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Editorial

Jello Biafra's H2K Keynote 103

Posted by michael from the up-on-the-soapbox dept.
Hyena writes "Jello Biafra's surprisingly brilliant H2K address is now available online compliments of 2600, with many more H2K panels to follow. Expect further civil unrest in coming years." Here's a description of the speech written at the time. Despite being given at H2K, it isn't technical in nature, it's primarily a reflection of Biafra's decidedly anti-establishment views.
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Jello Biafra's H2K Keynote More

Jello Biafra's H2K Keynote

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  • It's interesting to see a link to indymedia.org on Slashdot. It's even more interesting that if you add up the votes in the latest Slashdot poll, you will find that Nader/Browne combined hold a larger share than the two corporate candidates. Hopefully there will be a rift cut into the system in 2 days. Hopefully people won't be so lazy and realize that the president doesn't matter. All that matters is what the public thinks. The corporate controlled media (GE owns NBC, Westinghouse owns CBS, etc.) has convinced people that there are only 2 candidates but I think that the people are smarter than that this year. It's just an odd vibe. Even if you are already decided, take a second look at ALL the info before you go into the polls Tuesday. Don't watch TV, don't listen to politcal ads--they are DESIGNED to trick you. Just research, and go in there with a clear conscience and vote for who you REALLY believe in. Even if Bush becomes president, it'll only be 4 years. And if Nader or some other 3rd party gets enough votes, maybe they WILL be in the debates then. If they aren't, the public will revolt and tear the media apart. Just remember that there are other sources of information besides those big government contractor owned media outlets (NBC, CBS, ABC), and good luck to whoever you vote for.

  • From http://www.malariacure. com /acatalog/Act_CatalogBody.html [malariacure.com]

    THIS TREATMENT IS NOT LICENSED FOR USE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES. AUSTRALIA , EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA. (Emphsis theirs)

    I think that they sum it up fairly well. I like that they call Europe and North America countries. This and the fact that their counter shows 414 hits and a few must be from slashdot. I would not take this as truth in its current form.
  • Jeezis, that was a stupid comment. Ralph Nader's been talking like this since Pintos were bursting into flames 25 years ago. Jello's been a shrill and hilarious antiestablishment crusader since before the Macintosh - maybe even before your birth, or at least since the last time you read a book critically.

    I bemoan the lack of historical perspective displayed by today's high-tech "leaders." Fuck, put down your anime and look around, people.
  • It's your unwarranted assumption that I don't pay attention. In point of fact, I pay very very close attention, and I also write letters to let my representatives know that I'm paying attention. What I object to is some zealot thinking that it would be a good idea to force-feed 'important' news to people, as though that will somehow motivate them. Those who are interested enough will find the information that they want and act on it. The rest won't. I'm happy to be the watchdog for my fellow citizens who don't want to bother, and I'll do a far better job of it than somebody who doesn't really care.
  • What a dreary world people like Jello would have us inhabit

    How does his speech lead you to this conclusion

  • I've put up a mirror of the mp3 of jello's speech here [139.102.124.209]

    "Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb."
  • Yeah-- other useless (but money-making) drugs ... [snip] ...They are making huge profits, and very little of that profit goes to research.

    So, your argument is that the pharmaceutical industry is producing 'useless' drugs, using virtually no research, and those drugs are, by some odd twist, enormously profitable? May I suggest that you run out immediately and start up your own pharmaceutical company (little investment required, since there's no research involved), make some of these easy 'huge profits' for yourself and then devote them to producing the 'useful' drugs the eeevil pharmaceutical corporations are ignoring? Your fellow man will be very grateful.

    Watch The Kids in the Hall movie, "Brain Candy." It is a fairly accurate (though absurd) look at the drug industry. It's painful for a non-KITH fan, though. So be warned.

    I prefer to get my industry and economic facts from sources other than popular entertainment, thank you. Although that probably does explain where your notions of how the world works were formed ...

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Dickety! Highly dubious.
    What're you cackling at, fatty? Too much pie, that's your problem! [snpp.com]

  • He's been anti-establishment since as long as I can remember

    The establishment is just fine; it's the puplic servants that are getting a little out of hand with their lack of respect for their job description and whatnot

  • I won't comment beyond this sentence on the lack of thought you put into that.

    Ralph Nader will continue to talk like he does now, like he did 25 years ago, until he gets a chance to be in to act on his demands. Right now his goal is not to be president; it is to get whomever becomes president to acknowledge and deal with his concerns. If he really thought he would win his election, he would be much more conservative, because he would have to do what he says, and what he says is not realistic.

    I think the whole vision is flawed. A consumer advocate is focused on being a consumer. That's evolutionary change, but if we want to go beyond being consumers, we have to reject that notion altogether, and realize that we are the ones giving money and power to corporations. Any fundamental change has to be based on that.

  • Topics like this one make me wish I had moderator status...

    Jello Biafra is clearly a hypocrite, and the original poster was pointing that out. He hates it when OTHER people tell him how to live his life (and try to control who can listen to his music), but he wants to control other people and tell them how to live their lives (maximum wages, no SUVs, etc). Although I wonder how he intends to enforce any of his wacky ideas if he gets rid of the army and the police...

    Yawn. Another fascist in anarchist clothing.

    And if your incoherent ramblings are the best arguments a Biafra supporter can muster, it's not too shocking that no one outside of his fellow fascists takes him seriously.

    -jon

  • You will learn this in a hurry if someone in your family becomes seriously ill.

    Hmmm. Guess mom and dad forgot to impart this valuable lesson as they lay dying of cancer, their suffering assuaged by pain-relief medication from the dread pharaceutical corporatist running-dogs.

  • You want pirate radio? Do it on the web, check these guys -
    http://www.pirate-radio.co.uk/ [pirate-radio.co.uk]
    Oh yeah and you can chat to them all in the chatroom on the site.
  • I know Bowie has an ISP, Peter Gabriel is seriously into VR (for more than 10 years), and Dave Stewart and Penn Jillette are both fairly hackerish (in the Jargon File meaning), I recall an interview with Jillette quite a few years ago where he was talking about Linux, which really freaked me out because it was before Linux was even a blip on most peoples radar and absolutely no corporate media were talking about it. As I got moded as funny it proves the old adage about many a true word said in jest.
  • (...) have saved your sorry Dutch ass in World War II. And that shut 'em up pretty fast.

    Thank you, dear Coward, for illustrating my 'big brother'-argument, I couldn't have dreamed of a better example! It's precisely this type of arrogance that make many Dutchmen - and others, you'd be surprised - somewhat distrustful of US "good intentions".


