A short history of Olympic Protesting from the Times:

— Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200 metres, gave the Black Power salute during the American National Anthem in Mexico, 1968, to demonstrate against racial discrimination in their home country. They were expelled from the Games

— The silver medallist in the 200 metres, Peter Norman of Australia, who was white, wore an “Olympic Project for Human Rights” badge in support of Smith and Carlos’s protest. When he died, in 2006, Smith and Carlos were his lead pallbearers

— Irish athletes boycotted the 1908 Olympic Games in London in protest against Britain’s refusal to give Ireland its independence. The American team also refused to dip its flag to Edward VII during the opening ceremony

— In 1932 Italian gold medallist Luigi Beccali gave a fascist salute on the podium at the Los Angeles Games

— The Nazis’ appropriation of the 1936 Berlin Games for the purposes of propaganda included the introduction of a grand torch relay to the Games – the very same that is causing trouble today. Boycott efforts by Britain and the US were short-lived, but many Jewish athletes refused to participate

— At the Munich Games of 1972, gunmen from the Palestinian Black September group broke into the compound occupied by Israeli athletes and killed 11 of them

— In 1980 62 countries – the biggest number in history – boycotted the Moscow Games in protest against the intervention of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan

— An Eastern bloc boycott was organised in retaliation at the next games in Los Angeles

— Two-time world judo champion Arash Miresmaeili was eliminated from the 2004 Olympics, officially after failing weight criteria. It seems more likely his exit was because he was drawn against an Israeli. Iran’s National Olympic Committee later said it was “general policy” for Iranian athletes to avoid competing against Israelies

Keep your eye out for A Life For Sale in Perth, Australia. It’s “a beautiful place to live,” and it’s all set up, waiting for you. Ebay has always been a bazaar of the bizarre (past things for sale: a grilled cheese sandwich that looks like the Virgin Mary, a pretzel shaped like Abraham Lincoln; once someone tried to sell a punch in the face…), but today the game was stacked even higher when recently-divorced Ian Usher put his entire life up for auction. In a grand sweeping gesture, the 44-year old Australian adventure enthusiast is selling everything, from his house and all his possessions, to his relationship with his friends and their pets (Usher’s closest friends have pledged to be nice to whoever wins the auction, which is set to begin June 22nd and end June 29th).

From his web site:

Hi there, my name is Ian Usher, and I have had enough of my life! I don’t want it any more! You can have it if you like!

No, I’m not contemplating suicide, I am going to sell my life!! I have my reasons, for further details click the “Why” tab below. However, I am still not sure whether this is inspired madness, complete foolishness, or just some sort of mid-life crisis.

Whatever it is, it’s all going up for sale in one big auction. Everything I have and everything I am.

On the day it is all sold and settled I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all, and get on the train, with no idea where I am going or what the future holds for me.

Sadly, he still gets to retain control of his own destiny and central nervous system, which I was hoping he’d throw into the auction. That would make the $500,000 price tag he’s hoping for totally worth it.

I thought this post would somehow link in with Daniel’s post yesterday of a man who built a suicide machine and then used it to kill himself using plans he found on the internets. When I first heard of this I thought he was selling his life, which would have been ten times more awesome. I always found the plot to Hostel dangerously alluring. But he’s just selling his stuff… And in the immortal words of Ian Mackaye, “You Are Not What You Own.”

On Usher’s web site, http://www.alife4sale.com, you can find out all the details. Or just watch this:

This isn’t the first time someone has tried to sell their life on eBay. But maybe you should try renting before you own. If you don’t want Ian Usher’s life you can always RENT A GERMAN.

Who would ever sell a life to the highest bidder? Sounds like a easy way to start to industrialize agriculture in a new country though and destroy a few cultures and generations of lives in the process…

And 81-year-old Australian man used plans he downloaded from the internet to build a ’suicide robot,’ which he then used to fire multiple shots from a .22 pistol into his head:

Notes left by Mr Tovey — who was born in England — revealed that he had scoured the internet for plans before constructing his complex machine, which involved a jigsaw power tool and was connected to a .22 semi-automatic pistol loaded with four bullets. It could fire multiple shots once triggered remotely.  At 7am on Tuesday he set the robot up in the driveway of his £450,000 house and activated it.

Just another example of how technology is making our lives better!

A Japanese government is claiming that activists aboard the anti-whaling vessel Steve Irwin threw acid on Japanese whalers about the ship Nisshin Maru during the recent two-day standoff between the ships in Australian-controlled Antarctic water:

Members of the campaign group Sea Shepherd threw brown envelopes containing butyric acid from their vessel the Steve Irwin onto the Japanese ship Nisshin Maru, Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera said. “The butyric acid powder hit two crew members and two Japanese coast guard officers, who complained of pain,” Mr Onodera said.

However, the activists aboard the Steve Irwin, members of the conservation group, Sea Shepherd, are claiming that they merely through packets containing non-toxic, organic substances intended used to make the deck of the whaling boat slippery and foul smelling in order to make the processing of the whale meat more difficult:

“I guess we can call this non-violent chemical warfare,” Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson said. “We only use organic, non-toxic materials designed to harass and obstruct illegal whaling operations.”

