Little Brother by Cory Doctorow is the ultimate book for political geek conspiracy theorists.
All I can say after finishing this book is WOW! 3 chapters in I couldn’t put it down, I ended up reading it in 6 hours with just a few hours sleep somewhere in the middle. I couldn’t get enough and the more I read the more it sparked that fire to make a difference inside of me.
It starts fairly light and fun and even though you know it’s not going to stay that way, when the bomb finally does drop (no pun intended) you really don’t expect it. Emotionally it hit me a lot like I imagine it hit the kids.
I really thought when I read the description before starting the book that it would be less realistic, more like 1984 which I knew it to be based on. However, by chapter 5 I realized that this was a story that not only could happen in the US today but probably has. It takes us from the place we’re at now to where we could potentially be going very soon.
The description of what it’s like to write code at the end of chapter 7 was beautiful and encapsulated the feeling so well. My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen more of Van and Jolu but at the same time completely understand the roles they play.
McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. I’m guessing the republican party is either a. trying to show that they’re not afraid of strong women or b. making sure they have a “history making” ticket as well. Either way, I believe she’s nothing but window dressing. I say this mainly because of her level of experience (or more accurately, inexperience). After all of the talk from McCain about Obama’s inexperience, I can’t figure out any reason why he would choose such an inexperienced running mate other than her being a token. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that a woman has made it to this high a position in the republican party. I just wish she were a powerful woman on the side of other women.
Regardless of why she was chosen, the fact still remains that she’s going to be McCain’s running mate. So, let’s take a look at her record.
She’s a member of the anti-choice group Feminists for Life, and is opposed to abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.
She’s a hunter. This may not mean much to some people. However, as a vegan who sees the use and abuse of animals strongly tied into the patriarchy, I feel the fact that she participates in the barbarity of killing sentient beings for enjoyment to be very telling.
She’s a lifetime member of the NRA
She believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman
She’s an advocate of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
She supports the aerial shooting of wolves as a way to build up herds of moose and caribou and sued the Interior Department for putting polar bears on the endangered species list because it restricts oil and natural gas development.
First, I want to apologize for not posting here more often. I’ve been really busy lately trying to get my design business off the ground as well as getting everything set up for my newest project, 1 Million Mad.
And right on the heels of all the articles talking about the sexism involved in vegan activism, we have some gross sexism coming from the meat industry. I’m not sure Carol Adam’s book title “The Pornography of Meat” has ever had this literal a representation before. These are some of the sickest images and I can’t even see how omnis would be enticed by them.
I wanted to expand a bit on some thoughts I was just posting while replying to Diane Casetamorphoses’ post She Ain’t Giving Up Yet on Hillary Clinton’s fight to stay in the race.
I don’t get seriously involved in presidential races. Since I’m usually left voting for the lesser of two evils anyway (99% of American politicians are way too far center leaning for my socialist views). To quote Bob Torres, I watch politics the way many people watch sports. It’s very entertaining and almost everyone involved is just in it for their own personal gain anyway.
I’m vegan for a number of reasons, the main one being that I don’t believe animals deserve to be held captive, tortured and/or killed anymore than I believe humans do. Animals are sentient beings who experience fear and feel pain just as real as any human. After all, humans are merely animals.
As a feminist who fights for women’s rights, as a bisexual in support of queer rights, as a proponent of civil rights and as an anarchist who doesn’t believe in any kind of hierarchy, I feel that supporting animal rights is perfectly in line with my other beliefs.
I know it’s nothing new to bitch about the evils of walmart but I just have to bitch for a while on the walmart worshiper.
The first claim is always “if you were poor you would understand, some people have no other options.”. Well, I call you on your bullshit! I don’t work due to health problems and my husband waits tables. We live well below the poverty line and still manage to be ethical shoppers. The fact is that these cheap, often sweat-shop made products shouldn’t even be available in the first place. And why is saving a few bucks considered a good reason to throw ethics out the window? But most will bluntly tell you that they don’t care how the merchandise got there, they need to save money!! It seems like these people would sooner murder their precious baby jesus than give up their low prices.
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow is the ultimate book for political geek conspiracy theorists.
I’m Angie Bowen, the voice here at Voice of Dissent. I’m an artist/designer living in the mountains of Colorado. I’m very passionate about feminism and abolitionist animal rights so you can expect to hear a lot about those two topics. I’m also just starting to study anarchy and Marxism (and still don’t really know which fits with my own beliefs more yet), so you can expect musings on those topics as well. And obviously, since I’m an artist, you can expect to see quite a bit of artwork as well as articles about other artists.
