"Lardass" Republicans

I think I compared the Republican Party to Dave Hogan or the character "Lardass" in the film "Stand By Me". In fact, I am quite sure I did. Yesterday, it was. As time goes by and cooler minds prevail, I am more and more convinced of the equivalence: Republican=Lardass.
The point of the similarity is that Lardass got his revenge at the end of the county fair pie eating contest by a castor-oil induced vomitous hurling catastrophe...as if castor oil induced vomiting. Castor oil is a laxative and a purgative. So the finale of "Lardass's Revenge" was a bit more rabelesian than was shown in the film: it was a general, bowel-emptying rampage.

Anyhow, that is why Republican=Lardass, because in the 25 years since Reagan the present day Republican Party has brought this country to the brink of ruin: Lardass Republican revenge.

It is also summed up in the story of Karl Rove remarking that Barack Obama was a fellow who stood in the Country Club and sniggered and made fun of the other people, thinking himself to be superior to them. Of course, this was all due to Rove's own days as a callow youth, when his generally goofy demeanor surely brought many sniggers upon his homely head. That is when Rove swore to revenge himself against a world of beauty and light.

Anyway, the Republicans have tried to kill the USA of welfare checks and Middle Class niceties, and have thrown the baby out with the bath water and Perrier. They have globalized the world in order that they may have places of refuge overseas. This shows good forethought on their part. Yes, indeed. Many of the earnings reports show multinationals doing well precisely due to their foreign income, not their US income. Thus, the USA can be written off as a derelict neighborhood, and its people can be pushed into the ash can of recession...or worse...and the Republicans will read about on the sea front in Abu Dhabai and shake their heads, glad they do not have to live in the USA- or the "projects" as they will call it.

Sweet revenge for Lardass.

Cowboys

The Existentialist Cowboy has quite an article on Mr. Bush and the crimes he has committed, at least according to Mr. Cowboy. http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/07/treason-and-conspiracy-how-bush-and-his.html Whatever the verdict, I finally have gain an intimate understanding of how the Oligarchies worked in Ancient Greece to undermine the Democracies. This usurpation of the Government, the theft of the Financial System, the undermining of the Judiciary, I could never quite get a handle on how it must have felt...not until now. An excellent learning experience.

Conspiracy?

As outlandish as it sounds, the theory that a coterie of Republicans and Powerful figures have conspired to destroy the USA by enormous deficits is becoming more and more plausible as the only means to make sense out of what we see. Can educated men and women be as stupid as those in the Bush Administration appear to be? When William Clinton arrived, he was compelled to try to restore fiscal responsibility, putting health care and other items on hold....forever. He inherited it from Bush Sr. Now we have this Bush Jr. thing. Perhaps the Republicans see themselves as the character called "Lardass" in the movie "Stand By Me." They intend to leave everything a whirlpool of vomit and refuse. They are waiting until we yell "uncle!". Then they will march in with their New World Order.

Morality For The Masses

Referring to the preceeding post: http://fatherdaughtertalk.blogspot.com/2008/07/wherein-i-miss-point.html

This is a picture of a Private Language of Moral Discourse: a duplex domicile, yet half abandoned; a sign of stress and distress: making do in bad times and uncertainty. It shows that everything is not as it should be. Instead of the many living together, the Du as well as the Ich, we have the unitary duplex; an irony, a paradox, yet that is morality of the one. This unique focus on the individual is typical of our culture, and it essentially deals with me getting mine; when I have got it, I may or may not become charitable and gather tax benefits thereby. An enigma of man in the world.

Wherein I Miss The Point

Wittgenstein

It has just dawned on me that I actually said - in essence - present day political discourse precludes moral discourse, http://fatherdaughtertalk.blogspot.com/2008/07/energys-cauldron-bubble-bubble-toil-and.html the "bubble universe" being an emblem of obsessive self-interest. This is startling. I mean, I suppose it is the type of thing we nay-sayers are always blathering about, but I can assure you that political discourse of Washington's times did not preclude moral discourse; politics did not preclude morality. I may notice, then, that neither did business. There are goal statements rendered forth by every corporation, telling the readers what social benefits each corporation will emit. Present day readings will give only a sense of hypocrisy. There is something about the Moral which a lot of people forget: there can be no private moral discourse. (Any so-called private moral discourse can be nothing except what we refer to as between God and myself, and this is so privileged as to be outside the area of which we speak, for we cannot speak of it.) All morality is forensic, meaning it's out in the forum, the agora, the marketplace, at least the space created by the Ich and Du. Morality at its minimum is a duality. Beyond that, is is a plurality. A philosophy of Man and Economy which is based solely upon the interests, values, and goods of a single, solitary individual by its very nature excludes Morality. I should add that it is this very aspect of modern life - the fact that the Moral is pushed into the closet - that makes it appear to be insane. I mean, when I say everyone is insane, obviously I can't mean it. Right ? However, if I were to say we are all amoral bastards, I would get quite a few smirks and heads nodding in agreement, thinking what rogues and money-making movers and shakers we all are. Odd. In case you are wondering, "Why Wittgenstein?", or "Warum Wittgenstein?" or whatever, Ludwig is famously connected with the notion of a private language, yeasay or naysay.

A Work by Tyree Guyton I call it: The Closet Doors Of Morality

A Russell Paradox

The Russel in question is Betrand, not Jack. To wit: Literary Criticism, although it pretends to a higher plane than Literature itself, is actually a subset of Literature. Literary Criticism is Literature writing about Literature. It is an outlet for a certain type that feels the compulsion to write, yet lacks....what? Vision? An outward, futuristic vision? A leap into uncertainty and chaos, wherefrom it reels in - like a celestial fisherman- a new creation, a Genesis renewed? No, literary critics- and cinematic critics, too-merely like to deal with something hard and fast, not as elusive as the slipstreams of unfinished creativity. Literary Criticism is like the organized church and televangelists, the reiteration of the catechism and the repetition of weary icons, whereas Literature is seeing God... and artists are fishermen of heaven! and we are all artists when we see!

The Off Button

Enough for one day.

Please, someone hit the off button.

The Test

I have been roundly criticized for negativity. I deserved it. I mean, even the prophet Jeremiah must have had some upbeat, off the hook moments, right? Surely the creator of the "jeremiad" could chill, be lite, get out of peoples' faces for a while? Yes, indeed. It must be so. Even though we have not yet archaeologued the ancient tome "Jokes from Jeremiah", it is only a matter of time. Thus, I propose a test to see whether my vision is fatally skewed to the dark side: "In the upcoming presidential election, if Race becomes a blatant, raucous, divisive issue, then I am right and you are wrong." The "you" here being the Pollyannas who want me to josh around more. I would really like to be more upbeat. I really would. Now the point of the Test is this: if Race division prevails, it implies we have lost control of ourselves hook, line, and sinker; the dark side has popped up and we may as well be orc legions of the Dark Lord. If it does not, we still are what we are, but we are striving for self-control and for the Good. In short, we are indeed modern day heroes!

