Wait, Blow refers to Cocaine?

I guess this stuff has been around for a little while. I had no idea.

In case you didn’t realize, this is an ad for an energy drink. Hey, if you look deep into those girls’ eyes, you won’t find a soul.

The creator of this junk says it’s for the “over 18, ultra-hip party crowd.” Or does he mean the crowd that likes to do cocaine?

Please, keep kids away from this toxic shit.

Youthquake

Yeah! Youthquake, y’all!

That’s how we’re gonna get the country under control. Gettin youthie.

I love the Daily Show.

Click here for the hilarious clip.. dang WordPress won’t let me imbed it.

Behind bars, in the masses

1/99 adults is in prison in America. Right now.

Of course, this can be broken down even further: 1/36 Hispanic adults and 1/15 African American adults are in the clinker. The US is the leading country in the world with these stats.

Shit. This is bad. Is it the fault of the criminals or the system? I’m leaning towards the system. Actually, I’m pointing at the system and calling it insufficient and damaging. The prisons in this country should not be used to slap the wrists of people who’ve made mistakes, but to keep dangerous criminals away from everyone else.

The criminal process is too quick, and takes much advantage of the opportunity to move people through the courts and into the cells.

Out of sight, out of mind.

(read the official, yet terribly written, story here)

SXSW ‘08 stuff for the poor kids

Thanks to the fun and dancy kids at Panda Toes, the release of Mess with Texas 2 info has been brought to my attention.

OH how exciting! This is an all day event at Waterloo Park on March 15, so you can still catch your fav bands in downtown ATX on Saturday night (assuming, of course, that you’ve spent at least $140 on a wristband).

I’m most looking forward to the $$-free shows of NOFX, The Breeders, Yeasayer and Matt & Kim.

South by Southwest is better than Christmas.. by far.

YouTube’s little miracles

Jimmy Kimmel’s f***ing Ben Affleck!!!

OHMYGOD Jimmy Kimmel just aired his “I’m f***ing Ben Affleck” music video in response to Sarah Silverman’s “I’m f***ing Matt Damon” vid.

Oooh, I wish I could link to this new beef, but I’m sure as soon as this post is up, someone will have YouTubed it. There was a full choir and special guests including Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Cameron Diaz and Robin Williams.

“They be makin’ sweet sweet love.. Ben and Jimmy..”

On a corner in the crowd

When I went to Obama’s rally this weekend, I was enlightened by three little girls standing on the corner of 11th and Congress. The two youngest, around seven years old, were holding a banner, and the eldest, about 14, was handing out fliers. All three were very nervous as hundreds of people walked by, but they were delivering a powerful message.

They were raising awareness for the Human Rights Torch Relay, “an international grassroots campaign that seeks to bring an end to all human rights abuses against the people of China while highlighting the persecution of Falun Gong, the most severely persecuted group in China today.”

There is so much I didn’t know about this issue, and, as these little girls put it – the Olympics are a symbol of peace, but there is nothing peaceful about what’s going on in China.

From the pamphlet:

“As we approach the Beijing Olympics, I ask you to pay attention to the ongoing human rights disaster in China [and] seriously consider the extent to which the values of morality, justice, and humanity are undermines in China. ” -Gao Zhisheng, Sept. 20, 2007, from his letter to the U.S. Congress, two days before his disappearance.

Gao Zhisheng, Nobel peace prize nominee and recipient of the American Board of Trial and Advocacy’s 2007 Courage Award, was secretly detained by the CCP on Sept. 23 following his open letter to the U.S. Congress. As an outspoken critic of the Chinese regime, Gao, a Christian, and his family have been followed by scores of Chinese police every day for three years and have endured extreme persecution.

“Bitch is the new black”

Tonight, on SNL’s first show back since the writer strike, Tina Fey announced, “Bitch is the new black,” referring, of course, to the Clinton/Obama race to the presidency. Who knows, maybe Fey will be asked to become Clinton’s new campaign manager. Hills needs a little boost, and bitches know what’s up.

Austin has definitely been in the thick of things the past week, with the two Dem candidates hashing it out on the UT campus Thursday and Obama’s rally at the capitol on Friday night.

The debate was good, but the rally was awesome (especially because anyone could go for free). I went to Obama’s last appearance in Austin, at Auditorium Shores, in order to find out about his policies first-hand. Yesterday was much different. This time, people came to see the next president- not just to support the man and listen to his ideas.

I’m a believer in Obama, but I have been for a long time. If Clinton’s your gal, that’s fine, too. But we all need to remember that primaries are PRIMARY and nothing is set in stone yet. Remember the last presidential race? Everyone I talked to (with at least 3.12 brain cells) thought Kerry had it, even on election day.

Anything goes in this country. Vote then wait. That’s all we can do.

Bad things happen when one is careless with wiener poopie

Gotta love local news..

HAHAHA. Yes, funny. This is a great human interest story, but I’m using it to illustrate a point.

When there’s not a lot to report locally, why not educate people about broader issues and the local impact those issues have? The average Joe, including moi, could use more perspective on, and knowledge about, what’s happening in towns other than our own.

Last week, here in Austin, the local FOX news station ran a story – “Get Your Own Personal Paparazzi.”  I didn’t pay attention, I just tried to suppress my gag reflexes.  Come on, guys!  Local =/ crap.

Think on a LARGER scale, not a smaller one.

Sketchy origins of exhibited bodies

20/20 aired a disturbing investigative story last night, and it’s creating quite the controversy.

By now, we’ve all heard of the traveling body exhibits. Right now there are several exhibitions around the world, including one in San Antonio. The bodies are real, and are preserved by Plastination, a method invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens (Google this guy and you could read for days about the controversial ways he has played with the dead).

Few people, though, have asked the question of where the bodies on display came from (all of which are preserved after they die during their medical prime), and who makes the money from the exhibitions.

A majority of the bodies are shipped from China, and Premier Exhibitions Inc. (a company with millions of dollars of reported profit from the body displays) only receives Chinese bodies. The trade is made possible by labeling the packages as plastic medical models.

But how are the bodies attained? ABC reported:

“Authorities in China and New York have opened investigations into allegations that a black market in Chinese bodies, which may include executed prisoners, is sending corpses to the United States for public display.

“The investigations come in the wake of an ABC News report, that aired this Friday on “20/20″, that features a self-admitted participant of a bodies black market who described “body runs” to locations where bodies, including those of executed prisoners, were sold for $200 to $300″

Disgusting. Wrong. Disturbing. If this is true, people are paying money to see people who may or may not have suffered while others profit from this exploitation.

I refuse to post pictures of the bodies, but there are plenty out there. There’s a little thing called CONSENT and it is the key term in all of this. The donation of a body to science is a wonderful gift, but also a choice.

In my opinion, authorities should have officially started this investigation a long time ago.