Fire Protection

Fire Protection

Remember last week when I talked about how a pay to play fired department in San Diego would be very harmful to everyone? Well, it didn't take too long to have proof of the claim that we shouldn't resort back to Rome tactics in fire fighting.



For those of you who can't work visual images and or are deaf, here's the story again because it really is unbelievable.

Tennessee County’s Subscription-Based Firefighters Watch As Family Home Burns Down

As ThinkProgress has noted, there are currently two competing visions of governance in the United States. One, the conservative vision, believes in the on-your-own society, and informs a policy agenda that primarily serves the well off and privileged sectors of the country. The other vision, the progressive one, believes in an American Dream that works for all people, regardless of their racial, religious, or economic background.

The conservative vision was on full display last week in Obion County, Tennessee. In this rural section of Tennessee, Gene Cranick’s home caught on fire. As the Cranicks fled their home, their neighbors alerted the county’s firefighters, who soon arrived at the scene. Yet when the firefighters arrived, they refused to put out the fire, saying that the family failed to pay the annual subscription fee to the fire department. Because the county’s fire services for rural residences is based on household subscription fees, the firefighters, fully equipped to help the Cranicks, stood by and watched as the home burned to the ground:

Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won’t respond, then watches it burn. That’s exactly what happened to a local family tonight. A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.

The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn’t do anything to stop his house from burning. Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay. The mayor said if homeowners don’t pay, they’re out of luck. [...]

We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception. “Anybody that’s not in the city of South Fulton, it’s a service we offer, either they accept it or they don’t,” Mayor David Crocker said.

The fire reportedly continued for hours “because garden hoses just wouldn’t put it out. It wasn’t until that fire spread to a neighbor’s property, that anyone would respond” — only because the neighbor had paid the fee.

A local newspaper further pressed Mayor Crocker about the city’s policy, which has been in place since 1990. Crocker, a Republican who was elected in 2008 and serves with a county commission where every seat is also filled by a Republican, likened the policy to buying auto insurance. The paper said he told them that, after all, “if an auto owner allowed their vehicle insurance to lapse, they would not expect an insurance company to pay for an unprotected vehicle after it was wrecked.”

Ironically, in the county commission’s latest report on its fire services, which outlines which parts of the municipal area will receive fire services only through subscriptions, the commissioners and fire service officials brag that the county is “very progressive.”

Well then, that's a good start. We need to let everything burn. Burn Tennessee down and salt the Earth behind you! Maybe people just need to get over their material possessions anyway. I guess $75 isn't THAT much. Just think about it this way: These firefighters let someone's house burn down for $75. It's like we're in 1840 again.

That's actually how fire fighters started out, in the form of the ancient Roman vigiles, who were slaves owned by Crassus. They would charge a fee to fight fires and if you didn't, well they would let your house burn and Crassus would just buy the land of your burnt down property for pennies.

Whoa. This actually happened. It actually went to the point that a place caught on fire and because the firefighters didn't get their protection payment, they let the mother fucker burn. I could see the sales pitch when they come around for their $75

"That's a nice house you have there, be a shame if somet oooops my bad"

I'm just wondering if you can actually legally set up a competing fire fighting service. It seems that's the only acceptable thing that will come of all this. You'll have fire fighters fighting over who gets to put out fires.

Though if you know anything about history, you would realize that that's how fire departments worked until after the civil war. They'd literally fight each other and set fire to things on purpose to loot it since they were all volunteers.



I wonder if someone had died in the fire, and the fire fighters did nothing, could they be held liable for the death? Probably not.

When I worked as a lifeguard It was repeated constantly that we could be held liable if we failed to act to save a person's life, regardless of whether we were on the clock or not. This family should sue the city for breathing in second hand smoke as they did nothing. They should sue them for a billion other reasons.

This has to be a conservative's perfect vision of society. Those who can't pay have their homes burn to the ground in front of them while trained firefighters look on idly and refuse to accept their money. Here's some fast facts about Obion.

-13 % of the population lives below the poverty line. 28% of the population are renters (hope your landlord paid their fire insurance!).

-500$ fee is assessed on all rural calls regardless of payment of the 75$ insurance fee. above 70 percent of all calls are considered rural. The fire department has no legal authority to collect on the fees yet it enjoys a 50% payment rate.

So that $75 fee isn't even the start of it. You just have to pay that in order to potentially use their service. A $500 fee is tacked on if you actually want them to do anything to help you. This whole story just reads like some kind of Ayn Rand fantasy and it's really very tragic.



Should I even take the other side of this? I mean, I don't get how having your house burn down isn't against your rational-self-interest enough to buy into this stupid protection against fire. I do wonder where the family did spend the money that they saved in the fee? Satellite TV? A new car payment?

It's pretty clear that this experiment in libertarianism went off like a house on fire. This is going to be everywhere in America in the next 5 years and you know why? Because "How dare big government take our money!".

