FoolishPeople

FP caught up in Heath Ledger conspiracy theories...

...about his death on site Godlike Productions:

"Here's what I found.  No wonder Heath Ledger couldn't sleep"
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 364972
1/30/2008 4:37 PM

[link to www.foolishpeople.com]

1988 made up for this with the other extreme, the finest Batman story to date, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke. This tour-de-force for the first time examines The Joker’s origins giving, him some pathos, whilst showing some of his most sick crimes to date. The Joker escapes from Arkham and sets up HQ in an abandoned fairground. He breaks into the apartment of Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon, and Batgirl in her spare time. He breaks her spine and then proceeds to sexually abuse her. Kidnapping her father he takes him back to his lair and forces him onto a ghost train showing him blown up pictures of his own daughter writhing naked in her blood. Whilst this grotesque ride is going on The Joker sings a catchy little number about the joys of insanity.

“When the human race wears a sorry face,
When the bomb hangs overhead.
When your kid turns blue it won’t worry you’
You can smile and nod instead”

This was part of a piece originally written by Richard Freeman for fp.com
and bizarrely turned up amongst various people musing conspiracy theories about Heath Ledger, Numerology, Symbolism, and Channels Closing.

Will You Be My Valentine?

Oh. You need to get to know me better. Okay, you are right, after all a sweetheart isn’t just for Valentines Day…

 How about waking up with me?

Radio WOCM 98.1 FM  Ocean 98
Tuesday February 13 @ 8:10 am Eastern time
Bulldog and the Rude Awakening Show
www.irieradio.com
www.ocean98blog.com

 Not a morning person you say?

Then how about we drive home together, that might be fun?

DonMichaels Show

WFMP Talk Radio
St.Paul,Minnesota
3:30 pm (21:30UK time) on Tuesday, February 13

Oh you really are playing hard to get now! No? Ah I see, holding out for the 14^th February itself….

Join us then, if you will, for an evening of Love & Sex magic upstairs at the Devereux Pub for the Moot With No Name

Just why do these two subjects go so well together? What is it about
the union of bliss and mystery that so intrigues us? Tonight's talk
takes a light-hearted look at the roots of sex magic and how the magic
of sex is used and harnessed by practitioners today, so bring your
questions and experiences along and be prepared to get to the heart of
the matter. With illustrations and musical accompaniment!

Alternate Wednesdays, 7.30 for 8pm. Upstairs, Devereux pub near Temple tube station. £2. Directions  - Opposite the main entrance to the Royal Courts of Justice
on the Strand (near Aldwych) is a Tudor-style pub, the George. Go down
the alley next to this; the Devereux is at the bottom.

See http://tinyurl.com/cp7u2 for a map.

You can make that? Great, well that’s a date then!

See you there

Blessings and Bliss

Stella x

 

Untitled page from 'Foundling' - Lili Spain

© Lili Spain 2007

491 Gallery...

...is a gallery like no other!
It is a unique Sustainable Community Regeneration Art Project (SCRAP) that has been addressing the needs of the local community for five years in a way that no other organisation could. It is an evolving Arts Piece, a meta-conceptual living room, a pirate utopia, reclaiming neglected land and property and giving something incredible back to the community with a healthy balance of art, regeneration, education, performance, gardening, and diversity of life.

This is why we are proud to announce the 491 Gallery as our official sponsors for the final two cycles of ‘Dark Nights of the Soul’, providing us with a creative space with which to develop our work in this very special environment.

During this time, FoolishPeople will be open source, sharing our skills, resources and abilities though a symbiotic relationship with the 491 Gallery and the surrounding community. FP would like to thank Stef, Lisa, Vittoria and Santi in enabling this to happen. We look forward to this exciting residency!

You are being watched...

STREET LOUTS TAMED BY CCTV

Big Brother-style talking CCTV cameras which bark orders at louts could be on the way to our streets after a successful pilot scheme in the North of England.

The technology allows CCTV control room operators who spot misbehaviour to embarrass wrongdoers by announcing: “You are being watched” or even caution them of police action.

