US Silence as the Violence Escalates

News that the United States abstained in the recent UN Security Council vote to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza is unsurprising given the strength of the Israeli position within the Bush Administration, but it should also be remembered that that very non-vote was a bright green light for the Israelis to ramp up their military efforts in Gaza, even as the suffering amongst innocent Palestinians grows by the day. As Andrew Sullivan points out today:

The chance of the PA [Palestinian Authority] establishing some post-war stability in Gaza certainly seems more remote. And the emergence of a poetntial terrorist training and recruiting ground in a failed and radicalized society in Gaza all the likelier. Friends and supporters of Israel should worry about this.

We should all worry about this. It's a reminder what blind ideological ambition gets us (remember those calls for democracy in the Middle East? That got us Hamas as the authority in the Gaza strip in the first place, tearing open our blatant hypocrisy for the world to see in our reaction), but more than that, the growing cost of war is everyday strengthening Hamas' post-invasion position, justifying their use of terrorism against the brutal Israeli oppressors.

I have sympathy for Israel and it's efforts. A country coming under constant rocket fire has an obligation to protect it's people. But here we see the damaging psychosis of modern war: as we move to suppress the violence with overwhelming force, we only breed more of it.

It all sounds strangely detached till you consider the lost children of the Samounis family and countless others who's deep and horrible wounds will only fester into radicalism once more.

Solving this crisis requires the moral resolve to push back against the justifiable anger of so many constituencies tangled in this quagmire and to point to the only real solution: creating infrastructure, opportunity and secular education to the people of Gaza and like regions throughout the developing and destroyed world.

Only then might we all emerge from the shadows of these bloody decades.


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B.ush S.upreme

Bush is the example of no political interest accumulated.

The deciding moment defines symptomatic behavior of parasitic nature,
because he was so obviously a corporate raider & oil price manipulator.

The extreme results focuses a larger agreement of who has to be held responsible for the changes that makes this country more socialistic than ever allowed. To make this a bigger injustice these victimizers will make us believe that it can be reversed. The only chance (for that) would be for The Supreme Court to declare as "unconstitutional" the propaganda style of totalitarianism Bush represented.
THEY should void their decision to give him access!

A Serious Start

Maybe it's just the turn of the tide.

Perhaps it's being through with 16 years of frivolity.

Or it could be our new Commander in Chief takes the job really, really seriously.

Whatever the cause, 2009 seems to be off to a serious start. There's no humor to be found in the horrific situation unfolding in Gaza, nor can we find much to laugh at in the absurdly high cost of additionaly taxpayer bailouts and deficits. While the Blago scandal gave me hope for hilarity in 2009, the joy quickly faded once I realized how little I cared about these narcissistic blowhards in relativity to the severity of the state of things.

I recently read a friend's Facebook status that said: "Free Palestine".

At first I tried to ignore it. Why even respond to such ignorance, I thought.

But as the day wore on; and as I kept coming back to Facebook (at least 75 times per day), the status remained and my bubbling frustration grew...

This was, after all, a Facebook status: meant to be read. Meant to be spread.

Why would someone post something about a situation so serious without offering serious thought? This is a serious year, after all.

I finally responded: "Where's Palestine?" To my knowledge, the sovereign nation of Palestine has not existed for sometime. I added "From what?" I suppose the implicit idea was that the Palestinians find themselves oppressed by Israel. Some people would certainly agree with that idea, but few would suggest that Israeli aggression is wholly unjustified in the face of constant terrorism. It seems the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict just can't be distilled in a single Facebook status. Who'd've thunk it?

Sorry, but I've had it with jingoism. "War on Terror", "Spreading Democracy", "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"; I'm not sure any of these has done us any good.

And while they all fit comfortably into a Facebook status, I'm not sure how much they contribute to our serious start in 2009.


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Oscar Grant

Rest In Peace

Only in America

Satire

depicting

Fear and

Ignorance

A rediscovery of self

I wrote this in response to a change that has come over me. In recent months, I have become so ugly, and angry, and bitter and callous and cruel! I have had not one nice word to utter, no kind smiles to bestow, and certainly not a warm hug or friendly kiss to share with loved ones. In fact, I'm shocked I still have "loved ones."

I've discovered something beautiful in the past week that I had forgotten about. Through the protests and the concerts and, of course, the Festival, I was introduced to so many good people that I'd never known before. I saw generosity in its purest form: people handing out box upon box of free, unopened water bottles to groups of protesters who had been tear gassed ; "free hugs," taken seriously and given earnestly in the middle of the night ; kind words exchanged between strangers ; a sense of true safety and security in the darkest, coldest, times of night because everyone knew that they were among friends.

