Author Archives: bicyclemark

Come on Down

Since its Friday night/Saturday morning, and this town is bustling with partying people… I bring you — Comment Madness from this past week:

Ectropy in reponse to my post about the sad truth that black people’s lives are worth less then white lives worldwide:

This type of racism is worldwide like you said. It goes beyond the Jim Crowe laws. Its not the lynching type of racism. Its deeper. Its institutionalized. Its sad and pathetic. We see it all the time on a global scale. Just look at the trouble in Africa going back decades. I watched “Sometimes In April” over the weekend about Rwanda in ’94. One of the most disturbing scenes is where the foreign (I believe they were French) military went to a French school to evacuate all the ex-pats. They were shoving the Africans away from the buses while rescuing all the white people. As soon as the convoy left, people with machetes came out of the woods and killed every African that was left there.
This problem has no borders. It makes me sick.

Ms Thingk on Bush appointing himself to investigate his own wrong doings:

… and if bush has committed any wrongdoing in responding to the disaster… well, he’ll just have his people do a “study” and come up with statistics that tell the opposite!
if at first you don’t find the shit you’re looking for, look, look, again!

Brian on the ups and downs of Union life:

I can certainly speak from experience that in my district most of the money goes to building schools and getting good textbooks and equipment for the kids. The teacher salaries come much further down on priorities. We have a decent union and I support it, even though it has its problems, as do all unions. But I cherish my right to collective bargaining, and it has helped us a great deal as a profession.

And finally, the man, the myth, the legend – ShuManFu on the aftermath:

anyway, you’re initial point about the short attention span of americans is spot on. however, i think the events of the last week have stirred an otherwise complacent news media from it’s slumber. a lot of it has to do with so many reporters being in the thick of it and actually LIVING the disconnect between the reality of NOLA and what the bush admin was saying. the newest thing seems to be national guardsmen and police preventing journalists from taking pictures of the carnage. still, i’m actually hopeful that the mainstream media can continue to galvanize the anger of the american people.

i can feel it in the air. every 2nd term of the recent presidents was mired in controversy. clinton had monica. reagan had iran/contra. nixon had watergate. the pendulum is about to swing for the neo-cons. maybe the leftists need to hold a pat robertson-esque prayer vigil for death. we can re-animate bill hicks to be our grand poobah. “oh lord who doth not exist, take the cancer from renquist’s brain and place equal portions in each ball of karl rove, leaving just enough to rot out his colon, in thine mercy.”
amen

The Story of NOLA

As the evening became morning here in the Netherlands, I spoke with my dear Ms Thingk last night. One of my most favorite people in the world, who around this time last year, I met here at the fishtank, where I work. Now dwelling in the people’s republic of brooklyn, Ms. T asked me about A-Ren… said she hadn’t seen any photos of him lately. And that got me thinking…

Years from now.. say 10… my wonderful nephew will sit with me and ask about what happenned in New Orleans, and the entire gulf coast, at the end of Summer 2005. It will be one of those “where were you when” questions, like people do for JFK and 9/11. And I’ll sadly tell him all about it; the reports, the neglect, the suffering… you know the drill.

But what about that world where my nephew will live. That era.. the 2030’s when he’s closer to my age now… will the major media be just as irresponsible as it is today? Will the public still have no stomach for the horryfing state of the world? Will he switch away from the news when he see’s the suffering still going on in Zimbabwe or downtown Detroit?

I say he won’t. But I can’t say the same for the world around him. The way this disfunctional society works is a long and established system. It repeats itself over and over. Tragedy-Recovery-Resolve-Repeat… slight variations on the same theme. In some cases we’ve seen signs of potential. But as a student (in the school of life) of history.. its hard to not be a cynic. I’ll have to find some way to give my nephew hope, for him to help create a better world in his way. Sort of like his lazy uncle does.

Stay Angry

Now comes the wierd part. It has been a week and lots of people will say or think — I don’t want to deal with it anymore. You’ve probably heard quite a bit about the crime against humanity, the neglect, the death, the destruction. So much so that you may have decided you know enough and there’s no where to go from here. Just unplug and get back into your daily routine that keeps you isolated from the inequality and injustice that exists in this world and has been very obvious in how the aftermath of this hurricane has unfolded.

And that’s why I consider this the most dangerous time. Attention spans are smaller in this era. Death and suffering can be extinguished with a remote control and a pleasant DVD rental. You can gorge yourself with exotic foods, lock your doors, and think — it isn’t here, I’m ok. But if you think about it, that’s obviously bullshit. If you live on this planet.. and you’re human, I say you’re involved.

