AmazonsCommune

Hitler and Social Nationalism

2011-03-12T04:26:00.000-08:00

It's surprising that there are still people who advocate nazi rhetoric:

Elijah:
what makesyou tyhink htiler was such a monster? because history books tell you so? look at all the unpunished war crimes the allies commited and then try to waffle about hitler being a monster. did you know he was the ONLy world war 2 era l...eader whop offered to step down on not one occaison. but sic occaisons. if it would mean peace tlaks with Britian and britian refused, the fact remains there is no evidence for homicidal gas chambers or that the nazis wiped out ninety percet of european jewry. did you know that the number six million gets it's origins from kabbalah sources? did you know there were several claims in the years p-rior to world war 2 that six million jews had been wiped out? or were at risk for being wiuped out?
http://www.debatingtheholocaust.com/

Hitler massively advocated Social Nationalism, at the core of which is Heinrich von Treitschke's Nationalism based on Social Darwinism - a false idea, suggesting that because all individuals and nations continuously struggle for life, keeping the blood and the race pure is the nations noblest task, because race is the center of life. Clearly one has NOTHING to do with the other. In your struggle for life you need food and certain conditions to survive, race and it's purity have nothing to do with it. One must be either a dumb illiterate prick or an evil ambitious nut to build a political ideology based on those theories. The result? In the world that was already full of problems instead of solving them he created perfect conditions for a world war along with a stupid ideology that keeps bringing mess even today, after so many decades, and we still don't seem to be able to get rid of it. Also, the fact that someone else committed more crimes doesn't justify Hitler's actions, c'mon, what kind of argument is that? Whoever commits or committed any crime should be stopped and prevented from doing so. It is okay to explore the history, but you should really be careful and clear about what side you advocate and why, it is your duty as a conscious entity to be responsible for the consequences of your actions. Use Hitler as an example of the consequences of being careless or just stupid.

Jeff:
Social darwinism is pretty accurate to an extent. To survive socially and economically one must the socially and economically fit to do so. The inherant rich are more likely to succeed and survive economically than what a poverse citizen will. I am not applying any of this to race, just basic social economics.

No, it isn't accurate and what you've said is terribly catastrophically wrong.

You don't have to fit in socially or economically (or any other way) in order to survive socially or economically. All you need is a functional government and social care + a good attitude of your own and people around you. You can survive even with just the last 2 conditions and I am the perfect example of it along with many others.

According to Social Darwinism I should have been socially dead and on the streets a while ago, but with my own effort and help of others not only have I been able to survive, but I've also improved the quality of my life and I continue moving towards the better opportunities. Which means that with your own effort, skills, talents and some help of others not only can you survive, being the most misfit element, but even become a fully functional member of society and even start contributing to it. If I am not a good example (as you don't know anything about me) I'll offer you Mikhail Lomonosov who, being absolutely socially and economically misfit, with just his own effort had become one of the greatest scientists and writers of his time.

All of the above disproves Social Darwinism on so many levels and means that in a semi-functional society a misfit member can become a great contributor, in a fully functional society a misfit member could become a super great contributor and the fittest member could become a mega super great contributor.

And finally answer this question - does fitting_in_socially_and_economically guarantee that you will survive? - No, right? Then how the fuck (excuse the language) is it accurate to any extent? Poor or rich your social and economic well-being depends upon your own will, effort, abilities, the attitude of others and functionality of the state you live in.

Social Darwinism was an attempt to formulate social laws similar to natural laws which was very stupid to begin with, but also proved to be wrong. To survive under water you have to be able to breath under water. To survive socially you need your own will and help of society. Not only Social Darwinism doesn't help to address social problems it breeds racism and fascism, suggesting that if you are misfit and poor instead of helping you to become fit and wealthy we want you to get out of here to join your kind. Continue so and you will have the entire world of poor misfits with 1000 of wealthy intelligent elite. And then?

True Stories

2011-03-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

Rose.

During the period of pitch-black melancholy and in pursuance of emotional distress, I had settled upon acquiring a rose for a few days friendship. I picked one in a flower shop. For the next few days she had become the first thing I woke up to, she accompanied me everywhere, sitting in my purse; she witnessed my meals and bath times. The morning she started to die I had an affair that forced me to leave for a few days. It tore my heart apart thus leading out of melancholy. I decided that the only way I could worthily express my gratitude for her friendhsip and participation in my mental matters was to let her die by an open window, so that the last things she wintnessed were the true life dynamics of outter world and not the monumentality of my delirious in-door routine.

The first image is what I made of her. The second -what she has actually been

Dialectic and Rhetoric, but not Debate

2011-03-09T13:35:00.001-08:00

"Dialectic is based on a dialogue between two or more people who may hold differing views, yet wish to seek the truth of the matter through the exchange of their viewpoints while applying reason. This differs from a debate, in which both sides are committed to their viewpoint and only wish to win the debate by persuading or proving themselves right (or the other side wrong) – and thus a jury or judge is often needed to decide the matter. It also differs from rhetoric, which is oratory that appeals to logos, pathos, or ethos." wiki

logos, pathos and ethos are greek words and mean reason, experience (emotions) and ethics, respectively. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Using it to prove a point in an argument regarding Art is relevant and makes argument itself be an act of Art.

Dialectic as a method of cognition of reality and discovering 'The Truth' proved to be very effective. It is based on the principle of thesis-antithesis-synthesis. If a person from south and a person from north talk about the best weather, they most likely will end up in an argument. If we apply dialectic to this situation and say that the southern person's opinion is a thesis and the northern person's opinion is the antithesis, then a synthesis of their opinions would take each of them and anyone who witnessed their argument to a high level of understanding of what the best weather is. Using their experience, each of them will add to the knowledge about the best weather and refute each other's prejudice about it as well. Their new opinion is now a new thesis, a western person's opinion or an eastern person's opinion (or a synthesis of both) will be the antithesis to it and the new opportunity to improve. It was a simplified example, you know that topics are often more complex and opinions are multiple, as well as it is still arguable whether there is the final instance of truth or just a better understanding of it, nevereinding process of imrpovement. (<- this was me using rhetoric in order to persuade you)

Debate implies that the arguing parties nolonger look for improvement and/or for some reason are interested in proving their point. Debates are usually held by conscious enitties for a third party in order to win its support or to show it a better way to go. It often occurs in politics and justice which are srs business for srs people.

Art and creativity

2011-02-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

Debates are held on the subject of how to define art, so I'll offer you my opinion based on common knowledge.

Etymology- art derives from latin and greek and means - skill, craft, complete. At first it was a figurative expression of cognition and comprehension of reality. Meaning: humans first tried to draw on the walls in their caves, trying to represent what they saw around them, developing skills and creating new forms of art. Later on art evolved and became a source of aesthetic pleasure, a way to capture great moments and forms in order to contemplate them or make them 'eternal/immortal', thus art started to resemble human love to the great and beautiful, as well as it connected with religion, science, history and the mother of all- philosophy: reflecting the devine, scientific researches, historical events. So the main point seemed to be a result, not just a process of creating. A lot of people can be creative and end up with creating something worthful, but to precisely convert reality or your imagination into a piece of art you need skills. So, to me it is obvious that throughout history there were such things involved : cognition, comprehension, skills and creativity on their highest level, the thing is that all those evolve, develop or just change if you will, as time goes by.

So, my definition of art would be something like this: art is a form of creativity, based on the highest level of cognitive thinking (: abstract thinking, ability to conceptualize on a large scale) and well developed skills, resulting in an unprecedented flawless piece of work.

Art doesn't necessarily have to be beautiful. And there aren't really any lines to cross. I think I've just found that quality, that was escaping me all this time: the difference between art and just creativity is art improves your culture. Being the highest form of creaitvity, a piece of art bears such concept or connotation, that when exposed to it, you immediately level up and make a step forward in your conscious, intellectual, mental, social, spiritual, emotional etc development.

Art institutions in a non-profit highly developed society would be perhaps the most important ones, as their goal would be a constant exploration of the products and results of mankind's creativity to collect the best out of it in order to spread and exhibit it around the world with the purpose of cultural improvement. Art spots would be the places of high mental and emotional stimulation. (perhaps even physical - imagine some sort of a futuristic cosmology museum where you are exposed to the images, sculptures, video installations or items from outter space, while experiencing lack of gravity ). If art was that developed, available and free- in our society would be no drug abuse or depression problems, because there would be always something people could occupy themselves with, something that is always one step ahead, can blow your mind and highly motivate you to find out more or get involved into. Unfortunately this isn't the case in our society. Even if an art institution is non-profit, it is still sponsored by someone, thus it is under the influence of their policies and politics, the main aspect of which within our current socio-economic system is profit.

What we basically have since after the WWI and II is Reactionary Creativity (some call it reactionary art, but I prefer creativity, based upon everything I've said about art). People express anger, unsatisfaction, depression or just lack of motivation and interest through creativity, their reaction to the miserable state in which world society is. People respond to that kind of 'art' because nearly everyone can relate to it. Everything else with little exception seems to be either nonsensical and absurd or pathetic escapism or repetition of what has been already done before.

a group in Wales aims to farm for food not for profit. Share the land, share the work, share the produce, expand.

2010-08-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

Description

Collective, Stockless, Organic Farming aims to farm for food not for profit. Share the land, share the work, share the produce, expand.
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Farmers are going out to work to support their farms because wholesale prices are low whilst retail prices are high and rising.
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Supermarkets are doing okay but no-one else is. We aim to change this by doing more for ourselves, (and others) collectively.
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This is not a political or religious organisation, it is a practical response to a situation that religion and politics has failed. We aim to use the economics as they are and gradually bring about changes to an economic system that allows millions to starve amidst plenty.
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We aim to reduce waste and recycle almost everything in numerous businesses based on improved land practices. We will look at the various cutting edge techniques and adopt the most practicable.
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Members will benefit in a variety of ways. To start with from good information and later on from full time, well paid lifestyles, not just jobs. Pay will be more than just money, but sufficient money included.
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We all start as volunteers and all benefit from what we create. That's fair and just.

wow, that's pretty much communism
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/csofarming/

A Low-Impact Wood Land Home

2010-08-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

You are looking at pictures of a house I built for our family in Wales. It was built by myself and my father in law with help from passers by and visiting friends. 4 months after starting we were moved in and cosy. I estimate 1000-1500 man hours and £3000 put in to this point. Not really so much in house buying terms (roughly £60/sq m excluding labour).
The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings.

Some key points of the design and construction:

Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthaetically fantastic and very easy to do
Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
Anything you could possibly want is in a rubbish pile somewhere (windows, burner, plumbing, wiring...)
Woodburner for heating - renewable and locally plentiful
Flue goes through big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly release heat
Fridge is cooled by air coming underground through foundations
Skylight in roof lets in natural feeling light
Solar panels for lighting, music and computing
Water by gravity from nearby spring
Compost toilet
Roof water collects in pond for garden etc.

Main tools used: chainsaw, hammer and 1 inch chisel, little else really. Oh and by the way I am not a builder or carpenter, my experience is only having a go at one similar house 2yrs before and a bit of mucking around inbetween. This kind of building is accessible to anyone. My main relevant skills were being able bodied, having self belief and perseverence and a mate or two to give a lift now and again.

This building is one part of a low-impact or permaculture approach to life. This sort of life is about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing things simply and using appropriate levels of technology. These sort of low cost, natural buildings have a place not only in their own sustainability, but also in their potential to provide affordable housing which allows people access to land and the opportunity to lead more simple, sustainable lives. For example this house was made to house our family whilst we worked in the woodland surrounding the house doing ecological woodland management and setting up a forest garden, things that would have been impossible had we had to pay a regular rent or mortgage. To read more about why we did it and why this is an important option to meet the challenges of climate change and peak oil, click here.
Would you like to learn more about this sort of building and gain practical experience? Why not join us on another exciting building project. There will be opportunities for everyone of all abilities and areas of interest. Click here for more details.

2010-08-22T08:42:00.001-07:00

2010-08-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

The man who lives without money

Mark Boyle gave up using cash over a year ago and loves his new lifestyle.

By Jessica Salter
Published: 12:54PM BST 18 Aug 2010
29 Comments

Mark Boyle, the moneyless man

Mark Boyle, 31, gave up using money in November 2008. He lives in a caravan that he got from Freecycle (uk.freecycle.org), which is parked at an organic farm near Bristol, where Boyle volunteers three days a week. He grows his own food, has a wood-burning stove and produces electricity from a solar panel (it cost £360 before the experiment started). He has a mobile phone for incoming calls only and a solar-powered laptop. Boyle, who has been vegan for six years, set up the Freeconomy in 2007 (justfortheloveofit.org), an online network that encourages people to share skills or possessions and now has 17,000 members. The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living (Oneworld Publications, £10.99) is out now.

