Christian

Nah, my b-day story was pretty well inoffensive and enjoyed by all, except for my part in it. C'est la vie!

You know....I was one of the main characters in that story and I wasn't listed as one of the ones Rogan missed the most!

This isn't going to help you, Gen, because it's impossible for most people, but your problem might actually be your schedule.

A lot of people mistakenly assume I suffer from insomnia. Nope, not since high school, when I was supposed to be in bed by midnight so I could get up by 6 a.m. to get to school.

I actually sleep between 9 & 10 hours most days, which is hardly insomnia!

Actually, I'm just nocturnal. I don't get tired until 5:30, 6:00 a.m. and sleep all the rest of the morning and a large portion of the afternoon.

It's the only way I can get more than 3 hours of restless sleep a night.

So, your problem may be that you are on a forced sleep schedule for your job that doesn't work for your body. You're trying to force your body to sleep so you can get enough rest for your job, but it's screwing you up, and you're not sleeping.

Like I said, nothing you can do about it because of your job, but something to think about as an answer for your insomnia.

Ah hell! Now I have to go about deleting all the posts I made in this thread!

Rogan, I never lost in face in you! I knew the true king would return and overthrow the evil reign of the anti-Rogan!

:lol: -That's fucking crazy!

The Journal for Socialism and Liberation.

It's the official publication for the (non-aligned) Socialist party in the U.S. and Canada.

"Or did you mean our Christian, ie irascible, left wing, moody ? ;-)"

I agree with Red's explanation.

As I said earlier, it's in-line with John using angels to beat Nergal way back early in Delano's run.

There might be a thread around here where we relate our stories of how we discovered "Hellblazer".

We moved last year to this site from an old website, so that thread might've been on our old Forums.

I've been reading comics for (too long now.... ) about 24 years. I started when I was around 7 years old and I'm 30 years old. I read the Marvel superhero books, especially my favourite "Uncanny X-Men". I felt comics were for kids by the time I got to high school and gave them up. I had an older buddy (he was a senior) who read comics who let me read his "Spawn" comics, and I decided that maybe comics weren't just for kids (hey, I was a teen, what did I know?! :lol: ). Needless to say, I got bored with "Spawn" pretty quickly, and when I turned 18, my friend from high school now owned a comic book store. He said that I'd probably enjoy "Sandman" by Neil Gaiman. It blew me away! I hunted down all the back-issues and wanted more comics like "Sandman". I asked my friend if there were any other tragic characters and he pointed out the character who made an appearance in a very early issue of "Sandman"; a guy with blond hair, an English accent, a trenchcoat, who smoked cigarettes. So, I discovered John Constantine from reading "Sandman", and haven't looked back since!

Depends what he means by "average", but I don't think that quote is offensive. Of course, it applies just as readily to "average Brits, Canucks, Aussies, Arabians, etc".

It's the same mentality that leads to blockbuster movies raking in all the dough and shop-talk, while indy movies are forgotten about or never talked of.

"Maus" is an anomaly. I don't think people quite grasp that it's a COMIC BOOK. The Nobel Prize would be my explanation for "Maus".

DC does this quite a bit.

Harlan Ellison was supposed to write a JSA special, and that never materialized.

I agree with Mojo. I'm not so fond of this idea by Alan Moore. It had a few good ideas, but overall, I'm happier it never saw the light of day.

I think "Kingdom Come" replaced it.

And, I'm pretty sure the "House of Thunder" is actually the Marvel FAMILY (meaning Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, etc.) NOT the actual Marvel Universe comic company.

I like "Testament" enough to give it a chance, but couldn't give a damn about any of the other new Vertigo books.

A barely coherent Western?

A story about 9/11 only not about 9/11?

Bug killers lecture us on man vs. nature?

No thanks!

I was pretty sure "Exterminators" was some sort of subtle comedy that I wasn't quite understanding, but the review on the X-Axis says that it's meant to be taken seriously, and that's just not good!

Are you sure you're not thinking of the early-90s, John Ostrander series? Because that was the basic plot of most of that series too.

