Stick it to The Man

Oh, I suppose I was on a memory tour of rock history this weekend when I remembered the RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. You may have heard of them; they play feel good protest music that somehow or anther turns into near-riots or full-blown riots.

Well, after wacthing some old school clips of them:

when the closed down Wall Street and Michael Moore was arrested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz8wU9DdbqU

when they palyed accross from the DNC in 2000 and independent reports later said the police “created” a riot situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCiTVdrK3jE

I have had the chance to hear Rage play “Killing in the Name” one time in my life and let me tell you it made every single person wearing a badge/uniform squirm in their boots. Speaking “truth” to authority always causes problems.

In conclusion, the words of Zack de la Rocha sum it up the most as far as oppressive regimes are concerned, “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me.”

p.s. – the photo is a 15 minute silent set the members of Rage did to oppose Tipper Gore’s censorship group PMRC.

Okay, I am as cynical if not more so about rock star or celebrity attempts to be “socially conscience”. Might come from my years of working with Amnesty International and my jaded view of celbrities in general.

But I was watching some youtube clips that were explaining to me even more why I am a hugo Obama fan and frightened by the Cllinton royalty;

and the lots of Bono stuff came up and despite his usual rock-star persona I had to admit he is creating change! The man has the ear of humanitariian agencies around the globe and even forces meetings with lame-as-hell-duck Presidents of the United States.

Then came up the video of U2 and Greenday, and while I have been a hesitant fan of both (until I saw Greenday live in Seattle in front of a drive-in-movie-theatre-screen and hung out with them backstage) . . . and well U2 I fell in love with them for WAR and JOSHUA TREE and got pissed off at them for suing Bay Area artists and stealing their entertainment concepts for Zooropa . . . but possibly I forgive them for creating great music since and well . . . gotta agree that Bono has been using his fame in a positive way!

Back to Greenday and U2 doing “the Saints Go Marching In”, as most people realize, “the Saints” is the official song of New Orleans and this song and video actually premiered when the New Orleans Saints football team had its first game post-Katrina in the New Orleans Superdome(on Monday Night Football of all hightening dramatics). The same Superdome where thousands of Louisiana residents were evacuated to for days after a lackluster response by their own government more concerned with a misguided foreign war.

And so yea, I think i have grown to love the U2/Greenday collaboration!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGhTWE98DU

I’m Taking one of those damn on-line traffic school courses because of a punk-ass traffic ticket I got from the sherriff in my hometown (he has definitely lost my vote, heck I may campaign for his rival next time, might even petition the city hall to outlaw donuts within city limits), but I found this passage extra helpful, if only I’d known this info before the incident:

Plunging Under Water
If your vehicle plunges into deep water, but does not sink immediately, escape through a window.
If the vehicle sinks beneath the surface before you can escape, the weight of the engine will force the front end down first. Do not panic, as this usually creates an air pocket in the back of the vehicle. Find this pocket and get into it quickly. Breathe in deeply. When the vehicle has settled, you should be able to escape through a window. If there are young children or anyone else in the vehicle that is unable to release their safety belts, be sure to do so before leaving the vehicle.

Remain away from the vehicle: do not attempt to get back into a burning vehicle to retrieve personal property

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Metallica may be a cool name for a heavy metal band, but a Swedish couple is struggling to convince officials it is also suitable for a baby girl.

Michael and Karolina Tomaro are locked in a court battle with Swedish authorities, which rejected their application to name their six-month-old child after the legendary rock band.

“It suits her,” Karolina Tomaro, 27, said Tuesday of the name. “She’s decisive and she knows what she wants.”

Although little Metallica has already been baptized, the Swedish National Tax Board refused to register the name, saying it was associated with both the rock group and the word “metal.”

Tomaro said the official handling the case also called the name “ugly.”

F’n damn UPS!!!!!!!!!! I drive all the way down to their center by the airport to pick up a package . .. and its not for ME! It is for somebody who is not me. Sent to my address. So, I say rather annoyed, “So I came down here for nothing. Do you suppose next time the driver could put the name of the person the package is for on the pick-up note.” And the idiot says that I don’t have to worry about it because I can just refuse to take the package. Agggggggggggggg. The guy behind me thought it was pretty funny. We looked at each other like, “These are the people who move packages across the country”.

That is it. I’m sticking it to the UPS Man from now on!!!!!!!

Okay, I have to fess up to something here. Through some sort of packing accident I went on a 3 day weekend without any underwear packed. There I was staring into my improperly loaded suitcase, when my thoughts turned to memories of my childhood and the wild abandon with which I would run about the countryside sans undergarments.

That is when it hit me. I used to love running around wild and free. Going commando throughout the land!!! As my buddies and I would say, “Easy acccess for the ladies”. Even though those were the pre-ladies days. When ladies having easy accesss was a mere glimmer in our wish upon a star of a childhood.

Then it hit me. It’s cuz of the MAN!!! The man has been instilling in our heads that we need to ensnare our valuable packages in restrictive netting. The MAN is trying to hold our passions back!!!

Well I’m tired of the Man!!! And I’ll not wear whatever I want from now ON!!!! I’m going commando from now on!!!!

1. The Man

n. (derogatory, semi-proper) The Man is the head of “the establishment” put in place to “bring us down.” Though nobody has physically seen “the man,” he is assumed to be a male caucasian between the ages of 25-40 and is rumored to have a substantial amount of acquired wealth, presumably acquired by exploiting those whom his “establishment” is “keeping down.”

“Damn The Man!” -Victim of the “establishment”

2. n. (derogatory, proper) Term used to describe an individual who holds authority over another, such as an employment supervisor or police officer. See also, pig, asshole, nazi, fascist. the man sound whitey cool dude pimp 5-0 awesome bacon bitch communist cracker honkey man pig po-po police rock stud suck the machine the shit

1. I can’t ever get anywhere in this world because The Man is keeping me down.

2. I wanted to jet out of work early, but the Man said I had to clean the shop before I could leave.

Oh no. I realized today that there is something that THE MAN and I agree upon. We both dislike rich jerks driving fast cars in and out of traffic lanes. Saw this uber BMW driving over the hill to San Fran like Jeff Gordon on crank and this cop stalked him like a trained barracuda. A few minutes later I saw the Beamer by the side of the road with the cop glaring at the driver with utter disdain. And I felt the same disdain as the cop.

Is it okay to feel the same way as the man . . . every once in awhile.

Okay, so I went in to class the other day and went to the appointment with the vice president of the college and it turns out this guy is THE BOSS of THE MAN. He wanted to hear my entire story and was very nice (“is this some crazy good cop-bad cop technique by THE MAN” I’m wondering) and he says that he is not pleased to hear that THE MAN did not have time to listen to my complaint and that it was his job (THE MAN’S JOB) to listen to me “their customer”. You hear that, THE MAN is in fact employed by ME, “the customer” according to the MAN”s BOSS. Oh I am going to love sticking it to the MAN. Gonna do it very humbly though, don’t need THE MAN gettin’ all postal on me.

So I tried to stick it to the man today. The Man ended up being Chief Wilkinson of the College Police. And as tends to happen, The Man was right and I was Wrong!!! Even though I was right and he acknowledged that I could appeal and show that I was right. But since I could possibly have been wrong, he was in fact right even though I was right and he was wrong. Thus even being right, I was in fact wrong. And he was right. I am tired of the man.