The Angry Hippie's Soapbox Express

In this long awaited return to the show, Rob comes out swinging with a minicast dedicated to America’s addiction to guns, and the dangerous future we are spiraling out of control towards. With talk of gun control and mental illness, the NRA, LaPierre’s excerpts from the National Rifle Association’s book on deflections and distractions for discussions on gun control, contextualizing violent video games and movies for children, Shelly Frey, Wal-Mart security guard shoots suspected shoplifting as she flees the scene, over-arming everyone is not the answer to our problems with guns, putting guns in schools to prevent shootings, Colorado failing on response to shootings on control and mental healthcare fronts, broken systems, media exacerbates Newtown’s grief and troubles with entitled journalistic asshattery, Joe Scarborough changes stance on gun control in wake of Newtown shootings, police state comes early to Paragould Arkansas, heavily armed police patrolling and harassing the public, illusions of safety, the racism behind the 2nd Amendment, racist bias that guides modern gun control policies and more!

Return of Rob’s annual rants about being vegan and living compassionately in an exploitative, capitalistic society whose lack of compassion and understanding is celebrated in gluttonous, devastating fashion throughout November and December each year in the form of the Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas helliday season! Rob covers witnessing the waste of this time of year, not to mention the disconnects, the must-eat-death mindset, the ever-expanding madness that is Black Friday and now Gray Thursday, the consumerism that consumes this time of year, the legitimacy of the worker’s strikes against big business, Wal-Mart versus workers who are backed by Anonymous, the war on Christmas and more!

In this all new extra long and ranty episode Rob comes out of hiatus with lots of feedback to go over talking about topics like veganism, Leonard Peltier, the No Cope podcasting network, religious oppression, womens rights in Afghanistan, imperialism, religion, LGBT community, undercover as gay, exploitation for personal gain, Timothy Kurek and more. Then Rob covers a few personal rants over the state of politics and critical thinking, lying your way to the Capitol Hill, election cycles, exercising your right to vote, participation of the people, changing the system, and using our voices all before diving into the current event stories collected for the show. Those stories touch on Veteran’s Jobs bill defeat, heartless representation, political games for gain, FBI versus intellectuals known to them as anarchists, McCarthy era tactics, Grand Jury subversion of rights, justice system, Syngenta, GMOs, GM Bt corn killing livestock, automated copyright enforcement, Hugo Awards, digital rights management disasters, rahowa, racial holy war, US soldiers arrested for plot to overthrow gov’t, revolution, racists train in US military for upcoming race war, Virginia Republican Committee calling for armed revolution if Dems win White House, violent rhetoric of the right, Greenland ice sheet melting, climate change, global warming, Mitt’s grip on reality, Obama administration fails the people with NDAA appeal, Koch brothers warn employees of consequences of Dem win, Romney tells business owners to tell employees how to vote, manipulating voters, voter suppression, killing the people’s voices, health insurance, casualties of health care system, Todd Akin, Lilly Ledbetter Act, fair pay, and freedom to be sexist. Then Rob takes a look at 5 myths the medical industry won’t let die, cycle of sickness, side effects, vaccinations, no money in making people better, Obamacare fails the lower class, natural remedies, alternative medicine, naturopaths, fluoride, with poetry and more.