It has reminded me that life is very much worth living, despite the sick, hard, dark, mean things that surround (and threaten to suffocate) humanity. I have been reminded that my purpose is humanity, is love, is freedom and peace for all. Forgiveness is not a privilege, not a "treat" to be handed out to the most enthusiastic trespasser – it is a way of life, a calm, peaceful state of mind that says, "the one who stole from me is the same one who stole from you, and from our fathers, and who will steal from our children – he is a sickness that has always plagued our people and always will, and the only cure is peace, and love, and forgiveness."

It was my hurt, which became my anger, which stole my heart, which was replaced by my cruelty, that suffocated my soul for all this time. And, it is YOUR love, which has become my forgiveness, which has restored my heart, which has replaced my cruelty, that has freed my soul again.

Hence, the poem "Magic." I do hope you enjoy.

Magic

And as glitter fell from the sky
Like particles of soul,
Or pieces of the sun,
And touched my glowing cheeks
And rained down into my mind
And dizzied my vision
And enchanted the beating of my heart,

And as the music played
And the children played
And the stars and the moon and the trees
Played together
All together, in the glittery midnight
And as the warmth of so much love
And so many bodies
And so many smiles
Came together in mass exaltation

And as the trees began to laugh
And the stars came out to watch
And the rain drip-drop tickled
The shining, upturned faces
Of the playing children

And as the kind, soft earth
Beneath clitter-clotter dancing feet
Sighed its slow, deep, kind approval
I looked around with soulful eyes
And they felt bigger than the sky
And took in more of my world
Than they could ever reach before

And I was loved.
And so began to love back.

Paine

Everyone Asking for a bail-out is
a contributor to socialistic design,
whether wittingly or not!
The attitude made Uniting States possible.

2009 B.C.

I'm a myth-whore. And the upcoming year in film has a lot to offer someone of my proclivity...

I've made the argument time and time again that should the theatre want to survive, it must locate the regional (and that's key) myths it can reinvent to tell the stories of today. Films are doing it as is evidenced from any number of contemporary examples like the extraordinary Pan's Labrynth, Children of Men, The Dark Knight, Wall-E and Sunshine; and while not regional (that would be antithetical to a film market), they exude the ancient archetypes and classic moral conflicts of Ovid and Homer.

Realism, for my money, should always be left to the cultural critics as they sift through the sad remnants of everyday life. Those of us tasked with telling stories get far more mileage out of the invited fiction our audience is willing to entertain.

The strength of all art lies in the imagination of those watching.

I can't wait to join in the fun in 2009.

Pictured Above: An image from Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, a film based on a much beloved children's book that I'm just about ready to pee my pants in anticipation for.


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Lessons

The way it is is not necessarily the way it should be

In kindergarten you learn that you can do anything
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"A princess."
"Good for you! You can do anything you put your mind to."

In high school you learn that to achieve, you must be educated
"Where are you going to school next year?"
"The U."
"Good for you! You'll do great things."

In real ife you learn that it doesn't always work that way
"What are you up to now?"
"Well, I'm working a lot and I hope to go back to school soon."
"Good for you! You still have time."

In time you learn to adapt
"You in school yet?"
"It's not looking good, but I hope to find a better job soon."
"Well, life isn't always easy. Best of luck to you."

Sometimes adaptation doesn't work
"Where are you living now?"
"With some friends. I'm hoping to get my own place soon."
"That sounds like fun."

After adaptation fails you, you learn to survive
"How do you plan on getting to work today?"
"I figure I can make it there and back, and then I don't know."
"At least you're still trying, though, right? Good for you."

Survival isn't easy, either
"Have you eaten today?"
"No, not yet, but my friend works at Pizza Hut and I figure I can get something later."
"Well if you ever need anything, let me know."

But you can't always "let them know"
"How're ya doin today?"
"Eh, I'm alright. Just truckin' along, you know."
"Good for you. Good for you."

Eventually you learn that to let them know is to sell yourself
"Oh, hey, I got that twenty bucks you needed!"
"Gee, thanks. I really do appreciate that, and I'll pay you as soon as I can."
"Oh, don't worry about it. What kind of person would I be if I couldn't help a friend in need?"

And then you learn that a sold soul is a pitied life, and you ask a child
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"A cowboy."
And you smile, and you say, "Good. Good for you."

And you eat your free pizza and you make it to work and you think
"One day I will."

