Saturday, February 26, 2005

JIMMY SMITH RIP (I only just heard.)

DR.THOMPSON
Obviously the death of Hunter Thompson has taken up a lot of my thoughts this week, but I have that feeling its time to stop mourning and get back into the fight. I believe there’s a tribute show happening and I’ll he happy to participate, but Doc40 plays the Last Post and salutes the Doctor with his own words...

Hunter S. Thompson, November 2004:
"We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world, a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us.
"No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we'll kill you. Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush?
"They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us; they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis.
"And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them
."

AND TALKING OF WHORES FOR POWER AND OIL...
In the matter of Condoleezza’s dom-Matrix outfit, (see yesterday) the objections of some girl over on the Comments Board do seem to forget Eddie Izzard’s basic rule of 70% impression etc.. We should have learned by that when these bastards speak, they say nothing and reveal less. We have already been subjected to La Rice’s spurious visions of mushroom clouds, and I fear all truth or even warnings are now down with the sub-literate and sub-verbal. On this Euro-junket, Bush used the word strength 21 times in a single speech, declared the idea that he planned to attack Iran "ridiculous", but then gave that loathsome smirk that "all options were on the table." This is the start of totalitarianism, people. We have to read between the party lines, as Bush visits the Castle of Count Putin. In Europe Bush has played the roll of the thug-gormless shitkicker who is smiling now, just as long as y’all are agreeing with him. Then Rice shows up in Germany dressed like Hannah Reitsch*, Hitler’s favorite aviarix, and you gotta know there’s something going on. You think Karl Rove doesn’t vet the wardrobe? The hubris is pilling up so fast, you need wings to stay above it. Bush and Rice and the rest of the gang have gotten away with so much they now believe they’re invincible. Condoleezza’s costume telegraphed "I am the Lizard Queen, I can do anything." Or that’s how I would have written it.

*For more on Hanna Reitsch
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/reitsch.html

The secret word is Messerschmidt

Friday, February 25, 2005

CONDOLEEZZA DOES KEANU

BLACK QUEEN OF THE NEW MILLENIA
MrMR ripped this from the Washington Post, and I couldn’t help but reflect that – over and above all the Bush/Condoleezza urban legends – this was getting all a bit Avengers/Marvel Comics circa 1975, and even starting to resemble one of my own novels. Holy shit, what next?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix." As Rice walked out to greet the troops, the coat blew open in a rather swashbuckling way to reveal the top of a pair of knee-high boots. The boots had a high, slender heel that is not particularly practical. But it is a popular silhouette because it tends to elongate and flatter the leg. In short, the boots are sexy. Rice boldly eschewed the typical fare chosen by powerful American women on the world stage. She was not wearing a bland suit with a loose-fitting skirt and short boxy jacket with a pair of sensible pumps. She did not cloak her power in photogenic hues, a feminine brooch and a non-threatening aesthetic. Rice looked as though she was prepared to talk tough, knock heads and do a freeze-frame "Matrix" jump kick if necessary. Who wouldn't give her ensemble a double take -- all the while hoping not to rub her the wrong way? Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a woman combines them in the real world, stubborn stereotypes have her power devolving into a form that is purely sexual.
Rice challenges expectations and assumptions. There is undeniable authority in her long black jacket with its severe details and menacing silhouette. The darkness lends an air of mystery and foreboding. Black is the color of intellectualism, of abstinence, of penitence. If there is any symbolism to be gleaned from Rice's stark garments, it is that she is tough and focused enough for whatever task is at hand. Countless essays and books have been written about the erotic nature of high heels. There is no need to reiterate in detail the reasons why so many women swear by uncomfortable three-inch heels and why so many men are happy that they do. Heels change the way a woman walks, forcing her hips to sway. They alter her posture in myriad enticing ways, all of which are politically incorrect to discuss. But the sexual frisson in Rice's look also comes from the tension of a woman dressed in vaguely masculine attire -- that is, the long, military-inspired jacket. When the designer Yves Saint Laurent first encouraged women to wear trousers more than 30 years ago, his reasons were not simply because pants are comfortable or practical. He knew that the sight of a woman draped in the accouterments of a man is sexually provocative. A woman was embracing something forbidden.
Rice's appearance at Wiesbaden -- a military base with all of its attendant images of machismo, strength and power -- was striking because she walked out draped in a banner of authority, power and toughness. She was not hiding behind matronliness, androgyny or the stereotype of the steel magnolia. Rice brought her full self to the world stage -- and that included her sexuality. It was not overt or inappropriate. If it was distracting, it is only because it is so rare.


