Return of the Terror Wizard

It has come to my attention that there are still people out there who actually believe US propaganda concerning Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and Terrorism in general. This is because these people haven’t done any of their own research. Instead these people will blindly accept as fact what they read in the newspaper, hear on the radio and watch on the TV news. These people will tell you that Osama Bin Laden was the Evil mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. They will tell you that from a cave in Afghanistan he coordinated the attacks, using 19 Islamic fundamentalist hijackers who crashed 4 hijacked American airlines, three hitting their targets the Pentagon and Twin Towers, whilst the 4^th crash landed in Pennsylvania when the passengers tried to take back the plane. The Twin Towers subsequently collapsed as a result of being struck by the airliners and the Pentagon suffered extensive damage to one wing.

They will then tell you that the United States then launched a “War on Terror” to root out all the terrorists in the world and make the world safe from terrorism. The first target was Afghanistan as the Taleban were harbouring Osama Bin Laden and his evil Al-Qaeda terrorist network. They invaded the country but were unable to locate Osama for 10 years, until just the other day when they finally got him after the man of change and hope, Noble Peace Prize recipient, and Commander in Chief Obama made the call to take him down.

Please spare me? I have done extensive research into the events of 911, the subsequent War on Terror and all the players of that game and I can assure you that the aforementioned story is just that, a story. If you subscribe to the above fairy tale please read on. I’ll spell it out for you now and you won’t have to do the research yourself. There is a lot to cover, so since Mr Osama Bin Laden is all across the news at the moment, we’ll just focus on him.

As you know Osama has appeared in a number of “Video Messages” since his inauguration as the most evil man in the world. His first appearance was days after 9/11, on Oct 7^th. He issued a strongly worded message to the United States but denied responsibility for the attacks. Whitehouse spokesman Ari Fleischer, later told reporters that President Bush concluded, Osama “virtually took responsibility” for 9/11.

Bin Laden appears on Al Jazeera, in a taped statement broadcast shortly after US-led strikes on Afghanistan begin. - Source: Al Jazeera

Then in mid-November 2001 Osama’s confession video was made, according to the US, but this was later disputed as it was way too blatantly not Osama in the video.

“]

Khaled al-Harbi (right) talking to Osama bin Laden or one of his doubles. [Source: US Department of Defense

A comparison already done, for your convenience.

All of them side by side.

But wait there’s more.

Then on Oct 29^th 2004, Osama released another video in which he for the first time claimed responsibility for the attacks, and criticized President Bush. This was released right before the US Presidential election and you know who won don’t you.

Here’s a picture from the Video.

Again, all together now.

Then on Sept 7th 2007, “a man thought to be” Osama possibly released his first video in 3 years. In the video he name drops people and current events like Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy, as well as Global Warming and the troubled US markets.

Here is the latest incarnation of Osama in 2007 alongside himself in 2004. Wow he got younger!

 

Blatant isn’t it?

Yes that’s right the terrorism news is manufactured propaganda, as is other major world news. Osama has also been said to, and is purportedly supposed to, have released numerous Audio messages as well as these videos. They never can seem to determine the authenticity of those audio messages, but their word is taken as gospel none-the-less. For instance, when he offered Europe a truce, or when he spoke to his brothers in Iraq, or when he gave Obama shit about “no real change”.

 If it wasn’t such a serious subject it would be funny. I mean within his terrorist network he also has fundamentalist Islamic propagandists working for him, who are technically adept in computer animation, graphics, film making and distribution. Let’s have a look at some stills taken from their high quality work.

Waleed Alshehri in his video will. - Source: As Sahab

Al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri also mentioned the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a video. - Source: As Sahab

Stills from martyr videos recorded in March 2001. From top to bottom: Ahmed Alhaznawi, Abdulaziz Alomari, Saeed Alghamdi, Wail Alshehri, and Hamza Alghamdi. The backgrounds were digitally inserted later. - Source: Al-Jazeera

Video still of Ayman al-Zawahiri (top) and analysis by Krawetz (bottom). - Source: As-Sahab/Neal Krawetz

Logos of As-Sahab and Intelcenter are added at the same time which means Intelcenter made the video.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that all these blatant examples of the US government releasing propaganda is to convince you that there is a real war of terror going on, against a true enemy that really exists, who were the ones that really did all the stuff the US Government said they did. Meanwhile the US plunders the world and kill heaps of people, whilst taking the freedoms and civil liberties from their own citizens. Yes that’s right you are being lied to on a monumental scale. Consider this fact when you read the news tomorrow. All corporate media organizations are ultimately owned by 6 major Media companies.  They own everything and bring you all your movies, TV news, newspaper news, magazines, publishing, film and radio.

