April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

Blogging

Blackwater Still Profiting From Death

by

Blackwater (Xe Services) is releasing a video game;

“The video game is a fictional action first-person shooter, without any political agenda, and is being published to let gamers experience the challenging missions Blackwater operatives have experienced.”

Of course it has no political agenda mercenaries don’t care who they fight for or who they kill. Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and producer of the game, belied his tough guy reputation by hiding out with his cool 1 billion from George W. in the United Arab Emirates rather than face the music in the U.S. Not so brave when he can’t hide behind a gun.

A comment on the story sums up my feeling on the game;

Forget about the challenging missions. Do I get to play the missions where I shoot teenage kids off the back of a motorbike? What about the one where I get to machine gun women and kids crammed into the back of a little 2 door economy vehicle? Now that’s the Blackwater we’ve come to know and hate. What about the screams of anguish and horror? Can I hear them in stereo? Come on guys, get real! John Gill

Story source

Lest anyone think first person shooter games have created a role for this – here is a commentary on it by a gamer actually playing a first person shooter game at the same time.

Twitter Twazis

by

and now a post of great social and political import 😉

In [a] stunning display of  the fact that some people really need to get a life,  your tweets are being watched for proper grammatical syntax.

A small but vocal subculture has emerged on Twitter of grammar and taste vigilantes who spend their time policing people’s tweets.

They build their own algorithms to sniff out tweets with typos or flawed grammar, or written in ALLCAPS, and then send scolding notes to the offenders. They see themselves as guardians of a new behaviour code: Twetiquette.

“It would be kind of nice if people cleaned up their grammar a little bit and typed in lowercase, and made the Internet a little bit smarter,” said one of them, Nate Fanaro, a 28-year-old computer programmer from Buffalo whose Twitter handle is CapsCop.

Know what else would be nice? If self important little twits minded their own damn business!

SOURCE

Not Even Men Believe That

by

Over at Bread & Roses Antonia posted a link to a David Warren column which included such gems as;

Consider for instance the proposition, “a woman’s right to control her own body.” Not even men believe this, and a pregnant woman, who actually believes that the baby she is carrying is part of her own body, should wait for it to kick. Perhaps she has an astoundingly primitive notion of biology; but I should think even a woman of subnormal intelligence would understand the difference between what is in that bump she is carrying, and what is in the rest of her flesh. To wit: a different person.

“a woman’s right to control her own body.” Not even men believe this

What exactly does he mean by this? For sure the statement is no lie as we know that

*rapists don’t believe it
*abusive husbands/boyfriends don’t believe it
*anti-choice fucktards don’t believe it
*men’s rights fucktards don’t believe it
*the pope doesn’t believe it
*the taliban doesn’t believe it

Geez Davey you’ve found yourself some great company!

Happy New Year?

by

I’m am endeavouring to feel optimistic about the coming year, sadly my cynicism keeps overpowering my optimism. With Harris on steroids in the PMs seat and an opposition that seems as useless as teats on a bull, I fear that this country is going down a long dark dirty road. I keep feeling as if I should apologize to my children for bringing them into this.

The last few years democracy has taken a beating and it seems the thugs and bully boys in power have no intention of letting it up just yet the proroguing of parliament was yet another kick in the teeth.

Those seeking to take away rights from women, gays and anyone who doesn’t meet their narrow criteria of moral are being given voice far beyond their numbers and certainly far beyond their due. They are an embarrassment to the philosopher in whose name they claim to be acting.

It is with great pleasure that I read many of you each day. You are rays of sun in the black hole of despair which is washing over this land as the dark shadows of Mordor.

And so I wish my fellow bloggers well. May the year bring you peace and prosperity.