    EK
  • I'd like to see a link to some further information on this "screwed out of royalties" assertion-- even to some crackpot Geocities punk 14-year-old-made web page that starts off with "i heard from somebody who heard from somebody...". Otherwise it's simply rumor-mongering and libelous. The only thing I've heard about a rift between Jello/AT and the other former DK band members is that he refused to release DK songs for use in Gap commercials-- for which they sued him on the grounds that he was unfairly impeding the work and preventing them from cashing in on their success (and this info is available at the AT site). Never mind that providing the soundtrack for a Gap ad runs 180 degrees counter to the spirit of any DK song.
  • Good to see the man back in action. Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables changed my life in the '80s. I've been emailing Jello for a couple of years, telling him to get into the open source/mp3/technology fray. Glad to see others have been doing the same.
  • This year's H2k seemed to happen as a transition to addressing more serious issues facing the tech frontier. Many of the participants, Biafra included, are sitting in the epicenter of some of the most important issues facing the Internet and computer fields. Almost every presentation provided hard information and insightful commentary on free speech rights, computer security, government regulations. We found time to laugh and play as well, but I came away from that weekend with a stack of notes and a lot to think about.
  • Wait a minute guys! This revolutionary malaria 'cure' is exactly what Jello wants to see. No pesky and expensive "research" or "credentials" or "testing" that require profits in order to fund. Who needs these things that just raise the ultimate price of drugs for the poor, and erect nnecessary barriers against these innovative little drug peddlers? Come on, get with the program!
  • Some people have nothing better to do than complain. The rest of us are better off ignoring them. Would Ralph Nader talk the way he does if he had any chance at all of winning his election?

  • VOTE TIPPER FOR FIRST LADY (Score:3)

    by 1010011010 ( 53039 ) on Sunday November 05, 2000 @10:50AM (#647781) Homepage
    From Biafra's Bio [angelfire.com]:

    1985

    Infamous Senate anti-music hearings are staged by Senator Al Gore [algore.com] and his cohorts as a favor to his wife Tipper [algore-2000.org] and her calling themselves the [geocities.com]Parent's Music Resource Center [altculture.com] (PMRC [aclu.org]). Among the PMRC's demands were the censorship through a labeling system of warning stickers, the "Reassessment of contracts" of artists whose lyrics are, "sexually explicit", "anti-Christian" or mention suicide or homosexuality. "Expert witnesses" called by the Washington Wives blame rock music for gang violence, suicide, murder, devil worship and sexual perversion. Frank Zappa stands virtually alone [science.uva.nl] in opposing the PMRC and sensing their significance. The music industry above and below ground keeps their head in the sand, preferring to sleep through the hearings.

    April 15, 1986

    Two weeks after Dead Kennedys are publicly targeted by Susan Baker [purdue.edu] of the PMRC [theroc.org], Biafra's house in San Francisco is raided and torn apart by a squad of Los Angeles and San Francisco police officers. Cops even ransack the cat-box hoping to find - well? ask them. "Frankenchrist [amazon.com]" albums and Giger posters [giger.com] are taken from the house and the Alternative Tentacles [alternativetentacles.com]/Mordam [mordamrecords.com] offices.

    June, 1986

    Biafra and four others are charged in Los Angeles with one count each of "Distribution of Harmful Matter to Minors". They are the first people in American history to face criminal charges over a record; three years before the attack on 2 Live Crew. Biafra and other supporters form No More Censorship Defense Fund [spitshinestudios.com] to cover the money to fight the charges. Defendants face a possible one year in jail and a $2,000 fine. The law had never been used before. The L.A. City Attorney's office admits to L.A. Weekly reporter Don Bolles that they kept files on several other PMRC-targeted musicians, but chose Biafra because it was, "a cost effective way of sending a message". The prosecuting attorney later says one of his goals was to destroy Alternative Tentacles. Fund-raising and the ensuing media circus delay the completion of the follow-up album to Frankenchrist, the appropriately titled Bedtime for Democracy [amazon.com].

    August, 1987

    Charges against Biafra and the other defendants are dismissed after a three-week criminal trial in Los Angeles. Even though Frankenchrist was not found to be obscene; Biafra, Dead Kennedys and Alternative Tentacles records are subsequently banned from a multitude of chain stores nationwide [ericnuzum.com]. This is exactly the type of de-facto censorship Tipper Gore and the PMRC had in mind. By this time, controversy has vaulted Biafra's spoken word performances from coffeehouses to the college lecture circuit, where he is brought in to "lecture" on censorship. For the first time the media is more interested in Biafra's political views than music-industry shoptalk on his latest music album. His documentation of Tipper Gore and the PMRC's ties to fundamentalist Christian extremists is no longer dismissed as lunatic. He also appears as an FBI agent in the Tim Robbins-John Cusack film, Tape Heads, wearing the same blue pin-stripe suit he wore at the trial.

    ________________________________________
  • From Biafra's Bio [angelfire.com]:

    (I hope that slashdot doesn't munge the links this time)

    1985

    Infamous Senate anti-music hearings are staged by Senator Al Gore [algore.com] and his cohorts as a favor to his wife Tipper [algore-2000.org] and her openly bigoted fundamentalist friends [geocities.com] calling themselves the Parent's Music Resource Center [altculture.com] (PMRC [aclu.org]). Among the PMRC's demands were the censorship through a labeling system of warning stickers, the "Reassessment of contracts" of artists whose lyrics are, "sexually explicit", "anti-Christian" or mention suicide or homosexuality. "Expert witnesses" called by the Washington Wives blame rock music for gang violence, suicide, murder, devil worship and sexual perversion. Frank Zappa stands virtually alone [science.uva.nl] in opposing the PMRC and sensing their significance. The music industry above and below ground keeps their head in the sand, preferring to sleep through the hearings.

    April 15, 1986

    Two weeks after Dead Kennedys are publicly targeted by Susan Baker [purdue.edu] of the PMRC [theroc.org], Biafra's house in San Francisco is raided and torn apart by a squad of Los Angeles and San Francisco police officers. Cops even ransack the cat-box hoping to find - well? ask them. "Frankenchrist [amazon.com]" albums and Giger posters [giger.com] are taken from the house and the Alternative Tentacles [alternativetentacles.com]/Mordam [mordamrecords.com] offices.

    June, 1986

    Biafra and four others are charged in Los Angeles with one count each of "Distribution of Harmful Matter to Minors". They are the first people in American history to face criminal charges over a record; three years before the attack on 2 Live Crew. Biafra and other supporters form No More Censorship Defense Fund [spitshinestudios.com] to cover the money to fight the charges. Defendants face a possible one year in jail and a $2,000 fine. The law had never been used before. The L.A. City Attorney's office admits to L.A. Weekly reporter Don Bolles that they kept files on several other PMRC-targeted musicians, but chose Biafra because it was, "a cost effective way of sending a message". The prosecuting attorney later says one of his goals was to destroy Alternative Tentacles. Fund-raising and the ensuing media circus delay the completion of the follow-up album to Frankenchrist, the appropriately titled Bedtime for Democracy [amazon.com].

