We're Dead

2007-01-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

The R.T. is officially shut down.

We're Having a Baby!

2007-01-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone.

As your humble R.T. founder, I have a little announcement to make:

My fiance, Shyanne Weston, and I are going to have a baby! We found out on the 10th that she's pregnant, and the baby will come probably sometime in September.

And that means changes for the Random Times.

I'm stepping down, and withdrawing myself from the process and the creation of this paper.

We have one more issue that's going to come out, but after that...

It will be up to the other R.T. people. If they want to continue to run it, that would be fine by me... but I will not be able to.

My first inclination, with a baby on the way, is to scrap my one non-paying gig (the paper) and simply keep working my other two jobs that DO pay me, so that I can keep my child alive with food and things like that when it comes along. :D

If someone does take the reins of the paper, I may still contribute an article or a photo here or there, but will be involved with practically nothing else.

It's been grand.

Until next time...

My take on the Saddam Execution

2007-01-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

It might seem a bit late to blog about this, but I've got to talk about it.

It's been an interesting start to a New Year.

At the tail end of 2006, we saw the execution of Saddamn Hussein.

And we saw Americans around the country thirst for his death like torch-weilding villagers outside of Frankenstein's castle.

And in addition, there were the reports that people danced around his dead body in Iraq.

For the record,

this is why I'm essentially against the death penalty-- it brings out the inner-ape in people-- those few remaining threads of primitive genetic material that haven't evolved since our cave-dwelling, spear-hunting days.

As CNN showed footage of people around the globe who were rooting for Saddam's death, the looks on their faces astounded me... nothing but pure hatred and bloodthirst in their eyes... holding up their "Death to Saddam" signs with fake blood inked around the lettering.

You know...

I'm quite positive Saddam was an evil dictator.

However... he was a few other things as well. And just to name a few...

1. He was a bone of appeasment, thrown to the Americans to chew on when Bin Laden couldn't be caught.

2. He was a trophy, won by junior Bush to present to daddy Bush, like a small child who wins that first Little League trophy, after months of backyard training with his father. The trophy his father was never able to win himself.

3. He was a distraction from the foreign policy issues that Bush SHOULD have been dealing with.

And along with all of the things that he WAS, there's a real important thing that he WASN'T:

A threat to America.

And now that he is dead, the question must be asked:

Is the world safer?

Is AMERICA safer?

Are we closer to winning the so-called "War on Terror?"

Or the war in Iraq?

You can answer that one yourself by picking up a daily paper or watching a bit of the evening news.

The answer is a click away.

What do you think?

--James Mongold, 1/3/07

Happy Holidays-- A blog is born!

2006-12-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been suggested to us by everyone from local tabloid bloggers on down to the sweetest, well-meaning Random Times reader-- and so here it is-- the birth of our blog!

Our latest issue has gotten a lot of attention, both negative and positive-- based entirely on the cover:

Am I worried about it?

Not at all.

This is an alternative paper, and a lot of bitching, slobbering, and whimpering from the conservative-types just kind of comes along with the territory.

It never ceases to amaze me that some groups of people feel that alternative voices should not be allowed to be heard.

If you're concerned about our cover, and what we were trying to accomplish by printing it, I'll tell you this:

Our artists have creative control over their work.

We don't believe in stifling them or peering over their shoulders.

When we tell them that they have conceptual control over the cover-- we mean it.

We would really only step in if the concept went far beyond the boundaries of taste, or was of a racist nature.

In terms of tastelessness, though, there's a lot of room for interpretation. My idea of what is tasteless might be different than yours.

So who, in terms of the Random Times, determines what is tasteless and what is not?

I do.

And personally, I don't feel that Jesus wearing a Santa cap is tasteless.

It's an additional statement to a debate that has been underway for a long, long time-- the over-commercialization of the Christmas holiday. It's about the muddled lines between Christ and Santa Claus. It's about the confusion surrounding what the hell the holiday is supposed to mean anymore.

Some people might feel alienated from the issue, at first glance at the paper-- and that cannot be helped.

A publication cannot appeal to everyone.

Golf magazines and Christian papers don't appeal to ME.

But do you see me bitching about their existence? No.

Their voice is constitutionally protected. And printing their paper is a protected right.

And I will stand for their rights just as quickly as I will stand for my own.

And in the future issues of the Random Times, you're going to see a lot of covers that are very tame, and in no way are controversial.

But then... you might also see some that you think are tasteless.

And all that we at Random Times can do, is hope that even if people don't pick the paper up, based on its cover, that they can still celebrate our constitutional right to have a voice.

Peace to all.

James Mongold
R. T. Founder