Sometimes A Nudge and Insult Is Necessary

I was reading Ambiga's interview with Malaysiakini just now. I must say that given of the past history of EC not really doing much in its electoral reforms, this has already raised the need of civil societies and election watchdogs to pressure, or in another word, "nudge" the commission to do as what they have demanded simply with the argument of that they have the similar role capacity of a federal court judge, as what she said.

The few paragraphs from the interview pointed to that above:

However, in a recent interview with Malaysiakini, Ambiga said she believes that the electoral reform movement must engage with the EC, and that the commission will change only under pressure from the people.

“I still have hope. I still have hope that things can move,” she said firmly.

The former Bar Council president reiterated that the federal constitution places election commissioner on the same position as a federal court judge, therefore leaving the EC out of the picture of electoral reform would be a mistake.
“I think we probably have to do both (EC and ruling parties). The EC may feel they are powerless, we don't agree and sometimes it is a question of empowerment, and we have to keep persuading them that in fact, they have power more than they think they have.

“They are the body, in my view, it is their responsibility. Shifting the focus away from them would be the wrong thing to do because you are sending the message that they are not responsible for the state of elections in this country and I disagree with that.

“I think they are entirely responsible and there are many thing they can do and I think if they have to take a stand against the government, they have to do it because they are an independent body, they are the ones who should be doing it,” she said.

And to cap things up very interestingly, Bersih 2.0 has given them exactly 90 days to implement the reforms as some sort of an ultimatum, not really, but I feel that it also adds to another way of nudging the Election Commission to do a lot clean up and fixing. Many have believed that Pakatan can win well in election, but if they lose, it's likely of the vote fraud and manipulation. Therefore, the ball is now in the EC's court. Now is the time. The chances of holding a general election end of this year has been stalled following the world market meltdown in the last 4 days. Almost RM 100 billion got wiped out in the local stock market. When this happened, all of Najib's economical programs will substantially delayed and the ETP being limped and dragged to next year at most - meaning no elections at this point of time and only next year

Interestingly. I feel that it is important to move one more level up. The level of awareness of fraud election and the mismanagement by the present government of the day at the rural areas is still at the unsatisfactory level. The main factor is no doubt the lack of access to alternative media whereas the national media is hogged with pro-government stuff. Therefore, what Wan Ahmad said of the present media being fair is not really accurate, but a mere excuse to skirt out of the eight demands that Bersih was demanding about.

It's true that currently Bersih's impact doesn't reach much in the rural area. There is a need to get people there to realize. I've noticed that PR has embarked on a strategy to coincide with the Raya celebrations. During the Tenang by-election campaign, several news reports have pointed out that voters there don't really give a damn or totally ignorant to the present problems faced - inflation, bread and butter difficulties, etc.. they just have the blind faith on the leaders. To some, relying on the profit of palm oil, rubber and so forth would not help much. With the kind of mindset, the country cannot progress that far.

Example of responses would include: "I don't know; I heard they wanted to demonstrate or whatever; I don't care about politics;" - and allow me to add to that - "Do I care?" 

How are people going to convince these people of the mistakes that they are making? Didn't someone said of the saying "Blind faith to the leaders will get you killed?" From my understanding, the young who were originated from the rural areas have already started to educate their relatives, family and friends in the areas of new things that they ought to know. But the problem is of the mindset of unwilling to take in the eye-opening revelations. Excuses would come in the way.

So I think, that sometimes verbal insults have to be necessary to shake up and reveal things. It may be crazy, and yes some will call me crazy but sometimes it will get people to realize of their mistakes. I once recalled scolding an Indian amah during the Hulu Selangor by-election campaign, that when I read of the woman's laments of no help for the last 20 years despite repeated requests and yet voted for the same party over and over again. As the saying goes, if you don't like it, then change it. That got me wondering whether if it's lack of knowledge or blind faith that plays the scenario.

This is why I said that nudging and insult sometimes can be necessary, although it can be bad.

Recollections of Bersih Vigil 2008

Note: Video by Malaysiakini

There were two to three friends of mine that were among the two dozen people arrested on the night of 9 November 2008, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Bersih Rally. Many of those caught were wearing RPK shirts or the anti-ISA shirts. I don't even know why cops take those shirts as anti-establishment, in my opinion considered them like rebels. I still to this day don't even know why people who carry no weapons are treated as hooligans in the street like thieves and scum a like.

