Brilliant! My favorite line: “Words have actual meanings.”
Thank you Syd Garon!
The truth is uglier than you imagined.
Dispatches, Channel 4’s flagship current affairs strand, exposes the full and unreported horror of the Iraqi conflict and its aftermath, revealing the true scale of civilian casualties and allegations that even after the scandal of Abu Ghraib, American soldiers continued to abuse prisoners; and that US forces did not systematically intervene in the torture and murder of detainees by the Iraqi security services. The programme also features previously unreported material of insurgents being killed while trying to surrender.
Parts 3, 4 and 5 after the jump…
Bill Hicks on Austin cable television. The show aired on October, 1993, five months before Hicks died.
Bill knows his days are numbered and seems more intent on speaking truth to power than being funny. He’s getting his last licks in, discussing the Waco Branch Davidian masscres and censorship, including Letterman’s chickenshit decision not to air his appearance on The Late Show.
Waco is 102 miles from Austin and the Branch Davidian confrontation was taking place at the time of this interview. Hicks had visited the site of the compound during the siege. His thoughts on the matter swung wildly from being dismissive of Koresh to outrage at the government over the outcome. Here’s a couple of videos of Hicks talking about the Waco disaster.
More from Hicks on Waco after the jump…
The Burning Hell, produced by Baptist minister Estus Pirkle and directed by exploitation schlockmeister Ron Ormond, is one of the creepiest Christian scare films you’ll see. It was released in 1974 with a promotional campaign that included the ghastly catchphrase “20,000 degrees Fahrenheit and not a drop of water!” The film was screened in churches, where it scared the living shit out of children. Ormond was the Hershell Gordon Lewis of religiosity.
The entire film is available on Youtube. Unfortunately, most of the film isn’t as freakishly over-the-top as this clip.
Another fiendish concoction by Pirkle and Ormond is the 1971 “red scare’ laff riot If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?. This flick imagines a world in which the Communists take over America. The only way to avert such a crisis is to believe in God and pray to Him daily. Okay?
In this scene, a little boy loses his head over Jesus. This would have totally freaked me out when I was a kid. Looks like a scene out of 2000 Maniacs.
Thanks Ralph Carney
Slimy, Sarah Palin-endorsed, goon-squad hiring Republican Senatorial candidate from Alaska, Joe Miller’s got some s’plaining to do. It seems that Miller, who thinks Social Security, Medicare and jobless benefits are “unconstitutional” forgot to add that he meant only when other people receive them, not Joe himself! What will the Teabag weenie people think of this hypocritical fuckwit now?
Apparently, when a correspondent for Wonkette asked Miller a question about exactly what percent “disabled” he was from his military service—for which he would presumably recieve benefits—Miller promptly freaked out:
Looking away from your correspondent, Miller yelped to no one in particular, “We’ve gotta go!” He then pointed to his wife and said, “Let’s move!” The Millers hustled to the back of the vacant strip mall office next to the pizza place and surrounded themselves with campaign staffers.
This time, Miller’s phalanx of creepy skinheads dressed as Secret Service agents — last seen assaulting and restraining a local journalist — were nowhere around. Your correspondent was able to escape unscathed.
A West Point graduate who served in the first Gulf War, Miller boasts of his military record in his radio and teevee ads, yet refuses to discuss the nature or the degree of his service-connected disabilities; he receives monthly tax-free payments for life as compensation. If Miller is classified as 30% or more disabled, he receives additional payments for each of his nine dependents. This Veterans Administration benefits chart shows that Miller could conceivably be bringing in over $4,000 a month, tax free, depending on his disability rating.
He needn’t report or declare this income. What are the disabilities for which Joe Miller receives tax-free payments? A Post Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnosis should concern voters more than say, hearing loss.
Yet when asked, Joe Miller froze for a moment and then fled like a guilty child.
Nicely! It’s fascinating watching this tool’s candidacy implode.
Who would be dumb enough vote for this clown, now? The more we know about Joe Miller, the more craven he appears. Yuck.
Joe Miller Runs Screeching From Simple Question (Wonkette)
This coloring book, which was purported to be from the Black Panthers, had actually been rejected by them when it was brought to them by a man later revealed to have intelligence connections. Not to be troubled by the fact that the Panthers found the coloring book revolting, the FBI added even more offensive illustrations, and mass mailed it across America.’
If Glenn Beck gets his pudgy white hands on this, he’ll go apeshit.
To view the coloring book in its entirety click here.
Ten for Two: The John Sinclair Freedom Rally, directed by Steve Gebhardt is a filmed document of the John Sinclair benefit concert held in 1971.
John Sinclair managed the MC5 and was the founder of The White Panther Party. His uncompromising radical political stance made him a target of the U.S. government. He was busted in a sting operation for selling two joints to undercover cops. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Musicians, politicians, artists and friends organized a rally to bring attention to Sinclair’s unjust sentence. It worked. Three days after the rally, Sinclair was released from prison when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the state’s marijuana statutes were unconstitutional.
Ten For Two was produced by John and Yoko, who also perform in it, and features Allen Ginsberg, Phil Ochs, Leni Sinclair, David Peel, Jerry Rubin, Ed Sanders, Bob Seger, Archie Shepp, Bobby Seale, The Steve Miller Band, Commander Cody, Stevie Wonder and more.
The rally was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. John and Yoko came on at 3 a.m.
Why hasn’t this been released on DVD? Rumor has it that Yoko owns the rights to the film and won’t release it. In the meantime, this funky video is all I’ve been able to get access to.
Here’s an in-depth article on the concert here.
Part 1 kicks in at the 15 second point.
Part 2 after the jump…
Martin Sorrondeguy (ex-member of Los Crudos) directed Mas Alla de Los Gritos (Beyond The Screams), a 1999 documentary on the Hispanic punk rock scene. Illuminating and inspiring.
What occurs with the Latino/Chicano punks is also what occurs to the
communities they come from. So if they are living in corrupt countries or
communities where poverty, drugs, gangs, etc. are part of the every
day, this adds to their struggle for change. Punks may be seen as
outsiders from a voyeur’s perspective but these same punks may go home with
their families and deal with life as it affects them all. Also a lot of
the Latino/Chicano punks living in the US still have ties to family and
friends in Latin America and those ties are strong, so when things get
desperate or intense in Latin America it is a concern for many living
here as well.” Martin Sorrendeguy
