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Activist Times Inc. Issue 231
"It's hard to give a lie to dogs."
--John Proctor in "The Crucible."
AAAAAACTIVISTAAAAA issue June
TTTTTTTIMESTTTTTTT # 32
IIIINDUSTRIESIIIII 231 2000
Happy Co-Independence Day, July 4th!
From the people at ATI.
ATI - your SAT/RAD connection to not just the
weather, but myth, metaphor, anarchy, music
and poetry!
It's not a civilized world, but
by Hillary Tham
I want to bless this America who believes Nature
is a challenge to invent instant coffee,
instant tans with ultraviolet rays,
permanent press, deodorant sprays,
depilatory creams and hair growth Rogaine
internet sales and press-on nails.
I want to bless this America who believes we can
get anything anywhere with UPS, American Express.
Who believes in spare parts
for the body but not the toaster, says
"Cheaper to get a new one."
I want to bless this ocean of contradictions, this
America who wears leather sneakers,
leather jackets, leather pants, yet
chastises others for wearing fur.
Bless this America who believes in liberty,
equality and justice for all who want it
enough to start a campaign, and demonstrate
in Washington's blazing heat, freezing rain.
Bless this America whose women insist on equality
with the men, and have forgotten
how to sew to prove it.
I want to bless the women who insist men admire
their brains while their sisters buy silicone
breasts and low cut dresses.
Bless this ocean of contradictions,
this America who believes in Free Speech
and the Gettysburg Address while pushing
political correctness and sensitivity training courses.
Yes, bless this America who rues violence and
loves martial arts movies, abhors killing
but insists on the right to bear arms.
Bless this America who tries to spread peace
and human rights while exporting "Lethal Weapon"
movies One, Two, Three and Four.
[HR][HR][HR][HR][HR][HR][HR]
& NOW A COLUMN FROM OUR COLUMNAR COLUMNIST
Greetings fellow Earth-based creatures, 1 each.
I'm prime anarchist and this is my rant
for Saturn's Day, July 1st (did you say "rabbit?")
2000. The ought year. The George is on the left
thigh.
I said, "The George is on the left thigh."
YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SAY 'CONGRATULATIONS, YOU
STOOPID POOP!'
The George is on the left thigh.
How are you? I'm fine. This is a long weekend.
One to savor. At 2 bucks a gallon, you'd better
savor, eh? So, what does L.S./M.F.T mean to you?
To me it's Lungs Suffer Over More Filtered Tar.
Don't excuse your brain, confuse your brain
with all new confusium 432.625.
Diminishes dark circles, gives you fresh breath,
dices, slices and makes you look like a 5-minute
TV makeover. Confusium. In the black and white
tube. Get it where Furbies (mt) are sold out.
Well, I can see cable modems are going to go
EXACTLY the way of 2400 modems eversomany years
ago. Someone just casually sent me to a place to
see his high quality mpeg, just assuming I'd get
a lot out of it. Well, not if I hit my cancel button.
Right? And why, you might ask? Well, 5 minutes after
starting the stream, I checked in with the ticker.
My time remaining before I'll begin viewing? Four
hours and thirty five minutes at 51K!!! I think not.
What was I supposed to ask Sherwin Williams?
I forgot. Somebody help me out here...
What do Justine Bateman, Gwen Stefani and the
girl next door have in common besides me having
a crush on all of them? Tune in next week for
ATI 232. The special palindrome issue! Your source
for anagrams, nastigrams, and milligrams galore.
NAFTA GATTcha? Try FTAA. Yuck! [do WHAT to the
army always???]
GUITAR ANARCHY TECH TIP # 23.1
A busker's observation. The people who step out a
cigarette butt about 5 (five) yards away from you
and leave it behind as they walk past you are NOT
going to tip you.
BRILLIANT EVEN B-4 GENOME!!!
The next hit singers are sure to be made on a
WIN-based T-Shirt printer.
Jewel + Sarah Mclachlan + Dixy Chix / 3 = Mandy Moore
Of course, by the same math,
Mandy + Christina + Britney + Ricky Martin = NSync
=prime23=
/ - - - -/
/ PRESS /
/ ENTER /
/ TO EXIT/
/- - - - /
====
What comes after one?
