or whatever. blah. that's just a weak excuse. and no I'm not talking in this high-end stereotyping type of way. obviously you can't compare a regular old person that goes to Saturday night mass to a Jerry Falwell and obviously to each their own...I guess stereotyping just don't work, and neither does talking in generalizations as you will probably just blind yourself to someone or something or some idea well worth your while. right? But to be certain, "faith" is a personal journey that each one of us inevitably makes to whichever direction we find ourselves choosing and on whichever path we happen to choose...I guess if you're not ready to accept that you're not really following any of the true paths of your religion anyways? right? you're throwing me into some sort of wack categorization that's hardly even near the truth...most every religion stresses the goodness that mankind is supposed to exude as much as possible yet unfortunately all religions and faiths are consumed by a small minority of folks who decide that they must commit such errors in the name of their faith...don't waste your breath on me, folks. I have no interest in YOURlame intepretation of what MY faith is supposed to entail...well anyways I've probably explained more of myself and my faith than I need to...I'm sure I didn't win anyone over and/or change anyone's opinion about me...probably didn't make any new friends either but I certainly wouldn't say that I got any new "enemies"...at least I know I didn't declare anyone my enemy--I love you all, well maybe not love, but certainly not hate, maybe more on the lines of slightly above indifference...whatever, Happy Hanukkah for all you shizz'es.

why I'm not totally boo-hooing the record labels

even though there's plenty that are evil and bestow upon us a festival of crap, there's sometimes things that make you smile, like the e-cards some labels puke out and others that make you smile...regardless I'm still a big bah-humbugger...

oh if only it were true

tomorrow morning my company is having a big "all hands" meeting at the local Reston (puke) Sheraton (double puke)...most likely a masturbatory event but nonetheless a requirement of employment...regardless, imagine what would it be like to drive there from seattle...a whooping 41 hours!...alright it's time for class...boo, but last one before the final...

most ridiculous black metal poses

I stayed home from work today not feeling that great...but now I is better and feeling about 100% ready to rock with my cock out or something...and on that note, you must check out Ruthless Reviews Top 10 Most Ridiculous Black Metal Poses...now that's some funny shit. especially the one with the WCW belt...haha...more later.

check out my new album "Found Sounds Vol. 1"

so my little project dRed has a nice and finished CD under its wings...the dRed site is finished though there's not too much content yet...I'll be seeking some press and publicity soon just to see what others think...obviously I'm not trying to rake in the ducketts or anything but if you'd like to listen to samples and/or buy the album go to my cafepress site...I also have some other older products that I put up ages ago that I should probably update...whoohoo! I'm excited...here's what the cover-art looks like:



it features a photo I took of the Eiffel Tower while I was celebrating my honeymoon in Paris...wheeee.

gearheadin'

well it's the holiday season and if you're not clamoring for inclusion in the great mysterious whoring of American green and greed than you're a fucking commie...so gearheads unite and renounce traditional joice for nifty DJ mixers and stands or things to fill your record cases with as Bose makes a nifty iPod dock but Sefour makes probably the most awesome DJ stand ever that begs me to practice more...so sweet it makes you want to weep...and curse that your wallet is filled to the brim with spendable ca$h...oh well, I really don't like christmas and the frenzy anyways...no really...

america the retarded

further proof of the dwindling gene pool here in America as a school bus driver gets fired for telling kids about a misleading statement made by Mel Gibson regarding stem cell research...first of all, it's a school bus driver so the intelligence quotient is firmly established, then citing Mel Gibson?...*sigh*...really a school bus driver?...I don't know about you but I remember my school bus drivers and they weren't exactly in Mensa...but really in a country where Alabama votes to keep segregation in its Constitution as well as the poll tax that was designed to keep blacks from voting, is it any major surprise?...and as I've said previously, there's considerably more evidence than most are willing to talk about in the Big Media world that the '04 election was stolen...

bake while you bake?

The Drug Policy Alliance is having a bake sale as a fundraiser...so can you get baked while you bake?...

get your DJ on

gnarly political-charged remixed videos live here and if you could stream the shiz through these pod speakers you will be dubbed uber...

and whenever you think your life is a miserable failure or that the train that took almost your entire morning life away as you waited cursing the rush hour this morning, just think, you could always proclaim

"I`M PREGNANT, AND ABOUT 2 HAVE A LIL SHAWTY!! SHE`S DUE ON NOVEMBER 22,04. Oh, and for you week muthafukkas...... I know who my babydaddy is!! LOLOLOL"

on your wack vanilla sweet niz site

The discussion on cold fusion continues

the new york times today, released a story that I found really underscores the need for more research cold hard cash to go towards this promising future of energy...Wired's article way back in '98 also had emphasized this but perhaps the The Cold Fusion Times most importantly discusses the topic without the typical writeoff...and yet still here we are, with a huge dependence on foreign based fossil fuels...fuels that will no doubt run out in my lifetime and at the minimum reverse the balance of typical supply-and-demand theory...what then will the Humvee and SUV drivers do?! costs of gasoline have already jumped dramatically in the last four years and will no doubt continue to do so...

and completely and utterly off-topic, while I'm not much of an architecture freakazoid, I must admit, these minimalist structures in Miami are pretty rad.

sex education gone completely screwy

In today's Washington Post, there's an article detailing the disturbing trend and curriculum that young teens are being taught via the administration's funding of abstinence first-and-only programs:

"Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found."