Watching the video made me recalling that night and the mad encounters that happened that night. I managed to remember most of the things that happened there, with aid of a few grainy pictures that I took that night as well. I was grumbling over how innocent people who do no harm get caught for nothing and accused for nothing.

A few days ago, I remembered the phrase "militant" that John Malott called Perkasa that got Ibrahim Ali hopping like mad in front of the American embassy. The word is an adjective for something in a very "aggressive" nature. That night...it was a militant scenario that we encountered.

Joceline Tan Gets Rapped

I received an e-mail and reproduce below a mail sent to the Star in response to Joceline Tan's recent article:

Original article by Joceline is here.

Unethical journalism and a blatant lie by Joceline Tan

We refer to the analysis entitled “End of the road or a new beginning?” published in the Star dated 20 November 2010.

Based on what Joceline has written, it is glaringly clear that Joceline is an unethical journalist who writes for the sake of spinning instead of on real facts. Her analysis has been time after time riddled with twisted facts and outright lies, obtained from unreliable sources or she herself spins them with ulterior agenda.

For the record, Joceline has never been to Datuk Zaid’s house and we are baffled with her make believe & superstitious comments about the layout and renovation works at his house. Joceline seems to be pretty obsessed with Datuk Zaid and will do anything to fabricate and convince her readers.

We therefore would like to clarify on points raised in her `analysis’ as we are the closest associates for Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

We had informed the media on Thursday 18 November at 9.15 am that Datuk Zaid decided to call off the scheduled press conference on Friday, Nov 20 due to an emergency. However after Anwar Ibrahim issued a press statement that is full of lies and deceit, he decided to answer those allegations as he felt that it was of paramount importance that the truth be told. We then decided to resend confirmation to the media on Thursday, 18 Nov at 3.15 pm informing the press conference will take place as originally scheduled so the question of not following the script as claimed by Joceline does not arise.

We are extremely perplexed with Joceline’s statement that there was a script and Datuk Zaid did not go with the script. A press statement as usual was distributed to the reporters that included all of the items Joceline mentioned in her analysis and her accusation that it was actually meant to be otherwise is a total fabrication. Even those questions askedby reporters and answered by Datuk Zaid in details are all in tandem with the statement issued. Joceline’s statement with regards to Datuk Zaid taking political sabbatical and for him to stop demonizing Anwar is another blatant lie and her ignorance to differentiate between a sabbatical and giving a three-week resignation notice is simply appalling.

We also would like to throw Joceline a challenge to name the so called close associates of Datuk Zaid who had divulge these comments to her. Since you have not been in touch with either one of us as well as Datuk Zaid himself for any clarification whatsoever, we are dumbfounded by your analysis which is nothing but a lie.

In her many subsequent statements, Joceline continues to mention that comments are made or obtained from Datuk Zaid’s associates. The real truth we reckon is that she is expressing her own opinion but by using other `sources’, Joceline would be able to save her skin. Joceline should just come out from the closet and stop being a coward to upkeep the ethics of good and fair journalism rather than being unethical and lopsided in her
articles which coincidently favors Anwar.

Datuk Zaid is not a one-man demolition team as Joceline claims, as he speaks for thousands of frustrated and disillusioned PKR members throughout the country and mind you the numbers are growing daily. Let’s go back to the core of the issue. The party election is riddled with manipulation and vote rigging beyond imagination and it mirrors similar problems faced by the general public and Opposition alliance in the General
Elections. Manipulation and vote rigging is the highest crime in any election. In the case of PKR elections, it has been plagued with inconsistencies and fraud from day one that have been design at highest level to favor certain individuals. Many PKR division leaders, members and contestants have filed hundreds of reports to the CEC, but there has not been any concrete action. It is also questionable that CEC Chairman does not address
these issues but rather been handled by the Secretary General.

