| recent comments mjp said: I'm, uh, working on it. Right now. ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up! shane said: michael phillips,you are a fuckin madman,post yer next story... ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up! mjp said: Yes, that is a potential problem for people in 10,001. I often worry about... ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... damian said: indeed. ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... Scott h Florance said: The Christians believe Jesus Christ tis immortal and he lives forever. It is... ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... mjp said: Isn't there a NASCAR or gun or fishing or tabakky-chewing site you can go... ~ I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead Andrew Olin Jones said: Hillbilly said you might turn off the smog but I don't want you to do that... ~ I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead mjp said: My childhood box? I don't think anyone wants to open that... ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up!   previous ramblings • I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead 2.18.08 • Simple is as simple does 1.31.08 • I feel the earthworms under my feet 1.22.08 • New boots and panties 1.19.08 • I haven't given up, I've just stopped trying 12.25.07 • I don't pray. Kneeling bags my nylons. 12.20.07 • So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night 9.19.07 • Grab the closet case by the horns 8.11.07 • Blogged down in the forum of my youth 5.23.07 • Hotter than July 5.16.07 • 26 Miles Across the Deep Blue Sea 5.11.07 • A rose by any other name, still doesn't smell so good 4.6.07 • Children of a lesser dog from hell 2.22.07 • Squid lights 1.9.07 • Cats and dogs 12.19.06 • Mission accomplished! 11.22.06 • Various tidbits of marginal interest to anyone 11.9.06 • Buddy, can you spare a town? 10.16.06 • A garbage can is somewhat precise. 10.6.06 • Another cantankerous rant - surprise! 9.25.06 • Hey, where you been? 9.1.06 • Geeeeeeee mail, @smog.net 7.27.06 • Oh good lord, it's a kid's show 7.22.06 • Sleeping dogs 6.28.06 • Dumb and dumber 6.21.06 • HDTV for $150! 5.16.06 • Thank you for calling the White House. My name is Krishna, how may I be providing you excellent service today? 4.28.06 • Decades and bits of centuries 4.24.06 • Secret Society 3.22.06 • Sometimes I don't speak right, but yet I know what I'm talking about 3.20.06 • This is the modern world 3.15.06 • Shakespeare never did this 2.18.06 • Who is Lonnie Tolliver, and why should you care? 1.27.06 • Scuttlebutt and innuendo 1.16.06 • Beware the fury of a patient man 1.6.06 • I feel 100 pounds lighter already... 12.30.05 • Dude! Your wiki is showing... 12.20.05 • Yeti spotted, film at 11! 12.19.05 • "God is a concept by which we measure our pain." 12.9.05 • Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... 12.8.05 • Hey, what's with the torn up clothes, and didn't you have a shag haircut last week? 12.5.05 • Shameless self-promotion or a desperate cry for love? You decide. 11.18.05 • Further proof that drinking will kill you 11.6.05 • Big Apple dreamin' on a wooden floor 11.1.05 • Happy birthday to smog. Now where's my cake? 10.16.05 • I got nothing 10.4.05 • free within my own doom 9.25.05 • A Rambling Essay on Politics and the Bleeding Life Written While Drinking a Six-Pack (Tall) 9.12.05 • (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown 8.31.05 • Well, could I have her spam instead of the baked beans then? 8.28.05 • What has four wheels and flies? 8.21.05 • Don't think twice, it's all right 8.13.05 • My ass is getting cold sitting on this glacier... 8.11.05 • Capital radio 8.11.05 • nobody's fault 7.23.05 • secret santa 7.3.05 • everything we touch turns to rust 6.21.05 • on the edge of seventeen 6.13.05 • life at 300 baud 6.9.05 • 12 steps away from the screen, running 6.5.05 • shake a leg 6.5.05 • san pedro anarchy press, Inc. 5.22.05 • Z is for zealot 5.20.05 • Lenny Bruce was right 5.16.05 • bad meat in the can 5.12.05 • it's in the water 5.12.05 • you tell me 5.10.05 • what matters most is how well you're lit 5.5.05 • just keep pulling the handle, it'll all be over soon 5.3.05 • rust never sleeps 4.24.05 • randomness, chaos and deliverance 4.21.05 • baby was a black sheep, baby was a whore 4.20.05 • Kill my boss? Do I dare live out the American dream? 4.16.05 • roses are red, violets are blue, i thought my hell had ended, but the devil is a crafty bastard with a sick sense of humor and a mean streak a mile wide 4.14.05 • rock the cash bar 4.12.05 • many rivers to cross 4.10.05 • imitation is the sincerest form of unoriginality 4.8.05 • if you are the big tree, we are the small axe! 4.8.05 • give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine 4.4.05 • and who the hell figured QWERTY was a good idea? 4.4.05 • your pope was nothing compared to this guy! 4.3.05 • you've got a TV...i've got a TV...we've all got TV's... 3.29.05 • hitler painted roses 3.26.05 • counselor 3.25.05 • she's still here, damn it! 3.21.05 • patience is a virtue, but resignation is for suckers. 3.13.05 • should have taken mom up on those violin lessons... 3.9.05 • last night a dj saved my life! yeah, maaaaan! 3.9.05 • if i had a hammer... 3.8.05 • caveman re-invents the wheel! film at 11. 3.7.05 • he's mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore! 3.4.05 • this is a public service announcement - with guitar! 3.2.05 • battlefield girth 2.28.05 • never give a media giant an even break 2.25.05 • 10 Things I've done that you haven't 2.24.05 • come back, bastard! 