The ultimate gangnam style

Seagull steals camera

Lеbаnоn, A Letter to North American Аnаrchists from Radical Веirut

From A-Infos:

It's also unfortunate that many of our comrades in the West have digested the patronizing tone of their imperial governments, and use it unconsciously with their comrades from the third world. Too many times, we found our comrades dictating with whom we should ally ourselves with, or how should we deal with our own causes like political Islаm, the Sуrian revolution, anti-government tactics, and radical environmental and feminist organizations.
We appreciate the feedback and the exchange, and we think it's desired and needed, but we feel that there are a lot of subtle expectations that we should become another version of you. And we don't want to. Being on the other end of the equation, the one that has been getting drone missiles, uranium depleted shells, and imperialism for decades, we can honestly tell you that whatever you tried, it didn't work well for us, and it seems it didn't work for you as well.

On the disingenuous simplifications of right-wing libertarians

What is "freedom"? What is "property"? What are "rights"? They define these terms to eliminate all but one possible conclusion, which makes it impossible for them to reason outside their narrow right-wing economic framework.

Let's start with property: by applying a single term to a variety of economic relationships, they conflate our natural and innate understanding of possession with the feudal concept of land titles. To claim that owning the shirt on your back is equivalent to a claim on the goods and services produced by those laboring on a plot of ground on which you never step foot is lunacy. The landed classical liberal philosophers in the 17th and 18th centuries recognized this definition as being particularly advantageous to them. Conceptually differentiating personal possessions from land and other capital which serves the needs of society only when operated in a cooperative fashion by multiple workers, is obvious to all but the most gluttonous materialist.

And rights? Does that include the right to deny others access to the means of obtaining food and shelter on the basis of your use of it as an investment? And how could it include the right to life while not recognizing the right to the basic necessities of survival? By defining rights selectively and conflating radically different uses of property, they establish an implicit set of rules that appears to create a moral justification for the hoarding of productive capital and resources on the part of a few while denying it to everyone else in society. And how about once one also then combines this particular type of property "right" with a labor market? Then they are in effect arguing for the right to exploit others, because those who lack productive property of their own must sell their labor to those who have it simply to survive, and receive as compensation less than the market value of the goods they produce.

And freedom for whom? In such a society where everything is owned, those with the most capital also have the most freedom. If you have nothing, then you have the freedom to starve, which is not any kind of freedom at all. And a society in which the vast majority of its members have no choice but to submit to the will of those who control access to the means of production is by every definition tyranny.

Adwaita, c. 1750 – 23 March 2006

Weighing 250 kg (590 lb), Adwaita was a bachelor with no records of his progeny. He lived on a diet of wheat bran, carrots, lettuce, soaked gram, bread, grass and salt. His shell cracked and a wound developed a few months before his death from liver failure in March 2006.

The age of Adwaita at his death is estimated to have been around 255 years. If confirmed, this would have made Adwaita the oldest known tortoise of modern times, living longer than Harriet by 80 years, and Tu'i Malila by 67 years.

Another response to a capitalist advocate calling himself an anarchist

I don't understand the association of anarchy with anti-capitalism. With no state, there would only be capitalism. Capitalism is simply trade of goods and services amongst voluntary parties.

You seem to be under the impression that markets and Capitalism are the same thing.

Let's start with your definition of Capitalism, which you claim is "simply trade of goods and services amongst voluntary parties.".

First, trading of goods occurs in all markets (which have existed for thousands of years). This is not unique to Capitalism.

Does Capitalism involve markets? Yes! So why then do we also use the word "Capitalism"? Wouldn't that be redundant?

Capitalism is a term first used by Proudhon to refer to a unique system of exploitation that arose during the industrial revolution, and that has subsequently become the dominant mode of production.

What makes Capitalism unique are two things:

1. The use of land and human labor as commodities, and the subsequent trade of them on markets.
2. Its recognition of private property (as distinct from personal property) entitling the owner of productive capital to the proceeds of the labor of others paid to operate it.

Second, while markets can be voluntary, the unique combination of private property with commodified labor (which is the heart of Capitalism), gives rise to a system of social relations in which a minority class owns most productive property, leaving the great majority no choice but to sell their own labor for access to that property in order to earn enough money to survive. Moreover, the existence of a surplus "workforce" of unskilled labor gives complete control to the employer to set the rate of compensation. The employer uses the profit he extracted from the workers (by paying them less than the value of the goods and services they produced) to accumulate even more productive property and continue the cycle.

