Saturday, August 4, 2007

Screw Starbucks?

2 comments:
OK let's get the record strait shall we?

A good nameless buddy of mine posted this bulletin on MySpace:

Guess I will not be drinking Starbucks any more. Recently Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffees and to request that they send some of it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Marines thank you for their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee. So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should not support them by buying any of their products! I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this war might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground fighting street-to-street and house-to-house. If you feel the same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it and no one will ever know. Thanks very much for your support.

I quickly corrected him that this was in fact FALSE information and is just the usual company bashing chain mail filled with misinformation.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp

After reading this, he posted this as an amendment:

I would like to ammend my posting of Starbucks refusing the US Marines coffee. The company itself has refused an outright open donation of the company sending coffee to our military overseas. The employees themselves have been sending their own "partner mark-out" weekly free supply to our men and women serving. While Starbucks writes "Starbucks has the deepest respect and admiration for U.S. military personnel", they do not make a donation as a company, they let their employees do it of their own free will and then the company takes credit. The employees sending coffee and Starbucks sending coffee is two completely different things. To the employees I say Thank You for showing your outright and open sincere appreciation to our fighting men and women and thank you for having enough guts (unlike your company) to support our military without hesitation.
And once again "SCREW STARBUCKS!!!"


this is the mail i sent back to my friend regarding his amendment:

wait wut?!

Should we boycott McDonnalds for not giving free burgers?

Should we boycott Barnes and Noble for not giving away free books?

Should we boycott me for not giving free land away to the military in SL?

Really, Solders need essentials that are supplied to them by the federal government. Gourmet coffee is a luxury, not a necessity. I think solders can handle using the government issue Folgers they get for free.

I find any person using their social status (being a head of a charitable organization, or member of a military) to demand free goods and services and sending chain e-mails about how they are evil for not giving their goods or services away for free a very callous person.

Starbucks has a company policy on donations that they must adhere to or they face a serious problem with shareholders. Starbucks is not acting unethically in any way. Rather, sticking to their own words I find very admirable.




Not "How dare they not give me stuff for protecting this country you live in!" rather "how dare you use your status in the military to demand free goods from us only to slander our company when we refuse because of company policy"

OK since we're gonna play the "I do stuff for you now do stuff for me" card. I pay federal income tax which pays your salary, give me a free M-16 NOW! It goes both ways.

I commend anyone who is willing to risk life and limb for what they think is right, however I will donate (and I do) on my own will and fruition. Do not throw your job in my face to demand services or goods for free. Mind you Mr. Solder, you fought for my freedom FROM you as well.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Michael Moore Shows His True Colors in SiCKO.

2 comments:
Well I better start with announcing my biases before I even begin this review. I despise the type of health care we have in America. It is over priced and over regulated, because government works hand in hand with big business. On the same token I do not support universal or socialized medicine.

With that out of the way, I have seen all of Michael Moore's movies before and enjoyed all of them. I was a "Green" back when I saw most of those movies so naturally I agreed with them as well as liked them. Now that I have become an anarcho-capitalist I have gone back and watched a lot of his movies and still enjoyed them though noticing logical fallacies, misrepresented documents, gotcha style interviews and far left agenda. He does on the other hand ask great questions, gets you to think and keeps it entertaining all at the same time. However in the case with SiCKO, this is the exception to the rule. It was long, drawn out and filled with dry humour. Most of the movie is spent talking to Americans about health care horror stories or why they moved to other countries for socialized medicine.

What was interesting was the fact that Michael Moore acknowledges that some government programs including Medicare was a dismal failure and HMOs was a result of government and business working together and not free-market forces but then spins it so it looks as though it was the problem t.

Another thing Michael Moore does is overload you with the information on once side of the argument and ignore the others then claims that he is the counter balance to what we see in the media. In the case for universal health care Moore should of them taken MY side of the argument which never gets talked about whereas socialized medicine is continuously being pitched on any news or current event TV program out there.

During his visit to France he speaks with a group of former Americans in a restaurant where they tell him the marvels of socialism. Free health care, free child care, free higher education, pays 65% of sick pay, and even how the government does your laundry. Now as anyone who knows about France knows that it is the model of socialism. There is almost NO market. Most of everything in France is owned by the state or heavily regulated and taxed. They even have state ran media where government owns the press. They have no freedom of speech to the point where people are thrown in jail who have less favourable opinions. We've all heard the stories where holocaust deniers are tried and jailed for their fringe wacko conspiracy theories. Now I do not agree with 9/11 conspiracies or holocaust denials but imagine the U.S. Government rounding up these 9/11 Truthers and sending them to jail for terrorism denial. I know that sounds savoury to a lot of right wing fanatics I know but freedom of speech should be extended to all regardless of what they say. Because if a 9/11 Truther gets in office, then they can round up those who deny 9/11 "Truth" It goes both ways. Is that what you want to be like?

