In Toronto this weekend?

Then you might be interested in attending this:

From Hands Off Venezuela’s e-mail list, the details:

Subject: Please on the the 24th show your solidarity with Venezuela!

Sent by the Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle/Hands Off Venezuela

DEAR FRIENDS OF THE VENEZUELAN BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION,

THESE LAST 12 YEARS, THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUCION AND VENEZUELA’S PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ HAS NEVER LET UP.

NOW, WHEN THE EFFORTS FOR LATIN AMERICAN INTEGRATION IN UNASUR, CELAC, PETROSUR AND PETROCARIBE ARE GIVING FRUIT, THE SINISTER FORCES AT WORK HAVE TAKEN AN EVEN GREATER STRENGTH.

THE USE OF NATO AGAINST LIBYA IS A HORRIFYING EXAMPLE THAT INTERNATIONAL LAW HAS BECOME INTERNATIONAL LAWLESSNESS WHERE OIL IS CONCERNED.

THE ORGANIZATIONS BELOW, SINCERELY INVITE YOU TO COME AND CELEBRATE AND SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION ON THE DATE OF THE KEY BATTLE OF CARABOBO THAT SEALED VENEZUELA’S FREEDOM FROM THE SPANISH EMPIRE.

WE WILL HAVE GOOD FOOD, MUSIC AND LIVELY TALKS.

WE SHALL OVERCOME

FRIDAY JUNE 24
6 PM
341 BLOOR ST. WEST, 2ND FLOOR
(ST. GEORGE & BLOOR)

If you’re there, it might be worth attending. (Wish I could afford the train fare right now…)

Share this story:
Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Canadian Counterpunch, Huguito Chavecito, If You REALLY Care, Rivers in Egypt | 1 Comment

In Soviet Russia, cats bark at you!

No, really:

And don’t you love how this kitty slows down to a meow when she realizes she’s being filmed?

Share this story:
Posted in Kittehs, Teh Russkies, The WTF? Files | 4 Comments

Music for a Sunday: I might like you better if we slept together

This song is still edgy and badass a quarter century (or more?) after I first heard it. That takes some doing. And yes, this band is still performing! Never say never, indeed.

Share this story:
Posted in Music for a Sunday | Comments Off on Music for a Sunday: I might like you better if we slept together

Wankers of the Week: Bilderbuggery

bilderberg-newspaper.jpg

Crappy weekend, everyone! And welcome to Drunken Bull Sessions and Hung-Over Kaffeeklatsches of the Rich and Infamous in beautiful St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Well, how about them Bilderbergers, everyone? Aren’t they just the loveliest bunch of fucking elitists you ever saw looking for sneaky ways to undermine democracy and the popular will, and to keep the media from holding them accountable? I wouldn’t call their yearly foregatherings a conspiracy exactly, since no one knows what, if any, of their bulling has actually been implemented in the real world (and I doubt very much that the real world would let any of their schemes come to its desired end). But damn, is their early history ever damning. Like Bretton Woods bankers, they are neoliberal, biased in favor of the US, big business and big money; they’ve been around for over half a century, and in all that time, I’ll wager that not a single one of them has done this world a lick of good. That much should be obvious just by the way they do business: These meetings are secretive, the agenda and minutes are not published, and no one is ever held accountable. The worst thing that can happen to a Bilderberger is that s/he won’t be invited back. That’s all!

Secretive conferences are no way to do the world’s business, no matter who attends them or to what purpose. Isn’t it time these people were stripped of their power and influence, ALL of them? Best thing to do is publish the lists of known attendees, and then follow those attendees’ every move in the year to come, and at the first sign of any activity to undermine democracy, bring their activities to light with a relentless clamor, and get out the pitchforks, tar and feathers. Yeah, I know: What a dream! Who from the media would like to make it come true? Show of hands?

crickets.jpg

Thought so.