The incentive here to make sure that it stays a government funded agency that makes fire fighting a blanket service offered is to make sure to prevent the reduction in property values surrounding the house. This thread that your neighbor's place may go up in flames and start your property should be enough of negative outcome that fire fighting service isn't just moral, but economically sensible from any half-rational standpoint.

This whole incident is beyond comprehension. The mayor himself is defending a house burning down over a $75 fee. How nice is that? By all accounts, the free market worked. They didn't pay for a service and so they didn't get it. I once asked a libertarian if he thought poor people's houses should burn down if they couldn't pay the firefighters and his response was "poor people shouldn't own houses."

I don't care who's paying you. If you're a fire fighter and someone's home is burning down, you put it out. That's what you are - a fucking firefighter. If a doctor saw a guy having a heart attack on the street, he wouldn't go "Ooh, better not do anything, he might not have insurance." Actually, wait. in America he might do just that.

I still don't see why the fire department, now that it was already there to put out the fire in the neighbors caused by this guy's fire, couldn't just put out the fire and then billed the family $75 later. Hell, chances are they would even be able to charge a ton of late fees for the protection and it would be totally legal.



The story even says that the family begged and pleaded and offered them money. They offered them the fucking protection money on the spot, but since it wasn't in advance, they did the scummiest thing I ever heard.

This whole thing reminds me of when I used to play The Game of Life as a kid and you opted out of buying Fire Insurance, but inevitably landed on the square where your house burns down. That's this family. Though what I believe is that this shouldn't have ever even been an option. Much like police service isn't something you could opt out of. These are basic social services that are needed for one and all.

I mean, if only there was some way to collectively charge people for common services provided by a governmental entity. Oh well, that's life I suppose. In a sane society nobody gets the option to opt in or out of fire service. It's just there. Just like no one can opt out of paying the taxes towards your kids education. You can't just choose NOT to pay the taxes for it. Nor do you set it up so people can opt out of doing so.

The best part of all this is that they didn't really save any money by not putting it out. The fire department was on the scene, they just stood around watching it burn. It would have cost them nothing to put out the fire but the few thousand gallons of water which is next to nothing compared to the home of one of their own community members. They were already unavailable in case something else caught fire so they couldn't use that as an excuse. They just sat there and watched his house burn out of simple malice.

All I can say to all this is: Fuck America.

No Blood For Highly Toxic Precious Metals

No Blood For Highly Toxic Precious Metals

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.... Sorry, I just had to laugh about the fact that when Obama stated we were going to go into Afghanistan and occupy it because the terrorist where there, I questioned it thinking that they were all in Iran already or... you know, they weren't actually there. So when it's made clear the real reason why we are occupying that country, as you can see in this news story, I just have to laugh because if I don't, I'd start to cry..

U.S. Discovers Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberries.

The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.

While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.

“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.

“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.

American and Afghan officials agreed to discuss the mineral discoveries at a difficult moment in the war in Afghanistan. The American-led offensive in Marja in southern Afghanistan has achieved only limited gains. Meanwhile, charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House.

So the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan. Yet the American officials also recognize that the mineral discoveries will almost certainly have a double-edged impact.

Instead of bringing peace, the newfound mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country.

So all this time this was the reason why Afghanistan was the "right" war. And here I thought it was all a CIA ruse to control the opiate trade. Well, it's not like we were every going to leave Afghanistan anyway, right? I think I saw a movie about this once, only it had a bunch of sexy blue cat-people in it.

This whole thing is a pretty huge discovery, I guess. Afghanistan goes from not having really anything to being the new minerals envy of the world in one short stroke. The lithium deposits are probably particularly appealing to the U.S. so they don't have to deal with Commie scum in Bolivia.




Oh yes, a mineral wealth in a country already the most corrupt in the world? Fuck yes! Couldn't ask for a better way to start a week off. Afghanistan is going to be America's biggest strip mine - move over West Virginia, we got a new player in the game!

I do have to laugh about the "Just found out" part. Ha! This has been known for a long time, it is an untapped resource that can be held through military power, of course we are in there. Would you look at all this awesome stuff in this country we invaded and occupied? How unexpected and lucky for us! I just can't believe America's luck on this whole war on terror thing. How lucky we are, I tell you! Though if there is actually a lot of lithium, then China is going to freak the fuck out.



Those poor heroin growers and traffickers, they don't know what hit them and what will hit them next. Why yes, I do hope these new found riches bring the Afgahni people many generations of prosperity and good will.. Though we both know that shit isn't going to happen.

You see, if a country is at a certain development level, discovering more resources is generally positive, see for example OPEC nations, etc. Unfortunately if they are not of that level a wealth of resources seems to have a purely negative effect. See as an example the Congo and hell, all of Africa. Look how rich the average Jamican is thanks to Alcoa. Afghanistan obviously falls in the second category. So I can't really see even a glimmer of hope in what should otherwise be a joyous occasion for its people.



Afghanistan will be horribly exploited, of course. The average Afghan is going to get zip.shit for this, just like the resource rich nations in Africa have people who are poor as shit. At least the opium will dull the pain of 14 hour mining days.

