Saturday, October 13, 2001
The beginning of the end. Don't think it matters that the government can spy on you? Having your private actions constantly monitored is step one in full-on thought policing. The ACLU's press release on the subject is worth a quick read. Again I say, even if you agree with this bill, it is essential that you stay informed on it.
Maybe lyrics make more sense. Let's see what I can come up with. How about WASP, ha, ha?
I'm politically incorrect and damn proud of it
I love my country but I'm scared to death of its government
Ya believe what you read cause it's all that we give ya
Cause all of history is written by winners
Or how about Steppenwolfe? Everyone likes Steppenwolfe, right?
America where are you now
Don't you care about your sons & daughters
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster
Maybe I need something more recent? Maybe The Unseen?
the stars and strips are prison bars
they won't let you get too far
the rule over many by the few
you cant police my mind because i won't let you
Not that it matters much at this point, but WWIII is getting bigger every day. First the US wants to invade a handful of countries, and then its allies start getting shakier and shakier. Then you've got Pakistan which is a virtual powderkeg right now. They have lots of nukes and lots of extremists…
On a much more pleasant note, I'm going out to lunch with my mother and sister today… She's considering going to U of T next year so they're giving her a tour.
PS. I like Steve's phone:
Had a nice pitcher and wings break with martini and Goddess of Freak. It wasn't a church meeting but you put a couple ministers together (Marty and I that is) and there will surely be church issues raised… We debated, among other things, the need for the church to do charity work. One of the ideas raised — sort of an expansion of the jail tattooing outreach that's already been discussed — was the idea about tattoo artist ministers taking an afternoon a week and doing coverups of bad tattoos on anyone for free. On a purely selfish level, if it was done on an off day, it probably wouldn't hurt a studio or minister financially, and it would be an enormously positive outreach.
We also discussed the need for the church to agressively teach its members not to always use mods to “scream”… We talked about cutting (the psychiatric term, not scarification), as well as people who get heavy facial mods so they can be “cool” in a subculture because they weren't able to be cool in mainstream culture… That the church has a duty to make sure its members are healthy, and getting mods in a healthy and positive context.
It wasn't a meeting, but a lot was discussed that should have been written down. I have a horrible memory…
Since some people have asked: The applications will be up on the Canadian Church page in the next couple of days (I'll post here as well when they are). Application is free, and open to people from anywhere in the world. For those people who have put off joining the US church because they're waiting for this one to open: there's no reason why you can't join both!
Thursday, October 11, 2001
First of all, check out Jake's amazing new tattoo. It'll be in the next BME update of course, but I wanted to include it here first. If you don't recognize it, think back to the BME stickers… Patty Kelly did a great job reinterpreting it as a tattoo:
The USA/PATRIOT act debate is still chugging along, but at least it does seem to keep getting snagged on stuff… It's bigger teeth have been pulled. Overall it's still horrific, but a whole lot better than it was as originally proposed. The ACLU has a great chart showing the differences between all the bills, as well as comparing to the current laws.
In some of the arguments that I've been having recently about Church Stuff one of the things I jokingly proposed was that all ministers must meet a minimum IQ requirement… That is, if you don't have at least a 140 IQ you can not be a minister. What would happen if the same was done for all government officials? I'm not saying that things would be better, but I know they'd be either a whole lot better, or a whole lot worse…
Oh, and I'm seeing more and more stories about the war not really being about Bin Laden, and about where the war will expand to next. It's starting to become no secret that this is World War III. How many countries have to be involved for it to be a “world war”. If it's a dozen countries attacking another dozen countries, I figure that counts. (Although let me interject that I am very impressed with how low the death count is — even the Taliban are claming it's only about 220 people in all).
If you read any of the links I provide on this subject, this one is worth it: none that matter.
If you just want to read something funny, here's a one paragraph interview with Scott Ian (the lead singer of the band Anthrax), where he says, “It's as though it's 1937 and I'm a bandleader named Freddie Hitler… People keep coming up to me and saying, 'Hey, wouldn't it be funny if you got anthrax?'”
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Ryan has asked me to get four shirts together for BMEshop's new runs this month… I've got two done so far (the x-ray skull shirt, and Derrick's first “HARD” shirt). Two more will be finished in the next couple of days. Those'll be done in tomorrow though, now I have to turn my attention to the future petter of our puppies.
