Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

The article is pretty lame and neglects to include any of the health and safety information I pushed on them (we talked for almost an hour) but instead posted a bunch of bullshit from a liar of a surgeon — surprising given that even the reporter could tell that they'd dredged up a real bottom of the barrel hack — but check out the hilarious picture that CNN included in their latest tongue splitting article via Reuters:

And I'm so biting my tongue on who they featured (and of course I'm not talking about Emrys who came off just fine). I've seen so much ill-conceived dangerous poorly thought out stuff come from that studio (or as the reporter who interviewed me described it, “the basement of the studio this piercer worked in, while the boss was out at lunch”) though. It's really sad that the few people who are willing to talk to the media are likely the ones who'll eventually kill someone and really make a media stink.

Artists, please: There's nothing wrong with being inexperienced and wanting to learn high-end procedures. But there's definitely something wrong with doing potentially deadly experiments that you're not ready for, and it should be pretty fucking obvious that's it's a horrible idea to do an illegal procedure that you're not qualified to do in front of the media.

15 minutes just isn't that important.

I think one of the funniest — and most pathetic — things that I've been told in the last month is that none of my news was reputable… A couple people have said that until I stop referring to foreign news (because we all know that if they're not American, they're probably stupid and biassed, right?) and “shills of the left” like the Washington Post, the Financial Times, and so on, and start referring to “reliable” news such bastions of “fair and balanced reporting” as Fox News they couldn't take anything I said seriously seriously. For them, I refer to Fibbing It Up at Fox.

BUSH: Professional Fascist

Funny quote from Hans Blix along those lines:

What surprises me, what amazes me, is that it seems the military people were expecting to stumble on large quantities of gas, chemical weapons and biological weapons... I don't see how they could have come to such an attitude if they had, at any time, studied [existing reports by UN inspectors]. Is the United Nations on a different planet? Are reports from here totally unread south of the Hudson?

Quotes coming directly from Iraq are less funny though, mostly along the lines of “Death to Bush! Revenge!“ as civilians and Saddam's forces continue to fight against the invading pirate forces… The “funny” part is that US lawmakers are now getting worried that there are too many casualties as far as US troops go — they're troops. They know they might die on a combat mission. I'm a lot more concerned about civilians who are dying simply for being born in a country with oil. To quote:

American soldiers in Iraq today make the astonishing admission that they regularly kill civilians. They say they are frequently confronted by fighters dressed as civilians ... The soldiers are furious that their commanders have reneged on promises to send them home as soon as the war was won and are now forcing them into the role of peacekeepers.

Their response is often to shoot first and ask questions later, even when it means killing genuine civilians.

I come not bearing peace, but a sword, right?

Or maybe I have no idea what I came to bring?

Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother ... My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.

- Hosea 4:5-6

Oh, and before you think Syria got away unscathed (since it's been mostly mention of Iran and North Korea), think again — but that's just the start… As the Financial Times reports, “One rogue state down, six still to go!” And to guarantee the world is even worse off, the US is continuing arms sales to Pakistan, a religious extremist nation that publicly sponsors terrorism, and not only that is a nuclear power with one of the most anti-US populations in the region.

The mainstream is so polluted with lies... once you are wet it's so hard to get dry. We are all taught how to justify history as it passes by.

- Ani Difranco

As I've mentioned over the past little while, the US is trying to pressure North Korea (who it refuses to even have negotiations with) into war by giving it no other options. The US now warns Japan that North Korea has nuclear ballistic missiles and they should expect to lose a couple more cities thanks to nuclear attacks brought on by America.

PS. Oops, where did I put that plutonium?

Be the change you want to see in the world.

- Mahatma Gandhi

In better news that will never pan out unfortunately,
George Bush and Tony Blair indicted for war crimes; Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, John Ashcroft,Condoleezza Rice, and Tommy Franks also charged with war crimes, with additional charges filed against Bush, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Rice, and Wolfowitz.

In response, Rumsfeld has threatened Belgium (where the international war crimes courts are located) would be “facing consequences” over this “absurd” action and in fear of further tensions, Belgium is forcing their courts to drop all charges. Yeah, because murdering tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people or far more, without provocation of any kind isn't a war crime? To suggest that mass-murder of innocent people in the name of greed is wrong is obviously “absurd”, right?

The new gallery format software is complete, minus fully testing it of course (I've only tested what I can; there's nothing but a live update that can really answer the dangerous questions). I've got it integrated completely right now as far as I can tell, and it's really looking nice. I think you'll like it.

…So tomorrow I'll do a tiny update to test things, and then hack together the aliassing system for IAM so those of you who have kooky characters in your name will be able to play with the new features too.

For those of you in Toronto that are interested in attending the above seminar, here's the text at the bottom (if the pic isn't clear):

Featuring: Dr. Michael Mandel
Prof, Osgoode Hall Law School & Lawyers Against War
Tues, June 24, 7pm  Dufferin Grove Rink House
(corner of Dufferin Rd and Dufferin Park Ave,
opposite Dufferin Mall)
Sponsored by Davenport Neighbours for Peace
For more information, email againstthewar@care2.com
or phone: 416.536.5442

Dunno if anyone gives a damn these days about justice and stopping one of the most dangerous war criminals of the last century, but if you're in Toronto, that's downtown, and on transit lines. Check it out! Remember, if “you're not with us, you're against us.” Normally I wouldn't encourage people to enter a lawyer's hive, but in this case it might be a good idea.