Eh, after you've had the most beautiful woman in the world, the rest are pretty well worthless, you find.

hmm...you know, maybe if we found some way to change, we wouldn't be stuck here! Instead of being trapped in here after trying to escape, maybe we were drawn here because of who were already were! Maybe we're stuck in this never-ending moebius strip due to our inability to ever change, and not realizing our inherent problem of never moving forward, we've blamed this site for all of our problems instead of looking where the real problems resides, within ourselves!

Nah....must be this damn site cursing us to stay ONE OF US, forever.....

Giffen is like a box of chocolates....you never know what you're going to get!

Most of his best work, he's been co-writer or plotter.

He's had a few good books on his own, but a lot of his solo work reads like "Writing 101"....there's good basic ideas, he's just not following any of the rules of coherent writing to get those ideas across.

Depends on if it's a happy marriage or a socially inept marriage, now doesn't it?

:lol:

Bah! You come back to us when you are still with the....(shudder)....woman?!

Don't you know this is only a place for socially inept malcontents whose only enjoyment comes from depressing comic book stories?

You are no longer one of us!

I don't remember for sure, but I think that was a one-off story, without any further implications for the series. It all tied into that "destroy all Fantasy creatures" story, didn't it?

I really liked that story about the spider-creature.

Well, truthfully, we aren't kicking the old crew out, per se. Replacing them is a much better way to put it!

It's just way too expensive, especially for people who have been here so long. To be cost effective, we've out-sourced these positions to Third World nations.

See? This is still "Christian", but the part is now played by a poor, Ethiopian farm boy for a bowl of rice a day.

I'm sorry Rogan.....No one else wanted to tell you, and my in-box got flooded with P.M.s saying that I'm the cold hearted bastard around here, and it's my job to tell you.

We've moved on.

You've been replaced.

We no longer have a need for you here.

I mean, it wasn't easy. We all had to work over-time to try and pick up the slack, but eventually we accomplished it.

Of course, if you want to totally redo your image and become the BRAND NEW Rogan for 2006, I'm sure we can find a place to accomodate you.

Red, I was picking up your argument for you.

"Why are we assuming this?"

Because it's a stereotypical myth propogated by media? :)

Yes, unfortunately some of the greatest literature of our time is being widely ignored due to it being put out in the graphic format of comic books.

Vertigo has its loyal readers, "Hellblazer" has its loyal readers, Fantagraphics has its loyal readers, etc. and these readers are usually a cross-section. So, pretty much the people who would read a comic book and a comic book like "Hellblazer" are already reading it.

It's like saying, "How can we get more people to read Daniel Clowes and Craig Thompson?". Well, even a few glowing reviews in the "New York Times" aren't going to make droves of people flock to stores demanding "Blankets".

Well, you're going to pick up some converts along the way, but "Hellblazer" and "20th Century Eightball" isn't going to magically start selling the figures of a randon X-title.

Do you or have you ever read comic books before? What comics?

"Hellblazer" is not a superhero comic, not your typical idea of what a comic book is (if you only know of comics through Marvel, DC, and Archie).

John Constantine is a guy with a lot of problems who doesn't really have any powers (he's 50 odd years old now, doesn't work out, smoke cigs), trying to get by in a world filled with magic, demons, and corrupt, ugly people. John doesn't always win, when he does win, it's always with a great cost.

He's not rich, doesn't have a beautiful supermodel wife, doesn't hang around with a bunch of self-important people. When he's filled with angst, it makes sense, because he's screwed up his life again, lost his girl, one of the people close to him has died.

He also doesn't take shite from anyone.

He's the tragic anti-hero with a convulted past and emotional state who has an attitude.

Some people would say he's one of the most unlikeable comic characters, but I know I love him, and I think most of the people at this site do too.

I love "Hellblazer" because I can relate to John Constantine. Take away the magic and the demons, and he's just like me.

I recommend "Rare Cuts" as the book you should hunt down first.

"Fuck Communism".