It all started in a pub. My friend and I were talking about all the problems in the world, such as sweatshops, environmental destruction, factory farms, animal testing, wars over resources. I realised they were all, in their own way, connected to money.
I decided to give up cash. I sold my houseboat in Bristol and gave up my job at an organic food company. I made a list of everything I bought and tried to figure out which I could get in another way. For toothpaste I use a mixture of cuttlefish bone and wild fennel seeds. Things like iPods you just have to knock off the list, but birds in the trees around my kitchen have become my new iPod.
Everything takes more time and effort in a moneyless world. Handwashing my clothes in a sink of cold water, using laundry liquid made by boiling up nuts on my rocket stove, can take two hours, instead of half an hour using a washing machine.
It was meant to be just for a year but I enjoy the lifestyle so much that I’m just going to keep living like this. I’ve never been happier or fitter.
I had a very normal childhood. I think at first my parents wondered what on earth I was doing. But now they totally support me and they say that they may even try it themselves.
Sometimes it is frustrating trying to socialise with no money. I grew up in Northern Ireland where it’s a show of manliness to buy your mates the first round. But I invite them back to my caravan instead to have homemade cider around the campfire.
I am single at the moment, but because of the book and my blog a few women seem interested in me. Just being a vegan cuts down the number of women I’m compatible with, never mind being moneyless. I’ll be lucky if there’s one woman in the whole country who wants to give up cash for life – and I might not even fancy her.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenerliving/7951968/The-man-who-lives-without-money.html

2010-07-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Psychiatric ramblings (lsd#2)

2010-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

The problem of individuals with mental disorders, apart from various chemical reactions in their brains, that aren't quite classified yet and it is of an uknown what triggers them and therefore how to deal with them, is how those reactions affect an individual's thinking process.

There are 2 ways - a person continues spinning in circles of thoughts about events that traumatized them, thus continuously being fucked up or refuses to accept reality and creates a new one. The first kind of patients are usually hospitalized until the end of time, because they constantly experience seizures, anxiety, epilepsy and paranoia strikes. Depending on how bad/often those are, they might stay at home but almost always on medication and under somebody's supervision. It's hard for them to have healthy social lives.

The second kind, depending on what reality they have created and how they deal with it and are willing to cooperate with a psychiatrist, could actually be helped out. Hypnosis, analytical logical conversation sessions and some chemical substances that can help to turn 'the story' in their head another way around.

Of course most of the time our great 'modern psychiatry' prefers just to lock those people in a hospital (=jail ) and feed them hypnotics or tranquilizers, thus destroying them irreversibly, but we are talking about cases when a doctor actually does want to help

So imagine, you are married, your spouse tells you there is an insect, living in their brain, that pulls their wires. Eventually your spouse kills all of your 3 kids. You come home, find all of them dead and in a state of shock kill your spouse. (yes, Shutter Island, it's a good example, although extreme). You loved your kids, you loved your life partner and you feel guilty for letting your kids die, for killing somebody you dearly loved, on another hand you hate a person that killed your children. The problem of western intellect is that it needs to make sense out of everything and determine attitude, whereas let's say a buddhist monk celebrates collapse of his mind and is considered to be an enlightened one if he continues functioning 'properly' in a state where nothing makes sense to him, his attitude towards everyone and everything is the same. In western world of structured minds we call it madness, because when nothing makes sense to a western person they might just start killing everyone, or committing other idiotic actions, because the way they act is based on their moral grounds and not on necessity of an action at a moment in time. And their moral grounds are based on whatever bullshit they experience in their life: posting on the internet, taking LSD, parents divorce etc, thus making it easy to shape a western person's mind in any way you want.

So, how would you make sense out of that situation, how can you live with what's happened? unless you are an enlightened buddhist monk who doesn't give a shit, you either kill yourself, or go through 20 years of nervous breakdown, shock, depression and then still emotionally devastated may be you can make something out of the rest of your life, OR

your brain creates another story where it is neither yours nor your spouse's fault, but it must be somebody's fault though or it doesn't make sense. So your brain invents a person (or creature, or an event) to blame it on, by changing connections and associations between people and events, it might even change your entire life-story in your head, keeping all the events and people in it, just reconsidering your attitude to them, their role, value and time when they happened. you can make a person kill their own mother if you change their attitude towards her in their head and there are ways to do it. so, answering the question how one can lead the show when stepping into insanity. The difference between sane and insane person is that the former one, experiences temporary mental disorder in a form of depression, nervous breakdown, anxiety seizures and moves on. Whereas insane person keeps spinning in circles, trying to make sense out of what's happened, thus re-experiencing old events, creating fake ones and traumatizing themselves up to an extent where they might start using their defense mechanisms against aggressive little evil trolls, who in somebody else's reality are their children, thus becoming a danger to society

. What a doctor does is trying to help a patient to understand that they live in an 'unhealthy' reality, eventhough that reality makes perfect sense to them and they can explain and prove every single aspect of it. A patient has to handle a battle with his own ego, where his ego state suggests he knows what's going on and others just try to play him around. If he achieves that, trusts his doctor and gives up on his ego, the doctor may find a way to create a story or find a way to explain things that would lead his patient back to 'healthy' reality, where he can continue his life as a 'properly functioning' individual (or completely fuck him up, if he's a bad doctor). But it's the patient that chooses, get it, grasshopper?

so, you can continue sitting on your plane, that is about to crash and wait to see what happens, if you believe this is reality and there is nothing you can do, or you can get up and look for parachute or jump off and end up in an ocean on a floating piece of wood or even wake up and realize you were having a nightmare, or you just die and the rest of the plane passengers land safely, but you won't care anymore, because you are dead and that is nolonger your reality. None of the above is right or wrong, it's just what you choose to choose.

So when you're tripping and it's fun -awesome. But if it is not, instead of thinking you are in a different shamanic state of consciousness that scares the shit out of you, just explain to your poor brain that you, for some uknown reasons that you call fun, performed a chemical reaction in your brain, that caused this temporary mental disorder to you, so what you can do is stay away from anything that enhances it and wait until it is over, trying to make fun out of it. Or just sit there and let it drive you nuts, which can actually cause a serious psycho trauma, which stays in your subconscious and might occur later in your life under some shitty circumstances and turn you into lobotomy material.

Buddhism - religion, tradition, philosophy or way of life?

2010-07-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

It depends on what definition of the word religion one prefers to use. In a certain sense ateism is a religion too, it offers a concept, even a dogma which is denying god without offering any sufficient evidence of his nonexistence.

In a broad sense Buddhism is a religion due to a necessity to classify everything, because it helps sort things out without needing to understand them, so it would be quite confusing to say "we have christianity and islam that are religions and buddhism that is a tradition". However being the oldest one of the three biggest religions in the world, Buddhism also makes quite a difference compared to them. It is based on personal experience and not on faith, there is no god in buddhism, Buddha himself denied existence of a creator, he encouraged people to think in a way and have a lifestyle that would help them become more conscious and aware of what's going on around them, to better understand themselves in order to find a way to a happier existence.

So, buddhism is basically a life philosophy. It does not offer a descritpion of reality, deos not explain how things appeared and the meaning of the universe, what most of the other religions do. Just at some point it gained too many followers and turned into a cult. And where there is cult there is worship and fanatism. Later on many phylosophical schools that based their teachings on buddhas teachings strated deifying him and developed a whole bunch of other good and shitty concepts. But just because people tend to turn things into shit doesn't mean that the original concept is shit, it might be worth of looking into it .

There are different directions to follow in buddhism. For someone who is lost in life, needs emotional guidance and discipline, and would like to engage into spiritual practice, I'd suggest buddhist tradition rather than any other known religion. It is difficult to practice buddhist tradition in western society though, unless you are just curious and nothing more, which isn't bad by any means, it'll help you to organize yourself mentally and physically. But if you want spiritual and philosophical experience of a high level, you'd have to visit motherlands of buddhism, spend sometime in a monastery and change your daily schedule completely. No matter how hard you practice concentration, it's just not the same experience - meditation in your room with your parents talking behind the walls and cars running outside, and meditation in a such kind of place http://www.kodaiji.com/e_index.html . eventually you'd have to become a monk

You can start from practicing zazen (sitting meditation), waking up and going to sleep with the sun, switch to rice, sea-food and boiled vegetables, no salt or sugar, just herbs and soy sauce if the food is tasteless for you in the beginning, in a little while your taste will start to change along with your mind and perception . You should always feel a bit hungry (not starving, just never feel full after food). Hunger is a moving factor for a human, it motivates you to act by appealing to our ancient survival instinct. It also helps to overcome conceptual intellectual way of thinking, since that way of thinking according to eastern tradition does not benefit your mind. You should be looking into clearing your mind from all kind of concepts and prejudice, thus getting closer to realization of impermanence - there is no permanent yourself, existing independently of everything else, everything changes momentarily, influencing everything, generating further changes, eventually ending up in the form of sand and rocks. Nothing is more or less important than anything else, nothing is bigger or smaller than anything else as there is no need for comparison. You are supposed to learn to be an observer without being a reflector. You should be able to look at everything in the same way, because nothing is important and everything is and shit like that, which is supposed to lead you to a condition of never getting disappointed, depressed or any other negativity, because you don't get excited in the first place and you are not attached to anything, so you are not afraid to lose. (including your health, teeth, hair, your family and your own life). And the middle way, which is hard to understand, but is important as it supposed to carry you in your life journey, like a river carries a leaf, without unnecessary struggles and goals. Because no-matter whether you just float like a leaf or struggle - the end is one, so you might as well just let yourself enjoy it. Following the middle way is about not being serious, but not joking; neither being afraid nor desperate. It is assumed you will be able to follow the middle way, once you start using your consciousness and instincts, hence overcome critical thinking, hence get enlightened

Spiritual practice also includes heavy physical work, martial-arts and playing some musical instrument

here is something for shit and giggles

http://www.do-not-zzz.com/

and

http://www.do-not-zzz.com/zero/swf/top.html

I also met someone who probably overpracticed zen-buddhism and had a unique conspiracy theory. He was convinced that east wants to establish control over the west, by using mind control techniques, so they pick western individuals, strong in mind and body, in their mid ages to turn them into eastern mentality, so that they could spend the second half of their lives living east, thus becoming so-called people-bridges, the ones, possessing both western structured mentality with critical thinking and eastern indifferent, hard to manipulate mentality, and could easily switch inbetween them, in order to develop a new tradition- teaching, that would allow to raise humans with both mentalities from the very beginning. O_o

all of the above mostly concerns zen-buddhist tradition, there is much more to the subject of buddhism to explore

good luck on your way to enlightenment

2010-07-12T05:18:00.001-07:00

:D

2010-07-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Dao Kakao #2

2010-06-19T05:21:00.001-07:00

Clock

Some Monk got enlightened. He stopped his mind. And the clock in his room stopped. Yaputra was looking for a toilet and happened to enter that room. After taking a shit Yaputra wound up the clock and the clock started working again. The monk turned back into a normal person and beat the shit out of Yaputra for shitting in the room.

Stress

2010-06-19T05:05:00.001-07:00

The best way to deal with stress, anxiety and such is to sleep, which is actually very difficult to achieve when stressed. But sleep is the only natural way to interrupt thinking process (it continues but on a different level) thus letting your mind rest from spinning in circles of thoughts about situations that traumatized you. They use sleep therapy on patients with schizophrenia too.

Valerian is a very good natural relaxant, there is never too much of it, it's a herb. I prefer drops. Sometimes it contents melatonin (compound that regulates the sleep-wake cycle ). It'll help to relax and fall asleep.

Physical exercises. Simple push-ups for the beginning work well. (especially for panic attacks and anxiety - 10 push-ups, then 30-40 drops of valerian, then lie down)

No cigarettes, coffee, alcohol etc (any CNS stimuli)

And switch to completely different topic in your thoughts. Brain has the ability of pushing away traumatic memories if it's unable to deal with them atm, so help it do it. You will think about it or look for solutions later, when you are okay.

Following those, whoever has stress should be healing up slowly. If that doesn't help then it's time to see a professional and get more serious treatment

We have to save Men!!!

2010-06-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

..or not?

Do we need men?

The Y-chromosome - the ultimate symbol of machismo - is in a bad way. But, asks Bryan Sykes, apart from breeding, what real use is the male to the human race?

The Guardian, Thursday 28 August 2003

It is no secret that men are basically genetically modified women - the female being the fall-back developmental pathway for any foetus. The evolution of the two sexes could indeed be regarded as a long-running GM experiment.

Its legacy has been to endow men and women with different, and often conflicting, sets of genetic interests, and to ignite a powerful evolutionary struggle, which has accentuated the differences between the two sexes. In several respects, the experiment that gave us men is not going too well just now. Though it is a weary lament to lay most acts of violence and aggression, from the strictly local to the truly global, squarely at the feet of men, the association is strong, consistent and undeniable. Women very rarely commit violent crimes, become tyrants or start wars.

The experiment has created two irreconciliable genetic combatants. On the female side is mitochondrial DNA, which can only be passed down the maternal line. On the male side is the Y-chromosome, which is always passed from father to son. But while mitochondrial DNA is a model of slimmed-down efficiency, the Y-chromosome is a shambles, battered by mutation and going downhill fast, before it eventually disappears altogether. On this chromosome resides the single genetic switch (SRY) which, when flicked to "on", prevents human embryos from developing into baby girls and turns them into boys instead. Also spread out on this dying chromosome are the handful of other genes that men need to make fully operational sperm.

But why is this ultimate symbol of male machismo in such a mess? Originally the Y-chromosome was a perfectly respectable chromosome with a collection of genes doing all sorts of useful things - much like the X-chromosome today. But its fate was sealed when it took on the mantle of creating males. This probably happened in the early ancestors of mammals, perhaps 100m years ago when a mutation on the ancestor of the Y-chromosome suddenly, and quite by chance, enabled it to switch on the embryonic pathway to male development. Once this happened, the chromosome was doomed. It slowly lost contact with other chromosomes, thus missing out on the interaction that normally allows the shuffling of genes and so unable to properly heal the wounds inflicted by mutations. One by one, its thousands of useful genes were lost until now only 27 remain - and they are under constant threat.