The Phil Gramm Whiners Reiterative Linguistic Generator

It used to be Guns and Butter: all the war you could handle at one sitting, plus going to the mall until the insane, red sun set on the horizon. Bush has left us this:

Heat...or Food?

or Gas...or Dental Work? The basic template is termed "The Phil Gramm Whiners Reiterative Linguistic Generator": X....or Y? where the "or" is exclusive, meaning X or Y, but not both. It is a simple linguistic generator, but it will become very important. I trust you will become familiar with it, much more so than you could ever have feared.

T. Boone Pickens And Wind Power

Large concentrations of wind turbines in certain areas will be seen to lead to increases in the occurrence of tornadoes.

What Is It About George W. Bush...

...that makes you want to serve him?" This is what Monica Goodling and her conservative cohorts at the Department of Justice asked candidates for posts. No comment here, although the question would have been appreciated in a imaginary lost chapter of Tolkien, wherein a bureaucracy of Trolls pose the question to the men of Haradrad as to why they wish to serve Sauron in his quest for dominance. I mean, is it his all-seeing eye that makes you want to serve him? Is it the neo-industrial, beijing-like clouds of smoke and haze that envelop his domain? The blasphemous ambience of the question, as well as the carnivorous sarcasm that comes from seeing it written down, accompanied by the knowledge of what has happened since the question was uttered, instills absolute silence...

Yawn...()

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/budget_deficit Bush administration official: 2008 will set record By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer 38 minutes ago WASHINGTON - A senior Bush administration official says the budget deficit for this year will set a record in dollar terms, approaching $490 billion. The official said Monday the deficit was being driven to record levels by the sagging economy and the stimulus payments being made to 130 million households in an effort to keep the country from falling into a deep recession. A deficit approaching $490 billion would easily surpass the current record deficit of $413 billion set in 2004. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the new deficit estimate had not been formally released. Bush administration officials were scheduled to do that at a news conference later Monday. I remember it being pointed out at the time of the tax cuts and before the war, that the administrations projections were totally based on the best of all possible outcomes scenarios. So this is not a surprise. A surprise is something you do not expect. This is a rude awakening: something we knew would probably happen, but as usual were reluctant to admit it to ourselves.

Energy's Cauldron: Bubble, Bubble, Toil And Trouble

The Bubble Universe: the bubble-verse

We went through all of this about 30 years ago. There were 2 oil embargoes, caused by conflicts still largely unresolved. These embargoes pointed up a severe weakness in our nation's energy policy, still unresolved. Then came the 1980s, Reagan and reagonomics. This period was fortuitously followed by a series of "bubbles" which created large wealth in their times and large losses of wealth at the end of their times. The bubbles, or the Bubble Economy, created the illusion of Long Term Well being, and combined with Reagonomics to create the illusion of prosperity forever, with little or no effort, all on credit. The Long Term became the Short Term, and what was good for the present - we and our interests - became what was good for the future. This is why we thought, and still think, that it is a good thing that the deficit be passed on to our children and their children. This is why we create arenas of violence in the world with no idea how to resolve them, leaving more violence in Iraq and Afghanistan to our children and their children. The Bubble-Verse, or the bubble universe, is perfectly closed in upon itself, and maintains cohesion along its perimeter of minimal size. It admits nothing outside of itself. It is a paradigm of our economy. It is also a paradigm of our politics, intolerant of anything outside its thin bubble skin. The universe is the bubble and nothing outside. There is no law nor authority which exists outside the bubble, as in the investing bubble when so many people believed "It's ain't never gonna end!", for there were no external economic laws; the laws of the Bubble were the only laws extant, and those laws screamed endless growth. And so it is in politics, when we have seen people believe that History ( with a capital "H" ) had come to an end (i.e., there was nothing outside our bubble), and all history would be what America wished it to be! In essence, history was now the USA's bubble, and no one else's. I have not made this up. Francis Fukuyama said this.

Did not it occur to minds at the time a few years ago that this was terrifically similar to madness?! How did we get to a place where an educated man's ravings were actually construed as insight? How many mad men does it need to solve the energy situation? How long will it take them?

America

If someone were to ask you whether you love America, it would be quite logical to ask "Which America?" Do you mean the America that I and my neighbors create everyday from scratch; from getting up in the morning and going to work or school, trying to do our best, and coming home to eat, to recreate, to sleep? Do you mean America that has been created by the global media on tv, and by the special interests to which they are beholden? Do you mean America created by big, big business; not the small businesses, owned by individuals and people we know who try to make a profit and a living for their neighbors, but the Big Businesses which have grown up over the past century whose motives are profit alone? Do you mean America created by those people who cannot even conceive of some corporate objective other than profit alone? Do you mean America by the purveyors of violence, the minds afflicted by road rage and other rages, the priests of mayhem, the haters, the portrayers of hatred, and the children of the gun...of Columbine and Virginia Tech? Do you mean the America where religious freedom is guaranteed, where freedom of speech is guaranteed, and where a presidential candidate is slandered by the false imputation of religious affiliation?

Do you mean the America of the War Makers or the War Avoiders? Is it the America of Lincoln, where war is the last and most tragic resort, or is it the America of the past 6 years, where war for us is a picnic on a summer day on a blanket laid out on the green grass, and that same war is a blasted wedding party for those unavoidably in the way on the carpet of the bombs. Do you mean the America of Washington, of Lincoln? The America of Jesse Helms? Do you mean America of the churches of the beatitudes or that of the churches of Armageddon? Find your America, and love it.