Senate Puts Another Nail in the Coffin of the 4th

By Kurt Nimmo

The National Security Surveillance Act, currently working its way through the rubberstamp halls of Congress, is simply remarkable in its fascist depth and breadth. But what is nearly as remarkable is the lack of response and outrage to this bit of authoritarian legislation that effectively kills the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. [Senator Arlen] Specters bill concedes the governments right to wiretap Americans without warrants, and allows the U.S. Attorney General to authorize, on his own, dragnet surveillance of Americans so long as the stated purpose of the surveillance is to monitor suspected terrorists or spies, reports Wired.

Not only does the bill allow the attorney general, or anyone he or she designates, to authorize widespread domestic spying, such as monitoring all instant-messaging systems in the country, so long as the government promises to delete anything not terrorism-related, it also allows unfettered wiretapping and physical searches without warrants. If you believe the government deletes anything not terrorism-related and does not feed this data into its massive and long-standing matrix of snoop databases, I have a bridge to sell you. Our government, unchecked for decades, has kept a staggering pile of data on millions of citizens, particularly terrorist Americans opposed to the government.

Arlen Magic Bullet Specter and the Senate Judiciary Committee are in the process of embalming the Fourth Amendment once and for all, as the point here is not to monitor al-Qaeda, a documented intelligence contrivance, but snoop all opposition to the emergent fascist state.

Footnote: Couldn't give a fuck enough to go read the whole article?  Don't believe this will include us, the 51st State? Then go ahead, send that text message but understand that it will not be private.

Toilet Graffiti

Life as a piece of branded flesh.

"I now realise that it's these damn brands that are the source of the pain. For every new status symbol I acquire, for every new extension to my identity that I buy, I lose a piece of myself to the brands. I placed my trust, even some love with these companies, and what have I had in return for my loyalty and my faith? Absolutely nothing. How could they, they're just brands."

Neil Boorman a music promoter and style magazine editor by trade on on life as branded flesh. Neil in less than a month's time plans to burn every branded thing in his possesion. Gucci shoes, Habitat chairs, even Simple soap. He has reached a point where he can no longer be around these things, no matter how special they make him feel.

Vs Bigots

Jhayne Holmes on how to deal with evangelical bigotry.

Focus on the Family, the horrid anti-gay evangelical church based in Colorado Springs that wields too much power for anyone's good, has a store on their website that will give you books, CDs, and DVDs absolutely free of charge. Usually people pay for their items by donation, raising millions of dollars to help Focus on the Family produce more hate-propaganda featuring "experts" on homosexuality who claim it's a curable "sickness". (They're practically defined by their book A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. Course, there's no mention of having less kids, which is the only proven method. No, no, you shouldn't use birth control, that would be wrong. They need more worshippers, how dare you prevent god's will.)

It's a little bit time-consuming, but not enough to deter me. (Nor should it you). The chance to take money out of their pockets is too useful, not to mention satisfying.

Here's how to do it in 10 steps:

1. Go to www.family.org and look for the "Resources" link in the blue bar on the left-hand side, right above the "Search" box, and click it.

2. Under the "Resource Category" menu on the left-hand side, you'll notice categories such as "Homosexuality" under "Resource Category." Me, I went straight to the CD's and DVD's under "Resource Format."

3. Go through, find something you like, such as the recently released movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Chronicles of Narnia Radio Theatre Complete Set, suggested donation US $79.00, or the three disc Les Misérables soundtrack. It's not a very wide range of products, but there's bound to be something either you like or you could use as a sweet gift for someone else. Click the "Add to Cart" button.

They won't send more than $100 worth of materials for free in any given shopping trip, so be sure to go through a few times, until you're sure you've dinged them.

4. Select "Add New Shipping Address," decide to send it yourself or someone else, and once you're done picking up to $100, click "Proceed to Checkout." Some people have been sending items to themselves to sell later on eBay, some have been ordering the more controversial items as conversation pieces or educational props, (as anti-anti-propaganda), but I plan on using mine as gifts, mostly. I've found no reports on receiving Focus on the Family junk mail after inputting an address, so I figure it's fairly safe.

5. The next screen asks you to sign-up for an account and give your information. Fill it out with fictitious information, enter whatever name and address you like. You might want to make up a phone number too and an e-mail account too. After filling out all the required fields, click "Proceed to Checkout" one more time.

6. This will take you to the "Here is Your Cart" page. You may have to re-enter your data again after this part to actually confirm your account. Eventually, you'll get to the "How Much Would You Like to Donate?" page.

