Political update

Update
In Belarus, people are being sued for using Skype. According to the current law, all communications must go through the state provider, Beltelecom. Original in Russian.

It's hard for me to follow politics lately, because I've been busier than usual, but even more because political scum all over the world make me mad.

I'm mad at Congress Republicans - read Instapundit if you don't know why.

I'm mad at the dictator Lukashenka, who's been whoring Belarus independence, and I'm mad at the madmen in Russia who want to annex my home country.

I'm also mad at stupid journalists like Natalia Gevorkian, who are spreading rumors that the issue has been decided in Kremlin to go ahead with the takeover. Phrases like "I've heard this from people who know what they are talking about" are written for idiots, by idiots.

I'm mad at the Iranian mullahs and those who whitewash them.

And I'm mad at - or disgusted with, rather - about everybody who's on Drudge report today. Im' so sick of these politicians and journalists who think they are so above ordinary people - while making the lives of these people worse, in most cases. House Speaker Hastert, ABC, Al Gore, Nansi Pelonsi, Madonna... F. you - that's all I have to say.

Personal Update

Last night, I took my dad and his wife to Rev Jen's open mic. I sang the Soviet Tankist Song about Stalin and the first Soviet marshal, which was Voroshilov. This is the song my dad would often sing at home - of course, not seriously at all. I wonder if that humorous attitude towards Communist propaganda somehow influenced my adult activities - such as CommunistsForKerry.

Anyway, before the last verse, I called my dad to the stage, and we sang together. Our performance was a huge success with the audience, and so my dad officially became a star on his third night in America. You can see a somewhat crappy photo of our performance here, thanks to Margaret Dodge who took the picture.

And then we went to Washington Sq park, and listened to people who play and sing there. It's a group of people I've been seeing there for a couple of years. They are very good, and they do it for love. Witnessing how music is being born - what can be more beautiful? I wanted to take my loved ones to a place like that for a long time - and my dream came true. Hallelujah!

Report

The show was good. It was great to get back on stage.

My father and his wife came to visit me. They are staying at my place, which they like despite the place being small. This is their first time in American, and they seem to like New York a whole lot. The few days before theey came, and the first couple of days during their visit, I had some trouble with my emotions: I went from elation to tears and then back to elation in a matter of hours, if not minutes. I've calmed down now, and I'm just really happy to have my dad here. He is the best :)

Tonight, I'm taking them to Rev Jen's open mike, and then I'll show them the Lower East Side and the Village, which are probably my fave areas in Manhattan, especially the LES.

Important Dates

While my friend Anna celebrates her birthday in Japan, we celebrate the 84th anniversary of Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization (Всесою́зная пионе́рская организа́ция и́мени В. И. Ле́нина) right here in New York.

Back to Belarus: agafon_bel has a great post (in Russian) about how he got expelled from this wonderful organization right before his 10th birthday - for threatening to hit his classmate so hard, he would fly all the way to the Mausoleum. The threat was considered blasphemous, and his Pioneer tie - oh, the humiliation! - was taken off him in front of his classmates - which actually caused their envy.

See Lenin Live

Bowery Poetry Club
Saunday, May 21, 6 p.m.
Shitload of Artstars

It's a show produced by Christopher Brodeur who is currently in jail because he's an asshole and he's been acting up. Since most show producers are assholes, I think I shouldn't discriminate against Christopher. I will perform a short (two songs) set.

Well, to be precise, I was invited to perform by Christopher's associate and fiance Jessica Delfino, who is leading the campaign to free Christopher from jail. I'm not sure if it's better for Christopher to be free or stay in jail, but I'm going to perform anyway. I performed in this show two or three years ago, and it was awesome. Some famous but mostly not-so-famous people performed. Each act wa unique, and some were good - and some were really good.

Lenin and Mayor

Detailed report on the People's Cube

Leninism victorious in Belarus

Leninism means taking good care of the People, and President Lukashenka has proven a great caretaker, making sure people don't buy and sell things they are not supposed to buy and sell. Starting July 1st, the list of those things has been expanded to include:
- knitted fabrics
- stockings and socks
- personal hygiene items
- parfume and cosmetics
- detergens and other houshold items
- products for babies
- toys
- disposable dishes
- canned fish

So, if you want to buy Lego for your kid, forget about it. Lenin is with you forever!

Translated from Hartia97 (RUS)

Picnic with Mayor

Last Saturday, I met a comrade. His name is Mayor Wahler, who heads the wonderful town of Piscataway, New Jersey. I decided to visit him to congratulate him on his success of using eminent domain to expropriate private property. There's nothing Lenin likes more than expropriation!