    August, 1987

    Charges against Biafra and the other defendants are dismissed after a three-week criminal trial in Los Angeles. Even though Frankenchrist was not found to be obscene; Biafra, Dead Kennedys and Alternative Tentacles records are subsequently banned from a multitude of chain stores nationwide [ericnuzum.com]. This is exactly the type of de-facto censorship Tipper Gore and the PMRC had in mind. By this time, controversy has vaulted Biafra's spoken word performances from coffeehouses to the college lecture circuit, where he is brought in to "lecture" on censorship. For the first time the media is more interested in Biafra's political views than music-industry shoptalk on his latest music album. His documentation of Tipper Gore and the PMRC's ties to fundamentalist Christian extremists is no longer dismissed as lunatic. He also appears as an FBI agent in the Tim Robbins-John Cusack film, Tape Heads, wearing the same blue pin-stripe suit he wore at the trial.

    ________________________________________
  • Cause it seems to me that Jello has his finger on the Big Picture.

    I mean, individual hackers have the power and yes, we indeed have seen individual hackers pull off impressive tricks! Witness the recent Microsoft hacks...

    But I think he's able to explain just WHY there are Men In Black, why they ARE concerned with people claiming individual liberties, etc. But what exactly do you DO with this power? What do you fight for and why? He's got half a clue.

    Or at the very least, he can give some historical background on movements for freedom and the kinds of problems they come across. "Hey, you want to demonstrate against the DMCA. GREAT! Here's what to expect. HINT: pack your gasmasks."
  • The word "hacker" is so misused, overused, and abused, that it's really not that useful anymore. Why not attempt to come up with a few new words so as to avoid the hacker/cracker confusion all together. Besides which, stating that oneself is a "hacker" these days seems like one's aspiring for coolness points that no longer exist.
  • Back in the good old days when I was a punk (like full gear punk, hanging about town being obnoxious, I still listen to most of the music but I've since gotten a hair cut etc. Hmm, let me see, yeah, close the paranthesis and get on with it). I liked The Exploited quite alot until I heard a live recording of the song "I Hate You" where Wattie Buchan says "This song is dedicated to Yello Biafra because he's a fucking faggot. It's called I hate fucking you". Since It's a really crappy recording I haven't been able to understand why they hate Yello, but there you go.

    Why I don't hate Yello Biafra is because he has a lot of good things to say, and he says them in a really way that makes me feel like "oh yeah, that is so fucking true, why can't I express myself like that?".

    I think he's made himself unpopular among punks because he points out all the hypocracy and bullshit about being punk the right way that goes on. And he does it in the not so very gentle Yello Biafra way.

    And for the record, I think The Dead Kennedys and The Exploited both made damn good punk _music_.

  • You missed the point. The 'benefits and prosperity' you speak of were neither created, nor can they be sustained, by a populace only interested in indulging themselves. If the mass media are providing information solely for the self-indulgent, how will the rest be informed of issues that count?

    If you want to be in the business of telling people what 'counts' then you need to get yourself a job as a news editor. They're the ones burying the stories you think ought to be on the front page. The general populace is not going to care unless their lives are perturbed in some way (as soon as the middle class kids weren't being drafted any more, the anti-war protests lost a lot of their verve). You can try and grab them by the lapels and say "You've got to care about this, man!," but most of them aren't going to agree with you. Meanwhile those of us who actually do care will handle the job for them. And I think that the U.S. will survive just fine. I'll make one concession, though: our education system is not equipping people with the tools to be involved and knowledgeable citizens should they desire to be. The ignorance of our basic laws, history, culture, and economics is just appalling. I used to think that it was mainly a U.S. phenomenon, but I recently read that only a small fraction of British students could identify Winston Churchill! It seems that ignorance is becoming universal.

  • It's great to be able to hear Jello talk, but just what is H2K? From looking at the website, it looks to be an incredibly lame defCon. I'm sorry, but anyone who labels their website "hackers on planet earth"...

    Sounds a little to close to "hack the planet" for comfort.

    -lx
  • RE: Its men like Jello Biafra that DESTROY your freedom. His idea of freedom is to do as he says or he'll smash you with his fist.

    But be that as it may he has got some experience at annoying the powers that be.

    My comment was if you want to see what the status quo is and get some insight as to how to smash same, talk to someone who's tried. And who's paid the price for it (RIP Dead Kennedys)

    Don't worry about smashing with fist - didn't some new school punks smash his kneecaps in?
  • believe it or not, everyday at your geek job there are other geeks around you who are there undercover, secretly plotting the massive and horrible end to all of this corporate bullshit. we are distributed guerrillas, and jello is just summarizing the agenda. witness the national association of broadcasters protest in san francisco. unfortunately for the corporation-state, they are completely networking their organizations and the people who know how to actually work the equipment are socially-conscious at least, anarchist revolutionaries at worst (for them). in solidarity!
  • Jello said "[they] ... would rather spend billions and billions of dollars on the next viagra than even bothering to manifacture stuff that cures malaria..." I don't know if there's a cure for malaria and maybe Jello doesn't know either, but that wasn't his point anyway. Instead of immediately going sarcastic on second hand details you should at least _listen_ to (literally - the MP3) what he had and has to say. An obviously otherwise well-informed person like you could hopefully put the knowledge about different points of view to good use. You don't have to agree with him, but please put yourself at least into a position that enables you to criticize. Take care
  • Funny you should say that, David Bowie does have an ISP [davidbowie.com].

    I saw an interview with him at around the time it was launched and he did seem to know what he was about, rather than just a figurehead.

  • Yeah, tell that to the DKs he screwed out of royalties. Biafra's another free speech for me, but not for thee big government nutbag.
  • http://www.phrma.org/pu bli cations/publications/annual2000/ [phrma.org]

    warning its 17 megs. page 21~23 talks about rnd expenses.

    john
  • How is this guy anti-establishment? Maximum wage? Getting rid of SUVs? WTF?

    Basically, he seems to advocate big government, telling people what they can and cannot have, and divvying up the proceeds. Sounds like an extreme version of what we already have to me.

    This just reminds me that I've got to vote Browne this time around, if at the very least to keep kooks like this out of power...


    - Jeff A. Campbell
    - VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com [velocinews.com])
  • their suffering assuaged by pain-relief medication from the dread pharaceutical corporatist running-dogs.

    Yeah. Glad to see there's a cure for cancer.

    This is a perfect example-- most of those "pain-relief" medications have been around for a long time, and are nothing new. And they didn't originate from pharmacutical companies.
  • ...dont blame the symptom, blame the disease.

    You are correct. The disease is corporatism. Note this is not capitalism-- I am, essentially, a capitalist. Pharmacutical companies spend more money trying to push their drugs down the public's throats (literally), and not into research. They are a purveyer of the disease, and not just a mindless symptom.

    They are responsible, just as any corporation that intentionally profits from the expoitation of the public. They may not be the disease, but they are certainly not helping fight the disease. And they are not mindless, as a sneeze or a fever is mindless. They know full well what they are doing.
  • I prefer to get my industry and economic facts from sources other than popular entertainment, thank you. Although that probably does explain where your notions of how the world works were formed ...