Once again watching the BBC last night, I watched reports about the UK tourists who had been visiting New Orleans during the hurricane. The segment had lots of closeups, and tearful faces. Lots of voices filled with pain and haunted by unimaginable loss. But the strangest part was this: As they told their stories, they spoke about all the international people sticking together for their own well being. No surprise there. But then they went on, telling of how they arrived at the terrible scene at the superdome and all the carnage they witnessed there.. and get this: eventually, national guard troops smuggled them out of the dome and brought them to Dallas. SMuggled?! Secretly. Secret from whom, you might ask? Oh you know.. all the black people. Or maybe away from the poor white trash. Either one, apparently, is worth less then the life of an international white person.
I was stunned. The tourists were just honest about it. They told about how they had to try not to be noticed or the other people would get angry. And at one point, as they were discretely leaving on a bus, people realized it and started shouting things at them and throwing things at the bus.

I’m watching this report and I’m once again reminded of the truth that many people, especially so-called leaders, do not want to address. Its beyond racism… or at least it is racism on the most gruesome scale imaginable – deciding who lives or dies, based on skin color and class. And this isn’t just happenning in the US.. this is happenning right now, around the world.

ps — Typically arrogant and rediculous, he appoints himself to investigate if he’s committed any wrong doing in responding to the disaster.

pps– I strongly urge you listen to the latest Morning Coffee Notes from Sept. 6th, Dave Winer tells it like it is and he gets under the issues.

bicyclemark64_050906

Labor and Life; This is my American labor day tribute to working people around the world.

AudioCommunique #64(mp3)
29min+, 64kbps, 14Mb+

Talking about:
The concept of only one issue dominating our thoughts – which is crap.
The peace train to DC
Bread and Roses Strike
Labor Struggles Around the World
Tinkoff Radio

Some Music in this show:

Utah Phillips with Ani DiFranco – Bread and Roses -and at the end – Joe Hill (Fellow Workers)
Ani DiFranco – Up Up Up Up (same title)
Phil OchsPower and Glory

I can explain

Sometimes.. though very rarely, I like to mention my activities in fantasy sports leagues. Some might consider this useless information, but I would suggest otherwise.

Of course, if you don’t know, fantasy sports leagues are where you sign up with someone like yahoo, and you get a team, and you draft a group of players, and then depending on how they do, your team does better.

You might recall my non-American basketball team, the Stoned Tourists; made up only of players from other countries. we did terribly, but it sure was fun. Currently my baseball team, the Amsterdam Junkies, are in the playoffs, we’re very good, thanks to some the finest pitchers in the league. And lastly, I’ve high (pardon the pun) hopes for my fantasy football team, the Amsterdam Sexworkers, though most of my players are either washed up, or wounded.

The point of this post is not merely to talk about my love for fantasy sports leagues, but to further explain what function it serves a Portuguese-American who worries about the state of the world. And that function is very simple; it reconnects me with my childhood. Back when I would read the sports page every morning with my dad. Before I learned about the inequalities of the world, when memorizing facts about sports players seemed important. While I don’t have the desire to move back to the US, I do want to stay connected through various ways, and fantasy sports online do the trick for me.

Plus, I love naming my teams after cultural aspects of Amsterdam.

Throw Down

I’d love to talk more about expat life, dynamic international females who hypnotize me, other world issues, etc. Trouble is, the New Orleans thing is still and will still be nagging for a long time coming.

But instead of repeating my points from the past few days, or telling you what you already know about the relief effort getting better, I direct you instead to mr Holywriter and mr Pierce who use words as weapons in the quest for a lil justice and common sense. Both of whom, for those taking notes, do not consider themselves progressives or leftists… actually I think they’re both admirable ciritcal thinkers.

But before I leave you tonight, I’d like to send a warm good riddance to old useless rubbish… goodbye chief justice ren. How dare I cheer for the death of a public servant, you ask? Because he was a greedy old man who hurt his country by not being honest with himself and retiring years ago. If I sit here and start to think about all the work that did not get done because the chief justice denial just HAD to keep his post. My only wish for him was that he would have retired long ago, let someone qualified take his place, and he could live out his days sitting comfortably in his enormous mansion. Not so such luck. Seems that this generation of leaders do not believe in letting go of power; even when they make mistakes that cost lives or when a nagging thing like DEATH lingers.