Wankers of the Week: A keg of vintage swine

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Crappy weekend, everyone! Last week it was slops; this week it’s hawg-butcherin’ time, and we’ve got a fat lot of pigs to get through. So here they are, with no further ado and in no particular order…

1. Mohammad Fucking Shafia. How ironic is it that his idea of “maintaining” his family’s honor…has dragged their name collectively through the mud by killing half of them? Oh, about as ironic as his idea that having a boyfriend is “prostitution”. No, it’s not…unless your boyfriend is paying you by the sex act. In which case, he’s not really a boyfriend. And, BTW: Thanks a lot, you bastard, for giving the poo-flinging right-wing screechmonkeys in this country so much free fodder for their already horrific xenophobia. That’s real fucking honorable!

2. Katie Fucking Roiphe. All hail Queen Katie, media darling of mediocrity. Her mother’s a well-known writer, so she decided she was gonna be one too. She had to make her name somehow (and justify their publishing her drivel, as though they don’t publish enough drivel as is), and mom already got dibs on the feminist angle, so Katie got it by being a (yawn) contrarian. Yeah, that’s right: A yawntrarian. And you know what a yawntrarian is? Well, if you’re female, to be one means you have to make like you’re too tough to need feminism, or that your world is post-something; you know the drill. Denial, river in Egypt, Cleo. Your uterus is lined with lead and your labia are leather, and therefore sexism doesn’t really exist. Oh yeah, and that date rape is just rough sex (or regretted sex), and that sexual harassment means he’s super-duper-double-looper creative. Or, to put it the way my oh-so-original middle-school teachers used to: It means he likes you, he really REALLY likes you!

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3. Michele Fucking Bachmann. On the other hand, you’re never a REAL victim of anything unless there’s an R after your name. Conservatives, you see, are the only REAL victims in the Universe. The liberal bias of all reality is against them! PS: I’m pretty sure wanting your own country to be more like a totalitarian-capitalist slave-labor nation isn’t helping that reality skew any.

4. Silvio Fucking Berlusconi. Remember how last week I said I didn’t believe he was really stepping down? I was right, he isn’t. And he’s promising his neofascist followers he’ll be back. Considering all the jeers that greeted him when he left, you’d think the fucker would realize he didn’t stand a chance, but he’s either egotistical or delusional enough to think that he does. And that alone is reason enough to make sure he doesn’t get to.

5. Monte Fucking Solberg. Why?

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That’s why. And in other news, guess who’s the REAL pig?

6. Herman Fucking Cain. Hey Repugs, you’ve got to find better token blacks if you ever want to lure anyone away from Obama. Why is this man even still in the running? Quite aside from the ever-mounting tally of sexual-harassment victims coming forward, there’s also the fact that he’s plain ignorant. Also, I feel sorry for his wife.

7. Newt Fucking Gingrich. Another Repug joke candidate who is still, inexplicably, in there. I guess just TALKING about morals, while not possessing a single one, is enough to qualify you for their slate. Gotta wonder what those Values Voters are thinking, if indeed they think at all. PS: And now we know why Freddie Mac ran into financial chaos in the middle of last decade. They had Newty “working” for them.

8. Jerry Fucking Sandusky. Give this boy-bopper full marks for chutzpah. What he did in the Penn State showers (and God only knows where else) was a crime, and witnessed by more than one unlucky soul who just happened to wander in at a crucial moment. But what he’s doing now, claiming innocence and saying he’s not a pedophile? Even though he was caught, not with his pants down, but altogether OFF? No, of course he’s not “sexually attracted” to boys — he just really, REALLY likes to take advantage of his position of power and responsibility to assault them! And yeah, everybody’s a liar but him. Know who talks like that? Paranoiacs and psychopaths, that’s who.

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9. Jean Fucking Quan, again. All the other mayors who arranged raids on Occupy camps must be hating her right now for letting slip that their widdle fascist crackdowns were part of a co-ordinated Homeland Security action, eh? (And, on a related note: What better reason for getting rid of Dubya’s fucking DHS? It’s obviously a tool of fascism. And you thought Obama was about Hope ‘n’ Change? If he were serious about THOSE, he’d have gotten rid of this first. And scrapped the USA PATRIOT Act, too. It criminalizes dissent, among other things.)

