The Null Device
2003/3/20
At the moment, the US is fiercely defending itself against a clear and present danger from Osama Bin Laden Saddam Hussein. The stakes could not be higher; this is what we can expect if Saddam wins.
(via MeFi)
Via our regular correspondent Lisa, Give It Back, a US petition to give the goddamn Statue of Liberty back to the French.
It's probably a good idea; the Statue of Liberty doesn't really represent the core values of Bush's America. Though what would be a good replacement for it? I was thinking of a gigantic constructivist statue of an eagle, or perhaps something like the statue outside the Ministry of Information building in Brazil? They could call it the Statue of Total Information Awareness or something.
And here's another page, who want a statue of Ronald Reagan put in its place. (Does this remind anybody of the Colossus of Yorba Linda Society from Illuminatus!? I wonder if a misanthropic dwarf is behind all this...)
And then there are these nutjobs who object to San Francisco containing 'Franc' in its name. Though why not rename it to Norton City, after its most famous citizen (and a US imperialist to shame all others, to boot)?
I went along to the anti-war rally; it was pretty big. Not as big as the one some weeks ago, but tens of thousands were said to have showed up. The usual groups (greens, Nu Marxists, unions, church groups, &c.) were there, as well as many casual people (Nike-brand clothing was perhaps more common than Che Guevara badges; a good sign, that it's not just the usual bampots showing up). I took my camera with me; photos will be posted later (btw, should I blank out faces to avoid having acted as a stringer for ASIO?)
One thing I noticed: one protester carried a French flag. How things have changed that the flag of a former brutal colonial power has become a banner of protest.
Well, the glorious liberation of Iraq has begun, God Bless America. Cheaper petrol prices are just around the corner. If you're one of those pinko commie scum who oppose this, there are protests happening at 5pm local time in your capital city. The Melbourne one is outside the State Library. Remember to smile for the ASIO cameraman.
(And remember: giving aid or succour to the enemy in time of war is treason, punishable by life imprisonment. Have a nice day.)
![Life Is Unfair. [Kill Yourself] [Get Over It]](/img/life_is_unfair_os9.gif)
Jumping on the bandwagon, only 3 or so years too late; Your humble narrator's blog now has its first pieces of CafePress merchandise, offering a positive, life-affirming philosophy in the classic old-skool Macintosh user-interface idiom. I got mine in the mail a few days ago, and was impressed with how well the printing came out. (I had been a bit skeptical about the quality of those print-to-order places, but CafePress's quality seems top-notch.) I wore it to the blogmeet tonight.
Anyway, why pay $120 for a Japanese-robot-glyph/ironic-retro-porn T-shirt on Chapel St. when you can have one of these for only US$15 (plus exorbitant shipping from the other side of the world, of course)? Or something like that.
And now the US neoconservative answer to all those Islamic cola brands that have shown up over the past year or so: Star-Spangled Ice Cream, with flavours like "I Hate The French Vanilla", "Smaller Govern-Mint" and "Iraqi Road" (and upcoming flavours like "Cowardly German Chocolate" and "School Prayerleens"). And 10% is donated to military service charities, not "wacko left-wing causes" like Ben & Jerry's.
How long until there is a separate set of grocery brands for each side of the political spectrum?
Telephone tapping devices found in EU building, specifically the French and German offices. French newspaper Le Figaro blaims the Yanqui imperialists; though don't they have Echelon to do all that for them without an incriminating bugging device? Perhaps the bugs were intended to be found, as an intimidation ploy of some sort?