France's health care isn't what it seems once you watch SiCKO. Take for example when 15,000 elderly women died in the care of French hospitals because they lacked proper air conditioning in one month alone back in 2003. It also turns out that France's system has been running on a HUGE deficit due to poor administration and loopholes in their payment system and massive amounts of bureaucratic hurdles to approve small things as ordering new hospital beds. Wait... Didn't Michael More accuse Republicans of being evil for running up deficits and debt but let the French socialists off the hook?

We can only assume Mike was in France before the last presidential election. A poll taken right before that election said that 85% of French citizens were unhappy bout the direction France was headed. So much so that Jean-Marie Le Pen (a holocaust denier, anti-semitic, anti-islamic far right conservative) had people around Europe afraid he might win the election. Thank God they didn't and elected a centrist.

Moore also showed Canada and UK hospitals but still ignores the waiting line problems in those countries where you go into a hospital and essentially wait in line every step of the medical process. It was so bad in Canada that a doctor by the name of Jacques Chaoulli, a 53-year-old French Canadian physician who in June won a health-care-related lawsuit against the government of Quebec in which the courts ruled that the state monopoly on healthcare was not only immoral but illegal and stating that “Access to a waiting list is not access to health care.” Chaoulli was under fire at the time for providing free in home care to patents whom he felt needed treatment immediately and now heads a group where they help people who wish to jump the long Canadian lines for people who are in dire need of care for a fee.

(http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/dick200512200840.asp)

Moore correctly points out that government and corporations working together in creating HMOs are most of the reason why we have a disease industry that allows insurance companies to scam their clients but insists we need more government involvement in healthcare ignoring it was government's problem to begin with. He also fails to mention government inefficiencies in the same socialized healthcare systems he shows in the movie.

While most people who go see this movie expect to hear Michael Moore's pitch for "universal" healthcare will be in for a shock. Though the movie is about the broken healthcare system in America, he's clearly not stopping at socialized medicine rather, a Marxist society altogether and trying to alleviate fears of communism and socialism as well. One scene shows a old Russian propaganda film where grain field workers are singing about filling their quota to get their reward while Michael Moore exposes some of the existing so-called socialized systems in America failing to realize that the post office (though lazy and inefficient as it is) is NOT a socialized system but rather a government owned corporate monopoly that doesn't use a cent of taxes to fund itself. God only knows if they just legalized competition how cheap FedEx, DHL or UPS could charge for the same yet better service.

Clip here:


Michael Moore really bombed in trying to pull together people from different sides of the political spectrum to come together for socialized medicine and shot his own cause in the foot. This movie was by far his worst. Trying not to fall asleep was one of my main tasks while trying to enjoy this movie. As a long time fan of Michael Moore I can honestly say to other Michael Moore fans not to rush out and see this movie, rather wait for the DVD. It's really not worth the $8. I also encourage those who are looking to socialize medicine to steer clear of making references to this movie whenever possible because of it's Marxist leaning ideals and awful case for socialized medicine.

2 out of 10 stars.

Friday, June 15, 2007

2 comments:
My Nameless Friends The Che Cultists.
A Modest Plea for Sanity And Knowing What You Preach.

A couple of you (who will go nameless) said some rather disparaging things to and about me because of my anti-Che picture on my MySpace profile . Both of whom have that imperialist rock music on their MySpace profiles that Che ordered to be BANNED and those who listen to it after being warned not to WERE SHOT!

But I digress...

Why do I have this picture up? A hateful image that degrades the hero of the common man, why?

Well to recognize that Che was a great and wonderful guy who did nothing but good for his people and his fellow man is to completely ignore history. Shortly after his execution, his communist sympathizers in the States started the propaganda machine to create a Mother Teresa image for the communist and socialist movement that had always suffered from negativity views and leaders like Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin.

Let's not forget he was a violent and brutal man who believed in "the end justifies the means" no matter how morally bankrupt the means are. Even so much to help push the Cuban Missile Crisis to start nuclear warfare and kill billions of people because it would be easier to build a communist country from the ashes of innocent people.

He was a revolutionary in the sense that he wanted to create a "new man" though inquisitions and training his solders you blindly hate their enemy.

"Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!"

"Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become … "
- Che Guevara

This enemy was of course anyone who did not agree with the tenants of Leninist-Marxism. Any business owner who was successful, anyone who was rich (unless they funded his cause) or just plain shot pregnant women in their stomachs of who he viewed as someone with an imperialist mindset who might pass those ideas to her child after it's birth. Let to die slowly after her unborn baby.

Many Cubans today recognize Che as "The Butcher of la CabaƱa" for his no judge no jury executions of innocent people including entires families with kids as young as 14. Their crimes? Dissent. Bad ideologies or tastes in music.


The execution of Col. Cornelio Rojas in 1959. Che Guevara ordered Col. Rojas to be shot without a trial

I suggest before propagating such a figure head you understand the man behind him. Just just from one side, but from all sides. Most importantly from well noted historians who don't have an overarching agenda to progress the tenants of national socialism or communism. After looking at the facts and learning the truth about Che, there should be no better picture of Che that can mend a smile like this one:


Good Reading for the Skeptics:
Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him
and this moving artical by Che's own grandson.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

First Post!

No comments:
This is my first post on my new blog. I think a good introduction to me and some what this blog is going to be mostly about (although it lacks in my other interest in skepticism of paranormal and pesudo-science.)

The Betrayal of the Betrayal

OR
How I became Disenfranchised with the Liberal Punk Movement.
Back in 2000 I became politically charged after hearing a speech from Jello Biafra someone had sent me over the internet about marijuana laws (Grow More Pot) and began diving into his other works. I couldn't help myself agreeing with about 98% of what Jello said in most of them, and found myself to be a progressive like him. Mostly because of my ideology that any use of force is wrong and unjust and government should say out of peoples private lives. Both are values I still hold to this day. I became very involved with the local Green Party and helped Peter Camejo's campaign by volunteering both of his gubernatorial campaigns in California.
With all the problems plaguing us; war, poverty, invasion of privacy, gun violence, terrorism, corporate crime, and on and on it was only instinct that government should step up to the plate and fix these problem. Why? Well they're here to protect us. No other system could possibly eliminate these issues, right? Well I thought so, even before I heard Jello's comforting voice assuring that we follow his plan to salvation.
I couldn't help myself getting on the bandwagon, especially during the 2004 election and finding myself to be on the A.B.B. (Anybody But Bush) train to nowhere because after all Bush was evil. He was stupid! Bushisms were scattered all over my wall from a calender of bad Bush quotes. He was wrong and immoral! I mean to be anti-terrorism and to allow the assault weapons ban to expire.
This would be my first presidential election I would be participating in. in 2000 I was only a month shy of being 18. Otherwise I would have voted for Nader. Now that I know where I stand I know I made a huge error. I see now that neither Bush, nor Kerry, nor Nader, nor Cobb were the correct answer to the problems in America.
Living in Southern California in my whole youth I got to see the first hand failures of government "solutions" in play. I even used the term "good enough for government work" freely and with out thinking about my own personal politics. I seen my friends denied government assistance when it was most needed at a time that Old Dirty Bastard from The Wu-Tang Clan was collecting welfare checks at a time when he was a millionaire. I seen me and my own classmates struggling in public school. A teacher at a continuation high school deliberately throwing my homework and classwork away, getting caught, and resuming work as if nothing happened because of tenure. The gun violence in a state with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. The growing methamphetamine problems in the Riverside/San Bernardino areas. Riversides ban on cyber gaming cafes because of it attracted "gang and criminal activity." My grandmother fighting for almost every well deserved social security check. The government's inaction during the Enron scandal and the California energy "crisis." I could go on all day!
So how could a band that wrote such gems as "The Plan" write crap like "Franco Un-American" and allow it to be played on the radio? How could other bands who sang the praises of anarchism and minarchism stab the punk community in the back for economic slavery to pay for a nanny state, and why did I follow along? Simple answer to that: publik skoo.
The very system I was promoting was a center for socialist brainwashing. The reason the left shouts that the second amendment is too vague and the right shouts we need assault rifles to shoot deer is a direct product of 60 years of government indoctrination centers controlling the minds of the youth to become obedient mind slaves for big government. The founders wanted us to have guns to make the government fear us and to be ready for the next revolution against our own government. That and along with the bastard idea that America being a democracy when it was clearly expressed by our founders that it was indeed a constitutional republic and that democracies were the "tyranny of the majority." Also, like any government agency, is is doomed to fail. Take for example; me.
I was the kid while other kids were playing tag in the streets I was reading encyclopedias. Before I entered kindergarten, I had already devoured the 1958 Book of Knowledge with full comprehension. So why was it I had a 1.5 grade average in high school and had to weasel out with a G.E.D.? Not because I was stupid or lazy, but because the school was stupid and lazy. Even with the billions of dollars California pumps into this sinking titanic, it was only getting worse. Even to this day they are using health books from the 1970's.
Why not let people keep the money they spend on income and property taxes to send them to private schools that will compete for the best education at the lowest cost and have private charities help educate the less fortunate? Because people are selfish and greedy, therefor we need to hold guns to peoples and and force the money out of them to indoctrinate them into their style of thinking right? Because we all know, the IRS is very good at saying please and thank you.
But wait! That's capitalism! Capitalism is evil! It's leaves the poor and unfortunate people in the gutter and transfers wealth to the hands of a few. We can't have that! We need saftey nets and security blankets and mommy government to protect us from evil capitalistic swines here to rob us of our essential living supplies. YOU DON'T WANT THEM TO PRIVATISE WATER DO YOU?!
Sure why not? Why not end the water monopoly the government has for competition? If you have one water supply ran by the government the price will be set and you have no choice but to pay it. OR You can have 3 companies providing water to your area and they can compete for the cleanest and cheapest water. Also wouldn't have to wait years for the government bureaucrats to rubber stamp things like better filtration.

