What is up with Ol’ Pineapple Face?

Russia Today has the backgrounder; the CBC has the story:

Former military strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega was flown home to Panama on Sunday to be punished once again for crimes he committed during a career that saw him transformed from a close Cold War ally of Washington to the vilified target of a U.S. invasion.

Noriega left Orly airport, south of Paris, on a flight of Spain’s Iberia airlines, delivered directly to the aircraft by a four-car convoy and motorcycles that escorted him from the French capital’s La Sante prison. The flight, which stops in Madrid, left at 8:08 a.m. local time, about a half-hour behind schedule.
Noriega has spent more than 20 years in U.S. and French jails for drug trafficking and money laundering.

The French Justice Ministry, in a one-line statement, said France turned Noriega over to Panamanian officials on Sunday in accordance with extradition proceedings. It was the only official remark.

“Drug trafficking and money laundering”. Ain’t that a pip? Meanwhile, his worst crimes have gone not only unpunished, but untried. Now why do you suppose THAT is?

Noriega began working with U.S. intelligence when he was a student at a military academy in Peru, said Everett Ellis Briggs, the United States ambassador to Panama from 1982 to 1986.

As he rose in the Panamanian military during the 1970s and 1980s, Noriega co-operated closely with the CIA, helping the U.S. combat leftist movements in Latin America by providing information and logistical help. He also acted as a back channel for U.S. communications with unfriendly governments such as Cuba’s.

What the CBC isn’t telling us is that Pineapple Face was BFFs with Dubya’s dad during that entire time. George Bush the Elder actually referred to him as “my boy”. (No, I’m NOT kidding.) And their coke-smuggly friendship even made the nightly news at one point (as well as a cameo appearance in Donnie Darko):

The only thing Michael Dukakis did wrong here was to pull his punches. He could have very credibly tied Bush Sr., a former CIA head, to the cocaine trade. Mike Ruppert did, as did Gary Webb.

If Manuel Noriega is ever tried for his real crimes, I know who will have to stand in the dock alongside him. Unfortunately, since he’s a former POTUS, VP and CIA head, his role will be permanently consigned to the memory hole.

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Posted in A Man, A Plan, A Canal, BushCo Death Watch, Fascism Without Swastikas, Filthy Stinking Rich, Isn't That Illegal?, Spooks, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off on What is up with Ol’ Pineapple Face?

Music for a Sunday: There’s a moon in my throat

In honor of this recent bit of odd news, I felt this was only fitting.

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Wankers of the Week: Second Badvent edition

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Crappy weekend, everyone! Well, it’s that time again…Saturday night’s all right for fighting, and for exposing the blight on our world. There sure is a lot of it this week. And tonight it is, in no particular order:

1. Doug Fucking Ford. Maybe he and bully brother Robbo need to look at WHY they’re routinely on the receiving end of so much media ridicule, instead of attacking the messenger so relentlessly. I mean, tying Toronto public schools to Ultimate Fighting, of all things, isn’t exactly the way to mold young minds, is it now? Actually, it’s a better way of making sure they all end up dying of dementia pugilistica, like their loutish heroes. And srsly: Closing women’s shelters? What “gravy train” is THAT supposed to derail? It’s not like these women are riding around in Cadillacs. Although I’m sure the Brothers Frod would like us to believe they are.

2. Lee Fucking Douglas. O Christ-Killer of Little Faith, touch not Johnny Depp. For lo, he hath done nothing that Jesus himself would have disapproved of. In fact, as the Son of Man, it was his JOB to associate with the sort of “low” people you only see fit to spit upon. Remove, therefore, the plank from thine own eye and shut the fuck up about the teensy-weensy mote in Johnny’s. Yea, verily.