Either way, the Japanese whalers definitely got off easy. In the US, groups like A.L.F. and E.L.F., despite their silly ass names, don’t fuck around with slippery substances or even acid. They just blow shit up.

And it’s not like it’s gonna do any good anyway. Even though most anyone with a tiny bit of compassion, common sense, or ecological conscience knows that whaling has no place in the 21st Century, the Japanese people do like themselves some whale meat. They even feed it to school children. Oh yeah and they also love to herd dolphins together and slaughter them, slitting their throats and watching them writhe in agony:

But good luck trying to convince them that this is somehow inhumane. They are known to be stubborn folks. Remember that one time we had to fight a war with them? That didn’t really go too well. But hey! Before we go hating on the Japanese folks for killing whales with harpoons, maybe we ought to take a look in the mirror and realize that we all have a little whale blood on our own hands, courtesy of the pollution and environmental damage we each cause, every day. Feel bad yet?? I know I DO! However, you can do your best to save the whales by following these 10 Tips courtesy of Savethewhales.org:

1. Volunteer with local community groups to stencil storm drains, Adopt A Beach, or monitor the water quality of local watersheds. Organize your classroom, school club, or organization to clean litter from rivers, creeks, estuaries, and beaches.Did you know? Storm water pollution (urban runoff) is the leading cause of water pollution nationwide.Pollutants such as motor oil, antifreeze, detergents, litter, paint, pesticides, pet waste, and copper (from brake pads) are flushed off streets and into storm drains which lead straight to rivers, creeks, and the oceans.

2. Participate in Save The Whales’ letter writing campaigns with your classroom, club, or church group. Invite friends over for a “letter writing” party. Print letters from Save The Whales “Action Alert” section under the Take Action. One letter from an individual to a government official represents the opinion of hundreds of people. Letters are powerful tools of influence.

3. Cut up plastic six-pac rings before recycling or disposing them in the garbage. Thousands of birds, fish, and other marine creatures die needlessly from entanglement.

4.Pick up trash while walking in your neighborhoods. Participate in National Coastal Clean Up Day (September) www.coastforyou.org to prevent pollution in watersheds and storm drains. Did you know that? One of the most common sources of beach pollution is cigarette butts. They can take up to seven years to breakdown. Last year, over one million cigarette butts were removed by volunteers during National Coastal Clean Up Day.

5. Never release balloons outside as they can travel hundreds of miles and land in rivers, creeks, and oceans. Whales, dolphins and turtles can be killed by ingesting balloons mistaken for jellyfish. See Save The Whales “Balloon Alert” flyer in English and Spanish. Educate your schools or community businesses not to participate in balloon releases. A 60 foot sperm whale washed up dead from ingesting a balloon which blocked its stomach and caused it to starve.

6. Keep your car well maintained to prevent leaks onto roadways and driveways which cause water pollution. Carpool when possible, or ride a bike. Recycle used motor oil for free. Take hazardous waste such as paint, pesticides, and antifreeze to a hazardous waste site. Call 1-800- CLEAN-UP or visit www.cleanup.org for the free drop off location near you.

7. Never discard used fishing line and hooks in the water. This can entangle birds, fish, turtles, seals, and otters and cause the death of these animals.

8.Never dump anything in the street as it goes into the storm drains which travel straight to rivers, creeks, and ultimately the oceans without being cleaned. Did you know that? One quart of motor oil can pollute 250,000 gallons of water. A drop of oil the size of a dime stuck on a sea otter can kill them. They die from hypothermia (freezing to death).

9.Recycle, Reuse and Reduce. Landfills across the nation are filling up with discarded items and refuse. Hazardous waste thrown in the garbage, ends up in landfills where it leeches into the soil and ground water causing contamination. Reduce your refuse by recycling, reusing and composting. Plant an organic garden free of pesticides.

10.Buy products that are environmentally friendly and support organic farming.

I had never heard of Aqua Dots or Bindeez Beads until yesterday, when it was announced that their manufacturer is recalling all the Aqua Dots in Australia and the US. As it turns out, when ingested, that shit turns into something close to GHB (a common type of roofie) once inside your body.

They look just plain delicious, don’t they?

So where, exactly, were the Bindeez/Aqua Dots manufactured? Where else but the leading producer of fuck-your-kids-up-with-lead-paint, and favorite US trading partner, China.

From Moose World:

The company’s products, which are manufactured by internationally approved toy
manufacturers in China, are subject to world standard independent testing. Moose
Enterprise has not experienced any safety concerns with its products since the company
was purchased by its current management team six years ago.
The product was immediately withdrawn from sale yesterday and parents can receive a
refund by freecalling 1800 303 895 or email returns@moosetoys.com .
Further information will be made available as soon as possible.
Media enquiries:
Peter Mahon
Royce Communications
Tel 03 9639 2300 / 0418 351 754

I swear, China must really have it in for our kids. It’s almost like they want to kill off or make vegetables out of our next generation, making it all the more easier to assume global hegemony/world leader status in the next 15 - 20 years. But that could never happen. Never. Ever. Even they say they’d never do that. And they would never lie to us.

As of now, you can still buy Bindeez online. Get your orders for cheap child date rape drugs in while you still can…