Sure we know what Bechtel did in Bolivia when it "privatized" it's water supply and the citizens rioted because of the insane amount per gallon it cost to buy it. What we fail to realize is this is not privatization. It's mercentilism which is government handing out government functions to 1 private company and funding it with tax money. As with government ran programs, it cannot work because of lack of incentives to provide the best service for the lowest price as would true privatization would in a completive free market with out government regulations or control.

Well what about the ecosystem? Surely we are killing our selfs with pollution that causes global warming and cutting down all the trees at an alarming rate, right?! Surely government can help in this area? Right?

WRONG!
[Update: I no longer subscribe to global warming denialism. While I do think that global warming is a fact and CO2 plays a heavy role, I do has some slight reservations about how much of a role humans play and if the state can be trusted or even be effective curbing it. I'll leave the rest untouched for historical sake] 
If we were to assume that CO2 that cars and factories emit are the greenhouse gases that cause global warming we would learn that the vast majority of the problem comes from 2 main sources:

Volcanoes and governments including our own.

Yea, governments and natural occurrences are the prime evils to our world. So why hand them the power to stop it? Not to mention the fact that not all scientists are in agreement with the global warming debate. In fact, nearly half of scientists who study climate change contend that this is simply a natural progression of the earth's heat cycle and the main 2 contributors of the warmth we are seeing now is water vapor and sunlight. These people are also listed on some IPCC reports as supporters of these theories even after they requested to be removed from the list because they "didn't listen to their side." That didn't stop the IPCC from printing it anyways as if these guys really did support the global warming myth. Besides, I don't know if you all know that. You know that stuff we breathe out? That's CO2. You know that temperature Al Gore keeps saying will melt the polar ice caps and kill us all? That was exceeded by leaps and bounds in the middle ages yet Italy and England wasn't submerged. Rather England benefited from the warmth by higher crop yields and boosting their economy.

And while we can point that Republican dominated Texas with it's deregulated pollution standards made Huston one of the most polluted cities in America, we can show that the Inland Empire in California, with it's highest pollution regulations is the highest pollution rate.
It took me a year of self transition to realize that capitalism wasn't so bad, it was only muddied by the socialists and the cronie "capitalists" in Washington to make me think that big government was essential for a stable country. Yet the Left and the Right point the finger at the other and blame them for their own inadequacies, when they need to see that the problem was the the ass they seen in the mirror every morning.
Best I ask now that Jello Biafra finally released another spoken work album. I was much anticipating this album for quite sometime. In that time I found out how full of shit Karl Marx's ideas were and how they couldn't stop the capitalist behemoth that was fact. We can spit whine cry and moan how bad capitalism is; we can only see that as it is defined by the Austrian School of Economics is how money works. Period. It's not just an ideology. Even within socialism, communism and liberalism it is the only tool that had ever kept these systems alive more than 50 years.
I urge the liberal punk community to look at yourselves and your surroundings. Is this punk rawk? Is anarchy bloating government and stealing from you for what you can do in a free market or charities? Can you find a single government program that hasn't hurt the very people it's intended to help? Can you use force to achieve peace and piece of mind? Is anarchy trying to increase power to the very system you know to fail? What has happened to the punk community? How did this come to play? More importantly:
Did I betray the punk community, or did they betray me?