South Of The Border

We have often kidded around, saying things like once certain people leave office, they may be arrested for war crimes and such. Just kidding, really. However, consider these: (the Barbara Bush referred to is the daughter of President Bush) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6688247.stm  
Washington diary: Nature v nation
By Matt Frei 
BBC News, Buenos Aires

  ...Then there is Luis D'Elia, the former secretary of land in the government of President Nestor Kirchner - before he was kicked out last November for being too radical. The war in Iraq has fuelled suspicions about Americans' motives He has turned out to be the Tompkins' most vocal opponent. "The Americans are in cahoots with the Pentagon which, as you know, is building an airbase across the border in Paraguay," he said. "And did you also know?," Mr D'Elia added, "that Barbara Bush came down the other day to buy 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of land in Paraguay?" A stocky man with an angry mien, he unfurls a huge map of Argentina in his office and points out all the pieces of "tierra gringa", the gringo lands, like a general pinpointing the enemy...




http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/IC14Dj04.html THE ROVING EYE What drives biofuel Bush? By Pepe Escobar ...Diversification rules. Oil is a thing of the past. Jeb Bush and his Brazilian Green Sheikh pals are in to make a lot of money. And for a bit of R&R, retired George W can always count on the 100,000-hectare ranch daughter Barbara bought last year in the Paraguayan chaco. It may not be the green, green grass of home, but it certainly beats Fallujah.

http://paraguayparakeet.blogspot.com/2008/03/bushes-and-moons.html Monday, March 3, 2008 The Bushes and the Moons By Ken Layne Mar 2nd 2008 8:30PM Even zealot right-wingers trying to debunk the story only manage to solidify the secret dealings. George W. Bush's seven years in the White House have fueled all kinds of terrible, paranoid conspiracies -- and the greatest, weirdest Bush Conspiracy is the "Exile To Paraguay" tale. The story goes like this: George W. Bush and/or George H.W. Bush bought hundreds of thousands of acres in Paraguay, adjoining a similar spread owned by the Unification Church's Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Both massive parcels are hidden within a remote South American wilderness atop the world's biggest freshwater aquifer adjoining a secret U.S. military airbase. All proven to be true. Oh, and there's a special non-extradition law to protect the Bush/Moon families as they enjoy their old age and run drug/weapons smuggling rings, safe from American justice...

This was all news to me - ranches next to Reverend Moon ranches and Paraguay !! of all places...one may as well don some false whiskers and change one's name to Eichmann or Mengele and go into hiding - and came about as I was looking into the following: The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis Internal World Bank study delivers blow to plant energy drive Aditya Chakrabortty Friday July 4 2008 Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body... Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush. "It would put the World Bank in a political hot-spot with the White House," said one yesterday.

Sometimes.... The older I get, the less I understand the things men usually say; the commonplace things. You would think common observations and what not would sort of contain a pure kernel of truth of some sort, admittedly it may be a nonsensical truth, but truth none the less. Something like "Hot enuf fer ya?". Surely this contains a basic truism related to heat and comfort and the uneasy proximity of two individuals constrained to conversation.
Well, I was reading about some observations about God, existence thereof, yea or nay. I was reading that God's existence is often called into question when people stand in the killing fields of our times, looking around at the desolation and destruction, they ask "Where was God when all this was going on?" Why just the killing fields? Is it the blatant nature of their horror? Is not the starvation of many also blatant, also horrific? When elected leaders cause the prices of food to rise so high that people may no longer afford it, is that not a horror? Yet, this horror, even though it is capable of immediate remedial action, will not be remedied, because there already is a large lobby funding its continued existence. The best we can do now, believe it or not, is to try to achieve some sort of modus vivendi where biofuels are still subsidized,and the people who need food may need a subsidy, too.

We will probably continue this until it falls apart, then do something else. In our political lives, we cannot perceive truth or falsity in a moral sense. I have already spoken of this recently in the article on Moral Relativism. There is nothing we like so much as to speak of morality and propound truthes about it.
BUT, our talk of morality...of responsibility, of culpability, of truth and falsehood...of Good and Evil...
It all comes down to: "Hey! Moral enuf fer ya?"

Urban Unicorn

An urban unicorn, very rare. Unfortunately, for all its celebrity and rareness and endangered-species-ness, it still gets very low gas mileage and will probably not be around much longer!

Our Lives In The Bush Of Ghosts: 10

(Intro Note: Amos Tutuola wrote a novel entitled "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts", hence my title.He meant a bushy terrain; I mean a person named Bush.)

The photo above is the Gas Station at the corner in the Bush of Ghosts.

Edward Hopper had a mystically beautiful painting of a gas station, titled "Gas". It is a gas station out in the "bush", a rural setting. In Quebec, we would say "au buisson".

You may clearly see how the years leading to the Bush of Ghosts has changed things around here.

Al Qa'ida And The Coming Attack On Iraq !!

"Sandstorm in Baghdad - take 4!"

Qa ' ida means "base", such as a foundation upon which something stands, or a large structure, such as a military base. There is acute irony in the controversy between the Administration and Mr. Maliki about the Bush desire for 50 permanent bases in Iraq, or 50 "qawa'id" - the plural of "qa'ida" (emphasis on the bold italic syllable). see: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JG26Ak01.html It also makes manifest the terrific lies about our desire to spread democracy to the Iraqi people, when we really want a client state totally dependent on us. When I hear someone of this Administration say "spread...democracy", I immediately think of the Vice President and his bully boys thrusting Dame Democracy against an alley wall and growling "Spread 'em !". Too bad we chose a place where there's a preponderance of Arabs. There's always a chance that a bunch of freedom-loving Arabs will turn "falluja" on us, and our heads will always lie uneasily upon our pillows of hegemony. Personally, instead of "qa'ida" I prefer the word "qa'da". Now "qa'da" means something where something is planted in the sense of "backside", "seat", "buttocks", "posterior", or keester. I think that if we were to ask Mr. Maliki for 50 "qa'da", or 50 "backsides", the conversation would be a lot more jolly. Even my hero Admiral Fallon wants Iraq to lie prone for a century or so. This is probably due to the imminent threat of 5,000 bearded supporters of Osama bin Laden crossing the border and attacking Baghdad. 50 bases is a lot. They would require men and material, and they would cost a good deal. I believe what we are seeing is the opera The Military-Industrial Complex Triumphant as described by President Eisenhower, libretto by Richard Cheney. Therefore, I believe that at this point, an attack on Iran is not what we should expect. Rather, I think we should expect another US atack on Iraq !! This would be a scenario that perfectly fits in to the Never-never-land of 21st century America: a series of attacks on Iraq, a daisy chain of Shock 'n Awe events, if you will, until the outcome is right. A whole series of petty Armageddons! A Falluja following upon Falluja; an Anbar awakening upon Anbar awakening, with a whole series of Abu Rishas rising and falling. This would be a big strain on the Department of Enemy Identification, the arm of government which creates the enemy profiles of the villain du jour for the American public. I am sure they are up to it. In fact, I have heard it whispered that Nouri Al Maliki is a real, real bad guy !

My Niece

is in Venice, or Venezia, as the Italians call it (she sez).

She takes photos at an unusual angle, sort of as if her name were "La Torre di Pisa". Perhaps it is the vino.

Welcome To 21st Century America

There are two elderly people I know who are well advanced in years and are thinking of some sort of assisted living. Well, they cannot really sell their $ 700,000 house to pay for it. Never mind that it's down to $610,000 now. There IS...NO......MARKET ! Stick it out a few more years, you old octogenarians. And a tip of the Republican Party Top Hat to ya! Alan Greenspan sends his best!