The Big World

So tell me my man.......

are you happy here in the Big World?

.......Ruby Rod.......

Art imitates life

The Big Picture

"Major Marcel saw alien bodies. Two witnesses are cited who claim that Marcel briefly mentioned seeing bodies, one a relative and another a tech sergeant who worked with Marcel's intelligence team. Eyewitness accounts of the site from Gerald Anderson provided vivid descriptions of both a downed alien craft and four aliens, of which at least one was alive".

The Big Picture......is this......extraterrestrials are real, advanced life forms from other worlds, and yes they've been visiting our world for some time now........The Disclosure Project.

Some of the first photographs from the early lunar probes revealed unusual and unnatural structures that could only be explained as buildings and bases............Sgt. Karl Wolf.

During the Apollo missions, photographs were taken of the moon from the orbiting Command Modules.........analysis of these photographs reveal extensive evidence of purpose-build constructions in the form of buildings, facilities, and bases........Lunomaly Research Group.

Apollo 14 astronaut, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, confirms what many have long known......that the events at Roswell in 1947 did happen and that we are indeed being visited by beings from other worlds.......Fox News.

The Travis Walton experience is unequivocally the best documented case of alien abduction ever recorded.....they study us, like we study frogs in biology class.......Fire in the Sky.

Secret space based weapon systems can be seen through the telescope of John Lenard Walson.........John Lenard Walson.

Astounding ultraviolet video footage from NASA space missions show an unbelievable view of huge alien spacecraft in the film, "Dan Ackroyd-Unplugged on UFO's"........Trailer.

Conspiracy Theory?....................................it's not a theory.

Days Like These

As war tears through Gaza once again, like so many other places throughout the world, I'm reminded of how thankful I am to live in a world of internet news. Where should one chose it, full coverage is available to people who would like to know the full extent and devastation of warfare and its costs. I've written before about Howard Zinn's famous statement that should every war be viewed as a war against our neighbor's children, we would have far fewer. Today's news that a UN school was attacked and several dozen children were killed or injured only reinforces that claim.

I was struck today when I turned on the television to images of Roland Burris being denied his Senate seat as the Blago debacle continued to play out on Capital Hill. How pathetic. It's a shame on multiple levels; the most obvious being why is this news? Why should we care about this lest we live in Illinois? Why are the lives of children in Gaza or Somalia or the Sudan or Zimbabwe worth so much less than the hubris of this 71 year old narcissist and his cadre of losers? Additionally, I suppose, why are we spared the horror of wars not only of our own making but those of others? Should we not be collectively forced to confront the massacres unleashed by brutal military force (and those of Hamas-led missle attacks and other forms of terrorism)?

It seems on days like these our priorities are horribly confused. And when images like these are blasted across our laptops but not our televisions, something is most definitely wrong.


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Anon

Hi Boys 'n Girls,
My name doesn't matter but I am hetrosexual.
I collect porcelain plates and works of great fiction.
Do you come here often?
Lately, I have been thinking about humanity.
The shortest lived animal species so far?
I think we may find that we are.
Still, time takes time to drag while fingers rake tacky chalk marks on the blackboard of life. White birds on a dark background. Smoke on a flat sky.
Its all gone to shit hasn't it?
But when?
And where?
And who do we blame?






Silly question really.





There is only one culprit.



























us.

Look for yourself

"When anyone shows himself overly confident in ability to understand and interpret the works of Chrysippus, say to yourself, " Unless Chrysippus had written obscurely, this person would have had no subject for his vanity. But what do I desire? To understand nature and follow her. I ask, then, who interprets her, and, finding Chrysippus does, I have recourse to him. I don't understand his writings. I seek, therefore, one to interpret them." So far there is nothing to value myself upon. And when I find an interpreter, what remains is to make use of his instructions. This alone is the valuable thing. But, if I admire nothing but merely the interpretation, what do I become more than a grammarian instead of a philosopher?" from "The Enchiridion" by Epictetus