Are you trying to tell your readers that you condone these disparaging acts which are now been sanctioned by PKR senior leaders? It is absolutely true that Datuk Zaid would have given a good fight in the party elections and possibly could have won on level playing field if there was no disturbance and direct intervention by Anwar, Azmin and a few leaders in urging members to vote for some identified contestants. Where is the
democracy that the party is claiming to champion?

Datuk Zaid is a man of principles and would not allow himself to be part of this dirty politics and his political record speaks for itself. It is very pathetic of Joceline to equate this PKR saga to a reality show on TV. It further indicates her shallowness in analyzing what is of great importance and beneficial that Malaysians have been denied for the past 52 years.

However, if Joceline still would like to believe that this saga is somewhat similar to a reality show then Anwar the Chameleon together with Joceline the Spinner is the real actor/ actress.

Lastly, we strongly urge that the Star management takes heed of this call for fair and ethical journalism & ensure that Joceline’s future articles or analysis on political issues are strictly scrutinized before publication. Please do not condone dirty political journalism.

Thank you,

Muhammad Firdaus Christopher
Rashid Azad Khan
Associates of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim

 

King Kong Ain't Got Shit!

The line "King Kong ain't got shit on me!" spoken by Denzel Washington in Training Day was the line that earned him the Best Actor award for that year itself. Somewhat, it reminded me of the ego that King Kong portrays, particularly in its standoff against the biplanes at the Empire State Building climax. 

Last month in the UMNO general assembly, Najib, in the tune of the real Ketuanan Melayu rhetoric said that "they need to defend Putrajaya" at all costs, even if there are strewn of broken bodies along the way. Can you imagine that like in King Kong's last stand against the opponent? I think Mr. Zunar's cartoons can be interesting and humorous. But I don't see the reason why idiots in the Home Ministry, particularly Hishamuddin Hussein and Mahmood Adam would say Zunar's cartoons are a mockery and disrespect of the law. 

But that would be another issue of that. It seems that UMNO's ego on not letting Putrajaya fallen to others is somewhat like behaving like a 6 year old school kid. Just like in Perak now, they are now showing primary school boy mentality. They think anything other than themselves means capitulation to the enemy. No more than what the IRA used to be about Northern Ireland. 

Below here is the famous ranting in Training Day. Notice that how the scene plays out as in real life. A critic in 2003 used this video as a metaphor as to how Saddam Hussein was deposed by his own people. If the people starts to ignore tyrants, this how most things would play out. But only if that is if people are smart on the inside to know how sometimes political leaders in BN can be when they are arrogant and go above the law.

If We Don't Have Freer Media, Can We Trust MSM?

KUALA LUMPUR: The public should trust the mainstream media as it is fact-based, compared to the opinion-based alternative media, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said some of the articles published on the alternative media, such as websites and blogs, were "half truths and inaccurate".

"The mainstream media has one strength which cannot be found in the alternative media, and that is the mainstream media can be considered fact-based.

"If we read the mainstream media, we intuitively regard it as an authoritative report, where its facts cannot be questioned," he said at a breaking of fast ceremony at the New Straits Times Press headquarters here Thursday.

"There must be a discerning public who can see the strength of the mainstream media," he added. - The Star

By law, if you are to print a daily newspaper, you have to acquire a permit under the PPPA. Look at Nurul Izzah, see how she has to submit her application to get the annual printing permit and wait until the application is passed. Chances are that while Barisan Nasional remains in power, the act is unlikely to be abolished, lest it faces the wrath of Madey himself.

Ask ourselves whether whatever Najib says that MSM tells the truth, despite being authoritative and facts that cannot be questioned.

Wrong. Utusan, for example has been playing and fanning racial sentiment with its distorted inaccurate.

And what happens if you try to put the truth out to the rest of the world press?

No prize for guessing: editors get persecuted, like today where the editors getting persecuted by the newspaper owned by Taib Mahmud's family. Or perhaps look at how Nurul Izzah was blindly accused  and branded by hardcore nationalists and UMNO men like Hishamuddin and Zahid Hamidi as traitors and bad-mouthing Malaysia.

If the MSM here is not free, where else can people reveal the truth? No brain..this mob group!

The part where the ruling regime screaming of bad-mouth is proving that the truth really hurts and in fact what they said as lies is actually truth. That is their achilles heel.