How did they even make this discovery? Whoops, we accidentally shipped a team of geologist and their equipment to our temporarily occupied territory. Might as well let them look around while we arrange return flights home. Maybe they stumbled across the precious metals while going through one of those supposed underground mazes Osama was hiding in. Imagine that, finding minerals in a region renowned for its mountains? What a shock!

But do people still honestly think we fight wars to spread democracy, freedom and the American way? I guess the last one is true since the American way is capitalism and.. well, we all know that's about fucking over your fellow man. But really, Americans have been brainwashed by multiple generations into believing this bullshit. It's all about greed. Always was and always will be. Just watch China as they invade and actually succeed in Afghanistan.

All in the name of new laptops!

What Will You Do For Your Safety?

What Will You Do For Your Safety?

If you haven't heard by now, some kid from Nigeria tried to blow up an airplane on Christmas day using bombs that he sneaked onto the plane in his underwear. This caused a lot of concern because he was able to get past that much talked about TSA security that I have hated since I first started doing a lot of traveling for work back in 2001.

It was a bit of a bad timing for me. I just got a gig that required me to fly around and do location shoots, which would have me away for weeks at a time, but worse of all, I had to first really start flying after 9/11 and the levels of security were just annoying. I knew the risk, I was more than happy to take them. Hell, chances were that they just did an attack via planes, why would they do it again so soon?



In any case, I really hated TSA. I'm sure you're going to tell me that they're keeping the air safe for travelers. I disagree. Their tactics are nothing more than Security Theater. In that it's security countermeasures that are intended to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little to nothing to actually improve security.

I suppose for many the feeling of safety is actually more important than being safe. That's why we're in the fear based society we are in today. Because the only thing you really need to control the people is fear. So with that in mind, there's a new method to try to weed out the potential problems on a flight.. futuristic x-ray machines. Stuff that will see past your cloths and will only stop with your skin...



I just have one thing to say; I'm a grower not a shower, it's such bullshit having to explain that to security every time I go to an airport. Or having them look at me odd when I go into this super x-ray machine with a stiffy. I mean, maybe they'll feel like there's some sort of awkwardness to be felt between the two of us. I'm also pretty excited and I can't wait until a transgender gets arrested and humiliated because they think it has a bomb.

It's perfect for all of you who love showing off your supple bosoms to homeland security. Hey, just doing your patriotic duty for them boys in blue, am I right? I mean, look at the following old lady get the classic Tit split. Tell me if that's not anything more than security theater. It's not really proving anything, other than she doesn't have one of those boob dividers or bombs in her cleavage.



why such the fuss about these things? is it that perverts would use it as spank material? we would only have to worry about perverts that are attracted to slightly-anthropomorphic blue human-shaped blobs. On the other hand, avatar did make a lot of money...

Think about it, wouldn't you want to be the TSA agent when the Swedish bikini team is flying out? It'll be like watching muted Tool videos all day. Then again, given that TSA is one of those agencies that it's sole existence is to give people who couldn't get a job at McDonalds a pay check, I suppose that would be an ideal task for them.



While they're trying to rush them both in the US and in Europe, it's facing a small problem there as it... um.. sort of crosses the lines into the child porn laws. But really, this is all for nothing. Especially when people can turn themselves into bombs these days. Just like the attempt on the Saudi Prince Nayef last August where the dude had a bomb sewn into his body to bypass security. Let's face it, it's simply too easy to get through security anywhere if you really want to.

Protip: If you remove the firing pin in a glock and attach it to your key chain with other ornaments to disguise it, you can get it through security just fine. Oh wait, you also need to take the barrel out and the bullets because they are metal as well. Turn them into a modern art sculpture. Attach that sculpture to your keys as well. It's fail proof. You know what? Just put te whole gun on the key ring. When have you ever seen security check any keyrings? That shit's going to slip right by them.



Besides that, until they make a scanner that detects aluminum and iron oxide or magnesium that has ill intent there's pretty much no way to keep planes safe sort of physically examining every single piece of luggage because basically anyone with an alarm clock can make an inextinguishable incendiary device and get it into the luggage compartment.

And the day after they figure out how to prevent someone from filling the frame of their suitcase with thermite, someone will simply toss a grenade at the security check in line and kill 50 people. Or convert one of the pilots themselves into being a sleeper agent. There's nothing we can do to make planes super safe. They are designed by nature to allow way too many factors into the system to sabotage something.



This doesn't mean we shouldn't take precautions to prevent highly impulsive or easy as buying a ticket and getting on a plane acts of sabotage from happening. It's just to say that life comes with risk and the more safety you want, the more of your personal freedom it will require. Speaking for myself, I feel like my personal freedom has already been stomped on to the point of me not caring. Especially when it's all for nothing.

You should be thankful in the fact that these terrorist attack are more of a symbolic attack. Just take a moment to wonder what they could do that would be thousands of times better in terms of targets that have no security and would destroy our way of life. Very few of them don't even involve suicide. Imagine what one motivated guy with basic internet level knowledge of explosives, a couple tons of easy to steal mining explosives, a van and some basic understanding of infrastructure could do. He could take out railways, power grids, water, major buildings, etc.



