Secret Confessions in the World of Big Brother

The need confess random stuff to complete strangers absolutely baffles me. But seeing people do it on Twitter on channels like "People Really Don't" somehow makes me wish I had stuff to confess. I wonder what the release is like when people actually take the time and send their postcards to sites like "Post Secret". Is it a weight off their shoulders or is it something that will continue to haunt them.

Post Secret by far the one that I find the most shocking... I'll put up a few here so you can see what I'm talking about.





I'm not sure who is worse off... Those who have no one to turn to except the anonymity of internet or the netizens who seem to be voracious voyeurs. Either way reading these or submitting these is an exercise in introspection. Those submitting have to dig deep within themselves to find their deepest darkest secret and actually put it to paper thus facing their pain head on. And those reading it have to be ready to be shocked, saddened, hurt or somehow feel a connection to the pain of the poster.

Thoughts anyone?



(All images are used without the consent of Post Secret and are not the property of this blog, except for the Muchacho Enfermo logo that appears directly below this bullshit disclaimer)

Some Hard Truths About Canadian Medicare

It's free*.
I love it.



(if you disregard my tax dollars)

A Falling Society

Tonight I watched a movie I hadn't seen since 1995, the movie is a French movie called La Haine (Hate). Without going into a long drawn out review of a 14 year old movie; suffice it to say that the images, the message and the movie as a whole have stuck with me through the years. Particularly the opening and closing monologues. Above you see the the closing monologue in the film and I think it's as good a place as any to start today's post.

-It's been 40 years since man first walked on the moon.
-It's been 41 years since Martin Luther King Jr was killed.
-It's been 44 year since Malcolm X was murdered.
-It's been 46 years since JFK was shot.
-It's been 61 years since Gandhi was assassinated.
-It's been 64 years since the creation of the United Nations.
-It's been 64 years since the end of World War II.

Today:
-In 2007 923,000,000 were considered to be starving. (an increase of 81,000,000 since 1990)
-Countless people live under ruthless governments.
-We still purchase clothing made in sweatshops.
-We spend more money on movies than on charity.
-Thousands of political prisoners are being held for their views.
-Women are being raped.
-Children are forced to serve as soldiers.
-Ethnic cleansing is a daily reality for certain people.

Sure, we conquered the moon, we have the internet, we have cars that go really fast and big screen TVs. We all fall asleep at night in our safe little bed in our safe little neighborhoods knowing that we're going to be okay. What about the 923,000,000 victims of hunger? What about the thousands of prisoners of conscience? What about the women being raped and the children that are forced to kill? Do they ever haunt your dreams?

Recently, I have to admit that they have been haunting mine. It's the worst feeling in the world waking up feeling powerless to change things, powerless to help or to reach out and take someone's hand and tell them it'll be alright.

So despite mankind's advances, all or our technical marvels and our scientific wonders; because of man's indifference we are still and always have been a falling society and our way down we keep saying so far so good... so far so good... so far so good...

But where will we land? The choice is ours.

Personal Jesus

I remember the first time I heard Johnny Cash's version of Personal Jesus... It was quite a few years ago, when he was still recording his famous American Recordings series of CDs.

I remember sitting down at home and listening to it on my old RCA mini stereo that didn't work properly; but for Johnny Cash the CD player stopped skipping, the speakers stopped sounding ripped and the world outside of my room stopped turning for 3:23 seconds. Hearing the Man in Black's voice, one that I'd heard since my early childhood, singing those words just struck a chord with me.

Before then and since then, Cash has been a huge part of my everyday life. As any Cash fan will tell you when you listen to his music it's not like being a fan or liking it: it's more like a personal relationship with the Man in Black.

At parties we still hear his music, in our cars we play his songs, when I'm sad or angry I listen to his voice. It's like there's something inside that deep voice and those chords that understands exactly how I feel at that specific moment, that puts a hand on my shoulder and says "Muchacho... I've been there man, I feel your pain/sadness/loss." I don't think that there has been another musician who's encompassed so many of the world's hurt and problems into his songs or his words.

Granted, Cash's music isn't for everyone. Not everyone will walk away from it feeling like they've been touched or understood; so it's hard for me to explain exactly what it's like to have constant companion and friend that I'll never know, so I'm not even going to try. The best way I can think of is to tell you to just take some time and listen, really listen... close your eyes, pour yourself a glass of something strong and listen; hopefully you'll understand.

Reflecting on my Blog

Reflecting upon the short lifespan of my blog I've come realize that it really hasn't done for me what I've wanted it to...

At first I was looking for a place to vent my frustration and anger towards things that I found unfair in the world; which I've done. But I also wanted a place where I could talk about other things that would constantly inspire me to keep writing.

The more this blog goes and the more I realize that I don't wake up with an idea of what to post, I don't walk around going "that's a great idea for something to write on my blog". The exercise of writing this blog was primarily a way to exorcise my demons and it seems to have worked, because now to write this blog I have go through a million news articles in the morning to find something that shocks me enough or makes me angry enough to write about.

I'm not exactly sure what the goal of this particular post is, but I just thought I'd put it out there anyways. Maybe this is the end of this blog, or just the end of this blog as we know it. But either way, for me, it's time to rethink and retool the purpose of my little corner of cyberspace.

Iran: The Sea of Green returns

As the tweets in #iranelections roll in this Friday morning, the Telegraph.co.uk is reporting that police showed up to Friday prayers in Tehran and started hitting Mousavi supporters and launching tear gas into the crowds.

This is the first time ever that Friday prayers have not been televised in Tehran and the planned government assault of its citizens might have something to do with it.

As the tweets continue to roll in various reports of two girls being stabbed by pro-government militia keep being re-posted; reports of clashes in the streets, reports of a large crowd of protesters heading towards the state television station and many reports that cellular networks and the internet are down in much of central Tehran keep pouring in. Reuters also confirms that police have been detaining people today despite calls from the senior clerics to free those already jailed following the recent protests.

Kudos again to the Iranian people for having the balls to stand up for what they believe is right despite everything that can possibly go wrong and despite the very real possibility of arrest and grave physical harm.

I'm reading this morning in Cyberpresse that the European Union plans on slapping visa requirements on Canadians wishing to visa any of its member countries.

This is all part of the fallout from Canada's decision to force visitor visas for both Mexican and Czech travelers a few days ago in an effort to lower refugee claims from those two countries. In the first 3 months of 2009 Canada received 3648 refugee claims from Mexico and 653 from the Czech Republic.

So, because we don't feel like processing these refugee claims and having these people stay in the country while we do so, we'd rather have them fill out visa applications which will take time to process and anger our trading partners? Sounds like flawless reasoning on the part of our government.

Just to put this in perspective, over 250,000 Mexicans travel to Canada each year and, according to Statistics Canada 705,000 Canadians traveled to Mexico in 2004. It we're ready to jeopardize this mutually beneficial industry to stop a few bogus refugee claims.

As for Canadians potentially needing visas to enter the EU? by the same Stascan 2004 survey almost 2,500,000 million Canadians travelled to Europe that year... So we stop the "flood" of applications from the Czech Republic (see my second paragraph) and required its citizens to request visas in order to come here regardless to the inconvenience this may cause to almost 2,500,000 million Canadians.

We'll wait and see what the EU does in response to Canada's change of stance on Czech travelers; they have already been quoted as talking about retribution and the Czech have recalled their ambassador to Canada. In the meantime, don't make any travel plans because you never know what might happen!