Of all our chromosomes, it is the only one that is permanently locked into the germ cells of men, where the frenzy of cell division and error-prone DNA copying required to keep up the daily output of 150m sperm creates the ideal conditions for mutation. And it shows. Seven per cent of men are infertile or sub-fertile and in roughly a quarter of cases the problem is traceable to new Y-chromosome mutations, not present in their fathers, which disable one or other of the few remaining genes. This is an astonishigly high figure, and there is no reason to think things will improve in the future - quite the reverse in fact. One by one, Y-chromosomes will disappear, eliminated by the relentless onslaught of irreparable mutation, until only one is left. When that chromosome finally succumbs, men will become extinct.

But when? I estimate that, at the current rate, male fertility caused by Y-chromosome decay will decline to 1% of its present level within 5,000 generations - roughly 125,000 years. Not exactly the day after tomorrow - but equally, not an unimaginably long time ahead. Unless something changes in the way we breed, women will vanish too and Homo sapiens will disappear in the next 1-200,000 years. But is extinction inevitable?

Plenty of species a lot older than our own are still going, so how is it that they are not vulnerable to extinction by the same process of Y-chromosome decay? They will all eventually face the same challenge and I suspect that many species have already gone under for this very reason. Some, however, have found a way round their death sentence.

One strategy is to recruit genes on other chromosomes to take over the job of male development. It is a race against time. Can a species get all the genes it needs off the Y-chromosome, or recreate them elsewhere, before the chromosome finally vanishes? Always the last gene to go will be SRY, the male master switch itself. We know it is capable of smuggling itself onto another chromosome - the evidence lies in the rare cases of males who have no Y-chromosome.

Lots of species may have tried variations on this theme to avoid extinction, but it seemed that none succeeded until, in 1995, researchers found a mammal that had managed to escape this fate. When they looked at the chromosomes of a small burrowing rodent called the mole vole, Ellobius lutescens, which lives in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, they discovered that the male voles didn't have a Y-chromosome. Neither, it transpired, did they have a master SRY gene either. This inconspicuous little rodent has managed to activate a gene relay one or two stages down the line from SRY. And only just in time. The mole vole Y-chromosome has now completely disappeared. The vole is now safe from Y-chromosome-driven extinction, the only mammal species known to have succeeded in getting itself out of danger.

But one thing distinguishes Homo sapiens - we are at least capable of being aware of our impending demise. So do we need men? They are still required for breeding, if nothing else. But for how much longer?

The wide application of Intra-Cellular Sperm Injection (ICSI), the fertilisation of eggs by injecting sperm, could delay the extinction but it would still not prevent the progressive deterioration of the Y-chromosome. Other remedies have yet to be proved effective, but if men are to be retained they are at least worth considering. For instance, could we deliberately engineer the solution so fortuitously arrived at by the mole vole? The human Y-chromosome could be left to decay, but men would be reprieved. We now know the 27 genes that are present and necessary on today's Y-chromosome to make a man in full working order. It would be easy to cut them out of the wreckage of the Y-chromosome and re-assemble them into a compact genetic package. From there, it would be relatively straightforward to insert the package into another chromosome, where it would probably work straight away.

The purpose of all this effort and ingenuity is to avoid the extinction of men, and with them our entire species. However, one radical solution to save the species is also the most genetically straightforward - to abandon men altogether. Though this sounds impossible, very little stands in its way from the genetic point of view. When sperm meets egg, it brings with it a set of nuclear chromosomes from the father, which, after fertilisation, mixes with a set of nuclear chromosomes from the mother. But there is nothing fundamental preventing the nuclear chromosomes coming not from a sperm but from another egg. We know from ICSI that sperm can be injected into eggs, and there is nothing to stop the nucleus from a second egg being injected instead.

But would it develop normally? At the moment the answer is no, but it is short-sighted to say that it is fundamentally impossible. Once the technical snags have been overcome - and I put the difficulties no higher than that - these embryos would grow into perfectly normal babies. The only difference from any other birth is that the sex is always predictable. The baby is always going to be a girl. The entire process has been accomplished without sperm, without Y-chromosomes and without men.

Importantly, the baby girls will not be clones. They are the same mixture of their parents' genes, shuffled just as thoroughly as any of today's children and they have two biological parents, not just one. Their only difference from any other child is that instead of a father and mother, these girls have two mothers. From a genetic point of view, they are completely normal, indistinguishable from any little girls around today and just as capable of having children with men (while they are still around).

Lesbian couples already enlist the help of a man to donate his set of chromosomes, packaged in a sperm, to fertilise the eggs of one of them. How much more attractive for these couples to have a baby to whom both, rather than just one, were parents. It is almost certain to happen and, unlike human cloning, I doubt there would be serious ethical objections. Men are now on notice.

source

I. Dao-Kakao (zen practicing with great master Ramuald Kakandokalo)

2010-06-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

Shoes

Pju-Ahn had a pair of shoes. Shoes were too small for Pju-Ahn. Pju-Ahn suffered a lot, but couldn't throw his shoes away, because he was very poor. Pju-Ahn even wanted to hang himself, but Master Yaputra came, broke both Pju-Ahn's legs and took his shoes away. Master was not very tall and the shoes were just right for him. Pju-Ahn spent 6 months in a hospital. After that Pju-Ahn went to Master Yaputra and bowed in gratitude for saving his life, by setting him free from shoes that were too small. But Master Yaputra told him to go fuck himself, swearing in anger, because by that time he has forgotten both Pju-Ahn and his shoes.

Nothing is perfect in this world and even a Master sometimes acts like a dirty bitch

ps: btw trolling is pure zen (online practicing )

Trafficking In Persons Report 2010

2010-06-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

GREECE (Tier 2)

Greece is a transit and destination country for women and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and for children, men, and women who are in conditions of forced labor. The government and NGOs report that female sex trafficking victims originate primarily in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Nigeria. One NGO reported that teenage males, typically unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan and sub-Saharan Africa, are forced into prostitution in Greece. Greek police reported the trend of traffickers increasingly using emotional abuse and financial harm as tools of coercion, instead of physical force, in attempts to evade law enforcement prosecution. Forced labor victims found in Greece originated primarily in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, and many were forced to work in the agriculture or construction sectors in debt bondage. Greek police estimated that there are likely hundreds of forced labor victims in Greece. NGOs reported that children, mainly Roma from Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania, were forced to sell small items, beg, or steal. The approximately 1,000 unaccompanied foreign minors who enter Greece yearly are highly vulnerable to human trafficking.

The Government of Greece does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government made clear progress in prosecuting labor and sex trafficking offenses, identifying victims, implementing a child victim protection agreement with Albania, and in advancing prevention activities. Concerns remained about a trafficking-related police complicity case, inadequate victim identification among coast guard, border police, and vice police as well as inadequate funding for anti-trafficking NGOs.

Recommendations for Greece: Vigorously prosecute officials complicit in trafficking; continue efforts to equip and train officials most likely to encounter trafficking victims, such as the coast guard and border police, in trafficking victim identification and assistance procedures; encourage the sustainability of funding for anti-trafficking NGOs; ensure potential victims are offered assistance and deportation relief available under Greek law and not penalized for crimes committed as a direct result of being trafficked; ensure specialized assistance for child victims and adequate protection for male victims; establish a central authority to coordinate and monitor anti-trafficking efforts; and continue public awareness campaigns targeted toward a Greek audience, including potential clients of the sex trade and beneficiaries of forced labor.

Prosecution
The government demonstrated clear progress in its prosecution of trafficking offenders, though a high-profile case of trafficking-related complicity remained pending in court. Greek law 3064/2002 and Presidential Decree 233/2003 prohibit trafficking for both sexual and labor exploitation, and prescribe imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of $14,000 to $70,000. These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes such as rape. The police conducted 66 human trafficking investigations in 2009, a 65 percent increase over the 40 investigations in 2008. Fourteen of the new investigations involved forced labor, compared with only two in 2008. The government reported 32 new convictions of trafficking offenders, 12 cases acquitted, and 42 ongoing prosecutions in 2009, compared with 21 convictions, 17 acquittals, and 41 ongoing prosecutions in 2008. The average sentence for trafficking offenders was approximately 11 years with fines. The Ministry of Justice reported two suspended sentences in 2009. Some convicted trafficking offenders continued to be granted bail pending their lengthy appeals, though one NGO reported improvement in this area. The media continued to allege that trafficking-related complicity existed among some local police and vice squad officers. In a case cited in last year’s TIP Report, in which a trafficking victim was allegedly raped while in police custody in 2006, the three police officers suspected of the crime remained free on bail as their court case continued. In a positive development in 2009, one active and one retired officer were held without bail pending prosecution for alleged involvement in sex trafficking. The government, in partnership with IOM and NGOs, provided anti-trafficking training for police recruits and commanders, police from neighboring countries, and over 100 judges and prosecutors. In 2009, the Greek police reported cooperation with counterparts in Italy, Romania, Russia, Albania, and Bulgaria on trafficking cases.

source: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/index.htm

~~watch video of 2010 trafficking in persons report~~

Ελληνικα ( in Greek)

2010-06-15T07:06:00.000-07:00

http://amazonscommune.blogspot.com/p/read-some-articles-in-greek.html

Amazons Interviewing Count Dracula

2010-06-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

No Legs, No Arms?

2010-06-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

No Worries!

Hail in Greece

2010-05-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

The Story Of Your Enslavement

2010-05-19T09:39:00.001-07:00

2010-05-19T04:37:00.000-07:00

Recepy Idea of the Day

2010-05-18T03:31:00.000-07:00

Strawberry-Banana Crepe

Go to the local creperie, ask for a sweet crepe, fill it up with fresh banana&strawberries and pour some tabasco in it. Delicious and Surrealistic

Bath Of Wisdom

2010-05-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

~~How The Amazons do it~~

You take shower to become cleaner, you take bath to become wiser. Here is what you need to accomplish that:

orange, lemon, mentha, rose petals

ice-cold wine, chocolate, Albert Camus'- Sisyphus Myth

Mint Ice

Chamomile Ice

take your dress off

get in

left-overs- now you can clean my bathtub and make yourself tee

apply chamomile and mint ice to your face and body

don't forget enema with lemon juice, stick 2 pieces of lemon between your gorgeous legs and get dressed

Now you are wiser and ready to go for a walk, make love, have sex or kill an asshole. Few things to consider:

1.Is Absurd the result of thinking pattern or its starting point for you?

2.The most important philosophical question, Camus said, is the question of Suicide. To decide on whether life is worth of living or not means to answer the main question of Philosophy.

3.If you can reason Absurd then you are a true master of puppets

"An Absurd Reasoning: Absurd Freedom

The absurd man demands certainty above all else, and recognizes that he
can only be certain of the absurd. The only truth about himself that
remains constant is his desire for unity, reason, and clarity, and the
only truth about the world that seems certain is that it conforms to no
obvious shape or pattern.There may be a meaning to life, but there is no sure way of knowing what this meaning is. The absurd man wants to live only with what he can be sure of."

pix

2010-04-23T08:58:00.001-07:00

Fear Of The Dark

2010-04-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I am almost done fighting fear of the dark. It seems I have been missing many beautiful moments night has to offer. Night may be as beautiful and safe as day my dear fellows

"We work to live and so we live to work?"~ here is my answer:

2010-03-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

saying 'work' you mean 'job'? If so then I don't live to work (i try not to) and I know quite a few people who look at it the same way. A human needs job because he needs money, money is essential in order to survive if one is not self-sustained. So the purpose of job is to feed the body. But feeding the body is nolonger the purpose of life since we've developed consciousness and intellect. We use them to explore reality, discover new things, develop skills and gain knowledge, and then apply them to create. Then we apply what we've created to reality and change it. Then reality changes ourselves and so goes on the process of evolution. The problem of mankind right now is that our economic system does not allow one to access for free everything we've achieved and developed so far. You have to pay for it. So you first spend years to get 'educated', provided you have money for it (!) in order to get a 'good job', then you spend your life, trying to make enough money to use top-achievements that are being sold to you slowly and over-priced : every year a new button on a cell-phone, a 'new' OS for PC or a 'new' feature in a car. Everything has been developed already or can be developed way faster, but in order to support our economic system and industrial relations it's being developed and sold slowly and over-priced. The result is evolution in all aspects of our existence stopped. We no longer move forward. We either live to make money or to sustain ourselves, both are not satisfying for our consciousness and intellect.

Therefore right now I (and those who share my views) believe our purpose is to get united in order to change current industrial relations or continue meaningless existence until you die or kill yourself.