7. Select "Enter other total amount" and enter 0.00 as the amount you would like to pay. (Don't put in a dollar sign or it will ask you for credit-card information.) Don't be fooled by the field in the lower-right-hand corner that shows you the suggested donation amounts, simply Proceed to Checkout.

8. The next screen is a guilt screen, to make you feel bad about how little you donated. ignore it. Ignore it utterly. Think of how many people they're persecuted and had in their "gay kids can be cured" camps. Just proceed to checkout again.

9. Click "Checkout Now."

10. Finally, pass this information on to all your friends. They've got money to back them, we have word of mouth, let's see if we can win.

Thanks to Mr Ellis for this one.

Solve et Coagula

Reduce and reform yourself into a pure essence.
Rehearsals have began for 'Weaponised Art 1.0' and I can already feel the hypersigil side-affects starting to claw into my system as we indulge in the script.
I am distilling myself: the part that let other people define me and how I act is trickling away, so that I can completely become. Solidifying the remains into a pristine structure.
This will be perhaps one of the most powerfully magickal pieces we have delivered yet; we look forward to sharing this ritual with you.

Solve et Coagula.

Taking it apart.

Rehearsals began this week at Treadwell's for Weaponised Art 1.0, our performance at Guerrilla Zoo on the 19th of August at Corsica Arts Club.

The script deals with modern Magickal subversiveness and much of the ideas and themes touch upon the work FP has conducted over the last year.

Much of today was spent taking what we have apart and seeking its strengths when in the hands of core FP performers. It was good to get back to working with people like Mark Wright (Wound). He's very fucking funny and a pleasure to work with.

Much of the script was written in various fugue states. I'm trying to replicate altered states that mimic communion with pharmacological Egregore's but with no ingestion of the substances. Most drug induced states are available via sleep deprivation, exhaustion, sex or various other methods. I'm playing with Leary's 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness on this one, so expect me to be even more incoherent than normal as we begin to tool up Weaponised Art 1.0.

Thrill Kill Cult.

China's biggest Christian sect, Three Grades of Servants, has been dominating news today. Their founder and leader, Xu Shuangfu, 60, has been sentenced to death along with two of his acolytes for the murder of about 20 followers of a rival apocalyptic group.

The case has slashed wide open the closed doors of China's underground churches and revealed the violent competition for souls in this nominally atheist country.

"This is absurd. My father only found out about the murders after the hearings opened," said his daughter, Xu Baiyin. "He signed a confession because they connected electric cables to his fingers, toes and penis.

According to a reliable source that obtained a copy of the verdict issued by the Chief Judge Mr. Liu Qingyi of Intermediate People’s Court of Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province, June 28, and delivered to the defense lawyers July 5, 2006, among the seventeen convicted in this case, Mr. Xu Shuangfu (60-years-old), Mr. Li Maoxing (55-years-old) and Mr. Wang Jun (36-years-old) were sentenced to death for murder.

Fourteen other members of the sect, which claims millions of adherents, were given suspended death sentences or prison terms of up to 15 years.

Despite controls on churches, mosques and temples, (and some say oppression) competition for believers is heating up in China. The dominant communist ideology is being destroyed by the capitalist pursuit of wealth leaving a spiritual void. Established religions and new sects are rushing to fill, or overfill, this void with the same sort of westernised manipulation that we have long been familiar with.

Murderous battles between sects, victims killed and mutilated after trying to convert their neighbours and others with their faces sliced off...it seems they are set on making their own apocalyptic prophecy come true via divine intervention - or not

Paranoia more common than thought

One in three people in the UK regularly suffers paranoid or suspicious fears, clinical psychologists have found. A team at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London interviewed 1,200 people about whether they had thoughts about others doing them harm. They found levels of paranoia were much higher than previously suspected - and almost as high as those for depression and anxiety. The researchers say paranoia can cause real distress. The study found that:    

• Over 40% of people regularly worry that negative comments are being made about them 
• 27% think that people deliberately try to irritate them
• 20% worry about being observed or followed     * 10% think that someone has it in for them
• 5% worry that there is a conspiracy to harm them Researcher Dr Daniel Freeman said:

"We were astonished at how common paranoia and suspicion are amongst the population.

