"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in"
(Leonard Cohen)
"Ignore all proffered rules and create your own, suitable for what you want to say"
(Michael Moorcock)
"Look for your own. Do not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings."
(Andre Gide)

"I want my place, my own place, my true place in the world, my proper sphere, my thing which Nature intended me to perform when she fashioned me thus awry, and which I have vainly sought all my life-time."
(Nathaniel Hawthorne)
“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
(Franz Kafka)
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated"
(John Donne)
“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
(Robert J. Hanlon)
"Life is beautiful, but the world is hell"
(Harold Pinter)

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Organising National Socialist Health Care


"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It’s no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." 
(Pat Robertson)

Introducing the Jesus Rifle!

Smite down the unbelievers.

In Which Natalie Finds A Fallacy


"The Conquest of Machines" (John Heartfield, 1934)


Superman is a Humanist!


Healthcare Reformageddon


"I Shall Vanquish All Injustice!"


The Neurophages

In a leather-clad set from Road Warrior, a young flying message courier named Danny O'Dare stumbles across a crazy old man which spurs him into conflict with a government conspiracy, with the help of a sarcastic female techno-geek and her condescending tone, culminating in a fistfight atop a tower.
TO BE CONTINUED.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

"Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber" (Otto Dix, 1925)


How Not To Fight the BNP & EDL

As argued by Andrew Coates.
EXTRACT: "The far-right can concentrate all the resentments and insecurities of people together into an  ’anti-system’ programme. This can slip from anti-foreigners, British nationalist, to virulent anti-black or Moslem propaganda. But its hinge is a reaction to the market-state. That is Labour’s commitment to keeping its consistency ’safe’, promoting their interests. With its idea that the state should equip us to compete in a global market, people are left vulnerable  to the gales of insecurity when economic crises arrive. Their own policies inflame the atmosphere in which the far-right thrives.

Unite Against Fascism and Hope Against Hate have not tackled these problems. They tend to reduce the source of British National Party backing to ‘anti-Islam’ inflamatory speech. They have tried to create the view that nobody should criticise religious belief.  But opposition to religions, such as Islam, and Islamist politics, should not be confused with dislike of Moslems. By putting these together they are unable to pursue an  anti-racist agenda. In Tower Hamlets, for example, Ken Livingstone, Galloway, the SWP and other 'anti-BNPers’, are allied with the supporters of the far-right Jamaat-I-Islami  a well-funded  Islamist group responsible for massacres in the Bangladesh War of National Liberation and the slaughter of leftists, Hindus and other minorities ever since. By failing to answer those who criticise this link they expose a weakness that undermines their own credibility as anti-fascists".


Unsurprisingly, I concur with Andrew's general argument.

"I'm so Ronery" (Kim Jong-il)

His new hit Single.


To find out about Kim's previous recordings, and discography, see here and here

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Move Along


The Revemancers

"In an ancient America, a young milquetoast office drone named Danny O'Dare stumbles across a talking fish which spurs him into conflict with a government conspiracy, with the help of a bookish female scholar with mousy brown hair and her discomfort in formal wear, culminating in a daring rescue preceding a giant explosion."
TO BE CONTINUED. 

Thursday, March 25, 2010

UAF's anti-EDL Farce in Bolton



EXTRACT: "Predictably, Saturday’s ‘No pasaran’ demonstration in Bolton against the English Defence League - organised by the Socialist Workers Party through its front, Unite Against Fascism - turned into a sorry farce, even if it was not a complete disaster. Far from being a magnificent display of anti-fascist and leftwing unity manifested through a display of solidarity with the local Asian population, it instead showed nearly all the worst political vices of the opportunist left - disorganised, amateurish, irresponsible and shot through with the SWP/UAF’s trademark mixture of naivety and cynicism. In short, those sincere anti-fascists/racists - whether inside or outside the ranks of the SWP - being led up to Bolton by the Grand Old Duke of York generals of the UAF were at times like lambs to the slaughter."
READ MORE

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Revebots

"In a dragon-filled Japan, a young farm boy named Danny O'Dare with dreams stumbles across a talking fish which spurs him into conflict with a government conspiracy, with the help of a tomboyish female mechanic and her welding gear, culminating in a heroic sacrifice that no one will ever remember."
TO BE CONTINUED.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Free Speech is not for Sale - Sign the Petition!


English libel laws are unjust, against the public interest and internationally criticised - there is urgent need for reform.
Freedom to criticise and question, in strong terms and without malice, is the cornerstone of argument and debate, whether in scholarly journals, on websites, in newspapers or elsewhere. Our current libel laws inhibit debate and stifle free expression. They discourage writers from tackling important subjects and thereby deny us the right to read about them.
The law is so biased towards claimants and so hostile to writers that London has become known as the libel capital of the world. The rich and powerful bring cases to London on the flimsiest grounds (libel tourism), because they know that 90% of cases are won by claimants. Libel laws intended to protect individual reputation are being exploited to suppress fair comment and criticism.
The cost of a libel trial is often in excess of £1 million and 140 times more expensive than libel cases in mainland Europe; publishers (and individual journalists, authors, academics, performers and blog-writers) cannot risk such extortionate costs, which means that they are forced to back down, withdraw and apologise for material they believe is true, fair and important to the public.
The English PEN/Index on Censorship report has shown that there is an urgent need to amend the law to provide a stronger, wider and more accessible public interest defence. Sense About Science has shown that the threat of libel action leads to self-censorship in scientific and medical writing.
We the undersigned, in England and beyond, urge politicians to support a bill for major reforms of the English libel laws now, in the interests of fairness, the public interest and free speech.
Sign the Petition Here