Barely Philosophical Proposition

Dear God, I'm Gay. Do you still love me? They thought they'd ask
An idea struck during simple prayer, or a sermon preached but nigh forgotten,
One of the admired men, the widely acknowledged examples of faith embodied,
Must have thought it up some midweek day, and thought it out, and talked it out
And written his words and pondered his thoughts. I'll bet he practiced every day
From when the last well-intentioned word shone shiny black on righteously recycled white
To the end-week morning he awoke with shiny thoughts of Jesus tears streaming
Through his body like sorrow runs in wetness down denied lovers' cheeks. He looked
At his humbly proud face, virtuously smiling with politicians' prowess, directly in the
Self-imposed ignorance-filled eyes, and practiced his damning, hurtful words
One last time before he presented his fanatically supported, weakly founded barely
Philosophical proposition to his partially proud, partially desperate, partially confused
Pack of parishioners: Dear God, the projector read, I'm Gay. No one gasps here; they read
Last weeks informational pamphlet more thoroughly than they understood this weeks'
Motivational Message Memory Verse. Do You Still Love Me? Hmm, some of them
Would think to themselves, if they hadn't quieted their inner sinful voice to let in the
Deafening, fleeting, feeble voice of a newly impersonal, widely misunderstood God,
I wonder if He does.

Its time we overcome ourselves

"I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? [...] All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood, and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is ape to man? A laughing stock or painful embarrassment. And man shall be that to overman: a laughingstock or painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape...The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth...Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman--a rope over an abyss...what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end..." Friedrich Nietzsche "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"

Rodney King

Hamas

This is no way to make friends!

Dead Things: Thoughts on Going Home

It'd been years since I walked those streets.

I'd driven by hundreds of times since growing up and moving out, but somehow to drive is to go at warp speed; too fast and sheltered to feel and smell and see what's become of what used to be home. The artifacts that emerge from memoric haze are only momentarily revived beyond a car window. You can turn away and find something in the present to distract you within. That's not an option when you walk.

I park blocks away. The parking in Chinatown's always been disastrous (my father's words echoing through my brain) so I pull into a space across the decaying brown tenements I spent my first years in. This is the New York that's etched into my DNA, a jagged canyon of brick and iron; gray as the sky; hard and tough and cold. It looks nothing like the New York of myth - faux bright lights and arts events on every corner. No. I do not know that place: the haunt of trust fund babies and ivy school graduates mimicking their way into bohemia. I've never known that place.

It strikes me as I inhale the ghastly, poisoned chill air that home is a scattered thing. A dead thing. As life stretches out in front of us, pieces of it fall across the vast landscape of our experience. We revisit with excitement, eager to see what's changed; what's new. I'm struck by the sameness of the scene. The stasis of a place fortold as the forefront of the dynamic world.

My grandparents, still hunkered down in their studio apartment as they've been for decades, just got a laptop. My visit is a surprise and they beam with pride upon my smiling entrance. I take them across the universe; their first visit to this internet thing. I tell them enthusiastically: "this will change your life! You can connect with everyone...everything...you can connect with the world."

They feign wonder.

I feel silly; my technocratic optimism is exposed for the charade it's always been. I've been crouched in the backseat of a car all along. They've been far more connected than me.

The street is viscerally colder when I emerge again. I notice the tackiness of 90's archetechture for the first time. I notice the purple paint that went over street art. I notice the street art that went over the purple paint. I notice still, ancient faces in windows that have increased only in creases.

I get in the car and speed onto the highway.

My heart is heavy.


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"The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own."
Willa Cather


Do we truly know one another or each other?
I am apt to respond: probably not, based on history and experience. All we can hope for is a tenuous temporary connection based upon sex and looks or a passing comment, maybe a joke. Then its off to our own experience and a reshuffling of fate. Re-deal and let the cards fall as they may.

Try again, hopefully!

Happy New Year?

Terrorism is the war of the poor......

and war is the terrorism of the rich.

......Sir Peter Ustinov......

For 2009--Dance

Dance, when you're broken open
Dance, if you've torn the bandage off
Dance, in the middle of the fighting
Dance, in your blood
Dance, when you're perfectly free

Rumi

...2009, promise...

...be better! ...do better!

Betty and Bob

Bob: You know Betty, I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy!

Betty: Oh Bob, you're such a cunning linguist!

Send lawyers, guns, and money

The shit has hit the fan



(Warren Zevon)

Blackwater

Blackwater's owner and founder Erik Prince, was an intern in George H. W. Bush's White House. Prince is a major financial supporter of Republican Party causes and candidates. Cofer Black, the company's current vice chairman, was director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) at the time of the September 11 attacks in 2001. After leaving public service, Black became chairman of the privately owned intelligence gathering company Total Intelligence Solutions, Inc., as well as vice chairman for Blackwater.

During his testimony before Congress, when the term
"mercenaries" was used to describe Blackwater employees, Prince objected, characterizing them as "loyal Americans".

