Monday, June 18, 2012

Remember Egypt?

Things aren't going very well in Egypt right now (link to Socialist Worker article):  
But the Sunday maneuver by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was an even bolder grab for power. "With the new Constitutional Declaration issued by SCAF tonight, Egypt has completed its full transition into a military dictatorship," human rights activist Hossam Bahgat wrote on Twitter.
First, despite half the population voting for revolutionary candidates, in the presidential election they ended up with a choice between a Muslim Brotherhood (Islamist/capitalist hack) and a Junta official.

Now the Supreme Court is shredding the rights of the people it ostensibly was created to protect.  (kinda sounds familiar...)

Find out if any solidarity rallies are taking place near you and show up!  This is important especially if you live in a larger city with an Egyptian consulate- protests alone won't help anything, but it is important to do whatever we can to keep this in the popular consciousness here in the United States, especially since it is our tax and corporate money that feeds the Egyptian military and without US pressure for change nothing good will come from the situation over there.

(minor edits for formatting)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

WATCH IT NOW!!!! (assuming you like Starcraft...)

If you enjoy Starcraft 2 pro-gaming you need to go watch this video.

Don't read any of the comments!  Just trust me that around the half-way point things get amazing.  (update: Specifically, 21 minutes into the video if you're impatient.)

If you aren't a Starcraft 2 fan, well- uh, not much to say at the moment.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Random Review: "Relapse" by Ministry

meh.  Ministry's new album isn't as shamefully bad as a lot of people were expecting, but it isn't particularly great either.

Except for Double Tap.  That song is amazing- it perfectly captures the strange mix of joy, frustration, and gruesome catharsis so many people felt about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

*sigh* - The Democrats drop another easy victory.

Governor Scott Walker has won against his Democrat challenger in the recall election here in Wisconsin.

Forget the Democrats- the real losers here are everyone who want an escape from the suffocating Two Party System here in the US.  The mass demonstrations that kicked off because of the Republican government's assault on worker's rights were not about getting Democrats elected.  The fact is that the Democrats and their enablers in the labor movement successfully co-opted the the protests and converted them into a grand electioneering campaign, and this would be to the detriment of everyone even if Barret had won.

Because we're essentially only allowed one candidate from each of the two major political parties in most elections here in the US, both sides abuse the "well the other side is worse!" argument.  In this instance it was nauseating watching the whole spectacle; the fact that Barret is a hack who used many the worst parts of the Republican legislation to attack organized labor in Milwaukee is just adding insult to injury.

So yes, as always I would have preferred for the Democrat to beat the Republican.  I'm still not going to lose any sleep over this particular loss- there is hard work to be done outside and away from the Democrats, and none of it would be any easier because of the Democratic Party, even though it will be much more difficult with the Republicans instead.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/06/wisconsin-governor-scott-walker-survives-recall