THIS IS JUAN MANUEL SÁNCHEZ GORDILLO

He reminds me of a song I once wrote.

"Gordillo's reputation as a modern-day Robin Hood has grown this summer after a series of "workers' marches" across southern Andalucía saw followers raid food from two supermarkets and hand it to the poor. Flash occupations of bank branches and an empty luxury country hotel have kept his small Andalucian Workers' Union in the headlines as debate rages about a style of direct action that attracts those seeking radical change to Spain's current diet of soaring unemployment, recession and harsh austerity.

"The right likes to make out that we are a dangerous bunch of criminals, a sort of modern Pancho Villa," bearded Gordillo said, his trademark Palestinian-style keffiyeh scarf hanging in immaculate folds. "But that is the same strategy as always. First they criminalise you and then they try to get rid of you." After more than half a dozen arrests over three decades spent fighting for the rights of landless Andalucian labourers, 60-year-old Gordillo will not be easily put off his latest crusade." (Click here for the rest)

Click here for a song I once wrote

The secret word is Liberate

NO ONE SAID IT WOULD BE EASY

(Lifted from CSM)

BUT LOOOKING AT IT FROM ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

(Image from HCB)

IS IT JIMI OR IS IT PHOTOSHOP (And is he playing “Lady Of Spain”?)

DOC’S REPUBLICAN SCRAPBOOK

“And when you vote, darlings, be happy that it’s all for little me.”

Click here for John Fogerty

The secret word is Taliban 

MARILYN SEZ…

“It says here that Mitt Romney was grown in a vat by aliens.”

IT’S ONLY CAPITALIST WASTELAND (Part 2)

When I was a young lad I read an essay by Oscar Wilde, The Soul Of Man Under Socialism. It was very Wildean and somewhat naïve. Wilde’s vision was a socialist utopia where, if a machine was invented to sweep the streets, the street sweepers – instead of being tossed out to starve on the scrap heap of unemployment – would be free to write romantic poetry and perform interpretive dance in the manner if Isadora Duncan. Okay so this was gay 1890s over-the-top but utopian aspirations do tend to be forgotten in the struggle for survival in the sinking mess that is 21^st century capitalism is Thus I was happily surprised to come across this comment on the Common Dreams newsletter from someone using the name Durrofix.

“Why do our leaders not embrace the policies they know to work?  Because they're not interested in solving the problem.   They're interested in getting rich, militarizing police, selling weapons, locking up the poor and so forth. The liberal dream of "work for everyone" is not a laudable goal.  The goal should be to eliminate work entirely.  Many "primitive" tribes studied by proto-anthropologists did not even have a word for "work".  The concept was completely foreign to them.  Indeed, if you study the origins of capitalism you find that no one, anywhere, voluntarily decided that working all day for a boss was a desirable way to spend the rest of their lives.  The process invariably involved expropriation of communal lands and severe punishments for those who resisted.  In England, the first "vagrants" (ie people who refused to toil all day in the new industrial factories) were subjected to extreme tortures, including branding. 

So much for the "free contract". 

Click here for “Cease To Exist”

The secret word is Idyll

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

After the meltdown, Aurora Frozdick took no chances. 

GRATUITOUS BOOTS

CRUMB

NO SLEEP ‘TIL…

As a former speedfreak I found this excerpt from our pals at Delancey Place quite fascinating. (Although the rats probably didn’t.)