And for that reason, as to appease the regime, is why people, particularly those in the rural land are still kept in the blue out of the real thing. I had a friend who tried asking her fellow nurses about the Teoh Beng Hock case, and nobody except her knows about the TBH case.

Is this the stupidity project that goes around Malaysians?

And you're saying that the MSM is trustworthy, Jibby?

That's pretty ridiculous, Mat Mongol!

Inferences on Najib

For the first time ever, Mr. Mahathir has withdrew his support over his designated successor, Najib Razak .

"I don’t know why for ‘some reason’ I have now changed my mind"

Well, this is one of the things that he regretted over the many things that people regard him as a mistake such as Ops Lalang, the 1988 crisis, dismantling of the judiciary and etc..

But back to the point, when he said of the line above, there could be many inferences that can be drawn on regards to Najib, anyone can have his own view:

1. It's possible to guess that Najib is involved or ordered the killing of you know who.

2. If Najib becomes the PM, he could be more dangerous than Mahathir given of his past.

3. Najib has become weaker since the cabinet line-up announcement, most Ministers are Abdullah Badawi's kuncus....

4. He has to take low cover since being exposed or implicated in scandals.

5. If Anwar Ibrahim is to be an MP, he's finished before the first Parliament session could begin.

And many more....

The Kind of Crap That I Get From An Asshole

If you really want to voice your concerns regarding the welfare and the social status of the country, the first thing you would do would be to write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, say The Star. Tell them your grievances and hope that the thing will be published the next day or so.

But then, when you read the newspapers the next day, not all of your words that you've written appeared on a column.

That's because the editors had to be careful of publishing your article on their newspaper. If a line or a word that deems an insult and incision to something, they could be sued by the government under the Printing and Publications Act.

If that is the case, where else you can voice your grievances except writing it in your own blogs?

Blogging has become an alternative channel for people to write and pass the word around to people if they simply cannot have their exact words produced exactly on paper. And blogging spreads faster than newspaper as most articles are printed the next day.

But instead, the Bolehland guys especially from UMNO are hitting us instead of acknowledging our efforts in making our country a better place.

I just don't know why, but most of these guys are pre-Internet minded. They don't even know what blogging is at all, except for our brave MP - Shahrir Ahmad and the opposition members.

We instead are branded as liars by these Bolehland guys. What is adding more to the insult is that there is indeed the proof that there are 25 cyber-troopers under Azalina that deliberately spreads the slanders across blogs via comments that shows the opposition against the government. Even the PM's website was not spared. Ronnie Liu, a guy that I've met over a discussion forum last Saturday had seen the proof black and white on the page and reported to the police, not like Mat Tyson Taib who scrambled for a proof.

You should thank us that we did put a check on you guys.

And then the Son-In-Law called us as monkeys, bound by the law of the jungle.

He's an asshole that deems the truth as a lie.

I'll take that as an insult to a man's credibility especially that monkey insult against bloggers.



Most of my friends that I've met are branded monkeys by that asshole. Do you think he is that smart to do so? He thinks that blogging sucks big time. Someday, he and the Bolehland guys will get a taste of their own medicine.

And then Uncle ZAM called on people to ignore us -gobloks - stupid people. The excuses that he gave that we are anti-Asian is the kind of bullshit excuse to sway people from listen to criticism.

One of Covey's 7 habits: Seek first to understand before being understood.

The problem is that these guys don't understand us: what is blogging about.

PREHISTORIC DINOSAURS IN THE MODERN WORLD.

The thing right now is that most youngsters now are aware of blogging and the incredible power of doing so, if used for good. They can use to tell stories, write criticisms for the good of the nation and so on. It goes as far as those villagers. Hey, even our Malay friends in the village, particularly the older generations started to read more and more thanks to its influence and the help of the current generation.

But I had some confidence over three avenues:

A post by A. Kadir Jasin:

But I don't think the majority of bloggers and blog visitors will fall for the trick. All that they need to do is to be mindful of seditious remarks and comments that give people like Muhd Taib the legitimacy to lodge official complain.

As the saying goes, there are many ways of skinning a cat, even a big fat one like Muhd Taib. I have been in journalism for nearly 40 years now and I've seen situation like this happening many times before. I've also seen countless pembesar like Muhd Taib came and gone.

