Skimpy reports of Malcolm Shabazz's murder

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I was in Mexico when young Malcolm Shabazz was killed. However, I just now heard about it -- three weeks later. This is unbelievable. I flew into Mexico City on May 4th (and then traveled to the west coast) and Shabazz was beaten to death, presumably by extortionist waiters, on the night of May 9th. And this news I only happened to learn via The Christian Science Monitor article about last night's mass kidnappings in Mexico City. Unbelievable! 

Yesterday I read about the (white)Arizona mother jailed in Mexico because of marijuana found under her bus seat (yesterday I travelled through Mexico on the bus!) and, before that, the sensational torture and gang-rape of Spanish tourists in Acapulco plus other similar crimes to other similarly pale skinned peoples...but nothing - nothing - about Shabazz. This could be me. Or someone who looks like me. Why does this not surprise me? I'm shocked as all hell but I'm not surprised. As I write, "Mexico kidnapping" is 'trending' on Yahoo.

Why? Because it does not concern black people.

At the risk of sounding selfish, maybe even racist, Ain't this a bitch! 

This could be me. Or someone who looks like me

It is very easy for white people to caution, Don't play the race card; Like rich people extolling the virtues of humility and having-not to poor people. The news of Malcolm X's grandson's killing should have blazed across headlines, if only for that weekend. But not a peep did I hear and I'm here in the country, itself. Didn't come across a remark by President Obama in the Associated Press - but I'm convinced he's a lanky phony, anyway - didn't come across a 'trending' ticker-tape, didn't come across a social network meme, and I certainly didn't hear it mentioned by anyone in passing. This could be me. Or someone who looks like me. If I disappoint white friends or fans or casual readers over this, then simply go your way. And don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.

Methinks I've had my fill of this country. Pity. I so enjoy Puerto Vallarta. The living is easy, the weather is wonderful and I have several friends here. I have connections here. There's even a burgeoning theatre group I was looking forward to working with next season. But hang it. If Mexico is a corrupt country, then that means it is filled with corrupt peoples who, by no coincidence, guide their actions by corrupt thinking. And as a man habitually thinks, so he behaves. 

sitting ducks in a sea of amnesiac eye-witnesses

A nation populated by cowards who only know fear and might means we're all sitting ducks in a sea of amnesiac eye-witnesses. There is absolutely nothing to stop what happens in Mexico City or Sonora or Sinaloa or Oaxaca or Acapulco or Queretero from happening in Vallarta. Nothing. Bet your bottom dollar that when it counts, cowards, those erstwhile smiling neighbors and friends, will see nothing, hear nothing, and sure as hell, will say nothing.

Somebody who looks like me mightn't make the news. But that doesn't save the misfortune from befalling someone who looks like YOU. 

It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action.

-- Honore de Balzac

I oppose same-sex marriage

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If same-sex marriage is marriage equality,

then a paved road is a solid river 

Stop and smell the roses

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Here's what my work desk looks like. My writing space is full of peace and grace. Good lighting, comfortable seating and elbow room, and quiet are the principals that thwart distractions for me. Right now I have a good space: a vase of fresh flowers, indispensable laptop and my trusty journal. I've kept journals and diaries for years. It's a good habit to have. So is stopping to "smell the roses". Every now and again I buy flowers for absolutely no other reason than they are nice. And enjoying nice things makes one's day or outlook that much nicer. As the sales pitch goes, "Say it with flowers!" 

The fragrance of white lilies certainly pleases me...and makes writer's block so much more bearable! In Mexico the florists call them Casa Blanca (White House). I suppose the 1600 Pennsylvania residence is adorned with them? Well the flowers  are white and strong...so maybe that explains it too.
Now look closely at the vase. It's a re-usable plastic invention in the shape of a decorative flower holder. It's basically just a plastic bag. So often I had to pass on buying flowers because, as a traveller, I had nothing in which to put them -- until now.  So cool. And what's as nice as fresh flowers? Fresh fruit. 
Life is to be enjoyed. I looove my life.

fresh flowers..fresh mangoes..and a vase made to-go

Financial myths debunked

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Craving to buy instead of renting? Or think that 401(k) is the golden nugget in your benefits package? Think again, jack! Check out these "financial expert" myths debunked.

all that glitters ain't gold

The Great White Hope...is black!

