California Murders Proudly

Stare at this photo. Picture it… think about it… the lethal injection.. the solution so many Americans (and lots of people in other countries too!) see to the issue of crime. Stare at it – it is done in your name. In our name. Doesn’t matter what your nationality, you’re human, and these are follow humans who carry out this practice.


Did you stare at it? I have. I keep looking at it. The last phonecall they make will be to rich Austrian-American who a few years ago decided he should be governor and make such decisions about whether people should live or die. Apparently he can be trusted to make the right decisions. He spent a few days reading the case, and he’s now qualified to decide if the case of a prisoner on death row was fair or not. Even though everywhere there is evidence that the cases are anything but fair and properly carried out. Case after case have appeared where lawyers and judges and trials were botched and flawed, and yet they keep killing people anyway, believing they’ve carried out justice.

In a few hours.. this room will once again be occupied. Humans will strap another human to the chair. They will insert poison into that humans body and end his life. They do this because we have accepted this practice, we allow it to go on. We go out for coffee tonight and laugh at television programs, while a man is injected with poison, and people watch from behind the glass. The whole world watches this, and they think – “I don’t understand that country.” Of course, we don’t understand this country either. Yet another murder is being carried out in my name, and I hate it and I will carry the blood of Tookie Williams on my hands forever.

bicyclemark87: Driving in New Jersey and Condeming Air Travel

Not even 8 hours after arriving, I’m driving around New Jersey and recapping how terrible air travel has become thanks to paranoia and irrational policies.

AudioCommunique #87(mp3)
30min+, 80kbps, 17Mb+

Discussed:

I’m driving
Listening to WBAI New York member supported radio which I was raised on
My terrible flight with KLM
Irrational drama queen passengers
Apparently Air marshalls kill people for behaving strangely or being mentally sick
Disgusting cars on the highway
My brother’s blog
I mixed in Utah Phillips talking about the military draft
ended unexpectedly.. thats how it goes sometimes

Music:

“Im from New Jersey” theme that Tim sent me
Utah Phillips – Tom Stribner Story (Fellow Workers album)
Death Cab for Cutie – Brothers on a Hotel Bed (Plans)

The Smell of Travel in the Morn

KL 6 something something to Newark, leaving in 3 hours…. I love the smell of travel in the morning.

Its time for one last bowl of Special-K with Soymilk. A quick banana. Load up the i-river with enough podcasts to educate and entertain the world, including a certain travelling fat-bian.

My final thoughts from these last few days in the Amsterdam: I may not have family in this land, but I have some of the most wonderful friends I could ever want. That that’s nothing to shake a stick-at. Who shakes a stick at things anyway, that’s rude.

Oh and lastly, I don’t care what the red-cross-crescent-crystal changes its name to, I’ll be calling them the red-cross for the rest of my brief life… so feck their silly marketing powermove.

No links, Gotta fly.

bicyclemark86: The Malawi Show

The first ever skype call to the continent of Africa on my show, we speak with Jesse the LoungeChicken, blogger and global citizen, about the country where he lives: Malawi.

AudioCommunique #86(mp3)
43min+, 80kbps, 24Mb+

Discussed:

I have 24 hours left before its time to fly, so Im keeping notes to a minimum;
Robert Fisk on journalism opens
LoungeChicken.org – a fantastic blog that Jesse and co. write
How he got from New Jersey to Malawi
His house staff
The Famine in Malawi
Race and Class in Malawi
The Health System and Fight against Aids
Bloggers in Malawi
The future of vlogging and media

Music includes:
Zap Mama – African Sunset
Specials – Pressure Drop
Sweet Honey and the Rock – (i cant remember)
Ed Mecija – Beautiful Friend. (A great artist I met on myspace)
Stars – Elevator Love Song

Counting Down to New Jersey

Scuse me while I don’t blog about world affairs today:

4 more days and I’ll say to hell with all these little jobs I’ve taken over the past 5 months that have completely kicked my ass and left with a constant feeling of “you should be working on that job right now.” It’s 1AM and I just finished some thing for Hine-A-Ken. I mention them by name cause they never told me not to blog about it and it ain’t anything anyone would be interested in, I promise. But hey… hooray for beer I guess. – For all those who dream of going into exile, I still say do it, but never forget that earning the Euros is tricky.

As I read the wonderful knitting-extraordinaire, Ashbloem, today, she spoke of snow, amongst other things. They have snow in Boston. And then in correspondance with Brain of J, I learned Jersey is expecting some snow storm thingy. Now I’m not turning into a blog that talks about the weather or what I ate for breakfast, but I do love when the snow reaches the East Coast, especially in bitter cold yet never-cold-nuff Amsterdam, where we never get enough snow, for my taste.

Fortunately for me I’m headed to New Jersey, THIS FRIDAY, the 9th of December. Where I’ll be spending time with la familia, especially the A-Ren. I’ll also be visiting with all of YOU, for those who are my east coast readers. There will be a Bicyclemark meetup in the East Village, St. Mark’s Place at the St. Mark’s Ale House, right next to Cooper Square and my former love – the village voice. I’m not sure of the day and time yet, but since we’ve got the comment box, leave a comment as to your preferred day and time, anyday before xmas would be best.

Speaking of the Village Voice, those hipsters have finally completely embraced blogging for their staff. Only trouble is, they censor their comments like it’s Tunesia over there. either that or they just don’t want any from a former slave of theirs. I tried to comment on the NYU graduate assistant strike post by the great Tom Robbins (the journalist not the writer.. er.. wait.. yeah), but they’re not having it. Jerks.

Oh and the great 26th birthdate is this Saturday… the amazon wishlist is here if that’s your thing. Ignore the fancy electronic devices. Hopefully they deliver the stuff to New Jersey and not AMS. Alternatively you can leave me a tip in the paypal jar located to the left. And of course you can simply not give me anything, cause if you think about it, your presence here is already a gift.