Robert Gibbs, spokesman for the White House, is telling us now on a live feed that violence won't solve this issue in Egypt.
You're are correct, Mr. Gibbs. However, look at history. Violence never solves issues, but sometimes it is the only way to make people take issues seriously. Disagree? If you live in the US, you live in a country that was freed from British rule by violence. President Lincoln forced our country to stay united with violence. The resolution of these issues almost always takes place after violence forces the issues to the forefront of peoples' minds.
Also, when was the last major media blitz about human and civil rights in Egypt? It took this outbreak of violence to bring these issues to the attention of people. (And even now I would bet a majority of people in the world with access to media are still ignorant of the situation.)
I'm not condoning violence, but I can't force my conscience to feel bad that these people are using it. Freedom is important, and sometimes you have to fight for what you believe in.
NOTE: There is quite a difference between this and terrorism. I do not, under any circumstance, think terrorism is a legitimate way to do anything. Violent protests against oppressive governments target those governments in an attempt to force change. Terrorism targets bystanders and civilians in an attempt to scare people, and it has never achieved anything but more violence.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Believing in Violence
A man says to his friend, over drinks one day, “I don’t believe in violence.”
His friend calmly sets down his drink and then punches him in the face. “Do you believe in violence now?” he asks.
“No! What the hell was that?”
His friend punches him again. “Now do you believe in violence?”
“No!” The man protests again. “Why do you keep hitting me?”
His friend punches him in the face one more time. “How about now?”
“No, please stop hitting me!”
The friend shrugs and picks his drink back up. “Well, I’ve showed you it exists three times now. If you still don’t believe, that’s just willful ignorance.”
His friend calmly sets down his drink and then punches him in the face. “Do you believe in violence now?” he asks.
“No! What the hell was that?”
His friend punches him again. “Now do you believe in violence?”
“No!” The man protests again. “Why do you keep hitting me?”
His friend punches him in the face one more time. “How about now?”
“No, please stop hitting me!”
The friend shrugs and picks his drink back up. “Well, I’ve showed you it exists three times now. If you still don’t believe, that’s just willful ignorance.”
The “situation” in Egypt
Seriously folks, wake up. The US government is feeding us BS about being concerned with Egyptian freedom all along, but if it had been, wouldn’t they have withheld aid? Instead we have funneled them money since the late 70s, regardless of the brutality of their police force and their suspension of civil rights. The White House’s talking head is simply trying to spin this to make us out to not be callous.
Suspension of rights due to terrorism? Poor economic conditions? Oh, wait, why would Washington care, we have that here and THEY caused it!
Suspension of rights due to terrorism? Poor economic conditions? Oh, wait, why would Washington care, we have that here and THEY caused it!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
On Mike Portnoy leaving Dream Theater
Listen, I know it sucks. My favorite drummer leaving one of my favorite bands (the others being Iron Maiden and Sonata Arctica) is horrible. But people need to learn to read between the lines a bit to get the real story.
Being mad at Dream Theater - Come on. Portnoy basically asked four other guys to put their careers on hold while he goes out and makes a shitload of money with a band that has a number one album. They did what anyone would do it that position. Sorry, mate, but we need to make money too. Congrats on your new gig, see you later.
Portnoy on being burned out - Bullshit. He's bitching about Dream Theater's schedule, but meanwhile adds on tour after tour in between Dream Theater tours. He wanted Dream Theater to go on hiatus so that he could make money with Avenged Sevenfold, plain and simple. His story on the press release is just that: A story. It's designed to make him appear in a good light.
On Dream Theater not being Dream Theater without him: Bullshit. If Steve Harris left Iron Maiden, that would end Maiden, because Steve writes most of their stuff and has a large hand in even the stuff he doesn't write. Historically, Petrucci has written the lion's share of the lyrics, and the music is usually split evenly among Petrucci, Myung, Portnoy, and the current keyboardist. (Rudess now, but Moore and Sherinian wrote on their albums as well.) And let's face it, there are so many drummers out there who idolized Portnoy and grew up trying to play like him that replacing him won't really affect their sound too much. I can list of dozens of prog-metal bands with amazing drummers that could fill in for Portnoy with no problem.
So, I can see why Portnoy would want to leave/take a break, but I can't sympathize with him one bit. I think Dream Theater did the right thing.
Being mad at Dream Theater - Come on. Portnoy basically asked four other guys to put their careers on hold while he goes out and makes a shitload of money with a band that has a number one album. They did what anyone would do it that position. Sorry, mate, but we need to make money too. Congrats on your new gig, see you later.