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White sports fans are never short on the lookout for the reverse token player that will 'tilt' the sports (or genre e.g., Vanilla Ice, Marky Mark and Emminem) away from the cool, dominating black player and back to them. In athletic parlance it is known as the Great White Hope. And they have found it -- in Jason Collins.

They thought they had a handle on Cassius Clay (who had the audacity to convert to the Nation of Islam and fail the military draft physical) and Arthur Ashe (the little uppity wimp) and O.J. Simpson (but he sorely 'let them down') and Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods (oh they're still pissed at him). Funny how they never coddled the Williams sisters. Oh well. Now, ladies and gentlemen, as thee gay pro athlete Jason Collins couldn't be any less threatening if he were Steve Nash. Yes, there is that queer Puerto Rican boxer but, well, he just ain't black enough to be considered a "historic homosexual". Hooray-hoorah their progressive poster boy has arrived!

I'm still here -- and with a new laptop! 
More updates are on their way

SORRY FOR NO NEW UPDATES. 
MY COMPUTER IS BEING REPLACED

The devil coaches basketball (VIDEO)

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Here is a SNL skit with the very funny - and not just because she's fat - Melissa McCarthy coaching basketball that would make Bobby Knight and Mike Rice, those dicks, proud.

Happy Easter. Don't plan on Jesus showing up

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In the spirit of the holiday here's a brief but thought-provoking read on the modern question WWJD?

"Sorry! Here's Why Jesus Wouldn't Join Today's Church" Damn, really? With a title like that who wouldn't be curious to read Jack Spatafora's article on Chicago Now.

And here's my little take on Holy Week in Mexico or, as it's called in Spanish, Semana Santa.

 

Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.

-Christian Nestell Bovee

Tomas Young dying young

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Don't just hate Bush Administration for being "compassionate conservatives" or for transforming our national surplus into years of saddling debt. Despise Bush & Cheney for the same reasons we pride ourselves on despising other lying warmongers: thirst for wealth and power at the cost of misguided lives.

Tomas Young was one of hundreds of delusional youth who enlisted in the military in the wake of 9/11. The economy wasn't great then either and the allure of the military begins to look more and more like a very tempting and "responsible" decision (he married young, besides) but the 22-year old Young signed up out of patriotism, not as a calculated career move. I almost did the same.

Iraq veteran's 'Last Letter' to Bush Administration 

He got his wish. He was sent into combat. Only it wasn't in Afghanistan where the bad guys supposedly originated (or Saudi Arabia where some of the terrorists' funding flowed) but, oddly, Iraq. Anywho, he was dying for action and, man, did he get it fast. Less than a week into his first tour Young's convoy was blasted by insurgents (you all remember that word, right?) leaving him paralyzed and dependent on life-providing medicines. 

That was 2004.

Now it's 2013 and Young has a new dying wish: to see the former vice president and his proxy express remorse...instead of backslapping on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War. And by 'dying' we mean just that. Young and his wife have chosen hospice care. Click above to read an excerpt of his Last Letter.

Google + hinders 'blog access

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Thanks to the ever-encroaching arms of Google, some of us are experiencing obstacles in accessing our 'blogs. 

Namely, forced subscription to GOOGLE +.

(read more at Don't Go To Canuckistan)

No mas Niemans

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Well it's going on a month and La Maestra, Sra Gordillo is STILL in jail.

Mexicans are great at laughing at other people's misfortunes. Case in point: last week I saw a T-shirt in a souvenir shop with a caricature of Gordillo's surgically altered mug behind a window of bars. Attached to her black&white prison stripes is a red tag which reads: NO MAS MARCUS (No more Marcus)

A very, very clever pun at her infamous Nieman Marcus shopping spree.

Elba Esther Gordillo

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The bride of Chucky sits in a jail. Not a metaphorical opulent palace providing for everything - sans the freedom of mobility - like the beautiful Taj Mahal or even the seat of power, the White House, which has, at times, been referred to by its occupants as something of a prison ("A cross between a nunnery and a penitentiary," remembered Susan Ford, daughter of President Gerald Ford) but, rather, an actual real as hell Mexican jail. Specifically, the weirdly named, Santa Martha Acatitla prison in Mexico City.

