The USA Behind Bars
Posted By Brooke Shelby Biggs on 2008-03-03 17:22:21
Topic :Frigging Daft
Those who are carrying on Anita's work have focused especially on the issue of prisons and illegal detainment, especially as regards the Angola 3 and the work of Reprieve. So we know that Anita would have had some choice words for the recent report that revealed that more than one in every 100 Americans is behind bars. Bloody daft, she'd say, if she were feeling polite.
Crazy News in 2006
Posted By Anita Roddick on 2007-01-03 01:14:31
Topic :Frigging Daft
You can always trust German newspapers to honour the eccentric. Berlin Reuters has compiled a great collection of the really daft offbeat news of 2006.
The collection includes:
A German who invented snug spray-on condoms.
Turkish Airline workers who sacrificed a camel at Istanbul airport to celebrate a job well done.
"Miss Israel” was exempted from carrying her assault rifle in the Israeli army because it bruised her beautiful legs.
"Mr Switzerland" convinced lonely women who hated soccer to his country for the World Cup.
Canadian Irony
Posted By Anita Roddick on 2006-01-27 01:05:57
Topic :Frigging Daft
Now that Vancouver is to host the 2010 Winter Olympics these are some
questions people all over the world are asking! A Canadian friend of mine, sent on to me the below questions about Canada which were posted on an International Tourism Website (the country from which the enquiry came is in brackets). Obviously the answers are jokes, and the questions are hilarious; but sadly the questions were really asked.
Welcome to the Third World
Posted By Anita Roddick on 2005-09-02 11:58:29
Topic :Frigging Daft
Here we sit in the UK helpless as we watch the human cataclysm unfold in New Orleans and the rest of the American Gulf Coast. One is overwhelmed with feelings of frustration, grief, terror, compassion ... but soon enough these are all replaced by rage. Why has the planet's only superpower failed to help its own people for nearly an entire week? Why has it allowed shootings, rapes, hunger, disease, suffering, and death take over a major city? And why am I still desperately searching for any information at all - and finding none - about my friends there?
What New Outrage is This?
Posted By Anita Roddick on 2004-12-14 10:50:39
Topic :Frigging Daft
A friend recently went down to Louisiana to visit with the Angola Three. You may recall that they are the men who have been held in solitary confinement at Angola prison for over 3 decades for a crime they almost certainly didn't commit. I have been helping their legal defense in any way I can, because I want to see them free. But as unrepentant Black Panthers, they are fighting an uphill battle.
My friend came back with a story about the pettiness and the cruelty of the deep south's criminal "justice" that enraged me again about the torture these men are subjected to for their political beliefs.
A Death Sentence for Pot?!
Posted By Anita Roddick on 2004-11-30 11:21:56
Topic :Frigging Daft
For those of you who cannot conceive of the US as a cruel country, read this tale of the young quadriplegic condemned to death for possessing marijuana.
(Not So) Positive Thoughts
Posted By Anita Roddick on 2004-11-08 14:41:15
Topic :Frigging Daft
From my friend Rob Schwartz, an American living in London:
Dear Anita
For some people living here in the UK, I have come to represent a sort of "token American." Thus, I have been bombarded by emails from many people I know who are enraged and depressed regarding the outcome of last week's election. After reading the last of these, I responded to an old friend of mine. I did not set out to do so at length, but my hands just would not stop -- and I am a crappy typist so these hands were really pushing against resistance!
Marketing Hate
Posted By Anita on 2004-07-07 01:01:50
Topic :Frigging Daft
Theres one thing Im afraid conservative Christians are getting better at than progressives: marketing their ideas. They can make the hateful sound almost wholesome, the bigoted seem earnestly family-friendly. Most recent case in point - several downright offensive ads against gay marriage that insult not only gay people, but any of the millions of single-parent families in the United States.
Crying Over Spilt Words
Posted By Anita on 2004-07-01 05:25:12
Topic :Frigging Daft
My daughter Justine, who lives in America, has two small children, and has been watching with interest as lawmakers there have bent themselves in knots over profanity. Dick Cheney can say "F--- yourself" to a colleague in the Senate floor, but anyone who should utter such a sentiment on TV may now be fined half a million dollars. Worse even than the hypocrisy is that American lawmakers are pretending to be defending childrens "innocence" when really theyre just uptight, sexless, morality police bent on making sure nobody has any fun or freedom of expression. Words and flashed breasts dont hurt kids, malevolent idiots like John Ashcroft and Dick Cheney hurt kids!