    Well, I'd hardly call "Brain Candy" popular. But it was designed to make a statement-- in that respect, it is more art than entertainment.

    My notions of how the world works has been formed by 12 years in a public education system, 3 years in the army, 3 years in higher education, and 10 years in the computer industry, working first for a university, and now (for 5 years) in the health industry. My knowledge of pharmacutical companies comes from talks with doctors and pharmacists, and not popular entertainment. Mostly we compare and contrast the nature of the computer industry (as exemplified by Microsoft) and the pharmacutical companies.

    The comparisons are strikingly similar. Both produce mass-consumption, low-impact, often destructive products designed to make money from ignorance, and use ruthless marketing to fob off questionable products, when they could have invested their time and energy into creating worthwhile drugs or software (whichever they do best).

    Economic facts are couched in the terms of economics-- that is, dollars. Dollars do not translate to social or ethical good. I prefer to get my industry and economic facts from numbers-- on the internet, out of magazines, wherever. But I allow my interpretation of those facts to be clouded by mysterious and ineffable things such as "ideals," "honor," and "scrupples."

    Those are things you'll never get from economic or industrial trade rags, just as you'd never see Microsoft's highly questionable business practices by the reporting of ZD magazines.
  • I prefer to get my industry and economic facts from sources other than popular entertainment, thank you. Although that probably does explain where your notions of how the world works were formed ...

    Did you know that Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle" was also popular entertainment? But it was the only accurate description of the meat packing industry during his day. All the economic, industry, and news rags of the day ignored what was truly happening.

    Often, art gives a better view of life than "news."
  • Support pirate radio and television! I have just donated a spare rackmount reverb unit to our local free radio station, and helped adjust their compressor to better suit its purpose ('soft knee' compression is _not_ what you want feeding a transmitter- ideally you'd want a limiter but... $$$...)

    Go find local free radio stations and contribute tech expertise to them! There are always plenty of people willing to play CDs, DJ them with lots of pauses and dead ear, and play songs with Carlin's dreaded Words You Can't Play. But whether these places have decent technical backing is very much another story. If you can, help this sort of activity!

  • Hehehe I was the one he ordered to the friggin apple juice... Fuck him.. he was an asshole...
  • Um, 'air'. Dead _air_. Not dead ear. That would be quite a disability for a DJ :)
  • I'm testing out a java audio streaming technology and have encoded Jello's looong keynote using it. The advantages are no RealCrap player needed. If you want to check it out, go here: http://www.clipstream.com/demo/jello.html Make sure your browser is java enabled (technology doesn't set cookies, by the way).

  • DK and Hackers (Score:3)

    by OO7david ( 159677 ) on Sunday November 05, 2000 @09:14AM (#647803) Homepage Journal
    I wonder what having Jello (lead singer, Dead Kennedys, the best band ever) speak at H2K will do to the people's view of hackers. He's been anti-establishment since as long as I can remember, and he's been said to be one of the smartest speakers (or singer) against government. So this will make "hackers" look like anti-establishment anarchists. Then when I tell people that I'm a hacker (reffering to hardware) I'm automatically branded as an anti-establishments anarchist (sure I am that, but let's ignore that for now).

    It was nice, though, to hear his thoughts on the matter, and after I'm finished with the Real player stream, I'll fire up "Frankenchrist" or "Give me convienince or give me death".
  • In today's modern age... there isn't any more room for Jell-o.
  • If you don't want to install RealCrap for unix, you can visit my keynote mirror here and listen to it on Java audio streaming: http://www.clipstream.com/demo/jello.html
  • Now look here: I did not mean to 'scoff at the heriosm and sacrifice it took to save Europe from the real threat of nazi germany', I only meant to point out the arrogant tone ('save your sorry dutch ass') which struck me as typical. NOT FLAMEBAIT: I sincerely thank the entire US Army for saving my sorry ass.

    Finally, although this is all getting completely off-topic: Most of our history is not something I'm particularly proud of, but WHO THE HELL ARE YOU to start ranting about slavery / racism? Please remember I'm not posting on behalf of my country or anything, and please please, don't call me a racist, I've really intense opinions on that. Maybe I'll share them with y'all if there's a RELEVANT STORY! Idiot fuckwit, I can handle :) And what's this about taxes, all of a sudden?

    EK
  • has a good song about Jello Biafra
  • He re you go... [sonicnet.com]
  • 1. Complain (part I) 2:16

    Some people will work
    Some simply will not
    But they'll complain and complain and complain and complain and complain

    Some people must have
    Some never will
    But they'll complain and complain and complain and complain and complain

    I don't have a house, I don't have a car
    I spend all my time drunk in a bar
    I wanna be rich, I don't have a brain
    Give me a handout while I complain

    Hey but you're livin' in the land of the free
    No one's gonna hand you opportunity!

    Some people will learn
    Some never do
    But they'll complain and complain and complain and complain and complain

    It's society's fault, I don't have a job
    It's society's fault, I am a slob
    I have potential no one can see
    Give me welfare, let me be free

    Hey but you're livin' in the land of the free
    No one's gonna hand you opportunity!

    - Bob Roberts

    http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103850
    http://www.geocities.com/dh374/bob.html

  • From H2K's front page: Excerpts from this speech will be appearing on the new Jello Biafra CD, due out this month. We'll post information on how to get it as soon as it becomes available.

    The CD is going to be watermarked with SDMI, so noone can copy it, right?

  • Okay. I was wrong. It was not a Gap ad, but a Levi's ad. Other than that, this is the same lawsuit, in which without transcripts it is very hard to tell to what extent any royalties were withheld and under what circumstances. Jello admits in at least two other articles I've read that some royalties went unpaid (although this sounded more like a math problem than anything) and it appears that he would have paid these immediately had there not been this commingled issue of the "failure to promote" the back catalog. It is impossible to tell what portion of the $200K award was related to royalties and which part was related to revenues lost by not accepting the deal from Levi's. This whole case is an excellent example of the complete failure of the intellectual property laws in the US. There is no clear owner to the old DK tunes-- certainly not to the albums as wholes. There was no written business plan around the band, so who has what rights to what becomes pretty grey in this instance. What is obvious is that the US legal system is prepared only to decide oppositional cases and is highly unlikely to work toward any synergistic or creative solution to this problem. I'm surprised that the members of DK haven't figured out a solution like giving everyone a digital master copy of the audio for these albums and forcing everyone to come out with modified cover materials, or to do whatever else they might want (like making a "Best of..." compilation, or selling the rights to certain songs (and since four of them would have the selling rights, this would result in bidding wars :) )). I mean, it's not a black and white case of Jello being a dink and the other guys being screwed. At least that's my take as a long time fan of both DK and Jello's solo work. Certainly I think failing to cash in on the band that wrote the song "Anarchy for Sale" is not a crime, nor suitable grounds for a monetary lawsuit.
  • Good ole Jello fighting the good fight for every cause he can find and he is cherry flavored and wriggles on the spoon.
  • Who Biafra is, you can find out here [kraftfoods.com]

  • I was there... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I was at H2K, and I had the honor and privilige of hearing Jello speak. I have to say he was one of the most insightful, inspiring speakers I've ever heard. Certainly a better spokesperson than Ralph Nader (although Nader has more experience in the public forum)

    The ideal ticket for the next election might be Jesse (Ventura) and Jello. They would *really* rock the vote.

