thumping the tub
Tub-Thumper - 1. A speaker or preacher who for emphasis thumps the pulpit; a violent or declamatory preacher or orator; a ranter. (from oed.com). This blog will be a combination of reasoned posting somedays and an occasional rant.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
RANDOM UNCONNECTED THING
If life keeps teaching me one lesson repeatedly it is to never trust men who wear those slip-on shoes with the the fake gold metal bit across the arch of the foot.

I don't know why this seems to be the case but if I think about it then the rule holds true almost across the board.

Does anyone have any similiar bizarre clothing stories or prejudices?
posted by michael the tubthumper @ 8:54 am   19 comments
Thursday, July 20, 2006
I JUST FOUND THIS...
I just found it in some anti-slavery literature from way back. Please imagine sweatshops and shanty towns as you read...


TO OUR LITTLE READERS.

Listen, little children, all,
Listen to our earnest call:
You are very young, 'tis true,
But there's much that you can do.
Even you can plead with men
That they buy not slaves again,
And that those they have may be
Quickly set at liberty.
They may hearken what you say,
Though from us they turn away.
Sometimes, when from school you walk,
You can with your playmates talk,
Tell them of the slave child's fate,
Motherless and desolate.
And you can refuse to take
Candy, sweetmeat, pie or cake,
Saying "no"-unless 'tis free-
"The slave shall not work for me."
Thus, dear little children, each
May some useful lesson teach;
Thus each one may help to free
This fair land from slavery.

A is an Abolitionist-
A man who wants to free
The wretched slave-and give to all
An equal liberty.

B is a Brother with a skin
Of somewhat darker hue,
But in our Heavenly Father's sight,
He is as dear as you.

C is the Cotton-field, to which
This injured brother's driven,
When, as the white-man's slave,
he toils,From early morn till even.

D is the Driver, cold and stern,
Who follows, whip in hand,
To punish those who dare to rest,
Or disobey command.

E is the Eagle, soaring high;
An emblem of the free;
But while we chain our brother man,
Our type he cannot be

F is the heart-sick Fugitive,
The slave who runs away,
And travels through the dreary night,
But hides himself by day.

G is the Gong, whose rolling sound,
Before the morning light,
Calls up the little sleeping slave,
To labor until night.

H is the Hound his master trained,
And called to scent the track
Of the unhappy Fugitive,
And bring him trembling back.

I is the Infant, from the arms
Of its fond mother torn,
And, at a public auction, sold
With horses, cows, and corn.

J is the Jail, upon whose floor
That wretched mother lay,
Until her cruel master came,
And carried her away.

K is the Kidnapper, who stole
That little child and mother-
Shrieking, it clung around her, but
He tore them from each other.

L is the Lash, that brutally
He swung around its head,
Threatening that "if it cried again,
He'd whip it till 'twas dead."

M is the Merchant of the north,
Who buys what slaves produce-
So they are stolen, whipped and worked,
For his, and for our use.

N is the Negro, rambling free
In his far distant home,
Delighting 'neath the palm trees' shade
And cocoa-nut to roam.

O is the Orange tree, that bloomed
Beside his cabin door,
When white men stole him from his home
To see it never more.

P is the Parent, sorrowing,
And weeping all alone-
The child he loved to lean upon,
His only son, is gone!

Q is the Quarter, where the slave
On coarsest food is fed,
And where, with toil and sorrow worn,
He seeks his wretched bed.

R is the "Rice-swamp, dank and lone,"
Where, weary, day by day,
He labors till the fever wastes
His strength and life away.

S is the Sugar, that the slave
Is toiling hard to make,
To put into your pie and tea,
Your candy, and your cake.

T is the rank Tobacco plant,
Raised by slave labor too:
A poisonous and nasty thing,
For gentlemen to chew.

U is for Upper Canada,
Where the poor slave has found
Rest after all his wanderings,
For it is British ground!

V is the Vessel, in whose dark,
Noisome, and stifling hold,
Hundreds of Africans are packed,
Brought o'er the seas, and sold.

W is the Whipping post,
To which the slave is bound,
While on his naked back, the lash
Makes many a bleeding wound.

X is for Xerxes, famed of yore;
A warrior stern was he
He fought with swords; let truth and love
Our only weapons be.

Y is for Youth-the time for all
Bravely to war with sin;
And think not it can ever be
Too early to begin.

