Author Archive | ulysseslazarus

Soundtrack of My Life: Rage Against the Machine

By on June 2, 2010 in News 27

From Nick Pell at Red Star TimesRage Against The Machine Evil Empire

When I was about 15 or 16 years old, few things were more difficult than getting me to listen to, never mind enjoy, a mainstream alternative rock radio single. Having said that, you should get some impression of just how special “Bulls on Parade” is. Not only did I enjoy the song, but I went out and bought a (*gasp*) major label record.

Over the years, RATM have never been one of my favorite bands. I’ve never owned a shirt and I go very long periods of time without ever listening to them. Still, as I grow older I have more respect for them as a band both musically and politically.

In a world of milquetoast pop punk bands shilling for the Democratic Party or irritating aging punks giving “left” counsel to President Obama on how to be a better imperialist, RATM have intelligence, principles and balls.… Read the rest

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National Anarchists at Folsom Street Fair

By on June 1, 2010 in News 19

From Nick Pell at Red Star Times

I was contacted this morning by Bay Area National Anarchists founder Andrew Yeoman. He felt that I had unfairly maligned his group in my recent article on radical traditionalist website Alternative Right. I don’t really want to get into the specifics of our exchange, however, I would now like to present the videos I referenced (but did not post) in my previous article. The event they are protesting is the Folsom Street Fair, which is a leather / BDSM event, not explicitly a gay pride event.

I stand by my claim that harassment takes place on these videos and that the demonstration attempts to target homosexuals. Indeed, Folsom Street Fair is largely (if not predominantly) an event for the gay leather / BDSM community.… Read the rest

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Right-Wing Blog Watch: Alternative Right

By on May 28, 2010 in News 26

From Nick Pell at Red Star Times

Welcome to a new feature on Red Star Times, right-wing blog watch. I am introducing this feature for the sake of keeping a close eye on right-wing blogs, ranging from hardline conservative to outright fascist. My first subject of study is Alternative Right, a particularly noxious website that brands itself as “radical traditionalist.” For those who aren’t familiar with the term, radical traditionalist is a term used by hipsters, goths and faux-erudite who espouse fascist ideology but want a term with more intellectual cache.

Radical traditionalist favorites include Oswald Spengler, Julius Evola and Alain de Benoist. Associated (allegedly) political movements include Eurasianism, metapolitics, third positionism and national anarchism. Alternative right is an exemplar of radical traditionalism and fascism in as much as it begins with hatred of minorities, women and the working class and proceeds to construct a bizarre mish-mash of gobbledygook as “ideology” after the fact.… Read the rest

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Criminals Running the Crime Scene

By on May 27, 2010 in News 11

From Nick Pell at Red Star Times

For anyone who needed a good, hard lesson in the nature of American capitalism and the Democratic Party, the Deepwater Horizon disaster provides it. BP, a massive energy cartel was allowed to flagrantly violate established safety laws by the Obama Administration. Indeed, the Administration abetted BP in violating safety and environmental regulations.

Oil has been allowed – by the government and BP – to gush out into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate as yet undetermined (but estimated at about an Exxon Valdez disaster every four days) for over a month. The administration finally admitted that the spill is the worst in American history, but didn’t bother to mention that it might actually get worse.

Despite public outrage, BP is still being allowed to run its own cleanup and investigation. The official investigation will clearly be little more than a whitewash.… Read the rest

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Urban Superheroes: Wu-Tang Clan

By on May 25, 2010 in News 8

wutang4From Nick Pell at Red Star Times:

Hip-hop was an early love of mine. When I was but a wee lad not much music excited me. But the sounds of Run-DMC and (don’t laugh) The Fat Boys were groups I loved at a very early age. By the time I was an adolescent my sounds were the usual mish-mash of a kid searching for what he liked–Bad Religion, Nirvana, The Ramones. Still, I’ll never forget the first day that I heard The Wu-Tang Clan at a friend’s house after school. From the crude humor of the “Torture” skit to the soulful strains of “Can It All Be So Simple,” I was hooked. So began a love affair with nine men from New York that has endured for over half my life. The Wu-Tang Clan were, are and always will be more than just another hip-hop crew. They are nothing less than real life urban superheroes.… Read the rest

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Two Minutes Hate

By on May 24, 2010 in News 4

thai-crackdownFrom Nick Pell at Red Star Times

Four things happened recently that I think require attention. They speak to not just the world that we live in as it is, but the direction where we are headed. It’s a cliche to repeat, but that won’t stop me–the Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times” applies now more than ever.