  • The CD is going to be watermarked with SDMI, so noone can copy it, right?

    I strongly doubt it. All of Jello's work is published under his record label (Alternative Tentacles) and I really can't see him falling into the SDMI bullshit


  • Haha. Dickety! Highly dubious.
  • You can download RealPlayer for unix here [real.com]. It is available for:

    Linux/x86

    Linux/alpha

    UltraLinux (sp*rc)

    Linux/ppc

    AIX

    Irix

    Solaris

    Unfortunately they don't have quite enough bandwidth for all those streams, so you may get disconnected :(

  • If you listened to his speech at H2K you'd know that his former band members sued him because he wouldn't let them use Holiday in Cambodia in a LEVI'S COMMERCIAL. And he lost the rights to his music and now owes them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

  • The ideal ticket for the next election might be Jesse (Ventura) and Jello. They would *really* rock the vote.

    Actually Jello is running in this election under the green party he is just not doing ANY campaigning. I guess running for mayor all those years back gave him a bad taste for campaigning.

    Learn more about Jello at the Alternative Tentacles [alternativetentacles.com] website. Also, you can order his new CD (the one mentioned on the H2K front page) here [alternativetentacles.com].

  • the enormous profits from Viagra are what will allow the development of other drugs.

    Yeah-- other useless (but money-making) drugs.

    By the same logic, the enourmous profits from MS-Office allows Microsoft to innovate.

    Most research into AIDS cures happens via federal funding, at research institutes. The drug cartels are too busy patenting hay-fever suppressants to give a damn about AIDS. In fact, having an incurable terminal illness like AIDS allows them to hoodwink the gullible public into thinking they serve a fucking purpose. Which they don't.

    Talk to a pharmacist. You will be surprised at how the drug industry operates; the public is getting fucked. Badly. In the ass. With a broken coke bottle.

    They are making huge profits, and very little of that profit goes to research.

    Watch The Kids in the Hall movie, "Brain Candy." It is a fairly accurate (though absurd) look at the drug industry. It's painful for a non-KITH fan, though. So be warned.

    - Tony

  • Re:God save us (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05, 2000 @12:02PM (#647821)
    You missed the point. The 'benefits and prosperity' you speak of were neither created, nor can they be sustained, by a populace only interested in indulging themselves. If the mass media are providing information solely for the self-indulgent, how will the rest be informed of issues that count?

    My moment of clarity came back in the eighties with two inch story the local paper buried in the TV listings about a shipyard labour strike in Gdansk. It was, of course, the strike that led to separation of Poland from the Eastern Block and the eventual collapse of the USSR. Arguably, the most important story of a generation, pushed to the back for more fluff about sports, celebrity and road closures.

  • Now that would be cool.. followed by David Bowie on the state of the ISP industry, Peter Gabriel on the latest VR developments and Dave Stewart and Penn Jillette discussing Linux driver issues.
  • Well, as he says in the talk he gave, he WAS running for President on the Green ticket, but he didn't get the nomination. The AT page does say on its index page: "Run Ralph Run", though it doesn't do so real prominently. Jello did give a rater entertaining speech at the Green convention this summer past, which was shown on CSPAN, as did some other more or less serious candidates, but in the end the delegates chose Nader to be the candidate.

    Despite the notion you would get lately, the Green Party in the U.S. and Ralph Nader were in no way synonymous prior to this current campaign season.

    Ed

  • They were created in the past by people with the foresight and knowledge to lay the groundwork for this to happen. They are created today by people with foresight and knowledge. But they are NOT created by the general populace. They were created by a few intelligent people. They create it, and they cannot sustain it without the help of the general populace.
  • Jello and some other "musicians, actors & activists" will be speaking Nov. 13 at Shoreline Community College in Seattle as part of a lecture series. Check out this link [ctc.edu] for more info. It looks like you have to buy tickets, so you had better look into it soon if you want to go.
  • there's a difference between welfare-state leftists and anarchists who want the end of government, dumbass. next time you get out your little libertarian politics-o-meter chart, maybe you can stuff it down your throat and kill yourself with it.
  • Glad to see there's a cure for cancer.

    Actually, no thanks to Jello, we currently have effective treatments for almost all forms of cancer, as long as they're caught in time. We can attack malignancies with surgery, radiation, and/or drugs. Probably a couple hundred thousand people a year are given a shot at surviving cancer thanks to these weapons. Still others get to live a couple years longer than they otherwise would have. Although you can raise some valid questions about quality-of-life in the latter case, hardly any terminal cancer patients seem to want to check out early.

    So what has Biafra done for the fight against cancer? What has he done for anything, for that matter? Whining doesn't count. His attitude sounds like exactly the wrong solution for any number of problems.
  • http://www.infoshop.org/octo/tabd.html
  • Ah Wesley. I was in Chicago several months ago and finally got to check off "See Wesley Willis play" off my list of goals...

    rock on london
    rock on chicago
  • Why is this post flamebait? I'll admit I side with the libretarians quite a bit myself, but the poster brought up some valid points. Nader and Biafra are leftists nearly to the point of socialism, and some people need this pointed out to them.
  • he's been said to be one of the smartest speakers (or singer) against government

    Oh please, the guy is a nimrod. My dog could come up with better political and social commentary.
  • The corporate controlled media (GE owns NBC, Westinghouse owns CBS, etc.)

    umm NBC and CBS are corporations so obviously they are corporate controlled media. and ABC is owned by disney and FOX is owned by NewsCorp. Both are corporate controlled media controlled by media corporations! Gasp! How many TV networks are controlled by individuals? and if an individual had the 100 million in capital to start a network would you trust him/his network? or would you complain about it?

    don't listen to politcal ads--they are DESIGNED to trick you.

    gasp how nefarious! don't forget to tell people not to listen to soap commercials because they are DESIGNED to trick you.

    d if Nader or some other 3rd party gets enough votes, maybe they WILL be in the debates then. .

    Probably not because if nader gets a lot of votes the other two parties will change in order to attract some of those voters. They wouldn't change enough to get every green party member to vote for them of course but many would jump ship. And if you think they wouldnt please remember that 8-12 years ago many green party members did vote for either of the two major parties.

    If they aren't, the public will revolt and tear the media apart.

    ummm right. a revolt. Please explain how some disenfranchised voters(or anyone) are going to "tear the media apart".

  • Wow, I'm glad you backed up your opinion so well.

    Takes a big man to sit on his ass and insult someone.

    If you think Jello is a nimrod, fine, that's your opinion but take the time to back up your argument before you libel someone.

    LiNT

  • ...about the information age causing a "vietnam like" battle between corporate greed and the people.