#'s
http://www.georgemag.com/xp6/George/Features/July2000/TopTen.xml
[ed note: #8's hosted by a friend of ours...]
http://www.lawnewsnetwork.com/stories/A918-1999Apr26.html
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Canvas/1410/poetindex.html
http://www.makingakilling.org/???wakawakahookahoo???
http://www.jps.net/lisam9/1st_Amendment.htm
http://www.whisperedmedia.org/benefit.html
http://www.thewastelands2.8m.com/ati.htm
http://www.telepath.com/jdsatt/tips.htm
http://csrc.nist.gov/secpubs/hacker.txt
http://cosmos.lod.com/~ati/ati64.html
http://www.mihra.org/2k/politics.htm
http://www.atavar.com/thethingasitis
http://home.earthlink.net/~dwharbin
http://www.lauranyro.net/funky.html
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7514
http://www.execpc.com/~chriftor
http://www.searchbastard.com
http://www.reasontovote.com
http://victordelorenzo.com
http://www.amyrohan.com
====
LETTUCE
to ati@etext.org
Thank you for your Posting and feel free to post again.
In addition to... [spam, lies and videotripe snipped...]
jay@yes.zzn.com
Marco,
I'm reading a book my friend Laura wrote about skinnydipping.
Really good stuff. I saw a satellite the other night while
_I_ was skinnydipping. How cool/weird is that?
So long,
Kristy
Heard an interview with the author of "A & R",
a novel about the greed of the recording industry.
Definitely something you ought to read. Author
is record exec and currently with VH-1.
mg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wanted: Boot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IF anyone taped the Irving Plaza show in NYC,
I have alot of shows that i could trade you.
And some that i taped. So email me.
Thanks
MIke
Oursy@aol.com
[ed note: and who says The Dead don't live on...]
To ATI:
Just a quick note & nod:
I was excited after seeing Seattle & being in A16,
but if there's thing one I've learned from A16 it's:
no more standing there & pleading; I say we kick the
establishment's ass BIG TIME by shutting down the whole
friggin' city in Philly & show'em we mean serious business.
It seems if the only thing the Media & the Right is
interested in is the "Violence on the tube", let 'em
have their way by us clogging the streets, jamming the
Media & raising hell during OUR Convention (naturally no
one gets hurt, but we DIRECTLY CONFRONT & RAISE HELL)!
Thoughts on this? Who do I contact to participate in
shutting down the city in Stealth; how do I inform those
I am not part of any governmental agancy etc..
JdPrez
Greetings Activist Times,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Resist the FTAA Internet Working
Group. Our working group was formed with purpose of spreading the word
about the Free Trade Area of the Americas, its potentially devastating
effects, and to organise resistance to it.
So we are writing to you, having seen your endorsement for the anti-World
Bank/International Monetary Fund protests, in the hopes that you will
become aquainted with the issues surrounding the FTAA, and come to
endorse the resistance to it...[snip]
...Essentially, the FTAA would be an expansion of NAFTA...[snip]
...Right now, we are finsishing up work on our umbrella group
web page. We will email you when it is complete.
Until then, there is a list of links to FTAA related material at
the end of this email.
Thanks very much,
vive resistance!
Josh Noiseux
http://www.tao.ca/~stopftaa
http://anti-capitalisme.ctw.net
http://www.wtoaction.org
http://www.clc-ctc.ca
to ati@etext.org
May I get a message to your readers? I strongly
recommend that anyone considering blowing off
fireworks in a public place coming up on this
4Jul should watch all of "Born On The 4th Of
July" so they can get some perspective on what
that noise can do to some of us who have to live
out our days now with built-in trauma.
Thanks,
the ex-patriot (215)
My most powerful moment in DC was right when we got to the
barricade at our intersection and linked arms that first
Saturday morning. I was looking deeply into the eyes of
the police and soon noticed that a female officer in charge
behind the line was staring back at me. We stared constantly
into each other's eyes for quite a while and I could tell
that her feelings were disturbed.
I began singing the old slave song "Oh, Freedom" and once I
was done I looked back at her again. This time she was
overflowing with emotion and tears came to her eyes. We both
smiled very vividly at each other and we felt an amazing
connection. She nodded at me as if to say, "Right on. You
are doing the right thing." At that moment I knew I was in
the right place.
"Oh, Freedom! Oh, Freedom! Oh, Freedom
over me... And before I'll be a slave, I'll be
buried in my grave. Come home to my Lord,
And Be Free."
Andrew B
to ati@etext.org
This is what I've been sending lately to people
who spam me, if they actually use a real address.
I go months just hitting delete, but then sometimes
I need to do this to myself for a few weeks to keep
upbeat about things.
marco
Dear Mike,
No thanks.
I'm not about making money on the net. Never was.
In fact, if you'd actually read any of my webpages
instead of harvesting them via robot, you might
have noticed it won't be worth your while to try
snagging people like me up along with your other
"potentials."
Unfortunately I'm also aware that in your field
the real average after all your expenses of time and
money is about 3 dollars per hour. (oh, that's before
paying taxes too, isn't it?) I don't mean to sound
rude and condescending, but how does it feel to know
that bill collectors and repo-men make twice what you
make?