An incarceration hole named after a christian saint. Talk about a mind fuck!

Showy, brash, divisive Elba Esther Gordillo, a self-made caricature and political fixture of the country's standard bearer PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) forgot two important axioms:

1. She's an ambitious woman in a man's world (not to mention - cough - Mexico!) 
2. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely

Senora Gordillo also forgot about her people...her humble beginnings as a school teacher...her purported purpose in politics and life: to advance the formal education of Mexican students which, in turn, produces educated & civil members of society. Whether the charges of embezzlement stick are moot.

As the head of the immensely powerful teacher's union for the past 23 years (in October she won re-election to another 6-year term) this lady qualifies as a kingfish; And she behaved as a kingfish. She preferred to enrich herself and cronies, living the life of a big  spender - a celebrity - while her very constituents, teachers, pinch pesos to make ends meet until they can plant enough besos on the right asses to eat from the trough themselves.

I don't know what the state of general education was like two decades ago and I'm sure it has improved since then, but in the many years I've been coming to Mexico I often wonder "Why aren't these children in school?", "Why aren't these children in bed on a school night?" and "Is school attendance mandatory in Mexico?"     

Methinks she looks like the Bride of Chucky. 

Remember the cute but demented murderous doll?

If you scream in Acapulco does it make a sound?

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Mexican authorities have arrested six men this morning in connection with the unbelievable assault and gang-rape of Spanish tourists last week at an Acapulco resort. I caution you to hold the applause: The policia is known for manhandling and arresting innocent people as well as working with known bad guys. Corruption is rife in Mexico.

read more about the incident here

That Mexican bandits perpetrated their criminality with impunity in Acapulco is not so shocking. Unfortunately it really isn't. That they, thus far, have gotten away with it is not so shocking either...nor that it took over two days for arrests to be made. What is most disturbing, however, is that police didn't have a chance to apprehend the thug rapists sooner. Throughout the three-hour ordeal of drinking and raping none of the neighbors - NOT ONE - responded to the desperate screams and shouts of these women and their bound male counterparts.

You'll notice I said 'disturbing' instead of 'shocking'. Humanity's cowardice doesn't shock me anymore; but it still sickens the shit out of me.

Jesse Jackson, Jr

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Ain't easy being greasy. And, oh, has Jesse Junior learned that the embarrassing way. Gone - or, at least, dashed - are the grand dreams of "moving on up" to Washington. Had so much going for him. And now it's gone with the wind. Not to say that a comeback isn't possible; but you've got to have the chops and a mighty, mighty big set of brass balls for it (e.g., Silvio Berlusconi, Marion Barry, Bill Clinton, Jerry Brown).

It is curious that President Obama never pulled Jesse Junior within his administration. Then again Obama hasn't pulled any black brothers up. 

don't cry for me Illinois

That's what friends are for

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Beyonce shows you better than she can tell you

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You know the phrase Acta non verba? Well this is it:

makes me proud to be an American.

God bless the USA!

Zimbabwe: Can you spare a dime? Nickel? Anything?!

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I may only have a backpacker's budget but this blackpacker still has more Benjamins than Zimbabwe. According to the country's Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe only has itty-bitty $217 in its gov't account; Yes, as in two hundred and seventeen US dollars.

Hahahahahaha! Damn.... 
Excuse me as I laugh again: Hahahahahaha!

However did President Mugabe fuck up things this atrociously! Bet folks are rethinking 'bout those good ol colonial days right about now.

Yeah but I still look good

The importance of dismissing volunteers

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At Lulu.com, the online publisher, there is a forum for volunteers to share their tips - page formatting, uploading steps, marketing, etc - with other users. But this has gone to the heads of some users. You know how full-time firemen tend to get annoyed by die-hard volunteer firemen?

Those who can't, teach; and those who can't do that, diss & moan 

About a handful of these volunteer 'experts' presume themselves bona fide literary critiques because all they do is live online giving their two cents here and there to aspiring writers; and they do it online because real live people don't trouble themselves with them. It matters a great deal who compliments/criticizes you. And, so, when they started at me with toxic messages about my latest book (A Travelleer Other) I had to wonder who these people thought they were? 