"In the 1980s, researchers at the University of Chicago decided to find out what happens when an animal is deprived of sleep for a long period of time. In but one of the many odd tests you will find in the history of sleep research, these scientists forced rats to stay awake by placing them on a tiny platform suspended over cold water. The plat­form was balanced so that it would remain level only if a rat kept moving. If a rat fell asleep, it would tumble into the water and be forced to swim back to safety (or drown, an option that the researchers seemed strangely blase about). Fast-forward to two weeks later. All of the rats were dead. This confused the researchers, though they had a few hints that something bad was going to happen. As the rats went longer and longer without sleep, their bodies began to self-destruct. They developed strange spots and festering sores that didn't heal, their fur started to fall out in large clumps, and they lost weight no matter how much food they ate. So the researchers decided to perform autopsies, and lo and behold they found nothing wrong with the animals' organs that would lead them to fail­ing so suddenly. This mystery gnawed at scientists so much that twenty years later, another team decided to do the exact same experiment, but with better instruments. This time, they thought, they will find out what happens inside of a rat's body during sleep deprivation that ultimately leads to its death. Again the rats stayed awake for more than two weeks, and again they died after developing gnarly sores. But just like their peers in Chicago years earlier, the research team could find no clear reason why the rats were keeling over. The lack of sleep itself looked to be the killer. The best guess was that staying awake for so long drained the animal's system and made it lose the ability to regulate its body temperature. Humans who are kept awake for too long start to show some of the same signs as those hapless rats. Within the first twenty-four hours of sleep deprivation, the blood pressure starts to increase. Not long afterward, the metabolism levels go haywire, giving a person an uncontrollable craving for carbo­hydrates. The body temperature drops and the immune system gets weaker. If this goes on for too long, there is a good chance that the mind will turn against itself, making a person experi­ence visions and hear phantom sounds akin to a bad acid trip. At the same time, the ability to make simple decisions or recall obvious facts drops off severely. It is a bizarre downward spi­ral that is all the more peculiar because it can be stopped com­pletely, and all of its effects will vanish, simply by sleeping for a couple of hours." -- David K. Randall -- Dreamland Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep (Norton)

Click here for Imelda May

The secret letter is Z

A WHOLE LOTTA BOB

I lifted this 20 minute Dylan TV show from Dangerous Minds. Click here and enjoy.

THE BLOODY REPUBLICANS ARE AT IT AGAIN (How many tines does the same fight have to be fought?)

GRATUITOUS & INEXPLICABLE

TODAY IS H.P. (HOWARD PHILLIPS) LOVECRAFT’S 122ND BIRTHDAY

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn".

IT’S ONLY CAPITALIST WASTELAND

Pussy Riot go to jail. Julian Assange makes a weird speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Bankers continue to play three-card monte with the assets of the world while economies implode and populations grow desperate. Operators in air-conditioned bunkers, directing robot weapons, fight the wars of the rich. Suicide bombers, with Semtex strapped to their bodies, fight the wars of the poor. If I can’t save the wolves, how can I save myself? Recreational mass murder is back in vogue. Weep or fight? Fight, I guess. Summer draws to a close. Food production on a global scale is threatened by climate change but still the idiot propaganda is still disseminated. Will it change? Will it change in time? Will it ever change? 

Click here for Patti

The secret word is Ire 

NEED WE SAY MORE?

AYN RAND PORN

Our pal Doug the Bass emailed me the following gem "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan" anagrams to "My ultimate Ayn Rand porn" 

A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

ELVIS PRESLEY DIED 35 YEARS AGO TODAY

Here at Doc40, we only really mark the death of Elvis in passing. We celebrate the man on his birthday – January 8^th. Today, however, The Guardian has reprinted my 1977 cover obituary from the NME.Click here.

And click here. Trust me.

YOU WOULDN'T LIKE ME WHEN I'M ANGRY

GO ASK ALICE

ON A STICK?

THE MUTANT BUTTERFLIES OF FUKUSHIMA

The Fukushima nuclear disaster is one of those news stories that we – including the MSM – all tend to forget once the furor has died down. Perhaps we shouldn’t. 

"Radioactive fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster caused mutations to butterflies, researchers show in a new study. The study, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, documented physiological and genetic damage to the pale grass blue Zizeeria maha, which was overwintering as larvae when the nuclear disaster began.

The researchers write that "the Zizeeria maha population in the Fukushima area is deteriorating physiologically and genetically. Most likely, this deterioration is due to artificial radionuclides from the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP, as suggested by our field work and laboratory experiments." "It has been believed that insects are very resistant to radiation," lead researcher Joji Otaki from the University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, told BBC news. "In that sense, our results were unexpected," said Otaki.

As ABC News explains the experiment, scientists first began tracking common butterflies around the nuclear plant two months after the disaster. They collected 121 insects, and found 12 percent of them had unusually small wings. That number jumped more than 5 percent when butterflies collected from the plant site had offspring of their own.

In another group of butterflies collected six months after the disaster, scientists found 28 percent had “abnormal” traits. That number nearly doubled among the second generation born. Researchers noted other abnormalities including malformed antennae and appendages. The researchers say the information found in their study "has invaluable implications for the possible future effects of radiation on animals."