It's a good thing that Islamo fascists are per definition, dumb as shit. Things that would actually do a lot of damage are rarely all that symbolically satisfying as the things like blowing up planes or blowing up some big buildings.

All I know is that the first thing I'm going to do the next time I fly anywhere is write "Fuck You" on my ass in electrical tape and then fly around the country shaking it.

Blackwater Strikes Again

Blackwater Strikes Again

I've already made a lot of points on why Blackwater is one of the atrocities that we unleashed into the world and that alone should have us be condemeed as a nation.

Vanity fair reports in this:

Erik Prince, recently outed as a participant in a C.I.A. assassination program, has gained notoriety as head of the military-contracting juggernaut Blackwater, a company dogged by a grand-jury investigation, bribery accusations, and the voluntary-manslaughter trial of five ex-employees, set for next month. Lashing back at his critics, the wealthy former navy seal takes the author inside his operation in the U.S. and Afghanistan, revealing the role he’s been playing in America’s war on terror.
By ADAM CIRALSKY January 2010

“I put myself and my company at the C.I.A.’s disposal for some very risky missions,” says Erik Prince as he surveys his heavily fortified, 7,000-acre compound in rural Moyock, North Carolina. “But when it became politically expedient to do so, someone threw me under the bus.” Prince—the founder of Blackwater, the world’s most notorious private military contractor—is royally steamed. He wants to vent. And he wants you to hear him vent.

Erik Prince has an image problem—the kind that’s impervious to a Madison Avenue makeover. The 40-year-old heir to a Michigan auto-parts fortune, and a former navy seal, he has had the distinction of being vilified recently both in life and in art. In Washington, Prince has become a scapegoat for some of the Bush administration’s misadventures in Iraq—though Blackwater’s own deeds have also come in for withering criticism. Congressmen and lawyers, human-rights groups and pundits, have described Prince as a war profiteer, one who has assembled a rogue fighting force capable of toppling governments. His employees have been repeatedly accused of using excessive, even deadly force in Iraq; many Iraqis, in fact, have died during encounters with Blackwater. And in November, as a North Carolina grand jury was considering a raft of charges against the company, as a half-dozen civil suits were brewing in Virginia, and as five former Blackwater staffers were preparing for trial for their roles in the deaths of 17 Iraqis, The New York Times reported in a page-one story that Prince’s firm, in the aftermath of the tragedy, had sought to bribe Iraqi officials for their compliance, charges which Prince calls “lies … undocumented, unsubstantiated [and] anonymous.” (So infamous is the Blackwater brand that even the Taliban have floated far-fetched conspiracy theories, accusing the company of engaging in suicide bombings in Pakistan.)


...
But the truth about Prince may be orders of magnitude stranger than fiction. For the past six years, he appears to have led an astonishing double life. Publicly, he has served as Blackwater’s C.E.O. and chairman. Privately, and secretly, he has been doing the C.I.A.’s bidding, helping to craft, fund, and execute operations ranging from inserting personnel into “denied areas”—places U.S. intelligence has trouble penetrating—to assembling hit teams targeting al-Qaeda members and their allies. Prince, according to sources with knowledge of his activities, has been working as a C.I.A. asset: in a word, as a spy. While his company was busy gleaning more than $1.5 billion in government contracts between 2001 and 2009—by acting, among other things, as an overseas Praetorian guard for C.I.A. and State Department officials—Prince became a Mr. Fix-It in the war on terror. His access to paramilitary forces, weapons, and aircraft, and his indefatigable ambition—the very attributes that have galvanized his critics—also made him extremely valuable, some say, to U.S. intelligence. (Full disclosure: In the 1990s, before becoming a journalist for CBS and then NBC News, I was a C.I.A. attorney. My contract was not renewed, under contentious circumstances.)

I can't wait till they make a movie about this. He'll be portrayed as a hero like Jack Bauer. At the very worst they'll make him into some "The Good Shepherd"-style tortured soul who becomes evil but only because he loves his country so.

The trailer for this will totally begin with "in a world..."
It was a time of war
It was a time of assholes
It was a time of war and assholes
He served his country, infiltrating and securing the most dangerous parts of the globe...

*wide angel shot of humvee driving on Iraqi road, into village*

But when those that used him...

Secretary:"Oval office on the line, Mr. Prince"

began to abuse him...

Prince: "I'm not comfortable with this mission..."
Evil Politician Voice: "You're a mercenary, a tool. Do as your told. You'll be protected."

Things go too far

*quick cuts of machine gun bursts, and screaming Iraqis*

Prince: "I can't believe this is happening..."
Underling: "We had to, it was necessary... right, boss?" *stares off into space*

Now, when the price of loyalty is too high, one man must take a stand against corruption

Politician: "You've become a liability, Prince."
Prince: "I NEVER WANTED IT TO GO THIS WAY"
Politician: "It's become expedient... to expend you..." *wipes glasses*
Prince: "I don't think so..."

