Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Just watched Deadly Silence-[Possibly] Innocent Man On Death Row.

Testimony of one eyewitness. Probably a case study in how a man with limited life opportunities far more likely to do something as incredibly stupid and potentially harmful as getting involved in armed robbery. Obviously not a sociopath like the Virginia Tech shooter or so many in our war-crazed regime in Washington D.C.

http://www.maydaymovement.blogspot.com/

It's not just workers. It's not just socialists. It's not just immigrants. It's not just... my, it's beginning to look a lot like humanity.

Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America (2nd edition) by Ward Churchill, introductions by Ed Mead and Derrick Jensen afterword by Mike Ryan.
AK Press pb ISBN: 9781904859185

Just what we don't need. I hope the book would do better, but I'm disgusted by Derrick Jensen's conflating of nonviolence with inaction– a willful misrepresentation no serious activist (whatever their views on the use of violence) would ever make, unless trying to start a fight!

How can my cursed government do this sort of thing and I not even know about it until now?

Free speech, political speech must be absolutely protected. This treatment cannot be accepted.

Supporting political groups or charities likewise cannot be inflated into bogus terrorism charges in a free or fair society.

Meanwhile, the U.S. releases known terrorist Luis Posada, credibly accused of blowing up a Cuban airliner in Venezuela more than 30 years ago, and unrepentant in word and deed since.

(Actually, this was one of my better experiences.)

It seems the MBTA is trying to save money on the Framingham-Worcester line by making people walk a part of the way... the train parks all the way under the bus terminal, a football field length at least from the train station.

The "get your refund in advance" (no, actually get a loan at horrible rates) saturation advertising by H&R Block that I observed on the streets of New York City last year should have been enough to keep me miles away from them permanently.

But my mother had a good experience with them this year (in person in Sears), and they looked as good as *any* of the "free federal filing" (no hint at what state filing will cost) offerings out there.

It was $30 for the state, for the record, but I should have stayed away.

The entire BostonWorks section of this Tuesday's (April 17) Boston Globe is ads. A special advertising section, or somesuch. I guess that's what it its every week, or day, or whatever.

All I know for sure is it's another reason to keep our money away from corporate outlets (especially ones owned by out-of-state war promoters like the New York Times).

I'll be taking the train from Boston to Miami instead of flying.

Amtrak uses about half the energy consumption per passenger as domestic flights (54% to be precise). That's according to government figures:

http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/...

This is despite the low capacity of the horribly slow cross-country trains, and the high capacity of airplanes. Jets are just inefficient and polluting, pouring out tons of fuel per mile. (I've heard that propeller planes would take 25% longer but use only a fraction of the fuel.)

This isn't really a book review either, but when I start categorizing things that's what I'll want it to be listed as.

The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge
by Jeremy Narby

It's certainly a good read. I love Narby's political activism.

I don't necessarily agree that DNA can communicate molecular-level biological knowledge to people, but I sure as hell think it's worth getting some molecular biologists to experiment with!

There's no point in anybody reading this. All it contains is a spoiler.

Only movie I've watched for quite a while is Stranger Than Fiction, which Jakob had gotten from Hollywood Video and which Mom and I watched sometime after he did.

Fun, great acting, and the only reason I'm writing about it now is because I've spent far too much brain resources since then trying to figure out what "de" could be typed as other than the obvious... finally came up with "dealt a crushing blow."