I just got a Fifteen album; the album was dedicated to Judi Bari, who had a very anti-American revolutionary story, and they had a song inspired by Russel Means who I checked out, and has some very interesting philosophies. As always, I just felt like I should update my journal. So here's those two stories and anything else I decide to write about.

So, Judi Bari was part of this organization called Earth First! that was, as it's name would imply, dedicated to saving the earth. Apparently they were very successful. Then one day, Judi Bari is blown up by a car bomb placed under the seat of her car, along with Darryl Cherney, another Earth First! member, who was riding in her car's passenger seat. While this didn't quite killer her (breast cancer did), it forced her to live in wheelchair and live in constant pain. Here is where it gets fun: immediately after the bomb went off, the police and FBI were on the scene. They decided Bari was carrying this bomb illegally and it accidentally went off. From her back seat, when the pictures clearly show a blast focused below the driver's seat. And that nails placed in the bomb as shrapnel were the same as some apparently clearly different nails Bari was using to remodel her house. And completely "ignoring" a located trigger, that activated the bomb when the car was started.

In the late 60's-70's, an FBI group called COINTELPRO was formed, with the intent to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and otherwise neutralize" activist groups. Apparently they were behind the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. While they officially disbanded, this case, as well as I'm sure many others suggests the "officially" is the only true part of that statement. This is pretty scary if you ask me. Also, the day before, an FBI bomb class was held where pipe bombs were placed in cars and blown up to teach the FBI how to react. The head FBI officer to show up to the bomb scene was the teacher of the FBI bomb class, and joked, "This is it! This is the final exam."

Russel Means is a pretty sweet Native American activist. He has two of his speeches on his website, and while he can be a bit TOO radical, basically saying "white men have never done any good and only bad" (although he does say by white men/Europeans, he means mindset, not skin color/race) he makes valid points about quality of life, education, tradition, and things of the sort. He kinda made me more favored towards anarcho primitivism. He has a bit too much to talk about in detail, but check out his website and read his speeches if he sounds interesting.

Also, I read this thing on the internet earlier this week about this Chinese guy who lived to 256 years old. He seems pretty legit, and he even tried to claim he was younger but there are records of him living older than he claimed. It's just, because of the horrible skepticism in America, it's not recognized by us. Or as Russel Means would say, the white men are uneducated closed-minded bastards who can't trust people. Which is basically true.

The moral of the story is check out Fifteen, fear the FBI because they're scary, Russel Means is cool but somewhat crazy, and America is too skeptical.