Everything you could want to know about the brains behind this little operation.

Being the insomniac that I am, I made this page late one night as a way to pass time.

This section was last updated 5/7/2008.

check the reading list

• Name: Kevin

• Age: 25

• Religion: Agnostic in theory, atheist in practice (which is to say that I'm agnostic toward the Christian god in the same sense that I'm agnostic toward celestial teapots). I consider myself a Bright. It's not like I'm apathetic to religion; quite the opposite. I've actually spent a significant portion of my college career studying religion. In fact, the more I learn about various religions, the less of a basis I see for choosing one over another, and I still have yet for anyone to give me a decent reason for choosing their invisible man in the sky over all the other invisible men/women/etc. that have ever been believed in throughout history. I think that religions ultimately say more about the people following them than they do about any sort of objective truth. People, including fundamentalists, tend to just pick and choose what parts of their religion they want to adhere to (and what they expect others to adhere to), and toss out the parts that don't fit with their lifestyle. In addition, very few religious people live their lives in accordance with the idea that an omnipotent and omniscient deity is watching their every move and preparing to judge them. I say, why bother with the pretense?

  "Whether one focuses on a deity of exclusion, violence, rule-making/enforcement, and vengeance, or one of peace, healing, forgiveness, and inclusion depends entirely on the worldview one brings to the religion in the first place. Some types of personalities are drawn to rigid lawmaking, the Old Testament, and to Paul. Other types are drawn to the more thoughtful, peaceful teachings and aspects. And this can be seen not only in Christianity, but in all religions and the interpretations of them that evolve over centuries." -Debi Riggs Shaw

  "The problem with those who choose received Authority over fact and logic is how they choose which part of Authority to obey. The Bible famously contradicts itself at many points (I have never understood why any Christian would choose the Old Testament over the New), and the Koran can be read as a wonderfully compassionate and humanistic document. Which suggests that the problem of fundamentalism lies not with authority, but with ourselves." -Molly Ivins

  "All religions have flaws. They all can be argued to the point where logic forces the proponent to claim 'well, you just have to have faith'. Since Atheism never requires faith and cannot be disproven logically (despite countless tries), it has no flaws. Atheism is perfect." -Dave Silverman

  "The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -George Bernard Shaw

  Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived. -Oscar Wilde

• Political Affiliation: Suffice it to say that I'm pretty left-wing. I'm some weird amalgamation of progressive and anarchist (which isn't as contradictory as one might think, because anarchism has traditionally been aligned with the left; "anarcho-capitalism" is a relatively new movement and some anarchists assert that it is a contradiction in terms). Generally, they combine to make me pretty anti-authoritarian in my views. And in case a few people still don't think I'm nuts, I'm also a pacifist and an animal rights advocate.

• My Political Compass score:
  Economic Left/Right: -8.88
  Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.05

• Height: 5'7" [Rebecca disputes this, as she claims to be 5'7" and she's clearly taller than me, so either I'm 5'6" or she's 5'8".]

• Place of Residence: Quad Cities area, Illinois

• Hobbies:
  • Video games, although I have neither the time nor money to really pursue it, and in any case I have a lot more fun with the NES and SNES emulators on my computer than I ever do with my PS2, which is the newest system I have. Call me old-fashioned, I guess.
  • formerly playing Legend of the Five Rings, 7th Sea, Doomtown, and Lord of the Rings collectible card games, as well as Mechwarrior: The Dark Age, but I haven't actually played any of those in a long time and I have no plans to start up again anytime in the foreseeable future due primarily to the large monetary investment involved with building even a mediocre deck.
  • working on this site
  • Somewhat into RPG'ing, but I don't really have anyone to do it with these days. I've typically played Legend of the Five Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, and Vampire: The Masquerade.
  • playing the violin (haven't practiced since I got out of high school, though)
  • reading, primarily non-fiction and periodicals
  • writing
  • collecting religious texts and/or propoganda

• Periodicals I read and/or recommend:
  • AlterNet
  • Current History
  • The Progressive Populist
  • Newsweek
  • The Nation
  • Christian Science Monitor [I had to read this for one of my classes and got hooked. I've seen it spoken highly of by both liberals and conservatives. I like it because it features both a greater quantity and quality of international news than most other mainstream US outlets.]
  • Foreign Policy

• Employment:
  • It's complicated at the moment.