That’s how they are able to sell you the same story on every median you pay attention to!!

Let’s now examine the latest installment in the Osama saga….his death…

Firstly it turns out that the US was correct in using torture and rendition all along. It was using “enhanced interrogation techniques” that made Khalid Sheikh Mohammed spill the beans and reveal Osama’s courier drivers name. Another guy also confirmed this name when he was tortured, I mean interrogated, using the same enhanced techniques. US government has now been vindicated and that proves it’s ok to keep using torture.

Then it was revealed that before the raid Osama was ultimately identified with satellite facial recognition software. They couldn’t find him for 10 years but they managed to spot his face from space!

After he had been shot 3 times and killed in a raid that was practiced in a replica hideout, his body was then dumped in the sea in an apparent attempt to observe Islamic tradition. The US government actually has a heart of gold. After attacking numerous Muslim countries, due to being “attacked by Muslims” on 911, and hunting the worlds most evil man for 10 years, they still decided that they would respect Islamic tradition and “bury” Bin Laden with 24 hours of his death. Turns out that dumping him in the sea doesn’t observe Islamic tradition at all so they fucked that one up didn’t they?

Now his body is gone and Obama has decided that he’s not going to release the photos of Osama because they are too gruesome and will incite Muslims to attack America again. So I guess we just have to believe the US government is telling us the truth again.

 Or we can think for our fucking selves for once!

Just look at this piece of news here, titled “Bin Laden’s death boosts Obama’s re-election chances.”

Not only that but it takes attention away from other news, like the killing of Gaddafi’s grandchildren with a US cruise missile, or the release of Obama’s obviously faked birth certificate. It also takes people’s minds off other important news like the on-going collapse of the US dollar, illegal wars of aggression, the perils of nuclear power and ongoing Fukushima radiation contamination etc etc.

In the situation room watching the release of Obama’s birth certificate on a live feed. Obama = sweating it.

Read this report it is widely known that Bin Laden has been considered dead for years.

I could go into detail about how Al-Qaeda was created by Osama and the CIA to fight the Russians in Afghanistan back in the 80’s, how Al-CIAda is nothing more than a CIA front movement. I could tell you about the links between the Bin Laden family, the Bush family and the Saudi ruling families. But I’ve already gone well over the 800 word limit, so most people didn’t even read this far anyway. Let’s just finish with these optimistic thoughts. Clinton said the US must now redouble their efforts to fight terrorism. The US propaganda mill has said that Osama supporters vow vengeance. You can now look forward to the revenge attack that will be another false flag terrorist event, just like 9/11, 7/7 and the rest of them.

Vincent.

Burn Motherfucker Burn

Does this image seem familiar? You might recognise a cropped version of this as the album cover of Rage Against the Machine's 1992 self titled album

I noticed recently with all the political strife and popular uprisings in Africa and the Middle East a disturbing and seemingly new form of protest that I hope does not gain a popular following. Then again, maybe self-immolation would be a win win situation for everyone instead of having to put up with some of the inane protests that seem to happen in New Zealand.

According to my vast intelligence network, there have been something like 14 self-immolation protests so far in MENA region signalling a growing dissatisfaction with the governance of the Arab world in general.  Not only is this turning out to be a watershed moment in the history of this part of the world, but, as I have mentioned also marks the emergence of a disturbing new trend in protests.

Self-immolation=fatality?