*fade to black, title fades in*

Coming this february

Blood in the BlackWater

A Michael Bay film

Summer 2011

------
It's like a shitty video game plot, but in real life. You'll need something to pas your time between rounds of Modern Combat 2, right?



Make no mistake, these people are the definition of pure evil. The entire Prince family as well as their close associations to Joseph Schmitz are all Franco-loving Pinochet-fellating millenialist clerical fascist and the fact that they have a private sanctioned army within the united states should scare the fuck out of you.

I'm pretty sure they changed the name of Blackwater to XE because it's hard to say/read and that will discourage people from talking about the company's evil doings. Like, is it a chinese thing, like 'sheh', or should i say 'ecksee' or 'zee' or what? But now the head of a multinational private security firm was contracted by the CIA to assassinate people.. yeah, it's not much of a shocking revelation.

Outer Heav-... Blackwater's compound is in the united states.. You know what to do. There's only one thing to do...



I just have to wonder how anyone on earth could ever be surprised by getting fucked over by the CIA? How? Do they know the track record for the CIA? It's pretty much the biggest fuck ups possible. It's really hilarious... Erik Prince for some reason thought the CIA was contracting out missions against its charter because they just liked him SOOOOOO much as opposed to the plausible deniability they would ineluctably have by utilizing a 3rd party with an already tarnished reputatio

the united states is turning overt fascist juuuuuuuust slowly enough that people don't seem to notice, think back 10 years ago to things like habeas corpus and not having hundreds of thousands of Troops and paramilitaries in iraq/afghanistan and shit, now imagine what things are going to be like in another 10 years



Why are private military companies allowed to exist again? I mean, waht purpose do they serve and wasn't our constitution created in order to avoid them? I guess they're around because the government wants to be able to conduct illegal international activities and despite their best efforts, the military actually has some oversight. Governments since the beginning of time have hired mercenaries. They're usually more experienced than your soldiers and can do things where if your normal soldiers get caught you'll be in big trouble. Also there is the fact that if they become too politically inconvenient you can throw them under the bus or if you're old school the gallows. They're an amazing scapegoat, But Eric Prince is a James Bond villain. Only scarier.



Private military contractors are the ultimate libertarian fantasy: Just let the free markets decide who to hire to do the job, and if they're not doing a good job competition will get the upper hand. Thus, only the best private military will remain and will no doubt be better than the SOCIALIST federal army funded with your tax dollars.

Future Weapons on Discovery/Military channel basically jerks off Blackwater on a daily basis. I guess it's the scratching of backs since they regularly visit and discuss their hyper-efficient new wave of killing devices. "A good defense is a good offense". This philosophy enables mercs to truly believe that their highly lethal device, designed and manufactured to kill as easily and efficiently as possible, is defending them. Thing is, they are the invasive force. Simply not going there, even for money, is the best defense. This, and their fetishization of the IDF were the exact reasons why I never cared to watch the piece of shit show.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: Fuck This Gay Planet

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: Fuck This Gay Planet



These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.

Simple solution: Kill all humans. The giant garbage patch floating around in the pacific gyre is getting to be a problem. As the saltware and the UV are breaking down the plastics, the whole thing is turning into a sort of plastic soup/suspension and it's beginning to fuck with micro organisms.

In short, we're pretty much fucked if we continue on our ways of messing with mother nature. Eventually we'll be feeding plastic soup to our children with every beach trip. Just something to think about the next time you think of putting that recyclable in the regular trash can.

Modern Combat 2 - We're A Sick Nation

Modern Combat 2 - We're A Sick Nation

This post is about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (in stores now) and the rather surprising racism contained within it highlighted by a section of game play. So that you're in the loop, early on in the game you take the role of a CIA operative who has infiltrated a Russian terrorist cell and, not wanting to risk your cover, you go along on a terrorist raid to an airport in Russia (in mother Russia, airplanes fly you!); Your crew of terrorist pals walk out of an elevator and open fire on a group of unarmed civilians murdering all of them. Tally that up to the cost of freedom.

The people scream, bleed, twist and die in a way that is frighteningly realistic. The player is expected to shoot at the civilians because, if they do not, their cover is compromised. The player is given free reign to walk through the airport terminal and pick off fleeing, wounded civilians at their leisure - it is not until you cross a checkpoint do local law enforcement officials arrive.

Activision, the publisher of COD:MW2, have said though that there will be a checkpoint where the game stops and says to the player "the following sequence has content that some players might find distressing." I have played a lot of very violent games and I feel I can say that this section of MW2 takes things to a whole new level of fucked-up. But it's okay because you can skip it...



No wait. That's exactly why it's terrible. Why give the player the ability to kill fucking innocent people in such a sick manner to prove they're with the terrorist? I've played GTA for as long as I remember, running over hookers is one thing, this is something else entirely. Take a look at this video clip of the airport scene if you can stomach that sort of thing...



As you can see, if you waited for the ending.. you did all that blood shed for absolutely NOTHING. Perhaps this is what makes it brilliant. The CIA dude gets shot in the head by the terrorist leader, basically showing that the CIA is evil, incompetent and actively elped the terrorists' cause. Just like in real life. Though, if it really was a CIA agent his gun would jam or something, the CIA is not competent enough to do these kinds of things.

