September 2011
Occupy Toronto Market Exchange →
facebook.com
“But for those who believe that protests are only worthwhile if they translate into quantifiable impact: the lack of organizational sophistication or messaging efficacy on the part of the Wall Street protest is a reason to support it and get involved in it, not turn one’s nose up at it and join in the media demonization. That’s what one actually sympathetic to its messaging (rather than pretending to be in order more effectively to discredit it) would do. Anyone who looks at mostly young citizens marching in the street protesting the corruption of Wall Street and the harm it spawns, and decides that what is warranted is mockery and scorn rather than support, is either not seeing things clearly or is motivated by objectives other than the ones being presented.”
Glenn Greenwald, What’s behind the scorn for Wall Street protests?
“I think Canadians would like to concentrate on some good news.”
Mr. Speaker, our government is focused on what
matters to Canadians, and that would be jobs
and the economy, not the mud-
slinging by the opposition. Let me say again
that the facts have not changed. This issue
has been thoroughly aired. The Auditor General had all
the government information.
There is nothing more to add.
Mr. Speaker, again let me say
that the government has nothing to add
because the facts have not changed. This matter
has been thoroughly aired. The Auditor General had all
the information that was required.
Mr. Speaker, let me repeat
what I said. Our government is
focused on what matters to Canadians. That is jobs
and the economy, not the mud-
slinging by the opposition. Again, the facts
have not changed.
There is nothing more to add to that.
Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of good news
from the infrastructure funding
in that area. Again, let me say quite clearly
that our government is
focused on what matters to Canadians, and that would be jobs
and the economy. The facts have not changed.
There is nothing to say.
This issue has been thoroughly aired.
Mr. Speaker, this government has nothing
to hide. The facts have not changed. This matter
has been thoroughly aired. The Auditor General had all
the information that was needed. Let me tell
the member again that that this government is focused on jobs
and the economy.
(Deepak Obhrai, MP for Calgary-East, on September 26th, 2011)
“
Where?
At night in the crumbling rockmass.
In trouble’s rubble and scree,
in slowest tumult,
the wisdom-pit named Never.
Water needles
stitch up the split
shadow – it fights its way
deeper down,
free.
Filmmaker Roger Ebert Does Not Fear His Own Death →
salon.com
“One of these days I will encounter what Henry James called on his deathbed “the distinguished thing.” I will not be conscious of the moment of passing. In this life I have already been declared dead. It wasn’t so bad.”
Vacation.
Noun
1. An edible victory. 2. State of loss/emancipation.
Verb
To boldly flee.
Synonyms (in the old tongue)
Hermitage, Pink Floyd, Bart Simpson, “Wish you were here!”
Originating from Vacation, leisure time, at least a whole day but usually longer (typical are one to three weeks), away from work or duty and devoted to restor pleasure.
Mannequin
Wire
“Mannequin” by Wire
horse of new information
Not to shit on the sentiment of that poem from Walt, but..
Submissions
The first thing I wanna say is that my press accepts work of any kind, will bind it and sell it at cost plus whatever else you’d like to charge. After CANZINE, for example, you would receive a letter in the mail with your earnings. Pretty simple. I call it the Horse of Cooperation Stamp of Eventual Profit. We sell copies of everything we offer at markets that crop up monthly. It’s pretty unreal how simple the whole thing is. If you create original educational content for students and don’t see a cent for your work, ASK-box me and we’ll talk about it.
Zines I Keep Saying I’ll Mail
I managed to scrape together enough postage and packaging to mail out a few requested zines but I’d like to empty out the rest of my remaining stock and start a new run for CANZINE, which is coming up!! I don’t think I even fully know what stamps are or how to mail anything without having a break-down so probably the sooner you send me an ASK with your address, the better. I’d throw in some other shit from the press as well, why not! The store goes online soon and when it does the current runs will jump from “free” to “cost plus shipping”.
New Stuff
I’m REALLY excited about what’s coming down the pipe. We’re releasing a re-edited, pre-Tolkein fantasy called The Shaving of Shagpat (the story of a barber) date first published: 1856! Also on target for CANZINE is an in-house translation of the proto-surrealist poem Les Chants de Maldoror by the Comte de Lautréamont, which will be deadly, plus some choose-your-own-adventure shit about giants and a manual for converting your shameful sexual reality into harmless mental projections of shapes!
“I refuse to believe that corporations are people until Texas executes one.”
—
Is There Anybody Out There?
Pink Floyd
- Is There Anybody Out There?
- Nobody Home.
what we do is what we do!
‘cause all we do is what we do!
“I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids—She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance.—She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage.—As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenseless animal; and even when those weapons are shewn and extended for her defense, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal:—Conscious of this, she never wounds till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of stepping on her.—Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America?”
—B. Franklin on the rattlesnake.
WHAT IS ART? BY LEO TOLSTOY
“Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious idea of beauty or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, a game in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy; it is not the expression of man’s emotions by external signs; it is not the production of pleasing objects; and, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and of humanity.”