Because I know they are not 

• bestselling authors or
• 'make-or-break' publishing houses or
• sought after editors or
• renown critics or
• even filthy rich writers

They are merely virtual somebodies which is a backhanded way of saying they are nobodies or, as I like to use my little Latin, personis non grata. Those who can't, teach; and those who can't do that, diss & moan. One opined I wouldn't succeed because the majority of book buyers are white (and then proceeded to impersonate Ebonics). Another griped about my misleading, boring book cover. Still another questioned my motives for travelling altogether. To these self-important volunteers I replied, "Sorry I gave you the impression your two cents matter to me. They don't." Exeunt Stage Right. 

Anywho, I don't principally write my travel stories (Don't Go To Canuckistan) for Romney's 47% anyway. Hello! 

My new book !!

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Available in ebook next month

More 'schwule' than San Francisco

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Germany: where homophilic propaganda is de riguer. You don't have to know German to get the gist of this billboard...and you don't have to have 20/20 vision to suspect the man in the picture would ever reproduce because it's a biological fact of Reality that men cannot bear children. In celebration of National AIDS Day this man has a baby! 

Welcome to modern times. 

Verily, Alice had an easier time making sense of Wonderland. 

Alex Jones outsmarts Piers Morgan

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Piers Morgan is shit. Or, in British parlance, a liddle shyte. He by no means fills the shoes of his predecessor Larry King - how he ever got the job is a wonder! - or even comes close to good interviewing in the same league as Oprah Winfrey, Wm F. Buckley, Jr; Barbara Walters, Tom Snyder, or Ted Koppel. Morgan is not a class act interviewer or warming host and we all know his journalist credibility is atrocious. 

Alex Jones loudly gives Morgan a big dose of cura te ipsum

Piers Morgan is a smarmy, clever twat whose English accent, let's face it, still rings high-brow and charming to foreign ears -- until you get beyond the accent and hear how stupid and priggish he really is. But as clever as he is he wasn't clever enough for radio host Alex Jones.

Alex Jones loudly gives Morgan a big dose of cura te ipsum and does not fall for the T.V. host's tricks of manipulative banter and slippery slope factoids. 
Click the following link to see it for yourself:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2258827/Piers-Morgan-Alex-Jones-explodes-CNN-interview-gun-control.html

Worldstar HipHop (VIDEO)

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We can do away with vulgar reality television or Maury Povich or that punk twat Jeremy Kyle (and his British counterpart in California, Piers Morgan) but, good ladies and gentlemen, you dying breed, we still have by-standing 'free-lance' provocateurs & pirates always eager to hold up their cell phones and record un-shining examples of humanity. Whether it be some poor soul mobbed, pushed in front of oncoming vehicles, or simply beat up the modern Good Samaritans know the best tool of assistance is to whip out the cell phone video. 

by-standing 'free-lance' provocateurs eager to hold up their cell phones and record un-shining examples of humanity

If Kitty Genovese lived during these times she'd be a viral STAR rather than an academic footnote in Social Psychology 101...albeit an oft quoted one. And who doesn't want to be a star? And that's the point! But not everyone can go to  college to study psychology as this mother recently learned the hard way when New York City encountered the mighty Hurricane Sandy. It's what you may call a Kitty Genovese redux. Alas, Glenda Moore, too, must settle for the margins of crib notes; no selfish bastard giggly video recorded her demise.

But that's neither here nor there. It's STARS we want; Individuals just perfect for the camera; and you can find oodles of them on the Internet at World Star Hip-hop...courtesy of innumerable, anonymous people just like you. 
Exempli gratia:     

Lisa Steed is bull dyke bitch

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Another documented case in point of why I don't trust pigs: Utah Highway Patrolman, Lisa Steed FINALLY got fired - two months ago - for persistent police brutality and is now staring down the barrel of a class action lawsuit for her corruption.

why is it that real life policewomen nearly always look like bull dyke lesbians?

