|  HOME  |  COMMENTARY  |  FICTION  |  THE ROAD TO ARMAGEDDON  |
|  CASSANDRA REPORT  |  WARS  |  SIGNS  |  PREPARATIONS  |

In the April-May, 2007, issue of Armageddon Buffet, Harold Jaffe uncovers (and discovers) (and recovers) "Cho."

Our editorial remembers Seung-Hui Cho -- and Jerry Falwell and Andrea Yates, Christian soldiers all! -- for Memorial Day celebration.

The Road to Armageddon takes a different path. We are in the process of converting the web pages to blog pages -- to allow more entries than the monthly (now temporarily bi-monthly) format will allow, and to let you, our loyal and patient readers, comment on our finds. The conversion isn't quite completed (we'll send another email when it is), but here's a teaser:

In The Cassandra Report: She was honored as the anti-Iraq War Cassandra. This week she was fired by the DLC. But like all Cassandras, Cindy Sheehan can't stop prognosticating truth just because people don't want to hear it. Instead she made one last pronouncement: the Democratic Party leadership has no intention of stopping the Iraq War simply because the people want them to! more

Next issue: June-July 2007!! If you'd like to be notified of future issues, subscribe to Armageddon Buffet. (Just click and send. It's free!) We will not sell, rent, loan, lease, or just plain give your address to anybody else. It will be used only to let you know about what's happening on our site. So don't blame us for those unsolicited offers for bigger breasts.
Send us an email about an Armageddon Buffet article or story.
Submit an article or story to Armageddon Buffet.
Learn more about our submission guidelines.

Obligatory Mission Statement: "Our purpose is to wield the Word -- to oppose oppression disguised as religion, power disguised as patriotism, injustice disguised as law, and commerce disguised as art."

Whether caused by ecological disasters, megalomaniacal despots or religious fanaticism, we're sliding down a shithole toward global disaster. Although Armageddon Buffet is devoted to publishing original fiction and commentary which chronicles the humor and tragedy of these "interesting" times, we do wish to acknowledge the efforts of others. On The Road to Armageddon you'll view the best of the rest.

From "Signs & Portents":
  Wikipedia Goes Looking for Experts: As chronicled in Living Food: Natural Behaviors, avoidance of factory farming practices could by itself be healthier in the long run. "Paul Shapiro of The Humane Society of the United States' Factory Farming Campaign says reducing our dependence on factory farming practices, such as keeping pigs and chickens in cages their whole lives, might cut food supplies enough to require some modest diet changes toward more grains and vegetables. If so, that would simply be a prescription for healthier living."
     Of course, it all depends on how you define "healthy living." Some define it as not being poisoned by our food: "In the past few weeks, consumers have learned that some batches of Great Value and Peter Pan peanut butter may be contaminated with salmonella; certain jars of Earth's Best organic baby food may be tainted with bacteria that can cause botulism; some cantaloupes from Dole Fresh Fruit Co. may have salmonella; and packages of Oscar Mayer ready-to-eat chicken-breast strips may be contaminated with listeria."
     The problem has been traced to corporate agribusiness and its "factory farming" practices. Corporate agribusiness, however, prefers the term "industrial agriculture" and has found an ally in Wikipedia. Though the article itself has enough industry fingerprints on it -- links to news stories about food poisonings resulting from their farming practices have been stricken from the article -- having industry "experts" writing the article apparently isn't "neutral" enough. If you enter "factory farming," Wikipeida will redirect you to "industrial agriculture." In the discussion you can read their "logic" behind the move: "... by changing a redirect to agriculture and moving in sections from the article factory farming, I hope this slightly more neutral name will help to make the article more neutral."
     Clearly, Wikipedia's new campaign to demand the "credentials" of posters and allow industry "experts" to overwrite articles will result in a more neutral Wiki. From SeattlePI.nwsource.com, HSUS.org, OrlandoSentinel.com, en.Wikipedia.org, ArsTechnica.com and meta.Wikimedia.org.

Read more "Signs & Portents."

  They Are Killing Fluffy and Fido! Globalism has, apparently, declared war on America's pets. The cause seems to be that a rat poison -- banned in the United States but used in China -- made its way into the wheat gluten used to thicken the "hide the taste of the rancid meat" sauce found in cheaply-made "gourmet" pet foods.
     So why ban dangerous substances when manufacturers who sell in the U.S. can get around the restrictions by going overseas? From WashingtonPost.com and Pantagraph.com.

Read more "Wars, Famines & Pestilences."

  America's New Gluttony Problem: It's undeniable: the government needs to spend far less money. And yet it continues spending like there's no Armageddon!: "Too much of the federal government is set on autopilot. Program after program continues spending without consideration about either the merits or cost-effectiveness. 'American families regularly clean out their closets and attics,' Walker said. 'Surplus items are either sold at yard sales or given to charity. Unfortunately, when it comes to federal programs and policies, our government has never undertaken an equivalent of a spring cleaning.'"
     When the Grover Norquist wing of the Republican Party was in charge of the government, the strategy was to spend until the government dropped dead from gluttony. Then the Rahm Emanuel wing took over and the new strategy became... keep on spending!
     Why is this? Are there too many billionaires -- people who literally can't overspend -- in Congress? Are politicians incapable of exercising fiscal responsibility? They certainly expect it of the voters -- hence the punitive new bankruptcy laws, which have already cost some their homes and destabilized our consumer-driven economy.
     But can we expect a nation of chronic overspenders to even notice before it's too late? From SeattlePI.nwsource.com, ATR.org, Truthout.org, and CNN.com.

Read more "Preparations for Armageddon."

  Meet Ganesh Baba, Psychedelic Swami: A sample of his wisdom: "The next revolution is going to be a spiritual one and it will have to touch off a chain-reaction of personal revolutions leading to total revolution, individual changes leading to a social change. Each of us is responsible for the real revolution in the offing, the revolution of modern man, the modern matter-mad spirit-oblivious man, trying to turn his face towards the spirit, steering an even course between matter and spirit, a harmonious combination of both as complementary aspects of the one Integal Reality. None can conscientiously disclaim his or her responsibility in which one has to kill nothing but his or her own vices including lack of spirit or failure of faith. If you are not doing so you are hindering humanity in its general progress."
     In other words, "Buck up or fuck up!" From Serendipity.li.

Read more "Cassandra Report."

Armageddon Buffet is looking for speculative fiction, social satire, and cyberpunk; future fantasies, alternate histories, and apocalyptic visions; surrealism, naturalism, and literotica; well-researched and considered political, philosophical, and cultural commentary; true tales of successful activism, rebellion, and opposition; positive alternatives and survival strategies. More