Last night, after I finished reading Immortal Technique’s blog on the Police State Chronicles, I stumbled upon a very interesting video of Scientology Dissent presented by Anonymous, YouTube user Church0FScientology. While it doesn’t consist of much more than time elapsed footage of the sky and an eloquent attack on the organization of Scientology courtesy of AT&T’s Text-To-Speech demo, it’s definitely worth the two minutes and 3 seconds. I didn’t know Scientology existed until I read about the Norwegian girl that died last month, and that she was only one of many Scientology provoked deaths. Do you have the brainwashed by Scientology blues? Take a gander at these sites.

Check out what a brat this 7-year-old is! Lil homie stole g-ma’s car and went for a joy ride with his friend. He’s probably not going to do great things with his life…

Sounds like a cool band name, huh? Wrong, the Smiley Face Killers don’t rock, they kill… promising young college men.

April 29, 2008 — Two ex-NYPD detectives doggedly probing the drowning of two New Yorkers believe they were murdered by a nationwide gang of psychopathic serial killers who have drowned 39 other young men.

Retired Detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte say Patrick McNeill, 20, a Fordham accounting major, was killed by what they are calling the Smiley Face Gang, which they say has struck in 25 cities in 11 states since 1997.

Smiley faces - some with horns - were drawn on walls at 22 of the crime scenes in five states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. The paint, size and shape of the faces varied.

The victims in all the cases shared roughly the same profile: young men of college age who disappeared after a night of drinking, and drowned.

My friend just tried to make the point that shows like CSI are to blame. Um, no. That shit is TAME compared to the video games kids have access to these days. GTA4 just came out yesterday. PEW PEW PEW DIE MOTHER F*CKER DIE MOTHER F*CKER DIE!

I’ve never met him, but I imagine Fred Radtke, the “Grey Ghost”, as an ornery old asshole who hates everything from puppies to sunshine. The one thing that brings him joy? Painting over graffiti and illegally posted flyers with ugly grey paint, where ever it may be.
52 year-old Radtke is a former Marine, and founder of the nonprofit Operation Clean Sweep in 1997 to fight graffiti. He has made it his full time job to hunt and kill all graffiti around the New Orleans area and depends on funds from donations and grants including including several $10,000 grants from the city of New Orleans and a $32,000 grant over a four-year period from Freeport-McMoRan. He works as a freelancer for the New Orleans Police Department as is often called upon by them when new graffiti is spotted as they claim to have a lack of manpower and time.

Enter Michael Dingler aka ReX, also a former Marine and a New Orleans native, and founder of NoLa Rising, a campaign that encourages people to paint and post colorful signs of hope throughout New Orleans. Michael Dingler is Radkte’s Worst Enemy. In January, Dingler was cited (with Radkte’s tipoff to the NOPD) for more than 1,100 counts of unlawfully posting signs such as “Smile” and “Welcome Back” on telephone poles that could cost him more than $50,000 in fines.

“When I asked Officer Joia if he was going to file the same charges against Fred [Radtke] under the graffiti statutes, he said he was unaware of what I was talking about,” said Dingler. “Here’s a guy who is destroying city property, who has become what he said he is fighting against. And yet I’m the one facing all these charges? It’s selective enforcement of the law.”
Radtke dismissed Dingler’s accusations, called him a “loser,” a “phony” and the “biggest pain in the ass I ever met.”

He said Dingler’s so-called “messages of hope” are “vertical trash” that promote other forms of vandalism.
“It’s real simple: people either want to abide by the law or not,” Radtke said.

Dingler’s court date was March 18th. He was building his own case by documenting all of Radtke’s work, belittling his charges of 1,100 counts of vandalism. He intended to present his evidence to the police, just as Radtke did and file charges tit for tat. Anyone know what the outcome was? [Update: Read the comment ReX left]

Naturally, people have begun spraying anti-Radtke stencils in the grey areas among other things all over NoLa. The Grey Ghost simply creates a canvas for more graffiti. He is a haunting nuisance that has become part of the culture. Annoying, yes, but he forces writers to up the ante. And these shirts have sprung up.

UPDATE: Read this blog post. Apparently Mr. Radtke lost his temper at a coffee shop and verbally assaulted the lady behind the counter when she told him he couldn’t paint out some graffiti on the shop.  Cops be lookin’ for him in the area. Oooooooo!

Today, Texas Congressman Ron Paul introduced the “Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act”, H.R. 5842. This bill would bar the Federal Government and DEA from intervening in doctor/patient relationships that violate no state law.

As a physician, the Congressman believes that doctors and patients should make health care decisions, not politicians or federal agents. He cites a study by Scientists at the University of California at Davis that says cannabis demonstrates significant relief of neuropathic pain. He also explained the suffering of Mr. Forss, a patient who had spent $18,000 in one year trying to find a medicine that would cure his pain from a ruptured disc in his neck. Can you guess the only thing that worked for him? Hint: it’s green.

“The bottom line is that K.K. Forss should be treated as a free American. Mr. Forss is one of many who would like to use marijuana medicinally because it helps him. Politicians and bureaucrats have no right to interfere”

Pour out some of your 40 ounce for the 16th anniversary of the L.A. Riots and drink up in celebration of the release of Grand Theft Auto 4. Coincidence? I think not.