Seems Miss God-complex habitually bullied and arrested innocent people, falsified charges and was not trigger shy about using the Taser gun (another reason why I am not spellbound by the short-sighted anti-gun criers: those with guns brazenly abuse those without guns. It's a fact: the Wild West wasn't nearly as shoot-'em-up as Hollywood Westerns portray!). Her particular specialty was slapping motorists with hefty DUI crimes -- for which the bitch was rewarded with "Trooper of the Year" in 2007. Still believe policemen don't have quotas to fill?

(video clip)

Since Lisa Steed is no rookie on the Force this means her criminal behaviour - and it is criminal - was not only habitual but callous id est I'm above the Law because I am the Law!  What she is is a cow. Seriously, why is it that real life policewomen nearly always look like bull dyke lesbians...and isn't that really, after all, what a masculine bovine amounts to?

 Mooo. Burp!

Michael Jackson: IMMORTAL

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Amazing transitions from one pop hit to the next with tunes ranging from The Jackson 5 to "Blood On the Dance Floor" and, of course, it wouldn't be a Cirque du Soleil production sans fantastic impossible costumes, soaring, flipping, twisting acrobats and contortionists, and dance numbers that rivaled the lighting and video effects.

Read more: Don't Go To Canuckistan....

President Obama is...

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In case the world does end this year, he's still:

Quote this, itch!

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Believe it or not, each of these are bona fide quotations. Put that in your pipe and smoke it:

take that Oscar Wilde, you pansy poof

and then God got his ass 
in gear: Hello Global Warming!

ooooh yeah...and don't I know it!

I know about Steve Saemmler Klein

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Where in the world is Steve Saemmler Klein...ripping off more rich dummies desperate to hide their moolah in offshore accounts?

The German native Mr Klein, or SSK as he wants to be cooly nicknamed, had a good thing going down in corrupt Cancun, Mexico, and Belize City. I should know. I worked for him. Hell, I lived in his compound and mansion. It was sick.
No, really. I hated the work; and, as no less a figure than Aldous Huxley noted, Belize is the end of the world.

Is he still unmarried and diddling little boys in Third World countries?

I was just thinking about the pear shaped Mr Potato head today. Where is that fat, rich faggot nowadays? I wondered whilst sitting on the toilet. Is he still unmarried and diddling little boys in Third World countries? Is he still fleecing rich dummies left and right? Or has the man turned over a new leaf and joined a monastery in Croatia?

Those are just make believe nonsense questions. I have real stuff on "SSK" and his right-hand henpecked assistant, Herr Mueller. Just ask me!
Or these forums:

• http://www.belizeforum.com/belize/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=119444
• Grupo Cat - Offshore Alert

Yo Steve I thought we were boys. Call me!

ciao

Greek xenophobia: I told ya so!

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Why are white people always 'surprised' by accounts of racism? To read the news articles, you'd think these reporters lived under a rock. Or just try telling folks first-hand experiences: White peoples' eyes start out of their hands like it's the most incredible, fantastic Marco Polo story they ever heard in their lilly white lives.


On top of Greece's comeuppance rioting over austerity measures the Greeks have to confront another irritating reality: racism. They were fine with degrading and disrespecting dark-skinned foreigners so long as life was going well for themselves; but now, what with the economic crises hitting home, xenophobic Greeks hear the wolves at the door -- and blame the far poorer darky 'nobodies' than their own fat, corrupt uncles. Racist attacks increase on the streets. 

The far-right Golden Dawn party - gotta love that name - claims no credit for immigrants' increasing discomfort in Greece but, standing by their anti-immigrant platform, ain't shy about tut-tutting, I told ya so!

Something to smile about

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Smile. Because you're anonymous you when right about now it sucks to be either:

I lied about saving lives during 9/11 to feel like a hero

this guy

or this guy

But I still nailed Sheryl Crow this many times!

and definitely this guy
 

 

Munsters in the White House..?

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Who needs Photoshop when Reality speaks for itself? Just look at Paul Ryan's hair line! 
This is too funny. 

Will you vote like Homer Simpson?

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It's just a month away. Get ready to vote, suckers. I won't bother with it...but you probably will.
Good luck!