Yeah, that's the attitude that's led to books like "The Exterminator" being given more attention than H.B. by Vertigo. :lol:

Look, I hate to be nit-picky, but "Watchmen" was never a Vertigo book! That and "Dark Knight Returns" are considered the high-point of the comic medium, and DC expects that all new comic readers will immediately run to read those two books, so DC wants to leave them available for all ages.

I don't consider "V For Vendetta" or "Skreemer" to be superhero books.

"HELL IS - OTHER PEOPLE.

If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company..."

Damn. These two quotes? They're usually always in my mind.

Am I one of those people who you could never imagine as a kid?

Venezuela , The Bolivarian revolution, and Latin American independence

By Ben Becker

[]

Venezuela’s oil workers are at the heart of Venezuela’s PetroCaribe initiative.

Photo: Reuters/Jorge Silva

Political parties allied with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez swept the December round of local elections, winning all of the 167 seats up for grabs. The latest victories prompted the big-business press and U.S. State Department to intensify their misinformation campaign against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. What accounts for this new wave of inflammatory editorials and belligerent State Department remarks?

On one hand, the local Venezuelan elections set back the U.S-supported opposition and confirmed the popularity of the Chávez government. Most significantly, however, was a parallel development that took place outside of the Venezuelan polling sites. The United States delegation was unable to strong-arm the other states to accept the Washington-backed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas at the November meetings of the Summit of the Americas in Argentina. New economic agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean make it clear that a new economic pole is crystallizing around oil-rich Venezuela.

Opposition forces have cast Chávez’s frequent references to the 19th century South American liberator Simón Bolívar as demagogic populism. But the “Bolivarian dream” of a united and integrated Latin America in fact has made historic progress.

Using its vast natural resources, Venezuela has initiated a whole range of oil and trade agreements that aim to break the relationship of economic dependence for Latin America and Caribbean countries that have suffered under U.S.-sponsored neoliberal policies. A primary goal of these initiatives is to develop the industrial infrastructure in the formerly colonized countries.

In many cases, Venezuela has offered preferential rates and trade conditions to the poorest countries. The Venezuelan government has even initiated a program to sell cheap heating oil to communities in the South Bronx, Boston and Chicago—some of the poorest communities in the United States.

PetroCaribe initiative advances

In September, 14 Caribbean countries signed bilateral agreements with Venezuela that deepen their participation in PetroCaribe, an oil initiative that commits Venezuela to send 77,300 barrels of crude and refined products per day to the signing countries. The agreement gives the signing countries 25 years to pay for the shipments at a one percent interest rate, with a three-year grace period. Venezuela will pay for 40 percent of the cost if oil continues to sell over 50 dollars a barrel, as it is now.

[]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez visits a Bronx, N.Y. community center. Sept. 17, 2005

Photo: Reuters/Heidi Schumann

Venezuela will assume all transportation costs and costs for the development of oil infrastructure in participating countries. In the past, underdeveloped countries with vast oil resources were still beholden to the imperialists that possessed a near monopoly on oil refinement necessary to make the oil useable. The construction of independent oil refineries therefore represents a major step towards breaking the Western imperialist powers’ control. For example, Venezuela has initiated two joint-owned oil refineries in Brazil and Argentina, and has proposed the construction of a Latin American oil pipeline.

Most notably, the PetroCaribe deal allows for borrowers to repay Venezuela in goods such as rice, bananas or sugar. Historically, underdeveloped Latin American and Caribbean countries have been forced to purchase their oil from the United States with hard currency like the U.S. dollar. On the one hand, this dependence on foreign hard currency results in unfair trade agreements that favor the imperialists. On the other hand, it causes enormous economic distortions that have the underdeveloped countries producing a great quantity of consumer goods—like televisions—for the West at the expense of direly needed essential goods for the home population.

The expanded PetroCaribe initiative in effect allows for underdeveloped countries to deal in the commodities they are best suited to produce. For instance, the Dominican Republic, which is teetering on bankruptcy in large part due to the excessive costs of oil, can repay its oil shipments in kidney beans. The Dominican Republic already owes $3 billion to the United States for oil this year.