But enough about the fucking elitists. I promised you wankers, and it is wankers you shall have. And, by Bog, there’s never any shortage of them. Unlike the Bilderbuggers, who do their world-sodomizing in secret, these fuckers are out in the open now. So here they come, in no particular order…

1. Tom Fucking MacMaster. How embarrassing is it to learn that after an intense campaign taken up by none other than Avaaz.org, on behalf of a supposed lesbian blogger in Syria, the “Gay Girl in Damascus” doesn’t exist? That “she” is the brainchild of a straight white male Yank in Edinburgh, Scotland? Plenty embarrassing for me, since I signed that petition like any good Avaaz-er, believing the story to be real and only wanting to help a stranger in distress. Way to undermine one of the world’s leading social-justice petition sites, Tom! (And way to undermine real queer Syrians, too.) Oh, and while we were all chasing our tails over this, guess how many real Syrians (gay or straight, bloggers or not) were killed in violent crackdowns against their free-speech activities and “Arab Spring” protests. Anyone? We don’t know, because no one said boo about them. That’s the most humiliating part of all. Next time you need an ego-boost and a chance to flex your fiction muscles, just write a novel, already.

2. Krista Fucking Erickson. Good thing for her that fewer than 10,000 people are watching SunTV “News” (basically, FUX Snooze North) right now, or there might be more witnesses to the self-immolation of a so-called journalist on the altar of arts-bashing. Krista wanted to smear the great Canadian dance icon, Margie Gillis, and ended up pie-ing herself in the face. At this rate, SunTV will be known as “the station where bad hacks go to die”. PS: Margie has some good suggestions on how to fight back. Yes, we CAN!

airhead.jpg

3. Frank Fucking D’Amico. D’Amico, D’Amico…say, that sounds kind of Italian! Which would mean that he comes from immigrant stock, wouldn’t you say? And isn’t it ironic, therefore, that this Catholic school board trustee should be such an anal-retentive asshat about…drumroll please…IMMIGRANTS? Since when is it a school trustee’s job to demand an immigrant’s puppy papers, anyway? Actually, since NEVER. And in fact, the anal-retentive asshat is in violation of his own board’s stated position on undocumented immigrant students, to boot. Speaking of boots…isn’t Italy shaped like one, and shouldn’t the Toronto Catholic school board give him one? I would, in their shoes.

4. David Fucking Mamet. I always knew there was something seriously hinky about him. His misogyny always was rather blatant. He says he is “no longer a brain-dead liberal”? Well, bully for him: He is now a brain-dead conservative. And what’s this about an infatuation with Sarah Fucking Palin, she of the bogus Paul Revere who “warned” the British? Is he nuts? Tell me why this overrated fool or his “art” any longer deserves to be taken seriously by anyone. I clocked out on him about the time the slut-shaming Oleanna made headlines. Time for the rest of the world to do the same.

5. Carlos Fucking Hernández. The mayor of Hialeah, Florida, decided that on Tuesday (the US’s Flag Day) he would declare “Luis Posada Carriles Day” in his city, and give Latin America’s equivalent of Osama bin Laden the keys to the joint. Guess the War on Terror really IS over, if they decide to come right out and honor fascist terrorists (employed, trained and equipped by the CIA, same as Osama) in the environs of Miami. Or maybe a sense of shame just doesn’t exist in the state shaped like a giant, flaccid penis. Either way, it’s a fucking disgrace. PS: Special bitchslaps to El Fucking Nuevo Herald for wussily failing to report on this shitty development. What’s the matter, afraid of an outcry en español?

florida-wang.jpg

6. Chris Fucking Cuomo. If you pay “licensing fees” to so-called journalistic sources (read: opportunistic, self-prostituted asswipes), you have no business complaining about corruption in journalism. And if you want to fight corruption in journalism, DON’T PAY A CENT FOR STUPID FUCKING SELF-TAKEN PORN PICTURES THAT DON’T FUCKING TELL THE STORY ANYWAY. Especially not when the story is as something as lame and irrelevant as the non-scandal otherwise known as Weinergate.