Greek Poetry

2010-03-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ithaka by Constantine P Cavafy

2010-03-13T14:39:00.001-08:00

LSD

2010-01-27T13:26:00.001-08:00

Thinking process cannot be stopped, but the filtering one can be. Brain is responsible for filtering; you can turn it off and let yourself perceive everything: info, vibes, and energy, whatever matter exists out there or within our own selves, without filtering it. Brain 'helps' to relate, associate, divide 'things' and tells you how to react, according to a ‘program’. It also suggests what of them, things, are prior and what not. LSD is one of the best substances out there that can be used to turn the 'brain-filter' off. It seems to increase glutamate release in the brainstem, where serotonin is produced; it blocks serotonin from entering the cerebrum. Serotonin functions as a neurotransmitter there, and neurotransmitters are responsible for modulation of the signals between a neuron and a cell. So simply put LSD turns off cerebrum in a unique way: we can still perceive but all our association rows are off due to lack of the signals exchange between neurons and cells. That's why when you are 'high' on LSD (depending on how much you took/how pure it is and how much of glutamate it increased) you might notice how 'blue' the sky is and how 'beautiful' the flowers are (when you are 'sober', working, running, driving etc this info automatically goes to the 'trash can' of your brain, in order to not overload your brain with the filtering process, all that info is defined as a 'no-priority mail') or have size&importance issues, when a bug becomes as much of an importance as your life is (I remember a couple of times on the festivals in the past some dudes, freaking out and yelling at the crowd "Back off" because there were ants on the ground and people could have killed them, by stepping upon them. The rest of people were freaking out too, because they could not relate, had their own 'oblivion' I assume and were like "wtf! what are we supposed to do? fly?" Poor guys were truly terrified) or when a matchbox seems as big as the universe and you can spend hours exploring what's in there, because you can no longer differentiate the sizes. We understand that an object is small because we compare it to another one. Your hand is big compared to a sand grain, but is small compared to an elephant. So you compare things and make conclusions and store them to your brain-'files', but after you consumed LSD, access to that info is blocked, you no longer know what's big or small anymore, or how you feel about it or what to do about it. And not that it matters to you either lol total knockout is when LSD is pure enough to increase glutamate to an extent that it blocks serotonin completely. This is when one no longer understands what's going on. You can't walk or talk and all you see is a colorful mosaic. While it might be fun it is also dangerous, as one's survival instincts are also blocked. We all were contemplating that fabulous sunrise, sitting on a cliff, when that dude just stood up and walked off that cliff. This story still terrifies the local folks and tourists, for me it was the worst ‘bad-trip’ ever, after that time I reconsidered my views on how ‘true’ what I feel is, when I am high on LSD. That's what our brain proved to be so useful for, for storing information about things that may threaten our being. Once we see them our brain defines them as a threat or unknown=potential threat, arrival of an action potential follows, we make a decision, chose a 'proper' action from the 'list' of all available and apply it. That's how we supposedly used to survive in the prehistoric until we developed communication skills, one of them speech, then defined/compared/gave purpose to everything and entered an era of intellect and creativity, and started using our brain to store knowledge. IMHO, that was Free Being, until we developed traditions and then morality. That was the end of Freedom. A new member of society along with knowledge and necessary skills receives a bunch of moral grounds. Anyways, LSD enhances what one already has in their mind; it does not create anything new. So if one is full of shit, they would only multiply their shit by consuming LSD. I thought I’d let you know

"People ask for criticism, but they only want praise."~W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

2010-01-26T04:35:00.000-08:00

maugham was full of shit on that point!

criticism does not work... EVER!

praise only works when it is based on reality.

false praise is a tool of negative manipulation.

it may work quite well in the short term, BUT IN THE LONG TERM IT IS ALMOST ALWAYS A DESTROYER!

what does work?

feedback.

there are 3 types of feedback.

1. negative.

2. nutural.

3. positive.

i'm a feedback system. so is everyone else in the world too.

to give people feedback that they will listen to and take to heart; it must be commucated in a manner that it will be heard and listend to.

most of us never learned communcation skills when we were growing up, or at school either.

we "learned" communcation skills in a chaotic manner.

that is the major reason for so very, very, very, much discord in our relationships with others.

i think you all have missed the deeper meaning of maugham what intended in that quote.

you all have seen the letter of maughams' quote.

you have not seen the deeper meaning of it; which, is, its spirit.

that is what made maugham such a great author!

he wrote in spirit; not in letters.

most people never see beyond the letter in writting to the spirit of it. ~some HipForums Supporter

I have read quite a few of Maughams' books and I think you take it too far, interpreting his writings as those with some deep hidden meaning, because simplicity is what has been appreciated in his writings actually. He wrote about real stories, telling them just as he heard, saw or learned them, describing people's feelings in a very simple manner, that's why so many readers can relate, because you absolutely understand what he is talking about and most of the time even know what he is talking about.

And that quote clearly states that quite often people do ask for criticism, but when they receive it they actually feel offended, especially if its valid. The more valid it is the more their feelings get hurt, the more offended they feel. Take any message board as an example, in the hottest debate what messages get deleted most of the time? those that actually hit the point, because there is no need to remove any argument that isn't valid, none-valid arguments only benefit the one who is being criticized.

So, someone who believes they might be wrong, actually does not ask for criticism, usually people, asking for criticism, are the ones, thinking they got the point and it seems all they need is the others to confirm that. They are not looking for truth or a different opinion really, they are looking for acceptance of what they do (for various reasons: money, low self-esteem etc), therefore their goal is to always be right and when they say smthg like "take a look at this and let me know what you think", they basically mean smthg like "admit that I am right".

As I mentioned before such people usually blame the best of arguments in lack of validity, while encouraging the bullshit ones, why? Because the first ones disprove of what they stand for and they are not interested in that, while the second ones create the illusion of them being criticized and surviving criticism, no need to explain how it benefits them or what they do?

As for communication, I disagree. We all learn to communicate while growing up, we learn it at school and from our families. The number 1 tool of communication is language and we are being taught to use it in the very beginning of our life-path. The problem I see is most people cannot handle an average thinking process, they cannot think, reason and make conclusions, let alone express their thoughts clearly enough to be able to deliver what's in their mind. I can see how very often if not most of the time people simply do not understand each other (while most of the time they are sure they do lol ). That to my opinion creates so much discord in our relationship with others. As I often say we need Rhetoric back, the art of discourse and Logic too, the art of reasoning.

Deep hidden meanings of our existence or the nature of things are to be looked for and explored, but the greatest thoughts are the ones that are simple and expressed in a simple manner, there is no reason to complicate them. People often happen to believe that what is complicated is smart or wise, but hey, the truth is always simple and nothing is wiser or smarter than the truth, but if you are avoiding the truth than you have to complicate things, otherwise your lie will be obvious.

Communist Goals

2010-01-26T04:29:00.000-08:00

There is a belief among most that communism and socialism are in opposition to the wealthy capitalists. They believe it redistributes the wealth from the rich to the poor, when in reality it transfers wealth from the Middle Class to the super wealthy elite. ~Skousen, W. Cleon. Naked Communist
Salt Lake City, Utah: Ensign Publishing Co.
C. 1961 , 9th edition July 1961.

in what reality? we have never lived within communism, not even socialism really. In reality we've been having capitalism all the way, which every time when economic crisis comes, saves ass of the super wealthy elite by transferring wealth from the Middle Class to them. Socialism and communism are all about worker's ownership and administration of the means of production and central planning. How could that possibly transfer wealth from the middle class to the super elite? Unfortunately we didn't make it that far yet to build up those economic systems. But I find it fascinating how they play with the social theories, they take the very essence of capitalism and blame it on communism and socialism and nobody even questions that. Awesome

The propaganda designed for the masses says socialism and communism are "all about worker's ownership and administration of the means of production and central planning."~Matt

The propaganda designed for masses says that we lived within socialism and communism and it sucked, when in fact we didn't. Just take a closer look at those social theories (socialism and communism) and tell me have we ever had anything even close to what they describe? No, if we had, it would be great, but we haven't. Socialism is about worker's ownership and administration of the means of production- where do you see or have seen workers to own or administrate the means of their production?

Good news though- just a few years ago in Argentina, workers overthrew the owner of a factory and took control of it, and guess what? It works, now, within the very conditions of capitalism, while before they lost their jobs because the owner of the factory closed it due to it being non-profit. Now he wants it back though, he tried to sue the workers who 'robbed' him, but the guys won and now keep the factory for the time being. We all support them and try to follow their steps.

There is a huge difference between the two in theory vs. when implemented, because you must have a centralized, authoritarian system to implement socialism and communism.~Matt

Its a common mistake people make, thinking they should take a social theory and try to implement it in society. You cannot stop the world for a minute, implement a new system and let it run again. A social theory helps to analyze, predict certain events, it may be a plan or schedule to follow, but in reality you should see what needs to be changed and change it step by step, see the emerging solutions and accept them and apply them. Like right now in your country the Middle Class is turning into the Lower Class because capitalism makes your middle class pay current economic recession, which in its turn leads a lot of people to poverty. Is there a solution? Sure, rise taxes for huge corporations so that they will let the half of what they own go to your state's budget and more good well-paid jobs will be crated, so that people start buying shit again and therefore those very capitalists will continue make money, therefore people will stop losing jobs and even more jobs will be created, prices will drop a bit etc But here comes the problem of capitalism, those very capitalists who are interested in supporting this 'great' system that benefits them, don't want to do anything in order to help to save it. They are afraid to let go even 0,0000000001% of their capital, they 'd rather throw a war to give you more jobs lol and kill half of you too to bring a balance.

So, no, it does not take centralized authoritarian system to change that, it takes unity of people and democracy. Unity is required to organize people and democracy - for everyone to be heard (and no, democracy does not mean a bunch of yelling at the same time people, it means that whoever has a great idea or a solution has a right to prepare a speech and speak up, but there is always a wise leader who takes decisions based on what people need and suggest)

The fact is communism and socialism, like capitalism, are all products of the big banks, as they all deal within the monied system.~Matt

no, it is not the fact. As it was said before, what socialism and communism describe as theories does not benefit the big banks at all, that's why we haven't had those systems until now, and those 'big banks' will do anything it takes to prevent us from moving towards those systems. And no, there is supposed to be no money within the communist system, because if people own and administrate the means of their production and labor there is no need to sell or buy. Like the only reason why for instance Argentina workers need to profit is they have to find a way to survive within the capitalist system, which they do lol living their utopia dream with central planning etc The profit game is required to support capitalism, not communism. Look at those hippies living in communes, do they have to work there to get paid in order to use certain goods or services within the commune? No, they are supposed to do whatever it takes to support the commune, but everything they have that belongs to the commune is shared among them. That's the very model of communism, it's just difficult to imagine the entire world living like that, but the more economic recessions we have, the more poor people we have and the less capitalists we have - the more rapidly we move towards that model. The only reason why capitalism will fall is because capitalists themselves don't want to support their beloved system. The question is " will we reach communism first or destroy our planet with WWIII?" People like me offer to push things a bit, to get united to complete the global anti-capitalist movement to see if we can prevent this terrible war.

Life is mediocre (neither good or bad) ?

2010-01-26T04:11:00.000-08:00

Life is mediocre (neither good or bad) ?~Matthew

to my opinion life is a great thing, awesome opportunity of coming from nothingness to being, the point is to realize you have nothing to lose, because you'll die sometime anyway (relatively soon too). Once that's been realized you have more courage to actually live your life, not just spend it waiting for the last day of it. You start changing things, you are no longer afraid to lose 'things' etc, all that makes life even greater and more interesting and in fact you actually start gaining more, and what you gain is way more valuable than what you let go in order to move forward

Beauty, Love, Sex, Romance and Pain

2009-11-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

Beauty? I am positive there were times when it didn't matter at all. Why? Because it is obvious what was beautiful a century ago is not now, this means beauty standards evolve, which in its turn means Beauty is a social phenomenon. But sex and pheromones is natural. That is why when it comes down to sex, the beauty standards don't matter. Therefore no matter what images of beauty (hotness, sexiness) you have in your head, you can still get turned on by any type of a wo-/man, as long as their pheromones are 'strong' enough to reach you and the 'information' they carry 'suits' your natural needs.

Pheromone is an hormone, responsible for sexual communication, it has nothing to do with love. Love is a social phenomenon along with Beauty. One needs to have an intellect to be in love, otherwise it is just an attachment to an other human's presence, which you detect by their smell, sound of voice and by seeing them. So, when you don't smell/hear/see someone who you got used to smelling/hearing/seeing you start missing them. It's just a habit. But Love is a bigger thing and it is far from being blind, as you have to use your intellect to create symbols and association rows in order to define your standards (or get affected by the current ones) of what is beautiful, clever, funny, intelligent, nice, fine etc all those qualities you'd appreciate in a person, so that when you meet a person who possesses the qualities that meet your standards, you could admire that person. That's why Love fades away so often, our standards tend to change and if the person we love didn't change in the 'right' way according to our standards, we no longer admire/appreciate their qualities. We no longer love that person. Then follows a painful break-up, because we got attached to that person (attachment is natural as I said). Sometimes it is rather relieving than painful, when after we stopped appreciating our beloved one we continue being with them. So we start arguing a lot, because we no longer share the same views and don't feel any pleasure of being around each other (the best we just don't care anymore, the worst we cannot stand each other). So, that's Love.

Love and sex have nothing to do with each other. You can spend your lifetime with someone who you have good sex, fun and friendly relationship with and you might not love them, because they don't meet all of your standards. And you might love someone because they meet all of your standards, but not want to have sex with them (yeah damn pheromones).

However sex based on love is what rocks our world. It's the best combination. Romance can help to keep it last longer. When 2 people doing their own thing accidentally bump into each other and realize they either are so lucky because they actually happen to be doing the same thing, so they just start doing it together from now on, mixed with lovey thingy and sex, or one of them gives up on their thing and joins the other. Anyway for me Romance is about doing something together, something that 2 people commit to, not to the idea of love or relationship, then it never gets boring.