WHY CAN’T I MEET CHRISTIANS LIKE THIS?
It turns out that the Mennonites (see last Wednesday’s post) are not only running coke out of Mexico, up through Oklahoma – okay – clear up to the Canadian Border, but they also grow some fine marijuana and are working in tandem with the Hell’s Angels.

And don’t miss my piece in LA CityBeat. It’s a good one.
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1710&IssueNum=90

The secret word is Stiletto

Thursday, February 24, 2005

PLANET OF DOOM 2
A few days ago mention was made of a how prehistoric man burned down Australia. Now, in a flash of possible synchronicity kaymo brings us a whole bunch of stuff about that event from the London Independent. His comments that follow the link are probably best read after looking through the story
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=613707

pretty good workout of the material.
fits a general pattern of human development-- which seems to obtain at every tech level of our history– that we promote drier habitats. We drain swamps, destroy wetlands, empty aquifers, turn rivers into concrete channels that rush the water to the sea.
Possibly... fitting in with things like the human preference for open parkland, and paintings that are slightly blue overall, with trees in the distance-- we just have this very deep need to turn everywhere into the East Africa of 70,000 years ago-- around the time Mt. Toba went off, pushed our species to the very brink of extinction and brought on the cultural revolution-- virtually a new kind of human, though still wearing the old body-- that changed the stone toolkit and set up the migrations all over the world that followed soon afterwards.
That's a stretch or too, but you can see this pattern, yeah? And 70,000 years is but a few blinks of the eye in evolutionary terms.

The secret word is Cobber

MEANWHILE
John P wonders about Dr Thompson...
i dunno if you saw this (or whether its common knowledge i missed). One obit mentioned HST had been in a wheelchair for 2 or 3 years following an op to remedy trapped nerves in the back. Provides a bit more context, innit. (if true of course...)

Anyone know anything?

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

THE FUNCTION OF FANTASY
This week, in LA CityBeat, I some deft musings on the universal Jungian implications of fantasy entertainment and the Cylon menace....
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1710&IssueNum=90

The secret word is Mekon
THEY FIGHT CRIME
Okay, so last year we had Amish punks dealing crystal meth and now, it would appear -- if the media can be believed -- Mennonites are running coke. Lawdy lord, but what a smooth segue into this piece of instant fun that was sent over by some girl...
http://www.black-ink.org/fightcrime.htm

The secret word is Turpitude

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

NOTES FROM THE PSYCHO-CIVILIZED SOCIETY
Obviously my thoughts have constantly rolling back to the late Dr. Thompson during an execrable Monday of unshaven labor. What they fuck was he thinking? Writer’s block? Too much Hemingway? How long did it take him to chose the gun and the whiskey? Where’s the note and will it be made public? Or did Hunter blow his brains out simply because he suddenly saw the future with too-acute clarity?

As in....
In addition to waging a "war on drugs," the federal government is now working to eradicate the "disease" of drug use. These metaphors, notes the CCLE report, play an important role in driving federal drug control policy because they frame the remedies available to the government. For example, the 2003 National Drug Control Strategy casts users of illegal drugs as "vectors of contagion" who are "in denial" about their "disease" and who need treatment before "transmitting the disease to others." Such language, says the CCLE report, lends itself to coercive treatment wherein the government feels justified in "medicating" drug users through policies of ‘compassionate coercion.’ "Coercion, whether ‘compassionate’ or otherwise, is still coercion," cautions the CCLE report.
Full story (via MrMR) http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/

Or...
L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Parents Television Council, criticized "The Simpsons" for addressing the issue of gay marriage, though he cautioned that he had not seen the episode. A parental advisory preceded the broadcast. "At a time when the public mood is overwhelmingly against gay marriage, any show that promotes gay marriage is deliberately bucking the public mood," he said. "I'd rather them not do it at all," he added. "You've got a show watched by millions of children. Do children need to have gay marriage thrust in their faces as an issue? Why can't we just entertain them?"

I USED TO WRITE VAMPIRE STORIES...
http://photos1.blogger.com/img/295/2673/640/IMG_3134a.jpg

CRYPTIQUEThrowing stuff off the roof is fine entertainment.