We do, indeed live in “interesting” times. Times as interesting as 1914, 1929 or 1939. We will live to see days like 1905, 1936 and 1968. Only time will tell if they blossom into 1789, 1871 or 1917, but the alternative is too terrifying to even contemplate.

Full Article at Red Star Times… Read the rest

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“The Left” vs. The Working Class

By on May 21, 2010 in News 33

Hi, I'm a Douchebag and my name is This Guy

From Nick Pell at Red Star Times

“The Communist Party cannot fulfill its mission except by preserving, completely and unconditionally, its political and organizational independence apart from all other parties and organizations within and without the working class.” – L. Trotsky

I am frequently maligned and attacked for not supporting “the left.” Slings and arrows thrown my way include admonishments to “get behind the real movement” and appeals for a “united front” from people who clearly don’t understand what the term means. However, it’s worth pointing out (once again) that I don’t consider building “the left” to be the task of a socialist. The task of a socialist is to help the working class organize to take power. Rather than building block along the road towards this end, the left is perhaps the largest impediment to working class politics both domestically and internationally. Whether you think of the left as being the Democratic Party or any number of social democratic and Stalinist parties internationally matters not at all.… Read the rest

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Countdown

By on May 20, 2010 in News 9

From Nick Pell at Red Star Times

My friend Bill is wont to say that humanity hasn’t quite figured out that it could do something so bad that it couldn’t be fixed. From a certain point of view, I agree. Our ability to fix the messes we create is finite. Never before the last 50 years has humanity been in a position to utterly and totally destroy itself and drag a large amount of other life forms down with it.

Chernobyl was bad, to be sure. However, the damage was largely regional. The BP disaster is creating an Exxon Valdez crash every four days, with no end in sight.

Forget about the very real possibility of a third world war, one that could irreparably render the planet uninhabitable for humans. The fact that multinational oil cartels are building things capable of creating disasters without solutions should be of concern to everyone who likes the planet being populated with hairless monkeys and other endearing life forms.… Read the rest

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Dio: The Last In Line

By on May 17, 2010 in News 4

Nick Pell from Red Star Times:

While most people think that RJD came from the belfry of a castle in Anglia, his origins were far more mundane. He was born Ronald James Padavona in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a small mill / port city on the New Hampshire sea coast where I once lived. Soon after his family moved to the middle-of-nowhere in New York. It was here that he changed his name to “Dio” (after a mafia kingpin) and cut his teeth in the world of rock, playing on a series of obscure rockabilly singles.

I suspect that many will be surprised at the deep outpouring of grief surrounding the untimely passing of Ronnie James Dio. He is not the famous figure that Ozzy Osbourne is. However, Ronnie James Dio did something no other singer in metal or rock did quite as well as he did. Dio brought mythological significance and a sense of supernatural wonder to contemporary urban life.… Read the rest

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Lifestyles of the Rich and Clueless

By on May 11, 2010 in News 8

ladies-who-lunchNick Pell at the Black Sun Gazette responds to Alexa Von Tobel’s article urging people to go a day without spending:

I don’t like what the ruling class of this country do. They lead oppressive, imperialist wars while driving down the living standards of an increasingly disenfranchised working class.

However, nothing quite gets my goat like the nouveau riche elements that make up the upper middle class. If you’ve ever heard me talk about it, or are just curious why anytime a well-to-do celeb chimes in on some topic they’ve gleaned illumination from atop their penthouse apartment it makes me rage hard, this recent article at HuffPo will explain it.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll retch on your shoes when you read the first three sentences.

What would be it like to go a day without spending any money? I’ve thought about this before but I’ve never considered actually trying it.… Read the rest

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