I Like To Ride My Bicycle

I realized today that Freddy Mercury, Henry Miller, hell, even Sir Lancelot Armstrong were right: It's nice to ride a bike; sometimes it really is all about it.

I rode my bike again to work today and it felt great; it was a warm fall day. The highs one gets from bikin' on days like today are indescribable; it brightens one's day and one's outlook from the outset of the ride.

So, alas, I take a brief respite from my usual rants today. I'm full of endorphins--some of the few, free drugs out there. And as I sit here, letting this dope course through me, I realize I must be an addict...and proud of it.

Why Do We Always Have To Take A Side?

Roger Ebert said his main criticism of "Team America World Police" (the movie with the puppets, wherein the directors make fun of pretty much everything: the Americans, the Terrorists, The North Koreans, The Anti-War movement, The French, and more) was that the film "didn't take a side."

Why is that always so important these days? Why does everything have to be a strict dichotomy; completely polarized. Why can't a movie criticize everything in all its absurdity? I guess this is just inline with the public realm in general. Being "wrong" or "imperfect" in ones decision is a sign of weakness, I guess.

It's a crying shame because then one must always defend and endorse his or her "side." Take the American election. Think about Mr. Stewart speaking about CNN's Crossfire; he's bang-on. A reporter or strategist who is partisan must undeniably defend each word of his/her party leader, and oppose every word of the other. That's the nature of the system right now, but I don't like it. Every policy of a particular leader isn't perfect; even the bad guys had good points, too. The problem with a strictly partisan system or society is the people who lead you become infallible--that's not right. We need to criticize everyone and always make sure they are checked and balanced. Even your own "leader." Otherwise we give too much power to those in charge and we do follow their decisions made on our behalf blindly; we become sheep.

This kind of attitude is not much further from, "You are with us, or you are against us," which is dangerous, especially in these times. If an American criticizes his/her administration they are a terrorist; an Israeli criticizes Sharon he/she becomes an anti-Semite. If someone agrees with the UN's diplomatic approach then he/she sides with Saddam Hussein. This idea is not new, of course--but it seems to be prevalent more and more in our entire society and culture.

As a leader or a party you must be ready to admit your mistakes, your flaws. But of course the theatre of poltics just doesn't allow that in the West. A politican must be perfect; godly. Is that the best way to create legitimacy?

Who Is God?

Here are some answers for the hundred or so emailers from last week who were confused and/or upset at my post saying that Christians and Jews worship the same god that Muslims do.

A review of the Koran shows Allah creating Adam, and then Eve. Later, Abraham is instructed by Allah to take his son to a hill and to sacrifice him, which Abraham prepares to do. The Koran includes a variance here from the Bible/Torah/Pentateuch in that the son to be sacrificed was not Isaac but Ishmael, his first son. As in the Bible, Allah stopped Abraham from completing the sacrifice, but Abraham had proven his total Devotion, establishing himself as the very first true believer in the One Allah.

As such, Abraham, and Ishmael are central to Muslim Faith, and they face Mecca for all Prayers to Allah because they believe that Abraham built a special building there, the Kaaba, on instructions from Allah.

The Koran also includes the entire story of Moses, including the Ten Commandments, his brother Aaron's errors regarding the Golden Calf, Egypt, the desert, and all the rest. Often, when Allah chose to give guidance to individuals, the Angel Jibril (Gabriel) appeared. Dozens of other familiar people and stories from the first five Books of the Bible are similarly presented in the Koran.

Scholars all agree that these many similarities necessarily establish that Allah is one and the same as the God YHWH (Jehovah) of the Jews and the same as He Who Christians call Father. In hundreds of places, the Koran refers to "the Book" as being the Pentateuch, the first five Books of the Bible, as being the center of all Faith. To a great extent, the Koran initially expressed a Faith that was essentially identical to Judaism, being based on the exact same Scriptures and the same Deity, Allah / YHWH. Later Muslim leaders and teachers chose to make different interpretations of verses in the Koran, sometimes out of context, to establish claims of support for their leadership, which gradually developed into rather severe animosity toward Jews and Christians.

But it cannot be dismissed, that Allah is the exact same One and Only God that Jews and Christians believe in. Individuals on either side may want to claim otherwise, but this is an unavoidable truth.