3. Rick Fucking Santorum. Ass-Sploodge Ricky has done it again, intimating that children born with disabilities are essentially abandoned by “socialized” single-payer medicine. Children like his own daughter, for instance, who is unlikely to live to the age of ten due to a rare chromosomal disorder. We in countries that have socialized medicine wonder what the holy fuck he’s talking about, since nothing like that happens here. Meanwhile, the Big Insurance industry he fronts for is well known for denying care to children like her, whose “pre-existing condition” is the whole reason they need coverage in the first place. PS: Oh, BROTHER. PPS: Oh, BROTHER, times two. PPPS: Teeheehee.

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4. Michelle Fucking Bachmann. Who the hell applauds this asinine woman while she spouts all her ridiculous religious bullshit? Whoever those people clapping in the background are, they are bigger asses than she is…and that’s pretty damn big. Good on the girl who challenged her for calling her out. But it begs the question: If a 16-year-old is that smart, why are all those people her parents’ age and older so goddamn fucking stupid? PS: And while we’re at it, let’s just savor the irony of someone who’s been on the public tit for the majority of her “working” life (note the quotes), along with her spouse, “thinking” that the OWS people are the freeloaders. PPS: Teeheehee.

5. Joe Fucking Arpaio. Why does it not surprise me that the fascist sheriff who persecutes brown people and makes prisoners wear pink panties is actually shitty at dealing with sex crimes?

6. Peter Fucking Van Loan. The only thing worse than a dirty trickster…is a dirty shyster, defending dirty trickery. But then again, what else is the essence of conservatism, if not constant, unrelenting, organized dirtiness?

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7. Melvin Fucking Thompson. If you’re not racist, why did you specifically write up a church resolution barring interracial couples? And if the others who supported the resolution aren’t racist either, why the hell did it ever pass? Well, it’s all over now, thanks to a global firestorm of criticism, all of it to the effect of “Holy shit, that’s RACIST!”

8. Janice Fucking Daniels. But hey, at least Kentucky doesn’t have a monopoly on dumb-ass bigots. Case in point.

9. David Fucking Sheldon. Fake teenage cousin who texts crazy shit is fake. Fake teenage cousin crazy shit text faker is BUSTED!

10. and 11. Eric Fucking Bolling and Dan Fucking Gainor. Was it a slow news day? Must have been. Why else get all Red Scared of the Muppets? And why else get down on your knees and suck the oil industry’s toxic sludge pipes? And above all: Why so fucking stupid about puppets instilling pro-environmental, communitarian values in kids? What are the poor little tots supposed to do, read Atlas Soiled His Loincloth? That would leave them all profoundly incapable of dealing with reality. Like, oh, say, the FUX Snoozers, who could be poster children for what happens when you starve the public education system of funding.

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12. Jesse Fucking Dimmick. Well, the “dim” half of his surname certainly applies. If he thinks he can get money out of the people he kidnapped and held hostage, on the basis of a “binding oral contract” (!), then I’ve got some rocks I need him to extract blood from!

13. Donald Fucking Trump. Newty’s not the only one who believes in child labor. Looks like Da Donald is hiding slavish ambitions under his ugly orangey comb-over!

14. Armando Fucking Romero. What do you bet that this language-mangling self-styled pick-up artist (and would-be seminar instructor in the not-so-fine art of chick-magnetry) will be totally devoid of feminine companionship by the time he is forced to cancel his next seminar? PS: Well, that didn’t take long. Ladies dumping him like a turd in 3…2…1…

15. Barbara Fucking Kay. No, Babs, the Montréal Massacre was NOT an “isolated incident”. Nor was it merely the “act of a deranged loner”. Did you never read Marc Fucking Lépine’s suicide note? He made it abundantly clear that this was a POLITICAL MURDER. Even used the term casus belli. That’s a straight-up declaration of war against women! And the fact that he has followers and admirers to this day for his despicable act of terrorism is simply horrifying. But you know what’s even worse? Crappy, complacent hacks like you, who claim that people who actually care about equality and justice for all are using Lépine’s political murder to “open a new front in the hate campaign against men”. You could use your voice to do some good, instead of just attacking imaginary evils (and promoting astroturf groups no one but you has ever heard of), but oh nooooooo. You just had to go peddling your lazy-minded crapaganda at any cost. And on a day when women across the country could only ever feel it as a contemptuous slap in their faces. Fuck you, Babs. And fuck the complacency you rode in on.