Just a thought, a disturbing thought...is it not possible that some mainstream editors might have a hand in Muhd Taib’s police report?

The second one is my own personal conviction:

I have the facts and truths to back things up if I am to write a social issue. I have the purpose of telling people to wake up and help to make Malaysia a better place. If I don't tell, the other people don't even know what's happening about. The dream will go on.

If there's a friend trapped inside, you need to pass the message for help...isn't that similar here?

I always held the famous line by Kahlil Gibran about truth.

The third one is about Jeff Ooi going to DAP (main opposition party)

"I cannot remain as a fence-sitter if change is going to happen"

He's going for elections, he wants to tell the things in Parliament as to make the people wake up over the things that they did not know through the sleeping gas of things spread by the ruling coalition. The Coalition did not meet its 2004 manifesto of tackling corruption and instead the rate still remains high. Religious tensions, this matter, all has failed to meet the targets set.

It would be a good thing if PM Abdullah Badawi acknowledge our efforts in helping to make a better place instead of letting the UMNO people hammering at us for nothing. We don't mind having a dialogue between the government and bloggers. It instead will help to bridge the gap between the high institution and the lower echelon through cyberspace.

If Khairy and the idiots of the Bolehland are trying to play hero by fighting, just imagine what happens if they lose. A laughing stock, an embarrassment, and so on...hard to count.

Wanton Punishment Part I

I still really got nothing to do today. I kept reminding myself that I only one more week left minus Thursday before the JIRA evaluation period expires. And then my P.A. did nothing serious to pay attention to this work. Please, come on. We got to finish this, then I want to do something else. I've seen other colleagues at work with tasks in hand. What about me? Are you leaving me behind?

One thing that annoys me is that my Indian colleague sitting next to me kept crying at certain times. She must have been hit hard since her father passed away last December, sometime before my grandmother does. But it's already four months already and she's still mourning? Maybe it's the Indian folk music that she played and listening through her earphones makes her something like that. But she's still staying back in that circle of mourning. The truth is that you can't stay in there forever. You need to move on. Can't she get this to her senses?

Anyhow, since today marks the official release of The Punisher Vol 7: Man of Stone, I will be writing three parts of wanton punishment in retrospective about one of comics finest and popular vigilante: The Punisher. In case you do not know, here is the TPB cover of Man of Stone.

Most fans agree as I do that Irishman Garth Ennis, who writes The Preacher is the only man who can write The Punisher at its best compared to anyone else. The Punisher is the modern day incarnation of Josey Wales as modeled by Forrest Carter (1925-1979) in its Wales duology titled Gone To Texas and The Outlaw Josey Wales respectively, with the latter being made into a film starring Clint Eastwood. Like Wales, Frank Castle is a man who lost his family to evil and resolved to wage a one-man war against crime. His modus operandi is not on revenge -to him revenge is a dark emotion -, but punishment where there are circumstances where law cannot punish the guilty. His rules are somewhat similar to the Hammurrabi Code concept: "an eye for an eye." The Punisher is the best selling title in Marvel's MAX line - aimed for adult, matured readers only. Full of violence, profanity, uncensored stuff all intact. That's where The Punisher should be.

In each of the story arcs, Ennis has placed a common theme and sometimes Bond references (He's a James Bond fan BTW) in the storyline and setting. If you go through the arcs, you will notice that these themes represent the crimes that are committed by the USA - which is part of its hegemony - the quest for Global Domination. Famed critic Noam Chomsky, in his book Hegemony or Survival outlines the sins of America in its greedy quest to become the undisputed superpower on the planet.

The first story arc In the Beginning marks the return of Frank's associate Microchip, but this time working with a team led by a rogue CIA agent Robert Bethell. In 1989, Francis Fukuyama declared that greatest moment in world history is the fall of Communism and the Cold War. In here, Frank was questioned of his role in the new millennium - just as in GoldenEye, Bond is questioned of his role in the post Cold-War era. For both men, they were the past. Whatever he did was during the post Vietnam War is now under question, and maybe no longer be accepted. To Microchip, Frank is a direct relic of the Vietnam War. He thinks that Frank never has enough of what he did, ever since the moment he became the Punisher back in Vietnam. Some of the scenes were referred to in the prequel to the series, Born. In the world where we live in fear of Al-Qaeda and the post-911, the CIA thinks that they can erased his past criminal records clean and give him a clean slate by making hunting the terrorists including Osama Bin Laden.