Z is a Zealous man, sincere,
Faithful, and just, and true;
An earnest pleader for the slave-
Will you not be so too?










posted by michael the tubthumper @ 11:04 pm   7 comments
Sunday, July 16, 2006
LOOK BELOW
I don't want this post to take attention away from the new film which is the post directly below. Compliments are appreciated, as is hate mail - you would be surprised how many people who profess to believe in freedom of speech send you hate mail for expressing yourself. I have had three emails from people saying that they hope I die. Well, I will die, but you might have to wait for a bit.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, I sleep on my stomach, does anyone else do this? I am the only person I know that does.
posted by michael the tubthumper @ 8:03 am   11 comments
Friday, July 14, 2006
ANOTHER FILM - IMPERIAL MEASURES
This one has been a while in the making.

As usual, the youtube is posted here but there is a link for perfect quality download
which is here....

http://tinyurl.com/f9kqj

5 extra points for whoever can tell me why that 10 second bit is in at the end

posted by michael the tubthumper @ 3:39 am   11 comments
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
ANOTHER BITES THE DUST
I have been reading quite deeply into and looking at a lot of zoology lately and related topics lately. I can't recomment a book y Richard Dawkins called "The Blind Watchmaker" highly enough.

I also noticed this today..

The black rhino is now extinct

If you want a bit of cheering up about that then look at this amazing little video clip which shows you just how interesting the animals that we seem determined to kill off can really be....



posted by michael the tubthumper @ 4:37 am   14 comments
Thursday, July 06, 2006
REPOST - NUCLEAR WAR
These people who are saying they are supporting the soldiers are at the pinnacle of ignorance because our soldiers are walking along contaminated ground...We dropped depleted uranium over there and its radiological and we have 160,000 of us that get a cheque every month for $201 for undiagnosed illnesses because if they diagnosed it that means that they would have to admit that they used radiological fucking weapons over there. -

US soldier at anti-war demonstration (in the film We Interrupt This Empire - Free download)

In case you didn't know it, we are already in a Nuclear WarTake a look over at Snowshoe Films and watch the interview with the Deputy Director of the Uranium Medical Research Centre, Tedd Weyman (it is the second one down).

He makes some startling allegations.- Depleted and non-depleted uranium conventional weapons used by the USA, the UK and Canada have put more nuclear material in the environment than all of the nuclear weapons testing programmes put together

- Although some people classify these weapons as battlefield weapons the UN classifies them as weapons of indiscriminate effect because they remain in the environment for so long that they obviously affect civilians

- There is no instruction in any medical school anywhere in the western world researching into the effects of uranium contamination and its effects. This is because it is not allowed to be taught in any universities anywhere

- Troops are misinformed (or not informed enough) about the possible harmful effects of these weapons. The military does not acknowledge the full dangers of these weapons so why, on its terms, should it warn them?

- The methodologies used in the government testing and decontamination programmes are "not accurate, they are not correct, they are improper and they don't use the right chemistry and the right physics therefore they cannot say one way or the other whether the people they have allegedly examined have been exposed or not. It is just not possible"

- The normal masks given out do not protect against 'aerosoled' DU- The private research groups have got in line with the governments to say that there is not that much of a problem

- One of the odd properties of uranium is that it begins to replace the calcium in your bones. From there it is released back into the blood and begins destroying other cells somewhere else in your body until more cells are eliminated or mutated. This cycle continues to your death

- There has been a clampdown on any reporting of Gulf war syndrome

- The official quantities are about the DU fired from a few different military vehicles. This does not account for the Uranium used in the bunker busters and the high altitude bombs. He estimates around 2000 tonnes of uranium was used in operation Iraqi freedom. This is four times the amount used in Gulf war 1

- There could be quadrillions of particles loose in the bombed areas and beyond (they get lifted and moved by the wind). These particles can remain airborne for months

He also says that even if you have no objection to any of this on environmental or humanitarian grounds then you should consider that the bill will have to be picked up somewhere by those who have been dropping these weapons.

The media's coverage of the use of DU has been deplorable. Danny Schechter's excellent film 'Weapons of Mass Deception' shows a UK army office and on the board behind the soldier is a list of subjects they are not to mention in the media. One of them was DU. It also shows an exceptional piece of footage where a German reporter is standing next to a tank with a Geiger counter which is buzzing away merrily. When he questions the US soldier the soldier point blank denies the information in front of him and keeps saying "this tank is not radioactive" before walking away. Make an attempt to see this film.