10. Holly Fucking Carmichael. Yeah, that’s right, sweep bullying under the rug. Go on pretending that having same-sex parents is a “tragedy”. YOU, lady, are the real fucking tragedy, as are your friends in Concern Trolls Against America. And as long as you go on pretending that being gay is a “biological fiction”, the REAL tragedy is going to go right on destroying young lives, with NO help from you. Now shut the fuck up, and go the hell away.

11. Andrea Fucking Peyser. I don’t know if by reading her atrocious column we’re supposed to get the impression that looking at “sacrilegious” art by a gay guy, we’re all gonna get AIDS…but I do know that reading her atrocious column (on SEX, of all things!) will give us all nausea and hives. And that’s bad enough.

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12. Edwin Fucking Summers. He hit his girlfriend upside the head with his world. That’s what he calls his goddamn guitar, folks. He didn’t want her messing with it, because it’s his fucking world, so he walloped her with it. Makes a lot of sense, really, when you think about it.

13. Vic Fucking Toews. When faced with undeniable truths, do what all CONservatives do: Deny, deny, DENY. This is, incidentally, also how a big fat adulterer like Vic gets away with impregnating a mistress, divorcing a long-time wife, marrying the Other Woman (who was a subordinate, a MAJOR workplace no-no), and STILL claiming to represent Family Values…and why the dumb sheep who voted for him blat along with every word. It’s all about penis compensation with you ‘winger people, isn’t it? (Oops…and now we’ll hear MORE denials.)

14. Dominique Fucking Strauss-Kahn. Guess his long-suffering wife finally got sick of sticking up for him, because she’s making plans to leave his sorry ass, and planning to recoup the beaucoup bucks she spent on his legal defence. I’m only sorry she didn’t do it sooner. So, I’m sure, are Tristane Banon, her mother, and Nafissatou Diallo, all of whom he assaulted in the name of his peculiar brand of “seduction”.

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15. Joe Fucking Amendola. Gotta hand it to Wanker #8, he sure knows how to pick ’em. I guess, if you’re going up on child-molestation charges, your best defence is a defence attorney whose own idea of how to deal sexually with minors is, to say the least, rather sketchy. How else to explain this one, who impregnated a 16-year-old who was working full time in his law office (having graduated high school two years early) and employing his services (at his urging, one wonders) to become an emancipated minor? Of course, the operative word here is still MINOR. Her own mother was under the impression that Amendola was more “mentor” than “paramour” to the girl, and I’d say that’s probably accurate. She wasn’t old enough to vote or buy her own beer. Why the hell was she considered old enough for her then 49-year-old boss to schtup?

16. Tom Fucking Vineyard. Riddle me this: How does just one person in every ten somehow become guilty of half of all murders committed in large cities? I have no idea, but he claims it’s so. Maybe journalists should start asking the homophobic preacher-man this very simple question: Where did you pull that statistic from — your ass, or someone else’s? Or maybe Jesus should just smite him upside the head for being so goddamn fucking STUPID.

17. Derek Fucking Howard. Unless you have a damn good crystal ball sitting right on the table in front of you, you don’t get to tell ANYONE what their future is gonna be.

18. Victoria Fucking Jackson. The has-been-who-never-really was just keeps on rolling. Further and further into irrelevance, that is.

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19. and 20. Sean Fucking Hannity and Ann Fucking Coulter. Instead of publicly discussing sexual harassment (about which you two repugnant twits obviously know nothing), how ’bout you just go get a room and do it to each other in private? PS: And while you’re at it, Baby Jesus, can you ball-gag that horrible woman? Thanks awfully.

21. John Fucking Boehner. Someone, please, get that man a towel. And take away his liquor, PLEASE. It’s getting so bad that you can’t take him anywhere!

