Holy Shit! Charlie Manson has an environmental charity in California!

While checking out some of the links on the groovy blog, Blazing Cat Fur, I came across an item about Charlie Manson being newly engaged to a 25 year old woman. The iconic Manson is a fascinating and instructive case of the weirdness that has permeated popular culture in many ways over the last few decades. People make fun of monstrous characters, but even within the scope of the modern zeitgeist, Manson remains unique.

Like many other demented killers who claim a higher purpose, Manson was an ideologue. He was responsible for the vicious, senseless murders of innocent people and yet he is one of the few such killers that we can simultaneously invoke either or both as a joke and an embodiment of evil. Yes, we can make Hitler jokes, but it's often considered to be of such bad taste that you know someone is going to be seriously offended. Che Guevara was a sociopathic murderer, but unlike Manson, admiring the Cuban totalitarian still has a great deal of cachet among, and is taken seriously by, legions of the pathologically stupid. 

But Manson, for a long time, has almost universally transcended the realm of the taboo into comedy.

One of the funniest things ever done on TV was The Ben Stiller Show's parody of Lassie, replacing the famous, devoted Collie with the infamous, depraved psychopath.

So after reading the article through Blazing Cat Fur and the links associated with it, I decided to investigate (i.e. goof around on the Internet)  a bit further, since it's grim, cold and wet outside, and I'm fueled up on some delicious Bloody Marys (which, to my credit, I make extremely well).

During that inquiry, imagine my surprise to learn that Charlie Manson has become an environmentalist guru!

Manson`s acolytes, in his name and in tribute to him, have an environmental non-profit set up in California called ATWA (Air-Trees-Water-Animals).

While a bit startled at that thought, still, the physical idea of Manson as an environmentalist had a strangely familiar look.

One of these guys is a narcissistic cult leader
and the other is Charlie Manson

I guess after a while, all these environmental guru/cult leaders start to look alike.

According to the ATWA website, "Charlie noticed that each time he got out of jail, the natural part of the world would be more and more degraded to make room for so-called human progress..."

Like David Suzuki, Manson has been outspoken about the perils of Global Warming. I suppose one way to make sure those awful humans don't infringe on the environment too much is to have your followers slaughter them.

Manson evidently still has a lot of groupies, some of whom maintain his facebook fan page, which has over 11,000 followers. (Update - That Manson facebook fan page has since been removed, but he has a closed group of admirers who number over 1600.)

Weirder still, it turns out contributions to Charlie Manson`s legal trust are tax deductible.

If you donate $25 ($35 outside of the USA), they'll even send you a print of a drawing by Manson called Dragon.

DRAGON by the noted contemporary artist and murdering mental-case, Charlie Manson

Speaking of idiotic use of taxes, it's actually a lot better than most of the stuff that has received Canada Council grants for far more than 100 times that amount. I'd be tempted to get one, except for the problem that even as a joke, knowing I've helped out Charlie Manson would be a bit more than even I can stomach.

Law enforcement disgrace in California: Police arrest man for filming raid on sidewalk, then shoot his dog in front of him

This is beyond the pale


h-t Blazing Cat Fur

Idiot anti-Israel protester claims professor is "racist" for referring to his college being full of cockroaches

The average anti-Israel protester may be brighter than a typical cockroach. But there isn't a huge amount of evidence to support that. They have, however been conditioned to claim that everyone they don't like is either a "racist" or a "bully" or a some other combination of buzzwords whose meaning they don't fully understand.

At Claremont College in Southern California, anti-Israel protesters set up a "checkpoint" where they stopped staff and students to subject them to harassment in the cause of their fanaticism.

Professor Yaron Raviv, an Israeli citizen who teaches Economic at the college, complained to campus security and the anti-Israel protesters were compelled to cease blocking the entry to the dining hall.

According to pro-Palestinian website Electronic Intifada, One of the protesters, Najib Hamideh, acted as if he had the authority to demand people's identity and asked the professor to identify himself and his reason for being at the college where he teachers.

Electronic Intifada reports,  the professor then responded, “Fuck off, you cockroach.”

According to Hamideh, Raviv next referred to all the Students for Justice in Palestine members as cockroaches, and then asked him which of the Claremont colleges Hamideh belonged to. When Hamideh replied that he attends Pitzer College, Raviv then responded that “all Pitzer kids are cockroaches,” Hamideh says.   

Hamideh, with the support of an apparently intellectually challenged professor named Daniel Segal is accusing Professor Raviv of racial discrimination. 

It is hard to describe the level of fatuousness belonging to anyone who would identify an insult towards a College as racial discrimination, but evidently these half-wits have reached it.

UPDATE: Tony Montana must have been a "racist" too

The Worst Union in America

In 1962, as tensions ran high between school districts and unions across the country, members of the National Education Association gathered in Denver for the organization’s 100th annual convention. Among the speakers was Arthur F. Corey, executive director of the California Teachers Association (CTA). “The strike as a weapon for teachers is inappropriate, unprofessional, illegal, outmoded, and ineffective,” Corey told the crowd. “You can’t go out on an illegal strike one day and expect to go back to your classroom and teach good citizenship the next.”



Fast-forward nearly 50 years to May 2011, when the CTA—now the single most powerful special interest in California—organized a “State of Emergency” week to agitate for higher taxes in one of the most overtaxed states in the nation. A CTA document suggested dozens of ways for teachers to protest, including following state legislators incessantly, attempting to close major transportation arteries, and boycotting companies, such as Microsoft, that backed education reform. The week’s centerpiece was an occupation of the state capitol by hundreds of teachers and student sympathizers from the Cal State University system, who clogged the building’s hallways and refused to leave. Police arrested nearly 100 demonstrators for trespassing, including then–CTA president David Sanchez. The protesting teachers had left their jobs behind, even though their students were undergoing important statewide tests that week. With the passage of 50 years, the CTA’s notions of “good citizenship” had vanished.


So had high-quality public education in California.


Read the rest at City Journal

How the public service unions screwed California

Hilarious ad from the director of Airplane! spoofing Senator "don't call me ma'am" Barbara Boxer

This could be the funniest political ad ever!

From The Hill:
The spoof is below:

"A well-known Hollywood producer and director has cut an ad against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) riffing on when the senator chided an Army brigadier general last year for calling her "ma'am."

David Zucker, the director of the 1980 comedy classic "Airplane!" who has worked on myriad films including the "Naked Gun" and "Scary Movie" franchises, directed the "Call Me Senator" spot for Right Change, a 527 and 501(c)4 organization "committed to supporting policies and candidates dedicated to fiscal responsibility and a strong national security for the United States, while upholding the principles of freedom, competitiveness and entrepreneurial spirit of the American people."

The Atlantic: How Arnold Schwarzenegger might just have saved California

A great article about the possible long term-benefits to America's largest economy due to Schwarzenegger's bi-partisanship and willingness to take on special interests

California Pot Smokers may have more disposable income soon.

In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 19, which allows for the cultivation and possession of cannabis for personal use while authorizing local governments to allow commercial production and sale. This would move marijuana into a legal, regulated market, transforming criminals into consumers.

The measure has support from prominent advocates like former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, who believes the US should control, legalize and tax marijuana.

Reason's senior editor Jacon Sullum makes the point that the price of marijuana would decline substantially, giving Californians more money to spend elsewhere, providing a potential stimulus to the state economy.