The digital shadow of a Child Murderer

"It is one of those crimes that makes you feel dirty to be a human being. Underwood had worked for a fast-food restaurant for seven years and later as a shelf-stacker. People in both places remembered him as boring but otherwise unremarkable. He seemed to have had no special friends or enemies. But he left a life online. He had marked out his tastes and his territory in almost every way the internet allows. As well as his blogs, he had wish lists, links to other sites, a presence on eBay, and identities on large discussion sites. His blogs are shocking because they are so profoundly ordinary. He seems indistinguishable from millions of other nerds online."

Guardian online discuss the digital shadow of child murderer Kevin Underwood.

Judas 'helped Jesus save mankind'

Judas Iscariot's reputation as one of the most notorious villains in history has been thrown into doubt with the translation of an ancient text.

The Gospel of Judas, a papyrus document from the 3rd or 4th Century AD, casts the fallen disciple as a benevolent figure, helping Jesus to save mankind.

The early Christian Church denounced such teachings as heretical. The 31-page fragile document, alleged to be a copy of an even older text, was discovered in Egypt in the 1970s. The National Geographic Society in the US published the first translation of the text from Coptic to English on Thursday, and showed some of the papyrus pages for the first time.

Sane or Inane?

“Most so-called ‘mad’ people suffer from the inability to see that the majority of lunatics are dangerous, and that everyday life is a game whose rules we must know, understand and play as if we believed in them.”

Encyclopaedia Psychedelica

Life really is like a game…Cheated by some, played cunningly by others, and misunderstood in its complications that can cheat you.

It seems to be a natural instinct for some players to battle with their realities, and some are perpetually trying to reach a higher level in life and defeat further bosses. They never seem to be content with their achievements because they can see other players ahead of them, conquering higher lands, and they get hungry for the same fruits. Perhaps the most insane thing is the other half of the population, who do have the gnawing in their stomachs, but haven’t the drive and determination to go out and harvest their food: they just want it handed to them on the plate, already cut up into easily digestible pieces. It is this laziness which sucks them into a life within which they drift along aimlessly, with opportunities and ambitions floating alongside them, teasing them with their presence, yet tantalisingly always out of reach. And there are of course those walking dead, the robots who concentrate on the sole notions of carrying out mundane tasks in monotonous routines so much that they miss life happening. Is this ignorance bliss, or just boring?

A lot of players in this game of life might consider all of us at FP to be crazy; but the simple fact is that we’re not content with ‘playing pretending’ in a deceiving world. We are the sane ones, as foolish as that sounds! The difference is we play by distorted rules that make sense; we question, challenge and defy the set parameters of society, and we think…something which seems to be becoming an endangered species in this declining world. We purely want to paint the truth with our art, help players open their eyes so they can see the Achilles Heel of the level bosses, decipher the real rules for themselves, and just simply think. We want you to see the mystical beauties of our world, see into the heart of darkness and experience the exquisite pains and wounded magnificence that makes life live and breathe.

So, the next time some-one calls you a lunatic, (or is it just me they call that?!)

think about whose really sane, and who’s just inane in these magickal games that we play.

Dr Bleach meets Dok Discord

 

I have just had the pleasure of interviewing Dok Discord for Key23. It was a most pleasant and illuminating experience as you can see from the following extract.

I nudge him...nothing...I yell at him to wake up...STILL nothing.
Mr. Silent pokes him with his cane and he doesn't even twitch...this guy was dead to the world, so I decided to use a hypnosis induction script on him to see if it'd work. I used imagery from "The Wall" (due to his shirt and his obvious familiarity).

With hollow statements and questions, I slowly lead him up to the events that brought him to the mall, and right when I had those giant Nazi hammers about to crush him (image of police taking him to jail), I said, "Hello-hello-hello is there anybody in there, just wake if you can hear me". Immediately, this kid SAT STRAIGHT UP! It was fucking bizarre. He looked at Mr. silent and I with these ultra wide eyes and ran off panicked without a word.

Imagine waking up from a horrible dream in an unfamiliar place and seeing Mr. silent and I standing there saying, "are you alright citizen?"

I bet he's still not right in the head after that...think he'll see my face every time he hears comfortably numb?

