Fred Reed does "grumpy old man" damn well.

Doesn't mean he's wrong, either. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to find anything I agree with here. Lengthy... worth it.

Fred On Everything:

"Something is wrong with the United States. I think most of us have noticed it... The change is grave, accelerating, probably irreversible, and fascinating. Things are not as they were.

The United States is the most hated country on the planet, followed by, to the extent that there is a distinction, Israel. So far as I know, there are no other contenders. You can say “Who cares?” as many will say, or “Screw’em if they can’t take a joke,” or “I’d rather be feared than loved.” All very droll. Still, it is an interesting datum. No country ever lives up to its own PR, but there was a time when America was widely admired. Now, almost universally, it is seen as a rogue state. And is.

This carries a price. The US consulate in Guadalajara is part fortress, part prison, with barriers and cameras and bars and rentacops, and they take away a woman’s lipstick if she is going to enter. Maybe a country that fears lipstick needs to think. The French consulate around the corner is wide open, like all others that I know of. The French, Chinese, Japanese and so on aren’t hated.

The US government now lives in its own, strange, insulated world.

(2) The United States is the most militarily aggressive country on the planet, followed closely by Israel. I am aware of no other contenders.

Some of this combativeness is obvious—attacking Iraq for no good reason, occupying Afghanistan, threatening Syria and Iran, attacking Lebanon by proxy, bombing Somalia, putting troops in the Philippines to hunt Moslems. The US is also looking for trouble with Venezuela, threatening North Korea, moving to “contain” China (Doesn’t a container need to be bigger than its contents?), embargoing Cuba, pushing into Central Asia, increasing the military budget, and pushing NATO ever closer to Russia. (How stupid can you get? Very. Stay tuned.), And the Pentagon now has Africom, African Command. Africa is now America’s business.

(3) Powerful domestic hostilities grip the United States. Maybe you have to be outside of it really to see it. I live in Mexico. You can go for…well, five years and counting, without hearing angry talk about this or that group. In America, women hate men and men are getting sick of American women. Blacks hate whites hate Hispanics. “Affirmative action” engenders intense hastily that doesn’t go away. It isn’t the normal friction found in any country. It is serious antagonism quashed by federal force.

And the black-white-brown thing has very real potential for getting nasty. This we don’t talk about.

(4) A curious state fear prevails in America, but it is a governmental creation, a calculated manipulative Disneyland. Perhaps soon we will have Terror Mouse.

Recently I was in Washington. Everywhere there were the artificialities of fear. The steel pop-up barriers in the roads, the stop’em-bombs steel poles on sidewalks, the endless warnings to report suspicious behavior on loudspeakers in the subway. The searches of everything, the metal-detecting doorways even on buildings of country governments, of schools. (Schools, for Chrissakes. What is wrong here?) And of course the confiscation of shampoo at the airport. This is nuts.

(5) The bullying of people entering the US. Any country has the right to determine who enters. Fine. If you don’t want them to enter, don’t give them visas. If you issue a visa, try to be courteous.

Violeta had a visa, issued by the consulate, both times when we went to the US. Still she got bullied by the border Nazis. It was ugly. I am obviously not a Mexican, but I get the same hostile questioning as to where I am going, why I was in Mexico, and so on. It is none of their business where I go in my country. Or shouldn’t be, but there are no limitations on governmental powers now. A friend, married to a Mexicana, again with a visa, got separated from her, and both got abusive questioning. She came out crying.

America was not like this. Now it is.

Compare this with the real world. I land in Beijing—evil commie Beijing, right? Maybe twenty seconds to see whether my visa was valid, clonk of stamp, thank you, no baggage search, into a taxi. Vi and I land in Paris, en route to Italy. Glance at passport, yep, it’s a passport, no stamp, no nothing, on we go. Italy didn’t even look at our passports. Grown-ups.

I am not ashamed of the United States. It is a hell of a country. Been there, done that, loved it. In two weeks in DC with Violeta, although she is clearly not American, she was everywhere, always, treated with perfect courtesy and friendliness, whether on Cap Hill or Farmville, Virginia. Americans really are good folk. The government isn’t. It’s the gravest problem we face, both internationally and domestically.

(6) The Constitution really is going away, or has gone. It never did work as well as it should have, but few things human ever do. Habeas corpus is dead, right to an attorney, congressional right to declare war—it’s not even worth listing the list. Joe iPod in the burbs doesn’t care because it doesn’t affect him, yet. Git them Hay-rabs, ain’t no draft, plenty sushi. Urg.