PS: Check out her other bons mots, in case you think the linked article isn’t representative of her contemptible bullshit on the whole:

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Yeah, that’s right: She hates Québec, she hates French, she hates Natives, she hates feminism, AND she hates popular democracy. If there is anything she actually likes, I shudder to contemplate what it could be.

PPS: Her domestic violence stats are bullshit, too. But we already knew that.

16. Sarah Fucking Palin. She’s the grift that keeps on giving. And apparently, so are her “legal defense” contributions.

17. Candice Fucking Hoeppner. “Solemn day”, my ASS. The best way to remember the victims of a massacre is to make sure that it can never be repeated. And what are YOU doing? The opposite. So yeah, Candy, fuck YOU, too.

18. Aida Fucking Hillen. What would Jesus do? Well, for one, I’m sure he wouldn’t run someone over with his car, ask the victim if he were okay, and then, upon receiving “no” for an answer, proceed to lob religious pamphlets out the window at him.

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19. Sebastián Fucking Piñera. What is the difference between the current president of Chile and a vile pigoon? Sorry, this one doesn’t have a punchline. Because it isn’t a joke. Just like the crappy, rapey whopper Piñochetera told his stunned audience at a recent meeting in Mexico. Oh yeah, which reminds me of another: What’s the difference between the current president of Chile and a gentleman? Night and day, motherfucker. Night and fucking day.

20. Enrique Fucking Peña Nieto. Apparently the US isn’t the only country with a long-standing tradition of culturally ignorant politicos who “write” books; Mexico has them, too. And on that note, please pray for Mexico — and more specifically, that this wanker won’t be elected. He is clearly their answer to Sarah Fucking Palin.

21. The Fucking Venezuelan Opposition. I’m just gonna list them en masse, because there isn’t a decent one in the bunch. It doesn’t matter who they “elect” in their sham primary, because all of them are fascists, putschists, crooks, imbeciles, buffoons, and generally unelectable old-guard payasos de mierda. Their total support comes to less than 40%. And no wonder: They are a walking embarrassment to their country. You’ll find all their names on the list of those who signed the infamous Carmona Decree during the coup of ’02, which will tell you all you need to know about them. It will also explain why some of them are talking about treating more than 60% of Venezuelan voters as though they were war criminals, along with the well-loved president none of these fucking wankers can ever hope to replace. (At least, not democratically.)

22. Jim Fucking Hillyer. Learn to apologize for REAL, Airgun Asshole. And stop babbling empty rhetoric about how much you care about stopping violence against women. Otherwise, I’ve got a little gesture for you, courtesy of Johnny Cash:

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And no, I’m NOT going to apologize for posting that. You fucking deserve it.

23. Peter Fucking MacKay. Last week, he was refusing to resign over his blatant misuse of public property (i.e. SAR helicopters being used to ferry him to and from “remote” fishing holes). This week, he’s threatening to sue his critics for bringing that up. Yeah, sure, Petey…you and what army? Hahahahahaha.

24. Neil Fucking Jednoralski. Crazy birther is effin’ crazy. The long-form certificate (from Hawaii) was released many moons ago, and he still thinks His Barackness is from Kenya? And he wants to stage a lynching — er, “citizen’s arrest”? With guns? Racist birther is effin’ racist. BTW, your last name sounds pretty foreign too. Where you from again?

25. William E. Fucking Robinson. Dude, the traditional way to shoot mistletoe down from a tree is NOT with a hunting rifle. It’s with a bow and arrow. You know, like Cupid. Or if you REALLY want to get traditional, do what the Druids did, and climb the tree with a golden sickle and just cut it, already.