22. Derek Fucking Tabacco. Oh, he’s “trying to get to work”! Yet he’s not AT work. He’s too busy harassing a legitimate demonstration! He’s one of just three fake protesters “counter-demonstrating” at Occupy Wall Street. (The other two are his brothers. Ha.) His commute is no more than 20 minutes, which anyone living and working in Toronto would KILL for. Yet he complains that he “can’t get to work”! Um, that’s because he’s never done an honest day’s work at a REAL job in his life. Can you say “cheap publicity stunt for an epic failure”, boys ‘n’ girls? (And just think, this is who’s supposed to be shouldering the economy. These are the “job creators”, the “53%ers”, etc. Couldn’t you just BAWL?)

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23. Taylor Fucking Garrett. Keep crying wolf, lonely gay Christian conservative boy. At this rate, even the sheep will no longer believe you. And your pal the Coultergeist won’t be there to defend you either; she’s too busy bashing all the other gay people out there.

24. Marcus Fucking Bachmann. Ms. Thing has a lot of chutzpah, doesn’t she, expecting to be paid for de-gayifyin’ sessions that were never used? By an undercover reporter looking into Ms. Thing’s “ex-gay” fraud, no less? And really — $75 as a “no-show fee”? For that kind of money, I could pay a REAL therapist for a one-hour session to cure me of the damage done to my mind by professionally homophobic closet cases. PS: Please join me in praying away the preying, and sign this.

25. Oscar Ramiro Fucking Ortega-Hernandez. Phew, that’s a mouthful of a name. It’s almost as long as the distance he would have had to fire that AK-47 if he’d really wanted to kill His Barackness, who was in Hawaii at the same time as this nutjob was taking pot-shots at the White House. PS: No, you’re NOT the new Jesus, and murdering a president is NOT “the answer to world peace”. Jesus was never a gangsta, duh.

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26. Peter Fucking King. I’m sorry, but anyone who has ever supported the IRA literally has no business kvetching about anyone else’s (largely imaginary) “violence”. Speaking of which: WHY IS HE NOT IN JAIL?

27. Andrew Fucking Breitbart. Unless he’s supposed to look like he’s constantly drunk off his ass, I gotta say: DAMN, what a shitty actor!

28. Rush Fucking Limbaugh. In response to the title question of the Alternet piece, the answer is this: He’s the Fucking Pigman. He likes to wallow. And he never does it more…than when he’s PROJECTING. Yeah, Rush, that’s right: Your darkest fantasies are no longer a secret from the world. Oink, oink, oink.

29. Chad Fucking Ochocinco. Why?

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That’s why. It takes a REAL dumbass to think, in this day and age, that withdrawal is an acceptable birth control method and condoms are not. Lots of other guys who once thought so are called FATHER today. Must’ve shocked the shit out of them to learn that pre-cum contains easily enough viable sperm to do the job, eh? PS: Who the fuck puts soda in the freezer to begin with? A DUMBASS, that’s who. Smart people use something called the fridge, or if that’s not cold enough, there’s such a thing as ICE CUBES. This concludes today’s science lesson, kiddies. Remember: Always wear your rubbers, and don’t freeze your sodie-pop. And don’t be a dumbass like Señor Eight-Five.

30. Sarah Fucking Palin. Piss off, teabagging opportunist bitch, the Occupy movement doesn’t need you. And it certainly doesn’t WANT you. (Neither does the prosecution in the Sandusky case.)

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31. Josh Fucking Byrnes. If you seriously believe that unemployment benefits make people “lazy”, then you deserve to be out of a job yourself. Because that’s some mighty lazy “thinking” right there.

32. Dennis Fucking Miller. He just keeps getting unfunnier. And no wonder: His deep-seated racism, bigotry and xenophobia just keep popping out at the oddest times. Tell ya what, Dennis: If ever you’re on a plane next to me, how about I hit YOU in the head?

33. and 34. Howard Fucking Wolfson and Cas Fucking Holloway. The deputy mayors of the 1%. And the censors of the 99%. Call THAT democracy?

35. John Fucking Pike. Peaceful protesters must be pepper-sprayed for no good reason at all. Respect mah authoritay, bitches!

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And finally, to all the fucking fascists trying to discredit the Occupy movement, or actively co-ordinating to repress it, or sending terrorist death threats to individuals involved. We see what you’re doing there. We will NOT be intimidated. We will NEVER surrender. We will fight back. We will win. You’re not too big to fail, but WE are.