Dok Discord

You can read the full interview here.

Cycle II, Complete.

So another cycle completed. I think John and I both knew Dark Nights of the Soul was going to be a tough experience from the beginning, but I dont think that even the torment of Ruined Steel could have prepared us for it's magnitude.

John has been largely on his own for this cycle owing to me being unavoidably detained for the past few weeks, so Saturday night was all very, very fresh to me and that was such a blessing.

I think I can speak for the both of us when I say what a relief it is to be reaching out and finding the right audiences for us. Every night becomes more like a gathering of select souls and cohesive minds, so much so that during the interval there is an air of 'family get-together' about the place. Previous audience meeting fresh audience, old friends meeting new and granny in a corner with a bottle of stout and a plate of cockles  (me).

The cast have been outstanding in their commitment to their roles and the production, way beyond any reasonable expectations. Once again it was a very long and arduous  set up on the day, only pushed through by everybody's positivity and humility. It was a real fucking pleasure for a change.

Seems like we are getting good feed back again, which makes everything sooo much rosier, we'd be lying if we denied it.

So people, if you're interested I would keep your eyes peeled here for news of Cycle III.

Anyhow, I've a few opinions of my own this time....you pesky actors (and humans), so if you'd like to read on a little...

Alexa dear, thank you so much for your humour, feathery lashes and drops of elegance you bought to the day (not so much the glugging absinthe from the bottle part tho ;0) ). And your unfaltering Mary..I told you not to worry about the lines. Grace, you were amazing, I never would have expected at your first audition that the next time I saw you would be as the sleek, untouched and mystifying creature I witnessed last night. Kiki, simply put you are a professional to the utmost and beautiful to boot. Marcus, congratulations on your night, I was riveted by Alick and you've really captured "Aquinas the Shite'! Mark1, I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to say it on the night but your commitment and hard work is truly inspiring, as is your ability and passion. Mark2, you captured every moment of your dialogue and used it to it's fullest degree with awesome talent and perception. Rob, your compositions were truly beautiful, and bought so many sympathetic undertones to the performance it wouldn't have been the true spectacle without you. Kittie, babe, what an entrance...I just cant fucking wait...! James, visuals fucking rocked...again...no great surprises there then. Orrin, dear Oracle Orrin, I could listen to you all day, thank you hon. And to John (who does not know I'm posting this, as would only tell me to fuck off and blush), your vision, determination and gift for this thankless task has been and will continue to be the epitome of inspiration. You are fucking beautiful.

The Truth About your Father

A Muslim theatre company is preparing to take a play on tour in which a mother tries to explain to her son why his father became a suicide bomber.

In The Truth About Your Father, a Muslim widow tries to help her son, Jihad, come to terms with why his father killed himself. The play has only one performer, actress Eleanor Martin, who plays the mother. The production is by Khayaal, the British theatre company staffed entirely by Muslims who follow the Sufi,the mystical branch of Islam.

Is the Pentagon spying on Americans?

A year ago, at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., a small group of activists met to plan a protest of military recruiting at local high schools. What they didn't know was that their meeting had come to the attention of the U.S. military.

A secret 400-page Defense Department document obtained by NBC News lists the Lake Worth meeting as a “threat” and one of more than 1,500 “suspicious incidents” across the country over a recent 10-month period.

“This peaceful, educationally oriented group being a threat is incredible,” says Evy Grachow, a member of the Florida group called The Truth Project.

“This is incredible,” adds group member Rich Hersh. “It's an example of paranoia by our government,” he says. “We're not doing anything illegal.”

The Defense Department document is the first inside look at how the U.S. military has stepped up intelligence collection inside this country since 9/11, which now includes the monitoring of peaceful anti-war and counter-military recruitment groups.

“I think Americans should be concerned that the military, in fact, has reached too far,” says NBC News military analyst Bill Arkin.

Dutch Activist Shot Dead.

Louis Seveke, 41, a very well known political activist and secret service watcher, was killed in the center of the city of Nijmegen, in the eastern part of The Netherlands. According to an eyewittness "The killer was a professional, who after firing two shots walked up to the body, calmly checked whether his victim was really dead, and than just walked away."