Self-immolation itself is nothing new, having had a rich history of infamy. It has been practised in India for many centuries in India for various reasons and has surprisingly been tolerated by both Buddhists and Hindis alike at one point or another as a valid form of political protest, religious devotion and renouncement.  Similarly during the Great Schism of the Russian church entire villages burned themselves in acts known as ‘fire baptisms’.  In more modern times Buddhist monks immolated themselves in South Vietnam in 1963 to protest the current regime, and it was probably the western media coverage of this event that has seen self-immolation become the ultimate form of political protest.

The above clip from waking life probably sums up the feelings and philosophical undertones that would pervade the participants minds as they go through with this act, and is well worth a watch, it still seems like an absurdist point of view though.

I personally think that taping bread to your head is a much better form of protest. It shows that you are serious.

In contrast to suicide bombings, self-immolation causes minimal damage and are not meant to inflict harm on others. Instead they give the impression of being almost altruistic, designed to inflame (no pun intended) spectators into a frenzy making the participants appear as Martyrs. Although this might seem somewhat more positive than more violent forms of protest it seems to me that it still promotes zealous behaviour that from my point of view can only be fuelled by ignorance, desperation and most probably a false sense of reward upon death.  From a modern perspective, it gets shit done and seems to be bringing about some changes but at what cost? And can the sort of changes that we are witnessing be said to have been influenced by these public, dramatic examples of self-immolation or is the main factor the fact that millions of people are fucked off and have taken to the streets.

My only wish is that Brian Tamaki and the Destiny Church had used this form of protest in Wellington in 2004 as an integral part of their ‘Enough is enough’ campaign. Just imagine how a lot of peaceful protests would have turned out if this happened more often, the Falun Gong people that march down Queen St almost every weekend. Global warming protests worldwide – that in itself would be an ironic and hypocritical form of protest, the fuel from the petrol adding to a larger carbon footprint and global warming in general if you believe or care about that.

Memoirs of a Columbian Ayahuasca Odyssey

On the 4^th of November I travelled to Colombia to drink the potent Shamanic brew of the Amazon known as Ayahuasca. The Shamans of South America have been preparing and ingesting this brew for thousands of years. It is considered by them to be sacred medicine that heals the person drinking it both spiritually and physically. It is made by combining the leaf of one plant with the bark of a vine, and takes 10 days to finish preparation. During that time the Shaman is by himself, ceremoniously presiding over the mixture, chanting and making sure that the preparation goes smoothly.

I heard about this plant and its effects by reading the experiences of other people. In particular, Alex Grey and Graham Hancock have ingested and written about it. After reading of their experiences I had to try it for myself. So I got in contact with the people at Heart of the Initiate, a group of Americans who organize trips to South America to drink Ayahuasca. Everything was organized through the efforts of Peter Richardson and Ralph Miller from Heart of the Initiate. All I had to do was turn up and hold the Ayahuasca down. There were no issues with safety or transport. It was all under control. In Colombia I met ten other people from the States and Canada all gathered for the same reason. We all ended up being mates after hanging out for only a few hours, like we’d known each other for years. It was pretty cool, friendships forged at the fiery gates.

 

After chilling and recovering from travel on the first night, it was the second night that we had the first ceremony. We all gathered at the Maloca (Meeting house) at 8pm and chose our mat for the night. Warinei the Shaman, with his assistants Sara and Andreas began the preparations for the evening. After they were done and Warinei had spoken to us about what to expect, how to handle it, and the healing that would take place, we were ready to begin.

 

The Maloca where we gathered to drink Ayahuasca

Warinei the Shaman, with his potent mixture of Ayahuasca in a fruit juice jug.

We all approached Warinei one at a time to receive a small cup of Ayahuasca, washed down with a centimeter of water. We didn’t eat for several hours beforehand as it pays to have an empty stomach, same goes for water, hence the one centimeter. It was of a syrup consistency and tasted really foul (understatement of the century). I was handed a mint breath spray by an absolute lifesaver and then went and lay down on my mat. I could feel the Ayahuasca as it travelled all the way down to my stomach, as it passed through my stomach wall, and as it dissipated throughout my body. Then I felt the effects take hold like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