26. Charles Fucking McVety. Y’know, everytime I hear him talk, my gaydar starts going woop woop woop. Not that there’s anything WRONG with that, mind you. But it IS kind of funny when you consider that Chuckles is really heavily into bullying away Teh Ghey. PS: Anyone out there besides me really, REALLY want to set him up on a date with Marcus Fucking Bachmann?

27. The Fucking South Fulton Fire Department. Who’s John Galt? I don’t know, but I think he works for them. They’ve gone and let another house burn down…ON PRINCIPLE. The principle being that if you don’t pay your local Objectivist mafia protection racket, bad things will happen to you.

28. Newt Fucking Gingrich. Shouldn’t you start having fancy expectations when you can actually start living up to your own damn hype, Newty? PS: Racist hate for the Palestinians won’t make you any more credible with the Jews, either.

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Ewwwwwwwwwwww.

PPS: Teeheehee.

29. Bill O’Fucking Reilly. Once again, Bully Oh-Really demonstrates that he can dish it out in spades, but he can’t take even a teensy, eensy, weensy bit of it. “It” being a speck of spotlight and a bit of mild ambush questioning. And worse: He tries to get someone arrested whom HE HIMSELF HIT. With an umbrella. Did you get that on tape? Ha, ha — excellent.

30. Barack Fucking Obama. Yes, that’s right. His Barackness is also listed this week, for his absolutely ridonkulous Plan B gaffe. As the father of two daughters, the elder of whom is going through puberty right now, he of all people should realize that the morning-after pill is unlikely to be abused by teens…and very likely to save their lives and family relations. But no, he just HAD to cave to the anti-contraception lobby on this one. Yeah, that’s a pretty damn major wank, wouldn’t you say? One that covers fully half the population of the United States. It could hardly get any bigger than that.

31. Bibi Fucking Netanyahu. Srsly, dude, who the hell do you think you’re kidding? Contrary to what you’ve heard, the Arabs aren’t fucking stupid.

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32. Natalie Fucking Johnson. With a surname like that, you really shouldn’t be taking issue with what a transgendered teen is packing in her pants. It’s none of your damn business. And since you harassed her, you have no right to cry victimhood for being fired, either. Nowhere in the bible does it say that thou shalt harass people whom thou dost not understand.

33. Miguel Angel Fucking Torres. It’s not rape, it’s “surprise sex”! Oh fuck, where have I heard that one before? Still ain’t funny after this many tellings, mofo.

34. Dorothy Fucking Sandusky. Sorry, Dottie, but benefit of the doubt no longer applies when there’s a screaming kid in your basement. OR when you have to write a letter specifically denying the existence of said screaming kid.

35. Penn Fucking State. Really — retaining Lanny Fucking Davis as your legal counsel? Friend to repressors, dictators and putschists everywhere? Yeah, that’ll totally rehabilitate your reputation as enablers of child abuse.

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36. Courtney Fucking Stodden. Fergawdsakes, girl…wash your face, put on some clothes, lose the stripper stilts, and for the love of all that’s holy, stop writing creepy shit on the tweeter. YOU might not feel cold and embarrassed, but everybody else does!

37. Christie Fucking Blatchford. Who needs a patriarchy when you have Crusty Christie, the Mother of all Assholes, as arbiter of what is and isn’t an acceptable form of masculinity? And of course, she hates seeing little boys hugging and showing kindness, interest in the arts, etc. To her, that’s SO gay! Um, Christie…you say that like there’s something wrong with being gay. There isn’t. And boys hugging isn’t necessarily gay, either. But thanks so much for hanging your odious homophobia out for all the world to see. And for trying to make out, in true wimp fashion, like you’re not pro-violence, patriarchal and homophobic, just “balanced” and “reasonable”. Newsflash: YOU ARE NOT.

PS: Awww. Does someone need a hug? Careful, folks, she might bite you.

38. Glenn Fucking Beck. Newt Fucking Gingrich, a “stealth progressive”? Only in the festering fever swamp that is Biff’s soggy brain, folks.

39. Peter Fucking Kent. There he goes again, embarrassing us on the world stage. I’m starting to sense a pattern here, how ’bout you?