Marx?

Can anyone tell me why the picture of young Karl Marx I used a few days ago makes me think of Alexander Pushkin everytime I look at it? I swear that someone in the Department of Old Things may have gotten the rotogravures mixed up.

Comments

I received a nice comment. It makes one think about what one actually is writing. I went back and read some of this stuff and shuddered. Then I went to the peace fasting poetry site( http://peace-weaving.blogspot.com/) and went into a coma of sorts. One should always give one's best, be at the top of one's game, so to speak. Otherwise, be silent.

John Hagee And Joseph Lieberman

Joseph Lieberman apparently addressed a convention of the believers in the religion created by John Hagee. It must have been a sight. This country enshrined the separation of church and state in its foundations. This meant that the USA was not a country based on a given religion, but that the USA created the freedom for anyone to practice their religion. So it is with Hagee and his odd amalgam of beliefs which he terms Christianity, a fact that makes most of us cringe when we hear it. And Joseph Lieberman is entitled to do any fool dern thing he wants. It's a free country.

Hari Seldon Speaks!

Hari Seldon

note: I used a photo of Asa Kasher to represent Hari Seldon.

Actually, it is Henry Liu, but Professor Seldon would have agreed: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JG22Dj06.html Debt capitalism self-destructs By Henry C K Liu In a period of less than a year, what had been described by US authorities as a temporary financial problem related to the bursting the housing bubble has turned into a fully fledged crisis at the very core of free-market capitalism. A handful of analysts have been warning for years that the wholesale deregulation of financial markets and the wrong-headed privatization of the public sector during the past two decades would threaten the viability of free-market capitalism. Yet ideological neoliberal fixation remain firmly imbedded in US ruling circles, fertilized by irresistible campaign contributions from profiteers on Wall Street, methodically purging regulatory agencies of all who tried to maintain a sense of financial reality. This ideology of "market knows best" has allowed the nation to slip into an unsustainable joyride on massive debt giddily assumed by all market participants, ranging from supposedly conservative banks, investment banks and other non-bank financial institutions, to industrial corporations, government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and individuals...

OK! UFA!

As recipient of the "OK! UFA!" medal, which is shown over on the right column, I am under obligation to run some pictures of UFA history. Hence, Fritz Lang, director of Metropolis, Dr. Mabuse, et al.

Moral Relativism 2

Referring to http://fatherdaughtertalk.blogspot.com/2008/07/moral-relativism.html , it has been pointed out to me that Israeli children have been killed by Arab terror, and one may peruse the iconography of dead Israeli kids.

Well, well. How did that escape me? I must be getting old, I suppose. Anyhow, Morality is not setting up examples and counter-examples; not debate nor forensics; not endless argument and the rule of vendetta.

IF we cannot escape the prison wherein we endlessly commit crimes and spend our days measuring our crimes to those of our enemies, we will never attain any glimpse of Morality, be it absolute or relative.
Morality, absolute or relative, forbids the way we act in the present day: Anyone who has seen the Absolute...or the Great Relative, if you will...will be changed !!!! Those who speak of morality today are not changed beings; they are nothing but word-jugglers, jongleurs des paroles. The words may change, the arguments may change, but the souls remain the small, cramped things that flourish in the 21st century.
--

Intelligent Design: A Decoy !

I published a post on Intelligent Design ( ID ) a few days ago and received a comment on it. I receive so few comments that I was in my usual state of consternation over it. However, it turned out to be a wordy endorsement of the commentor's own idea of Creationism in 7 easy textbooks. I even responded to it as if it were someone attempting to communicate with me, rather than someone who had scanned the net for every occurence of "ID" or "Intelligent Design" and posted a hearty self-endorsement to each site where those words occurred. This post is a decoy to see whether we can put on our "deerstalker" hats and sit in the dark and entice the ID deer into our headlights. Intelligent design, intelligent design, intelligent design, hoo-ha, intelligent design.... ...oxymoronic and strange logic: ID, ID,id,intel design, intelligent design.

There. If you are a rural type green thumb or gardener, you will know that my trap is so complete that all the coyote urine in the world will not dissuade the "deer" from browsing amongst our "plants".

Obama's Marxism

Karl Marx at the University of Berlin

The great mind of Senator Liebermann posed the question a while back whether Barack Obama was a Marxist. The nerve of Liebermann. As we watch the creation of and salvation of financial institutions deemed "too big to fail", we are viewing first hand the amalgamation of Government and Business. It will be a short step from the taxpayers bailing out Bear Sterns to the taxpayers essentially owning Bear Sterns. It has been said thaty one becomes one's enemy. The USA is becoming the USSR. Barack Obama's Socialism will be a measure of how far he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors in the US Government. (ps: I know you wanted that picture of the old Marx with the full beard. Too bad.)

Dear Montag:

I love your writing. Sincerely, Dorothy Kilgallen

GOP RIP

Let the Republican Party die the death it deserves. It is the party which has tried to destroy America with greater energy than Al Qaida ever conceived of using, because it had access to the inner recesses of power where it burrowed in to do its dirty work. Vote it into oblivion.

Christian Country

I have heard that the USA is a Christian country. You have got to be kidding! The only thing the USA and Christianity have in common is that the Sermon on the Mount is the holy water that flows off the USA's duck-like back. That is about it.

Intelligent Design Is The Faith Of The Anti-Christ

...or what you will. Intelligent Design, or ID, is a heresy perfectly evolved to fit into the late 20th and early 21st century. It has the external carapace of science, allowing it entry into academia, yet its proponents have the wings of believers, allowing it entry into religious groups. In both areas it is parasitic and harmful. ID is a perversion of religious doctrine, warped by a pseudo-scientific jargon and pedalled on the street corner near schools where there are innocent minds.

I saw: http://www.reason.com/news/show/127549.html
Debating evolution and intelligent design at FreedomFest 2008
Let me begin by acknowledging that the Discovery Institute website states: "Unlike creationism, the scientific theory of intelligent design is agnostic regarding the source of design and has no commitment to defending Genesis, the Bible or any other sacred text." So far so good. 
If ID were not agnostic, it would be idolatrous polytheism, setting up more than one divine being. If ID is agnostic, it is another claim that agnosticism is an acceptable attitude, which I deny.
Agnosticism is the spiritual equivalent of Depression. In short, either ID is pernicious to religion, or it is an unwanted intruder into science, whose intrusion must be justified by an emphasis on the validity of the ignorance of the Holy. Only in America could such nonsense pass for science, religion, or even pseudo-science. Never forget that it was in America that Eugenics made its unholy entrance into the world, and certain people in Germany learned its doctrines from us. Freedom of Speech and Thought without any clue to the moral law is fraught with peril.

