La Justa Pulp

From human rights to the environment to politics to daily news that´s just downright bizarre. Everything outrageous that´s fit to print is printed on La Justa Pulp.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

If Only Bush Was Imaginary


Didn´t have much time to write a scathing article about something preposterous today, so I figured I should continue with my "Homage to Bush´s Stupidity."

This imaginitive cartoon has been borrowed from In These Times

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Is that English?

The following link will take you to a work of sheer genious. I always thought Andy Dick was funny, but this is honestly his best character to date. One again, I would like to thank the makers of this film for using their creativity for good and not for evil. Now sit back, relax and give this film a little time to load. I guarantee you it´s worth the wait.

http://www.badmash.org/videos/videos_flv.php?v=george_bush_512K_Stream

And while we´re taking time out of our days to laugh at George Bush, here´s a joke my mother sent me:

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing.He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the president exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands.

Finally, president looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

Monday, September 26, 2005

The Most Publicized Documentarian Ever

I think Michael Moore is great, not to mention an extremely talented filmmaker. So when looking for pictures from Fahrenheit 9/11 to include in a collage for a friend (I´m poor, I have to make presents and not buy them, isn´t that sad?), I came across these excellent comics. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Oh, and anyone who went to the anti-war march in D.C. on Saturday, please write a post to let me know all about it!




Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Is "it was a mistake" really an excuse?

I sometimes wonder if there is anything worse than a conservative talk show host. They’re generally sexist and racist. They say truly offensive and outlandish things just for the shock value, and for as much as they preach, they don’t seem to have any morals at all. Everything they do and say is meant to generate attention and dollars. I guess you could say they’re true capitalists. They know how to give the American public what they want in exchange for money and power, but is being a true capitalist ok when you’re harming people?

These talk show hosts are showmen at best and mud-slingers at worst, but a lot of people seem to confuse them with actual journalists, and this is very, very, very bad when these showmen are giving their opinion as fact. To bring in the listeners and the viewers, Limbaugh, Hannity and O´Reilly are willing to ruin reputations and careers and ridicule, insult, threaten and lie about people that don’t agree with them (example: Bill O´Reilly´s ferocious attack of Jeremy Glick, the young man who lost his father in 9/11 and is against the invasion of Iraq). To me it’s all rather sickening, but I guess it gives millions of listeners and viewers a rush. So I guess we should ask ourselves, is the rush worth the repercussions?

I’m going to have to go with no. And while I could cite many, many, many, many, many reasons for why I am right, I’ll limit myself to writing about the latest negative occurrence I’ve read about.

John Loftus, former federal prosecutor, FOX News commentator and the gnomish character pictured above, wrongly identified a La Habra, California home as belonging to Iyad Hilal on his August 7th segment on Inside Scoop with John Loftus. According to Loftus, Iyad Hilal, a "leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has been banned in parts of Europe and the Middle East," had ties to the terrorists that planned the London bombing. He then announced the address of Hilal´s supposed house. Wait a minute, isn’t that illegal? And why would he do that anyway, unless, of course, he wanted local dimwits to start rioting and promote mob mentality?

But as it turns out, Loftus´ great idea came back to bite him in the ass, as Hilal had moved out of that house three years ago. Oops. Yep, and a big oops indeed. The current owners of the house, Randy and Ronnell Vorick, have faced harassment and destruction of their property.

"I´m scared to leave my kids at home," says Randy.

Fox has since "reprimanded" Loftus, and Loftus has since apologized, adding "mistakes happen." And they probably wouldn’t happen as often if these guys dealt more with fact and less with fiction.


It turns out that Iyad Hilal has not been linked to any terrorist groups or acts by the FBI. They just want to know more about his group’s activities. So it seems like the first mistake was reporting on him at all.

Source: "Couple Wrongly Tied to Radical Harassed," The Associated Press, August 25, 2005

Monday, September 19, 2005

Useless Security Measures

Now that terrorism has become an everyday occurance in some parts of the world and just another ordinary topic of conversation for politicians and news commentators, we are also seeing subtle differences in our usual, daily routine. Differences that, quite frankly, I don´t think make us any safer and make life just a tad more stressful and unnerving.

