The Friday Random Ten Right On Schedule

Ten songs from iTunes running on my laptop ‘cause I’m too broke to get an iPod.

Take It Easy by The Eagles
Didn’t I Get This Last Year? By Bob Rivers
Holier Than Thou by Metallica
Eistgh Liomsa Sealad/Listen To Me/Saor Reprise by Afro Celt Sound System
Under Pressure (Live) by Queen
No Quarter by Led Zeppelin
Out of Control by The Eagles
Cradle Of Love by Billy Idol
Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day
Louie Louie by Motörhead

And a couple of bonus videos just because I like them.





‘Lemmy is God!’

Dancing With The Green Fairy

I have been dancing with the Green Fairy a lot lately. She is a very pleasant companion and not at all the evil seductress portrayed in Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle (Tauris Parke Paperbacks) and other books. It’s not at all suppressing that I should find such a storied drink fascinating. It was, after all, the favored drink of Oscar Wild , Rimbaud and Verlaine . What writer would not want to be in such illustrious company?

Below are some books about the Green Fairy

Old Fat Naked Women For Peace

Shamelessly ripped of from Feministe . I love the video and the idea behind it.



This is the sort of non-violent direct action we need more of. I wonder how a naked trans-women for peace would work out?

Just Another Random Wednesday

Sometimes I do feel very much a phony, I do little in the way of gender presentation to present myself as anything but male to the world. I still feel gender fluid/queer with a strong tendency toward being female but I am too cowardly to actually do anything about it. Well cowardly and afraid I’ll wreck what’s left of my marriage. But I know of other people who have gone for it despite obstacles greater then mine. So I wonder if I’m really a gender queer trans-woman or just going through some sort of weird mid-life crises. These are the sort of thoughts that creep into my mind when I’m lying alone in my bed at night.

Remembering Our History Yet Again

I have blogged about the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot before. Well now there is a film, Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria . Watch this clip of an interview with a smart tough woman;



She’s wonderful, notice that she makes a very strong argument for why gender identity and presentation so desperately need to be included in any federal ENDA or hate crime laws.

Many of the participants in the were members of Vanguard, a organization of gay hustlers, street queens, ‘hair fairies’, trans women and runaway youth that formed in May of 1966. They were politically active holding demonstrations protesting the discrimination they faced. They also held dances and published a beautifully illustrated news zine.



They were one of the first queer youth groups and the first to welcome trans folk. The group survived until the 1970’s before fading away. I honor them for their pioneering work.

There Will Be Blood Part 2

Well that didn’t take long, the first assassination plot against Obama was just thwarted. It’s only going to get worse, the Republican campaign has let the genie out of the bottle and it won’t be put back without a fight.

Intersex Awareness Day

Today, October 25th is Intersex Awareness Day. I know a bit late in the day to be blogging about this but this is important. Intersex refers to those people who at birth do not fit into the conventional ‘male’ or ‘female’ categories physically and/or genetically. The standard medical reaction has been to surgically ‘correct’ this at birth. Now the people who are intersexed are fighting back. Please help support them.

Not One Of Those Days But One Of Those Weeks

Stolen Borrowed from Brown Feminine Power because this has so been one of those weeks.

Random Friday Random Ten

Angry Again by Megadeth
An Gabhar Bán by Clannad
Similar Features by Melissa Etheridge
Always Crashing In The Same Car by David Bowie
Evening Over Rooftops by Edgar Broughton Band
The Wild Boys (Wilder Than Wild Boys) Extended Mix by Duran Duran
Gut Feeling by Devo
I’m Waiting For The Man by The Velvet Underground
Is It True by The Eagles
The Reflex by Duran Duran

Last of the Election

My last (I promise) election related post. Remember the old Tammany Hall motto, Vote early, Vote often.

In California Vote NO on 8

Do not give in to the voices of hate, equal protection under the law. Please vote no on 8 .

In California Vote NO on 4

For the third time theocrats are trying to pass a parental notification law here in California. This is a very bad idea; most teens do talk to their parents if they need an abortion. The ones who don’t usually have a very good reason ranging from a relative raped them to the possibility of being the victim of a ‘honor’ killing. Please vote no on Prop 4

Is Obama a Marxist?

Short answer, not even close, for a longer answer let’s look at Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. I actually have a copy and have read it more then once unlike the people who are making the charges and obviously have never read it at all. Marx near then end of the manifesto lays out a ten point program so let’s look at it and see how Obama measures up shall we?

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

After the disaster that was the Soviet Union no one is proposing something even vaguely close to this so Obama strikes out here

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

Well since neither candidate has proposed a flat tax but both have proposed tax cuts so this one is a wash.

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

Ah nope Obama misses this one to.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

Not really relevant here and another one that Obama does not propose

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

Gasp! Bush and Paulson are Communists! Well it Makes more sense than singling out Obama on this one as McCain voted for the bailout to.

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.

