NOT BORED writes ....Article by Guy Debord (1985) on food in capitalist society. First time in English translation.

Hunger Reducer

Abat-faim

One knows that this term [1] designated a "meal's principal dish, which one served first to quiet down, to reduce the hunger of the dinner guests" (Larousse). In their dictionary, Hatzfield and Darmesteter refer to the term as "antiquated." But history is the infallible master of dictionaires. With the recent progress of technology, the totality of nourishment consumed by modern society is uniquely becoming hunger reduction.

The extreme degradation of nourishment is a banality that, in the manner of other banalities, is generally tolerated with resignation: as a fatality, a ransom paid for progress that one knows can't be stopped because one is overwhelemed by it everyday. Everyone keeps quiet about it. Some because they don't want to speak of it, others because they can't. The immense majority of the population that tolerates this degradation, as well as their strong suspicions about it, simply can't face such an unpleasant reality. It is never agreeable to admit that one has been played for a fool, and those who have created "beefsteak" [2] -- and its claims -- in the form of a "reconstituted" shadow of itself are also little disposed to admit what they have lost by allowing convenient ersatz semblances into their habitats. Those who can refuse nothing for fear of going back upon all that they have let happen in their lives are habitually the same.

'We Have Proof That Lenin Died of Syphilis'

Julius Strauss, UK Telegraph

For decades it was no more than a whispered rumour in the corridors of Soviet medicine but now a team of doctors claim to have proved that Lenin, communism's greatest icon, died of syphilis.

kirsten anderberg writes

Chemical Coolness: Anti-Capitalists in Makeup and Hair Dye

By Kirsten Anderberg (www.kirstenanderberg.com)

I am trying to figure out why so many of my friends who are eco-conscious, anti-capitalist, and anti-authoritarian, wear tons of toxic chemicals and corporate beauty products in the form of hair bleach and dye and face makeup. The pollution created from the making of the toxins on many an anarchists’ head is equal to an SUV’s pollution, I would guess. I do not believe all of the counterculture is buying bio-friendly hair bleach. Does that even exist? And I also know that a lot of the counter culture is buying cheap hair dye, full of toxic chemicals not only in the dye itself, but in the output in pollution in the making of those hair dyes at chemical factories. Additionally, most punks and anarchists I know cannot afford the designer organic face makeup available in health food stores. Many of them use cheap chemical cosmetic products, such as Maybelline. But even “health” products are made in polluting factories. “Tom’s Toothpaste” makes it sound like he is making that stuff in a stream in his backyard. But I have heard from people who have visited the town Tom’s factory is in, and Tom’s toothpaste is made in a factory, polluting like all factories do. I have been trying to figure out for decades now, why buying a bunch of chemical crap from corporations, then smearing it on your face, is considered radical or anti-establishment in any way.

Elizabeth Aven writes:

Accutane Injury Awareness, Lawsuits and Suicide

Hello,
My name is Elizabeth Aven, I am a 26 year old massage therapist, activist. I have a very important and interesting story that I need to educate the public about. Here are just some of the details of this horrible soiree.
In 1992 I was given a medication and have been severely disabled/sick ever since with chronic degenerative illnesses. The drug is called Accutane, it depletes the serotonin (will to live) and turns the immune system upon itself. There have been over 200 suicides at least and many other catastrophes related.

Anonymous Comrade writes

"Insanity in America"

John Chuckman

It's always satisfying to have a pet theory supported by new data. A large and authoritative study, just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, confirms a favorite hypothesis of mine, that there is more mental illness and insanity, far more, in America than you find in other advanced societies.

gen x feminist writes "I just wanted to say thanks to the black bloc for being at the march for women in d.c. it was a great moment during the home stretch to catch up to you (out of curiosity and slight attraction) and feel somewhat protected, with lifted spirits as the men and women beat their pvc drums and you marched alongside old ladies, families with babies, and hipsters like myself for an important cause. you make the movement interesting and keep me hopeful."

Doctor Reveals Falluja's Horror Toll

Aljazeera




At least 450 Iraqis have been killed and more than 1000 others wounded in fighting in the city of Falluja this week, says a doctor who runs the city's main hospital.

Dr Rafi Hayad, the director of the main hospital supplied the figures to the Reuters news agency. The agency has given no explanation of how Hayad reached his figures.

In Baghdad an aide to a member of the interim Governing Council said on Friday more than 400 Iraqis have been killed and 1000 wounded in a six-day US offensive against insurgents in Falluja. 

"To this day, more than 400 Iraqis have been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded in Falluja," said Hatem al-Husseini, an aide to council member Muhsin Abdul Hameed from the Iraqi Islamic Party.

"These numbers were given to us from Falluja, from all hospitals, and they are correct 100 percent," he told AFP. The Iraqi Islamic Party was leading mediations to evacuate casualties, bring in supplies and end hostilities in the town west of Baghdad.

hydrarchist writes

"Generic Medicine Supplier Reguests Action to Lower Price of Two Blockbuster Drugs"

Essential Inventions, Inc., announces that it will request US Secretary of
Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson to use authority under
Bayh-Dole Act to license generic production of two blockbuster drugs
funded by federal government; abusive pricing cited as grounds.

Although it is cliché to say, her beauty and serenity evoke an aging Virgin Mary, especially in this setting. She sits on her donkey expression unchanged as she bounces along among the olive trees through the rocky valley pass eyes glancing outward, watchful and placid.


    Her donkey has an open sore on its behind and she has a grotesquely bulbous and purple arm irritated to elephantine proportions by the holes made to clean her blood three times a week.


      It is this arm that she offers to the soldier as proof of her right to pass. The man she travels with, also a dialysis patient, on a healthier donkey with less corroded looking track marks, speaks English,“Please”, he says looking up at the two boys lounging on the hill, guns cocked,

“Dialysis, we are dialysis.”


    Nidal has no common language with these people. She offers the arm and a slight faraway smile.

Louis Lingg writes:

"The New York Daily News has posted a story about the US Army's effort to jumpstart a free-market economy in Iraq.

By RICHARD SISK

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

UMM QASR, Iraq - The U.S. military came up with a solution yesterday for the penniless people of this port town begging for water: Sell it.