McLibel Support Campaign

Emails and rumours have been circulating amongst McDonald's employees that many are planning to join in the World Day of Action Against McDonald's (Oct 16th) with go slows, passing around leaflets and joining protest pickets outside and so on. Some of these emails have been appearing in chat rooms on anti-McDonald's websites.

Here is some information from a concerned employee at a drive-thru store in the north of England. [The store details are not named to protect the source.]

The store has posted this official notice on the crew notice boards:

"No employee will demonstrate or associate with the media against McDonalds on October 16th whether scheduled to work or not. Those who are caught doing so will be liable for immediate dismissal."

This outrageous threat shows the panic the company gets in when workers want to think for themselves or exercise their rights.

It is thought to be illegal, in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The McLibel Support Campaign call for solidarity with McDonald's workers, for support for their efforts to improve their wages, conditions and rights at work, and for support for their human rights to freedom of expression.

Check out http://mwr.org.uk for more info.

Newsworthy News That Isn't News

Well, since not ONE of the major North American media outlets has aired his, and seeing as it's only European and independent media that appear to have the balls to do so, I guess I'll use my incredible fanbase here on matthewhansen.net to report of another horribly Orwellian development of the Patriot Act.

Press Release From Indymedia:

Thursday morning, 7 October 2004, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20 Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet.

Since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia, the reasons for this action are still unknown to Indymedia. Talking to Indymedia volunteers, Rackspace stated that "they cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the concerned parties on what is happening.

It is unclear to Indymedia how and why a server that is outside the US jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities.

At the same time an additional server was taken down at Rackspace which provided streaming radio to several radio stations, BLAG (linux distro), and a handful of miscellanous things.

The last few months have seen numerous attacks on independent media by the US Federal Government. In August the Secret Service used a subpoena in an attempt to disrupt the NYC IMC before the RNC by trying to get IP logs from an ISP in the US and the Netherlands. Last month the FCC shut down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago the FBI requested that Indymedia takes down a post on the Nantes IMC that had a photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC volunteers in Seattle were visited by the FBI on the same issue. On the other hand, Indymedia and other independent media organisations were successfull with their victories for example against Diebold and the Patroit Act. Today however, the US authorities shut down IMCs around the world.

The list of affected local media collectives includes Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site.

To follow this story as it progresses, visit: http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml

It's All The Same Dude Sittin' In The Clouds.

Here's something fun to do if you are feeling bold. Go find a Christian and/or a Jew and tell him or her that they worship Allah.

After they stop yelling, try and explain how it's the same Dude in charge, the same cast of characters, the same setting, and more or less the same script, but with different producers. Go for it--see what they say.

Putin And Bush: Like the Pigs and Farmers?

Are Vladdy Putin And Dubya Bush one and the same? Are they kindred spirits; have they morphed into each other, like Napoleon and his pals and Mr. Frederick and his boys did?

It's quite interesting, I'd say, that after a fairly long and quite hot cold war (well, it was hot for those who lived in Africa where the Commies fought the Cappies--or was it the other way around?) that the US and the USSR...er...Russia, are pretty much playing the same game. Despite following different fathers--the 'mericans belonging to the Smith family, and the Russkies belonging to Kirshna, or Marx (or whoever it would arguably be)--each country now is so similar it's almost laughable.

The political spectrum has run so far east and so far west that it's become a circle: a full circle.

1. Each country has state-sponsored media: Russia has Vremya, the US has CNN. They're funded by the elites: Both of these pogroms..er..I mean programs have the same motivations; the same methods; the same misinformation.

2.Each country has an infallible, relentless, power-hungry despot. 'Nuff said.

3. Each country has its own occupied Muslim country. Double 'nuff said.

4. Each country has such a top-heavy economy it's startling to hear boasts of ecomomic recovery when the majority of either country have so many impoverished: Is that what constitutes a developed, advanced nation?

5. Each country is corrupt as fuck.

Don't you think Vladdy and Dubya would make a good couple?

Matthewhansen.net fans, let's start a rumour that they are dating. Do you think that they would both change their respective opposition to same-sex marriage? Oh, that's number 6--both countries are working hard to illegalize homosexuality! Giddyap!
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