''Indications are that this is a political murder" journalist Gerard Legebeke said, interviewed on Dutch national radio. Legebeke is an investigating journalist of renown who lives in Nijmegen, and has known the killed political activist for years.

Family and friends speak of their grief after the shooting in the Netherlands last Tuesday.

Dark Nights of the Soul: Cycle I is complete

The cog has turned and Cycle I of Dark Nights of the Soul has been completed. Thank you to everyone who attended, Corporeal and Non- Corporeal (Please see orbs in picture below.).

A review of the events of last night is already up at Key23. If you liked the music that accompanied you on your journey through Cycle I, then you can find more information on Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses here, where you can purchase a copy of Perils, which provided the majority of music for Cycle I.

For anyone who visited with us and has had their curiosity peaked I would recommend you continue your journey at Treadwell's  where you will be welcomed with open arms and pointed in the right direction on your path.

If you want to learn more about the mythology of Dragons then I would recomend Richard Freeman's book Dragon's more than a myth.

Oh and please note Chris Howcroft, the genius Lighting Designer for Dark Nights of the Soul has been added to Frequency FoolishPeople.

For up to date information on Dark Nights of the Soul, please see Aquinas at DrBleach.com.

I'm off to disappear for a while to some other reality. I learnt far too much from Ruined Steel to go through a similar Magickal experience again, so dont be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while.

All pictures taken by Lisa, courtesy of Sam Shearon's Art of Darkness.

Jim Hollands

I'm very pleased to announce that Jim Hollands has joined the Dark Nights of the Soul Carnival.

Jim Hollands is an established filmmaker, sound artist, artist and performer who has been resident curator of a major avant-garde centre in London, The Horse Hospital, for the past five years. He is the UKs Field Marshall of The Salivation Army, an occult queer army founded in Toronto by Scott Treleaven .

Jim will, has and does fuck for art, if interested, feel free to contact him via chantdownbabylon.com or bump some of his shit.

Jim will be providing some unique entrance and exits points for the Dark Nights of the Soul mythos via film.

Treadwell's

Rehearsal's begin on Monday at Treadwell's. I'm looking forward to being at Treadwell's every day. I cant wait to get started. All this sitting around is really pissing me off. I have a strong feeling rehearsal's for Dark Night's are going to be very interesting but entirely different from Ruined Steel.

Time to get back to basics and push some boundaries.

Does anyone else feel the weight of History bearing down on them. So many truly terrible things have happened to our species over the last few years. So many of these events directly due to our our own willed actions.

Yet still we blindly stumble on.

Dark Nights of the Soul Poster by Sam Shearon

Merry Go Round

I'm in the final stretch of preproduction on Dark Nights. I have just begun the work of casting .

I enjoy casting.

Don't get me wrong it's hard work. Especially this time when I'm going to be looking at the adaptability of the actor's who audition. I need people who are tough. Who like intense situations and thrive on stress.

I need the equivalent of Acting Ninjas with little or no ego.

I am having the most intense and fulfilling time writing Dark Nights. Some of the characters are going to be very very fun for an actor or actress to play, whilst other characters are going to be challenging and unique.

Just wait until they see where they will be auditioning.

Tardis Found in East end

IT'S a mystery even Doctor Who would struggle to explain - a Tardis has appeared in a wall in Glasgow's east end.

But if David Tennant and Billy Piper travelled back in time they'd find the answer in 1912. It was the year the Titanic sank, construction of Hampden got under way ... and the Mark Two cast-iron police box was introduced in Glasgow.

The police box was made redundant in 1935 and forgotten about for decades - until a curious worker found it embedded in a brick wall earlier this year.

The Great Dying

A computer simulation of the Earth's climate 250 million years ago suggests that global warming triggered the so-called "great dying".

A dramatic rise in carbon dioxide caused temperatures to soar to 10 to 30 degrees Celsius higher than today, say US researchers.

The warming had a profound impact on the oceans, cutting off oxygen to the lower depths and extinguishing most lifeforms, they write in the latest issue of Geology.

The research adds to the growing body of evidence that higher temperatures, rather than a giant space rock hitting the planet, led to the greatest mass extinction in history.

Catholic Priest Defends Marilyn Manson

A Catholic priest has defended controversial rock star Marilyn Manson ahead of his concert in Croatia. Anton Bobas - the lead singer of his own metal band - said Manson was unlikely to "turn young people into Satanists" during his performance.