Anyhow, telecomputing for me has been a hobby since
1987. And my priority has always been to break even or
lose a tiny bit at all times. And I have never (or seldom)
bought any new computer equipment, always shopping for
great last year's models second hand. Not for being a
cheapskate, (which I actually am, but I digress) but
because I don't believe in mining gold, uranium, coal
OR copper at such a hell-bent-for-oblivion alarmingly
addictive rate. So after years of trying to boycott
completely, the compromise I've moved into was:
If I purchase something second hand and take care of it,
and keep it humming along - then at least I split the
mining 50/50 with one other consumer.
So now when I buy a used mountain bike, or a used computer,
or a used car, I can know with all my heart that as my
northeastern Arizona friends Bonnie Whitesinger and Roberta
Blackgoat lose still more and more cousins, aunts and uncles
to radiation poisoning, black lung, asbestosis, alchoholism
respiratory distress syndrome, asthma and/or tuberculosis
at least I'm LESS THAN HALF responsible now.
How about you?
to: ati@etext.org
Unavicion!
pr0t3kt0r
OPEN LETTER TO BRITNEY SPEARS:
Can you drink milk without lactaid
or dairy ease?
Please tell me.
Love,
marco
====
NEPOTISM: It's Not Just For Hollywood Anymore
by Dez L. fUSION
Your "brother from a different mother" walks up to your girlfriend,
crouches down between her legs while she dances rhythmikly
to LFO and spraypaints a blood-red "F" around her navel, slowly,
sexily, trying to savor the moment.
Good thing they're paying you good money after bad to keep
from wanna strangling the guy, eh?
You're dancing with some badly underweight faceless bimbo
that some overpaid choreographer hooked you up with for the
evening. Your g/f was dancing with some pimply-faced six-pack
flea-looking dork, so the whole show won't ever look too contrived.
Wouldn't you know it, your g/f's "F marker" prances up to you
and with the most homophobic icky-poo-poo, "I ain't gonna touch
that, get it away from me," motion makes a half-assed barely
legible "F" across your chest.
Six other peeps were picked to win their way to the finals, but
on the spot. Little do they know, that's all they're going to get
from the get go. Your g/f and you shake bootie all over the place
with all of the other opposite sex members while one at a time,
all but you and g/f are cut.
Process of elimination, my friend. This ain't "The List," lemme tell
you. Close but no cigar, you're watching "Fakedown."
X marks the mark. People looking dejected jump off the stage left
and right now, losing finals. But you and your g/f persevere. No X's
on your navels on top of your F's.
What next for you all? Oh, just enough time now for the dressing
room to get those "F's" taken off and rush to film a couple [corporate
name here] and [next corporate name] name recognition campaigns
before crossing the street to the Jeremy Flinger show.
You're to play the person who finds out the woman you married and
had 4 kids by is really a man, and your g/f is not to "know" you yet.
She also has yet to find out that HER girlfriend-and-4-year-sex-
partner is none other than your wife.
Meanwhile in real life your g/f is your sister.
It's OK though. Aaron Smelling's your father, and Jiminy Hoffa's the
Godfather. Who's gonna mess with THEM?? Mom? Oh yeah, Mitzy
Shoore, by a previous tryste.
Ah, the life of an aspiring actor. Oh, the things you'll do for a
Benjamin or three.
Did you say your g/f is your sister in real life???
Same father, same mother; what's it to ya? Word up.
Yo, yo yo. Yo, yo yo yo. Yo! MTV Sucks!
====
THIS JUST IN: (Reprinted from ATI issue 10!)
When stuck between two lousy choices ie: Bush/Duke, US/SU,
Coke/Pepsi, McDonalds/Burger King -- I always say choose BEER.
Then instead of having to come up with an explaination,
simply say, "I dunno, I was cocked".
NOTAS MUSICAS!!!
--- -------- --- ----- -------
The official ATI music section.
--- -------- --- ----- -------
To the tune of Hitme Spears'
"Oops! I Messed On Your Carpet."
Oops I did it again
I played the wrong chord
I sang the wrong note
[spoken: but that's ok
I hear they got machine that
can fix all that now...]
It's not...that...difficult.
====
When we passed the bus stop
a poem by Michele Morgan
reprinted from the book "Will Work For Peace,"
Brett Axel, editor
http://www.orn.net/~axels
at Missenden Road tonight
There was a man at the bus stop
"He's still there" the bus driver said.
It doesn't look like he's breathing.
He was curled up on the bitumen
with his arms crossed tight on his chest and his legs drawn up.
There was a pack of cigarettes and a box of matches
laid neatly on the seat.
The metho bottle was standing on the ground.
We'll soon find out, the bus driver said and
climbed down from the bus.
She bent over the man and touched him
lightly on the arm. The upper arm.
He did not move and she touched him again
feather gentle. He stirred, rocking back and forth,
his arms still clasped.