• Groups I am and/or have been involved with:
  • Global Village
  • Peoria Area Peace Network [I'm on the board of directors, although I haven't been to meetings in a long while because of college, geography and/or job-related stuff]
  • Green Party of the United States and Illinois Green Party [and I'm a supporter of Cynthia McKinney for President]
  • Amnesty International
  • Vegetarian Education Group
  • DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice

• College: Alumnus, Northern Illinois University and Illinois Central College
• Major: political science (emphasis: international politics)
• Minor: philosophy

• Recommended Reading:
  • The "Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R.R. Martin ["A Game of Thrones," "A Clash of Kings," "A Storm of Swords," and "A Feast for Crows" (though I have yet to read this one)] [My friend Patrick put it best on this series: "I'm probably a heathen for writing this, but I prefer the Thrones books to the [Lord of the Rings] ones. Much more action and dialog, not as much excruciating detail of the environs."]
  • "Watership Down" by Richard Adams
  • "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn
  • "Emiliano Zapata: Revolution and Betrayal in Mexico" by Samuel Brunk
  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • Anything by Noam Chomsky
  • "1984" by George Orwell
  • anything by Emma Goldman (also check the Emma Goldman Papers)
  • "The New Nuclear Danger" by Helen Caldicott
  • "Hardball" by Chris Matthews (I think the guy's a buffoon and his show sucks, but the book's still good)
  • "The World's Religions" by Huston Smith
  • "Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush" by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose [a good overview of Bush's record as governor of Texas]
  • "The Allegory of the Cave" by Plato [It's in The Republic, in case you're interested.]
  • "Euthyphro" by Plato
  • "Jennifer Government" by Max Barry
  • "Animal Farm" by George Orwell
  • "Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America" by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose
  • "World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability" by Amy Chua
  • "What's the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America" by Thomas Frank [provides an excellent explanation of how right-wing populism works, although I disagree with his conclusion that the Left should abandon "culture war" issues (I agree that the Dems need to rediscover economic populism - I just don't view it as a zero-sum game like Frank seems to. Laura Flanders provides a pretty good refutation a Frank on this point.)]
  • "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order" by Samuel P. Huntington [I disagree with many arguments in this book (I'd go as far as to describe some of them as fucking crazy and borderline racist), but it's still an interesting read, particularly when you consider that there are a lot of people in positions of power and/or influence in the world that do agree with this book's arguments.]
  • "Spanking the Donkey: Dispatches from the Dumb Season" by Matt Taibbi
  • "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction" from The Daily Show
  • "The Anatomy of Fascism" by Robert Paxton
  • "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
  • "Which Side Are You On: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back" by Thomas Geoghegan
  • "Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer
  • "Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights" by Tom Regan [I highly recommend reading both this book and the previous one, because although both are supportive of animal "rights" (a term utilitarians like Singer never use), they approach the topic from two different philosophical perspectives.]
  • "The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer" by Dean Baker [follow the link for a free PDF version]
  • "How the Pro-choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex" by Cristina Page
  • "Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War" by Barbara Ehrenreich
  • "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century" by Thomas Friedman [Like "Clash of Civilizations", I don't actually agree with this book but reading it can help one understand the arguments, values and assumptions of those who do. Even though Friedman wrote the book in defense of globalization and free trade, I actually find myself better able to explain my opposition to both after reading his book.] [P.S. I find it more than a little ironic that many of the leaders of the conservative movement in this country cite both this book and "Clash of Civilizations," considering that the latter is relatively anti-globalization (Huntington claims that the economic insecurity and dislocation brought on by globalization is partially responsible for fueling upswings in nationalism and religious fundamentalism). I guess they agree with Huntington when it doesn't interfere with profit.]
  • "Thinking Points: Communicating Our Values and Vision" by George Lakoff and the Rockridge Institute
  • "Witness in Palestine: Journal of a Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories" by Anna Baltzer
  • "The Assault on Reason" by Al Gore
  • "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins
  • "Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea" by George Lakoff
  • "Conservatives Without Conscience" by John Dean
  • "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq" by Stephen Kinzer
  • "No One Is Illegal: Fighting Violence and State Repression on the U.S.-Mexico Border" by Justin Akers Chacon and Mike Davis
  • the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Phillip Pullman ["The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife," and "The Amber Spyglass"]
  • "The Bush Tragedy" by Jacob Weisberg
  • "Addicted to Hate: The Fred Phelps Story" by Jon Michael Bell [Never actually published and only available online, for reasons explained through the link. Fred Phelps is the pastor of the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS.]