7. Mitt Fucking Romney. No, he is NOT presidential material, either. Pretending to have been grabbed on the ass during a photo-op with some waitresses in a greasy-spoon diner? Not only is that shit lame and unfunny, it could have gotten an innocent person fired. Oh, and it’s OLD — Mittens also pulled this boner at a fundraiser four years ago. Here’s a hint, guys considering careers in politics: If you’re not naturally funny, then don’t try to be. And especially not if you have to recycle your material.

8. Scott Christopher Fucking Montoya. Confucia say: Deputy who brag about being hung like a horse, is full of shit like a bull.

hung-horse-compliment.jpg

9. Luis Fucking Posada Fucking Carriles. Further to the wankage seen already at #5, how about this one? $25 a plate to eat shit-on-a-shingle with a terrorist, who couldn’t even get his ass handed to him for illegal immigration in a country that persecutes Mexicans for far, far less. That, my friends, is the fucking definition of shamelessness. Hence the double fucking, which I think we can all agree the old bastard richly deserves.

10. Rick Fucking Perry. Speaking of shits and shingles, if you’re going to hold a prayer breakfast with a bunch of raving fucking homophobes, you might want to double-deadbolt your closet door, Guvnor Goodhair…because those pink-clad skeletons doing the Watusi in there are getting mighty restless, if you catch my drift…

11. Ladd Fucking Ehlinger, Jr. Oh my, what a potpourri of stinkum in THAT ad…sexism AND racism, all rolled up in one. Just add homophobia, and you’d get the Unholy Fucking Trinity.

12. John Fucking Boehner. Yes, he actually called on Anthony Weiner to resign. Fancy a boner saying THAT to a wiener! PS: Weiner (actually pronounced “whiner”) is German for “crybaby” — something BOTH men are. (Yes, the spelling makes a difference to the pronunciation AND the meaning in German. Remember, schiessen is “to shoot”, scheissen is “to shit”. And no, “Boehner”, which is umlauted, is not really pronounced “boner”, although you may be forgiven for doing so anyway, just because he deserves it. Your nitpicky German schoolmarm will now STFU.)

boner-defund-pp.jpg

13. Eric Fucking Bolling. A rapper who fights against racism, sexism, and other right-wing social evils is a “hoodlum”? Only in FUX Snooze la-la land. PS: Nice non-apology you got there, asshat.

14. Michael Fucking Bishop. Overreact much? Gun nuts who can’t take a little game of Nicky Nicky Nine Doors are a real fucking drag.

15. Rick Fucking Santorum. Hypocrite much? Oh yeah, I forgot: Right-wing abortions are RIGHTEOUS abortions.

16. Don Fucking Cherry. Actually, Sour Grapes (or should I say, Sour Drapes?), the left-wing pinkos are the ones cleaning Vancouver up after the riots and car-torchings. If you really want rockum-sockum hockey, complete with brawls and lousy play, you’ll just have to put up with bad conduct by fans outside the arena, as well as from the players on the ice. And if you don’t believe in that, put a sock in it and pitch in with yer broom, old man. That’s what the left-wing pinkos are doing… PS: Scott Feschuk was right. That jacket is a fashion crime!

don-cherry-wardrobe.jpg

17. Mike Fucking Milbury. A protégé of Sour Grapes? A failed coach, too, just like…? You don’t say. Hey Mike, shut the fuck up and crawl back into your penalty box, where you belong. The Brothers Sedin, despite looking like twin Vikings, are classy guys who can actually PLAY hockey, rather than FIGHT it. And they are damn good at it, too. I don’t hear any talk of your former glory; hmmm, I wonder why that is…

18. Peter Fucking King. Yes, he’s still persecuting Muslims and ignoring homegrown white Christian terrorists in his neo-McCarthyite hearings. Thankfully, the take-no-shit congressional hero, Sheila Jackson Lee, has handed him his fat, saggy ass…by simply bringing up what he keeps trying to gloss over.