Slave sought on Craigslist

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Below is an actual ad posted on Craigslist Berlin. This brutally cheeky albeit unreal - but honest! - job description is spot-on for my post-graduate job hunting experiences...right down to the "female" requirement:

Native English Female Office Slave (Charlottenburg)

Officially, we are offering an internship in ecommerce, but it's really a slave-position - there is nothing to learn here. Our company sucks, our products suck and our boss is a nightmarish caricature, combining the worst character traits of Jay Gatsby, Eric Cartman and Pinocchio. Your tasks will be mundane, point- and mindless and the office's general atmosphere is hostile or apathetic, depending on the boss' presence and mood.

Only reply, if:

You are desperate and have no expectations
You are a native speaker of the English language and female
You have a CV and some kind of college education

• Location: Charlottenburg
• Compensation: 600
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 3315317579

Easier to step on you when you're lying down

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I don't use Facebook. Nearly everyone I know does (along with two handfuls of other social networking applications). Nearly everyone I know must be a very important professional though, for the life of me, I can't see it; and they're regularly late so...so much for multi-tasking and organization. Maybe that's the curse of popularity: one can't walk two steps without stopping to shake a hand or deliver someone's baby. And as they are so well known all of their business is online...right there for the taking.
At this rate, we'll be putting spying out of business!

Hear what Alan Dershowitz has to say about privacy standards in the modern world:

Pope in faggot porn...?

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Did you hear the one about the Pope, a seminary student with a big dick and screwing boys on camera? Oh there's no punchline. See, that's just it: it's no joke. A fag douchebag named George Duroy owns Bel Ami, a gay porn company, and claims to have actual footage of goings on in the Holy See in his upcoming xxx-video Scandals in the Vatican.

Want to read more? Click here. 

half a dozen fuckmeats holding me...all so young
and yummy and sweet!! Who's first?

I'm becoming a Mormon

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So this is what all the murderous fuss is about?! This painful cinematic production of god awful amateurish acting and costume and set design?! Goddamn, Islamists are thin skinned (or is the bon mot barbarian?). 
Hundreds and hundreds of American soldiers keep dying because of bad wars in Arab lands and now a handful of American diplomats in Arab lands have died because of a bad - id est shitty quality - two-bit motion picture -- online. I've seen better special effects and acting in porn videos!   
This trailer is as upsetting to watch as a whole Steven Seagall movie BUT if Muslims rule the world - tsk, tsk, tsk - it'll be the death of us all.

 INNOCENCE OF MUSLIMS

Fuck this. Bring on Brigham Young. Booyah!  

Wabash man. Unemployed man

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My Wabash degree doesn't mean shit.

My college years were, really, the happiest of my life; and, per mirabile, I would travel in time to loop through those  undergraduate semesters. But since graduating over ten years ago that college degree has only gotten me one - one! - job and that job, incidentally, was the first and only one which directly applied to my studies.

Outside of that isolated work 'experience' I've had to interview before and work alongside and under people who have never completed a year of studies let alone graduated from university.

worthwhile sheepskin, my ass 

And now, once again, I have no job...no future. Administrative assistant...copywriter...hotel reception...dishwasher...locker room attendant...military officer...museum guide...retail (clothing)...translator...sales? Nothing. I've applied for them all -- around the world. Nothing! If any employer gives a damn about this college degree, then it probably amounts to something colored by resentment; at best, indifference. Don't believe that White lie about Americans not wanting to work certain jobs. Employers hire desperate immigrant labor because they prefer it that way: cheap, desperate, dumb, expendable.

Wabash College degree: A worthwhile sheepskin, my ass. 

Albert Einstein

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It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

-- Albert Einstein

Pixelhead

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Now you see me, now you don't.
This pixellated balaclava is designed by a German artist and complements our increasingly fish bowl societies and the moronic guppies who thrive on "networking" in it.

Read about it here 

Media contempt for Julian Assange?

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If you won't listen to what this man has been trying to announce, then maybe this sobering Guardian article by British journalist Glenn Greenwald can cut through the mustard.

Began work on my next book

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It was a wonderfully hot, hot sunny, sunny day in Germany BUT I stuck to the creative work mantra "seat of pants in seat of chair" and stayed hours in the city library working on my next book, a piece of travel writing based on my travel web log Don't Go To Canuckistan. 