In this all new episode Rob dives into some feedback from a few listeners which takes the discussion down a couple of avenues dealing with veganism, high cost of beef, food prices in general, supply and demand, exploitation, genetic discrimination, GINA, and a predisposition to illness costing people jobs and opportunities. Then Rob gets into the current events he had prepared for the show which include Mitt Romney’s campaign of lies, knowingly misleading the public, our broken political system, systemic inequalities, starvation, food supply, ending world hunger, police brutality, Anaheim protests, Manuel Diaz, murdered by police, Jarell Brooks, Aurora hero, theatre shooting leads to calls for more gun control in US, 2nd Amendment rallying, arming the citizenry, Old West returns, more guns equals safer US, India’s power grid failure, resource supplies faltering in light of expanding populous’ demands, government transparency, Romney’s gubernatorial deleted data, hypocrisy, illegal wiretapping, cellphone surveillance, scope of spying not known by government branch tasked with overseeing and regulating, Big Brother’s blind eye, privacy disappearing, oppression in the name of safety, Chik-fil-a, LGBTQ oppression, oppression and hate embraced by elected officials, land of the free with exceptions, cowards speak hate through chicken, Merican ignorance, what US citizens don’t know about US, world view of US, status, healthcare, Chavis Carter, Jonesboro PD, suspicious circumstances surrounding death of Carter while in custody, and police search fails. Then Rob discusses the right’s embrace of racism, Romney’s campaign gets subvertly racist, the right’s obviously racist base, Michele Bachmann’s racist ranting, paranoia played out on Capital Hill, Muslim Brotherhood, Islamaphobia, George Zimmerman wants an apology for killing Trayvon Martin, with poetry and more.

In this all new episode Rob talks about some issues that listeners have raised in their messages, including Jane Sbrovoda’s mental illness, state of care provided to those with mental illness, ethical classrooms, globalization, impacts of unethical industries, exploitation, Inditex, we can change the world, fleshly actions versus scriptural, more anti-gay hate speech from the pulpit, among other things. Then Rob goes on to discuss some more current events that covers such subjects as radioactive Bluefin Tuna turning up in Cali as a result of Fukushima disaster, safety standards track record, US soldiers execute civilians in Ishaqi 2006 Wikileaks revealed, US has taken no steps to provide justice in the killings, above the law behavior, accountability, rules of engagement, Geneva convention, Rick Scott and Florida’s voter purge, unconstitutional actions taken to steal elections, veiled racism in comments, NYT’s David Firestone responds to voter purge, Justice Dept. getting involved, ‘Personal Lifestyle Statements’ cost Georgia Baptist University large amounts of staff, Federal Judge rules DOMA unconstitutional, Catholic Church excommunicates mother and doctors who performed life saving abortion on 9 year old abuse victim, does not do the same for her abuser, CDC rules meals have quadrupled in size since 50′s, Gov. Walker’s false testimony before Congress called into question, perjury charges could follow release of video showing contradictions to Walker’s testimony, union busting, crafting a red state by breaking the law, truth behind high cost of US healthcare revealed, cash option at hospitals often cheaper alternative than using your insurance, reform the insurance racket, Stuxnet virus in 2010 came from US and Israeli governments, cyber-sabotage, accidentally released on world wide web, targeting Iran for destabilizing a program we cannot prove they have, terrorism to save the world, gas price speculators flouting laws despite calls from Congress to stop, and Congress just complains to the President. Then Rob covers the People’s Puppetmasters, the corporations who are now in charge of multiple aspects of our mainstream media, the consolidation of the media into the hands of 4-6 major companies since the 80′s, then moves on to discuss Rep. spokesman Jay Townsend’s online comments about hurling acid in faces of female Senators, and how overt efforts have become by our corrupt government to further silence our voices and steal our elections. With music and more.

In this all new episode Rob goes over some emails that take the dialog over some topics like veganism, vegan outreach, faith, Christianity, VAWA, House revisions of Violence Against Women Act, no recourse for immigrant victims of violence, discrimination, racism, same-sex marriage, same-sex divorce, issues with non-equal protection under the law, hateful homophobia, Jane Skrovota and more before moving on to the current events segment of the show. There Rob discusses Bush amdministration war criminals, US accountability to international law, torture, NATO Summit in Chicago equals police state actions, Occupy protesters ‘disappeared’ by Chicago police, unlawful detention of US citizens, FBI versus George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin, hate crimes, protesting for justice, House cuts aid to public while stopping cuts to defense, making the vulnerable more vulnerable, Joseph Kony dead for two years, hidden US agenda in Uganda, Census shows white births the minority, multicultural nation, extremists’ reaction pending, New Mexico pays Marvel for filming there, US government subsidizes Hollywood, wasteful subsidies undermine important needed infrastructure, inventing terrorists, FBI entrapment creating terrorist plots to prevent, more threats equal more money needed to address them, cost of education, student debt, privatization push, undermining of educational system, and costing us our future. With poetry and more.

