Child is full of woe...

I have a bunch of stuff hitting me from all directions, forgive me if the following blogpost is excessively disparate. Stream of consciousness wednesday. The ag gag bills are really horrendous. Six states are now pushing separate bills that will criminalize the taping of animal cruelty.

These bills will require turning over tapes within 48 and in some cases 24 hours to law enforcement. Of course this will gut the power of investigators to conduct investigations and that's just what big ag wants. Farm staters complain that us city folks just don't get it but some of the behavior in the slaughterhouses is just plain despicable.

Of course with Monsanto now running the show, big ag and big food can basically do whatever they choose to do. The next national gmo food labeling battle should be quite interesting. "People shouldn't have this information because they will get unnecessarily worried" or some claptrap like that. Hudg sent me this primer on how Monsanto assumed control of the government.

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The iron matron, Margaret Thatcher, has passed. I never cared for her politics much but then again never liked her continental playmate Reagan much either. Interesting to hear the ire directed at her from both South Africa and Northern Ireland. A fierce defender of apartheid, she derided Nelson Mandela as a communist and treated Ireland like another british holding. Read today that she made Britain strong again, of course that is usually accomplished by preying on the weak. Bully, bully.

Some American's lionize Thatcher. Well and good. Do they realize that she was a supporter of British socialized medicine? Marxist bitch.

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I have been thinking about a subject for the last several days and that is the virtual disappearance of the underground press in this country. Huffpo wants to talk about Rhianna's boob showing or Lindsay's latest parole hearing. One of the mainstays of my youth, the Village Voice, is all about Jay Z and the latest hip hop news. It is really tragic.

Huffington Post is of course now owned by AOL and they are only serving a larger audience and I suppose giving the masses what they want. Lots of sexual titillation and a watered down liberal pablum.

When I was a kid, living in a liberal/radical home, I read Ramparts, Evergreen, The East Village Other, The Village Voice, New York, Screw, L.A. Free Press, The Door not to mention Zap, Mother's Oats and all the undergrounds. Absolutely nothing exists today to fill the radical literary void. Everything is balkanized. AlterNet is probably one of the best repositories but they spend a high percentage of their time Israel bashing and sucking Chomsky and I just can't deal.

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Did you catch the state senator from North Carolina who believes that praying to Allah is a terrorist act?

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IRS believes that it has the right to read your gmail without a warrant.

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Seasonal nuttiness.

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Tranny porn at the Vatican?

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Syrian rebels have been bemoaning the lack of support from the west in their battle against Assad. Now one of the main groups, Al Nusra,  proclaims their fealty to Al Qaeda. No thanks!

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Obama's triangulation strategy.

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The Cuban government is an authoritarian regime that sometimes act like poopieheads. China is far worse. Why can Americans travel to China and have to jump through hoops to fly to Havana? Because some cuban geezers in Florida are still fantasizing about storming the Bastille and reclaiming the old villa? Doesn't seem right that we keep kowtowing to them.

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Interesting obit at the NYTimes on writer McCandlish Phillips. Did a possibly closeted gay out a closeted jew? Fascinating wordsmith, great comments.

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Chavez protege invokes native curse.

"If anyone among the people votes against Nicolas Maduro he is voting against himself and the curse of Macarapana is falling on him," warned Maduro Saturday at a rally in Amazonas state, a largely jungle territory on the borders of Brazil and Colombia.
Macarapana refers to a 16th century battle when Spanish-Columbia fighters massacred local Indian forces. He compared opposition leader Henrique Capriles’ campaign to enslaving Spanish occupiers. "If the bourgeoisie win, they are going to privatize health and education. They are going to take land from the Indians, the curse of Macarapana would come on you," he said.

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The blog is quickly closing in on a half a million views. First person who guesses the day I crack the number receives ten bucks.