Suppresion of Free Speech 

Commentary I put up on Seeing The Forest
re editing troll posts on comment sections in blogs:

I go along with the comment that offensive posts should be banned. The argument that I make is this: In a totalitarian society they want to make you feel as bad about yourself as they possibly can. Like it or not, this country is becoming that society. Face up to it. Accept it. Black Box Voting. Free Speech Zones. Trolls on blog posts. Fight back and don't be naive' about 'suppressing someone else's free speech rights.' The other side doesn't care about *your* free speech, they only want to disenfranchise it and shut it down. The sooner everyone acknowledges that they need to fight back, and fight back using their tactics, as repulsive as they may be, the sooner we can get this country back on track. The bottom line is: they don't play fair, they know they don't have to, the only thing they know is how to lie, cheat, steal, sucker punch and everything else out there that is dispicable, repulsive and obnoxious. We do not live in a 'decent society' anymore. Accept it, Fight It.

Something to back up what I said earlier re voter apathy and disconnection from the political and social process here

Excerpts:

It may also be true that in the age of television, music videos and modern technological entertainment, many Americans are simply too distracted to heavily engage in politics and other forms of civic life, said John Judis, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

This day and age finds many Americans increasingly withdrawn from various forms of social interaction, including politics, some experts say.

In his 2000 book, Bowling Alone, Putnam documented what he called America's plummeting "social capital", the decreasing participation of citizens in social networks ranging from neighbourhood watch programmes and church groups to political party meetings.

A new study conducted by the American Political Science Association titled American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality, reported that America increasingly is comprised of two "classes of citizenship" in which the affluent sector has far more access to political leaders than the low-income sector.

The report said the two major political parties spend most of their time "recruiting" assistance from those "who are already the most privileged and involved", and that the economic imbalances in the US are becoming more severe than in most other democratic countries.

These developments have most likely dissuaded some poorer American citizens from joining the political system, the report said.

"What we are witnessing now is not only low voter participation among the disenfranchised in this country," said Lawrence Jacobs, one of the authors of the report. "There is also a growing sense of powerlessness that is tearing at the heart of democracy itself."

This is a reply to a friend who sent me an article by Greg Palast on Florida's ongoing voting issues.
You can read Greg's story here: http://www.gregpalast.com/index.cfm

Sorry I sent that one back to you, I saw the story in

'Bushwatch' (something that you should really

subscribe to if you haven't already) and missed

reading it.  I should have come back to read that

article, very important indeed.  I don't know if

you've read Greg Palast's stuff, but he's very, very

good at what he does, in other words being a

dependable, muckraking journalist. 

  I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but there really

is no point in anyone believing there is any hope for

change in this country, democrat or repugnican.  When

you think of both parties, a more accurate description

would be 'ultra-conservative' and 'conservative'.

Third partys?  Not in this lifetime.  As Doctor Smith

would say in 'Lost in Space' "Doomed, we're all

Doomed."

 Oh, and if you vote by absentee ballot, you will

notice the requirement to state party affiliation so

they can more quickly screen who they do and do not

want to accept votes from.  Welcome to an Orwellian

Amerika.  Also, these absentee ballots are counted by

a 'central tabulator' with all the faults that occur

in the touch-screen machines that are so

controversial.  In other words, the central tabulator

is 'fixable' with back-door access to manipulate votes

and no means of detecting whether that vote is fixed

or not.

 As for me, you can see my sentiments with the

attached poster.  I may go out and start posting it on

lampposts for all the good it will do in this MTV

generation u.s.  

 Have you been watching the New York protests?

Ineffectual comes to mind.  I've been keeping track on

the NY Indymedia website as well.  Those who are out

there protesting are just shouting inside an empty

room.  Nobody's home.  They don't seem to realize the

era of marching sock puppets around died with the

sixties and when people see that now they may as well

be watching a civil war re-enactment. 

 My feeling is they would be much more effective in a

'guerilla warfare' environment where they put on

business suits, got haircuts, and started their own

lobbying organizations.  It wouldn't hurt if they

started reading republican literature on how to be

effective in local and national governemnt.  I don't

like the republicans at all, but they have certainly

put a lot of thought into how to take over a country.

The CIA and Special Forces weren't afraid to read Che

Guevara's 'Guerilla Warfare', and ultimatly that's how

they got him.  Perhaps it's time the left did the same

when it comes to reaching out to the public and

pulling them in where it counts. 

Yeah, so another farkin' day in the dull, boring cat-ate-my-shorts city of Seattle. Somebody drive an icepick through my brain *please*.
I spent part of the day posting for jobs in the worst economy since the great depression, playing with my cats, and surfing the net before running away screaming at all the news and history being made today. Bad, bad, all bad. Remember this one, burn it into your brain, never forget it: 'Those Who Fail To Learn From History's Mistakes Are Doomed To Repeat Them." Rinse, repeat. I truly think we are in one of the low points of human history, you know, the one where in the future they all look back and think. "Wow, did the entire country have like some bad bowel blockage of the mind or something?" Me, I think it's all the food additives and pollutants that have leached into the soil over the years of poor stewardship. It's all coming back to haunt us. Seriously, have you seen what the population looks like these days? We're all either fat as hogs or if they're teens (girls, specifically) they have these weird little bird like legs, paunchy guts and vacous, dull expressions. Then again, has anyone seen the inside of a school cafeteria lately? Hormones in the food, soda machines every five feet, advertising for 'crap o' the day' everywhere you turn. How are kids supposed to get a decent education with distractions like that around? I weep for tomorrow.
I used to be worried about one of these walking chemical landfills being my boss, but my guess is with all the anti-depressents wrongfully prescribed, hormone-saturated food, bad education and poor healthcare they'll be lucky to make it past thirty. Through no fault of their own, mind you, who could fend off a constant marketing assault 24-7 like people are being subjected to these days? As for me, I finally just said 'To Hell With It' and cut off the cable TV. Let me repeat that so you can recover. I Cut Off My Cable TV. My hair didn't fall out, my vision improved, I can actually follow a conversation (and contribute to it.) Most important of all. I actually read to obtain information. Yes. Read to obtain information. Scary, I'n it? Now, the few times I bother to turn on the telly anymore I am almost instantly repulsed by how shallow and vacous it is. No more shallow Faux News commentary. No MSNBC blather. No local news boobs and press poodles (yap, yap, yap, yap, yappity-yap) Bliss. Serenity. A Higher Place. All because I shut off the boob tube. No more tabloid shows. No 'reality TV' (reality? Is it reality to be shut up inside a lucite box with a nest of scorpians for a few bucks?) No nonsense.
Well, okay, theres Fark.com. But I just browse, I just browse! Nuthin the matter with jus' browsin. Move along now, nothing to see here. . .

Well, time to get the old blog rolling. I just stopped by to add a paypal logo onto the site at the advice of a friend, so anyone out there who would like to send me money just for being here, now's the time to do it. Please send money. Lots of money. I dance, I sing, I fart.