2.23.05 • hey, just because he likes Judy Garland records and the Tony awards doesn't necessarily mean anything... 2.23.05 • "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." 2.21.05 • I couldn't say it if it wasn't true 2.17.05 • The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs." 2.11.05 • how to lose 10 pounds in five minutes! 2.6.05 • earth to smog, earth to smog 2.5.05 • my own private chernobyl... 2.2.05 • Estoy solo, pero siento que tu estas conmigo. 1.26.05 • confessions of an obsessive freak of nature 1.5.05 • death wants more death 12.30.04 • every mikkle make a muckle (ask a Jamaican what it means) 12.17.04 • things that don't suck 12.15.04 • what's it all about, mjp? 11.11.04 • old dog, new tricks 9.2.04 • if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all 8.15.04 • Frida Kahlo, Charles Bukowski and Joel-Peter Witkin have left the building 2.13.03 • R.I.P. smog.net 5.19.04 • almost cut my hair...it happened just the other day 4.23.04 • and we're back! 4.22.04 • one cocoa full a basket 2.14.04 • let's get ready to rumble 1.24.04 • brace yourself for a shitstorm 1.6.04 • it's my party, i'll o.d. if i want to 12.6.03 • pimp-a-licious 11.27.03 • on a clear day you can see the 18th century 11.9.03 • men are from mars, women are from vegas 10.14.03 • hit and run walker 10.6.03 • It's all cow, after all 10.2.03 • Johnny Cash is dead, Tower records is bankrupt, gawd save the fucking Queen. 9.13.03 • any history of mental illness? 9.10.03 • boggle: to hesitate as if in fear or doubt. 9.6.03 • pass the aspirin 8.27.03 • this is what i get for leaving the house 7.21.03 • safety in numbers 7.13.03 • god damn 7.11.03 • a million and one stupid things... 6.6.03 • praise Jeebus! 5.23.03 • Kennedy to John Lydon; "Oh, lighten up!" 5.20.03 • they say the French are cowards and assholes... 5.2.03 • I couldn't possibly be *that* fat! 4.19.03 • what's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding? 3.22.03 • this skunk's for you 3.12.03 • Monday's coming like a jail on wheels 2.24.03 • linux, linus, lomax, duck! 2.20.03 • FREE MICHAEL JACKSON! 2.18.03 • the weather in Los Angeles is cloudy 2.13.03 ©1995-2008 mjp | Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... Thursday, December 8th 2005, 9:58am Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us. - William O. Douglas, former Supreme Court Justice I am apolitical to the point of being apathetic. Neither Democrat or Republican, more a begrudging participant, and even then, only when it's time to vote. As far as voting for president is concerned, I have done so every four years since 1980, and in those seven presidential elections I have not once managed to cast a vote for the "winning" candidate. That should give you an idea of where I'm coming from. Not exactly the mainstream, but I came to grips with that a long time ago.  I hesitate to write anything even remotely related to politics, mainly because politics is so god damned boring that thinking or talking about it makes me want to fling myself from the top of the Washington monument onto an unsuspecting cluster of gaping tourists and beggars. But one thing always gets up my nose, whether you're talking politics or real life, is hypocrisy. To declare that politicians are hypocritical is obvious and pointless, of course. But then I have a flair for the obvious and pointless, so here we go. As I might have given away with the opening quote, this little bitchfest is about freedom of speech and expression, and to me, that is a personal issue, not a political one. The first amendment to our Bill of Rights exists to prevent it from becoming a political issue, yet politicians are continually scurrying about in the shadows - and more recently in the cold light of day - to erode that freedom.  The height of hypocrisy in America has to be the repression of free speech. How can someone claim to love this country and the principles it was founded on, and at the same time engage in censorship? How can an administration with a Vice President who feels free to say to Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, "Go fuck yourself!" - on the floor of the Senate no less - also lobby for tighter restrictions on broadcasters? Republican Senator Ted Stevens of the great state of Alaska told the National Association of Broadcasters, "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air..." - meaning the majority party in the house and senate are striking while they have a window of opportunity, and gearing up to take away your HBO, CineMax, Pay-per-view porn and satellite radio. Why? Because, well, you know...umm...the children! Yeah, that's it!  The children! That is always their argument. The precious and wonderful children mustn't be exposed to such things as bare asses and people saying "shit." Which begs the question, what kind of parent can't control what goes into their own children's sacred and unspoiled eye and earholes? The kind who don't want to talk to their children, that's who. The kind who wouldn't know what to say if little Jennifer asked, "Mommy, what's a penis?" They are horribly uncomfortable with such natural and factual issues, and they want to prevent anyone anywhere from mentioning such nasty things as shit and penises so that they can continue to pretend that they don't exist. That's "Family Values" in a nutshell.  