**Remember to leave a comment on the blog for a chance to win The Devil’s Carnival Limited Edition Autographed Soundtrack! Contest Ends 6/6/12**

In this all new, lengthy and loaded episode of the podcast Rob dives into a whole host of stories sent in and topics brought up by listeners like forest fires in Spain, caring about animals’ suffering, Trayvon Martin, aggressors with guns, armed white supremacists patrolling Sanford in case of race riots, American society’s recent history of executing black men, Bernie Goetz, Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Ousmane Zongo, Tim Stansbury, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Ramarley Graham, Orlando Barlow, Travares McGill, Ronald Madison, Kiwane Carrington, Victor Steen, Steven Eugene Washington, Jimmell Cannon, Wendell Allen, losing agency over our bodies, Supreme Court votes for degrading detainees, following up on Fluoride, reverse osmosis filtration, Koch brothers, and decolonization before diving into the state of racism in the US. Rob covers a number of stories in this arena, including talks of racial bias affecting perception of threats and violence, the ‘shooter bias’, studies prove American racism threatens safety of people of color in the country, Obama has faced severe racial bias as President, hate crimes, Shaima Alawadi, Islamaphobia in the US, Anna Brown, left to die on floor of jail for demanding treatment for pain hospital denies she had, blood clots in her legs moved to her lungs, black women often dismissed/labeled as angry, former Colombian President says US drug war a failure, Obama administration continues to dismiss claims of failure and calls for legalization, federal discrimination lawsuit brought against NYPD, racism in highest NYPD ranks, targeting black communities in New York, Howard Morgan, four white cops shoot Howard Morgan and leave him for dead, and Morgan sentenced to 40 years. Rob then discusses illegal drug checkpoints, police breaking laws to enforce them, more Arizona anti-choice antics, pregnancy begins two weeks prior to conception, limiting access, Michigan GOP illegally passed 96% of legislation since Republicans took hold in 2011, routing democracy, dismantling democracy, CISPA, Obama says he’ll veto new anti-piracy legislation moving through Congress, more Monsanto madness, Monsanto versus Vermont, GMO labeling requirements, poisoning food supply and lobbying to lie about it, Gov. Walker versus equal pay, women aren’t as driven in careers as men, Republican climate change, experience trumps science, Judges admit to jailing children for money, privatizing prisons, private prisons call to kept at 90-95% capacity, Catholic Church tried to erase native culture from Canada through abuse and torture of children in special schools, sexual abuse and torture inflicted on children in attempts to kill an entire culture. With poetry, music and more.

In this brand new episode of the podcast, Rob dissects the Arizona GOP Presidential debates, looking at Christian extremism, contraception, immigration, entitlement spending, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, privilege, Iran, nukes, securing the border, and more before moving on to feedback from listeners. At which point the discussion covers scripted Presidential campaign, illusions of choice, programming our troops to hate, anti-science movement gaining ground, AAAS, climate change denial, sliding into a scientific dark age, veganism for cats, experimentation, and other topics before getting into the heart of the show. The current events section touches on NSA versus Anonymous, stateless terrorists, hackers pose a threat gov’t can’t understand, Iowa senate opposes animal activism, agricultural production facility fraud, undercover activists forbidden, corporate control of ‘truth’, single parenthood equals child abuse in Wisconsin, Sen. Glenn Grothman, Republican’s desperate to define ‘family’, Seattle food forest, free self sustaining public food forest, urban permaculture, BP profits while Gulf still suffers, offshore drilling for oil, environmental disaster, Iran nuke threat is a diversion, Israel admits threat neutralized, EU and US leaders continue push for war, Occupy the Vote, November 6, NDAA, SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, voting out reps who no longer represent the people, college for snobs, education leads to loss of faith, Santorum’s education flip-flop, fluoride in the water supply, controlling through toxic poisoning, and the health risks posed by sodium fluoride. After which Rob goes into the rampant racism in the US today with stories of Billy Crystal’s Oscar night blackface asshattery, Hollywood’s history of racism and exclusion of people of color, Jada Williams, Frederick Douglass Foundation of New York Spirit of Freedom award, educational slavery, illiteracy, racist reaction from the school, and Rush Limbaugh’s years of overlooked and accepted racism, music, and more.