    Personally, I'm not sure it will happen any time soon. Everyone I knew in college that was a radical is driving an SUV now.

    They don't like me anymore, either...snif snif :-)

  • Have you actually read this platform... here are a few high lights:

    • workers should be allowed to elect their bosses
    • Make police officers stand for election every four years, voted on by the districts they patrol. (this is how he plans to end police brutality).
    • Taxpayers should also be given a multiple choice of the ten or fifteen major areas of government to decide what percentage of their tax money goes where.
    • See youth apathy magically turn around when they know they have a real stake in their future and get to vote for their school boards, and why not their teachers?

    So responsiblity through being voted out of a position? Right, we'll vote a local pusher out of his position because he's cutting the dope with icing shugar. That'll teach him. I'll start a campaign to remove my teachers because I failed a given test (starting at age 5 no less). My boss told me I was doing a crappy job so I'll have him replaced by someone who won't give me such a hard time.

    Now lets consider if the average person picked where his/her tax dollars went (off a checklist)... I'm sure health and education would get a lot of money. Most people wouldn't give a rats ass about santiation, though.Nobody would move the trash, or improve water and sewer. Those things aren't glamourous, but they keep our cities going. How many are selfenlightened enough to pick those as where the money goes?

    Finally theres: Ending police brutality. I may as well put world peace on an election platform. And how? Bye god we'll vote you out of office! Don't help the police deal with thier problems, or punish for transgressions, vote them out office. Officer Murphy... I'll remeber this speeding ticket next time we go to the polls.

    Most of these things work assuming a wealthy educated populus who understand the nature and weight of the things they are voting on. How is a 5 year old going to know what they're voting for? For that matter who's going to have time to do anything. Sorry, can't deliver that module on wednesday we're voting on whether or not the barber can keep his license.

    --locust

  • Just as "punk" acquired a new sense during the 19th century, so it has acquired a new sense during the latter half of the 20th century. That this new sense of "punk" was popularized among the urban white ethnic criminal underclass of Manhattan should be no surprise given the active pursuit of gender ambiguity by that subculture during the initial stages of gay liberation that were centered in the same area and among the same fashion leaders that gave rise to the punk rock genre.
  • We've seen Biafra-style *freedom* before. I'm surprised more people here don't recognize it, but perhaps it's because Slashdotters are mostly teenagers whose knowledge of history is limited to the history of operating systems since 1970 or so.

    Mao and Stalin were "anti-establishment" the same way Biafra is: they wanted to *be* the establishment. Biafra wanted to be the president, not abolish the presidency.

    Biafra wants to fight for "freedom", he says. His techniques? He would need to know exactly how much money everybody is making so that *he* could confiscate anything that *he* decided he deserves more than *you*. Your opinion would be irrelevant if he had his way.

    He would pass out "yuppie scum" stickers, paid for with money he confiscated from rich Enemies of the People, to be used by "The People" to vandalize those possessions that he didn't approve of.

    What sort of people would consider this sort of thing "freedom"? Well, it would have made perfect sense to both Mao and Stalin. So, if you like the "free" societies created by Mao and Stalin, you should promote Biafra, too.

  • yeah and maybe that would be a good point if biafra (not nader) was mostly left-anarchist leaning, which would mean that biafra is really advocating a) no government to regulate the precious SUV in question but also b) no corporation to produce the SUV in question and also c) no underpaid, overworked assemblyline workers to make your fucking SUV. now, if you still can't understand why you and the original poster are so full of shit you can't even see straight, maybe you should do less posting and more reading.
  • Haha. That's just Jello.

    I keep waiting for him to say "Thufferin' Thuccotash" thometime

  • I'm not usually so blunt, but I don't have time to be nice-like... :-)

    • He's not running for president. He was a potential candidate for the Green Party, until Ralph Nader got the official nomination.

    • This is redundant, copy and paste info. Who modded this up?

  • The road closures matter, they will _actually_ affect your like, the changes in Poland will not.

    I'm glad you recanted, since it's entirely possible that during that time, somone living here might have had relatives there. With the Communist controlled media in Poland at the time, a phone-call from Gdansk would likely never make it beyond the national border. The same goes for mail. If anything was ever printed, it was so twisted, phased and burried, that it had absolutely no content.

    I lived in Poland during the beginning of the end of Communism, and I can tell you for a fact that State controlled media is worse than no media at all. We got news about riots in nearby cities either by word of mouth (when there wasn't a curfew) or from Radio Free America - never from the papers or local broadcast media.

    Censorship on political grounds is a crime against humanity. On moral grounds, it is the wost form of obscenity. The idea that some minority cartel could possibly enforce (through "law") it's sense of what is aesthetically pleasing onto a majority which is powerless to counter-act such attempts at brain-washing is a huge threat to the freedom of thought.

    Censorship in any form is an indication of two things. Extreme FEAR and disrespect on part of the censor, directed against the public - since the public is not considered intelligent and competent enough to be 'undamaged' by the information. More important, the public might actually come to some 'undesirable' conclusions based on material that speaks against the censors agenda.

    I've grown up in a system where thinking outside the party lines could get you jailed or killed. Belive me, if things such as the DMCA and 'censoring obscenity' succeed in this generation, the next generation will not even be aware that there are other ways of thinking, and it will take a bloody revolution, and a multi-decade economic set-back, to set things right again.
  • I can't understand any of the logic behind your ramblings, and I think it's because you're the one who is full of shit.

    I get the feeling that you think some sort of Lord of the Flies existance is vastly better than 21st century America. Bullshit. If you think so, get your fucking ass off of the web and into the middle of the fucking desert and try to form your perfect anarchist society with all your other anarchist buddies. I bet there isn't a single useful skill among the lot of you.

    I give a mindless fucker like you about a week before the buzzards are eating your (admittedly small) brains.

    -jon

  • it goes something like this:
    i heard jello biafra at the state location.
    it was a rockin' show.
    jello biafra really rocked the haouse
    jello biafra
    jello biafra
    jello biafra
    jello biafra
    jello biafra
    jello biafra sang for the dead kennedy's
    he also sang for lard
    jello biafra has an ass kickin' spoken word
    jello biafra
    jello biafra
    jello biafra
    jello biafra
    jello biafra
    rock over london. rockon chicago.
    wheaties the breakfast of champians.
     you gotta love wesley and his fiasco.


    john
  • If you were at H2K you'd remember me.. I was the bloody shouter. (Hey, don't knock it. I got the red shirt and all access ;)

    I would, however, doubt that Da Gov'na and Jello would run together. Great he abandoned the Reform Party like a sinking (into corporatism and reactionarism) boat and declaredc himself a neo-independant. (Besides, he's said he's happy as The Sworn Protector Of Minn-e-SO-ta.)

    Jello's speech and Ralph Nader's [votenader.org] candidacy have inspired me to announce I will run for Congress in 2004, whose election will be one day before I turn 25. (I'll still be eligible, I hope, because I *will* be 25 upon inauguration.)