After "regulating" (and by regulating they mean eradicating) all "adult" content from televisions and radios - even the adult content that you are paying to enjoy - they will move on to dictating what you can read and probably think about as well. Think I'm exaggerating? Our pal Senator Ted Stevens also wants to regulate the internet. In fact, the Federal Election Commission has already extended a 2002 campaign finance law to the Internet. That sets the stage for the federal government to potentially shut down any site that they determine is "contributing" too much to a political campaign. As most things governmental, it is a vague and undefined law (at least as it applies to the internet), and vague and undefined translates to wide-reaching and oppressive in the real world. Which political party is in favor of regulating pay services and the internet? Republicans. Overwhelmingly. But why is that hypocritical if Republicans constantly bang the drum for "decency" and "family values"? Well, it is hypocritical because Republicans - yes, even Republican politicians - are only human (hard for me to admit, but true). They swear and fuck each other and eat fatty foods and watch naked people on TV. But they are also cowards and liars, because while engaging in these perfectly acceptable adult pastimes, they can also be found loudly proclaiming from every rooftop and cable news channel that, "We must eliminate this scourge of indecency from our fine and moral country!" We continue to catch them with their hands in the cookie jar and their dicks in women (or men) other than their wives, yet they carry on, utterly unapologetic and with more energy and resolve than ever before. They learned long ago that people don't care one bit about what you do, only about what you say. And if your message is shouted in sufficiently simple terms and with just the right amount of righteous indignation, the same people who you bent over the table and brutally ass-fucked yesterday will wipe their noses, pull their pants up and stand to applaud you today.  Of course this applies to politicians of all stripes, but the typical Democrat seems to be savvy enough not to run around screaming about "family values," while organizing book burnings. "Ooh, he said 'book burnings'...what's next, comparing modern day politicians to Nazis?" Well, whether you like it or not, "regulating" things people pay to see is no different than burning books. It is the suppression of ideas that the ruling class doesn't want the unwashed masses to have easy access to.These flag-waving, family values, JESUS-on-a-stick types (admit it, the three go together more often than not, regardless of political affiliation) are a confounding bundle of contradictions, repression and hatred. It's hard to believe they haven't imploded like a black hole yet, into a tiny, angry, molecule that no light can escape from. I think that's what they really want. They would be safe in there. Safe from us bad, naked, cursing folks and our penises and boobies. But unfortunately, there's nowhere they can go to be safe from themselves. The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair. - H. L. Mencken We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it. - Edward R. Murrow I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. - James Baldwin ----- And finally, on a somewhat related note;  I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward.- George Washington, Federalist What the hell was Washington talking about? Maybe something like this; "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - George W. Bush, 3/13/02 Wait a minute, in 2001 didn't the same President say, "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."? So you tell me, what is this administration's prospect of interest or reward where the current great and lasting war is concerned? The founding fathers of this great and crazy country would be appalled and disgusted to see what politics and politicians have become. We deserve better. on Sunday, December 11th 2005 at 7:22pm, Hillybilly Jones said: They were Statesmen back then. They are extinct. Statesmen used to protect and defend the Constitution. To most politicians it has become a meaningless ritual. They either don't understand what they ?promised? to protect or had no intention in the first place of risking their political career to do so. What sucks is when a former politician goes to work as a lobbiest for companies who want to make policy. He or she ends up on both sides of an ass licking contest. By the way, I?m surprised you didn?t vote for Clinton, mjp. on Monday, December 12th 2005 at 10:41am, mjp said: Clinton? No, no, no. I think he was a fine president, but I voted for the non-politician in those elections, Ross Perot. Was Ross Perot insane? Quite possibly. But he was the only one talking about change. We missed that boat. Will there ever be a realistic chance for non D/R change again? It looks less likely every day. on Friday, December 16th 2005 at 1:41pm, zoe from greece said: one of the punishments you get for denying to participate in comunity life is, beeing rouled by inferior man. plato 2005 b.c. (sorry for the bad english you get the meaning) on Thursday, April 24th 2008 at 10:11am, Scott h Florance said: The Christians believe Jesus Christ tis immortal and he lives forever. It is illegal in communinst China to teach this to the children, only when they turn 18 is it allowed. What if he returns to be president King of the whole star-quadrent in 10,001 year. on Friday, April 25th 2008 at 11:58am, damian said: indeed. on Sunday, April 27th 2008 at 6:14pm, mjp said: Yes, that is a potential problem for people in 10,001. I often worry about them. smog.blog powered by buddy V2.0 |