Moral Relativism

I am a Moral Absolutist. However, I am not one whom you have met before. I do not believe in talking and talking and talking, so much so that, happily, time runs out, the bell rings, and we escape the classroom without actually having to act morally. Case in Point: go look at 3 Quarks Daily http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2007/10/post.html In Memory of Iman Al-Hams, On the Third Anniversary of Her Murder October 08, 2007 This is another of what I call my Palestinian bookmarks; a picture of a child shot dead that I use to spot articles on Palestine when I am scanning RSS feeds written in Arabic. Since my Arabic walks on one leg, I use these bookmarks to speed things up: see some skirmishing, you might have an article about Palestine, but it could also be about Egypt or Iraq or some other country; see a dead kid being carried in the street by a weeping parent, you have an article on Palestine!

It works quite well for me, and I am able to zero right in on the Palestinian articles without a hitch. Now the really, really interesting part of this is not the article itself. We have all read about children being shot, right? It is the comments that are precious. In the face of The Immoral, there should be no room for quibbling and casuistry, one would think. But no, the truly Immoral seems never to be able to be confronted, so we never are able to shut up and save our breath for condemnation. There is an unending flow of the various shades of meaning and justification and injunctions to read the truly true and the really real. If the Immoral can never be confronted and be known for what it is, then the Moral can never be confronted and known. Hence, there can be no knowledge of Absolute Morality. How can anyone believe in absolute moral standards when one is always chattering on like a magpie about them? People who present themselves as moral absolutists and condemn the lax values of so-called moral relativism are people who will talk while children die and they will give speeches while genocide is perpetrated. As I said before, I am a Moral Relativist, but I am one whom you have never met before.

Smallville Democracy

Everytime the President has wished to crush someone or to steal something from someone, he has always spoken in the jargon of "democracy", as in "exporting democracy" to some benighted corner of the globe which was suffering hideously and needed a shot of good old free marketry to bring it around. Pure nonsense. If Democracy were exportable, we would have made a "Bubble" out of it and gotten out of the present economic malaise. Democracy is people with self-respect and pride and self-assurance. It is people used to running their own lives. It is the small city-states of ancient Greece, a myriad hodge-podge of independent and stubborn units who famously would act in concert only after the greatest effort. Their independence, although celebrated, has often been bemoaned by the latter-day Western Geopolitical Media and Speakers: had they only created some sort of federal union, they may have resisted Alexander and Rome itself! Right. And why exactly would resisting Rome be so great? To resist Rome, one has to be like Rome; i.e., an overbearing pagan empire run by slavery! No thank you. Some fates are worse than death. When the USSR fell apart, I asked the question when would it be the USA's turn? At the time, everyone thought that USA won and got the gold medal at the Cold War Olympics, but to me it seemed the USA had lost its way and felt insecure having lost its vision that existed since World War II: save the world from Evil in every form, and make a profit while we did so.

The USA did not feel comfortable in a peaceful world. Now, as I watch the USA create bonds between the government and supposedly free market institutions that are deemed "too big to fail", I am indeed reminded of the USSR where the State owned and controlled the realm of finance. Our biggest threat now lays ahead of us: whether we shall continue down the road where institutions are "too big to fail", and thus become part of the assets of government, or whether we maintain free markets and democratic institutions. Keep in mind that Nazi Germany was an amalgam of State, Corporations, Church, and Ideology. The participants are always present, but the mind set that allows the individuals of the amalgam to lose their individuality and be melded together is eeriely present today, whereas it would have been hard to discern as recently as 10 years ago. Senator Phil Gramm's infamous banking reform was a harbinger of this situation. At the time of its passage, critics correctly and presciently pointed out that it ensured that any future banking problems would be IMMENSE and countrywide, nay world wide; there would no longer be such a thing as regional banking problems. Of course, wide spread banking problems existed in the past, but the future was to see globalized banking problems. The larger the network and the more connected, the greater the risk of concommitent failures. There are no managerial skills extant to handle the Banking Dinosaurs that have been created in this new Jurassic age; none, that is, other than intervention by the State. There are asteroids, however, on the way, one of which, Sub Prime alpha, has already impacted the Earth. It is being followed by others. Democracy is not immense, it is small. It is individuals and families. The bigger democracy becomes, the more it begins to resemble autocracy. The idea of spreading democracy by the agency of a nation whose military budget is greater than the next five largest nations' budgets combined is palpable nonsense. You may spread authoritarianism and globalized slavery, but you cannot spread democracy:

YOU MUST INSPIRE DEMOCRACY!

Clausewitz's Lies

Clauswewtiz said that war is a continuation of policy by other means, or we are merely exchanging talks for bombings, as if the subcutaneous introjection of metal objects into the bodies of young men were nothing more than an alternative to other stratagems. This is a lie, but it is a big lie, a whopper, actually, and we have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker, as we of western civilization have swallowed so many other big lies. War is complete dysfunctionality. War is hell. The embrace of the way of violence, particularly that embraced by the USA in the years following World War II, is a vile embrace, an embrace that soils those whom it encompasses.

Smart Money Backs The President

That is, the smart money is betting on the fact that by the time the honorable George W. Bush leaves office, the national debt will have climbed to $10 trillion. http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/07/update-10-trillion-man.html Update: The $10 Trillion Man? If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would argue that the Republican Party conspired to destroy the USA.

Hancock Time

I saw the film "Hancock" last night.
During the period of ingesting food stuffs before the film, some of the crowd spoke of seeing the film "Contempt", which perked me up considerably, since I had seen it 2 years ago in Toronto. I may have written about it. Brigitte Bardot was in it, as well as Fritz Lang.

One viewer said that some reviewer or critic said that it was supposed to be some sort of parallel to Odysseus:  Odysseus= Bardot's husband and Penelope = Bardot herself, and the suitors of Penelope=Jack Palance as a film producer. Fritz Lang was- get this! - a surrogate for the Greek Chorus.

I did not remember this parallelism. I only remembered the fellow who embraced Bardot had hairy shoulders. I recalled "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?" and said the parallelisms were a bit more obvious. The main thing I recalled from "Contempt" was
1. Brigitte Bardot, and
2. thinking how terribly bored I was by the end.

There were numerous shots of Greek statues and some classical mythic voguing, which was Godard's early way of nudging you in the side and asking whether you got the punch line.

Back to "Hancock". It jarred you at the beginning, lulled you into belief and interest by the middle, but by end game it's muse had become jaded from living too fast and the story frantically looked around for an escape route. It was, if anything in my life, the perfect summary of Sartre's "Huis Clos", or "No Exit", showing us that hell is Dali and Tanguey and Arp and DuChamp for an intial idea, Turner and Hooper and Benton for the development up to the mid-point, and a re-hash of Francis Bacon and a pale imitator of Tyree Guiton for the end.