Click here for Mothra Remix

The secret word is Caterpillar

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN RADIOACTIVE MUTANTS WERE MADE OF STERNER STUFF

THIS WON’T HURT A BIT

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Vladimir Frozdick parked where he liked.

GRATUITOUS BARDOT

RUNNING FROM REALITY

NASA drops a vehicle the size of a jeep on the Martian surface. I applaud. Texas Republicans want the state’s children taught that the Earth is only 6000 years old and, by logical extension, so is Mars. (Although by some mutation of string theory, logic may not function in Texas any more even though it’s gripped by the drought and fires of climate change.)  I sigh. Homicidal Nazis can’t tell Sikhs from Moslems or Batman. I weep. Then Pussy Riot puts me to shame. MC5, Joe Strummer, or even The Deviants never did time for just performing. Is the battle outside raging? Will it soon shake our windows and rattle our doors? Or will the distractions prove too great? The 2012 Olympics threw the UK into a maelstrom of gaudy and undignified patriotism. Winston Church, William Blake, the Industrial Revolution, David Bowie, and Naomi Campbell are rolled out to celebrate. Such is our national pride. I try to ignore all the inappropriate Union Jacks but I sense Theme Park GB draws near. So issue the fucking Robin Hood costumes and Womble suits and let’s get to our total humiliation. Or are those V For Vendetta Guy Fawkes masks also part of the deal?   

Click here for Lennon

The secret word is Entrapment

JAMIE REID SEZ…

"Please like, forward, steal, tweet, print out and paste up, whatever works."

TRUTH IN TOY MANUFACTURING

WOD NUTSHELL

The War on drugs is a failure.  
The war on drugs does not keep anybody from using drugs.
It does not save any lives of any health.  
It is bad for people and bad for society.
All related laws should be repealed and all prisoners whose only crime was possession should be released.
Why not try this in one state and see what will happen.  That would be the scientific method, and we believe in science do we not? 

(Found by chance on the interwebs)

MARILYN SEZ…

“Remember kids – drugs are the road to nowhere. But at least they take you via the scenic route.” 

(Line supplied by UK Steve)

GRATUITOUS ELVIS

DOC40 WILL BE CLOSED FOR REPAIRS FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS

GORE VIDAL – RIP 

MARILYN SEZ,,,

“Does that mean I get time off from all the smartass one liners?”

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

But how long are we going to be able to afford it? Let’s not forget that US food prices effect us all.

“The record drought gripping half the US will help push food prices up by 3 per cent to 4 per cent next year, according to the US Department of Agriculture. "In 2013 as a result of this drought we are looking at above-normal food price inflation. ... Consumers are certainly going to feel it," USDA economist Richard Volpe said on Wednesday. The drought has sent corn, soybean and other commodity prices soaring in recent weeks as fields dry out and crops wither across much of the country's midsection. Meteorologists are predicting that conditions behind the drought will continue, putting crops at risk and raising food prices as well as the specter of a food crisis. "This drought was a surprise for everybody," Volpe said. "The USDA was forecasting a record year for the corn crop until this drought materialized. Now we're not going to get that." "The drought isn't merely bad because the crops are parched. Climate change has nudged the temperature more than a degree higher than the previous record-breaking US drought in the 1950s,” says author, economist and food policy expert Raj Patel.” Click here for more

Click here for The Band

The secret word is Dire 

MARILYN SEZ…

“Am I real or am I Photoshop?”

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Liam Frozdick took his anonymity to extremes.

A LOBSTER DINNER

SPACE OPERA

(Image by Raccoon-Nook)

I DON’T MIND WINDMILLS

The Olympics start today. Will I turn on the TV and watch what Danny Boyle has been up to or will I try to think about something else despite the UK media barrage? One thing that’s grazed my brain of late is the way that I turn on the local news and find groups of middle-aged folk – seemingly both conservative and green – protesting the building of windfarms. Frankly I don’t get it. Okay, so birds do fly into the blades, but I have to figure that there will be a Darwinian solution to this, and also the number of birds killed by windmills is a fraction of a percentage point of the number of birds killed by cats. The other complaint is that they are unsightly – ugly even – but I find them rather beautiful. When I lived in Los Angeles, the windfarm out along the I10 near Palm Springs was a joy to behold.   

Click here for All Angels, about the scariest cover of Bob I have ever encountered.

Click here for the GTOs by way of an antidote.

The secret word is Gust