21st Century Social Critic

8/07/2014

The Devil´s Excrement travels from Caracas to Aruba

This is a plug for the Devil´s Excrement´s author, Miguel Octavio. His last post, "Venezuela Drifting Away from the World", is one of his better pieces. It describes his last trip from Caracas to Aruba.

Miguel Octavio´s blog, The Devil´s Excrement, is a must read for those who want to understand what´s going on in Venezuela. I added this post to my list “Highly Recommended Heartbreakers” because it reminded me of the way things were when I left Cuba.

You see, my departure from Havana was quite similar. We had a nightmarish set of checks and were treated like animals by government officials. I was on a special KLM charter carrying 152 children and four Dutch adults who came along as chaperones. The plane was a DC-8, something like this:

KLM DC-8 at Amsterdam´s Schiphol Airport.

As was customary, once the plane lifted off from the runway nobody said a word, and we counted the minutes until the pilot announced: “We have now reached the point of no return, if the plane breaks down we will land outside of Cuba”. At that point all of us started cheering and hugging each other. We had escaped.

References:

Miguel Octavio´s Blog, The Devil´s Excrement is here

Miguel Octavio´s Blog

The Devil´s Excrement Blog Screen Print

8/06/2014

Arms Control in the US of A

We all know the U.S. of A. has some interesting laws to control gun ownership. The law is different in all fifty states. Therefore it is difficult to make a nation wide comment about state laws.

But I can explain what happens at the national (i.e. federal) level. The U.S.of A. Constitution´s Second Amendment says that "because a well armed militia is necessary, the right of people to bear arms shall not be limited." That´s it all, more or less. This amendment is what allows Americans to own and use weapons of all kinds.

For example, the Waco massacre got started when the authorities tried to carry out an investigation at David Koresh´s camp. Koresh was said by his followers to be the second coming of Christ. This guy made a living from his folowers´donations and selling weapons, including .50-caliber machine guns like this

.50 caliber machine gun (from walkingdead.wikia.com)

Because the second amendment is so short and lacks detail, and in the U.S. of A. there is a tradition for people to own weapons, some states have laws which allow some individuals to use heavy weapons. For example, here is a man who will do a demonstration of his personal 105 mm cannon. Look at the size of the bullet.

Old man demonstrating a 105 mm cannon

I wonder, why would a guy be interested in something like this? Those rounds must be very expensive, and it sure seems a bit exaggerated to shoot a stranger at long distance with a 105 mm cannon. But the way this works, that cannon´s owner can blast you to kingdom come if you enter his property without asking for pemission (In some states he has to post signs saying something like “Do not enter, if you do the owner will shoot at you with a 105 mm howitzer”).

I don´t like to live near someone like that. The Lord knows he looks sane, but hey, one mistake and there goes MY property. Let me show you an example: here we see him with his assistant preparing to fire that cannon of his:

Old man preparing to fire a 105 mm cannon

And here we see the results of this demonstration. The cannon round flew over 5 km and fell quite close to a car stopped in the old man´s property. This means it was quite legal for the round to hit the car and blow it apart.

Round strikes the ground near a parked vehicle

What else can I say? To live in a place where people are armed like that you have to be crazy. Or at least one needs a very well-fortified house, as we see below. Because if an old drunk comes around and starts shooting a .50 caliber machine gun or a howitzer, a house with extremely thick walls and roof sure comes in handy.

House with very thick walls and roof

8/04/2014

The birth of Scientology

Last year I found the way Scientology was invented by L. Ron Hubbard when I was looking up old science fiction stories I could download. Just be sheer accident I found a web page which copied a post in alt.religion.scientology newsgroup, dated May 2^nd, 1995.

Famous Scientologist (from the NY Post)

The following excerpt was taken from a magazine called "Saturday Evening Wings," which was printed for awhile in the 1970s. In this interview Harlan Ellison, the science fiction writer, claims to have been present the night L. Ron Hubbard decided to write "Dianetics." Note: Dianetics is the first Bible of Scientology.