(7) The increasing, detailed, intrusive regulation of life, the national desire for control, control, control. Everything is the business of some form of government. Want to paint your shutters? The condo association won’t let you. Let dogs in your bar? Never. Decide who to sell your house to? Racial matter. Own a dog? Shot card, pooper-scooper, leash, gotta be spayed, etc. Have a bar for men only, women only, whites or blacks only? Here come the federal marshals. What isn’t controlled by government is controlled by the crypto-vindictive mob rule of political correctness. This wasn’t always in the American character.

Add the continuing presence of police in the schools, the arrest in handcuffs of children of seven, the expulsions for drawing a picture of a soldier with a gun. Something very twisted is going on.

How much of the public knows what is happening, or even knows that something is happening? I don’t know. But I don’t think that it’s going to go away. In ten years it will be an entirely different place with the same name. Almost is now."

This would be very cool. [And of course Superman is a tulpa. Batman too. Jeez.]

These books were fascinating, funny and interesting. I actually read/re-read them just a couple months ago. Here's hoping the movie "works." Mixed feelings about "What the Bleep..." Cool concepts, presentation... so-so.

Blog@Newsarama » Schwartz’s Unlikely Prophet heading to film:

"Variety reports that the producers of What the Bleep Do We Know? have bought the film rights to the metaphysical memoirs of Alvin Schwartz, who spent 17 years writing Batman and Superman stories in the 1940s and ’50s.

Global Intelligence Press has optioned Schwartz’s 1997 book, An Unlikely Prophet, and its 2006 sequel, A Gathering of Selves.

In An Unlikely Prophet, Schwartz contends that Superman is real — that he’s actually a tulpa, a being created from thought that takes on its own life. He also relates his encounter with the Man of Steel in a New York City taxi."

You taking any weapons? - Of course not. - ...you ain't changing nothing.

Other than my unhealthy affection for all things Stallone [repeated watchings of Rocky III -"Rocky gets rhythm" - on HBO as a 12 year old will do this to you], and the way that Stallone knocked "Rocky Balboa" out the park, revisiting Rambo was kinda an iffy proposition. I mean, "First Blood" - great movie. The sequel, fun in an 80's over the top comic-booky action/adventure kinda way. The third one, OK but nothing special. Though in hindsight, the fact Rambo made heroes of the anti-Soviet Afghanis, possibly Taliban/Al Quaedo, is interesting.

Have to say this preview looks really good. I was surprised by the level of violence and gore shown. If released this way, definitely an R rated picture. Actually kind of glad, to tell the truth, and not in a "boy do I love gore!" kinda way. It's just that so often violence in media is sooooo sanitized and clean and unrealistic... I don't think those kinds of illusions serve anyone or anything.

"This is an Aint-It-Cool Exclusive look at a promotional trailer for 'John Rambo' with Sylvester Stallone."

The internet can do some amazing things. *UPDATED WITH VIDEO*

A while ago I posted a Youtube vid of the son of a great Japanese English teacher I work with at Katsuura Elementary. He's only in 4th grade, but he was practicing piano and covering a song of British soul artist Nate James. The vid is here - Ryo.

Well, guess who else saw it? British soul artist Nate James! And when he came to Japan recently on tour, he invited Ryo and his family up to Tokyo to play with him on stage. How very, very cool is that?

Akemi, his mom who I teach with, sent me a couple pics from the concert last week, and the other pic I got from the Yahoo News Japan article about it here -
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070518-00000661-bark-musi

*UPDATED*

So, apparently, this very cool tale is making the rounds on some of the Japanese TV shows. I think this is from Fuji TV. Continued coolness.

Cindi could totally do this traveling to Africa.

Of course, she might end up in Gitmo and we'd never see her again... but still. Funny.

If you are sitting next to someone who irritates you on a plane or train..

1. Quietly and calmly open up your laptop case.
2. Remove your laptop.
3. Boot it.
4. Make sure the person who won’t leave you alone can see the screen.
5. Open your email client to this message.
6. Close your eyes and tilt your head up to the sky.
7. Then hit this link: http://www.thecleverest.com/countdown.swf

"from filth to horror to funny in 28 panels."

Warren Ellis put it best -

"Stacy Garratt and Nikki Cook go from filth to horror to funny in 28 panels. Not for children of any age."

Really funny, really well done. Nice twist. If offended by naughty bits, or you know, the real world, don't click.