Can you believe the audacity of these claims? I can, it's part of the conservative agenda to circumvent all the hard work that educators have attempted to educate the youth about sex over the years...they're attempting to roll-back the sexual revolution, along with roe v. wade, and of course our rights as a whole...let's not forget that this was a nation founded by Puritans so "pure" that they had to leave to construct their own nation of religious zealots...there's more info that The Center for American Progress has laid out which is highly interesting and should be made known to everyone...

this of course comes from a group of individuals lead by douches that have no problem taking illegal and unethical moves while spouting off about morals and values as if they have any right to be within a 100 yards of the nearest pulpit. ack. they all sicken me. bring on the flood...

the one man band

Now this is totally rad, McRorie the one man band...

new deftones in '05

if you've seen the Deftones e-card than you're probably as excited as I am...though there's not a whole lot of news online to talk about yet...

oh and Common Cause is putting together an event to dicuss voting in 2004

richard dawkins tells it like it is

I'm not sure I totally agree with all of his sentiments however he makes a number of not-so-radical points...and our friends at the evolution blog have digested the imaginatively looney and wholly inaccurate piece of illiterature written by Gene Veith of World Magazine...I swear, it really sickens me how "liberal" has become such a bad taste in everyone's mouth, meanwhile "conservative" is embraced with the sort of love and coodling that would have a juvenile court raising their eyebrows...so puke, that's nasty...but not as nasty as more puke-riddled nostalgia-driven nonsense of more NAFTA's...I'm glad this guy is talking about it, more should be...and perhaps more should be conversing about Leon and the potential racist undertones those Budweiser commercials may carry (my own stance is that this is a little overkill but it does raise some of those well-shaven-back eyebrows as aforementioned)...although the O'Reilly missing loofa story is soooooo much more funny...of course counterpunch always has great articles...meanwhile more violence has broken out between Rwanda and Congo and jesse jackson blasts kerry for his early concession and soon we'll be singing "Olde Lang Syne" to the tune of 2005's newest war...

the new hoagies

so yeah, I'm a vegetarian and everything and that's all good and well. but in comes a new whole era of feasting on meat...all stymied with new wild Vietnamese and Caribbean flavored hoagies or heroes or whatever the heck you wanna call 'em...and sure yeah I eat fish on occasion and all but talk of quickly vanishing types of fish makes me hesitate a bit...and did you read in the Times this great letter to the editor in which these money paragraphs were confabulated??:

"I can't help but wonder about the passion shown by shoppers the day after Thanksgiving versus the apathy demonstrated by the 40 percent of eligible voters who didn't bother to participate in the presidential election this year ("In Annual Rite, Shoppers Mob Holiday Sales," front page, Nov. 27).

I suspect that millions of those who didn't cast a ballot somehow mustered the energy last Friday to rise at the crack of dawn, endure frigid weather, find their way to stores they've never visited before, and wait in long lines just to buy things they didn't need.

Perhaps our voter-motivation efforts are misplaced, focused as they are on civic duty and individual responsibility. Instead, maybe some campaign money could be spent to give everyone who turns up at the polls a new DVD player. Now that would get out the vote. "

I couldn't have said it better myself especially after my wife told me of the lines she saw outside of Best Buy at 5am as she drove into work on Friday morning...what's wrong with people!? And speaking of what's wrong with people, why did it take the Kerry team this long before they finally participated in some form of recount in Ohio?!?! of course this isn't even really making waves on the big media circuit (imagine my surprise), while a healthy recount effort is already underway in the very hotly contested and extraordinarily close Washington governer election, check out the Democrats pleas:

"I need your immediate help. You've probably heard about the extremely close race for governor here in Washington. Only 42 votes separate my opponent and me, and thousands of ballots across the state haven't been counted.

This is by far the closest race in the history of our state, and one of the closest the nation has ever seen. That means we must make sure that every single legitimate ballot has been counted -- and that means a statewide manual recount of every vote.

Washington state law requires the party requesting the recount to pay for it, and it will cost at least $750,000. The Democratic Party is committed to this recount, but they need your immediate donation today to make it happen. Please give today.

https://www.democrats.org/support/

Let me put this race in a little more perspective. Out of nearly 3 million votes cast, only 42 votes separate my Republican opponent and me. That's a difference of 0.0014 percent. The error for voting machines is somewhere between 1 and 2 percent, or 1,000 times as great as the vote difference.

That means that this race is tied, and anything is possible with a manual recount. We must count every vote individually, and we can't do it without you."

and more blah, blah, blah...all I have to say, is do the Democrats really deserve any more effort from us when they went down without even the idea of a fight?!