The gig, taking place in Pula on 22 August, has been condemned by a number of Croatian clerics. Seven Catholic priests have offered to pay compensation to organisers if the show is cancelled.

Father Bobas, speaking to the Croatian newspaper Vjesnik, said that most of Manson's critics had never seen his act. The cleric, whose band is called Messengers of Hope, said the best concert he had attended was a Manson show in Hamburg three years ago.

Lo-Fi FP 3

Lo-Fi FP 3: Bush you crazy freek

Druid Couple Targeted By Preaching Cop.

'A volunteer police officer in Greer is under investigation after a Greenville County couple accused the officer of promoting his religion during a traffic stop.

Tony Gainey and D.J. Gainey said reserve officer Tony Stewart pulled them over because of the bumper stickers on their car. One of the stickers read, "It's a druid thing."

Gainey said Stewart asked them about their bumper stickers. They said a few days later they received a card and letter from Stewart....'

Find the whole fucking ridiculous and story here.

My exorcisms get results, says voodoo priest of north London

The nondescript red-brick block in north London barely warrants a second glance, but inside one of the flats is concealed a bizarre world barely comprehensible to most people.

This is the home of Malcolm Poussaint, a self-styled "voodoo priest" who performs harrowing exorcism rituals on children as young as six whom their parents believe are possessed by demons.

Mr Poussaint sees nothing wrong with what he does. It is, he insists, work that has to be carried out.

"If the child is not exorcised then it will grow up to be horrible. I get results," said the 75-year-old, who is originally from Benin in West Africa.

(I'm sure your exorcisms do get results. Its the methods employed to get the results that are of concern. I dont see anything wrong with these ceromonies when they undertaken on a CONSENTING adult.)

"Weekend of Resistance" for Political Prisoner Jeff 'Free' Luers.

In June 2001, 23 year-old forest defense activist Jeffrey "Free" Luers was sentenced to 22 years and 8 months in prison for the burning of three Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV's) in Eugene, Oregon. To make a statement about global warming, Jeff and his codefendent, Craig 'Critter' Marshall, set fire to 3 Sport Utility Vehicles at a Eugene car dealership. Their stated purpose was to raise awareness about global warming and the role that SUVs play in that process.

No one was hurt in this action nor was that the intent. An arson specialist at trial confirmed that the action did not pose any threat to people based on its size and distance from any fuel source. Despite the fact that this action hurt no one, caused only $40,000 in damages and the cars were later resold, Jeff was sent to prison for a sentence considerably longer than those convicted of murder, kidnapping and rape in Oregon state.

Jeff is recognized as a political prisoner by the Jericho Movement and the Anarchist Black Cross Network and Federation and continues to write and agitate for his release while imprisoned at Oregon State Penetentiary. His appeal was filed in January 2002.

Via the Independent Media Center.

Body Parts Fall From Plane.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pieces of a man's body fell from the wheel well of a South African Airways passenger plane bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport Tuesday and landed in the yard of a suburban home, police said.

A U.S. customs inspector discovered the rest of the man's body at 7:30 a.m. (1130 GMT) after Flight 203 landed in New York from Johannesburg, South Africa, said a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees area airports.

A South African Airways spokeswoman said it appeared to have been a stowaway attempt. She said the plane had stopped in Dakar, Senegal, on its way to New York.

The pilot reported feeling vibrations at takeoff but conducted a check and found nothing amiss, said Nassau County, New York, police detective Kevin Smith.

During the flight, Smith said the pilot felt more "vibrating sensations and heard pounding, but nothing appeared wrong with the plane."

The body parts, which included the right leg, part of the spine and a hip, struck a garage roof of the home in South Floral Park, New York, before landing in the backyard, police said.

Thom takes on the world

Radiohead are texting the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs. Thom Yorke, Radiohead's Chief Black Pencil, is campaigning for Friends of the Earth's The Big Ask - a crusade for a new law to force the government to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 3% each year - and, as tactics, he is frightening Margaret Beckett.

"Margaret doesn't want to debate carbon emissions or climate change with Thom on Channel 4 News because she had a very bad experience with Boy George on Question Time," says a press officer. "So he's texting her."