I was gripped by powerful waves of energy that made me tremble, all my senses were heightened. Not only could I hear everything acutely but I also could feel sound. The Shamans music penetrated into my very being and shook my body in time with the beat. I had my eyes closed but began to see visions of light and shapes reminiscent of the art of Alex Grey. The powerful waves of energy continued to spontaneously flow through my body, each one would distract me from the visions. Eventually the visions took on the form of thousands of beings all standing over me looking at me like I was a new born baby. They were of various forms, some looked like plants with eyes and mouths, others looked like hominids but not human. I actually felt like a new born baby, only able to move my head to look around at the beings, I felt extremely bewildered and overwhelmed. I opened my eyes when it got too intense. Immediately I felt nauseous with my eyes open, so I closed them again straight away. I found myself back in the exact same situation with thousands of beings all crowding around to look at me. This time five fairies that looked like Betty Boop flew up in front of the crowd and started pampering and touching me lightly on my face and upper body. I could physically feel them touching me as this was happening. I realised that they were reassuring me and then said “Thank you ladies.” They flew away giggling.

This is what the fairies looked like.

This was the first vision I had which was merely a gentle introduction to the world of Ayahuasca, and was actually quite funny. Over the course of the 12 hour journey I had many visions which taught me many things about myself, each as vivid and as real as the first. I can’t go into all of them here. The big thing that came out of it for me was interacting with the creative force. I have never been a believer in God or organized religion, my family never went to church and I knew that ‘bible in schools’ teachers were peddling rubbish when I first met them aged 6. Conversely, after initially swallowing the Big Bang / Evolution theory hook line and sinker, as I grew older and started thinking for myself I began to find many holes in that story as well. Things have happened to me that 100% proved that supernatural shit goes on in this world, so I knew there had to be another option. The journey I have taken, trying to find answers to those hard questions in life like “How did we all get here?” and “How was the universe created?” has led me directly to Ayahuasca where I actually got some answers!!!!

Before the first ceremony people were talking about a Goddess called Aya, who would interact with you through the plant. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but then sure enough after drinking for the first time I was interacting with a Goddess called Aya. She goes by lots of different names, like Gaia, Papatuanuku, etc. When I asked for direction in life she told me that I didn’t need any. She said that she had given me many gifts, I knew what to do with them and all I had to do was start using them!! She was referring to my strengths, skills and knowledge and she was right I have been wasting them over the years.

I was in Colombia for 10 days altogether. It was supposed to be only 7 but I had trouble leaving. Over the first week I was there we did two Ayahuasca ceremonies, one starting at night and the other in the afternoon. We also did a Yopo ceremony from a different tradition with a different Shaman called Clemente (he ended up helping me big time but that’s another story), and on the last day we did a Native American sweat lodge ceremony in an Inipi. All the different activities complemented each other nicely to give a holistic healing experience. As much as I would like to go into more detail each one would be an entire article in itself. Suffice to say, I left that place on cloud nine. The magic medicine really worked, drunken Vince was drop kicked out on the street and all his clothes were burnt. I’m already making my plans to go back next year. You haven’t lived till you’ve tried Ayahuasca.

Currently the guys at Heart of the Initiate are organizing a trip for January 28 – February 04. Check out their website if you’re interested. www.heartoftheinitiate.com

By Vincent Andersen

Too late for the first

Catfish will inherit the Earth in 425 days . . .stupid 2012

Today, technically, at the time I am starting to write this, it is still the first of November.  In recent years the first of November has heralded the start of movember, with many a man giving up shaving for the month in order to raise money for mens issues like prostate cancer, the start of the fishing season, socially acceptable facial hair styles and holding onto chauvanist ideals that stroke our ego’s and remind us of simpler times, brilliant. Ironically, the skytower for the last month has been lit up pink every night – highlighting breast cancer awareness for all to see within a 30km (or more) radius. Not to bag this at all, it’s a great cause, I just thought about what the city of Auckland could do to draw attention to mens issues (itchy balls, cheesedick etc) and here is what I came up with , excuse my crappy mspaint skills.

Seriously, why the fuck not?