But then again, most of the gamers playing this aren't going to realize this, even with this ham fisted message in their face. They'll consider the CIA agent as the protagonist and any game that the CIA agent is the "Hero" is a shameful game. If not for the before seen game play where he goes along with mass murder for the sake of information or to get in good with the terrorist. But hey, want to see that part again?


Those scenes are entirely brutal not just in concept, but the sound. That Youtube video doesn't do it justice on how sick and over the top this is. It's beyond scary. Then you have to remember that there are people who would willing do this in real life, for either faith or politics or just because they are crazy, and that real bodies, real blood, real screams, and real guns are much messier and louder respectively. Personally, I'm glad video games aren't all that realistic in the grand scheme of things. But the fact that you're numbing someone to these really just screams bad taste. There should be a game where you play as a CIA agent and do actual CIA agent stuff like checking in to a Moscow hotel room, waiting around until you are paralyzed by ennui after your 49th hour of Russian state tv, and then being informed your mission has been canceled due to bad intel



Why can't I just kill Makarov in the elevator during the airport level instead of mowing down hundrest of Russian citizens? Sure, I'll die.. maybe, but I mean, what the fuck. Are you not suppose to value the life of Russians because they aren't Americans? I think you could definitely kill all three of those dudes before they ever fired a single shot. Forcing you to go through with it would make sense if General Voldemort and Makarov were in cahoots to start the third world war, but apparently they hated each other since the beginning. So the story doesn't even make sense.

It would be an interesting social experiment if they would keep track of the average number of civilians killed in the airport level and post it on the internet. I'm pretty curious as to how horrible our youth really is.



Then again, this isn't new to Modern Warfare. The first game had a bit where you are in a bomber a few thousand feet up and you can shoot and kill people that run back to their homes from a mosque. Again, killing civilians from the safety of a bomber is OKAY AS LONG AS THEY ARE MUSLIMS.. or brown people. Hooah!

Just think of the "enemy infantryman's" last moments as they are spent in absolute terror as hell rains down around them, but to you it just looks like you're shooting at ants on the screen while you circle thousand of feet above free from any threat of harm. You and your bro share a chuckle as a tiny ant torso flies across the screen. God bless you, America.


"Hey roach, imma torture this towelhead in shorts, you go shoot someone or something"

I mean, look at that image. The black guy is just staring into space. They clearly already worked him over and got essential information out of him that we all know torture provides. In the original modern warfare, the player takes on the role of the president of an unnamed middle eastern nation. You are dragged through the streets of your former capitol city, beaten with the stock of an AK, watch unarmed prisoners be executed and are powerless to stop it. You are then knocked out and dragged to a pole in the middle of town square, tied to it and executed.

In another sequence the villain of the game detonates a nuclear bomb in the middle of a the aforementioned middle east city. You are playing the role of a Marine at this point who has confirmed his status as a hero by rescuing the pilot of a downed troop carrier helicopter when a nuclear bomb goes off. Your evac chopper crashes and you crawl through the destroyed city bleeding out until you are dead.

But the kids keep on eating this shit up. Why hey, what do you know, Modern Warfare 2, Guitar Hero 5 Among 'Tweens' Most-Wanted For Holidays

A survey published by U.S. video game specialty retailer Game Crazy this week found that 86 percent of teens and "tweens" will ask for a video game this year, with Guitar Hero 5 and the M-rated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 among the most wanted.

AHHHHH, MOM. I WANNA PLAY SHOOTERMAN 5: FALL OF FALLUJAH!

This game is going to sell over 10 million copies and at least, AT LEAST 1/10th of those people are going to fist pump or go "Hell yeah!!" at the torture scenes. Let that settle in your mind a little. Then again, the percentage that will fist pump their arm at the airport scene is more frightening.

Then there's those that are angry that this game comes out 2 days later on steam. Which I suppose is justified question. Why should people want the game on demand without the need of putting on pants not be able to play it on the day of release? All it does is make them want to pirate the game.

Besides, who will want to play multiplayer on this piece of shit game? The multiplayer feature really is awful. Not as awful as playing as a piece of shit CIA agent killing hundreds, but still pretty bad. But for those who don't have the game in hand now and numbing themselves to the problems of their fellow man, they are playing the first mission, which is a lot of teaching Iraqi's to be self sufficient. The entire first mission is Generation Kill, The Video Game.



As much as I dislike farmville, It's not teaching people to be completely numb to the deaths of innocents or pushing the marine/military mentality. The idea that as long as there's no naked titties or dead children, people aren't going to have that much of a hard time with it.

The whole plot of this game is tons of people getting murdered because the CIA fucked up. And really, that's what the CIA does. You know, like how they'll be captured and tortured before they even get dinner because they had known the CIA agent was coming for about 3 weeks thanks to intel gathered from spies and communist sympathizers.