In this brand new episode of the podcast, Rob dives into some feedback on the previous show which brings up a discussion of vegan cats, speciesism, imposing human morals and ideas onto other species, cut flowers and wasted resources, water shortages, corporations buying water rights, inappropriate police behavior, undercover adults entrapping teens, targeted teens, and the drug war before moving on to the current events. This section covers a plea for financial assistance for the Davis family, Troy Anthony Davis, Virginia Davis, Martina Davis, loss of three family members last year, Heartland Insider, think-tanks, Heartland Institute, lobbyists in disguise, climate deniers, climate change, Progressive Podcast Australia, environmental disasters, climate disasters now impact 4 out 5 US citizens, extreme unnatural weather patterns, confusing climate change issue through curriculum, corporate paid for denial of climate change, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, reclassifying everyday behaviors as mental illness, DSM, rape treated as a mental illness, rebellious teens now diagnosable, pathologising criminal behavior, wage theft, businesses stealing money as business model, intimidating vulnerable employees into silence, little recourse for wage theft in Florida, Jeb Bush dismantled Dept of Labor, tens of millions lost to wage theft per week in US, New Hampshire Rep Kyle Jones says laws requiring employers to give lunch breaks are unnecessary, social media policing of corporate malfeasance, regulate yourselves, meanwhile corporations known for denying employees breaks, media participating in fear mongering, drive to war with Iran, same tune as Iraq just a different narrative, no lessons learned from Iraq, media complicit in pushing politicians and corporations agendas, buying news, paid messages passed off as commentary, Bush Administration using media as a mouthpiece, Alabama bigotry breaking state, strict immigration policy leads to crumbling state infrastructure, cost-benefit analysis of bigoted policy, 2.3 billion dollar cost to economy, jobs left by immigrants unemployed Alabamans refusing to fill„ NYPD’s 30 years of illegal arrests, Judge orders city to pay for violations of constitutional rights, fluoride in water supply, Nolan Finley suggests adding birth control sterilants to water to control and limit poor population in Detroit, victim blaming, blaming poor for deindustrialization when they are a result, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Grammy Awards, domestic violence, women don’t matter in patriarchal society, Jay-Z, industry silence, internet blames Rihanna, Grammys were the real victims, celebrity abusers of women get a pass, Bill Murray, Gary Oldman, Woody Allen, Mel Gibson, Usher forced to apologize for Chris Brown slight, lack of Republican support for reauthorization of Violence Against Women Act, law grants eased immigration access to those fleeing abusive situations, GOP objects, Contraception coverage, patriarchy, reproductive health, misogynistic and patronizing media and political discussion on contraception, women’s voices going unheard, insurance coverage biases, moral objections to coverage points, Santorum weighs in on debate, Obama may be playing stealthy game of reelection chess, high cost of insurance, Forks Over Knives, industrial price gouging, over-reactionary off-duty Deputy draws gun in Wal-Mart, poetry, and more.

Rants about being vegan and living compassionately in an exploitative capitalistic society, epitomized by the corporate mandated celebration that is Valentine’s Day. Also, Rob takes the opportunity to discuss what being vegan means to him, and how the day to day living vegan goes. With looks at the privileges that we share which allow for such a lifestyle, Rob takes on being vegan on a budget and the realities of living in non-vegan systemic societal constructs and what that sometimes means in terms of compromise. While also discussing the exploitation that so many overlook within all forms of industry, Rob talks about the connections of these exploitation driven industries and how fighting against one should mean fighting against them all. Also, with the Valentine helliday upon us, Rob looks at being vegan this time of year, and how we should really show our love for one another, despite what advertisers tell us love means.