Or as my Spanish Civil War hero, La Passionaria, said about the fascists of her day: ¡No pasarán! — they (YOU) shall not pass.

Good night, and get fucked!

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Festive Left Friday Blogging: Lula’s new ‘do

First, it was Lugo; then, Chavecito. Now, a new South American head of state (pun intended) has gone bare:

The former president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, shaved his beard and head in anticipation of hair loss due to chemotherapy, which he began on October 31, for laryngeal cancer.

The job of shaving the former leader fell to his wife, Marisa Leticia, who published on her Web page a picture of Lula, bald and beardless but still wearing his mustache and a smile, getting a hug from the former first lady, who wore a sweater with a logo from a campaign against breast cancer.

In another photo, Marisa Leticia can be seen passing a razor over the face of the former president.

Lula, 66, received a diagnosis of cancer of the larynx on October 29, and two days later began chemotherapy treatments in the Syrio-Lebanese Hospital of São Paulo, where the illness was diagnosed.

The former president stayed in hospital a few hours and later returned to his apartment in São Bernardo do Campo, near São Paulo. He has received various visitors since then at his residence, among them current president Dilma Rousseff, his successor.

Rousseff, who was also treated for lymphatic cancer while a minister in Lula’s cabinet, visited him on November 10 and affirmed afterwards that he is doing very well. She was accompanied on that occasion by the Brazilian minister of health, Alexandre Padilha.

In his own case, Lula is receiving prescribed medication intravenously, and has received countless messages of support from foreign dignitaries, Brazilian politicians, and anonymous citizens.

The medical team ruled out an operation due to the intermediate stage of the tumor, and considers the likelihood of a cure to be high, given that the cancer is localized and has not metastasized.

Latin America has already seen presidents such as Fernando Lugo of Paraguay and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela left bald as a result of chemotherapy.

Translation mine.

Here’s the other pic of Lula, getting his shave:

And yeah, he looks a little less like an Ewok, for the time being. But like Chavecito and Lugo (and Dilma, too!), his prognosis is good. And baldness becomes him, especially when he smiles.

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Stupid Sex Tricks: A dumb-dumb threesome

First up, a little sexy-ass music:

Look at those fuckin’ hipsters.

Now, the news.

First up, Things You Should Never Do In Cop Cars:

It all started on Monday when a 911 caller reported a man passed out at the Whataburger along Highway 59 in Porter.

KSAT.com reported that when Montgomery County constables arrived, they found the unconscious male with two others.

One of the suspects, Howard Windham, was trying to wake the man up by slapping him.

During their initial investigation, constables found the unconscious man to have Hydrocodone and Soma pills on him.

Windham also allegedly had a Soma tablet when he was searched.

The other suspect, Tina Marie Arie, reportedly admitted that she had supplied both of the men with the painkillers.

The unconscious man was carted to a nearby hospital, where his condition is currently unknown.

Windham and Arie were arrested and taken to a nearby station for booking.

But on the way, the constable driving the car suddenly noticed that he could no longer see Arie in the back seat.

When he stopped the cruiser to investigate, he found that despite being handcuffed, she had somehow unzipped Windham’s pants and was performing oral sex on him.

Classy. But hey! Full marks for getting creative while handcuffed and blasted out of your fucking mind.

Next, the reason why all you ladies out there will want to think twice about making sex tapes with your guys. And no, it’s not Kim Kardashian:

Meet Christopher Scott, the ex-boyfriend from hell.

The 20-year-old college student was arrested Monday on a variety of criminal charges related to his uploading to the Internet of a video showing him having sex with a former girlfriend.

Scott told cops that he posted the video because he was “depressed” over his breakup with the 24-year-old victim, who did not give him permission to disseminate the explicit video. A remorseful Scott admitted that he was “trying to be hateful” and “realized the implications it could have,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

The woman, who dated Scott for six months, told investigators that she first learned that the video was available online when she received a call from her employer (who asked for her resignation). “Many people she knows found out about the video, and she has been getting harassed ever since,” the affidavit notes. The victim also “started receiving derogatory postings to her Facebook which has since been deleted.”