After 9/11 there were the airports. Show up five hours ahead of time because security is going to make you take out every single thing you have in your suitcase in front of dozens of waiting strangers and then strip search you to complete the humiliation. Correct me if I´m wrong, but isn´t x-raying every suitcase and carry-on bag and loads of bomb-sniffing dogs enough to find suspicious items. And if I remember correctly, bombs and guns weren´t the problem during 9/11. The terrorists used box cutters and magically made their way onto the planes by passing for airport/airline employees and forgoing security checks. So of course it makes sense to make everyone take of their shoes and put them on the x-ray conveyor and only serve in-flight meals with plastic butter knives instead of metal ones.

After the Madrid bombing there were random checks of peoples bags on commuter trains and in commuter stations. Ok, this makes more sense since the bombs found on commuter trains had been placed in back packs and left on board, but these randoms checks might have made more sense if they´d not been so random. Guards would pick and choose different people to go up to and ask to open their bags. I must look particularly suspicious because I was always being asked to open my bag, while others weren´t. Plus I noticed that the majority male guards would generally only ask women to show them what items they were hiding. Hmmmmm....

I ride the commuter train to work everyday and there was one guard who consistently asked me to open my bag. Finally I got sick of it and said to him, "You see me every day, do you really think that today I´m going to be carrying a bomb?" He made his usual excuses (it´s my job, it´s for your protection, blah, blah, blah), but he hasn´t asked me to open my bag since.

What would these guys do if they actually did find someone with a bomb in someone´s bag? I´d love to see these lame-os with nightsticks take out a psycho with a bomb that can be set off at any second. I think commuter train guards are better off letting your average Spanish citizen keep what´s in his or her bag private and trolling the trains for suspicious bags left alone on board.

And now the London bombings have prompted Italy to beef up security at cultural sites "to protect its artistic treasures from terrorist attacks." Although there is a certain lack of congruence (London Bombings = Italian Museum Secuirty), I think it´s a great idea. Art should be protected, and I don´t mind the extra metal detectors. Don´t all super famous museums have metal detectors already?

However, I don´t think longer lines and the possibility of pat downs are really going to protect art from terrorism. Not to give psychos any ideas here, but a lot of damage can be done to a historical building or to the interior of a museum from the outside. Yes sir, the terrorist doesn´t have to be looking at what he´s going to destroy in order to destroy it. Just look at how successful car bombs have been in Iraq.

And to be honest, I think terrorists are probably more interested in political and military institutions, and, unfortunately, public transportation. Lets look at some of the past few major blasts:

9/11 - Airplanes, the pentagon (American military HQ) and the twin towers (symbols of American capitalism)
Madrid Bombings - Commuter Trains
London Bombings - The Tube and a bus
USS Cole Bombing - American Military Ship
Various US Embassy and Consulate Bombings - Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan
Bombings of British Consulate and HSBC Bank in Turkey

None of that has to do with art. However, some wack-job did attack "Nudes in Mirror" a painting by American Pop Art legend Roy Lichtenstein. She got in four 12 inch cuts with a jack-knife before people were able to stop her.

"The Austrian news agency APA reported that the woman said the painting in the Kunsthaus Bregenz museum was not authentic."

No, this wasn´t terrorism, but I ask, where were the metal detectors when Roy needed them?

Sources: "Woman slashes Lichtenstein painting with knife,"
www.reuters.com, Sept. 6, 2005
"Italy Ups Security on Artistic Treasures,"
http://news.yahoo.com, Sept. 6, 2005

Friday, September 16, 2005

For Nancy it was Drugs. For Betty it was Booze. What is Laura´s Crusade?

To wind down the week, I leave you with this colorful comic and a question: Why isn´t Laura Bush doing her first-lady, wifely, womanly duties and flying out to New Orleans to help clean up (literally) her husband´s mess? Aren´t first ladies the ones who use all their free time to help the country´s less fortunate?