There is centralization all right but hardly in the hands of the State. Again Obama misses out on being a good Marxist.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the brining into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

Say what? Again no one is going for this sort of thing, most certainly not Obama.

8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

Another non-starter and another miss for Obama.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.

So Archer Daniel Midlands are Communists what with factory farms and all? But again not Obama.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

Since Bush pushed No Child Left Behind to supposedly improve public schools I guess he again is the true Communist here. To be fair since neither Obama or McCain are calling for the abolition of public education they can both be called out as communist here.

Really given some of his domestic proposals it would make as much sense to call the old cold warrior Nixon a Communist as Obama.

I so want his election to be over.

Random Thoughts on Religion

I am fascinated by the history of religions. The way they shape and are shaped by the societies they evolve and grow in. The way religions influence each other. The way they grow and splinter, even the most tightly hierarchical ones. The way a sufficiently imaginative and charismatic person can create one out of thin air. The ways they are reshaped to suite the needs of the power elite of the countries they grow in. The ways so many of the founders of religions are perfect examples of Nietzsche’s Will to Power.

Random Associations

Hm, lets do some random associations and see what we can find in the dark pit that is my mind.

I find pain (mine) erotic, not all the time but with an effort I can channel one intense sensation to another entirely. Which brings me to The Rocky Horror Show and the Time Warp, ‘With a bit of a mind flip’ which leads to ‘It's so dreamy, oh fantasy free me’. Yes much of my life now is a retreat, or is that a advance, into fantasy. Yes the fantasy of me as the perfect embodiment of Androgyny, a divine mix of male and female. Both and neither and something more, a being who can present any where in the gender spectrum. I also have a fantasy of a world were we who do not fit into societies little gender boxes could live wild and free.

I embrace the word/concept of queer. I DO NOT WANT TO FIT IN , not to this societies gender roles, sexual roles or any other role, yet to most I would seem ever so conventional. It’s a frustration that makes me want to rip my skin off or plunge into the fire to arise as a Gender Queer Phoenix.

Enough for now, there are many more dark corridors and locked rooms to explore. I will do this again.

Mumia on ‘Change’

One of the sharpest commentators today works out of death row, Mumia Abu-
Jamal. Here are two of his commentaries on the current election. Especially relevant is his comments on change, it will NOT come at the ballot box. Remember the end of slavery, woman’s suffrage, the eight hour day and civil rights were all won in the streets not the ballot box.

Another Friday Random Ten

Late Bar by Duran Duran
Comin’ Back To Me by Jefferson Airplane
Siuil A Run by Clannad
Prophecy by Queensrÿche
Femme Fatale (Alternate Mix) by Duran Duran
Everything’s Alright by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Cash on Delivery by Spinal Tap
Ordinary World by Duran Duran
Little Martha by The Allman Brothers Band
Sympathy For The Devil by Ozzy Osbourne

There Will Be Blood

Unless you have deliberately cut yourself off from all media you will have noticed the presidential campaign has take a very ugly turn. Victims of both their claim that we ‘won’ in Iraq and the tanking economy McCain and Palin have nothing left but race baiting and anti-communism. It just might still work for them given the underling racism I this country. Then again given Obama’s primary performance maybe the Bradley Effect is fading away at last.

So what happens if Obama does win? A major shit storm aimed at wrecking Obama’s administration. You think the Republicans were obstructionist during Clinton’s first two years just wait, they will filibuster every bill Obama proposes. You think the Republican noise machine has stooped as low as they can watch as even more vile, slanderous and hateful rumors are spread far and wide. Outside of Washington things will get just as ugly and I fear a lot more violent. I still remember the domestic terror campaign waged against the civil rights movement and the hysteria raised by McCain and Palin is in some ways worse. The racists, the religious zealots and the self proclaimed patriots will feel empowered to save the country, save the family or save the excuse de jour by any means necessary. Any success Obama has will just make them more rabid, at worse it could degenerate into a civil war a la Lebanon in the 80’s. I hope it won’t get that bad but it could.

More Wearying Randomness

As I said I’m weary to the core of me. The winds of limbo are blowing through my soul and I fear there is nothing left of me.

A Wearying Randomness

I am weary to my core, weary among other things of this miserable campaign. Weary of the vile campaign that McCain and Palin are running. They are playing the only cards left to them by the failure of free market ideology, fear and hatred. Fear and hatred of blacks, Muslims, queers and just about anybody who isn’t a straight white Christian. This is the most basic and crude of politics and it’s stirring up forces that can’t be easily put down. I fear there will be blood; the next four years will be dark and evil times. This weary campaign of lies has gone on long enough, let there be an end to it.

The Devil Winds

The Santa Anna’s are blowing here in southern California and the brush fires are burning. I grew up here. The possibility that everything I have could be gone in a instant has always been with me. Much of the culture of Los Angeles has been shaped by the impermanence of the landscape.