When he uploaded the 26:51 clip to the porn site XTube, Scott included the woman’s occupation and hometown in the title. And he described the video as featuring a “Slutty ex-girlfriend.” The clip, which was viewed nearly 36,000 times on XTube, was copied onto other porn sites, where it remains available. Stills from the video can also be found via a Google Image search.

Scott admitted to investigators that he recorded the X-rated video in mid-2009 in his dormitory room at Stevenson University in Maryland (the school’s web site lists him as a member of the 2010 men’s lacrosse team).

The woman told cops that Scott “had continually tried to get her to do things sexually with some of his friends,” but she refused. Scott, she alleged, “then manipulated her into making a video while they were having sex,” according to the affidavit. Scott admitted recording the couple’s encounter on his laptop, which investigators seized last month during a search of his family’s Delaware County home.

A review of Scott’s MacBook Pro turned up the “video of the victim and him that was posted on the Internet,” an investigator noted. Cops also found “several files with titles indicative of child pornography” and one image of child pornography that showed a naked, prepubescent girl tied facedown to a weight bench.

BTW, in case you’re wondering, “slutty ex-girlfriend/wife” IS an amateur porn subgenre, and a particularly nasty one, with ample room for ugly, life-wrecking repercussions. (I’m not kidding about thinking twice, girls; this is worse than getting his name tattooed on your rump in Gothic script. And a lot harder and more painful to get removed, too.)

And if ever there were an amateur porn subgenre *I* could wholeheartedly get behind, it would be of the “my sleazy ex-boyfriend/husband has a micropenis” variety. Sort of a Don’t Date Him Girl thing, but with XXX-rated pictures. Because hey, why should douchebags have all the fun?

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Quotable: Sir John A. Macdonald on US imperialism

Image by Tigana Too.

Yes, my Latin American amig@s, it’s true. Nosotr@s, l@s canadienses, somos el OTRO patio trasero de los EEUU. We’re the US’s OTHER backyard, and we’ve been just as much subject to their imperialism as you. So far, we’ve been luckier keeping them off our necks.

There are two reasons why they don’t send in the Marines and do to us what they did to you. One is we’re geographically bigger. The world’s longest border is undefended for a reason: It’s undefendable.

And the other reason? We’re the only people in history to get away with torching the White House.

Mind you, that was nearly 200 years ago. And our current government, for all the lip service it pays to that war, has actually forgotten its lessons on sovereignty. But still.

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Posted in Canadian Counterpunch, Isn't It Ironic?, Quotable Notables, The Salvador Option(s), The United States of Amnesia | 1 Comment

George Bush officially full of shit

The US Navy Times confirms what we already suspected:

The Navy’s newest aircraft carrier has a messy problem. Since deploying in May, the Norfolk, Va.-based carrier George H.W. Bush has grappled with widespread toilet outages, at times rendering the entire ship without a single working head.

But it’s no laughing matter. Sailors tell of combing the ship for up to an hour to find a place to do their business, if they can find one at all. Others have resorted to urinating in showers or into the industrial sinks in their work stations. Some men are using bottles and emptying the contents over the giant ship’s side, while some women are holding it in for so long that they are developing health problems, according to sources on the ship.

The sailors blame the ship’s vacuum system. But the Navy is blaming sailors for flushing “inappropriate material” down the toilets.

The ship, commissioned in January 2009, is wrapping up a deployment in the Persian Gulf. Three sailors who spoke to Navy Times on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media said the problem has been persistent at least since Bush began its first deployment in May. Throughout its deployment, there have been at least two times when all 423 commodes in the ship’s 130 heads went offline, the sailors said. More often, they said, all heads either forward or aft of the middle of the ship have gone out of service, or clusters of heads scattered through different departments have been shut down.

[…]

The Navy, in a written statement, acknowledged problems with the system since the ship was delivered in May 2009. Sailors have spent more than 10,000 man hours addressing the toilets’ vacuum system on this deployment, averaging roughly 25 calls per week for commode problems. Most problems were fixed within 24 hours, with some requiring just a few minutes of work, said a statement from Naval Air Force Atlantic, adding that the ship had a “94 percent availability of commodes” throughout the deployment.