‘Now it passes on and I begin to lose it,’ he said presently. ‘O Mole! the beauty of it! The merry bubble and joy, the thin, clear, happy call of the distant piping! Such music I never dreamed of, and the call in it is stronger even than the music is sweet! Row on, Mole, row! For the music and the call must be for us.’
The Mole, greatly wondering, obeyed. ‘I hear nothing myself,’ he said, ‘but the wind playing in the reeds and rushes and osiers.’
The Rat never answered, if indeed he heard. Rapt, transported, trembling, he was possessed in all his senses by this new divine thing that caught up his helpless soul and swung and dandled it, a powerless but happy infant in a strong sustaining grasp.
In silence Mole rowed steadily, and soon they came to a point where the river divided, a long backwater branching off to one side. With a slight movement of his head Rat, who had long dropped the rudder-lines, directed the rower to take the backwater. The creeping tide of light gained and gained, and now they could see the colour of the flowers that gemmed the water’s edge.
‘Clearer and nearer still,’ cried the Rat joyously. ‘Now you must surely hear it! Ah—at last—I see you do!’
Breathless and transfixed the Mole stopped rowing as the liquid run of that glad piping broke on him like a wave, caught him up, and possessed him utterly. He saw the tears on his comrade’s cheeks, and bowed his head and understood. For a space they hung there, brushed by the purple loose-strife that fringed the bank; then the clear imperious summons that marched hand-in-hand with the intoxicating melody imposed its will on Mole, and mechanically he bent to his oars again. And the light grew steadily stronger, but no birds sang as they were wont to do at the approach of dawn; and but for the heavenly music all was marvellously still.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Listen
DEEEP IN THE WOOOOOOOOOODS YYYYEEEAAAAHAHHHHH
Dead Radio
Rowland S. Howard
ROWLAND S. HOWARD
- Dead Radio
- Breakdown (and then…)
- White Wedding
- Autoluminescent
Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not →
sacsis.org.za
Via alltheflowersshonelikeflames:
An Italian radio program’s story about Iceland’s on-going revolution is a stunning example of how little our media tells us about the rest of the world. Americans may remember that at the start of the 2008 financial crisis, Iceland literally went bankrupt. The reasons were mentioned only in passing, and since then, this little-known member of the European Union fell back into oblivion.
As one European country after another fails or risks failing, imperiling the Euro, with repercussions for the entire world, the last thing the powers that be want is for Iceland to become an example. Here’s why:
Five years of a pure neo-liberal regime had made Iceland, (population 320 thousand, no army), one of the richest countries in the world. In 2003 all the country’s banks were privatized, and in an effort to attract foreign investors, they offered on-line banking whose minimal costs allowed them to offer relatively high rates of return. The accounts, called IceSave, attracted many English and Dutch small investors. But as investments grew, so did the banks’ foreign debt. In 2003 Iceland’s debt was equal to 200 times its GNP, but in 2007, it was 900 percent. The 2008 world financial crisis was the coup de grace. The three main Icelandic banks, Landbanki, Kapthing and Glitnir, went belly up and were nationalized, while the Kroner lost 85% of its value with respect to the Euro. At the end of the year Iceland declared bankruptcy…
What happened next was extraordinary. The belief that citizens had to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly, that an entire nation must be taxed to pay off private debts was shattered, transforming the relationship between citizens and their political institutions and eventually driving Iceland’s leaders to the side of their constituents. The Head of State, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, refused to ratify the law that would have made Iceland’s citizens responsible for its bankers’ debts, and accepted calls for a referendum.
Of course the international community only increased the pressure on Iceland. Great Britain and Holland threatened dire reprisals that would isolate the country…
In the March 2010 referendum, 93% voted against repayment of the debt. The IMF immediately froze its loan. But the revolution (though not televised in the United States), would not be intimidated. With the support of a furious citizenry, the government launched civil and penal investigations into those responsible for the financial crisis. Interpol put out an international arrest warrant for the ex-president of Kaupthing, Sigurdur Einarsson, as the other bankers implicated in the crash fled the country.
But Icelanders didn’t stop there: they decided to draft a new constitution that would free the country from the exaggerated power of international finance and virtual money.
To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected twenty-five citizens from among 522 adults not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens. This document was not the work of a handful of politicians, but was written on the internet.
Refusing to bow to foreign interests, that small country stated loud and clear that the people are sovereign.
That’s why it is not in the news anymore.
Burning Man! (ustream) →
ustream.tv
It’s happening right now! “The site of unspeakable spiritual atrocities.”
“There seems to be no one on the empty mountain…
And yet I think I hear a voice,
Where sunlight, entering a grove,
Shines back to me from the green moss.” —Deer Fence by Wang Wei, trans. Bynner
And yet I think I hear a voice,
Where sunlight, entering a grove,
Shines back to me from the green moss.” —Deer Fence by Wang Wei, trans. Bynner