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And finally, to Mark Fucking Zuckerberg. Or whoever at Fuckedbook is responsible for these ridiculous changes to the messaging system. Thanks to you, I have more than 100 notes, several weeks’ worth, to sift through and answer, or not, and apologize to the friends who sent them, because I didn’t even know they were there. And this during the busiest time of year. Couldn’t you have warned us that you had arbitrarily decided to divvy up our mailboxes into “Messages” and “Other”? And WTF is “Other”, anyway? What are the criteria for this so-called Otherness? Jesus H. Christ, just when I thought FaceBUGS couldn’t get any fucking worse, it up and did. Thanks a lot, Fuckerberg.

Good night, and get fucked!

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Festive Left Friday Blogging: ¡Feliz Chavidad!

Just in time for the holidays, the latest decorations from Venezuela:

Figurines of Chavecito, Simón Bolívar and other Venezuelan historic heroes decorate a nativity scene.

Of course, Reuters chose to focus first on the local Grinches who don’t like it, but they’re outnumbered, as usual.

And for those who think he has no place in a display like this, or that it’s “disrespectful”, I’d like to remind you of the Catalan tradition of the Caganer, the lucky figurine who pulls down his pants and takes a dump behind the manger. If HE’s not disrespectful if posed behind the scene, then neither are Chavecito and the Liberator in front of it.

¡Feliz Chavidad!

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Quotable: César Chávez on social change

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#RIPHugoChavez = #Twitterfail

Riddle me this: When is a Trending Topic NOT a trending topic? Courtesy of Patria Grande, here comes a wake-up call for all you internauts who love Venezuela, and who want to keep abreast of all the dirty tricks of empire:

Today, the Trending Topics of Twitter woke to the hashtag #QEPDHugoChávez (#RIPHugoChavez). This phenomenon may appear “spontaneous”, massive, and communitarian, but in case you didn’t believe it, it came from the laboratories of the North, and in this article we will demonstrate that fact.

The trending topics on Twitter, or TTs , are, in theory, the topics most talked about in the debates of the social network. Recently, with the Occupy demonstrations in various cities of the United States, it was demonstrated that Twitter censors topics, but we have found out something much more interesting: the administrators of the social network promote topics, in some cases admitting that it is a promotion on the part of Twitter, and, in other cases, no. Trending topics are not always those which are being most tweeted. This opens the possibility that Twitter can determine politically and ideologically the conversation in microblogging form. Suppose that, in order for a topic to become a trend, it must fulfill certain criteria, such as language, popularity, total number of tweets, and total number of users, but above all that it be a new topic or, if it was a formerly popular topic, it has been picked up by a new group of users. According to these parameters, the hashtag #QEPDHugoChávez should not be one of the TTs. Twitter should remove TT topics when it is the same group of users tweeting, not new people, or when the topic surreptitiously incites assassination.

The control of Twitter over Trending Topics is not just any old thing. They are in the position to penalize commentaries — in fact, they even reserve the right to close an account if you use more than one unrelated hashtag to get attention or repeat a topic or hashtag without adding anything new to the discussion. Write on all topics to attract people to your profile, especially if you’re seeking publicity, or if you want to be followed on Trending Topics.

Twitter has a “secret formula” to select Trending Topics, which it has not revealed, and at the same time uses politically and ideologically.

Cyberwar: Twitter vs. Venezuela

On Twitter, for example, the hashtag #FreeVenezuela united, for some time, fascist sectors with greater or lesser degree of commitment in destabilization tactics, but whose objective was, and remains, the same: Get rid of Chávez.

The surge of this hashtag had nothing to do with spontaneity; it appeared on February 2, the day Venezuelans celebrated the 10th anniversary of Chávez taking power. The promoters of this “initiative” were in the National College of Journalists, the Press Workers’ Union, and the Graphic Reporters’ Circle, by way of a call to action published in the [right-wing] newspaper El Nacional. Impartiality?