Matter-Eating Lad (from the planet Bismoll)


New Cloaking Device Hides Objects in Three Dimensions



How cool is that? I want one - do you think you can get it on Amazon?
(though, come to think of it, maybe I should wait for the upgrade that can hides objects in Four Dimensions)

Monday, March 22, 2010

Justice for Kelly Crabtree


Many thanks to A Very Public Sociologist for highlighting the appalling injustice perpetrated against Kelly 'legs' Crabtree - a worker at the Underworld factory in Weatherfield, Manchester. Her 'crime', insofar as it was one, was to be duped into allowing a future partner in the business to access inside information on the company. She was publicly dismissed - and humiliated - by Underworld's joint owners, Carla 'Botox' Connor and that complete cad, the ever unctuous Nick Tilsley (the beneficiary of this inside, and surely illegal, information). This cruel sacking was without any due regard to employment law or recognised personnel practice. Of course, the odious Carla Connor is well-known for her bullying attitude and Dickensian treatment of the staff in her sweatshop. There is no union recognition at the the Underworld factory, or sweat-shop more like it, so Connor can therefore exploit her workers with impunity.

To show your anger at the brutal treatment handed out to comrade Crabtree, please send messages of support and donations to the fighting fund to:

Justice for Kelly Crabtree,
Weatherfield Trades Council
C/O The Rovers Return
Coronation Street
Weatherfield
Manchester

For Those About to Roost, We Salute You!


Sunday, March 21, 2010

Fairly Random Picture of the Day


The Astrobots

"In a neo-noir Atlantis, a young flying message courier named Danny O'Dare stumbles across an exiled angel which spurs him into conflict with a sneering wizard, with the help of a shape-shifting female assassin and her discomfort in formal wear, culminating in eternal love professed without irony."
TO BE CONTINUED.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Peter Watts Found Guilty



Quite incredibly, the acclaimed science fiction writer, Peter Watts, has been found "guilty of assaulting, resisting and obstructing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer". An absolute miscarriage of justice, what justice? Peter now faces a jail sentence of up to two years - for being the victim of a thuggish and brutal assault by Officers of the Law.

Watts' real 'crime', obviously, was that of being insufficiently servile.

Brief report on the conviction
Background to the conviction
Peter's calm take on the matter
Cory Doctorow on the conviction
Charles Stross on the conviction

Fish with Oxygen Tank


Friday, March 19, 2010

"New Born Baby on Hands" (Otto Dix, 1927)


The Cybermancers

"In a coal-powered Soviet Russia, a young student of metaphysics named Danny O'Dare stumbles across a dream-inducing drug which spurs him into conflict with a megalomaniacal dictator, with the help of a bookish female scholar with mousy brown hair and her reference book, culminating in a heroic sacrifice that no one will ever remember. "
TO BE CONTINUED.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Oppose Judge-Made Bans & Restrictions on the BNP!


EXTRACT: "Unlike the Morning Star, Counterfire and the rest, the CPGB is utterly opposed to a state ban on BNP members becoming teachers - or anything else. Like any other workers teachers should only be disciplined or dismissed for what they do - in this case, for example, victimising black kids or racially abusing their students. To lend support to such an anti-democratic measure as denying employment to someone because of the ideas they may have in their head really would be like turkeys voting for Christmas. However, as we have depressingly seen so often in the past, turkeys do indeed vote for Christmas - regularly and enthusiastically. Thus the on-off calls going back a decade or more from the SWP, and those clustered around them politically and ideologically, for the bourgeois state to ban the BNP altogether."
READ MORE

God Records a Public Service Annoucement


God speaks here

Welcome to Glox News!


Prepare to Weep a Gentle Tear



"One day, I shall come back.
Yes, I shall come back.
Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears and no anxieties.
Just go forward with your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine"


So, do you have a heart of stone or not?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The Chronobots

"In a neo-noir medieval Europe, a young author named Danny O'Dare stumbles across an exiled angel which spurs him into conflict with computer viruses made real, with the help of a shape-shifting female assassin and her wacky pet, culminating in a false victory with the promise of future danger."
TO BE CONTINUED.

The Face of Jesus


Honest

"St. Christopher IV" (Otto Dix, 1939)


Friday, March 12, 2010

Free Lance Coprporal Joe Glenton!




EXTRACT: "Of course, by incarcerating Joe Glenton the army tops and the political establishment hope to dissuade others - present and future soldiers - from coming out against imperialist war. The army’s worship - fetishisation - of hierarchy, discipline and fighting for one’s regiment and mates in the unit, and crap like that, exists to get rank and file soldiers to act like automatons. Accordingly, communists demand full trade union rights, election of all officers and the right to organise politically. The aim is to undermine and eventually split the army along class lines. Needless to say, the CPGB calls for a people’s militia - not least in our Draft programme. We fight for the right of the masses to bear arms and defend themselves."
READ MORE

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Dangers That Come With a Hung Parliament



EXTRACT: "We in the CPGB feel obliged to nail the idea that a hung parliament would be in any way desirable for working class and progressive democratic politics in general. The plain fact of the matter is that a post-May minority government, if one emerges, will need to do deals if it is to cling on to power - lots of deals, lots of furtive meetings in Westminster corridors, lots of back rooms. But the City, and the ruling class as a whole, might demand - insist - that under such conditions, economic and political, the real job of the parliamentary parties and leaders is to get together under the big umbrella of a national government: a government of ‘national unity’ determined to “balance the books” and get UK plc back on its feet. A stronger nation. In other words, bang heads together and begin savage attacks on the working class - intimations of which, both positive and negative, we have already seen, especially in Greece."
READ MORE