Friday Random Ten Again

Is There Something I Should Know (Monster Mix) by Duran Duran
Nightrain by Guns N’ Roses
Winner Takes It All by Sammy Hagar
Do It by The Pink Fairies
The Chronicle Of The Black Sword by Hawkwind
Desperado by Alice Cooper
Of Wolf And Man by Metallica
Meet The Creeper by Rob Zombie
I Just Wanna by Kiss
All My Life by Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville

Special Bonus video relating to the next post!

Holy Leif Erickson, Iceland is Bankrupt!

Yep an entire country is on the verge of bankruptcy. Iceland is virtually bankrupt, its stock market closed, banks nationalized and is currency worthless. Admittedly Iceland is a small country but that doesn’t mean that it can’t happen elsewhere, maybe even here.

WORKERS OF THE WORFLD UNITE, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS!

Paris Hilton Has My Vote

No, really her campaign ads are better done and her policies make more sense then the other two. Her solution on the economy is the only one that actual would help the people who are losing their homes. That and it turns out that she has a wicked sense of humor, who knew.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Mini is the new Fiat

Everyone knows that FIAT really stood for Fix It Again Tony. They were fun but very fragile. Now my Mini Cooper has lunched it's engine and it will cost $5980 for a good rebuilt engine with a 1 year warranty. problem is I'm about $5000 short, damn! Double damn because now I've done research and found out that Mini Cooper's have a number of persistent mechanical problems. A bit late I fear.

Depressing and soon Random

As I’ve said before Global Guerrillas is one of my favorite blogs. His latest post is an examination of why the current efforts to bail out the collapsing financial system are going to fail. Not only is the financial system large, fast and complex but it is interconnected in ways that are not understood even by those who have helped build it. With derivatives having derivatives the system is completely opaque and deliberately so. The current system ahs been described as a ponzi scheme but it’s not, its multiple interlocking ponzi schemes. The perpetrator of one ponzi scheme can be the victim of one or more other ponzi schemes. Thus the uncertainty among financial institutions, even if they sold off all their now toxic paper they may have bought some soon to be equally toxic paper from some one else. No one knows what is or is not potentially toxic at this point and won’t know until the security goes bad.

Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride

Still too Optimistic

At last a NATO commander admits that the War in Afghanistan can’t be won. Of course he thinks that they can reduce the level of insurgency down to where the Afghan army can handle it. Fat chance of that since the Afghan army is for the most part composed of the militias that the Taliban had beaten in the first Afghan civil war. Still it’s a step in the right direction. Now if only Obama and McCain are listening.

Friday Random Ten

Rooftop Action by Los Lobos
There She Goes Again by The Velvet Underground
Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath
Departure by The Moody Blues
The Whisper by Queensrÿche
All She Wants Is (45 Mix) by Duran Duran
All The Young Dudes by Ozzy Osbourne
Maybe by Janis Joplin
Delivering The Goods by Judas Priest
My Own Way by Duran Duran

Bonus video selection

Hell Bent For Leather by Judas Priest with leather God Rob Halford



Warlock’s All We Are with leather goddess Doro Pesch



Doro attends a White Wedding




An finally bring the Fire

This is Depressing.

One of my favorite blogs is Global Guerrilas , I don’t always agree with everything John Robb says but he is always interesting and has many valuable and unique insights into current events. In his recent post Systems Shocks he gives us this very disrobing information;

Too Big. Simply, the system's scale is far beyond the ability of nation-states, or a community of nation-states, to manage when it suffers a breakdown. In the case of the current financial collapse, the global shadow banking system (a globally inter-networked collection of unregulated financial products) is approximately $450 trillion, as compared to a US GDP of $15 trillion or a global GDP of ~$60 trillion. Put another way, the financial liabilities of the highly leveraged Deutsche Bank are 80% of Germany's GDP and Barclay's liabilities are 100% of the UK's GDP. As the leverage underlying the shadow banking system unwinds and more banks fail, the scale of the loses experienced will rapidly exceed nation-state budgets.

Think about that for a moment, $450 Trillion in unregulated, don’t know what their worth securities out there. That means the $700 Billion bail out plan is a whopping 0.15% of what would be needed if these things all turn out to be toxic waste. The problem is no one knows what, if anything, these things are worth. The world economy is a liner running at top speed through an ice berg flow

Yet Another Statement of (Un)Belief

I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28)

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. (Revelations 1:3)

And here we are 2,000 years later and still no sign of J.C. If the bible is the inerrant word of god did god change his mind and forget to tell anyone? Just sloppy work I say.

The Prefect Weapon For Assassination

There is a new product coming out of New Jersey, appropriately enough, called The Palm Pistol . It is being marketed as a home self-defense weapon but it looks more lie a close up assassination weapon. It seems it would be perfect for close up work in crowded situations, shoot the target, drop the gun and move away.

It sometimes bothers me my mind works like this.

Hat tip to Warren Ellis