The Friends of California Libre...

14 March 2004

And You Thought the Eighties Were Violent

Greetings, friends,
This last weekend I was enjoying a DVD of "The Young Ones", which some of you might remember as that cross between Monty Python and the Three Stooges broadcast on Channel 4 and MTV between 1982 and 1984. Basically just thirty minutes of a punk, a fake anarchist, a hippie and a very short gigalo insulting and beating the hell out of each other, it reminded me how violent the early Eighties really were. Anybody get a black eye from standing too near the stage when some wanker went off boots-first? How about gashes from swinging spikes? Okay, maybe my experience was unusually violent...remember the "ultraviolence"? Come on by and enjoy an episode of "The Young Ones" at my place...that is, if you can imagine the Three Stooges having a house party with Nenah Cherry performing. But as for the ultraviolence, we've got that all around us now. The punks are all grown up.

PS. Yeah, Mike, we really did miss the Germs last night.

Here's a little something to make you nervous:
Are You On Uncle Sam's No Fly List?
By Cheryl Fiandaca
WCBS TV, New York
The war on terror casts a wide net and has so far prevented a second September 11th. But is that net too wide? CBS 2 has learned of a top secret government list of Americans who are not allowed on any commercial airlines.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/020904E.shtml

Of course, we have even more ingenious ultraviolence for visitors to Amerika:
U.S. immigration crackdown hits unexpected targets
By Nina Bernstein
http://www.iht.com./articles/130406.htm

And more surprises are coming:
Controversial Terror Research Ongoing
By Michael J. Sniffen
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The government is still financing research to create powerful tools that could mine millions of public and private records for information about terrorists despite an uproar last year over fears it might ensnare innocent Americans.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/022604I.shtml

Our friends in Spain took their brush with violence to heart:
Socialists Claim Victory in Spain Election
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040314/ts_nm/spain_explosions_dc

Well, perhaps you'd like to take a moment to meditate on how much freedom you really have...whatever country you're living in. What can you say, how can you say it, and who can you say it to, without fear of getting on a list, or becoming a victim of violence? Here's the list in Turkey (sorry, Petek)...I especially like the last few groups on the "hit" list (i.e. watch your meditation):
Army List Targets Minorities, Magicians
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040311/od_nm/turkey_military_dc_1

Maybe you'd just like to let off steam and look at some snowflakes:

The Bentley Collection
Snow crystal photomicrographs (photographs taken through a microscope) obtained by "America's First Cloud Physicist," Wilson Alwyn Bentley (1865-1931). Browsable and searchable; also find images by classification, such as "fernlike crystal." From the Schwerdtfeger Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

And so, on to the ultraviolence:
Most Think Truth Stretched to Justify Iraq War
By Richard Morin and Dana Milbank
The Washington Post
A majority of Americans believe President Bush either lied or deliberately exaggerated evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction in order to justify war, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/021404C.shtml

Oh, BIG SURPRISE, I mean, how stupid are these people? And the UN timidly agrees:
USATODAY.com - U.N.: Iraq had no WMD after 1994*

How stupid could people get?
Police: Woman Tried to Pass Fake $1M Bill
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040309/ap_on_re_us/million_dollar_bill
Man Makes Youth His Designated Drivers
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040309/ap_on_re_us/young_designated_drivers

And the sick truth is, plenty of liberals would be glad to see Iraq in flames just to singe Bush's ass a bit. Indeed, you hear few American voices from the left or right complaining about anything but the loss of "American life and treasure". That treasure won't do a damn thing to assuage your GUILT:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1152089,00.html

Guilt:
Hans Blix Says Iraq War Was Unfounded
By The Associated Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/022604D.shtml

More guilt:
Tutu Tells Blair: Apologise For 'Immoral' War
By Nigel Morris
Independent UK
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/021704D.shtml

And that one hurts...I can tell you all, it was seeing Bishop Desmond Tutu at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley during 1985 that brought me angrily into the fight to end the apartheid regime in South Africa (a fight, incidentally, won completely by terror and destruction) and started my own career in political violence.