Portions of Ellison´s interview in “Wings” follow:

Ellison: Scientology is bullshit! Man, I was there the night L. Ron Hubbard invented it, for Christ Sakes! I was sitting in a room with L. Ron Hubbard and a bunch of other science fiction writers…he was famous among science fiction writers because he was the first one to have an electric typewriter.

Battlefield Earth, Hubbard´s second most popular book

Wings: He claimed to have written "Dianetics" in a weekend, and nobody can deny it.

Dianetics, Scientology´s Bible

Ellison: That's true. He wrote "Dianetics" in one weekend…We were sitting around one night. ... who else was there? Alfred Bester, and Cyril Kornbluth, and Lester Del Rey, and Ron Hubbard, who was making a penny a word, and had been for years. And he said "This bullshit's got to stop!" He says, "I gotta get money." He says, "I want to get rich".

….And somebody said, "why don't you invent a new religion? They're always big."

We were clowning! You know, " You'll make a fortune!"

He says, "I'm going to do it." Sat down, stole a little bit from Freud, stole a little bit from Jung, a little bit from Alder, a little bit of encounter therapy, pre-Janov Primal Screaming, took all that bullshit, threw it all together, invented a few new words, because he was a science fiction writer, you know, "engrams" and "regression", all that bullshit. And then he conned John Campbell, who was crazy as a thousand battlefields. I mean, he believed any goddamned thing. He really believed blacks were inferior….and he got him to run this article on Dianetics, the new science of mental health.

Wings: Dianometry was the first article, I believe.

Ellison: Right. And science fiction fans will go for any goddamm thing. They'll believe anything, man, they will believe in the abominable snowman and the Bermuda Triangle, in Pyramid Power, in EST, in Scientology, in the Second Coming, they'll believe in any goddamm thing, they don't give a shit. They go to see "Star Wars"; they think it is for real!

The Invaders Plan, sold at

comic shop dot com

So science fiction fans picked it up, they began proselytizing, he started making money, when he had made enough money he was able to spread out a little more….Then he wanted to get tax-exempt status, so he called it "The Church of Scientology".

Now, they've gotten so big that they own property all over the country, and it is impossible to stop it. They infiltrated the FBI, they infiltrated the tax department, ... the funny thing is, Ron Hubbard and I still occasionally communicate with each other. Every once in a while, a couple or three times a year, we exchange letters. And I write to him, you know, and I say, "Hey Ron, when is this bullshit going to cease? and he says, "It's the good work, it's the good work."

….I guess he got too busy counting his money…..

Source: http://www.islets.net/faq.html#Anchor-Was-47857

8/03/2014

Decay of Western Civilization in the 21st Century

A few days ago I read Justin Bieber and Orlando Bloom got into a fist fight in a restaurant in Ibiza. Leonardo di Caprio was there, and rooted for Orlando, who got upset when Justin called him a bitch and also because his wife, a chick named Amanda Kerr, had been messing around with Justin in the past.

Justin and Orlando fight in Ibiza (NY Daily News)

Press coverage about the fight made me realize Western Civilization has indeed decayed during the 21^st century. Things have got to be pretty messed up when a guy like Justin Bieber gets to be famous for singing this crap

“Baby, baby, baby oooh

Like baby, baby, baby nooo

Like baby, baby, baby oooh

I thought you'd always be mine”

But let´s face it, Justin Bieber is just a symptom. Everything has gone to hell. Compare the 20th century greats to what´s going on today, and it´s enough to puke. We had Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry...

Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry

...and today they got Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark playing second fiddle to Jennifer Lawrence.

Katniss with her wimpy sidekick Peeta

So, let´s get back to music. 20^th Century rock was overwhelmingly superior to today´s music. Just compare the greats (Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors...) to the non greats of today.

Who dares compare Annie Lennox singing “Sweet Dreams” with the Eurythmics versus Rihanna sitting in a bathtub singing “Stay”? The very best 21^st century music act is Bubbles the Clown singing Lorde´s Team, for chrissakes.

Bubbles from Puddles Pity Party sings Lorde´s "Team"

What else? Take pop art. The 20^th century wins hands down with “Dogs Playing Poker” the world champion with over 3 million copies sold to eager college students.