This lovely toon is from In These Times.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Dust Off Those Marching Shoes

Woooooohoo! Do I love a good march, and it looks like a big fat one is coming up. I don´t know how publicized this has been among mainstream America, but a bunch of grass roots organizations are planning a whopper of a march in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24 to end the war in Iraq.

I was at the march for Women´s Lives, that kick ass demonstration in D.C. to protect a woman´s right to choose back in April of 2004. And while the media had estimates all over the board as to how many people attended, I was there and after seeing that mass of folks run all the way down the Washington Monument Green, I have no doubt that there were easily a million marchers. It was seriously one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

Anyway, I hope this march draws just as many people. Cindy Sheehan is going to be there, and she´s managed to generate quite a bit of media attention, so maybe she can get people of every color, class, age and sex to turn out for this one.

United for Peace and Justice is just one of the march´s organizers. Here´s what they had to say about attending:

More than two years after the illegal and immoral U.S. invasion of Iraq, the nightmare continues. More than 1600 U.S. soldiers have died, at least another 15,000 have been wounded; even the most conservative estimates of Iraqi deaths number in the tens of thousands. Iraq, a once sovereign nation, now lies in ruins under the military and corporate occupation of the United States; U.S. promises to rebuild have not been kept and Iraqis still lack food, water, electricity, and other basic needs.

A majority of Americans believe that this war never should have happened, but our elected representatives in Washington continue to rubber-stamp the Bush Administration's disastrous Iraq policies. They have given military recruiters nearly unrestricted access to our schools -- and the Pentagon nearly unrestricted access to our tax dollars. At a time when our vital social programs are eroding or completely decimated, an overwhelming majority in Congress recently approved Bush's request for an additional $82 billion in war funding, and there's already talk of another $50 billion appropriation this fall.

It's time to hold all pro-war politicians accountable for the deaths, the destruction, the lies, and the toll on our communities! Join United for Peace and Justice in Washington, D.C. for three massive days of action against the war: a major march, rally, and festival on Saturday, September 24; an interfaith religious service and day of grassroots trainings on Sunday, September 25; and a large-scale grassroots lobbying day and mass nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience on Monday, September 26.

From every corner of this country, people will travel to Washington to bring our demands directly to the policymakers responsible for this unjust war. These three days of actions will send a clear message to the White House and Congress: The Iraq war must end. It's time to bring all the troops home, leaving no U.S. military bases behind, and to stop the corporate theft of Iraq's resources. Instead of draining our national treasury for endless war, we demand that our tax dollars be used to repair the damage done to Iraq and to fund services in our communities. We call for an immediate end to our government's assault on immigrants, the unethical pressures on our young people to join the military, and the undermining of democracy through relentless attacks on everyone's basic rights.

Our mobilization will coincide with the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, whose economic policies place corporate profits ahead of basic human needs worldwide. We will speak out against the corporate theft of Iraq's resources and the decimation of the Iraqi economy through privatization and "free trade."

This march is on a Saturday, so nobody has a reason not to be there if they don´t support the war on Iraq. Look around your community, I am sure you can find a bus, truck, van, motorcycle to hitch a ride on.

I want to be there more than anything! I´ve even been checking out plane tickets. Looks like my cheapest option is 403 euros, which is really in no way cheap. And while I know this will never work, I would like to ask if any of you would want to sponsor my trip? That´s right, I am shamelessly asking people that know and don´t know me to give me money so that there´s one more body at the march. Of course, I would carry a sign saying something to this effect: I´ve come all the way from Spain to protest this war. I´m in D.C. thanks to [insert sponsor´s names here].

Now, thanks to my phenomenal lack of planning, I have no idea how people would be able to get me money to buy my ticket. But I am sure I could work something out. Anyone the least bit interested in helping me out, please post a message below with your contact info.

For those who can´t help me economically, you can help the cause by posting fliers or distributing them. Click on DONE DEAL - Print me one-a dem papers!