Sure, I was sorely tempted to go relax by the river in Frankfurt Am Main and just chill bare-chested under a tree snacking on soft pretzels; but - no! - discipline, discipline, discipline. Pleased to share that I pretty much completed the first draft! Productivity is a good feeling, ain't it. I'd like to have this complete from soup to nuts long before mid-fall...so I give myself three weeks to accomplish it. As concerns the deadline, the actual writing isn't what worries me at all; rather it's the damn formatting technicalities of self-publication.

The red flags of writing contests

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Writers have a love-hate relationship with contests. Some people adore them, eager to submit regularly, and others back away, fearful of potential scams.

Read more by C. Hope Clark @ Writer Beware

The infallibility of women in Christian society

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We were sound asleep in our beds when they burst in shouting, laughing, and throwing water -- in the middle of the night. Jumping up and down and singing, they even dragged one of us from our beds. What's the appropriate reaction to this boys-will-be-boys behaviour? Now imagine you can maintain that verdict when I flip your mind:  "we" are boys and "they" are girls.

Not just any girls. Dumb, punch-drunk girls...from England for what it's worth. (Certainly not the type whose parentage ever fretted over "presenting" them to society.) I believe the local word for them is...twats?

With the weekend headlines about Chad Johnson's unlucky weekend (arrest for domestic abuse quickly followed by job termination quickly followed by TV show cancellation quickly followed by divorce papers) and military rape cover-ups to say nothing of the haters' unyielding vitriol for Tiger Woods, Alec Baldwin and Chris Brown I'm reminded again of how the "fairer sex" becomes invisible and untouchable; which, in effect, is nothing short of a license to be stupid and reckless. The bullshit infallibility of women in Christian society - face it, you don't have things like Girls Gone Wild and Lindsay Lohans in Muslim cultures because Muslims, being far less progressive than their Christian counterparts, don't harp about gender equity and free love - is, oh I've already said it: bullshit. And damaging. It spoils girls and like any spoiled child, they can't really fathom beyond their own wants or hurts or find any fault in their wanting, period. And it's never their fault. 

Women never incite violence. It just visits them -- like an unlucky lottery 

If just one guy, drunk or not, had pulled the stunt that gaggle of girls pulled, he not only would have been thrown out of the hostel but probably would've been thrown in jail, to boot. And it's not hard to imagine the possible charges. Assault...battery...sexual assault...intent to do bodily harm...intent to rape...rape...public intoxication...invasion of privacy...disturbance of the peace...public nuisance, etc. But, short of setting a bed afire, a woman isn't held accountable for anything. Women never incite violence. It just visits - or re-visits - them -- like an unlucky lottery draw. Good girls never get pregnant. He gave her the baby. Women never get drunk. The sneaky liquor sneaks up on them. Women never consent to sex (with a stranger). He forced himself on her or, of course, spiked her drink, the snake! And speaking of snakes, wasn't it he who charmed us into all this mess to begin with?  

Thanks to my nighttime pill I was able to roll over and fall back to sleep -- eventually. (I think I dreamt of wicked schoolgirls chanting for more pudding.) First thing the following morning, though, I requested a room change and got my black ass out of there. Oh they batted their eyes and cooed "Sorry...sorry! Just having a laugh!" Bitch(es) please. Sorry doesn't sway the Law (or Public opinion) for a man accused of battery. Be gone.  

Ralph Lauren Olympic faux pas

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Ralph Lauren is about image

...therefore his "designs" (how one can call a thing his design when all he does is buy in bulk and sew a logo on it, beats me) look the American spirit with red, WHITE, and blue prosperity; but in this case he even missed that mark. I'm speaking of the Summer Olympics and the ceremonial uniforms for American athletes. 


Oh the photographer did well to include the American flag in the above image but, barring that, I think the chap appears quite French (notice the beret) or, perhaps, Swedish aristocracy. He most definitely does not strike me as American; save, of course, for the big - gauche - Polo logo. Now that bit is very, very us... because, as we say, if it ain't worth overdoing, then it ain't worth doing. 

Another consequence of the war on drugs

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The Global Commission on Drug Policy has issued a befuddling verdict: aggressive drug policies , by estimates, spread, of all things, HIV and AIDS.


Whu, what?!