So, I fall in love and I love it. But I no longer build my dreams around people I love, therefore if they have to leave, or I- nobody's going to stay in ruins. I keep doing my thing and it makes me feel content no matter whether there is somebody around me or I am on my own.

May be if you look at it from my perspective, you can enjoy love again and stay away from any pain it may cause.

Whores, what are they?

2009-11-18T09:45:00.000-08:00

"....whore!" ~some random guy

"....its hard to be a whore when you've only slept with 1 person" ~some random girl

hmm....sleeping with more than 1 person is about being promiscuous, not a whore. Although I noticed the meanings got mixed (for obvious reasons ).

Are the following definitions valid?

Whore –noun
1. a woman who engages in promiscuous sexual intercourse, usually for money;

2. a person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.

Therefore a woman can be a whore after sleeping with 1 man. He called her a whore, not promiscuous. So, what he said means- she slept/sleeps with a man for personal gain. His insult is directed at her compromised principles, not her vagina.

ha, look what they say "Word History: Derivatives of Indo-European roots have often acquired starkly contrasting meanings. A prime example is the case of the root *k-, "to like, desire." From it was derived a stem *kro-, from which came the prehistoric Common Germanic word *hraz with the underlying meaning "one who desires" and the effective meaning "adulterer." The feminine of this, *hrn-, became hre in Old English, the ancestor of Modern English whore. In another branch of the Indo-European family, the same stem *kro- produced the Latin word crus, "dear." This word has several derivatives borrowed into English, including caress, cherish, and charity, in Christian doctrine the highest form of love and the greatest of the theological virtues. · Another derivative of the root *k- in Indo-European was *kmo-, a descendant of which is the Sanskrit word for "love," kma, appearing in the name of the most famous treatise on love and lovemaking, the Kamasutra."

according to that a whore is a woman that desires/loves men. There is nothing bad about loving people!

"So a chic can really be a whore and not put out??" ~some random guy#2

that's right. those chicks are the master-class whores lol they get out of you what they want and you don't even get laid :O

"Give me one of them there whores that has been rode so many times she had to shove a picnic ham up there and pull out the bone to make that hole usable again". ~some random guy#2

those aren't whores. Those are women who love men, therefore give their love to men for free and never ask for anything in return. Whores, are those who use men for their personal gain. What kind of gain could that be? Well anything, your house, your car, your credit card, anything. And on top of all, the best gain for a whore, marriage lol, when she gets all of the above in exchange for her vagina. Crazy, innit? But it is also funny, because men totally respect the last category and disrespect the first one LOL Paradox

"Whore = Bitch who likes to fuck a lot".~some random guy#3

"bitch who likes to fuck a lot" is not a whore for me. I like to fuck a lot when I am with someone who I love, hell yeah, I wanna fuck them 24/7

also some slang dictionaries suggest that 'bitch' it's an immoral woman. So yeah, I am quite immoral. Morality is a product of an epoch. For example christian morality suggests you are supposed to have sex after marriage. I don't give a shit about marriage. If I love someone, I fuck them no matter if i married to them or not. It's immoral according to christian morality. Also if I meet, let's say, a married man and I see in his eyes and his behavior, that he wants to fuck me (anybody else who is not his spouse), and in front of everybody I say "Dude you wanna fuck me (her/him) don't cha? he (and everyone else) will go "damn...you are a bitch!" (I am called bitch quite often for just telling the truth. Sometimes I even feel like telling the truth is immoral and impolite, and often considered as having bad manners)

all of the above makes me 'bitch that likes to fuck a lot", but I am no whore, according to the definition of 'whore' that I use. Which seems to be closer to the original usage of the word

"do you like to fuck fat guys?" ~some random guy#4

I like to fuck guys who I love

She looks like she needs a good fuck and would gladly do it with you despite your looks or your socioeconomic status. Most likely she has no interest in your house, car, credit card etc So, she isn't necessarily a whore

but she might be. Although she also looks like she needs a good one (I mean who doesn't?), after a nice week-end in a cozy house by the river she might announce that if you love her (= if you wanna keep using her genitals), it is time to talk about future (=to pass on to her 50% of your property)

So, if someone ever calls you a 'whore', you might like to ask them "Uh...What do you mean?" first. In most cases they seem to be talking about your genitals, which is ridiculous, of course, because what you do with/to them is nobody's business. And if you ever happen to meet a whore who replies "Of course I am not, I only slept with 1,5 man (woman)", tell them "Dude, should you be a virgin, it doesn't matter, because it is your principles that fucked up not your vagina (penis)"

"Someone who's promiscuous is just a "slut"~some random guy#? (I lost it, they are so many)

I am not sure about promiscuous = slut. It is still not about the number of sexual partners, but attitude to them and sex.

Although I would agree that someone who is promiscuous and has too many sexual partners quite often happens to be slutty, however I met people who are promiscuous in a sense that they don't feel like waiting for the right moment to have sex with someone who they have crush on and it usually happens to them within the first 30 secs. So they just go for it and it results in a beautiful long-term relationship. They are hardly to be considered as sluts, to my opinion.

I'd call a slut someone who engages in a sexual intercourse just because they are asked/demanded to do it. Like a wife who no longer wants her husband, but because they are married she allows him to use her genitals. That's disgusting. So it's like whore and slut are related, if a woman was someone's whore (sleeping with a man for her personal gain) after she married him she becomes his slut.

She might be a slut

~~epilogue~~: So, I see how it is. A Male Asshole Category of our world, not all men, but those particular individuals, who have troubles giving up on exploiting women, made a smart move. Indeed. Let's call all Free Powerful Liberated Women sluts&whores, and encourage real sluts&whores to keep slutowhoring by making them believe that devoting their life, time, body and mind to 1 man (even if you no longer want him), bringing up his children, cooking and cleaning for him or simply put: becoming his lifetime slave, is some sort of High Duty and Destiny for a woman. At the end of a day those men respect neither of the mentioned above female categories. They can hardly stand their "dumb&boring gfs/wives" and hate even more those Free Women for not loving them, assholes, for just having dicks ( and holy hell, when some of them also happen to have size issues- dudes...literally run&hide).
So yes, I can see why you are worried. If all women become Free Powerful and Liberated (shiiiiiit), you will have to move your Arse and make yourself something more, than just a dick, because it takes being a nice person and having an interesting personality to make a free woman spend her lifetime with you, otherwise she gets bored and leaves. But (un)Fortunately that 'replacement of meanings' concept of yours slowly stops working. A whore is a woman who sleeps with a man/men to economically secure her present and future and a slut is a woman who sleeps with a man/men despite the fact that she does not want it.
So to all whores, sluts and assholes out there- if that's the way you like it, We, Free People, are okay with it, we don't even demand you admit the true nature of things or confess your 'sins' (me personally, I am afraid I might get sick for a while if I am to listen to your confessions, so please...). We understand it's those wicked conditions of capitalism that produce your kind, that's why we try to change them, to liberate you. If you don't want to help, then at least don't create a mess, by calling Us sluts, whores and assholes in order to justify yourself. It's needless. Your kind knows what you are and we know what you are.

Blessed be the one who calleth things by thy names (i made it up, don't think I am quoting bible or smthg)

word~

Well, it's my birthday tonight...

2009-11-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

so I have this bottle of Asti Martini and some awesome chocolate. and I also have flowers, yes. So, I am gonna forget about all this shit and you fuckers and get drunk. Fuck you ALL with no exception

Freedom Of Speech

2009-11-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

"Of course I like Capitalism, I am not a communist"~ Bill Maher

"At the end of the day he is a comedian, and a comedian can make remarks, and never really have to justify them."~ some random guy

This is how mass-media promotes certain ideas and opinions and I give them standing ovation, because they never really have to justify them. It's enough to find some idiot joker, make him public's favorite/hero and let him say whatever you want to make people believe, most of them will- just because they love 'the guy' who said that. Make Family Guy say that it's time to blow up China and the majority will add that passage to the list of their jokes. In no time the entire nation will laugh at the 'blow up China' idea. Then in a couple of years put a politician infront of them to announce that we should blow up China for real, while freaking out people will be accustomed to the idea already.

Everybody nowadays seem to beleive that Democracy and Freedom of Speech means you have the right of talking without thinking, just say whatever crosses your mind. That's not what ancient Greeks meant, when they invented and established Democracy and Freedom Of Speech. In Ancient Greece it was taken for granted that one thinks before they speak, they had rhetoric and logic as major disciplines to teach people how to think and express your thoughts correctly. No, not WHAT to think, but how to create correct logical chains and association rows to avoid having mashed-potato in your mind and how to express your thoughts so that your listener/opponent understands what you are thinking (not saying). When we are converting our thoughts into words some amount of what we are trying to deliver, gets lost on its way due to the limited abilities of Speech, let alone the language barrier thingy (every word has a certain meaning, but what we feel often is way more/bigger than a word can describe. That's why a language keeps changing, new words/meanings are being added). So, Bill Maher might not give a shit about capitalism/communism and may be quite often even about what he says, as the majority of earth population and whenever you tell them (trying to be as much polite as you can)- dude, you are talking shit, shut up, they refer to the Freedom of Speech lol Here in Greece people have a good argument for them "freedom of speech is for those who can handle a Speech and Speech was used to voice one's opinion and provide listeners with reasoning. We don't have Freedom of Talk or Freedom of Noise yet (thx Arse), so shut up."

So, Bill Maher (and such) might not give a shit, but some of his listeners might. What conclusion could they draw after his statements? "Of course I like capitalism, I am no communist" suggests if you don't support communism you should support capitalism, which is absolutely terribly wrong idea. But if I (like some people) tried to participate in Bill Maher's show in order to explain him and his listeners that Bill should either shut up or read about social theories first, Bill would most likely make fun of my second language shortcomings and of me being too serious about some shit, meanwhile all we want is -laugh! and bury me in his idiotic jokes, never giving me a chance to exercise the right of Freedom of Speech. Then the show is over and Bill is hero again and I am a nutcase lol You can see that happening every now and then. This is how Freedom of Speech was taken from people and replaced with the illusion of it. And Mass-Media is the #1 violator of this right.

and just for fun allow me to offer you this funny song. cheerio

Global Anti-Capitalist Movement

2009-11-13T12:53:00.000-08:00

"The future should be interesting and harrowing...~some random guy"

it sure will be

global anti-capitalist movement yes, as for environmental, no, I don't support it. Ecological problems will be solved once we get rid of the dictatorship of capital and stop producing for the sake of selling only. Once we are done playing this profit game, we will have time, resources and mental energy to take care of the environment and a lot of other issues and problems we have, until then such movements only distract people's attention from the main anti-capitalist movement.

Regarding the war, I have heard that the conditions of world's capitalism don't allow to generate a war now, I didn't look into it though, to see what exactly they mean, but it's like we can take a deep breath and relax for the time being, but no idea for how long. However, I believe it is better for you (americans) if China fights you directly (that's why I think there is a possibility that your gov-t will provoke them in the future to start a war), because otherwise I cannot think of anyone else who China would use to fight you, except Russia. The USA and ex-USSR(Russia) have a long history of competition and it will be easy to generate a conflict between them. And then China and Russia are neighbors and old comrades , although their relationship have been complicated during the last 50 years, I am afraid they might decide that it is time for reunion and you will have to fight them both. Of course you've got fancy guns and other military toys over there, but russians and chinese are mad people, and when I think of them as allies...they could remove you from the face of earth. I know Greece is most likely to support Russia too, we have pretty warm relationship (thx to the orthodox church). And I am wondering, why those Chinese need Greece' largest port for? They could try to 'buy' any other, but no, they want the central one in Athens. So,the best is America+Russia against China, if we don't want to see Chinese New World's Order soon, but America is too right-wing for Russia, it needs to move left a bit, may be this is what you are trying to do now?

That's why there can be global anti-capitalist movement, because most are simply too poor. But as long as they can still manage to pay their bills, people will bear with the fact of being exploited and their rights violated. However the capitalist system has been shaken, its time has been. We don't seem to be able to recover from economic recessions fast enough, it gets worse from a recession to a recession. The new one comes while we still are dealing with the consequences of the previous one and it's gonna be this way until we won't be able to get out of a recession anymore and enter the era of an eternal economic recession, which is called Collapse of a Political Economic System it results in an economic depression. Economic Depression simply put: it is produced more than people can afford to buy, they don't have money. Right now it's cars and houses ('big' property), but slowly it will come down to food and clothing. Because people don't have money to pay for those goods, business -owners won't have money to pay salaries, which will result in more people losing their jobs and not having money to pay for the goods. Until you get the entire country of hungry people with no money, a bunch of hungry capitalists because they will have to close their factories and the freaking out gov-t, shaking their heads not knowing what to say anymore. Great Depression that is. From what I know, recovery from the Great Depression in the States wasn't caused by the governments programs or reforms, it happened on its own, more or less chaotic and accidentally (gold inflows, political situation in the world), meaning there could have been another way around. So, when you enter the next depression do not count on your gov-t much. What will be happening though? We see China entering free market and experiencing capitalist boom, just as America did a half century ago. As you mentioned China is dependent on your economy, but why do you think it tries to 'buy' ports and enter european market (god, they are everywhere and you know what the best business is nowadays? it's selling chinese products. I personally distribute their tea: fair income, small effort). But what will happen when your economy collapses and China supplies world market? They don't need you anymore. So, they might offer you financial support to recover from economic depression, in simple words buy you and turn you into China. This is when your people will start waking up (unless they will never wake up of course), when they realize that the owners of the largest corporations and state institutions are Chun Tong's, Jing Dong's etc and the regime is no longer a funny hamburger party like, but red dragon gulag. Otherwise if you try to oppose them it will result in political conflicts and your nation's eternal poverty and struggle, and may be even a war along with all those problems.
So if you don't support Obama (which you guys unfortunately probably won't), America won't be able to move left, therefore won't be able to ally with the left-wing countries to oppose China's capitalist boom, in this case welcome to oblivion.