However, this being said, it is time for heroes. The heroes are us. I saw pictures straight out of the 1930's of people in California moshing the front door of an IndyMac bank, having the police sicced on 'em by the heartless bankers. Well, I told you so. Last night, a friend said a wealth "mis"manager predicted the Dow to go to 10,500 as a low. Of course, I began braying like a donkey, telling the story of how I told my daughter what the Dow Industrial Average would go to in August, 2007; writing down "10,500" on a slip of paper and giving it to her.

Indeed, everything I have been writing about has come to pass. I am not quite sure what I am going to do with this blog. I can say that we are being called upon to be heroes. As soon as the mainstream media became aware to the extent of the damage, my outlook suddenly changed. I guess I am born and bred a contrarian.
Heroes do not tune in cable tv to watch foreign peoples being bombed by their "smart" bombs. Heroes do not lie about war, do not create false stories to create chances for death. Heroes do not ignore their responsibilities and allow all governmental regulation: financial, airline, EPA, investment, etc. to be ignored. Heroes don't lie. They don't cheat. They don't steal resources.

Heroes help the weak, the poor, the meek, the pure of heart. We have 2 possible branching paths: we step into the hero suit, like Hancock; we throw away our addictive lusts: greed, violence, sex, alcohol, drugs... and we become the heroes we should be. Else, we will spend eternity in a mosh pit in front of a Hadean IndyMac Bank where the demon master Mozilo wields the whip.

Angelo Mozilo giving the Vulcan sign for "Live Long In Debt Slavery!"

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1000th Post: Millstone Or Milestone?

The Sword Is Mightier Than The Pen?

According to authorities, this is the 1,000th post, which is a milestone or a milliarium, a stone marking the 1,000th pace...a milestone. Perhaps "millstone"? Or it could be milliar+something for a Latin adjective for 1,000. "Millenial" does not work, since the "-en-" in "millenial" comes from the Latin word for "year", or "annus". Notice there are 2 letters "n" in "annus", not merely 1. This reminds me of a time when I had checked a book out from the library titled " The Mathematical Basics of Stochastical Analysis in Economics". As is usual, I was dilatory in reading and the book became overdue. When I brought it into the library to pay my fine, the librarian seemed to display a sense of unease and an unusual tongue-tied way of speaking. I was certain that I was not imagining it. It struck me odd that a librarian, a personage whom all consider to be at a certain level of erudition, as well as being used to bossing library patrons and children around the stacks, should never be at a loss for words, so to speak. Certainly never so befuddled as to allow a malaprop like myself to appear to be Cicero in comparison to themselves. After I had left the library, I checked my receipt and discovered the source of everything: the library print-out had truncated the title of the book in question to

The Mathematical Basis of Stochastic Anal...

and I laughed at the idea of the prim and proper librarian suddenly confronted by a patron with a book seemingly devoted to mathematical probability theory as well as R. Kelly.

I imagined her scurring about after my departure, starting inquiries into why such a book had been ordered in the first place, and what would have happened had a young child picked it up.

I have had other run-ins with librarians.

I recall distinctly wanting to read William Shirer's "Last Train from Berlin" and thereby drawing to myself the steely and icy stare, followed by the frosty inquiry as to whether I actually could want to read such a book.

In my perfect memory, where I am quick and witty, as well as good-looking, I answer somewhat like Stewie Griffin, "Do you recommend the Children's Garden Of Fascism, dear lady?"

However, I did not. I mumbled assent, more embarrassed by my desire to learn than had I stood there with my buttons undone......or my fly open, as you say nowadays.

In my day, too much reading or a reading too widely, was frequently looked upon as a bad sign for boys. I remember reading after dark by the night light in the bathroom, sitting on the tile floor and reading...well, I'll say Dante, but it was probably Howdy Doody or Tintin.

Regardless, too much reading was definitely a scaramouchian enterprise, a petty spiritual brigandage, and my entire childhood and puberty was a tale that could have been penned by Rafael Sabatini.

Thus, I entered into my immature roguishness by steps, willy-nilly, desirous to drink large, Falstaffian draughts of those pleasures which that quondam society measured out in niggardly drams.

In that same library, I came across Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men.

This created in me a desire to see God.

This book created my love for God, by freeing me from the infantile notions of religion I hitherto held.

For me, Stapledon brought me into line with Saint Paul, letting me put aside the things of a child. The process was not perfect, but if it had been perfect, it probably would have come to an end right then and there.

Rafael Sabatini

Before A Fall

It has been written that Pride goes before a fall. It has been verified once again: Shock 'n Awe ! Perhaps the most arrogant and foolish entry into the horrors of war ever seen by a long history of fools and charlatans. Such arrogance usually extends through to other areas: greed, acquisitiveness, power. A society so corrupted will look kindly on every hubris, on every arrogant grasp beyond what is human and humane. This was our country. It no longer is for many. For those who are still arrogant, it will be burnt from them. The rest of us will weather the storm. The storm is passing, and may pass quicker now than appears. Suddenly everyone is smart, everyone sees the danger we have been writing about for years. As usual, they see with the eyes of men accustomed to lust for power and money and are misled. They are always wrong in the long-term. The crimes were done in the past; the tortures, the arrogance, the greed, the stupidity of the powerful seeking to enlarge their already enormous trough:

Die Welt ist Meiner Trog

or, the World is My Trough. What we see now is the aftermath, the clean up that the rest of us must do. I perceive something better coming, coming fast, but our hearts must change. Each heart that changes will be saved.

Change Is Coming

I can feel it. We have a good future ahead of us. Meditate on it.

Wedding Bell Blues

According to the records, the US forces in Afghanistan have wiped out at least 4 wedding parties since December, 2001. The damage included brides, grooms, guests, wedding singers, musicians, children, and anyone else unluckily enough to be in the way. In fact, Hamid Karzai's government has just conlcuded an investigation in to the latest incident of wedding party mistaken for Osama and company. This incident occurred on July 6, 2008, and for two days the US Army insisted the people targeted were insurgents and Taliban, not a wedding party. Now they admit the mistake. Remember how we reacted to 9/11? I'm sure the Afghanis are reacting the same to the bombing of innocent people. Heck of a way to wage a War against Terror. It seems more like a War to Encourage Terror. Read about it all at TomDispatch: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174954/collateral_ceremonial_damage and the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7504574.stm

ps: Wednesday, 10 April, 2002, 16:48 GMT 17:48 UK Afghan bombing 'most accurate ever' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/south_asia/1921614.stm ...Despite the claims of extraordinary accuracy the US bombing campaign did produce a number of high profile errors in which Afghan civilians and US troops were killed.