"***Warning, this comic contains adult material and is very much Not Work Safe ***

( Chapter one and Two: by clicking this link I certify that I am of legal age and am not offended by graphic sexual content )"

Dripping Wet
by Nikki Cook and Stacey Garratt

The irony of posting this doesn't escape me.

Testosterone Nation - ATOMIC DOG: My Speech to the Graduates, 2007:

"The trouble is, you'll one day emerge from years of virtual passivity. I say 'virtual' because it'll involve a little bit of interaction from you, but no more than a few mouse clicks or abbreviated keystrokes. You'll have spent who knows how long letting songs from I-Tunes and images from You Tube simply wash over your tree stump of a brain and your only communication with the world will be through abbreviated keystrokes.

You'll have created your own world, all right, but it's just a My Space world with some really fresh wallpaper. And while it's nice to have a theme song, the recording artist probably didn't have you in mind when he wrote it.

You're bored rats in a lab pressing a lever to get a treat, bored rats that inexplicably have delusions of grandeur.

Unfortunately, for most of you, when you wake up from this electronic torpor, you'll have missed your life...

...If you're vulnerable to every false god that comes along, you're pretty much doomed to be a 7-11 clerk...4EAE. (That's "forever and ever" to you non-texting people.) And not even a dayshift 7-11 clerk. No, you won't be good enough for "the show." You'll work the night shift and when some punk slips a 12-count box of Bud underneath his parka, you'll look the other way lest he use your rectum as a bottle opener.

If you're prone to every false god that comes along, you're emotionally and intellectually weak. You're a plastic duck."

This is really just for Kevin.

Ray Mercer vs Kimbo Slice promo commercial.

This is phenomenal to watch.

"The original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica has a long tradition of fitness and extreme sports. From Schwarzenegger to Dogtown and Z Boys, the traveling rings are the next cool thing to hit this historical beach. Check 'em out at www.swingaring.com and www.ringflyers.com"

115lbs of athletic awesomeness.

Really, really cool.

"115 lb. Samantha Turnbull can lift almost twice her body weight in the clean & jerk. After making the switch from cheerleading to weightlifting, she's become an Olympic hopeful."

When a man's right, he's right.

I'd probably disagree with Hitch on a number of things... Iraq in particular... but the man nails Falwell just the right amount, imho.

Crooks and Liars » Hitchens slams Falwell’s life:

"HITCHENS: The empty life of this ugly little charlatan proves only one thing: that you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you will just get yourself called Reverend.

Who would, even at your network, have invited on such a little toad to tell us that the attacks of September the 11th were the result of our sinfulness and were God's punishment if they hadn't got some kind of clerical qualification?

People like that should be out in the street, shouting and hollering with a cardboard sign and selling pencils from a cup.



The whole consideration of this — of this horrible little person is offensive to very, very many of us who have some regard for truth and for morality, and who think that ethics do not require that lies be told to children by evil old men, that we're — we're not told that people who believe like Falwell will be snatched up into heaven, where I'm glad to see he skipped the rapture, was found on the floor of his office, while the rest of us go to hell.

How dare they talk to children like this? How dare they raise money from credulous people on their huckster-like "Elmer Gantry"** radio stations, and fly around in private jets, as he did, giggling and sniggering all the time at what he was getting away with?

Do you get an idea now of what I mean to say?

COOPER: Yes, no, I think — I think you're making yourself very clear."

Best Superman movie never made.

You know, Singer's Superman movie was, um, okaaaaaaaay... but this would've totally kicked [geek] ass.

Weird.

Haven't heard from a buddy of mine in about five months. Had a really vivid dream with him in it last night, and out of the blue I get an email this AM.

Beware, my powers are mighty.

Tremble, you peons.

I now feel defined and whole.

Of course, I'm also nuts. I suppose I should take some comfort from the fact there's a name for my particular idiosyncracy.

Still would be impossible to explain here in Japan though. But when I get back to America, I'll pretentiously use this at every opportunity. Because saying, "Yeah, I eat a mostly vegetarian diet almost all the time, just trying to cut down cruelty and suffering, except on some occasions when I'll have some seafood, or the very, very rare occasions when I'll have some chicken or beef, blah, blah, blah, I've now bored you to death... and me too, oh god kill me now please."

Flexitarianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Flexitarianism is the practice of eating mainly vegetarian food. Flexitarians prefer to eat vegetarian food, but make occasional exceptions for social, pragmatic, or nutritional reasons. They will eat meat and other animal products sometimes. For example, a flexitarian might make only vegetarian dishes at home, but eat dishes including meat at the home of family or friends.

In 2003, the American Dialect Society voted flexitarian as the year's most useful word and defined it as "a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat"."