However if you reconsider and support Obama's left-wing reforms, you can save yourself from turning into chinese colony by allying with the left-wing countries like mine and complete the global-anti capitalist movement, making one step froward to the new era of mankind's existence.

Sociology currently suggests 3 stages of social evolution: 1st Origin and Development of Society 2nd Origin and Development of Production and 3d Human Society, regulating itself by applying reason and rationalism to every existing and emerging aspect of our being and using its highly developed Production abilities for further development, improvement and advancement. Yeah, we are not Human Society yet lol however congratulations! we completed the second spiral and are about to enter it. A couple of things that prevent us from doing so: 1. idiotic traditions and moral grounds, that motivate us to oppose anything new and 2.Dictatorship of Capital that does not allow Labor and industrial relations to move on to a new level. In simple words- our social political economic system called Capitalism does not allow us to move on to a high level of our existence. So, support Obama, move left, join the rest of the world and oppose this new Capitalist boom (China) and let's leave this damn second spiral and move to the third stage, aren't you f-ing bored of it yet? lol Or keep your republican/democrat traditions, let China replace you in the chair of capitalist dominance and do it all over again- boom, crisis, recession, depression. In this case at least make some good propaganda of hamburgers and parties in China, so that it will be all over fun again and not like 'Heil Mao! Yo!'

ps: to Obama
dude, at least 200bux for this brilliant speech of mine?

Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America' (YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING)

2009-11-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.
Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie.
The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.
However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.
Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as "a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder". His "half-baked theory" directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering", the site stated.
The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as "a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying".
Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.
"That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing," he said.
"The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.
"It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There's still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It's quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.
"Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn't saying 'kill all religion', he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people."
Creation was developed by BBC Films and the UK Film Council, and stars Bettany's real-life wife Jennifer Connelly as Darwin's deeply religious wife, Emma. It is based on the book, Annie's Box, by Darwin's great-great-grandson, Randal Keynes, and portrays the naturalist as a family man tormented by the death in 1851 of Annie, his favourite child. She is played in the film by 10-year-old newcomer Martha West, the daughter of The Wire star Dominic West.
Early reviews have raved about the film. The Hollywood Reporter said: "It would be a great shame if those with religious convictions spurned the film out of hand as they will find it even-handed and wise."
Mr Thomas, whose previous films include The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, said he hoped the reviews would help to secure a distributor. In the UK, special screenings have been set up for Christian groups.

By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor

trailer

Mass Media

2009-11-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

Media takes advantage of us, using our insecurities, fears and complexes, which, to my opinion, we develop due to lack of the ability to reason. Reasoning is the first step against manipulation, as it can help to break through some ridiculous traditions that were implemented into our moral grounds, which media appeals to, in order to generate that nasty feeling of "doing the wrong thing", even though one knows there are reasons to do it . Which also turns people into hypocrites, as they will still feel/do what their nature dictates them, but because it is accepted to be 'immoral' they will hide, while doing that or even suppress their own nature (that's the worst and sends people entirely mad) and pretend on public that they are 'moral' as a result there are 2 categories of people, well, three actually: 1. those who constantly hide their 'bad' habits , not being 100% honest with themselves and others . They try to make themselves feel better through being accepted/respected/adored by others. Such people usually gather in groups and 'adore' each other, because it makes them feel better. They dislike and reject honest people, simply because they are afraid of them. Honesty would destroy their little cozy world, where they basically RIP 2. Those who got tired/bored of being hypocrites and accepted the fact that they are 'immoral' = 'bad' people. Automatically they start associating everything that is 'bad' with themselves and doing things, that are actually not in their nature and they would never do them otherwise. (like hurting others for no reason "I am gonna hurt you just because I am bad", in a few words that's the way our society produces maniacs and serial killers) 3. people who developed the ability to reason and finally found peace and harmony lol
So, the mass media supports the first two categories and tries to get rid of the third one usually by labeling those individuals with anything that is not in the current morality or tradition, in order to divert mass' sympathy from them. That damn trick of theirs is fabulous, works perfect and people adopted it and practice it themselves for quite a while already. Examples:

"yes, he sounds reasonable, but his sympathy for Marx/Nietzsche, man, he is communist/racist, fuck him"

or

"he sounds reasonable, but he masturbates/watches porn a lot, perv, fuck him"

or even

"he sounds reasonable, but what he is trying to do is crazy, fuck him"

communist, racist, perv, crazy are labels. I don't mind to be called any of them, but to anyone who labels me I'd like to say "now that we officially established that I am let's say crazy, elaborate on what I do and say. Is what I do/say crazy? if yes -why? If you cannot provide any valid reason, then you are crazy and it is time to heal up"

Not only does mass media label mentally healthy people, it also labels and defines everything for the first 2 categories: what's good and bad, what to wear, eat, believe, watch. Where to go, work, when and how. And slowly puts signs everywhere. Signs help humans act without thinking. The goal is to prevent people from thinking, because thinking helps to develop the ability to reason. NLP (neuro linguistic programming) is in its fullest already, linguistics is very underestimated by ordinary people. Just the way I speak/write matters (especially if I do it consciously and know how to manipulate using those skills ). Using linguistics one can make people do unbelievable things, while making them feel they are acting at their own will or even against will of the person who really manipulates them. Lack of the ability to reason makes it nearly impossible to figure out what is real and what's going on. And if you push the limits trying, you can actually end up having a stroke lol That's why people turn to a glass of whiskey, a joint or video games (etc) -to turn off the brain, to stop filtering information and just perceive it whole as it is, in order to relax and not to go nuts. Sometimes they forget to turn it on lol and thus become an easy tool for those few in whose hands Media is concentrated. Currently they are having tremendous success in promoting mass apathy at certain aspects of our existence.

was it enough talk of media concentration?

The only reason why nobody talks about it on the political arena is mass apathy. Support the idea of Worker's Party, promote it and you will have people tlaking about it out loud

ps let me offer a quote, regarding Mass-Media, from the great comment someone posted, while participating in the discussion of this topic on another forum
----------------------

...the subtleties of propaganda...the Hegelian dialectic, which states that you MUST always administer two sides to create change out of conflict. You need to give the people the illusion of having a choice, otherwise they might actually think for themselves. The mainstream media administers both "left" and "right" opinions, and most people are content to take one side or the other, oblivious to the fact that the truth always resides outside of the left/right political paradigm. Whether the media is spewing left or right opinions, rarely is there any unadulterated truth in it.

Where do you think most people's POVs come from? THE MEDIA!!! Most people don't have their own opinions. They have the opinions of what the media gives them, which they parrot and believe is their opinion....

------------------

so, for any of you out there, opposing whatever you are opposing, make sure you do it at your own will. How to check it? Simple, consider it my gift to you, from my consciousness to yours lol

Ask yourself 'why? am I doing this' and whatever your answer is keep asking 'why?' until you no longer can answer this question. Then you got the real reason why you do that. Let me warn you, you might find out, that there is no reason to do what you have been doing for so long. Don't panic, go have a drink lol and move on to the next aspect of your existence. Once you are done, welcome to the club of free thinkers LOL

USA: A Brief Analysis of Election 2009

2009-11-08T06:37:00.001-08:00

Off-year elections were held in a number of places around the country on November 3, 2009. In NJ [New Jersey] and Virginia, the incumbent party, the Democrats, were thrown out of the governorship. In NYC [New York City], Republican incumbent Mayor Bloomberg was reelected by 51% to 46%, even though he spent about 14 times the amount of the Democratic opponent! People are angry with the austerity being implemented by state and local governments. Also, both deposed NJ governor Corzine and Bloomberg are seen as rich Wall Street types, and that is not very popular at this time. Also, in the 23rd congressional district in upstate New York, the Democrats took a seat in a special election, even though it had been a solidly Republican district since the Civil War. Many right-wingers, such as Sarah Palin, had tried to capture this seat for the Conservative Party candidate, since the official Republican candidate was seen as being “too liberal.” Their support for the Conservative Party candidate forced the Republican to drop out. The result? The more “liberal” Democrat was elected.
Capitalist politics has been moving to the right since the 1970s, when the post-war boom came to an end. The capitalists system is in decline and they will make the workers and the middle class pay dearly for this crisis. Therefore, the capitalists are not willing or able to give any reforms. When the system was booming, they would give a few crumbs from their table to maintain social peace. But the system no longer allows this.
However, while the system pushes the ruling class to the right, there is also much anger in the working class. This anger is expressed in an often confused and distorted fashion, since there is no mass party of the working class in this country. For example, the Republican right-wing advertises itself as “anti-establishment,” even though they are bought and paid for by big business! They have also tried to rally opposition to changes in health care by claiming to defend Medicare. They run ads opposing Obama's health care plan (which is a million miles from socialized health care), explaining that it will cost precious jobs that they dearly want to defend!
This shows that the right-wing knows the mood of the masses is not for cuts in social programs. However, this is precisely what the Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives alike must do. They must institute counter-reforms, deepening cuts in the few social programs that exist, because this is what crisis-ridden American capitalism demands. As the federal budget deficit skyrockets, they must at some point raise taxes and cut social programs to deal with it.

In Maine, a referendum repealing marriage equality for gay men and lesbians has passed. This is another strategy of the ruling class: divide and rule. As the crisis continues to unfold, their goal is to divide the working class and get people to fight against each other, rather than unite against big business.
In Ohio, the building of four Casinos has been approved, on the promise of modest job creation in a state with 11% unemployment. This is the “solution” the rich offer: to gamble away your earnings in the desperate hope you might hit the jackpot!
At some stage, the present crisis will be reflected in a sharp debate in the labor movement. Those labor leaders who said trust the Democrats will be challenged by the membership. Workers will see that we need a political alternative to fight both the Republicans, who are the open enemy of the working class, and the Democrats, who claim to be friends but are every bit as controlled by big business. As this debate unfolds, the possibility to establish a mass labor party will become a reality. With the anger that exists among workers in youth, is there any doubt that such a party would do very well politically, even though it would be ruthlessly defamed by the politicians and the media? In these latest elections, turnout was dismally low as workers see no real alternative but “the other guy.” Offered a mass workers' alternative, currently “apathetic” workers and youth will come out in large numbers to organize and vote for such a party. Workers and youth who are looking to change this system should join with the WIL (Worker's International League) to fight for this perspective, to help bring real change in the interests of the vast majority, not the few super rich.

Written by Tom Trottier

Martial Law in Ukraine?

2009-11-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

President's address to the Ukrainian

people on the occasion of flu epidemic in Ukraine
Dear fellow citizens!

I address you in performance of my constitutional duty under the Article 106 of the Basic Law of the state.

The reason is the emergency epidemic situation in the country.
Infections of viral origin, including the A/H1N1 flu, are rapidly spreading across Ukraine.

The emergency is evident in the scale of the epidemic: the speed and the geography of its spreading, rapid progress of the illness and the exceptional number of deaths.

People are dying. The epidemic is killing doctors. This is absolutely unprecedented and inconceivable in the XXI century.
All the limits have been exceeded - even those under the Constitution that determine my actions as the President.

Therefore I am motivated by the most important: the security of your life and your health.

Therefore I give clear and frank assessment of the situation. And you should know that.

We have special risk factors that aggravate the epidemic in Ukraine.
The conclusions of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, my numerous consultations with national and international experts show that.

First. Unlike similar epidemics in other countries, three pathogens of viral infections came to Ukraine at the same time: two of them are seasonal flu and the third is the A/H1N1.

According to virologists, such a combination of infections due to mutation may produce a new, even more aggressive virus.

That's why I have addressed the United Nations with the request to conduct a virologic examination in Ukraine and to establish the appropriate laboratory in order to take timely preventive measures.

Second. The A/H1N1 virus is easily mutating. It has travelled across half of the globe before coming to Ukraine.

This means that the virus has become particularly pathogenic.

This means that medical aid must be urgently reinforced by emergency, critical care treatment.

The third risk factor. It is generally known that the only way to prevent any infection is vaccination.

Due to unprofessional and highly disorganized vaccination against measles and rubella in Ukraine the practice of vaccination is compromised in essence.

According to the estimates of the Minister of Health approximately 58% of citizens are vaccinated today in Ukraine with the effective level being 90% and higher.

People have stopped getting vaccinated against extremely dangerous infections: tuberculosis, diphtheria, etc.

This led to high risk of A/H1N1 infection spread, when the virus came to Ukraine and made impossible preventive vaccination against both strains of seasonal flu.

All this made general epidemic situation in Ukraine even more complicated.

As the President I ask you, dear fellow citizens, to reconsider your attitude to vaccination and do it if necessary, but only, I emphasize it - only after consultation with the doctor.