Enrique Ubieta followed the rise of the hashtag and described its amazing elevation to the most important topics on Twitter: “In the first ten minutes #FreeVenezuela appeared eighth on the list of the top ten topics; 20 minutes later it was in fourth place, and after one hour of tweets, it was in third. For two hours it remained there. It was the first time a Venezuelan topic appeared on a list that supposedly reflects the highest levels of concurrency. Internet rarities, some may say; useless suspicions, according to others. But there is one easily detectable fact that no one in the media commented on: Of the some 300 initial internauts, more than 65% were tweeting from the United States, and another 25% from Colombia. A Venezuelan protest?”

Google’s “How to Kill Chávez”

It’s not the first time Chávez has been assassinated on the Internet. In the past, if you entered the word “how” on a Google search, the first option it displayed was “How to kill Chávez”, even without the words “to kill”.

Google, Facebook and Twitter are politicized companies, in that they not only put weight on the ideological components, but the economic factors as well. The government of the United States uses the technologies “to resolve local matters before they become regional conflicts”.

Even during the government of George W. Bush, the Internet demonstrated itself as an alternative within the strategies of fourth-generation warfare. Today, it is a fundamental point of politico-ideological advance for the empire. With the arrival of Obama in the White House, the Web and its communicational possibilities have been institutionalized as a mechanism of political destabilization.

On January 21, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recognized that the administration conceptualizes and structures “21st Century Diplomacy”, in which the Internet plays a key role which also supersedes traditional mechanisms.

In her speech, Clinton took pride in the politics of interference of the State Department, which, she confessed, relies on agents in 40 other countries working in different parts of the Web. Venezuela, Moldova, and Iran are on the list.

Coup Manual 2.0

These destabilization techniques are supported by social networking platforms in order to propagate content favorable to the interests of imperialism and its allies. The idea is simple: Create opinion templates and make them sustainable enough so that a collective, however minoritarian, can be organized around an idea. “Rebel thresholds” are generated, which are connections of nodes to share messages and political intents which have the capacity to mobilize and make impact via the net.

The famous Trending Topics of Twitter correspond to this mechanism. Messages raise awareness in a social sector, with a view to mobilizing them and making them present in social networks. As soon as they reach the “rebel thresholds”, they are organized in virtual communities, sectorized groups, associations of various types which project a riotous activism that has no support in real politics. Thus, it is no coincidence that the message was uniformly disguised in euphemisms, such as the reference to the president as “Esteban”. This motto served to identify opposition groups on the social network.

To that end, they exalt the most violent members of their gang and develop campaigns to create tensions and polarize political discussion on the Internet. Success is guaranteed by the support of the media, who serve as publicists to the virtual “dissident” groups.

In a pre-election year such as this one, we must be aware of how the adversary moves, how they come together, and how they destabilize. The ideological battle has come to the ‘net. And even in this scenario, we will win out. And what will rest in peace is Capitalism.

Translation mine.

There isn’t a whole lot that I can add to this, other than that it’s well worth keeping this in mind the next time you see a “news” story to the effect that Hugo Chávez is dying (he isn’t), or that the opposition will win the next election (they won’t). Or just the next time you’re on the tweeter, and you suddenly see flocks of “Venezuelan” birds (who are really tweeting, for the most part, from the US or Colombia) flying out en masse to take a shit on Chavecito’s head, and missing, as usual. Rumormongering is the oldest dirty trick in the book, and even in this fast-paced cyber-age, it’s still in heavy rotation. Happily, the same technology that the enemy uses to generate the Big Lie, can be used to counteract it; see the coup of ’02, when television was used to spread the putschist message…and, less than 48 hours later, to get the truth out that the coup was over, and that Chavecito was on his way back. Then, it was TV; now, it will be Twitter, Google, Facebook…and of course, this humble blog right here.

Venceremos.

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Posted in Crapagandarati, El Predicto Speaks..., Fascism Without Swastikas, Good to Know, Huguito Chavecito, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Illegal?, Newspeak is Nospeak, Obamarama!, Spooks, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off on #RIPHugoChavez = #Twitterfail

Stupid Sex Tricks: Viagra in WHAT?