What else is today significant? 12 Days until exams are over, thank fuck, and then I get to enjoy the whole summer which quite conveniently seems to have arrived early, and after communing with the local Druids all signs and portents point to an excellent summer. Megadeth and Katatonia are headlining the No Sleep Till festival in December, and Deftones and Tool are smashing the Big Day Out, all is right with the world and it looks like now I might actually be able to attend both events. Yahtzee. Here are some pictures from reddit.

James

Strawberry shortcake apparently makes Amazon want to kill people, you might too!

This is just too good to be true

Enlightened

True story, scallops hunt in packs

Whitebait Fritters FTW

Fuck yes, finally, an inspired takeaway!

Still procrastinating, have been all day. It’s due tomorrow but I think I will finish. In my procrastinations today (sleep) my brother showed up and decided to shout me lunch at Murder Burger (good cunt). After ordering I noticed that they had whitebait fritters on sale for somewhere in the vicinity of seven bucks. Sadly as I had already ordered and deciding to not be a prick by changing my order halfway through I left it at that. But . . . after eating, my brother grabbed one and gave me a bite. Yeah . . they have lots of chop and I will be eating more soon. Pretty standard style fritter just like the ones your old man used to make back in the day only somehow better. Whitebait fritter between what appeared to be tip-top bread with garlic thrown in somehow. Fucking delish, you should go get one for tea. Or if not, find out where they are and when they open by visiting them here.

Upraw are - Jason, Andre, Karl and Mike.

Also seeing as it seems like today has become shameless plug tuesday I would like to point out two other things. First some friends of mine from the band Upraw have got themselves tangled up in a competition to play at the big day out, the contest is run by BFM and can be found by clicking here. I know it’s shitty how you have to verify the vote with an email but it only takes a minute. Vote Upraw . . *cough cough*

Lunar Pupil

In the spirit of plugging I will keep going . . .some other friends who also have a band, Lunar Pupil, are playing a gig on the 28th October at the Dogs Bollix starting sometime around 8:30. Get amongst!

James

From the mouth of Henry: Aotea Square

It's meeeeeeee!

Who, like me, is somewhat anguishing in major disappointment over the supposed new snazzy upgrade of Aotea square? One year and countless millions of dollars later I am glad to have somewhere to eat my lunch while I continue the search for new employment but I can not really see what has significantly changed or what the point of this exercise was.  As far as I can tell, the steps leading down from Queen St are now more open, and they have put some more seats in. Initially my thoughts were this was discourage vagabonds and young people from congregating near the Queen St entrance but walking from the Town Hall to Queen St after some wanky play on saturday night there were still creatures of the night hanging about. The only difference is that now they sit on the steps instead of the small wall surrounding the steps. And to the council, no, they are not afraid of the nifty green lights you have installed. I think I even saw some of them smoking . . . in public . . .disgraceful.

So what else is new? The old statue of that bald mayor dude has been moved, along with that post modern Maori archway thing – my guess is just to confuse people. The nice grassy area is still there, albeit off limits at the moment but hey at least this gives me a place to take a quiet nap after World Cup games next year. I am really just glad they have a good amount of rubbish bins around in case I have to vomit. My guess is that by then, if I grow a massive beard and ditch the glasses, the uproar surrounding my departure from TVNZ would have blown over and I will be able to publicly and unashamedly sink more than my share of beer at a local bar, leaving storms of controversy (and probably vomit) in my wake as I do all that I can to upset almost everybody. Hope to see you there!

Lots of Love

Paul Henry

 

Your move Japan . . .

 

You, will most likely also be shocked

 

Every now and then someone sends you a link.  A link that seems harmless enough but one which gives you a dark feeling of impending doom deep down in the pits of your soul before even looking at it. Today that happened to me, and being a veteran of past shock sites I thought I could handle. Not since two girls one cup have I had to turn away from the screen disgustipated with what I am seeing. I am going to have to have to share this link with you, but I warn you it is very NSFW, in fact it’s NSF-anything really. By clicking this link you are making an informed decision (hopefully as an adult) so do not come crying to me claiming that what has been seen can not be unseen.

I give you . . . the blowhole

Now that you have seen that I would like you to take part in the below poll just for curiosity’s sake.