19. Jo Fucking Koy. Who? Yeah, I wondered the same thing. Apparently he thinks he’s a funnyman, and he thinks it’s hilarious to parade around in front of a bunch of women with an undone zipper, wagging his ass and bragging about how NOT-gay he is…and then, when some plant in the audience yells that he can see his cock (and of course, the plant is always a male), he calls the plant a fucking faggot. And oh yeah, he threatens HIS son with death too, in the event that the kid should grow up gay. I don’t know what’s more stupid here, the sexism or the homophobia (and that threat against the kid is just plain UGLY), but one thing’s for sure…I’m not laughing at the act. It’s lame. Didn’t one of last week’s wankers make the same unfunny sort of “jokes”?

homophobia-insecurity.jpg

20. Jim Fucking Chu. So, “anarchists” are to blame for the Vancouver riots of Wednesday night? Nice try, chief, but no Timbits for you. Real anarchists don’t wear $200 hockey sweaters and equally expensive sneakers, nor do they feel the need to break windows and steal other expensive shit. What you call “anarchists” are nothing but a bunch of drunken, greedy louts using the cover of a crowd of hundred-thousands to embolden themselves to do what they’d ordinarily be too afraid to do (when sober and alone, that is). Hockey hooligans are just like soccer hooligans; their gonads don’t work unless they’re surrounded by milling crowds.

21. All those fucking idiots on Facebook who bragged about their part in the riots. Srsly, you people are sludge, because you’re ending up making life more miserable and less democratic for the rest of us. Fuck off, you fucking idiots.

22. Newt Fucking Gingrich. As Bartcop says, he and his wife are NOT decent people. What’s so “decent” about carrying on an affair in the congressional parking garage while leading the charge of the baying poon-hounds sniffing for semen stains on Monica’s dress? And dumping your ailing second wife for the woman you schtupped in said parking garage? Fortunately, this indecent pair will NEVER see the inside of the White House…not as residents, anyway. But their chutzpah à deux still knows no bounds!

gingrich-cruise.jpg

23. Tihomir Fucking Petrov. First he pisses on a fellow prof’s door, then he goes on the lam. The reasons why remain a mystery, but I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a wank, regardless.

24. Bob Fucking McKenzie. No, he doesn’t have a brother named Doug (that I know of, anyway). And I don’t know if he wears a tuque or sits around smoking and drinking beer and saying “Take off, eh?” all day, either. I don’t know him from Adam’s housecat, and I don’t care to know him. But I do know that he IS a hoser for blaming the same people as Wankers #16 and #20 for the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots. Don’t any of these damn sports commentators have an original thought in their lumpish heads?

25. The Fucking “Bible Believers” who swarmed all over the mosque in Dearborn, Michigan. What part of “love thy neighbor” do you asshats not understand? Because that’s in the Bible, too, and you’re showing no signs of believing in that. If you go around calling Islam (the religion of more than a billion largely peaceful people the world over) the “religion of murder” and forget what your own guys did during the Crusades, you need to learn not only some theology, but some history. And no, I’m NOT talking about the Conservafuckingpedia version of either, either.

teabagging-4-jesus.jpg

26. Paul Fucking Porter. Violence and misogyny on all channels: Acceptable. Rihanna taking (rather mildly depicted) revenge on a perpetrator of the same in her latest video? It is, and I quote, “…an inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song.” One is left to draw the inescapable conclusion that it’s okay to do any horrible thing at all to a woman, but unacceptable for her to fight back even a little bit. And some of you guys wonder why there is still a feminist movement? It’s because there’s still a crying need for one, DUH.

27. Joseph Fucking Farah. In addition to all those other things they haven’t got (like brains, sanity, hearts, good judgment, brains, brains, and brains), loony Birther editors also have no sense of humor. And are really, really fucking touchy bastards about it.