Relax, it’s not quite so drastic. But yeah, it’s just about that silly:

Durex has a new condom out that promises to enhance erections with a gel inside the tip that contains Zanifil. The over-the-counter drug boosts blood flow in the penis, which leads to firmer, larger, and longer-lasting erections for men who might find that condoms dampen their enthusiasm for doing the deed.

Zanifil is frighteningly based on the chemical nitroglycerin, which relaxes the muscles in blood-vessel walls, therby increasing blood flow—which actually makes sense because that’s how it helps people not have heart attacks. Zanifil also employs a delivery system that allows medicine to permeate the skin quickly.

Of course, there are so many ways this could backfire. Starting with heart attacks in the susceptible — who, as rotten luck would have it, are the very guys most likely to use Viagra: the middle-aged and heart-diseased, whose hard-ons aren’t so hard anymore, when they do get ’em. (That is actually a warning sign of advanced heart disease. So, guys, if you’re noticing trouble down thataway, get you to a doctor, and don’t ask for Viagra. Ask for cardio referral FIRST. It might not be great for Teh Sexytimes, but it could save your life.)

And even if you’re not in that high risk group, there’s always the slight but real chance that you’d be that one guy who ends up with a big ol’ boner that neither comes nor goes, overstaying its welcome in a most unpleasant way. This is NOT as sexy as it sounds, trust me. It’s painful in every sense of the word. You could end up sexually impaired for life. You’ll need emergency medical attention, which could be awkward just around midnight, when you’re sitting in the ER with a painful tentpole that won’t go down, trying to figure out how to explain it to the doctor — or worse, that nice lady, the intake nurse. And did I mention that priapism is very, very painful?

And then, think of the ladies. Please. The clitoris is made of the same stuff as any cock, but it’s much compacter, and thus, that much more sensitive. There is no guarantee that there won’t be some spillage or leakage that could end up on (or IN) us. Do we want a two-day lulu of a ladyboner that could also leave us with lasting damage? Or any of the other nasty stuff that affects our guys? I’m crossing my legs and cringing just thinking about it.

Finally, there’s the definite possibility that they simply won’t add enough of the active ingredient to make any difference at all, good or bad. You’d be a fool to spend extra on that…and you just KNOW they’re gonna charge extra. A LOT extra.

Bottom line: As cute and clever as this marketing gimmick may be, ultimately it’s not worth it. Your best bet is to just buy regular rubbers and use them before their expiration date.

And if you want to improve the feel of things, try this helpful hint I learned in a safer-sex workshop many moons ago: Just add a smidge of lube (preferably spermicidal) inside the tip before rolling it on in the usual way. This won’t give a dude bigger or harder or longer lasting erections, but it WILL at least get rid of that dreary “shower in a raincoat” feeling that the guys are always complaining about. The same that’s the main reason they so often refuse to use condoms in the first place.

And isn’t getting them to use ’em the whole idea, really?

(You’re welcome!)

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December 6, 1989: A song of remembrance

A ballad by Bev Nicol and Lisa Dorian. According to the notes posted by Bev Nicol at YouTube, “The chorus comes from the words of survivor Nathalie Provost who said to the killer, ‘We are only women who are studying engineering. We are only women who want to live a normal life.’

Here’s an additional note telling the story behind the song:

Lisa and I recorded this song in the summer of 1990. It was performed that year by women’s theatre and singing groups across the country, including the Nellie McClung Theatre group in Winnipeg, the Secret Furies in Halifax, and WomenFolk in Hamilton. Lisa played it at the vigil in Victoria and I played it at a benefit for Maggies Women’s Shelter in Bancroft Ontario. Twenty years later I had a call from Judy, who still works at Maggies; she remembered the song and requested a copy, to be played at their vigil in 2010. So began the ressurection of the song Lisa and I wrote to remember the 14 women who died in Montreal, and to record the history of the Montreal massacre.