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Sick Birds, Little Turds


Hello friends. For today´s entry I have decided to post a no commentary needed cartoon from In These Times because work is eating my life and my brain. I don´t have much left to give by the end of the day.

To everyone who has left such wonderful comments, thank you very much. I didn´t think anybody read this blog, not even my friends and family, but now I know there are at least three strangers out there that value this cathartic dribble. I promise I will give all of your websites a nice going over when I have the time.

I encourage others to post comments. It´s a good way of seeing who this is reaching.

Take care. You wouldn´t want to resemble the bird above.

-La Justa

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Democrats Ready to Bail...AGAIN?!

I was shocked, appauled, disgusted, angered and disheartened to learn today that the Kerry/Edwards campaign may be preparing to withdraw from the Ohio recount case. What the hell is up with that? To me this just smacks of yet another bold move from which the Democrats are backing down. Excuse my flagrant vulgarity, but fucking grow a pair already! I am so damn sick of Democrats never fighting back, never standing up for themselves and in the process never sticking up for the people they represent, the people that depend on them not to let this country fall into the deep, black conservative-evangelical abyss.

Everybody everywhere knows that none of the Bush elections were done fair and square. Bush didn´t win the 2000 election, he was appointed by the Supreme Court, and isn´t it just hardy-har-har funny that all the controversy in 2000 was in Florida, where Jeb Bush just happens to be Governor. But Bushites had to be a little less sloppy the second time around. Ohio, one of the primary battleground states with its people lined up for hours to vote (mostly black, democratic voting people) and rushed late night vote count, was the perfect spot to rig a few votes and break the Bush/Kerry tie.

Not wanting to ruffle any feathers, Dennis White, Ohio Democratic Party chair, said, "As Senator Kerry stated in his concession speech in Boston, we do notnecessarily expect the results of the election to change, however, webelieve it necessary to make sure everyone's vote is counted fairly andaccurately." Well, that´s very fine and upstanding of you, Dennis, but with all the muck-raking and manure flinging that the Republicans exhibited all year long, you need to tell it like it is. What Dennis should have had to gonads to say is "Look, Bush cheated the first time around, so lets make sure he didn´t do it this time." That´s not offensive, it´s the truth, and if it leaves a little sting on the cheeks of the Bush administration, well, that´s just an added bonus.

Kerry and Edwards need to realize that sometimes doing what´s right is a long, hard struggle, and even if the outcome we´re hoping for doesn´t arise, at least we showed that we´re not taking this "Bushit" anymore. It´s time somebody in the Democratic party start playing this game like they mean it. After all, it´s not like the Democrats don´t have any proof to back up their claims.

During the recount last December, the National Voting Rights Institute "documented extensive irregularities in the way county boards of election conducted the recount. This included evidence that the Triad corporation had tampered with voting machines prior to the start of the recount, as well as evidence the county election officials had directly violated rules and procedures so as to avoid a full hand count of the ballots."

According to Progressive Democrats of America this case could set "forth the constitutional standard for how recounts should be conducted in future federal elections," rules that we obviously need in the United States. So why should politicians back away from this very important case?

If you´d like to be proactive about this, you should probably contact Kerry and Edwards and tell them to hang in there. You can do so by clicking It´s Time to Grow a Pair. I´ve already written them and directed them to this blog entry.

Monday, September 12, 2005

God Bless the Internet

Bush in New Orleans


Ahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Ok, this isn´t funny....yes it is, but it´s not funny because people are suffering while Bush is sitting in the oval office thinking about when he´ll be able to take his next vacation even though he´s got a national disaster on his hands. No, this is funny because it is an excellent example of how Photoshop, with a few snips here and a couple pastes there, can recreate the ironic tone the Bush administration has brought to everything that has happened in the US since 9/11.
To the person who created this little snapshot: Thank you for using your artistic and IT brilliance for good.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

TV that is Worth Watching

Hey Everyone! No time to write anything substantial, but here´s a message from the ACLU´s Executive Director Anthony Romero for everyone with a Satelite Dish or Cable:

I'm thrilled to tell you about a new television program we're launching that does exactly that, The ACLU Freedom Files.