[…]

The contractor that supplied the system, Evac, did not make a representative available as of Monday afternoon after three queries from Navy Times over six days. According to the company’s website, Evac also worked on the amphibious transport dock San Antonio’s toilet system and systems for luxury cruise liners. The Navy statement said the system is also installed aboard Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and other San Antonio-class ships, but it was unclear if those systems were installed by Evac or whether any of those ships have had problems.

Sailors said the head issue is a major problem on the $6.2 billion carrier. While it has provided countless opportunities to make jokes related to bodily functions, they said, it has also hurt morale. Some sailors are limiting their food and fluid intake, risking dehydration. Others have ignored nature’s call for so long that they’ve developed urinary tract infections. The problem has made it tougher for sailors to keep the ship combat-ready, they said.

The Navy statement did not address reports of sickness.

Some are taking extra showers when they need to urinate. Women are finding working men’s heads and putting a sentry at the door. Or they’ll use the industrial sinks in their workspaces. Men are sneaking onto catwalks to surreptitiously relieve themselves without getting busted by a master-at-arms on patrol, searching for sailors using anywhere but a head as a bathroom.

“If you violate a direct order, you go to mast. We had one seaman go thus far,” one chief told Navy Times.

An AIRLANT spokesman confirmed that one sailor received non-judicial punishment for “urinating on a sponson.”

Some men have taken to urinating into bottles and dumping the contents over the side — a potentially messy practice that can soil the side of the ship or the hangar deck, aircraft or fellow sailors, depending on how it catches the wind.

“It’s certainly more risk-free than standing and peeing on the catwalks, but still it’s ridiculous,” a second class petty officer said.

If possible, sailors will use one of the operational heads, but it takes extra work to find one, the second class said. When the urge strikes, you have to get the gouge on the location of a working head — hopefully it won’t be on the far side of the 1,094-foot-long carrier. When you find one that’s working, there’s often a line to get inside. As they wait, sailors do a quick survey of who has reached their physical limit, and sailors who need to go the most get bumped to the front of the queue.

“We all assess who is going to go in their pants first and set the lines according to that,” the second class said.

Okay, that was bad. Really. And I sincerely apologize. My heart goes out to the sailors who are having to find “creative” ways to deal with their bodily functions, especially the women. Hope your next deployment is on a better boat, folks.

But how strangely fitting that it happened on the carrier named after Dubya’s old man, of all vessels. Maybe the Powers That Be are trying to tell us something about vanity and human folly?

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Posted in BushCo Death Watch, Isn't It Ironic?, Karma 1, Dogma 0, The United States of Amnesia | 2 Comments

How to have sex in an MRI scanner

A Dutch scientist from the University of Groningen enlists two friends to help him find out (a) whether sex in an MRI machine is feasible, and (b) what can be learned from it. As it turns out, the answers are (a) yes, and (b) plenty.

And, despite the fact that this bit of sexytimes-for-science won an Ig Nobel prize, it’s not a Stupid Sex Trick at all. Among the fascinating insights it provides, we learn that an erect penis isn’t in fact straight, it’s bowed, “like a boomerang”! It also moves about quite a bit within the man’s pelvis during penetration, which must feel incredibly…interesting. (Almost gives me penis envy, which I normally haven’t the slightest bit of!)

As for what position they used to overcome that claustrophobic location, you’re gonna have to watch the video. That is all.

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Quotable: Isaac Asimov on stupidity

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Aloha, APEC. Love, the 99%.

Hawaiian singer Makana actually slipped this one below the radar on the 1%er leaders yesterday. Here’s the story:

Honolulu – A change in the programmed entertainment at last night’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gala left a few world leaders slack-jawed, though most seemed not to notice that anything was amiss.

During the gala dinner, renowned Hawaiian guitarist Makana, who performed at the White House in 2009, opened his suit jacket to reveal a home-made “Occupy with Aloha” T-shirt. Then, instead of playing the expected instrumental background music, he spent almost 45 minutes repeatedly singing his protest ballad released earlier that day. The ballad, called “We Are the Many,” includes lines such as “The lobbyists at Washington do gnaw…. And until they are purged, we won’t withdraw,” and ends with the refrain: “We’ll occupy the streets, we’ll occupy the courts, we’ll occupy the offices of you, till you do the bidding of the many, not the few.”

