I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, but in case you haven’t, I’ll tell you:  the gay marriage ban in California was struck down by the California Supreme Court, 4-3 (source).  This comes after years of conservative struggle against what many are beginning to call the “Second Civil Rights Movement,” i.e., the struggle for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights.

Ok, let’s say you run a country that is an area that gets hit by tropical storms, tsunamis, cyclones, etc etc.  Then let’s say that you know one is coming, but you don’t prepare the people of that country for it.  Over 100,000 of your people die, and you do very little to try to take care of those that are still alive, much less the ones who have died.  THEN when the rest of the world, out of the sense of community that we should all feel, sends you tons of food and aid, YOU FUCKING KEEP IT FOR YOURSELVES OR JUST FLAT OUT REFUSE IT.

Ugh, I hate telling people in which neighborhood I live.  The responses are so varied, they range from “oh shit that’s scary!” to “aren’t you afraid when you leave?” to “pretty dark there, huh?”(I wish I was making this shit up).  I want to punch something.

I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy May Day.  Workers of the world, UNITE!

That’s right.  The International Longshore & Warehouse Union went on strike today (which is MAY DAY by the way, so rejoice!).  They were protesting the war being forced upon us by this corrupt government and its puppetmaster, Dick Cheney.  They essentially shut down ports all up and down the Pacific coast.  Despite receiving warnings in the past years from the Bush administration that any union action within this context would be met with military resistance, they stood their ground.  This war is immoral, illegal and just fucking stupid.  And organized labor is telling Bush&Cheney that they are against it.  So kudos to you, ILWU, and hopefully the boys and girls on my side of the country in the ILA (International Longshoremen’s Association) will join in to show their solidarity.

I’ve never done a review, per se.  However, I feel the need to write one for the new release of the Ubuntu Linux operating system, version 8.04, codenamed Hardy Heron.

For those of you unfortunate enough to be unfamiliar with Ubuntu Linux, it is certainly the finest flavor of Linux I have ever used (I’ve used Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, Fedora, Gentoo and OpenSuSE).  I’ve been using it since it came out back in 2004.  It is a derivative of Debian GNU/Linux, so it uses *.deb packages.   It is sponsored by Canonical, Inc., headed by Mark Shuttleworth.  The main aim of Ubuntu is to provide a Linux distribution that the average computer user can use for everything (including gaming).

I’ve come up with my own scale to describe those of us in the left wing. There are too many words thrown around to describe a left-winger, and the most often used one is “liberal.” Here is the scale:
The simplest way to break it down would be thus:

1) Moderate - A person who is probably not that interested in politics, and probably won’t vote in an election. If they are even registered to vote, they probably chose “Independent” or “Republican” when asked. Unlike Libertarians, who do not want the government in their lives, Moderates do not care if the government is in their lives. They simply want the freedom to turn on their iPod, watch American Idol, and make fun of Britney Spears.

How does one become an accidental socialist?  Well, as journeys often do, mine started years ago in a completely different place from which I would eventually end up.

The only bad thing about being an extreme left-winger are the other extreme left-wingers. And I’m not just talking about your everyday activist like me who’s always ready to respond to the canned conservative crap. I’m talking about the good ole party theorists. The communists who aren’t actually working class and just sit in the back room and tell the rest of us about the dictatorship of the proletariat (though they can never seem to figure out how to get to that part) and how we need to start fighting back against the capitalists.

Mike, why?  I can understand running as a Democrat, but seriously, SERIOUSLY, a Libertarian?  Mike, look.  You don’t understand.  You think the Libertarian party is more in line with your populist beliefs.  WRONG.

Libertarians are racist hatemongers who don’t want there to be any government (except enough to kick out “illegal” immigrants and make sure everything is in fucking “better than every other language even though it’s technically only 700 years old” English).  They’re capitalists.  Capitalists, Mike.  Don’t do it.  Don’t go down that path.