AND FINALLY SOME CLASSIC THOMPSON...
http://www.counterpunch.org/thompson02212005.html

The secret word has to be Gonzo

Monday, February 21, 2005

Squares will claim it was the life that killed him, but we in the life know all too well that Doctor Thompson made a career out of cheating death. Maybe he just lost the inclination to cheat.
Sometimes a man must be taken at his word...
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." – Hunter Thompson 1937-2005

Sunday, February 20, 2005

DR HUNTER S. THOMPSON -- RIP





http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7005168/
SIXSHOOTER SCOUT OF THE PARANOID FRONTIER
HELD ACES AND EIGHTS
WITH HIS BACK TO THE DOOR
LAMENTATIONS IN BAT COUNTRY





(Kill the trolls! -- Gandalf)

but the beat goes on
STERN WARS
STERN GUEST SUBPOENAED IN PROBE OF SIRIUS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- A regular guest on Howard Stern's syndicated radio show said he will testify Wednesday in a probe of trading of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. shares, which surged last fall when Stern announced he was moving his program to the company.
Chaunce Hayden, who writes gossip and other celebrity news for Steppin' Out magazine, received a subpoena Thursday ordering him to appear before SEC investigators in New York to discuss "trading in securities of Sirius Satellite Radio."
Hayden said Sunday that an SEC attorney who phoned him before the subpoena was issued asked about the reactions of Stern and his staff when Stern's move to Sirius was announced in October.
Hayden told the New York Post that the SEC attorney described the probe as an investigation of insider trading. Hayden told The Associated Press on Sunday that he did not remember the conversation with the attorney clearly and could not say whether that description of it was accurate. Sirius shares soared almost 30 percent early on Oct. 6 when Stern announced the five-year, $500 million deal to move his program to Sirius beginning in 2006 when his contract with Infinity Broadcasting Corp. ends. The shares finished trading that day nearly 16 percent higher, closing at $3.87, on volume that was nearly five times the stock's normal.
Hayden said he never owned Sirius stock but had publicly predicted about two weeks before Stern's announcement that the shock jock would take his show to Sirius. He said he based that prediction on his own reporting rather than inside information.
"We've all been wracking our brains to figure out why I've been subpoenaed," Hayden said.
Spokesmen for New York-based Sirius did not return phone calls and e-mails seeking comment. An SEC spokesman declined to comment.
The satellite programming is not regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, which has increasingly battled Stern over the show's racy content.

So?
So Hayden, one of Stern’s regular Whack Pack, predicted Sirius stock would go up? And the Feds gotta be watching the Stern show and entourage closer than they ever watched the Soprano McMansion in NJ. Conspiracy theory? Right here in the making friends and neighbors. Remember you read it here first. As Congress visibly upped indecency fines on broadcasters last week, other Fed agencies seem to have been cruising the Stern world like sharks round tourists. The message boards were pulled from the vast Stern website as too over-the-top. Another Whack Packer, Crazy Cabby, was busted by the IRS. Sure he probably had it coming – with only a couple of exceptions, Stern’s crew are not smart guys. Now the SEC goes for Hayden. The government must have them on 24-7 fuck-up watch. Why?
Two reasons...

1) Stern is the Big-Ticket Satan of the Family Values racket. Whole fund raising operations depend on the Horror or Howard to drum up donations. Get him and you score enough Divine Brownie Points to get your sorry ass raptured out of here – or promoted, or re-elected. Only the sacrifice of Stern to the Lord Thy God will expunge the horror of Janet’s malfunctioing tit.

2) Non-broadcast information delivery systems are currently beyond Government control. And no one in Washington likes that except the lawyers who will get rich fighting the fight for control. If a climate can be created in which satellite/cable/internet (plus any medium still not invented) is perceived to be so rife with depravity and corruption, the Feds can use it as a rationale to step in move in to restore Freedom. AND THAT MEANS THEY’VE SEIZED OUR COMMUNICATIONS AND WE’RE FUCKING DEAD!

The classic historical example of this was when in the Eisenhower era tried to kill rock & roll with payola and the hounding of Alan Freed. Didn’t work but it sure was fucking messy.

Observations and comments to...
bryon4d@msn.com
SANDRA DEE -- RIP

The secret world is Gidget