Castle always work alone. At times, trust is something that gets a person killed. He had encountered double-crosses. The latest double-crossing by Microchip is something that he'd never forgive. He gave Microchip a chance to run while he is alive but in the end...was punished for squandering the opportunity before Frank changed his mind. James Bond is described as a blunt instrument for the government - an extension of its dirty work. Frank saw through this and immediately said no - knowing that he'd be manipulated - something evident later on in Mother Russia.

Bethell is a corrupt agent who would smuggle drugs for weapons and money. His crossing with New York mobs coupled with Nicky Cavella and his gang made him an easy target. He's a CIA agent - he can do anything - good or bad - and maybe things tilting to your favour. And while Frank is held captive by Bethell, the gangs think they can eliminate two birds in one stroke. Lewis Larossa modeled Cavella after actor David Strathairn but in the later arc, it's different since it was drawn by Leandro Fernandez. A common cliche in stories is the recurrence of a female damsel-in-distress character that most people seem to be tired with. Thankfully, it was avoided. Kathryn O'Brien is the partial flipside of Castle - an instrument of the corrupt bureaucracy, an unlucky woman who had to do the worst to save her image and sanity. Wisely, she was written as a all-round character with her own independence and the ability to take care of her reputation.


The second story line, Kitchen Irish was mainly about Irish gangs in New York fighting for the will left by an old man Nesbitt worth 10 million dollars. The premise is somewhat the famous Gangs of New York, fighting for control in the turbulent period of 1847-1863. The questioning here is of some people are still stuck back in the past. The past actually serves as lessons for us, to remind us while we move on, taking care to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Many of Irish people are still scarred over the fighting between the Irish Republican Army and the pro-British faction during the 30 year civil war of Northern Ireland, the worst being the Bloody Sunday in 1972. Ennis, being a Irishman himself suffered during those times there. In the later point, Michael Morrison lamented:

"What are we like anyway? All that misery and bloodshed back home and we come to the States and the best we can do is just fucking carry on with it? Did you not even hear what Maginty was saying? We don't have to slaughter each other! We can get what we want without that! We're free now...free of the frigging past!"

In GoldenEye, Bond's ex-partner turned villain, Alec Trevelyan's motives was purely blaming on the past: the British sending his ancestors, the Cossacks of Lienz to their deaths in World War II. In Harry Potter series, Voldemort turned bad because of the past where his Muggle father, Riddle Sr. abandoned her mother, Merope. See the coincidence? It's like letting the past shaping you into a pervert and succumbing to the evils conjured from it. What about the River Rats? They are still kids inside...playing pirates!

The Continuity IRA is also a political example of the syndrome. To that cell, anything short of a total victory is like capitulating to the British. People are sick of fighting already. They want to go on and rebuild their lives rather than destroying because of a group of perverts. In this context, there is no Kingdom of Heaven. A kingdom of heaven is a place where there is no fighting, everyone living together in harmony, each respecting one another, work together. Some don't like it...take the Nazi Germany for example. Purity of race?

Here's one of Tyler Durden's quotes in Fight Club:

"The people that you're after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances, we guard you while you sleep. DO NOT FUCK WITH US."

There was a saying that once you are a baddie, forever you are a baddie. This would be the case for old Napper French. He had enough of doing the past job and retired to a happy life until the Dublin nigger Maginty dragged him back into the gang fight. The past haunted him and it showed clearly to the little boy. The question is no matter how hard you try to forget the past, why does it come back to haunt us?

A problem with the arc is that there lacks the opposite sex relationship between a man and a woman. Ennis attempted to address one by putting it here, but it is not until when we reach the later story arcs, that we have somewhat a complete working relationship between man and woman later on. However, though it worth to point this out, Frank ended up being the supporting character of the story. Kitchen Irish remains the least cohesive story arc of all. Maybe it is full of black comedy as the MAXI series and it is not serious enough. The arc is pretty independent of the others. In the next few storylines, neither one is associated with Kitchen Irish. But perhaps you should take the inspiration from The Devil's Own or Gangs of New York as the source of reference when reading this. Or maybe read Frank McCourt's memoirs such as Angela's Ashes or The Teacher Man.