It's games like this that make us completely ignore the fact that ARE troops, post serving their time and without any other sort of option for career, join "security forces" like Blackwater and, well, if the news have showed us anything, they're pieces of shit. Take for example what Former Blackwater execs said: "So we killed 17 civilians and tried to cover it up."

Blackwater Said to Pursue Bribes to Iraq After 17 Died

WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees. American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

The idea of executives at a private security firm like blackwater resigning over ethical concerns is so unbelievably bizarre to me I don't know what to make of it other than these are clearly some of the most hate-able whistle blowers ever. Black Water is one of the few cartoonishly evil things in the world. There's little ambiguity about it. But I should stop referring to them as Blackwater. If I keep doing that, then their name change t XE will be a success as that name is currently not as reviled and associated with murder and corruption.

At midday on Sept. 16, 2007, a Blackwater convoy opened fire on Iraqi civilians in the crowded intersection, spraying automatic weapons fire in ways that investigators later claimed was indiscriminate, and even launching grenades into a nearby school.

Blackwater is the Soviet invasion force from Red Dawn.



Then again, I could write an entire blog the size of this one dedicated to the evils that is Blackwater/XE, let's get back on the subject here.

If you play Modern Warfare 2 unironically, you're a piece of shit. Any game that has Dick Cheney quotes when you die is something you shouldn't play. But for the sake of the argument, I played a little of it so I can complain about it with some insight on seeing evil first hand.

I was on the first mission and just got onto some mounted machine gun as a grunt in the desert. My troopmates were all cheering over some explosion and clearly they programed them to act just like military douchebags and I couldn't help it and I just fucking shot them all. I failed the mission, but left my mark. Ft. Hood. Oooooorah!



The scary thing is that apparently there were Army Recruiters at various midnight release lines. This fucking country, I tell you. Cause what the military really needs are the kind of people that line up at midnight for an Xbox game. Let this be a reminder that the army literally uses call of duty to entice kids to sign up.

Who the fuck plays this game and thinks "Hmm, yes, I'd like to do this in real life." How exactly is this any good in promoting the army? You die like once every five minutes in these video games. I hope that anyone who really feels the need to join after playing this game falls cock-first on an IED.



Video games that recreate the horrors of actual historical conflicts and attempt turn them into fun point grabbing adventures are morally abhorrent. I could just picture the young grandson sitting the living room with his grandpa with the xbox on:

"hey gramps remember when you stormed the beaches and watched your best friend die? Well if you weren't satisfied with only being dragged back to that terrible event in your nightmares you can now watch me play it on the big screen during the day. Did your buddy die on this part of the beach or that part? Where was it the shrapnel gave you a permanent limp? Watch me stab that guy in the gut, oh I know he's on our side, but I'm just having fun"

Modern Warfare 2 is neocon American flag waving piece of shit that puts the show 24 to shame in terms of ridiculousness. Basically the story is 50% red dawn and 50% kill-random-brown-people served with torture sauce. With moralistic quotes from kleptocrats such as Dick Cheney and Donald motherfucking Rumsfeld, this should be banned for more reasons other than "it'll turn your kids into terrorist."

This game is seriously terrifying. So much so that it's hard for me to accept this as anything but parody. But that's the sad part. It's not parody. It's not any sort of satire. It's really scary to think that anyone would have fun playing a game like this. I can only wait for Modern Combat 3 for when we get more Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Featuring actions such as Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

How Smal Is Your Penis?

How Smal Is Your Penis?

So let's go ahead and ask the big question, How small, exactly, is your penis? The question should be answered by these gents with a simple youtube video;



Thy did it. They finally did it. They built the Canyonero....



Why would you need that sort of driving power? You seriously have to be packing some mighty small penis gear if you need this to carry all your shit around. Imagine the status symbol in all this. The only thing that son-bitch is missing is some truck nutz. Though I'm sure they're already on order.

Fuck the ozone layer, let's get this bitch on the road, am I right? This is more reasons why we should just burn America down. Burn it all down to the ground. From the ashes will arise something... well, something that I would hope would not be like this.

The Yellow Cake Is A Lie

The Yellow Cake Is A Lie

I like cartoons. I like them a lot. But if there's one thing I like more is cartoons with a serious message that you should pay attention to. So with a heavy and most serious heart, I embed this video entitled Yellow Cake. You have eight minutes to watch this, so watch it now.

Yellow Cake from Nick Cross on Vimeo.

Giving Your Finger To The Health Care Crisis

Giving Your Finger To The Health Care Crisis

Well, it has come to this, someone puts a government funded health care plan to the test.

Health reform rally last night where a pro-reform demonstrator bit off the finger of an aggressive 65-year-old anti-reformer.

Earlier, we were a little unclear about who did what to who, but Kuns has helped clarify things.

On one side of a big intersection outside of a shopping mall in Thousand Oaks, CA, were between 150 and 200 pro-reform demonstrators at a well-publicized MoveOn rally. Across the street were no more than a dozen anti-reform protesters who arrived just before the MoveOn rally began. Four were holding hands in silent prayer. Another wore a tea party t-shirt. Some held signs with slogans like "No Obamacare." All but one were relatively restrained.