Happy 70th B-day to George Carlin.

A couple days late, but still.

Probably my favorite George Carlin bit, doomed to the eternal fires of hell heathen that I am...

"'Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims: religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told.

Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you.
He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!"

That's just insane.

A five year old who gave birth. FIVE. YEARS. OLD.

Disturbing and fascinating pic of the girl pregnant at the Wikipedia link.

May 14, 1939: A 5-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Mother on Record -:

"1939: Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in recorded medical history, delivering a son at the age of 5.

The Peruvian child delivered a 5-pound, 8-ounce boy via caesarean section; her small pelvis made it impossible for the baby to pass through the birth canal. In a detailed report of the case, Dr. Edmundo Escomel described the girl’s early sexual maturity. Lina had her first menstrual cycle when she was only eight months old; her breasts were almost completely developed by the time she was 4.

Lina’s condition, known as precocious puberty, was an extreme case, so much so that the story was dismissed as a hoax by many. But doctors X-rayed the fetus’ skeleton in utero and provided a picture of Lina, taken late in her pregnancy. The photograph, shot in profile, proves not only the pregnancy but shows the extent of her sexual development.

The baby, a boy named Gerardo, was healthy. He grew up normally (his mother’s true identity was revealed to him when he was 10) but died at 40 from a bone-marrow disease.

Paternity remains a mystery. Lina’s father was arrested on suspicion of rape and incest but the charges were later dropped for lack of evidence. Lina, who is still living, has never divulged a name and, indeed, may not know."

Further info, and the pic, here:

Lina Medina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"There are two published photographs documenting the case. The first one was taken around the beginning of April, 1939, when Medina was seven and a half months into pregnancy. Taken from Medina's left side, it shows her standing naked in front of an inconclusive backdrop (either the side wall of a house with the sun shining on her, or a light-diffusing blanket in a room with an overhead light pointed toward the front of her body). This is the only published photograph of Lina taken during her pregnancy. This photograph is of significant value because it proves Medina's pregnancy as well as the extent of her physiological development."

The best cartoon.

Sinfest = Awesomeness.

Click for full size.

Big Brother?

Turns out we'll all do Big Brother's job for him.

Schneier on Security: Is Big Brother a Big Deal?:

"...the police state of 1984 was deliberately constructed, while today's is naturally emergent. There's no reason to postulate a malicious police force and a government trying to subvert our freedoms. Computerized processes naturally throw off personalized data; companies save it for marketing purposes, and even the most well-intentioned law enforcement agency will make use of it.

Of course, Orwell's Big Brother had a ruthless efficiency that's hard to imagine in a government today. But that completely misses the point. A sloppy and inefficient police state is no reason to cheer... You can also see hints of what it might look like in our completely dysfunctional “no-fly” list and useless projects to secretly categorize people according to potential terrorist risk. Police states are inherently inefficient. There's no reason to assume today's will be any more effective.

The fear isn't an Orwellian government deliberately creating the ultimate totalitarian state, although with the U.S.'s programs of phone-record surveillance, illegal wiretapping, massive data mining, a national ID card no one wants and Patriot Act abuses, one can make that case. It's that we're doing it ourselves, as a natural byproduct of the information society.We're building the computer infrastructure that makes it easy for governments, corporations, criminal organizations and even teenage hackers to record everything we do, and—yes—even change our votes. And we will continue to do so unless we pass laws regulating the creation, use, protection, resale and disposal of personal data. It's precisely the attitude that trivializes the problem that creates it."

Board of Education Enkai.

Forgot my camera, but Kathy [lower middle] was kind enough to provide this snap of us + two of our former supervisors, Morita and Murai - sans, left to right - respectively. On our third supervisor now... we go through 'em like cigarettes, we do.

Japan is just too wacky sometimes.

Hell hath no fury like a porn star scorned -- just ask her niece - MSN-Mainichi Daily News:

"Age traditionally comes before beauty; but after ex-AV star Kyoko Teranishi found out her boyfriend had traded her in for her 14-year-old niece, the enraged porn queen whipped the teen round the head with a coat hanger for several hours, leaving her with serious injuries and landing herself a 500,000 yen fine.

Teranishi, the girl's 50-year-old father and her grandmother all joined in for the session of corporal punishment, using a coat hanger to beat the girl for about four hours at the victim's home in Noda, Chiba Prefecture, on April 20, according to court records.

"I hit my niece to punish her for dating my boyfriend. But it went too far," she was quoted as telling investigators during questioning."