A Committee on Oversight and Government Reform staff report, based largely on internal Blackwater e-mail messages and State Department documents, describes Blackwater as "being staffed with reckless, shoot-first guards who were not always sober and did not always stop to see who or what was hit by their bullets."

A staff report compiled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on behalf of Representative Waxman questioned the cost-effectiveness of using Blackwater forces instead of U.S. troops. Blackwater charges the government $1,222 per day per guard, "equivalent to $445,000 per year, or six times more than the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier," the report alleged.

There are a variety of ongoing controversies involving Blackwater Worldwide. It has alternatively been referred to as a security contractor or a mercenary organization by numerous reports by the U.S. and international media. Critics consider Blackwater's self-description as a private military company to be a euphemism for mercenary activities. Jeremy Scahill points out that Chilean nationals, mostly former soldiers, whose country of origin does not participate in hostilities in Iraq, work for Blackwater in that country, thus those Chileans meet the definition of "mercenary." At least 60 Chilean Blackwater employees were trained during dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime. Author Chris Hedges wrote about the establishment of mercenary armies, referring to Blackwater as an example of such a force, asserting its existence as a threat to democracy and a step towards the creation of a modern day Praetorian Guard in a June 3, 2007 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Critics have suggested this may be going too far in putting political decisions in the hands of privately owned corporations.

In December 2006, an Iraqi politician, Ayham al-Samarie, escaped from a prison in Iraq, where he was awaiting trial for 12 criminal corruption cases. Blackwater, which he had hired for protection before his arrest, allegedly helped him escape. On September 22, 2007, U.S. federal prosecutors announced an investigation into allegations that Blackwater employees may have smuggled weapons into Iraq, and that these weapons may have been later transferred to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Kurdish nationalist group designated a terrorist organization by the United States, NATO and the EU. The U.S. government was investigating Blackwater for these alleged crimes. On October 4, 2007, the FBI took over the investigation.

In January 2008, Marshall Adame, a Democrat running for Congress in North Carolina's 3rd District, took part in a live question-and-answer forum where he was asked a question about Blackwater. Adame, who had served as a State Department official in Iraq recounted, "I saw them shoot people, I saw them crash into cars while I was their passenger. There was absolutely no reason, no provocation whatsoever." He then stated, "There is no place in the American force structure, or in American culture for mercenaries, they are guns for hire; No more, no less."

This led Blackwater executive vice president Bill Mathews to send an internal corporate email to staff:
There is a man named Marshall Adame who is running for congress in our district. He just put a quote online which says he wants this company and all of us to cease to exist. Do you like your jobs? Are you sick and tired of the slanderous bullshit going on in DC? If so, would you all mind joining me in reminding Mr. Adame that he is running for office in our backyard. Tell all your friends and family too. We welcome their assistance in making this point very clear to Mr. Adame. Anyone who wants to send a letter may do so at the following address....His email is....He was too cowardly to put a phone number on the web. I ask that you keep your comments to Mr. Adame professional (well, mostly professional). We help him if our comments get threatening or too crass. Let’s run this goof out of Dodge...!

As a result of the letter writing campaign Adame stated, "I feel very strongly about how extensively organized Blackwater has become, and I will do everything I can as a congressman to look into that, to find out whether or not the things they're doing are even legal. Ultimately however, Adame was defeated in the 2008 Democratic primary by Craig Weber.

Overall, Blackwater has received over $1 billion USD in government contracts, of which two-thirds are no-bid contracts.

Enchanté

.a thank you to Oberon for inviting me here.

.this finds me at a time where i feel i am on the edge of understanding.
since i was very young, in my crib, i have had an inner sense and connection
with nature and i've held a most tender heart.
i would hear the crickets chirping while i lay in my crib and i would think...
"this is how night sounds"

i am unfulfilled. there is something i have to do for humanity
and it isn't coming to me. i've known about it and told certain people
about it...but it evades me.
the little things i do, i hold to myself
i do these things on my own but it's not enough.

i don't know if i am supposed to wait for it to come to me
or if i am to seek it out.
i'm happy to be here, because i was found
and perhaps more inspiration will point me in the direction i need to be.

i have a fair vocabulary but i often find it difficult to express
feelings for which i can find no words
if some things i say make no sense, then i apologize.

love, amber

Addiction

for a few weeks in the fall i went along to a local church - their speciality is addicts, they have "programs," people introduce themselves to the congregation by announcing their addiction - but when it came to my turn i said nothing

because if i stood up i would have had to say that it is money i am addicted to - and i think they would have thought i was putting on airs

the joke's on us all eh?

The neverending hatred