  • Jello's Platform (Score:4)

    by 1010011010 ( 53039 ) on Sunday November 05, 2000 @09:40AM (#647845) Homepage
    Jello's Platform [angelfire.com] -- he's running for President, you know.

    Main Platform:
    • Enact a maximum wage
    • Abolish the Military
    • Withdraw from NAFTA and the World Trade Organization
    • End the war on drugs
    • End Police Brutality
    • Lower the Voting Age to Five
    • Education Reform
    Other Ideas:
    • Limit junk mail to one 3 x 5 card per mailing
    • Ban drug and lie-detector tests of employees and students, and forbid the drugging of schoolchildren against their will.
    • Give out giant waterproof Yuppie Parasite decals containing a skull and crossed cell-phones to be plastered by concerned citizens on all sport utility vehicles until they are eradicated from urban and suburban areas.
    • Convert giant sports stadiums into homeless shelters until the maximum wage imposed on today?s sports stars funds the necessary low-income housing.
    • Fight gentrification by allowing those under siege to spray whipped cream on those who flaunt their upwardly mobile invader status until the interlopers leave town.
    And, finally:
    • Don't hate the media, become the media


    ________________________________________

  • Biafra's Speech Does Relate To Todays Geek (Score:3)

    by blackage ( 92956 ) on Sunday November 05, 2000 @09:40AM (#647846)
    Reading through the different comments regarding Biafra's speech I felt that a lot of folks missed the mark on what Biafra was trying to say and why it was important. Biafra's speech does have a lot to do with technology. Looking back over the past few years the "geek" has lost a lot of personal freedoms that Baifra hit upon. Just one example is the DMCA. Think about it, it is actually illegal, a punishable offense, to posses software that allows to you to watch DVD's that YOU purchased on your Linux box. How can this not be directly related to technology and the geek? Sure, maybe some geeks don't own a DVD player as of yet, but this law has aspects that are more reaching than just DVD's. Already restrictions are being imposed on new technologies such as the HDTV that prevents you from recording programming. The geek has lost a lot of personal freedoms over the years. The insania has been going on for years, even as far back as 1985 with the raids against Steve Jackson games, maybe even further. Biafra simply talked about why he believes why things like the DMCA get signed in to law, or why people have their computer equipment basically stolen from them by Federal Agencies. It is all related.
  • for those who like DK and jello in general, go check out LARD [iinet.net.au] (cdnow link [cdnow.com]).

    lard is an industrial rock group with jello biafra and al jourgensen from ministry. they have the same sort of anti-establishment views dk and biafra have pushed, with a slick metal sound.

    go check it out. :)
    --
  • They are making huge profits, and very little of that profit goes to research.

    actually you would be surprised at how much money is spent on research. i know that this isn't what political activistis would want you to believe. i dont know what expirence you speak from(the kids in the hall isn't right up there with peer reviewed journals in my book), but 9/10 drugs investigated don't make it. if i remember correctly 20-30 percent of the revenue is dumped back into research

    alot of the rest of the money is spent on drug characterization and testing which is required to get fdc approval.

    i got this info while i was working on my thesis for protein purification

    another thing people don't realize is that pharmaceutical companies have the right to develop what ever they want-(as long as its not prohibited by regulations). they are a buisness controlled by stockholders with an obligation to stockholders. if you want them to change what they do, you need to reduce the market. when there are alot of old people who want erections and are willing to pay for it then you need to target them with your banter, not the companies making the product. these are sociological issues that the pharmaceutical industry is responding to. dont blame the symptom, blame the disease.

    john
  • suck a racehorse's smelly ass
  • One of the benefits of prosperity and reward for hard work is the freedom to indulge ourselves in whatever makes us happy

    Ok so humans tend to do what makes them happy, big surprise! The thing is that many people don't bother with much outside that, save the world or have sex with the person of your choice? Most people would SAY save the world, yet in reality they will go for having sex, because of the two options its the one that makes them feel good. The only way to turn this around is to make people more aware of themselves, of how limited they are, only then can they start to make the bigger choices for themselves, thats what confronts our species at the new millenium, self destruction in a wave of over indulgance, or can we grow up, and start take wider responsibilities for ourselves. Technology has its place in helping to get to the later, for all the pr0n and warez on the Net you'll also find snippets of truth, will they, the masses listen? I hope so, I know there is little that I can do if I am the only one pointing out things that will make people uncomfortable I will not get very far, we will only make a difference if we have a critical mass, showing the world what they don't want to see, it will take time, and I do believe we have a chance.

  • Malaria Cured? NOT. (Score:4)

    by edwardames ( 157809 ) on Sunday November 05, 2000 @12:59PM (#647851)
    I'm not sure if you're kidding, but since your silly linkage is absurd and what you're trying to imply with it is so so misguided, I've got to put in my thoughts on it.

    I fully realize that malaria and a couple of other awful tropical diseases are completely off the personal radar of most of the world's population of computer users, and thus of slashdot readers, and so I apologize to one and all for sounding pedantic, but this inane statement needs to be put down hard.

    While drug companies have developed vaccines for some diseases that once upon a time plagued populations that could pay for the drugs, Malaria, Cholera, and Dengue Fever, to name just three, continue to kill millions of people every year. Research into vaccines which could save these millions of poor folks lives has been very slow, simply because there is no money to be made in it. Basicly it's an altruistic enterprise, so vaccine research does attract funding from rich donors, concerned governments, and international organizations.

    But what it does not attract in any significant amount whatsoever, is research funding from pharmaceutical companies. Money spent on Viagra does not go to research a malaria vaccine, or a cholera vaccine, or a dengue fever vaccine.

    Personally, my experience has been with Malaria. Having spent a considerable amount of time in certain parts of the world where that nasty disease is endemic, I can assure you there is no "cure" for it. There are prophylactic measures that can be taken, among them some expensive drugs. By expensive I'm thinking of Lariam, which costs $US5 to $US10 for a week. Protection with Lariam is not a reasonable notion when you are talking about preventing malaria in a population of folks who earn one dollar a day if they're lucky. Lariam or one of the other drugs will work on the individual scale, but not on the population scale. And there are also treatments which can ameliorate the syptoms of the infection, but in most cases the disease doesn't really ever go away completely. Certainly there are traditional herbal remedies used by people for thousands of years, and I'm sure some of these work to an extent, but they are no substitute for a vaccine. A vaccine is the only real cure for the malaria problem, and that is what Jello Biafra is talking about.

    What's needed is basic vaccine research. With a vaccine you can protect a whole population in the cheapest and (hopefully) most effective manner.

    Not really meaning to say a nice word about that man in Redmond, but Bill Gates's philanthropic work is the way to go. If the the market won't fix this problem (and this is a problem where the market does not provide incentives) then people and governments, and maybe some of those corporations, need to step up to the plate, and make up for this particular deficiency of the market.

    I've gone on long enough. If anybody cares enough and wants me to dig up links, say so and I'll post later, but a decent google search will supply you with all the info you could ever want on these issues and then some.