Thus, because the alternative would be starvation, workers are not making a voluntary decision when they sell their labor.

Third, in order to create the concept of private property, pervasive and violent force is necessary to deny access to those who lack a title to it. How else could a majority of the world's population continue to exist with wage-slavery as their only option for survival?

So amusingly enough, what differentiates Capitalism from any other economic system involving markets is precisely the fact that it imposes involuntary decisions upon people, and in so doing requires, for all practical definitions, the existence of a coercive state.

The Cardiacs are Amazing

What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success

From The Atlantic:

Since the 1980s, the main driver of Finnish education policy has been the idea that every child should have exactly the same opportunity to learn, regardless of family background, income, or geographic location. Education has been seen first and foremost not as a way to produce star performers, but as an instrument to even out social inequality.

In the Finnish view, as Sahlberg describes it, this means that schools should be healthy, safe environments for children. This starts with the basics. Finland offers all pupils free school meals, easy access to health care, psychological counseling, and individualized student guidance.

LES MONDES ENGLOUTIS

Criminal Fortification of a Residence or Building

Somehow Illinois lawmakers have become prematurely apprised of my plans.

720 ILCS 5/19-5 (from Ch. 38, par. 19-5)

Sec. 19-5. Criminal fortification of a residence or building.
(a) A person commits the offense of criminal fortification of a residence or building when, with the intent to prevent the lawful entry of a law enforcement officer or another, he maintains a residence or building in a fortified condition, knowing that such residence or building is used for the manufacture, storage, delivery, or trafficking of cannabis or controlled substances as defined in the Cannabis Control Act or Illinois Controlled Substances Act.

(b) "Fortified condition" means preventing or impeding entry through the use of steel doors, wooden planking, crossbars, alarm systems, dogs, or other similar means.

(c) Sentence. Criminal fortification of a residence or building is a Class 3 felony.

(Source: P.A. 86-760.)

Yiddish-Anarchist song: Down with the police!

אין אַלע גאַסן, וווּ מען גייט, הערט מען זאַבאַסטאָווקעס. ייִנגלעך, מיידלעך, קינד־און־קייט, שמועסן פֿון נאַבאָווקעס. גענוג שוין, ברידער, האָרעווען, גענוג שוין באָרגן־לײַען, מאַכט אַ זאַבאַסטאָווקע, לאָמיר, ברידער, זיך באַפֿרײַען! ברידער און שוועסטער, לאָמיר זיך געבן די הענט, לאָמיר מיקאָלײַקעלען צעברעכן די ווענט! היי, היי, דאָלוי פּאָליציי, דאָלוי סאַמאָדערזשאַוויע וו׳ראָסיי! ברידער און שוועסטער, לאָמיר גיין צוזאַמען. לאָמיר מיקאָלײַקעלען באַגראָבן מיט דער מאַמען! היי, היי, דאָלוי פּאָליציי, דאָלוי סאַמאָדערזשאַוויע וו׳ראָסיי! נעכטן האָט ער געפֿירט אַ וועגעלע מיסט, הײַנט איז ער געוואָרן אַ קאַפּיטאַליסט. היי, היי, דאָלוי פּאָליציי, דאָלוי סאַמאָדערזשאַוויע וו׳ראָסיי!

Everywhere you go, the streets are full of strikes Boys and girls, family and friends are talking better wages Enough of breaking back, brothers, and still having to borrow Call a strike! Brothers, let's free ourselves Brothers and sisters, let's muster our strength, and crush the rule of little Nicky. Hey, hey, down with the police! Down with autocracy in Russia! Brothers and sisters, let's do it together. let's bury little Nickolai along with his mother Hey, hey, down with the police! Down with autocracy in Russia Only yesterday he was wushing a garbage cart and now he's become a capitalist.

NSA Whistleblower: Everyone in US under virtual surveillance, all info stored

From Davidope

“Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.”

— Howard Zinn

If you're unemployed, it's not because there isn't any work

Life without Capitalism? How is that possible?

"Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society."

– John (Fire) Lame Deer
Sioux Lakota (1903-1976)

Sun City Girls: The Halcyon Days of Symmetry

GANGNAM STYLE

Apparently this video is a significant cultural commentary focusing on the materialism and hypocrisy of those living in the Gangnam district in South Korea.