Old Timers

Hank Jakobowski finally had gotten so sick of my "whining" about what is wrong with America that he accused me of hating America. I took this seriously. Now I do not take it seriously when my mother says that I hate America, because I know she watches FOX news all day long and listens to Rush Limbo (How low can you go?) when she drives. (Yes, she still drives.) Therefore, for her to say that so-and-so hates America is merely her way of homage to, say, Bill O'Reilly, and other Teppichfressers ( "carpet chewers" ) on cable TV who have studied forensic debate along the line of argumentum ad hominem: attack the personality of the person with whom you are debating. (She would like to say I was a draft dodger when we argue, but she cannot. Nor can she talk about my service since we were "intel" in a locale, long ago and far away......but not that long ago.) Hank does not watch FOX TV. He watches nothing but sports and shows with "dames" and "dolls", preferably in bikinis He only bought a TV in the first place because he had heard it called "the Boob Tube." We have spoken of the Presidency and made metaphorical statements about it: Prez as Commander in Chief, Prez as CEO, Prez as Law Officer...you get the picture. I immediately replied, "I love America, but I really hate this director's cut !"

What Kind Of Nation Would Allow Itself To Be Ruled By Madmen?

We once famously asked in the years following the end of the evil regime in Germany in 1945. From Tom Dispatch http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174953/why_cheney_won_t_take_down_iran Reality Bites Back Why the U.S. Won't Attack Iran By Tom Engelhardt wherein we find: An "unnamed Administration official" -- generally assumed to be Karl Rove -- famously put it this way to journalist Ron Suskind back in October 2004: "[He] said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors.... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'" Now that's one fine madness. And...it certainly reminds me of some of the nonsense old Kaiser Willy used to say; he and some of his successors as leaders of Germany. We have been led and ruled by madmen for at least 8 years; totally corrupt, for their absolute power has corrupted them absolutely. What kind of nation would allow itself to be ruled by madmen? The answer is: a nation whose fondest aspirations and dreams closely approximate the madness of those madmen. In sum, a nation whose view of reality is so skewed that it is lunatic.

ps:

Wednesday, July 02, 2008 The Abyss Has Drilled Fracking Laser Holes in Our Skulls with Its Stare... Shrillblog The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of “coercive management techniques” for possible use on prisoners, including “sleep deprivation,” “prolonged constraint,” and “exposure.”

What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners. ...other techniques used by the Chinese, including “Semi-Starvation,” “Exploitation of Wounds,” and “Filthy, Infested Surroundings,” and with their effects: “Makes Victim Dependent on Interrogator,” “Weakens Mental and Physical Ability to Resist,” and “Reduces Prisoner to ‘Animal Level’ Concerns.” The only change made in the chart presented at Guantánamo was to drop its original title: “Communist Coercive Methods for Eliciting Individual Compliance”...

Phil Gramm And Zero-Sum End-Game

Former Senator Phil Gramm should be brought to justice for his conspiracy to undermine the US financial system during his tenure in the US Senate. A trial in a baseball stadium somewhere in Cuba might be in order. UPDATE: Brad DeLong http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/ Every Time I Try to Crawl Out, They Pull Me Back in! Fannie's and Freddie's troubles make it more and more clear that the financial-market deregulation agenda of the late 1990s that Phil Gramm spearheaded was a more serious mistake than almost of any of us realized back at the time... Phil Gramm, however, knew exactly what he was up to. He was an agent of disaster, whether he actively willed it or not is not the point. But I think he actively was engaged in the destruction of the wealth of the majority of the populace in order to maximize the wealth of a minority. In other words, Phil Gramm and the Rich were playing the game as if it were zero-sum; i.e., winner take all, and not some variation such as "Help thy neighbor". Getting tired of the game, they decided to facilitate the process of getting to end-game quickly, which they did.

DeLong On Fannie Mae

Quite good: http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/07/paul-masons-pri.html Paul Mason's Primer on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac July 12, 2008

The Fearful Symmetry

There is an article in World War 4 Report on the parallels between John Haggee and President Ahmadinejad. I always thought the parallels were so obvious that it required no comment, but the millenial aspirations of both of them may be hidden from us by the normal news coverage, which often serves better to enflame, while failing to illuminate. http://www.ww4report.com/node/5717 JOHN HAGEE AND MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD: FEARFUL SYMMETRY by Bill Weinberg, Israel e-News

The Irish Interview

President Bush was interviewed by Carol Coleman of Radio Television Ireland in 2004.
The video is on the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-cohen/bushs-banned-interview-an_b_111804.html

It is also on YouTube, probably under the interviewer's name or RTE One ( Radio Television Eire, perhaps?) or Radio Television Ireland.

President Bush speaks as if he were a teenager. This may be due to his absolute contempt for the intelligence of other beings, instead of a fault of his own. It is hard to tell. Regardless, the best part is early on.

President Bush says Saddam Hussein was a bad, bad guy: he had torture rooms! Then there is a story of how a large group of gentlemen had their right hands chopped off and "X"s inscribed into their foreheads, because there was inflation in Iraq. This entire group was gathered together and somehow flown out of Iraq and fitted up with prostheses on the right arms. Then they were presented to the President.

At this point, Ms. Coleman intervenes to cut off this Chalabian fantasy, somewhat irking the President, who soon comes back with the statement that:

"He (Saddam) wouldn't disarm!"

after being so instructed by the UN.
It is a macabre comedy.

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The Simultaneous Death Of Senator Helms And His Party

The Economist has an article on Senator Helms, and you would do well to read it: http://www.economist.com/obituary/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11701805 Jesse Helms Jul 10th 2008 From The Economist print edition Jesse Helms, a conservative American, died on July 4th, aged 86 The dark side of conservatism is illustrated in Mr. Helm's life. It is this dark side that turns everything to trash: economics as envisaged by Ronald Reagan turns into that of Senator Phil Gramm, foreign policy turns into launching a war by greasing the skids with lies, intelligence operations become torture... ...and the White House itself resounds to the fevered whispers of conspirators who discuss the types and times and effects of torture. The Republican Party is dead. Good. That is why Limbaugh was on the cover of the NY Times Magazine: his obit and his $400 million dollar send off. As previously mentioned, it presaged an end-of-times event of some nature, being the abomination of desolation in the holy place type of whatziz. Now we have to live through the upheaval of its dying pangs.