Those who could hear Makana’s message included Presidents Barack Obama of the United States of America, Hu Jintao of China, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, and over a dozen other heads of state.

“At first, I was worried about playing ‘We Are The Many,’” said Makana. “But I found it odd that I was afraid to sing a song I’d written, especially since I’d written it with these people in mind.”

The gala was the most secure event of the summit. It was held inside the Hale Koa hotel, a 72-acre facility owned and controlled by the US Defense Department; the site was fortified with an additional three miles of fencing constructed solely for the APEC summit.

Makana was surprised that no one objected to him playing the overtly critical song. “I just kept doing different versions,” he said. “I must’ve repeated ‘the bidding of the many, not the few’ at least 50 times, like a mantra. It was surreal and sobering.”

Makana’s new song is inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has taken root in cities worldwide. Last Saturday, eight protesters were arrested when they refused to leave the Occupy Honolulu encampment at Thomas Square Park. Occupy Honolulu has joined other groups, including Moana Nui, to protest the APEC meeting, and while Makana performed, hundreds of people protested outside.

After facing large-scale protests in South Korea, Australia, Peru, and Japan, APEC moved this year’s event to Hawaii, the most isolated piece of land on earth. In preparation for the meeting, homeless families were moved out of sight and millions of taxpayer dollars were spent on security—including over $700,000 on non-lethal weapons for crowd control. In a bitter twist, the multi-million dollar security plans backfired when a local Hawaiian man was shot and killed by a 27-year-old DC-based federal agent providing security for dignitaries.

Makana’s action was assisted by the Yes Lab and Occupy the Boardroom. In recent weeks, Occupy protesters have been showing up at corporate events, headquarters and even on the doorsteps of those in power. “Makana really raised the bar by delivering the Occupy message inside what is probably the most secure place on the planet right now,” said Mike Bonanno of the Yes Lab.

“My uncle taught me to feel out the audience and play what my heart tells me to,” said Makana. “That’s what I did tonight.”

And there you have it. APEC got occupied. Scared yet, 1%ers?

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Posted in Filthy Stinking Rich, If You REALLY Care, Isn't It Ironic?, Socialism is Good for Capitalism!, The Bold and the Badass, The United States of Amnesia | 3 Comments

Poor Pippa.

You really have to feel for this girl sometimes. Apparently her much-scrutinized on-again-off-again romance is off, for good:

She is one of the most desirable women in the world, the beautiful younger sister of the future Queen of England with an appealingly mischievous glint in her eye.

So when it was reported last week that Pippa Middleton had split from her boyfriend, Alex Loudon, it was naturally assumed it was Pippa who called time on their relationship. After all, she has no shortage of suitors.

Yet, in news that will surely astonish starry-eyed bachelors everywhere, The Mail on Sunday has learned it was in fact Alex who, after one-and-a-half years together, decided to end things.

According to a friend of both Alex and Pippa, the 31-year-old former England cricketer could no longer cope with the ‘circus’ that accompanies his girlfriend everywhere she goes.

The friend said: ‘The plain truth is Alex adored Pippa but he couldn’t stand the circus that now surrounds her. Nothing is straightforward anymore.’

Inordinately private, with impeccable manners, the Old Etonian simply hated the attention . . . attention that Pippa appears to rather enjoy.

Another family friend said: ‘Pippa sees the connection with the Royal Family as a golden opportunity but she knows she cannot afford to look vulgar.

‘She now gets invited to every show in town, every door is open to her but Alex hates parties. He loves his cricket and has a very close-knit circle of Old Etonian friends. Alex comes from a very well-to-do and discreet family who do not relish the spotlight.

‘He hated the fact they were followed by paparazzi and he avoided going out because of it. Alex is very strait-laced. He loves his family and his friends and has no time for celebrity.’

But that is what Pippa has now become. And her whirl of society balls and Tatler magazine covers is a world away from the social life of the Loudons, a family which comes from a line of baronets, admirals and statesmen.