An interesting side note about Kitchen Irish is the locations used. For example, Pier 86, The Intrepid Museum is Frank's setup point for The Westies and the gangs fighting here. For those who do not really know which part is it in New York, it is located on 46th Street below the Joe DiMaggio highway. That's Pier 86. Secondly, the fictional O'Malleys bar used in the shootout is actually the McSorley's Old Ale House, located at 15, East 7th Street, near St. Mark's Square.

Next: Mother Russia and Up Is Down, Black Is White

The Fight Club

Do you know what Shaziman Mansor called us today? According to The Star paper today and complimented with this interesting article by Jeff Ooi himself, Shaziman is calling us - the bloggers as the snipers. Snipers at shooting at the powerful people from far and hiding in the shadows! Hey, the local daily isn't the only daily that documents the 'sniper' calling. It's mentioned in articles from international dailies including Jerusalem, Paris, Canada and Sydney! This newspaper extract was taken from Berita Harian.

Seriously, I need to discuss this because this case is getting out of control and I feel that our right as responsible bloggers are in jeopardy from the remarks of certain people who are not IT-savvy. Shaziman was proposing of having every blogger registering. But he has forgotten something: there is no free blog. Whoever wants to have a blog will have to register to Blogger - the current blog software that I'm writing on or even fill up a form to apply for a web server either locally or elsewhere! Where is the logic? Is he trying to spread the pre-paid doctrine used in the mobile phone episode over here?

The current episode of Shaziman proposing the idea of registration clearly mimics Marvel comics big event of 2006: Civil War. Civil War is Mark Millar's mockery of the 2002 Patriot Act. In the story line, superheroes are required to be registered under the Superhero Registration Act as to control the uncertainty pertaining to superheroes that might go out of control. The main proponents of the program would be Iron Man, Miss Marvel, Mr. Fantastic and certain people. America's icon Captain America refused to register saying that it will take away the free rights that everyone has. Eventually, there was a battle by the proponents and those who refused it.

Seeing that the fight causes more damage, Captain America eventually surrendered but before he could go on, he was assassinated by an unknown gunman. See what happens? Captain represents the perfect utopia - the American Dream, the ideal world. With his death, it spells the end of the dream and plunging into the current chaos that parallels our world. It is like everyone of us being torn of choosing good or evil and in the end we become a clockwork orange.

I look at some of the pictures which featured the establishment of the NAB - National Alliance of Bloggers led by Jeff and Ahiruddin. Great bravery there - out to protect the interests of bloggers like us. I wonder what if the mandatory registration is enforced, will those people even read cooking recipes that are shared by female bloggers? Will my mum's posts be scrutinized by them?

Update: My connection crashed just now, but now I got all my previous written paragraphs back! So that's one of Blogger's safety net. Hmm....

Seeing that clearly the main interest of BAM is to protect the interest of bloggers reminds me of the establishment of our very own Fight Club. Author Chuck Palahniuk was inspired to write the novel after he was beaten by some people of the neighborhood when he screamed at them as to request them to lower the volume as he wanted to sleep. He vented everything in the novel.

Here's something funny in related to the case above. In the DVD, there was a 1-second only blink-and-you-miss disclaimer from Tyler Durden. Part of the disclaimer reads:

"Are you so impressed with authority that you give them respect and credence to all who claim it? Do you read everything you are supposed to read? Do you think everything you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told you should want? Get out of your apartment....Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned...Tyler."

The last few lines in the disclaimer clearly mirrors what we bloggers are facing right now. We are at the point where the best defense is the offense. Jeff's post on Mahatma Gandhi's method might help to sway public opinion on this matter: Satyagaha

via mass disobedience. Ever wonder why students nowadays start to disobey certain school rules? They find it is absurd. They act by mass disobedience. Start booing teachers, start mocking teachers. In my brother's class, some of his students drew a chalk outline on the floor representing the dead body of one of their teachers that they hate.