Kommt die Kristolnacht

Faust's Pact With Mephisto ( the devil )

or

America's Pact With Lobbyists, Domestic And Foreign

I use William Kristol as a paradigm of misguided opinion, a neo-conservative writer of shallow understanding and hubritic designs. The coming US Economic Storm is in good part due to such folk as William Kristol...and such imbecilic institutions as The New York Times that employ him. When your leaders spend more time focusing on what is good for Israel as they have been informed by AIPAC, rather than focusing on their fellow countrymen, when they spend more money being consumed in foreign wars, rather than investing in America, when they allow their native keen understanding to atrophy into ignorance and need the viagra of monied interests and lobbysist to spark their wit, when you have Teppichfressers like Kristol baying at the moon, while the planet goes to hell in a handbasket, then comes the neue Kristallnacht, die Kristolnacht, wohin lebt der Geist der stehts verneint. (the new crystal-night, the Kristolnacht, where lives the always-negating Spirit!)

note: Teppichfresser is a person who chew rabidly on the edges of carpets; i.e., a raving madman.

The Abomination Of Desolation Standing In The Holy Place

Rush Limbaugh on the cover of last week's New York Times Magazine.

From Rio

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1859434151968725921

Let's Elect Another Madman

On Monday, John McCain, in a question-and-answer session with voters, seemed to question the entire premise of Social Security as we understand it. He said: "Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that’s a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace, and it’s got to be fixed." By any standard, this statement ought to make news. The funding mechanism to which McCain objects—“paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers”—constitutes the basic principle of the Social Security program since its inception. Welcome to America in the 21st Century! http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/mccain_vs_accuracy_round_17.php ps: do we detect more of Phil Gramm's economics here?

Clerks

I like the film "Clerks", but insist on pronouncing it "clahhrks". I pronounce "Dante" as Dante, however, and "Randal" as something else, as if I were working in "My Beautiful Laundrette" with Daniel Day-Lewis.

America And China

Fisher Body Plant 21

'Tent City is proof that Reagan's daydream for America was wrong.'

The UK's Telegraph has a series on America and China, the death of a dream and the creation of a new dream. The second part is here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/07/05/sm_america05.xml

Why Is Oil So Expensive?

If you ever heard of Peak Oil, then consider than oil may indeed have peaked or be very near to doing so, regarless of all the drilling in the habitat of endangered species you may do. In such a situation, would not the Oil people, the OPEC countries, Exxon, Amoco, et allii of the oil producing industries, George Bush, and all of his ilk...would it not be in their interests to max out profits starting right now, continuing for the next few years or so, until other sources of energy have taken over from increasingly declining oil? Of course they would. Did they? Or, are they doing so right now? Exclusive: Ex-UK Army Chief in Iraq Confirms Peak Oil Motive for War; Praises Fraudulent Reconstruction Programmes Tuesday, June 17, 2008 http://nafeez.blogspot.com/ read the section World Oil Shortage

Is John Haggee The Anti-Christ?

He's not really intelligent enough, try as he will. He is more like the Trashcan Man.

Minneapolis-St.Paul Gears Up For The Republican Convention

photo: Los Angeles Times

Anime North 2008

Anime North held its convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada sometime previous to today. Here are some pix. I wasn't there, so do not look for me in the background.

Gun Control

I support owning guns. You must have noticed. I have mentioned it a number of times. In order to have a militia, the people have a right to bear arms. We fought against the tyranny of King George and secured our freedom. Had we no guns, were the king the only one to have the right to keep and bear arms, we would be Brits even now. We fought against and largely exterminated the treacherous redksins who infested our land. Had we no guns, we'd all be someone's mocassins. Killing is in our history. It is part of us, and we cannot and shall not give it up.

Memo To The Secretary Of State:

Dear Madam Secretary; No matter how often you repeat a lie, it gathers no truth, being akin to the rolling stone of proverbs , which gathers no moss. You state the administration's aim was to spread democratic institutions in the Middle East. If so, why lie about it? You do not spread democracy by invading a country. In our own American Revolution, in case you have forgotten, Americans fought the British. Although we had the support of the French, the French Army did not come over and do all the fighting. I have great respect for you, Madam Secretary. However, let us put an end to the lies. You must take honor from the good things you have done, and you must accept the fact that you have also done great harm to this country. It's tough. People like the rest of us have to live with our failures without the hope that future writers will turn them into, not failings, but some sort of misunderstood acts of brilliant geniuses!

PS: there is the problem of Madame Secretary as a sex criminal along with the others in the White House and many in the Pentagon. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/sex-crimes-in-the-white-h_b_111221.html

Robert Mugabe Sends His Greetings

Good vs. Evil

The Good Tries to Pierce the Present Darkness at Noon

A pretentious title, perhaps, but here goes: There was a leak last week about covert operations targeting Osama bin Laden in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and the result that the people in charge, and the White House, quite possibly, put an end to such plans. This resulted in Al Quaida being allowed to grow unmolested in Pakistan. This leak was obviously as response to the previous fortnight's discussion about the remark by Mr. Charles Black that a terrorist attack was be an immense boon to GOP chances in the upcoming election. It was obviously intended to take any such ill-begotten wind from the Republican Party's sail, for if such a terrorist attack were now to occur, all the Democrats would have to do is recall the fact that the powers that be forbade the operations against bin Laden. Where did Mr. Black get his info? Just surmise, I suppose. Surmise that is common knowledge among the bloodsuckers that pass for Republicans these days. Who knows what Cheney will do? Somebody at the Pentagon or CIA or FBI knows Cheney and what he is capable of. Therefore, they leaked this information to stop any possible enabling of terror on the part of Cheney's conservatives, and the bad actors who respond to his promptings. Similarly, Admiral Fallon's interview with Esquire magazine was not a mistake on his part. It was obviously a warning to the country at large. As expected, Admiral Fallon was removed from CentCom, and the "ass-kissing, little chicken shit" (Fallon's words) General Petraeus is in charge. Petraeus will not say no to Bush and Cheney. The leaking of the NIE report on Iran's nuclear activities was a similar blow against the evil tag team. The report had been held up for 9 months by Cheney, and it was only the threat of a leak of the entire report that dislodged it into the light of day. There are good men and women in the Government and the Military who are now actively opposing this government. These people are our heroes. This is one of the reasons I still believe there is a good reason George Bush may yet have to resign before January, 2009: he might allow himself once more to be wrongly influenced by the Cheney crowd, and lead this country into an even greater worsening of its situation. I think it very possible. The President has never allowed disagreement, so his view is that of a greedy and spoiled child. He has allowed himself to partake in the most outlandish flights of fantasy that eventuated in real life blood and horror. George Bush may do one more fatal mistake...and at that point there may be yet some of the good and decent people who will show him the door: either resign with honor, or be given the legal equivalent of the bum's rush.

photo von Das Kabinett