28. Sarah Fucking Palin. She’s not only a stupid twat, she is also a dickhead. Calling Anthony Weiner a “pervert” when she played God in a sickening, treacly e-mail about her own (alleged) son? That’s stupid twatness taken to a whole ‘nother level. If God “only want[s] the best” for the obviously undeserving snowbilly Palin clan and shows divine favor by “blessing” Mama Grizzly with an unbelievably easy and non-showy high-risk pregnancy, what does one say to women whose pregnancies are blighted from the get-go, with morning, afternoon and evening sickness for the whole nine months? Oh yeah, that’s right: They must all be fucking jezebels. They deserve to suffer for their sins, the hussies.

palin-antifeminist-mom.jpg

PS: In case you hadn’t heard, Weinergate is literally nothing compared to all the myriad Palingates.

And finally, to all the assholes, asshats and just plain asses who trashed Vancouver after the Stanley Cup loss, and the asinine analysts who analyzed it so asininely: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKING FUCKHEADS THINKING? Oh, scratch that…you’re not. That would entail the use of actual brain cells, which are in short supply among not only people who trash cities after a game, but also in those who blame it on “flaws in the national character”, “criminals and anarchists”, or anything else other than the Perfect Storm of a home-ice loss of Lord Stan, too much beer, suburban stupidity, and crapitalist avarice run amuck.

Good night, and get fucked!

Share this story:
Posted in Wankers of the Week | 1 Comment

Surreal adventure in an Argentine lake

Who wants to scuba-dive in a weird grey moonscape? This Argentine dude apparently does. The moonscape is Nahuel Huapí, which is normally a nice clear alpine lake in southern Argentina, and it looks like that now because it got a liberal dusting of ash from the recently-erupted Puyehue volcano in neighboring Chile. The same has disrupted air travel in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil with its massive ash cloud, which can clog the engines of jet aircraft and makes visibility extremely poor for pilots. Airlines from as far away as Australia and New Zealand have had to cancel flights because of it, although service is now starting to resume.

I can only imagine what it must be like trying to see through water darkened with a heavy layer of ash. Let’s hope this lake is clearer underneath that surface!

Share this story:
Posted in Amazing Places, Chile Sin Queso, Don't Cry For Argentina, The WTF? Files | Comments Off on Surreal adventure in an Argentine lake

Stupid Sex Tricks: When sex doesn’t sell beer

Okay…I have to admit, I thought this was very clever at first. A sexy beer ad that objectifies…MEN, for a change?

Now, tell me what exactly is wrong with this picture. Can you see it? Look closely…between the “legs”.

(If you said “brewer’s droop”, you win the Internets.)

Share this story:
Posted in Madvertising, Stupid Sex Tricks | 4 Comments

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Happy Birthday Che!

He would have been 83 this week, had he lived…but really, he’s immortal. Hasta siempre, Comandante.

Share this story:
Posted in Cuba, Libre (de los Yanquis), Don't Cry For Argentina, Festive Left Friday Blogging | 1 Comment

Looking for something to do tonight?

Broadway: It’s not just for gays anymore!

(And look! Doogie Howser can SING! And so can Stephen Colbert and Brooke Shields!)

Share this story:
Posted in Artsy-Fartsy Culture Stuff, Teh Ghey | Comments Off on Looking for something to do tonight?

Le Snog

An enigmatic image from last night’s post-hockey riots apparently has CBC in a twit-storm:

Actually, I like this image a lot better than the ones of rioters jumping on cop-cars. It’s a much truer reflection of what Vancouverites (and Canadians in general) are normally like.

And no, rioting is NOT due to anarchy OR “just part of hockey culture”, as some ignorami from the Kommentariat are suggesting. Rocker Matthew Good has perhaps the best possible analysis of what the fuck really happened in Vancouver last night and what it says about the city:

There is a vast difference between gathering in such numbers to protest something deemed politically unacceptable and burning cars after the loss of a hockey game. To put it in the clearest context possible, if the people of Egypt were able to gather in much larger numbers and force the Mubarak regime out of power without acting like idiots, then what does that say about a city in the land of milk and honey in which people riot because of the loss of a sporting event? The Egyptians faced persecution for their actions, not to mention uncertainty as to whether the movement would succeed. That’s bravery, and something to be applauded. And yet, here we are on the other side of the world acting like buffoons, lighting police cars on fire and causing such distention that emergency service vehicles can’t even access the downtown core to deal with people that have sustained injuries.

