Cranial Soup

The Most Powerful of All Human Rights

2009-06-22T17:59:00.004-04:00

The heroic photojournalist that is responsible for this incredible iconic photo
has been missing since Wednesday. He is believed to have been arrested.
UPDATE: He has been released!

There is one right that every human being on this planet has, that can only be taken away by death.

This one right, at it's most extreme, takes the most courage to exercise but can cause the biggest changes. It's powerful and those with power fear when people feel compelled to use it.

It is the right to say "No", a word that exists in every language and is usually among the first words a child learns to speak. It is a word more powerful than tanks, or guns, or bombs, and when combined with the voices of many others, shouting it in unison, it is possible to wage war and win, without ever striking or attacking with any other weapon.

Citizens of Iran, keep saying "No"!

Whatever it is that the government wants, keep saying "No", unless and until it is what YOU want.

You can and will win, as long as you keep saying "No".

Do not allow yourselves to be silenced.

Keep saying "No"!

The Censorship Is Still Ringing In My Ears

2008-10-06T05:39:00.006-04:00

We are all familiar with the type of censorship that occurs on the radio with songs containing swear words being bleeped or blanked out. Plenty of artists have been subjected to this, and it seemed that no artist or swear word was immune to this type of censorship in America...except one.

Ever since the release of "The Dark Side of the Moon" back in 1973, Pink Floyd has been oddly immune to the same type of censorship that has victimized every other artist.

In their song "Money", there is a line that goes like this:

Money, its a hit.
Dont give me that do goody good bullshit.

Never, since the 70's, when I first heard the song on the radio on 95.5 WPLJ New York (back when they had an album rock format), have I ever heard that song censored. I have heard it a million times over the years and heard "bullshit" in it, clear as day, each and every time.

The Almighty Pink Floyd, was allowed to openly say what other artists could not.

I do not know why...maybe it was out of respect. Maybe it was just overlooked (doubtful), but they were allowed to swear as much as they wanted.

Even the song "Pigs", which contained the following lyric, was never censored:

Bus stop rat bag, ha ha, charade you are.
You fucked up old hag, ha ha, charade you are.

Yesterday afternoon that all changed.

For the first time in my life, I heard "bullshit" blanked out in "Money" on 101.9 WRXP New York. That station did what no radio station ever dared to do before. They censored Pink Floyd!

Omgwtfbbq!!!11one-eleventy-eleven!
Shameful! Shameful! Shameful!

They not only totally ruined my listening pleasure, they ruined my day, as well. This has been bothering me for the last 10 hours. How dare they censor a song that has always been allowed to stand in it's entire artistic majesty, on the public airwaves, for well over 30 years!

I am still in shock...stunned.

They are an awesomely fantastic radio station (you can listen to their stream and check them out for yourself), BUT...this incident is going to linger with me, bugging the hell out of me, for a long time.

How dare they!

Freedom Sandwich

2008-07-05T11:30:00.010-04:00

Yesterday, on the anniversary of America's indepencence, I wanted to write a piece on freedom, but kind of got stuck.

At first I wanted to write about the countries that still are not free, like China, where bloggers are now resorting to writing backwards in order to beat censorship and report about what is really going on behind the Great Firewall.

Or perhaps focusing on who is and isn't totally free yet.

Then thinking about the US, the myth of freedom here, and the reality that we aren't totally free as some may believe, maybe focusing on why we are not free, as this report may explain.

Or go more in depth about the freedom of the press, and what responsibilities come along with it in relation to self-censorship and its ethical and moral implications, focusing on the list of censored news stories.

Or perhaps a piece on economic freedom and what organizations like The Green Children Foundation are doing to help people living in third world countries overcome poverty, while still keeping their dignity, in the form of microcredit loans.

Or perhaps how the price of oil can threaten democracy in places where the whole concept of freedom is still fairly new and still on shakey ground. The article is from 2006, when the price of oil was much lower than it is now, so most likely the situation is much worse today than it was at the time the article was written.

Or artistic and educational freedom, and focus on books that have been banned throughout history, for one reason or another.

Or psychological freedom, and how the fear of failure holds so many people back and prevents them from living up to their full potential. (Unfortunately, something I have first-hand experience with)

Or the desire for financial freedom, and the rising number of "get rich on the internet by blogging about how to make money blogging" websites that are popping up every day.

Or freedom of information, and the threat of censorship from ISP's and their desire to do away with net neutrality to boost profits, cut costs, and control what you see and do on the internet, and decide who can and will be able to profit online.

Since I couldn't make up my mind as to what direction I wanted to go with this freedom piece, I decided to give you a little slice of everything I was thinking about yesterday, just in time for lunch.

Enjoy your "freedom sandwich".

Take it slow, one bite at a time, don't eat too fast...it's ok to save some for later.

Mainstream Media and Censorship

2008-02-29T02:36:00.002-05:00

This is not a post about Ron Paul, although it could be seen as one. This more about bias in the media and how it can affect an entire country, more than anything else. Read through to the end and take a look at the rest of the censorship, that has nothing to do with Ron Paul, to understand the full effect of what is going on.

The American people have been deprived of the truth by the mainstream media.

Because they see Ron Paul is a threat to their corporate interests, the mainstream media has gone out of their way to bury anything positive about Ron Paul, misrepresent the facts, deprive him of equal treatment in media coverage, exclude him from debates, polls, and reporting.

They have gone out of their way to silence Ron Paul's supporters by deleting their comments from news sites, misrepresenting the number of supporters present in official news photos of various political events.

The list of their biased atrocities goes on & on.

The following videos will show you exactly what has been going on.

Are you angry yet? Why not? What makes this fair treatment of a Presidential candidate?

Even if you don't agree with Ron Paul's message and what he stands for, you should agree with his right to be heard. You should agree with equal treatment of candidates. You should agree with unbiased news reporting.

The American people have the right to know the truth. They have the right to have each candidate treated fairly and equally by the media. It should be left up to the citizens to decide the results of the next election...not the mainstream media companies.

If they have done this with Ron Paul, what else have they done this with?

Let's see...

How about this for starters: Project Censored's 2008 Top 25 Censored News Stories

That's one hell of a scary list!

It really makes you wonder who exactly is in charge of this country and what plans they have for YOU.