Alex’s father, James, is a successful financier and former High Sheriff of Kent. Chairman of Caledonia Investments in London, he is also deputy chairman of the governors of the University of Greenwich and a trustee of the Canterbury Cathedral Trust.

Last night a member of Pippa’s circle said her friends were not surprised the courtship had come to an end.

The friend said: ‘Alex’s parents were welcoming but they were always somewhat lukewarm about the relationship. They didn’t see Pippa as ‘wife material’. James and his wife Jane both come from very good families.

‘Pippa is very sweet but she is socially ambitious – all her friends are so “trophy posh” it’s ridiculous. They didn’t honestly see Alex and Pippa’s relationship as a long-term thing.

‘James and Jane are very old-fashioned and prefer to keep things low-key.

‘They do not go out of their way to court attention for themselves and they tend to shy away from the media – even when James was High Sheriff he took on the roles and responsibilities but didn’t attempt to promote himself. They’re a very “proper” family.’

Alex’s grandfather Francis, a barrister, married Lady Prudence Jellicoe, daughter of Admiral Sir John Henry Rushworth Jellicoe, the first Earl of Jellicoe.

Lady Prudence was an indefatigable early champion of single mothers, serving as the chairman of the National Council For The Unmarried Mother And Her Child from 1958 to 1968.

Lord Jellicoe was the admiral who commanded the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in the First World War and became the second Governor-General of New Zealand.

He is buried at St Paul’s Cathedral. He married Florence Cayzer, sister of the 1st Baron Rotherwick, the British shipping magnate and Conservative politician.

The family estate, Olantigh Towers, was bought by Francis in 1935. Just outside the Kent village of Wye, the mile-long drive meanders through landscaped gardens while prized Sussex cattle roam 20 acres of surrounding farmland.

The River Stour runs through the grounds, which include stable blocks and an ornamental footbridge.

Ah yes. Worthies indeed.

So, in not so many words: She’s tacky, flashy, nouveau-riche, no title, no breeding…in short, gauche.

Never mind that her family has more than enough ready cash to send their scions to the “best” schools, and never blench at what it must cost.

Never mind that her sister married the future king, or that Pippa, though not royal herself, is now known as “Her Royal Hotness”.

Never mind that her very bottom has its own fan club, fergawdsakes! None of that really matters.

What matters is coming from the Right Sort of People. And on that, there can be no compromise: Pippa’s just not posh enough for the real toffs of Old England.

It doesn’t help her, either, to have everything she says, does, eats, wears and poops endlessly dissected by the tabloids. Even while dating Alex exclusively, Pippa was still deemed the most eligible bachelorette in the world. Worse, she and Kate were dubbed the Wisteria Sisters, after a beautiful, ornamental flowering vine that happens to be horribly invasive…and apt to climb all over everything like the Creeping Curse of Kudzu.

And let’s not forget all those old pictures of Pippa, doubtless drunk as a lord, as she partied the night away in her skivvies. Things like that are certain to embarrass a class-bound old-money family, who rely on discretion to help them avoid the peasant revolt which we know is going to get them, sooner or later.

And with the way the world is going (especially in England, which is currently rolling from one financial crisis to another), that could be VERY soon. In which case even the best-off of the middle class — uh, that would be the Middletons — will end up back with the peasants in more ways than one.

Poor Pippa just wouldn’t get a look-in, with all that going against her. So now she’s doomed to stay on the party circuit until further notice. Until her spray tan starts to look pasty, her glossy curls lose their lustre, her fascinator starts to wilt, and her eyeliner runs off to join the navy.

But hey…at least she almost got to be the Rear of the Year. They can’t take that away from her.

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Posted in Filthy Stinking Rich, Isn't It Ironic?, Merry Old England, Morticia! You Spoke French!, Newspeak is Nospeak, The "Well, DUH!" Files | 3 Comments

Music for a Sunday: A quarter-life crisis never looked so cute

I remember mine, and I remember what got me through it. How ’bout you?

And yeah, we could use some more talk about a revolution. AGAIN.

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Posted in Music for a Sunday | Comments Off on Music for a Sunday: A quarter-life crisis never looked so cute