    Ed

  • I had the pleasure of seeing Jello at Rice University several years ago on his Spoken Word Tour. Jello definitely has a gift for communicating the issues as they are today in a language that anyone can understand, as opposed to some of the more overtly intellectual dissidents. cough*Noam Chomsky*cough

    Not only that but there's nothing like Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables blaring in the background while bangin away at sched.c. :)

  • Basically, he seems to advocate big government, telling people what they can and cannot have, and divvying up the proceeds.

    Really, how can this be seen as a bad thing? Some sort of totalitarism is needed anyway to get the world functional/ecological/fair (or whatever term suits you best). Conservatism and its children like extreme capitalism and such need to get the boot, and to get there we need some sort of educated oligarchy to rule (this is where Nader and Biafra come to mind as possible candidates from the US). And as people have grown comfrotably numb with the luxuries of life by now, the rule ought to be harsh. If it ain't what you'd like to happen, so what? I don't care, nor should anybody else with a health view of the state of the world.

    And if you don't see that I'm just fscking with you, even better.

    ______________

  • Being non-american (I'm Dutch) you guys never cease to amaze me. Did you know that a lot of people outside of the US are either really amused or really frightened (or both) by your elections? Here you are, a country that obviously likes to think of itself as the 'big brother' of the world (peacekeeping? yeah right, I think arms mfg. is the keyword here, but that's another story).

    Presidency, it seems, can be bought, scammed, or merely granted by the public for lack of a plausible candidate (one that hasn't been discredited completely by lying cheating backstabbing opponents) - you morons once allowed Reagan to become president, for chrissake.

    Then good-ole Jello comes along, scaring the hell out of all of you with rants that are
    1) well-informed
    2) eloquent
    3) to the point
    and most importantly they are HEARTFELT. I'm telling you: this guy's for real, and has been for about 20 years. It would really be a very good idea for the "serious" candidates to check out his lyrics on, for example, the DK-records Fresh Fruit ... , Plastic Surgery Disasters, Frankenchrist and Bedtime for Democracy, one of his spoken-word albums, or one of his collaborations with the likes of Ministry (LARD) and NoMeansNo (The sky is melting and I want my Mommy). Most of it is old and some of it is outdated - but he just keeps on being RIGHT, goddammit.

    Then again, honesty does not seem to be a quality you're looking for in a president.

    I know I for one would sleep better at night though, having an extremist punk in the White House who actually has an opinion on (impopular) topics, says what he means, means what he says, and has no hidden agenda - probably sort of incredible to y'all, I understand, but there really are such politicians! - than having some smoothtalking con-artist madman bombing the hell out of poor defenseless countries for profit while, say, orally stuffing some fat depraved ugly broad.

    The US want to be a force to be reckoned with in the world, yet you systematically avoid people of any integrity occupying important positions. Ralph Nader is not a bad candidate - DON'T even get me started on Bush/Gore or your 2-party so-called "democracy" for that matter - but my god what an improvement it would be to have Jello in the office. Did you know one of his ideas, for example, is to allow voters to vote for "none of the above"? What a concept!

    EK

  • So the whole of anarchist theory = Lord of the Flies. Highly astute.

    Sigh. I will reiterate my point and try to cut out the subtleties which you are obviously missing. First, you claim that you want moderator status to censor some opinions, then you go on to accuse anarchists of being fascists. Then you insist that Jello is a fascist because he wants to "ban SUVs". I counter by explaining that Jello is mostly anarchist, and so the scenario of an end to SUVs could be interpreted as some statist plot to confiscate SUVs... but more realistically, from an anarchist viewpoint, the switch to a society based on human need instead of overconsumption would naturally mean that the gas-guzzling, resource-hogging, unsafe, expensive sport-utility vehicle would probably go the way of mass markets, idiotic consumers who waste their disposable income, etc.

    But its okay. You just keep ranting and raving and huffing and puffing and all these confusing messages that conflict with your years of corporate advertising won't bother you anymore.

  • My moment of clarity came back in the eighties with two inch story the local paper buried in the TV listings about a shipyard labour strike in Gdansk. It was, of course, the strike that led to separation of Poland from the Eastern Block and the eventual collapse of the USSR. Arguably, the most important story of a generation, pushed to the back for more fluff about sports, celebrity and road closures.

    And the counterpoint moment of clarity will come when once wonders about how much ones life _actually_ changes as a result of the enourmous expansion of information at ones disposal. Think about it in th 19th century nobody outside of india would here about the mudslide that killed 200,000 but everyone would know about the carriage that ran over the local philanderer on his way back from his current mistress's house. And how much is ones life improved (and I mean really improved), by this knowledge. Your example highlights the problem (I acknowledge the evils of the cult of celebrity). The road closures matter, they will _actually_ affect your like, the changes in Poland will not. Now in unfortunately the polish example is really bad for me since it really does matter since it did change the shape of the world, but it is only really with hindsight that the magnitude of the strike can be seen, in general a strike in Gdansk really wouldn't be an issue for you. Now by the time solidarity kicked of it was making the kind of press that was important.

    One of the fundamental problems about middle class reactionary politics (and politicians) is that it fails to recognise that the system against which they rally is the _ONLY_ system of politics we have ever seen that not only tolerates their objections, but provides them with the means of sustenance whilst they actively react against it. If the choice came down to exploit another or die, everything about our history says we shall exploit, for one thing we can all say about our ancestors (and i mean every single one of them, and every single one of us) is that they managed to bring forth issue before they shuffled off this mortal coil. And a hell of a lot of the issuing took place at the _direct_ expense of others that were not so fortunate or perhaps successful.

    I am not endorsing the status quo (although "Whatever You Want" is quite a apt song for this topic:-) but I am sick and fucking tired of reactionary middle class activists, particularly young ones, driving mummy or daddy's Volvo to the rally to cry the tears of the oppressed whilst enjoying the benefits of the system, includings freedoms and costs, against which they so vehemently react. The hypocracy would be farcical if they weren't so ernest. (I am not flaming the author above just the general reactionary politics summed up in biafra's position.)

    Do they have any idea of the history that produced the place where they stand? Do they have _any_ idea how insignificant all this "conscience appeasing" rhetoric is the scheme of human motivation?

    end rant.
  • "Oh my, Meg Ryan is breaking up with her husband. Oh my, how important!" he mocked. "It's CNN, USA Today, Time deliberately not reporting the stories that affect our lives."

    What a dreary world people like Jello would have us inhabit. One of the benefits of prosperity and reward for hard work is the freedom to indulge ourselves in whatever makes us happy. If it's reading tabloid tales of the rich and famous, so what? If CNN and USA Today could make a buck printing the sort of stuff he finds important, they'd do it in a heartbeat. His unspoken criticism is that people aren't interested. Tough luck there, Jello.

  • When I lived there o so many years ago. He came in surprisingly well, say 5th out of 20 or something. He's obviously not Scoth: he hasn't mellowed with age.

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