With this series, we have an unprecedented opportunity to capture public attention and teach and mobilize new audiences around the pressing civil liberties issues that threaten people all across America. Developed and created in partnership with award-winning film producer Robert Greenwald (Unconstitutional, Outfoxed), The ACLU Freedom Files, produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Jeremy Kagan, is a series of ten 30-minute episodes featuring real clients and the attorneys who defend them, as well as well-known actors, activists and comedians.
You can preview our new series right now at http://www.aclu.tv/. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHAT SATION THE SHOW IS PLAYING ON.

In an age where information reaches audiences in a myriad of ways, the series will engage people in a new kind of "information activism" to bring about real change on key issues. The show will reach millions of viewers via satellite network Link TV, on college campuses across the country on Zilo TV, and via new media, technology and grassroots networks such as video blogs, podcasts, streaming video, viewing parties, screenings and more.

The premiere episode "Beyond The Patriot Act" airs in the first week of September for a very specific reason: three year's and one very long summer's worth of legislative strategy and grassroots activism will culminate this fall as the House and Senate versions of the Patriot Act go to conference to create a final Patriot Act reauthorization bill to be presented to the President.

The first episode is on tonight, so please watch for me!

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Letting the Pictures do the Talking


Dear Readers,

Your beloved blog mistress (yes, I like to think of myself as a brunette 1950´s pin-up girl), is so terribly sorry that she has not been keeping up with her blogging duties as of late, [Switch to first person] but I have been ridiculously busy. Yes, with my day job, but more importantly, busy with writing for other publications. Yes, it would appear my skills are somewhat in demand. I think I´ll pat myself on the back for while, but before I do, I want to let you all know that I will be back to my usual blogging schedule as soon as my co-worker comes back from vacation and I no longer have to do her work. Until then, I would like to leave you with something comical that my mother sent me a long time ago. With all the turmoil going on in the world today, it´s nice to sit back at times and just laugh at all the silly things we do. I hope you enjoy this La Justa Pulp Pictorial.

Lots of love,

La Justa

Only in China



Only in Hawaii



Only in India

I´ve seen this place before. I think it´s a temple completely inhabited by rats. It´s a rat haven. People feed and protect these little critters. If I ever make it to India, this place is going to be way at the top of my list.


Only in Mexico



Only in Texas



Only in Thailand



Only in the USA

Thursday, September 01, 2005

One Last Hurrah for a Veteran Reporter

On Sunday August 7, anchor Peter Jennings died of lung cancer. Peter hosted the news programs on ABC and was my favorite of the network news triumvirate, of which NBC’s Tom Brokaw and CBS’s Dan Rather were the other two members.

Jennings was charming and had a creamy, dreamy voice, and he was tall, slim, handsome and elegant. I liked Rather too, but in a different way. Rather had that endearing cuteness of a prune-faced pug and the soft nature of a grandfather. Brokaw is the only one I never took a liking to. He lacks the elegance or the caring nature of the others and gives off the “I’m hot shit” vibe.

The truly sad part about Jennings’ death was that he was still a relatively young man, only 67 years old (although he didn´t look a day over 55). However, I am particularly happy to know that he was a scrapper up until the very end. Even when he was too sick to show up to work, he would call in to the story conferences. Now that’s a man who loved and cherished his work. That’s a man I respect.

Knowing all of this makes the cause of his death all the more cruelly ironic. Jennings was a smoker, but he’d given up cigarettes, until 9/11 came along. The stress of round the clock reporting on the tragic event caused him to take up smoking again. God is funny that way.

Now the networks are scrambling to replace the triumvirate since one member is dead and the others retired. The big question for anchors across the country is who is going to get those coveted spots? I doubt the general public gives a rat’s ass, but news is big business in the States. And the only thing I ask of the big business run networks is that they choose reporters that don’t characterize the current media climate. And by that I mean, can we please get some standup, honest, old time reporters please?

Peter, you will be missed.