Stay tuned to find out why the good Mayor is smiling, and what happened next...

Lenin and Beetle

photo by Kommander Djin

Boston: Catholic Church pulls out of adoption business

How did this tragedy happen?

It's a complicated story. Massachusetts law prohibited "orientation discrimination" over a decade ago. Then in November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered gay marriage. The majority ruled that only animus against gay people could explain why anyone would want to treat opposite-sex and same-sex couples differently.

Article by Maggie Gallagher

To me, this looks like another problem created by judicial activism. "Only animus against gay people" my butt, for crying out loud.

Amazing article

A must read article in Foreign Affairs about global demographic trends. I don't have the time to comment on it now, hopefully later.

Commenting on Russia Blog

In reply to this
Yuri,
You make some valid points, and I agree that Illarionov is exaggerrating - but so are you. Wouldn't you agree that the Khodorkovsky affair was completely arbitrary on the part of Kremlin? Things like that shouldn't be a matter of a personal decision of the President - in a democratic society, that is.

And just because you know a successful Jewish doctor in Russia, doesn't mean the gov't doesn't encourage chauvinism. You can choose to ignore the ideologies promoted by the official Church, and that are increasingly popular among the police and security forces. I understand your desire to help Russia, and I agree that Putin is by far not the worst ruler Russia can have. But it doesn't mean the situation in Russia is improving. The Russian gov't is getting away with way too much - and I think that's why violent racism is on the rise. When people can't take their government to call, I'm not surprised when they start cutting dark-skinned people.

Blogroll addition

Something In The Way She Moves
A student in California writing some insightful stuff on Russia, ex-USSR, and other foreign affairs. This blog has a photo of Belsovprof in Minsk with a Belarusian flag! Reespek. Btw, I played my first show in that building, in the cafe downstairs, in 1990. I was thin like a model, had a long hair, and wore a military suit and a huge bow tie a-la Oscar Wilde. My friends played in a punk band called "Volosatye Nogi" (Hairy Legs) playing before me, and my other friends, with whome I had played on the street, were in the band headlining the show, Liapis Trubetskoy. Then it was little known, but soon became big in Russia, achiving the status of the most famous band from Belarus :) Those were the days! Well, enough indulging the nostalgia, talking about my glorious past. Go see the blog :)

My former boss is doing OK

News Corp profits double.

You just wait, Rupert Murdoch! My media empire is gonna woop yo media empire's fancy ass. Word.

Lukashenka takes care of Mushrooms

По словам Александра Лукашенко, более 90% грибов и отдельных видов дикорастущих ягод закупается у населения частными компаниями и вывозится за пределы страны. Этим должны заниматься государственные предприятия и организации, подчеркнул белорусский лидер. (RUS)

According to Aleksander Lukashenka, over 90% of mushrroms and wild berries is bought from the population by private companies and exported abroad. This should be done by state enterprises and organization, emphasized the Belarusian leader.

via sdanilov

Belarusian reality beats Monty Python...

Idiots vs Idiots

I've never read the popular book "Da Vinci Code," because I find anti-Christian conspiracy theories to be a lot more stupid than Christianity itself. I never thought you can explain a religion like Christianity away in one book, and even though I've had my moments of hating this religion because of what happened between Christians and me personally, but I'm not really interested in any kind of antichristian crusade.

But when high-proifile people at Catholic Church bother condemning books like that, that just makes me laugh, because nothing gives more credibility to the anti-Christian (anti-Catholic, specifically) sentiment in this book than a Cardinal taking it seriously. If Catholic Church herself tells people that you can threaten the Church by something like this book, to me it shows nothing but weakness. Urging legal action against the book is just way stupid: it shows intolerance towards free speech, and creates the appearance of the Church stooping to the level of Islam, making a lot of normal people suspicious of organized religion as such.

I was pleasantly surprised when Vatican stood up to the threat of Western values - such as free speech - posed by Islam, and then Cardinal Martini made some sensible statements about the use of condoms, but this? This is a big disappointment.

My new baby

Isn't she gorgeous?

Blogging light

Work busy. ak_93 tells a story of being fired from a private firm for anti-Lukashenka activism. The management, ak_93 says, is NOT pro-Lukashenka. My guess would be that they were afraid that their employees activism could get them in trouble.

On Sunday, I went to the Museum of Moving Image. I saw Yoda himself, and the movie M*A*S*H.