At the same time I instruct the Government and the Ministry of Health to immediately start preventive and promotional work in areas where there is no epidemic, targeting primarily the special risk groups.

I demand the Government to immediately cancel the existing order of registration of medical supplies, including vaccines.

Studying this issue by the National Security and Defense Council shown that this procedure has allowed various dealers to bring to Ukraine dubious medicines, which are not recognized by the WHO or other national institutions.

Under my direction the Security Service is investigating the issue.

The fourth factor. In reality it is the Reactor 4.

I mean the epidemic, rapid spread of viral infections in the west of the country. The Government, the leadership of the Parliament and the opposition were all aware of that already in early October.

The first and the most effective preventive measure is avoiding large gatherings of people.

Ignoring this principle, hundreds of thousands of people from different regions were brought to Kyiv; from both the areas struck by the epidemic, and those where there was no evidence of this epidemic.

This greatly increased the risk of infection.

I emphasize: it was a well-known thing. And it was ignored by the Chairman of the Parliament, by the opposition leader and, first of all, by the Prime Minister. And Chief Sanitary Inspector, together with his subordinates in the regions, including those in the city of Kiev ignored their professional duty.

This directly reminds of the May Day demonstration in Kiev, held shortly after the accident at Chernobyl NPP.

This is a display of criminal irresponsibility of politicians and complete indifference towards the people.

Let me cite one example. On October 20 the epidemic of flu was declared in Ternopil with schools and kindergartens closed for quarantine. "From October 21 secondary and primary schools are closed due to the growing rate of flu and ARD sickness”. This was the order of local authorities.

As of October 20 the rate of ARD in Ternopil was 172.9 cases per 10 thousand people with epidemiological threshold for the city being 160 patients per 10 thousand people. In other words - all services of the country responsible for monitoring the figure were informed and knew about the situation.

However, not a single Sanitary Inspector has banned either the movement of people, nor their gathering, including those in Kiev on October 24, when people have gathered at the central square.

I would like to remind you, my dear, that on October 24, 2009 10 deaths were known to have occurred in Ternopil region itself and 6 deaths were reported in Lviv region. And in 7 days after the abovementioned gathering Kyiv turned out in the situation, when the rate of sickness demanded the announcement of flu epidemic. This is the behavior of the great politicians. The neglect of elementary means of prevention of a disease in any country in the world, by any society. Because they must conduct a show, they have concerts, because they were paid for and 130 million have already been spent.

In that, dear Ukrainians, I see not only moral but also criminal liability.

I have addressed the Prosecutor General of Ukraine with the request to institute criminal charges of negligence committed by first of all the Chief Sanitary Inspector, Kyiv City Sanitarian and the officials, who, despite having daily information on the epidemic situation in the country, neglected it in pursuit of political dividends and ambition.

Now, the only principle of organizing preventive measures at the national scale should be as follows:

We treat the West and defend East, Center, North and South of Ukraine amain.

I now rely solely on the professionalism of our doctors. Today they are the true heroes of our nation.

I once again demand the Government to comply with the order the National Security and Defense Council to resolve the issue of wages for our doctors in this difficult period for the country.

The fifth factor.

Dear fellow citizens, the key threat that is aggravating the situation is chaos in the system of healthcare and protection of lives of people.

Today we must recognize that Ukraine does not have a single healthcare system. Prevention of any infection, including through vaccination, the localization and overcoming the consequences of epidemics is the responsibility of the State Sanitary-Epidemiological Service of Ukraine.

The Service is headed by the Chief Sanitary Inspector. He is appointed by the Prime Minister.

The current Constitution after alterations in 2004 makes the Government solely responsible for conducting state healthcare policy.

The practice of using the power, as evident today, is a failure.

To the executive power, which is not subordinate to the President, I have suggested the holistic healthcare reforms plan and a set of instructions and recommendations that would help create the optimal model of the system for years to come. My remarks were presented as the groundless interference in Government’s work and as the unfounded criticism.

Back in April of 2009 I addressed the Government with the request to establish a special interdepartmental commission on fighting the spread of flu viruses, to finance the establishment of Flu Center and to take all measures to protect the country against flu. That included providing adequate availability of medicines, facemasks and all other necessaries.

Partial implementation of the instructions has its consequences.

They were not ignoring me – they were ignoring the people, the citizens. It is clear why. Because Ukraine still has unfair system of healthcare - one is for the power, the other is for the people.

We must change the system. We must change the entire system of government in Ukraine.

But now, in this moment there is no time for waiting or remonstrance.
National Security and Defense Council should become the center of decision-making.

Failure to comply with its orders will immediately result in application to the law enforcement authorities.

I remind all the responsible persons and draw attention to all of my orders, made in Lviv four days ago. In three days the deadline for compliance with these orders expires.

With my decree I put Minister of Health and Chief Sanitary Inspector of Ukraine into the Council for National Security and Defense.

I am conscious of my responsibility.

I express deep condolences to the families and relatives of those who have died.

I express my deep appreciation to doctors, who are saving our people risking their own lives. I am moved by this sacrifice. Such a commitment means that the epidemic will be stopped.

I appeal to all of you, dear fellow citizens, to show solidarity, mutual support, and strictly adhere to all the safety regulations regarding protection of your health and lives.

For not a single moment you will be left alone by the state.

Thank you for your attention.

http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/15609.html

[Audio] The Russian Revolution and the Communist International

2009-11-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow marks the 92nd anniversary of the Russian Revolution. For the first time the working class conquered state power and at least began the task of the socialist transformation of society. Listen here to this meeting of the ULU Marxist Society where Fred Weston, editor of the website 'In Defence of Marxism' (marxist.com), speaks on the Russian Revolution and the founding of the Comintern.

[Audio] The Russian Revolution and the Communist International

Cynicism and American Politics

2009-11-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

When Bill Maher, the comedian turned political commmentator, was recently asked on CNN if he thought Sarah Palin has a future as a presidential candidate he opined, “I don’t know about a presidential candidate, but I would never put anything past this stupid country.” When angry callers asked Maher to clarify what he meant by his statement they were met with the curt response: “I don’t need to clarify, it is!”

Sadly Maher’s sentiment finds echoes among many who identify themselves as “liberal” and “progressive.” Paradoxically it is a view that is utterly reactionary, unscientific, and elitist to its core. After all, like everyone else in the mainstream media, Bill is no Marxist. As he once put it, “Of course Capitalism is good, I am not a Communist.”
Cynicism is a very useful tool for those in power. Although it inherently expresses a sense of dissatisfaction, it offers nothing as a way out. The charade of the two-party system has done a lot of damage to American workers’ perception of politics in general, and created a situation where cynicism and apparent apathy is widespread. Just listen to a little bit of the late, great, George Carlin and you’ll see just how deep-rooted it has become.
The two-corporate-party setup in the US tends to churn up a lot of political confusion. The lack of a fundamental difference between the two parties reduces much of the political discussion to extremely petty issues.

Gore Vidal expressed this quite well when he said: “We only have one political party in the US, and that is the property party, which essentially is corporate America, which has two right wings, one called Republican and one called Democrat. I can’t say I like either of them.” We couldn’t have said it better - no wonder most American workers are alienated from politics!
When the elections roll around, the decision as to which politician to support often boils down to their personality traits rather than their platform. Incredibly, polls show that Americans have consistently elected the presidential candidates that they would rather have a beer with since Reagan. In the case of Sarah Palin this is all too true. Being the first woman and “regular hockey mom” to come so close to the Presidency, she is of serious symbolic importance to many women, who rightly are disgusted by the glass ceiling for women under this system.
The same is true of Barack Obama. What he symbolizes for millions of poor and working class Americans, and especially minorities, is extraordinary and cannot be underestimated. If the mainstream narrative is to be believed, his Presidency ushers in a “post-racial” era in US politics. But has there really been any fundamental stray from the policies of Bush? The fact is, despite the color of Obama’s skin, he and the Democratic Party represent the very same people behind the Bush presidency.
One major reason for the current apathy is that millions of people feel that they have nothing to vote “for.” After all, as Michael Moore once put it, the lesser evil is still evil! Many people have given up on simply voting “against” the “other” party.
What is needed in the US is a party that represents working people. Such a party could be the political expression of the labor movement to combat the attacks of both the Republicans and Democrats. Such a party would go far in combatting the cynical and apathetic attitudes of many toward politics, as there would finally be a force led by workers in the interests of workers, particularly the most exploited sections of society, minorities, immigrants and women.
What excuse would anyone have to be apathetic or cynical if such a party existed? Of course, many mass labor parties around the world have had time to develop a strong bureaucratic crust on top, which acts against the interests of the workers they are supposed to represent, but their power is increasingly being challenged by the rank and file. An American mass party of Labor would be forged in flames that most careerists and bureaucrats are terrified of, the flames of struggle!
A Labor Party would drastically change the dynamics of American politics. American workers would quickly reclaim the militant traditions of labor battles that once shook the country. This may seem like ancient history to some, especially those like Bill Maher, but history has a funny tendency of repeating itself on an even higher level than before.
Folks like Bill Maher, while being astute commentarists on the absurdities of the system, have no faith in or even the remotest conception of the potential power of the working class to change society. Once American workers have a mass political party of their own, Maher and co. will have to find other things to joke about.

Written by Mark Rahman

Purpose Of Life (examined?)

2009-11-02T12:51:00.001-08:00

Last night I had an ultimate discussion with a friend of mine (german lesbian linguist highly interested in Neuro-Linguistic Programming) she is scary intelligent, we'll call her Jude, while enjoying a glass of wine (me- red medium sweet, Jude- white dry bitch lol) and some traditional appetizers from Crete in a very romantic home-style Cretan bar. The topic was the classic: existentialism or in simple words purpose of life. With the difference we both agreed that probably there is none and its our reality in which we gave a purpose to every single thing/organism that forces us to figure out a purpose of our own existence. We argued on whether we need it. Jude said we don't, because we are ever-changing creatures and by establishing a purpose we basically oppose any emerging changes. I insisted we do, because even-though we are ever-changing we don't necessarily always change in a sense of improvement, so by establishing a purpose we find motivation to move forward, it's just that some purposes are dumb and should not be allowed, like serving as a priest in a christian church. Jude said, that it'd be too complicated to revise every possible purpose, so it's wiser to refuse from having one at all instead of dealing with the consequences of the stupid ones. Eventually we agreed: let the assholes degrade, may be it will result in their extinction and nice people don't need a purpose, they will either move forward by their own will or be carried by the others for being nice.

On my way home I was thinking about what makes a nice person nice. I decided to walk along a central road, to get some of its noise and traffic to get rid of those 'universal' thoughts before I sleep and in the middle of the chaos I noticed a woman, she was on her knees, sitting in a corner. As I was approaching her, I noticed she was petting a cat, sitting in that corner, most likely scared to death, as it wasn't a typical place to see a cat. It probably jumped out of some backstreet, freaked out and now sitting in that corner. I have to admit I love cats. I respect all the organisms, I try to avoid any contact with insects, worms, slugs, cephalopods etc (may be I forgot someone ), but I love cats! and those street cats always break my heart, especially when they get hurt (dogs too, but I love cats more for no particular reason). It was such a wonderful image to see, her and that little dirty cat communicating in the middle of that urbanistic mincer, that I hated myself for 1001st time for not having purchased a camera yet (otherwise I could share that image with you, but instead I will share this sucky pic I took using my cellphone)

, yeah I turned around, went back to her and asked her if I could take a pic of her. She said 'yes' just not her face, but oh well, you can't see anything anyways. Then she said "poor thing, it probably got hit by a car" and this is when I noticed that the cat's head was full of blood and its leg looked messy too. So I sat there next to them, not knowing what to do. It was late to try find a doc and we don't have any emergency hospital for animals, not in Thessaloniki anyway. She was like 'I could take it home, but how? It will scratch me, it's scared and obviously hurting". I offered to wrap it in in something, but we only had our jackets and I am not that nice to offer my jacket to a cat, its my last one and winter is coming, hell no. And then εύρηκα! why not use a box? "But where can we get a box now?"-"There"<-- I said, and pointed at the garbage container. It is always full of boxes next to garbage containers. So I went there, but had to empty one first, it was full of ugh...stuff. I had fun though, as people were passing by, they looked at me most likely thinking, that I am looking for a dinner or a place to stay. The rest was trivial. We put a box in front of the cat, slowly pushing it towards it and to our biggest surprise it slowly moved into the box. I got a taxi for her and she was gone. I hope the little cat-dude will be fine, I am positive it will. I decided my purpose of life for the time being will be helping nice people. If it wasn't her sitting there + my idiotic habit of taking pictures of everything I see, I would have just passed by that cat, may be cried later in bed about how unfair this world is to all those street cats I love. So, I am obviously not really very nice, but may be helping nice people could make me nice? or a bit nicer than I am so yes, it is 'helping nice people' then.

oh, and making fun of assholes OF COURSE!

ps while I was writing this entry a friend of mine asked me "why are we livin? reproduction?" and I was like "holly hell, I was supposed to write this" so i said "dude, right now I am writing you the answer".