In essence, Venezuela hopes to use its oil resources to stimulate a “global South” trade network that will draw on its rich and varied natural resources and to provide greater self-sufficiency to the region as a whole. In Chávez’s words, PetroCaribe puts Venezuelan oil “at the disposal of South America and the Caribbean.” (Inter Press Service, July 19, 2005)

PetroCaribe is a critical part of PetroAmerica, which would function as the backbone of what Chávez has called the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America (ALBA). The ALBA is a trade network that would connect South America, Central America and the Caribbean into a cohesive whole. It stands in sharp contrast to the so-called “free trade” agreements, backed by the United States that have ravaged local production and plunged the region into nearly unprecedented poverty.

Assisting poor U.S. communities

The Venezuelan government has made the point that this network extends beyond Latin America. Poor communities in the United States, just like poor communities in the underdeveloped world, suffer daily from greedy, capitalist price gouging.

In the final months of 2005, gas prices have soared while multinational oil corporations have made record profits. Commuters have found themselves spending a good chunk of their daily wages at the gas pump. This winter, many homeowners will be unable to pay their heating bills. At the same time, the federal government has continued to cut the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program, which provides assistance for poor families with heating costs.

In the face of this grim reality, Venezuela proposed that oil corporations that are swimming in money create a fund to give discounted oil to low-income families. In his September visit to the United Nations, Chávez stated his willingness to participate in such a plan.

It was no surprise when only Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, responded to the call for discounted oil. Citgo agreed to deliver 12 million gallons of oil to poor communities in Massachusetts—helping over 40,000 families. It also began supplying 75 apartment buildings in the Bronx with oil at a 40 percent discount.

Steps toward increased sovereignty

Venezuela has a special relationship with revolutionary Cuba, forged out of solidarity and common goals.

ALBA was initiated by Cuba and Venezuela, with 49 trade and cooperation agreements signed by both countries in Havana in 2005. These agreements guarantee favorable terms of trade and exchange of goods and services.

Cuba has agreed to train 30,000 young Venezuelans to become doctors and provide free cataract operations for 100,000 Venezuelans in the coming period. That eye project is called “Operation Miracle,” and is now being extended to other Latin American countries. Now, 50,000 patients have had their vision restored from 15 Latin American countries, with the ultimate goal of curing 6 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Cuban revolutionary government has also provided essential assistance in the ever-advancing Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela—doctors, teachers, literacy workers and economic advisers. In return, Venezuela has provided Cuba with oil at advantageous rates.

Venezuela’s economic projects like PetroCaribe can be seen as an anti-imperialist show of solidarity toward poor countries in the region that have traditionally had no alternative but to rely on ties to the United States. They have given these countries breathing space to escape the ever-tightening stranglehold of neoliberalism.

These projects are also part of a wider trend among the more economically powerful Latin American countries, like Brazil, to develop within the world capitalist market but shielded from the worst aspects of imperialism. The Mercosur economic bloc of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay has agreed to add Venezuela as a full member, another sign of growing independence from U.S. imperialism.

In mid-December, Chávez announced that Venezuela will contribute monetarily to Argentina’s efforts to eliminate its debt with the International Monetary Fund.

It is a welcome rebuff to Washington, which earlier had rejected Argentinean president Nestor Kirchner’s request for the United States to intervene politically with the IMF to ease its debt. Bush refused, angry with Kirchner’s cooperation with Chávez. Venezuela stepped into the void, helping further cement relations with Argentina.

The big business press in the United States hypocritically chastises Venezuela for using “oil diplomacy,” attempting to use its natural resources to develop political and economic relationships within the region. But the U.S. government has always used its great wealth as a battering ram to suppress all forms of political independence in the oppressed countries.

Venezuela has the full right to use its natural wealth to protect itself from the U.S. war-makers and create the continent-wide solidarity that can lead to real independent development.