Thanks to ROSE for sharing the video.

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History never repeats?

Germans could tell you differently:

“To know the risks and side effects of Nazi uprisings, just read a history book or ask your grandparents.” (Translation mine.)

According to my source on Facebook, this was taken in Bielefeld, at one of the many German “Occupy” rallies. It refers to a recently exposed neo-Nazi terrorist cell with ties to a far-right political party that is currently active, but may find itself outlawed if more such ties are revealed.

Neo-Nazi activity has been on the rise in Germany for several decades now, but has routinely flown under the radar due to public complacency. The former “East Zone” is a particular hotbed for it, often in reaction to communism, as Ingo Hasselbach has outlined in his memoir, Führer-Ex. People thought it could never happen again; they were wrong. It started happening again in Germany even before the Berlin Wall fell!

But until now, and until Anders Breivik’s shooting rampage in Norway, far-right extremism (which is international in scope, with ample evidence of connection between the various fascist factions) has been largely ignored.

We can’t afford to ignore it any longer.

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Posted in Confessions of a Bad German, Fascism Without Swastikas, If You REALLY Care | Comments Off on History never repeats?

Portrait of the president as a young Marxist guerrilla

A young Dilma Rousseff, being interrogated by the Brazilian military junta in the 1970s. She looks pretty fearless and pugnacious, no? Here’s the story behind the picture, courtesy of Cubadebate:

This past Saturday, Brazilians saw the first photo from the guerrilla phase of Dilma Rousseff, during the military dictatorship of the 1970s. The current president of Brazil can be seen in it at age 22, during one of the interrogations she was subjected to by the military, after nearly a month of tortures.

In the image, Dilma Rousseff appears in the Military Auditorium in Rio de Janeiro. In the background are the officials who interrogated her over her participation in the revolutionary struggle. The photo, published by Época magazine, was part of the book titled Dilma: Life requires courage, by journalist Ricardo Amaral, which will soon be appearing in bookstores.

The interrogation in the picture took place after 22 days of torture of the young guerrilla.

Dilma Rousseff fought throughout the military dictatorship in various revolutionary groups. She has always maintained that she never shot or killed anyone. She said that she hid the weapons of her comrades under her bed, and that the only thing she knew how to do was “arm and disarm” rifles and pistols, which she never got to use.

During her two years in jail, she communicated with her fellow prisoners by concealing messages using a box of sand that served as a litterbox to a cat, which the female prisoners kept along with a pet turtle.

Translation mine.

I don’t know what Dilma’s actual revolutionary duties entailed; only she knows these for certain. But it is quite possible that she never fired a gun. Her Cuban counterpart, Aleida March, who met Che Guevara (whom she would later marry) during the course of her own duties as a clandestine guerrilla courier in the late 1950s, probably never fired a gun either, but she did smuggle bombs under her wide 1950s poodle skirts.

Depending on where they operated, female Marxist guerrillas of Latin America might have seen a great deal of gunfire. One of these was Tamara “Tania” Bunke, an Argentine who worked in East German and Cuban intelligence, and fought alongside Che in Bolivia before becoming separated from his column and picked off by the Bolivian army at the Yeso Ford in late August, 1967. Others saw very little to none. Many served, as Dilma says she did, to conceal or pass weapons along clandestinely, since women were less likely to be searched, and, at least for a while in those machista cultures, were considered unlikely to be actual fighters. The fact that many of them were at least as brave as the men puts the lie to the very notion. The Marxist guerrilla movements were often the only places in Latin America where women came anywhere near to gender equality, and many of them did it long before their North American sisters ever heard of feminism.

And as Dilma’s defiant look in the picture above shows, many of them withstood terrible tortures for weeks on end without once betraying their comrades. And without a moment’s regret. It’s a potent lesson for us all now, as we come up against disaster capitalism. Do we have that kind of courage?

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Posted in Brazil is the Bomb!, Uppity Wimmin | 1 Comment