There is a wonderful short about it called Your tax dollars at work but be warned, it is not for those with a weak stomach.
posted by michael the tubthumper @ 8:15 am   2 comments
U.S. MONETARY Cost of the War in Iraq - other people are spending too, and the human cost is much higher
(JavaScript Error)
 
What is Tubthumping and who is doing it?

Name: michael the tubthumper
Home: Glasgow, Scotland
About Me: Tub-Thumper - 1. A speaker or preacher who for emphasis thumps the pulpit; a violent or declamatory preacher or orator; a ranter. This blog will be a combination of reasoned posting somedays and an occasional rant. 28 years old, I write and research for a couple of websites and also do my own stuff.
See my complete profile

Thumping The Tub Video

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

I have made a few short movies. Here are links to free downloads for them all in the order that I made them (as far as I can remember). Please feel free to use, distribute, disagree with, shout at etc etc

  • Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition
  • This was a REAL song from World War 2. I was so stunned by it I had to make a movie

  • How Far Is It From Here to Nuremberg
  • This is my attempt at a video for the excellent, if worrying, David Rovics (see links) song

  • What You Like
  • I believe the word for this is "splenetic". Only 20 seconds long.

  • Imperial Measures
  • What is going on in Iraq? Some things you knew, some you didn't. A couple of bits of info are out of date now.

  • Wish You Were Here
  • Wish You Were Here is a 6 minute film about the unprecendted rate of animal extinction we are currently experiencing

  • Gorillas and us
  • I don't like creationism, neither did Douglas Adams

    Recent Thumping
    Older Thumping
    Links

  • spinwatch
  • adbusters
  • internet archive
  • art not oil
  • blairwatch
  • bushflash
  • camcorder guerillas
  • corporate watch
  • campaign for press freedom
  • noam chomsky
  • common dreams
  • counterpunch
  • cost of war
  • david rovics
  • democracy now
  • dissident voice
  • the dossier
  • downing street says
  • etims
  • robert fisk
  • food not bombs
  • global research
  • gmwatch
  • impeach blair
  • indybay video
  • killing hope
  • lobbywatch
  • mediachannel
  • medialens
  • mickey z
  • mixed up records
  • george monbiot
  • mark thomas
  • john pilger
  • radio 4 all
  • schnews
  • snow shoe films
  • sourcewatch
  • tom englehardt
  • ukwatch
  • video activist network
  • howard zinn
  • Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

    some of the blogs I look at
    Arse of the month

    Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

    The inaugural 'Arse of the month' award goes to our very own Scottish First Minister Jack (Joke) McConnell. He seems to spend a lot of his time sucking up to english politicians and yet it appears they don't even know his name. Follow the link to see..

    NODOBY KNOWS ME
    It's All Gone Scottish

    Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

    A list of some other Scottish sites and blogs most of which, if not all, are pro-independence. I don't agree with content on all of them obviously. Some are Scots at home, others abroad.

  • The Scottish Patient
  • Kim Ayres
  • Our Scotland
  • average tosser
  • 1820
  • big stick small carrot
  • J. Arthur MacNumpty
  • World of Jack McConnell
  • The Firefox Chronicles
  • Independence 1st
  • Radio Free Scotland
  • Scots and independent
  • Scottish Independence Guide
  • TCOAW
  • Small Nation
  • Inveresk Street Ingrate
  • Radical Glasgow
  • Want to Swot?

    Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

    If you like this site and think it is time to start getting informed here are a few real favourites of mine that will help you blow away the corporate and government propaganda you are constantly bombarded with. It is added to every so often.

  • politics and the english language
  • Beyond Hope
  • the gore exception
  • your tax dollars at work
  • a cultural chernobyl
  • choose life (not trainspotting)
  • shooting an elephant
  • a war crime within a war crime...
  • the menace of liberal scholarship
  • the modern era of law
  • naming the problem
  • the four ages of sand
  • a news revolution has begun
  • come september
  • money is the cause of poverty
  • countering corporate power
  • Other Stuff

    Who links to me?

    For a DotSCOT Domain!

    Fight Spam! Click Here! Blunt Cogs Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Politics Blog Top Sites BlogRankers.com Scottish Blogs Blogdust Find Blogs in the Blog Directory Top 100 Scottish Websites
    Free Guestmap from Bravenet.com Free Guestmap from Bravenet.com


    BLOGGER

    Get awesome blog templates like this one from BlogSkins.com website statistics