He's still breathing the bus driver said and
climbed back into the bus. He's still
breathing. And we drove away.
ATI - Luxury With Attitude.
DECLARATION OF DUMBING-DOWN-DANCE
We hold these truths to be self evident
that the following upper-class middle-aged
white men were created equal.
Al Gore
George W. Bush
Alan Keyes
Bill Bradley
Pat Buchanan
====
You have 'til noon tomorrow.
ATI would like your vote on which wedding ring
we should buy.
(1) Debeers
(2) Debeers
(3) Debeers or
(4) Debeers
====
GEORGE ORWELL'S UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY
By Norman Solomon / Creators Syndicate
George Orwell's birthday passed without notice recently.
Born on June 25, 1903, the great English writer has been dead
for half a century, but Orwellian language lives on.
These days we have plenty of good reasons to echo poet W.H.
Auden: "Oh, how I wish that Orwell were still alive, so that I
could read his comments on contemporary events!"
Today, in the United States, media coverage of political
discourse attests to Orwell's observation that language "becomes
ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the
slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have
foolish thoughts."
News media frequently make things worse. Instead of
scrutinizing the blather, reporters are inclined to solemnly
relay it -- while adding some of their own.
The standard jargon of U.S. politics is the type of facile
rhetoric that appalled Orwell. This lexicon derives its power from
unexamined repetition.
To carry on Orwell's efforts, we should question the media
buzzwords that swarm all around us. For instance:
* Centrist: A term of endearment in elite circles, usually
affixed to politicians who don't rock boats, even ones stuck in
stagnant waters.
* Reform: This word once described change aimed at removing
corruption or privilege. Now the word offers a favorable sheen to any
policy shift. A linguistic loophole vague and gaping enough to drive
a truck through, whatever the political cargo.
* Bipartisan: An adjective that hails the two major parties
for showing great unity and national purpose, usually agreed to behind
closed doors, out of view of the riff-raff.
* Special interests: A negative label commonly applied to mass
constituencies of millions of people -- seniors, the poor, racial
minorities, union members, feminists, gays... Formerly a pejorative to
describe monied interests that used dollars -- since they lacked numbers
of people -- to influence politics.
* Sources say: Leaks from on high, served up as journalistic
champagne.
* Experts: Oft-cited and carefully selected, they supply
fertilizer for
the next harvests of popular credulity.
* Defense budget: Having precious little to do with actual
defense of the country, these expenditures require the most innocent
of names.
* Senior U.S. officials: Unnamed, they are larger than life.
In another culture they might be called "messengers of God."
* Rule of law: What occurs when those who made the rules lay
down the law, sometimes violently, overseas or at home.
* National security: An ever-ready rationale for just about
any diplomatic or military maneuver... or any suppression of
incriminating information.
* Stability in the region: Can be a tidy phrase to justify the
continuation of existing horrors.
* Western diplomats: These bastions of patience and wisdom
provide the compass for navigating in foreign geopolitical waters.
* The West: Often used as a synonym for global forces of good.
George Orwell wrote his last novel, "1984," in the late 1940s --
around the time the U.S. "War Department" became the "Defense Department."
Orwell's novel anticipated that "the special function of certain
Newspeak words" would be "not so much to express meanings as to
destroy them."
The repetition of such words and phrases is never-ending.
Like a constant drip on a stone, the cumulative effects are enormous.
Language, dialogue and debate are essential tools for a
democratic process. But when words are wielded as blunt instruments,
they bludgeon our minds rather than enhancing them.
The inflated shadow cast by words has grown in recent decades,
but it is not new. "Identification of word with thing," Stuart Chase
noted in 1938, "is well illustrated in the child's remark 'Pigs are
rightly named, since they are such dirty animals.'"
Words and phrases, never better than imprecise symbols, come to
dominate the conceptual scenery -- maps that are confused with the
land itself. All too often, familiar words are used to label ideas
and events instead of exploring them.
And over the years, evasive and euphemistic language -- from
"pacification programs" in Vietnam to "collateral damage" (killed
civilians) in Iraq -- has served as camouflage for inhuman policies.
George Orwell died young, succumbing to tuberculosis in 1950.
But his acuity can be brought to life, to the extent that we probe
beneath all the facile words and search out the realities they so
often obscure.
WELL THAT'S IT FOR ATI 231. THE special
231 colonies issue. Hope you liked it.
And watch for 232!!! We'll dedicate that
one to annA; the first rainbow girl I ever
met. (Someone on the road told her to spell
her name backwards so she too can have a
road name. Hence annA)
Get back issues of our Zine at:
http://www.angelfire.com/wi/kokopeli/cygnus.html
Send anything to:
ati@etext.org
Go ahead, you know you wanna...