Growing conventional wisdom agrees the war on drugs fails to curtail, let alone terminate, rampant recreational drug use and drug trafficking but, as reported in Time magazine, an unforeseen result has it also increasing documented cases of immune disease. Click below to read the article:

War on drugs fuels HIV

BIG BROTHER what, what?

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Well we're four years removed from baby Bush but are we any farther from the dystopian future of Big Brother?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepete/2316949393/

Video of philippine inmates dancing to Thriller

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"Thriller" in Philippines @ Yahoo! Video

I am loving this sterling!

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The pound currency takes some getting used to. It has a slew of funny-sounding names per denomination and weirdly sized coins - e.g., 2cents is much larger than 5cents - and, of course, the notes come in different colors and sizes as opposed to our simple one size greenbacks. BUT the biggest headache is getting used to the prices. The standard of living don't come cheap in Great Britain even if all you can afford is fish & chips and a pint to wash them down with!


But - ta-da! - I'm getting the hang of this British sterling...and loving it, darling. The pound has hit yet another high level against the euro. For one already expert at making the penny stretch this is welcomed news.


God save the Queen, y'all!

"Fear Itself"

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Denver artist Andy Bell took to the unusual medium Skittles candy to render an amazing portrait of George Zimmerman entitled "Fear Itself". The piece involves more than 10,000 candies! A lesser artist would have lazily simply called it "Killer".  

(click here to read more about artist)

ObaMMA

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Ha! If only...

Anti-gay ain't homophobia

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I've met and known far more homophobic liberals, secularists, and democrats/progressives than homophobic conservatives, Christians, and republicans/traditionalists. 

Let the motherfuckers burn

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Athens, Greece, is burning. Let it.

Enter condoms, exit raunchy porn

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As the reality of condom regulation looms for California's porn machine, it is very, very, very, VERY likely the bulk of porn studios will simply pull up stock and leave sunny, trashy L.A. for another section of the country where their reportedly $8 billion annual revenue will be "welcomed" if, albeit, morally condemned. It's no secret to the other forty-nine members of the Union, L.A. (and California as a whole) is full of itself (ditto NYC); so this latest dig in, of all industries, adult entertainment is probably water cooler fodder but, hell, that's only for those fortunate enough to have a job from which to take a work break. The law which would legally require porn shoots use condoms is commonly referred to as Measure B.


Read all about it:

Porno mulls leaving Los Angeles 

UPDATE: Measure B passed. Can I get a whoop-whoop!

Feliz Ano Nuevo 2012

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I live my life to be able to look any man in the eye and, if need be, tell him to go to Hell. What you think of me is none of my business. To quote Johnnie Walker, Keep walking....

New Years 2012
(Istanbul, Turkey)

Greek airport security (Athens)

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I get the full-body pat down, including two-finger swipe around the inside of my waistband. And although the X-ray machines were being used they did not work either because my carry-on luggage had everything removed from it. 


Read more: Don't Go To Canuckistan; ó Rick Steves Blows: Racist Greek airport security (Athens) 

So...the First Lady don't got back?

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I missed this news item (I don't have television in Athens) about a GOP somebody sneering about the First Lady's ample posterior...which, apparently, is not so ample after all...?
This rebuff comes courtesy of a website devoted to publishing photographs of Michelle Obama. 


So...Michelle don't got back? They say the proof is in the picture (or was that pudding?)

I don't argue with Scientology. I ignore it.

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Scientology is so full of...itself. It wants to be academic (reachable) and inclusive while, at the same time, above it all (supernatural). And Scientologists are sure they can help me because they and their spaceship and yachts and compounds are the answer to the world's problems.

Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own religion. -L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction author who later started the Church of Scientology (1911-1986)

I used to not have any qualms about this group - and I still love Tom Cruise movies - but Scientology's smug self-importance has rubbed thin. When "fishing" they strive for debates -- albeit with a smile. I don't stop in the streets and argue with Catholics or Jehovah's Witnesses over their doctrines and I don't intend to do so with friendly Scientologists. Scientology's crusade against pharmaceuticals' over medication for Man's ills is all very real and good but L. Ron Hubbard, the man, was a big, fat phony.  
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Son of a field negro

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Seen on a man's T-shirt in Paris last month:

Son of a Field Negro

... the struggle continues