• Nicknames: Nibbles. It's the name by which a lot of people have called me over the years. It makes fun of the way I eat, although that hasn't been a justifiable basis for criticism for a long time. No one calls me that anymore, though, which isn't a bad thing, and if you call me that now you'll promptly get the middle finger. I was also occasionally called Seņor Neebles, or just Seņor for short. As well as Nibli.
  Back where I used to live before my parents got divorced, all the little kids called me Waggles. Also, during high school I was inexplicably called "Judge" by my P.E. class. Still don't know where THAT one came from.
  There was one guy at ICC (Lawrence) who called me "Philosophy Guy," because we met at a Student Philosophy Association meeting and I never had a chance to give him my name. However, ever since I gave him the AIM name I had at the time he called me Rowin, which was fine by me because it sounded totally badass.
  At one point, Justin had taken to calling me "Big K," and Robbie to calling me "K-Dawg." Haven't decided what I think of these. ;-P
  I got several new nicknames during my time at NIU. Actually, in addition to Justin, my roommate at one point called me "Big K." Also, the CA here called me "Smokemaster K," because although there were a lot of people there that smoked, I was probably the only one at the time with a pack-a-day habit. Which is sad, because they had all been smoking since they were 15, whereas I'd only been smoking for a bit over a year. In addition, when Dick Cheney was at NIU and I was at the protest, I had my Green Party t-shirt on, and multiple unconnected people kept calling me "Mr. Green Party."
  At NIU, I was talking to one of the guys down the hall from me, who had this to say:

  Me: I'm probably known around the hall as that weirdo that never talks to anyone.
  Brett: Yeah, they all call you Waldo, because you're never around.

  My roommate was talking to some girls that lived with us at Douglas, and for some reason the subject turned to me. He found out that they'd been referring to me as "Little Napoleon" because of the way I walk with my arms behind my back.
  You don't even want to know all the weird nicknames Rebecca and I have for each other. We've made at least one person throw up in her mouth from how sickeningly sweet we are.

• Favorite Music: I used to be into punk and ska, but I inexplicably drifted away from it years ago. It could have to do with the fact that I was mainly into local bands (I don't think I could ever have named more than a small handful of major punk or ska bands), and the local punk scene was quickly becoming the local emo scene, which was a problem because I fucking HATE emo. I generally like classical music. I don't dislike metal, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it. I've been a longtime fan of alternative rock, and I find myself pulling out my old alternative stuff more and more these days, though I don't like most of the new stuff coming out. Thanks to my American music class back at ICC, I listen to a lot of jazz and blues now, and the two are probably my favorite genres; I like most of what I hear but I don't know very many individual artists. I like just about anything political (read: left-wing) no matter the style.
  My favorite groups including, but not limited to:
  • Live
  • Rage Against the Machine
  • Green Day
  • Stone Temple Pilots
  • Fiona Apple
  • System of a Down
  • Corporate Avenger
  • Jimi Hendrix
  • Robert Johnson
  • Charlie Parker
  • Miles Davis
  • Evanescence
  • John Coltrane
  • B.B. King
  • Anti-Flag
  • Skip James
  • James Brown
  • Public Enemy
  • Gorillaz
  • Smashing Pumpkins
  • White Stripes
  • Foo Fighters
  • The Nightwatchman
  • Soundgarden
  • Nirvana
  • The Sex Pistols

• Favorite Songs:
  • "Freaks," "Lighting Crashes," and "What Are We Fighting For?" from Live
  • "Clint Eastwood" from Gorillaz
  • "Bulls on Parade," "Maria," "Vietnow," "Calm Like a Bomb," and "Bullet in the Head" from Rage Against the Machine
  • Most of the music from Cowboy Bebop
  • The Shaft theme by Isaac Hayes
  • "Boom!" from System of a Down
  • Beethoven's 5th Symphony
  • "Why Did You Do It" from Stretch
  • "$20 Bill," "Fault the Police," and "Christians Murdered Indians" from Corporate Avenger
  • "Never Could Have Been Worse" and "Blue Funk" from the Trigun soundtrack
  • "Machine Gun" from Jimi Hendrix
  • "Bang Bang" by Nancy Sinatra
  • pretty much anything on the album "Kind of Blue" from Miles Davis
  • "Salt Peanuts" from Charlie Parker, et al
  • "Fortunate Son" from Creedence Clearwater Revival
  • "We Can't Make It Here" from James McMurtry
  • "Union Song," "One Man Revolution," and "The Road I Must Travel" from the Nightwatchman
  • "Masters of War" from Bob Dylan
  • "Maggie's Farm" from Bob Dylan [as much as I love RATM, their cover of it sucked]
  • "The Thrill Is Gone" from B.B. King
  • "Falling Out of Love" from Mary Gauthier
  • "Which Side Are You On" from various artists (old-school union song, it's hard to find online but it's featured prominently in the movie Harlan County, USA)
  • "Twenty" from Robert Cray
  • "Mrs. McGrath" from Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band
  • "The Big Payback" from James Brown
  • "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" from Skip James
  • "Strange Fruit" from Billie Holiday
  • "Let's Impeach the President" from Neil Young [I have to say, aside from this song and one or two others, I really didn't like Young's "Living With War" album all that much.]
  • "Working Class Hero" (as well as the cover version by Green Day), "Attica State," and "John Sinclair" from John Lennon
  • "Original Fire" from Audioslave
  • "Land of Confusion" covered by Disturbed (the original from Genesis is good too)
  • "United States" by Smashing Pumpkins
  • "War Pigs" from Black Sabbath
  • "Rusty Cage" from Soundgarden
  • "In One World" and "Occupation" from David Rovics