Portnoy on being burned out - Bullshit. He's bitching about Dream Theater's schedule, but meanwhile adds on tour after tour in between Dream Theater tours. He wanted Dream Theater to go on hiatus so that he could make money with Avenged Sevenfold, plain and simple. His story on the press release is just that: A story. It's designed to make him appear in a good light.
On Dream Theater not being Dream Theater without him: Bullshit. If Steve Harris left Iron Maiden, that would end Maiden, because Steve writes most of their stuff and has a large hand in even the stuff he doesn't write. Historically, Petrucci has written the lion's share of the lyrics, and the music is usually split evenly among Petrucci, Myung, Portnoy, and the current keyboardist. (Rudess now, but Moore and Sherinian wrote on their albums as well.) And let's face it, there are so many drummers out there who idolized Portnoy and grew up trying to play like him that replacing him won't really affect their sound too much. I can list of dozens of prog-metal bands with amazing drummers that could fill in for Portnoy with no problem.
So, I can see why Portnoy would want to leave/take a break, but I can't sympathize with him one bit. I think Dream Theater did the right thing.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Baby Robins - Followup
The bird that refused to fly finally did this morning. He spent the night on my window AC unit downstairs, and then early this morning woke up hungry. I fed him part of a blackberry from our bush, and then he gathered his courage and fluttered off to a nearby branch. He chirped for quite a while trying to attract his parents attention, and by the time I woke up this afternoon he was gone.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Baby Robins
These are the two remaining baby robins that were on our porch nest two days ago. (There were four. Number four disappeared overnight one night a week ago, number three was the biggest and jumped out a couple of days ago.)
I was awakened from an after-dinner nap on my couch this afternoon by a weird screeching sound from the porch. It seems both remaining birds decided to leave the nest this afternoon. One bird was gone, but one was being attacked by a stray cat on my porch. I scared the cat away, but the remaining bird just could not seem to fly. He kept trying to fly into my big living room window, but was smacking into the siding below the window. Eventually I got tired of seeing him brain himself on my house, coaxed him onto a paint-stirrer, and put him back in his nest.
His brother (or her sister, too young for me to tell) was sitting on my back porch, and migrated to my Jeep when I came outside.
A short while later, my wife informed me that the house-crashing robin was now sitting at my front door staring into the screen and chirping. *sigh* I went out to check him out and make sure the cat wasn't around. He waited until I was watching him and then chirped "Look at me! I can fly!" and then proceeded WHAM WHAM WHAM to repeatedly launch himself against the side of my porch. (I think the other fledgelings got all the brains.)
OK, I get it, you don't want to stay in the nest. I also think that you are cat food if you stay on the porch. Let's try moving you to the backyard where your brother was and see if you can perch in a bush or something high enough to stay safe.
Nope, halfway to the backyard the robin decided that it was going to sleep on the paint stirrer. (Just like my baby, it apparently likes to fall asleep to a nice rocking motion.) Grrrr. I put the robin - stick and all - on my Jeep, hoping he would flutter off to a bush or something. Nope. Not wanting to leave the sleeping moron where the cat could come back and munch on him, I decided that he should sleep somewhere safer.
I was awakened from an after-dinner nap on my couch this afternoon by a weird screeching sound from the porch. It seems both remaining birds decided to leave the nest this afternoon. One bird was gone, but one was being attacked by a stray cat on my porch. I scared the cat away, but the remaining bird just could not seem to fly. He kept trying to fly into my big living room window, but was smacking into the siding below the window. Eventually I got tired of seeing him brain himself on my house, coaxed him onto a paint-stirrer, and put him back in his nest.
His brother (or her sister, too young for me to tell) was sitting on my back porch, and migrated to my Jeep when I came outside.
A short while later, my wife informed me that the house-crashing robin was now sitting at my front door staring into the screen and chirping. *sigh* I went out to check him out and make sure the cat wasn't around. He waited until I was watching him and then chirped "Look at me! I can fly!" and then proceeded WHAM WHAM WHAM to repeatedly launch himself against the side of my porch. (I think the other fledgelings got all the brains.)
OK, I get it, you don't want to stay in the nest. I also think that you are cat food if you stay on the porch. Let's try moving you to the backyard where your brother was and see if you can perch in a bush or something high enough to stay safe.
Nope, halfway to the backyard the robin decided that it was going to sleep on the paint stirrer. (Just like my baby, it apparently likes to fall asleep to a nice rocking motion.) Grrrr. I put the robin - stick and all - on my Jeep, hoping he would flutter off to a bush or something. Nope. Not wanting to leave the sleeping moron where the cat could come back and munch on him, I decided that he should sleep somewhere safer.
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