Shall we pile stupidity onto guilt?
Blind Into Baghdad
By James Fallows
The Atlantic Monthly
The U.S. occupation of Iraq is a debacle not because the government did no planning but because a vast amount of expert planning was willfully ignored by the people in charge. The inside story of a historic failure.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/022504D.shtml

Guilt, stupidity, and greed...
The Unseen Cost of the War in Iraq
By Jonathan Miller
Channel 4 News UK
The true extent of US casualties in Iraq are still unknown. This has fuelled suspicion that the administration may be hiding the true human cost of the war and its aftermath. Channel Four News has been allowed a rare opportunity to meet some of America's wounded soldiers.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/022804I.shtml

With plenty more to come:
U.S. Troops Expected to Remain in Iraq for Years
By MSNBC
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/022104B.shtml

And how do we solve our problems? With big business, of course, good old American know-how. We can form a committee and human-resource-train our way out of any trouble. As a long-time bureaucrat, I know it'll only take a decade or so. We can create a democracy in Iraq from scratch, right, just as Mr. Bush promised? And here's how its done:
Hold Bush to His Lie
by Naomi Klein
If you believe the White House, Iraq's future government is being designed in Iraq. If you believe the Iraqi people, it is being designed at the White House. Technically, neither is true: Iraq's future government is being engineered in an anonymous research park in suburban North Carolina.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040223&s=klein

Yeah, George Bush is such a genius, it's amazing he waited so long to run for President (thanks, Jacques):
http://yooha.meepzorp.com/

And, here's some more ultraviolence that you might have forgotten about:
Afghanistan: Now It's All-Out War
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Asia Times
KARACHI - A massive land and air military operation on either side of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is now under way, with the main goals of catching leading commanders of the Afghan resistance, as well as Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/022604E.shtml

How about this bright idea? Fight ultraviolence with ultraviolence...we'll all be living in caves:
New U.S. Plans for Nukes Hypocritical, Say Experts
By Thalif Deen
Inter Press Services
Proposed new U.S. curbs on the proliferation of nuclear weapons are fundamentally hypocritical, U.S. academics, military analysts and peace activists said Wednesday.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/021304I.shtml

And finally, a last nasty bit of violence from my Aunt Nona and Dana (who also provided the semi-violent images):
NOT ANNIE BUT GRANNIE GET YOUR GUN
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Gun-toting granny Ava Estelle, 81, was so ticked-off when two thugs raped her 18-year-old granddaughter that she tracked them down and shot off their testicles.

"The old lady spent a week hunting the ex-cons, and when she found them, she took revenge on them in her own special way," said Melbourne police investigator Evan Delp.

Then she took a taxi to the nearest police station, laid the gun on the sergeant's desk and told him as calm as could be: "Those bastards will never rape anybody again, by God."

Cops say convicted rapist and robber Davis Furth, 33, lost both his penis and his testicles when outraged Ava opened fire with a 9-mm pistol in the hotel room where he and former prison cellmate Stanley Thomas, 29, were holed up. The wrinkled avenger also blew Thomas' testicles to kingdom come, but doctors managed to save his mangled penis, police said. "The one guy, Thomas, didn't lose his manhood, but the doctor I talked to said he won't be using it the way he used to," Detective Delp told reporters. "Both men are still in pretty bad shape, but I think they're happy just to be alive after what they've been through."

The Rambo Granny swung into action August 21 after her grand-daughter Debbie was carjacked and raped in broad daylight by two knife-wielding creeps in a section of town bordering on skid row. "When I saw the look on my Debbie's face that night in the hospital, I decided I was going to go out and get those bastards myself 'cause I figured the Law would go easy on them," recalled the retired library worker. "And I wasn't scared of them, either, because I've got me a gun and I've been shootin' all my life. And I wasn't dumb enough to turn it in when the law changed about owning one"

So, using a police artist's sketch of the suspects and Debbie's description of the sickos, tough-as-nails Ava spent seven days prowling the wino-infested neighborhood where the crime took place, till she spotted the ill fated rapists entering their flophouse hotel. "I knew it was them the minute I saw 'em, but I shot a picture of 'em anyway and took it back to Debbie. She said sure as hell, it was them," the oldster called. "So I went back to that hotel and found their room and knocked on the door. The minute the big one, Furth, opened the door, I shot him right between the legs, right where it would hurt him most. Then I went in and shot the other one as he backed up pleading to me to spare him. Then I went down to the police station and turned myself in."

Now, baffled lawmen are trying to figure out exactly how to deal with the vigilante granny. "What she did was wrong, and she broke the law, but it is difficult to throw an 81-year-old woman in prison," Det. Delp said, especially when three million people in the city want to nominate her for sainthood and a medal."
LET JUSTICE BE SERVED. DEPORT HER TO AMERICA. WE NEED HER!

Vive le Screed!

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