• Favorite Movies:
  • The Whole Nine Yards
  • Dogma
  • The Shawshank Redemption
  • Payback
  • Full Metal Jacket
  • Fight Club
  • Enemy At the Gates
  • Tora! Tora! Tora!
  • Ocean's Eleven (the remake; haven't seen the original), Twelve, and Thirteen
  • The Boondock Saints
  • The Green Mile
  • SLC Punk
  • Goodfellas
  • JFK
  • Brotherhood of the Wolf
  • anything Michael Moore (especially Sicko)
  • Gangs of New York
  • Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
  • Thirteen Days
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
  • Dr. Strangelove
  • For a Few Dollars More
  • The Seven Samurai
  • May
  • Kill Bill
  • The Quiet American
  • American History X
  • Once Upon a Time in Mexico
  • Pulp Fiction
  • The Matrix (the first one; the sequels sucked, plus the first one stood well enough on its own that they really weren't needed)
  • And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself
  • Rashomon
  • Three Kings
  • Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
  • Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election
  • Jenin Jenin
  • The Fog of War
  • The Trials of Henry Kissinger
  • Super Size Me
  • The Hunting of the President
  • The Manchurian Candidate [the original]
  • The Corporation
  • Kinsey
  • Snatch
  • Harlan County, USA
  • Lord of War
  • Peaceable Kingdom
  • Earthlings
  • V For Vendetta (although the comic is much better; I was pretty pissed that they removed all the references to anarchism, thus giving no real idea of what V actually stood *for*)
  • City of God
  • Munich
  • Aristide and the Endless Revolution
  • Peace, Propoganda & the Promised Land
  • The God Who Wasn't There
  • Children of Men
  • 9/11 Press For Truth (does a pretty good job of showing how full of crap the official story on 9/11 is without getting bogged down in "inside job" stuff)
  • Pan's Labyrinth
  • The U.S. vs. John Lennon [Mainly because it features an interview with my friend Jack Ryan, a former FBI agent and current president of the Peoria Area Peace Network. Only around ten seconds of it was actually used in the movie, but of course when Peoria peaceniks discuss it we universally refer to it as "Jack's movie." (The rest of the movie's great too, BTW.)]
  • Malcolm X
  • Iron Jawed Angels
  • The Take

• Favorite TV Shows: I hardly ever watch TV anymore. Bill Hicks sums up my thoughts on TV pretty well: "I can't watch TV longer than five minutes without praying for nuclear holocaust." Pretty much the only shows I watch are:
  • The Simpsons
  • Futurama
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force
  • The Daily Show
  • The Awful Truth (late 90's Michael Moore TV show which can still be found on DVD)
  • The Family Guy
  • Mythbusters
  • Trigun
  • Cowboy Bebop
  • Samurai Champloo
  • The Colbert Report
  • Countdown with Keith Olbermann
  • The X-Files
  • Robin Hood (BBC America)
  • Real Time w/ Bill Maher

• Favorite Video Games:
  • anything Final Fantasy (specifically 4, 6, 7, Tactics, and Tactics Advance... maybe 1 as well.)
  • the Grand Theft Auto series
  • Super Smash Brothers (alas, the N64 version is the only one I've ever played)
  • Vandal Hearts
  • Starcraft
  • Age of Empires 2
  • Fallout 2
  • TIE Fighter
  • X-Wing Alliance
  • Bushido Blade
  • Killer Instinct
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Crazy Taxi 2
  • Mario 1, 2, 3, World, Kart, RPG, and Superstar Saga
  • Conker's Bad Fur Day
  • Donkey Kong Country 2
  • Yoshi's Island
  • Donkey Kong (Game Boy version)
  • State of Emergency [The story mode blows, but if you like just running around killing random people then this is a game you'll like. I think the reason it was so poorly received when it came out was because the same company had released Grand Theft Auto 3 not long before, and people were expecting GTA 4 out of this game. It's not a deep game, but it's fun if you don't expect too much out of it.]
  • Warcraft 3
  • Dynasty Warriors 4
  • Starscape
  • Earthbound
  • the Fire Emblem series
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic [the first one; I'm sure the second one is good too but it won't run on my computer]
  • Bionic Commando
  • Blades of Steel [oldskoo NES hockey game, and one of the few sports games I enjoy]
  • Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 and Most Wanted
  • the Ratchet and Clank series
  • Timesplitters 2
  • Midnight Club 3