What do you want me to say? That it doesn’t represent the city as a whole because everyone from the downtown core to the Wally exchange wasn’t directly involved? That’s a nice thought, though wondrously short sighted. What do you think the national media is saying? Or, for that matter, foreign media? That it was just a small group of rabble-rousers? Or that, once again, Vancouver rioted after a Stanley Cup loss as if it’s tradition.

The last thing I care to hear is some 20-something that’s lived downtown for four months lecture me on the “realities of the city.” I lived in the downtown core for almost two decades, I’m quite familiar with it — and unlike some naïve scenester that can’t find their own ass with two hands and flashlight most of the time, I know full well what tonight’s unrest will ultimately cost taxpayers. You can think what you will about Greater Vancouver, but its core mentality hasn’t changed all that much. No amount of trendy eateries, hip night spots, and upscale retailers is going to change the fact that if you give most of the idiots around here enough rope, they’ll hang themselves and think it cool.

Basically, rioters riot because they are fucking idiots. Get enough beer into ’em, and they get bold, and shit happens. Get ’em in a crowd with lots of cover, and they get bold, and shit happens. Give ’em an excuse, any excuse, and shit happens. But they are not “anarchists”, and they are not revolutionaries, and they are not real hockey fans, either. Get it?

What happened last night in Vancouver should never be seen as an excuse for a draconian crackdown. Especially not against peaceful protests, which happen here all the time…and as long as the cops don’t get too bold themselves, peaceful is how they stay. (Yes, cops can be hooligans too. Get ’em in a crowd, give ’em uniforms and heavy armor and weaponry, and shit happens. Same as with the non-uniformed rioters. As I so often like to say, it’s never a riot until the cops show up.)

Blaming “anarchy”, like blaming hockey, is a cop-out. Chaos, which is what happened in Vancouver last night, is not the same thing as refusing to be either a leader or a follower, which is what REAL anarchism is all about. Canada is kind of short on actual anarchists. And growing shorter all the time. We live in an increasingly policed state, and that’s something we SHOULD be protesting against.

There’s another problem I notice growing: Our society is increasingly militarized, as well as increasingly policed. Do we really need that? Especially when it’s not guaranteeing or safeguarding our own democracy, but taking things in exactly the opposite direction? People in Afghanistan and Libya are being oppressed because of us and our meddlesome false notions of what a “democracy” is supposed to look like. I can tell you one thing — THIS is not it:

Personally, I’d rather see these kids making out in mid-street than all those other ones breaking windows and taking stuff. Seems like a lot more fun, and if the cops are sensible, they won’t arrest two lovebirds just for rolling around in the road. As long as they didn’t frighten the horses of the mounted unit, who cares? The traffic was already backed up for blocks, so no harm done there. As long as they weren’t rolling in stolen loot (from local boutiques or someplace halfway around the world), ain’t love grand?

Vive le Snog!

PS: The young couple in the picture have now been identified. She was injured by a cop with a riot shield; her boyfriend is trying to comfort her while they wait for help to arrive. It’s a very sweet story, so clicky the linky and be prepared to go AWWWW.

Share this story:
Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Canadian Counterpunch, Cops Behaving Badly, Fascism Without Swastikas, Morticia! You Spoke French!, Rivers in Egypt, Socialism is Good for Capitalism!, The WTF? Files | 6 Comments

Some beautiful bedtime reading for all you parents out there

And I think you’ll agree that they picked the perfect narrator:

Well played, sir.

Share this story:
Posted in Artsy-Fartsy Culture Stuff, The WTF? Files | 1 Comment