I dedicate this entry to you Betsy. I hope you don't mind me sharing this with the others: BTS' Grandpa died this morning. And I know Betsy loved him a lot. I believe I speak for all the BTS friends and myself, saying we all are here for you not only to laugh at your random madness, but also when you feel sad or lonely :hugs

ps I am wondering what your purpose of life is or do you have/need any, lovely people out there?

edit: and I want to add something that I forgot completely, this example illustrates how unity of efforts can work. Me and that woman, we were very very different, but unfortunately I cannot show it to you, so you'd have to believe me (or not). But we were for sure from different walks of life, it's a common goal we had that motivated us to unite our efforts and do a nice little thing for a nice little cat. So the important thing is to look for common goals, not mind-like people. I am no Green Peace dude and she obviously hasn't been bothered by existentialism as much as I was that evening (although you never know, but you get me, I hope), however it occurs we didn't have to hold similar beliefs/views to do something nice together. So, you don't have to be a communist to support Marx's views, because some of them make sense or an anarchist to agree that hungry workers did the right thing by expropriating a factory or gay because you like hugging and kissing people even if they are not of the opposite sex

Anarchy In Greece (news)

2009-10-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Six Athens policemen injured by gunmen.

Unidentified gunmen shot and injured six policemen in a northern Athens suburb late on Tuesday, police said. By News Wires

Six Greek police officers were shot and wounded Tuesday, two of them seriously, in an attack against a police post in a northern suburb of the capital Athens, police said.

Three unidentified attackers opened fire on the Aghia Paraskevi post with an automatic weapon and escaped on two high-powered motorcycles.

The wounded officers, one of whom was a woman, were admitted to Athens hospitals.

One suffered bullet wounds to the chest, another to the stomach and four others to the shoulder and legs.

President Carolos Papoulias condemned what he called "the cowardly terrorist attack" and expressed his sympathy for the victims.

Minister for the Protection of Citizens Michalis Chryssohoidis, who along with Health Minister Mariliza Xenoyannokopoulou visited the wounded officers, called the attack "one hundred percent terrorist."

Promising that society "will not let itself be terrorised," he appealed to the people to help the police arrest those responsible.

Around 50 bullet casings were recovered from the scene of the attack, and police said they suspected either a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle or a Skorpio submachine gun had been used.

There was no claim of responsibility, although similar attacks have been carried out in the past by two extremist groups.

They are the extreme-left group Revolutionary Struggle, which has been active since 2003 and is listed by the European Union and United States as a terrorist organisation, and the Revolutionary Sect, which appeared early this year.

Leftist extremists have launched a number of attacks on police targets since riots last December triggered by the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old youth.

http://www.ant1online.gr/Society/PoliceBulletin/Pages/200910/2abcdab9-b6f2-47d9-8706-06a5fc69a48d.aspx

Hungarian Rock

2009-10-25T19:22:00.001-07:00

thx to a hungarian friend of mine for sharing this one with me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah7CV1e1oj4

what's the problem?

2009-10-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.visit-x.net/rammstein/

Zu gross, zu klein, der Schlagbaum sollte oben sein!!

Comercials

2009-10-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Link from George

http://foxnews.gr/wp-content/plugins/vipers-video-quicktags/resources/jw-flv-player/player.swf?file=http://live.fox365.com/videos/funny/2009/sprite_adv_fox365.flv

Signs...

2009-10-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

I went to IKEA today

It says "We thank You for letting Individuals with Special Needs pass first, as well as Pregnant Women".

But to me it looked like some female with a perky butt is going to "give it" to a disabled guy right at the counter. IKEA's attempt at being polite, give me a break..

Which Social Political System is The Best?

2009-10-18T05:52:00.000-07:00

From those we had ( including the current one - capitalism) none, as for the new ones (socialism, communism) I have no idea what the best answer is, as I have never lived within any of those 'new' systems. Theories are good, they help...

in developing critical thinking and strategy. But it is not like you can freeze the world for 5 min, establish communism or social democracy, then turn the world on again and see how it works. That is why I agree with the idea (but forget about it quite often as many other people do), that revolution cannot be generated, it actually happens when there are enough people who realized that it is time to accept emerging solutions. So, they unite and force the rest to move on. Common mistake is when people think of a system/social theory and say, there are reasons why it won't work, so let's not bother at all. why? and why concentrate on a theory, trying to find out how things are going to be in the end? when in reality there is a bunch of hungry people and a guy who owns a factory ( I elaborated on this example many times and I will keep doing it lol ). This isn't theory, but practice. They work as much as they can, then realize they cannot pay their bills. Should they start studying sociology? Well, that'd be nice, but not necessary, because common sense suggests they should go to the boss and ask for a raise. And they do it. And if the boss agreed, he would still have a decent life, with a nice house and a car, just not 10 houses and cars, and the workers would be able to pay their bills. But the boss refuses, so a new solution emerges, expropriation. And the workers take over a factory. Then they suggest the rest of the world does the same because it works. Then, those smartest people, with degrees in sociology rise and say: "guys, this is the communist theory, it is not going to work". And the guys say:" well, we don't really know anything about theories, we just do what reality suggests and it is working". so, why not do it? if it can make things a little bit better? then see how the reality changes, then see how it will change us, then make new necessary changes? I also find it funny, how some people accept that human nature is evil, humans are selfish and we will never get rid of wars and violence, but when a bunch of hungry people throw some rich asshole out of his factory , they start defending the rich asshole??? saying agaaaain that communism will never work, and the rich asshole invested into his factory, so he has all rights to own it and we actually need those rich assholes etc Well, if we are such violent selfish creatures, isn't it natural then that when we are hungry you either share your food with us, OR we take it from you, so get over it or die
So, to my opinion there are 2 problems :1 people are not well-informed and uneducated ( I am one of them).

2 we are afraid to fight. it is scary, yes. I tried it last year, when we had quite a revolution here going on. I have to admit, I ran away pretty soon, after I tasted some teargas and realized the consequences of my participation ( jail and deportation ).

and also, it is important to look for common goals rather then for those who support the same philosophy. It doesn't matter how people label/ identify themselves, as long as we have common goals i will join them.
===============================================================

Positive Thinking

2009-10-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

The reason why we rent this shitty apartment in this shitty building is we don't have to pay anything else except for the rent. Nobody ever cleans the stairs, the door downstairs is broken ( a couple of windows as well) and it terribly stinks from the basement. keeeeewl ah! and no elevator (5th floor), so we don't go to the gym either and save a load of money. (they offer tons of advices on how to make money, we say- don't spend them on something you can get without having to pay- 5th floor with no elevator = tight ass for free and cheaper rent). But when you enter the apartment you don't see all that horror I just described, so it has been pretty nice for almost a year until today evening, when that golden hair nymph knocked into our door. Very hot indeed. I stared at her, trying to understand what she wants from me, while she was rambling about terrible conditions of our building. My brain started functioning slowly from the moment I've heard the words "10 euros". From now on, we will have to pay 10 euros every month to the golden haired goddess (she traced us!! damn). However, the fact that I am going to see her every month made it up for the monthly loss of 10 euros. Or do they call it Positive Thinking?

Lap-Dances Are Cool!

2009-10-17T04:59:00.000-07:00

Afraid? Make a step forward

2009-10-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

"We must incriminate the basic rules of capitalism"

2009-10-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

Paul Boccara is a french communist economist. I couldn't find his recent book anywhere on the internet, they probably haven't translated it yet (damn french ppl, they are so concerned about their language that they believe everyone on this planet is supposed to speak french lol) . But here is an interview with him, that was published in a daily french newspaper. I thought I'd post a part of it here and whoever is interested can click the link for further reading http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/spip.php?article1186

Communist economist, Paul Boccara has just published a book about the transformations and the crisis of global capitalism, in which he deals with the financial crisis, among other topics. Paul Boccara puts forward proposals to initiate emancipation from this « gone mad » system.

The financial crisis that originated in the United States is now severely shaking Europe and France. Why do you speak about a "global crisis of capitalism" rather than a failure of « Financial Liberalism »?

Paul Boccara. I insist, in my book, on the crisis of global capitalism, but also on its deep changes. These changes exacerbate capitalism. The financial crisis is revealing the maturation of the crisis in capitalism. To be satisfied with challenging "liberalism" or the lack of regulation or "deregulated finance », as people typically say, is a basic error, leading to holding onto a system that is becoming more and more harmful.

It is not by deviating from a « normal » capitalism that would be "healthy", as claimed by Nicolas Sarkozy, because the system itself has gone crazy.

This system, now dominating the world, is mad because its logic of profitability is reaching its climax. That’s capitalism squared. It is therefore, capitalism as a system, which puts making money before and against people lives, that needs to be questioned.

It is futile to speak of "morality" and "transparency" without attacking the logic of the system. In addition, there is no possible going back to capitalism of grandpa, because the exacerbating transformations are irreversible.

FORJA

2009-10-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Forja San Martin was a closed auto parts factory. Before it closed down, Freddy Espinosa and his wife got by. Now with just his wife's job, they can either afford to feed their daughters or pay their debts, but not both. So their debts piled up.

The former employees of Forja formed a cooperative. However, these weren't fired up anarchists, they were just family men, trying to make a living to support their wives and children. Instead of taking it upon themselves to assume ownership of the factory, they asked the bankruptcy court for permission to inspect the factory - evidence that the former owners sold factory contents gave them a legal case to take over the factory.

They would all be administrators. They decided they would have equal salaries and that they would work harder because their interests would now be much more in line with company goals. The former employees decided to guard the factory to prevent it from being emptied out.

Their goal was to be like other recovered factories, like Zanon.

source: http://cjyu.tripod.com/thetake.html

Watch the movie The Take (La Toma) to find out about Zanon and Forja guys

trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcostesK0Ik

watch movie on youtube (9 parts) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEzXln5kbuw

Expropriation is the way to go!

2009-10-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

"After 9 years of struggle we have achieved the definitive expropriation of our factory."

21 August 2009

The path taken by the workers at Zanon would not have been possible without previously seizing our union representation from the trade union bureaucracy.

Firstly, in 1998 we recovered our internal committee to struggle against sackings, poor treatment, humiliation and for safe working conditions, against multiple positions of workers, for our wages etc., but above all to establish a new form of work – direct democracy in order later, in 2000, to recover our union and to place it at the service of the workers.

Over the past almost 9 years a lot of water has passed under the bridge, and we value greatly the support we have received throughout this struggle – from the community of Centenario, Neuquén, Plottier etc., who at the end of 2001 arrived with a packet of noodles at the tents that sustained us for 5 months to the members of unit no. 11 who are just a few metres from the factory who gave us their food rations for 3 days so that we could continue our struggle.

The Neuquén regional Mothers of Plaza de mayo, who from the very first day adopted us as their sons and who came out to the streets together with us to this day, resisting with us 5 eviction orders, as well as repression and threats.

The faculty comrades from ATEN, Neuquén CTA comrades as well as the national and international solidarity from comrades we don’t even know and who, aware of our struggle, send us strike funds so that we could to resist.

We also learned how to stand in solidarity with other workers, creating a permanent strike fund. We believe that coordination is fundamental for the victory of workers in their struggles. From the miners of Río Turbio, oil workers from Las Heras, workers from factories from Neuquén and Río Negro, Garrahan Subterráneas, aeronautical workers, railway workers, including workers from the unemployed movement occupied factory movement and dozens of occupied factories.

From the beginning we opened the factory to the community, receiving thousands of children and adults so that they could learn about the experience of our struggle.

We consolidated student-worker solidarity both with young secondary students as well as with comrades from the universities which had and has its expression in the framework agreement for cooperation with the university. We held musical festivals with no police presence, with regional artists and national groups such as La Renga, Attaque 77, Bersuit Vergarabat, León Gieco, Raly Barrioneuvo, Dúo Coplanacus amongst others, who stood in solidarity with our struggle, leaving their art and solidarity with the Zanon workers, embodied in the community of Neuquén.

Our struggle was always based on the methods of class struggle, identifying governments, the bosses and trade union bureaucracy as the enemies of the workers. This experience built up over the years and with the enormous support that our struggle has in the province as well as nationally and internationally enabled us to shift the political will of the MPN provincial government, which had to propose and vote for the expropriation bill.

We consider that the victory we have achieved is of enormous importance for the whole of the working class, that this government that today votes for the expropriation of Zanon under workers’ control is the same government that killed Teresa Rodríguez, the same government that repressed the workers of Zanon at the end of 2001 and wanted to evict us 5 times, the same government that shot comrade Pepe Alveal, causing him to lose his eye, during the repression in Barrio San Lorenzo, the same government that killed comrade Carlos Fuentealba and the same government that today speaks of social peace when at this time of the world economic crisis the bosses and governments declare war on us with sackings, starvation wages, fines etc.

Schools and hospitals are empty and the only public works they are talking about is the construction of prisons to lock up our youth, while every day dozens of families die in fires that start in the electrical sockets in their shanty homes.

Thus, despite the enormous victory we have achieved, in the context of the international economic crisis, obtaining the expropriation from this government, which has a much greater value, from the workers’ management of Zanon and the Neuquén Potters’ Union, we are convinced that our struggle is not over, because as from the first day we consider that salvation will not be won individually but rather by the whole of the working class.

Brothers and sisters, to all those who took part in some way, who provided their grain of sand: share in the joy of this great step!!!

To all comrades who continue to look on with incredulity, perhaps fearful, perhaps skeptical, we invite you to be a part of this history which requires nothing more and nothing less than providing a grain of sand in the transformation of reality and the support for the dream of our 30 thousand comrades – a society without exploiters or exploited!

Zanon belongs to the people!

source: http://www.marxist.com/argentina-zanon-belongs-to-the-workers.htm