The exception was a tall 65-year-old man in an orange shirt who Kuns said "was displaying what I would consider to be intimidating behavior." He first picked on a pro-reform woman more than a foot shorter than him, stretching his arms out and shooing her away as he advanced on her and she backpedaled.

"It appeared to me that he was saying, basically, get on your own side of the street now," Kuns said. "He was chasing her."

Next on the anti-reformer's harassment list was a pro-reformer who appeared to be in his late 30s or early 40s, was stocky, and several inches shorter than the 65-year-old. Though Kuns isn't sure how the pro-reformer ended up on the anti side of the street, she saw the two men face to face, exchanging words.

Then the anti-reformer in the orange shirt "punches him straight up in the face, right between the eyes." The smaller pro-reformer's glasses and hat flew off, and he fell into the street.

"I don't know who started it wordwise," Kuns said, "but I can tell you for sure that the guy who threw the first punch was the anti guy. And can he punch hard! He knocked this guy down into the street."

The pro-reformer got up. The anti-reformer tried to block him from standing on the curb. A short scuffle ensued, and it was unclear to Kuns who was doing what to whom. The anti-reformers surrounding the fighting men stayed back. When the fight ended, the pro-reformer crossed the street and announced to the MoveOn rally that he'd bitten the man's finger off.

"He was certainly not swaggering," Kuns said, referencing earlier reports saying he had been. "He was pissed and he was shaking."

"He was angry. His demeanor was what you'd expect from somebody who'd just been hit hard. He was defensive."

Sheriffs deputies soon arrived. Kuns isn't sure where the finger biter took off to, but did see the bitten man walk in the direction of a hospital a couple blocks away. The AP has since reported that a hospital spokeswoman said the anti-reformer lost half his finger, though doctors reattached it and sent him home last night. "She says he had Medicare," the story states.

I could write satirical news stories for the rest of my life and never write satire better than this article. You literally can't write a better punchline than the facts of this situation. If you're not following why if I were the person researching and writing this article, I wouldn't be able to suppress every fiber of my being not to just start mashing the keyboard, let me point you to the highlights of this article with such ironic last sentence.

-Pro health care reform group gathers
-Anti-health care reform group gathers
-Anti-health care reform protester starts shit with Pro group.
-Gets finger bitten off after he throws punches
-Gets it reattached using Medicare...

That's the most important aspect to this story.

"She says he had Medicare,"

This is something I simply don't understand. How could a senior on medicare protest against medicare? I guess they're not really protesting against Medicare. What they're doing is protesting against people that don't have it getting it. It's literally screaming out loud "FUCK YOU, GOT MINE!"



If someone were to start punching me, and I got his finger in my mouth, I'd bit that shit off too. In a Fox news report he claims that they didn't reattach it. Saying that the doctors said it would be infected by the biters mouth germs. So some GOVERNMENT MEDICARE BUREAUCRAT said fuck it! Forget Obama's death panels, clearly they've already started! AM I RIGHT?!?! After the interview they called the hospital again and confirmed it was reattached, so I have one thing to say to that:

SHOW US THE CERTIFICATE OF LIVE REATTACHMENT!



If he's an anti-reformer it means one thing, he wants Government out of his health care and fears that it would be like the DMV and doesn't want any sort of socialism around him. Maybe it was simply because he grew up with all those Cold War threats. But how could you honestly and with a straight face say that you don't trust a Government funded health care plan and then use a government funded health care insurance to save your own digit? There is really nothing left to say after this except DEATH TO AMERICA!

People should start showing up to tea party rallies thrown by those god awful baby boomers protesting a "socialist" health care plan with "ABOLISH MEDICARE" signs and see what kind of reaction they get. Take them off medicare and let them die. All of them. Even on their deathbeds they'll be as fucking clueless and self centered to ever realize what's happening in the world. This country would be a lot better if we simply enacted the policies in Logan's Run.

This health care reform my be a little confusing to those who only get their news in 30 second spurts from Fox news but this is just semantics over how to describe the budget process. They aren't trying to cut medicare in any significant way and to suggest to old people on medicare that they are cutting their benefits or cutting their programs is just fear mongering. But maybe more body parts need to get bitten off so that the real story gets out.



These anti-reformist should make their point with this. I suppose I see their point because of this is what they're talking about. One asshole bites off the finger of another asshole and my tax dollars are expected to pay for it?! Fuck that, let's abolish all government health plans!

Yesterday it seemed that everyone on face book was going on about writing and propagating this one message:

No one should die or suffer because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, post this as your status for the rest of he day.

Much like a certain cook on foodnetwork, I thought I would kick it up a notch by rewriting it like this:

I thinks that no one should die because they cannot afford health care, but thinks fuckers who have medicare shouldn't protest a government option or they deserve to get their fingers bitten off. Protesting against people that don't have it getting it is literally saying "FUCK YOU, GOT MINE". If you agree, please bite off some anti-reformist finger today.I think it's an

improvement.