Is anybody besides me getting tired of hearing what "the American people" want?
Seriously.
From the right, from the left, from the ostensible middle... all we hear about is what "the American people" want, and how whoever it is who is utilizing that much overworked phrase is doing whatever it is they're doing for the sole benefit of such.
As an actual "American people", I feel it's time to respond.
Dear Politicians,
Stop pretending that we are a giant homogenous group that actually wants a particular this or that. We're not. For the most part, we wish to be left alone to go about our lives.
Quit acting like narcissistic parents, telling your children that everything you do is for them, even though it might not seem like it at the time. We've heard this story so many times that we know exactly where it is headed. So don't even bother explaining how a snowshoe is actually the same thing as a snowmobile. Oddly enough, we know the difference.
Matter of fact (and I know this is really, really hard) quit treating us like your children entirely. We're not. And don't want to be. And never did.
We don't want to be protected by you, nor coddled. We're grown ups. Many of our ancestors came across the frontier, living in sod houses and fighting Indians. Some of our ancestors were the Indians, fighting the settlers. Some of our ancestors came here chained together in the dank holds of slave ships. And so on.
The point is, most of us come from a long line of bad asses. Okay?
Furthermore... we don't really like you very much. Never did. Sorry if that tears you all up inside.
And we know that most of you don't really give a rat's ass about us... until you want our money or our vote. We also know that our money and our vote doesn't mean nearly as much as the money and votes from any of your corporate sponsors.
So cut the crap.
Let's get real.
We know most of you want power and money. And we're actually pretty okay with that. We know those are powerful drugs, and we're willing to enable your indulgence in your addiction.
All we expect in return is basic government services from a basic government.
For this we are willing to pay basic taxes. (We are smart enough, btw, to figure out that rich people can afford to pay more than poor people... I know America is slipping behind in education, but most of us did get through second grade.)
We also know that calling bullshit organic fertilizer doesn't change its basic qualities. So please quit shoveling it at us, no matter what you're calling it.
Fact is, other than those few basics, you probably can't get any of us to agree on anything.
So just do your job. You wanted it, you got it.
Enjoy.
And good luck.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Because You Asked
Ahh, where to start.
First, after years of being a relatively user friendly place, MySpace inexplicably morphs into a nightmarish headache of neon gibberish. And thus, many who used it for actual social interaction through blogs, messaging, and so on are left in the lurch. Coincidentally? Oh God, do we really need another conspiracy theory? But, alas, Rupert Murdoch actually owns the place, and one wonders if for some reason he wished to halt all intelligent interaction on it. Whether or not that was his intention, that is the result. A small thing, except that it successfully interrupts the dialog of millions of people who use the site around the world for purposes other than selling grommets. Political discourse included.
At the same time (mas o menos) the notorious (and indeed, at least in the U.S., nefarious) Julian Assange begins to release a virtual cornucopia of leaked U.S. State Department cables. Provided to him by an active member of the U.S. military. None of them important enough to be classified "top secret", or even whatever the next grade lower of secrecy is called. But embarrassing, and perhaps even game changing, in nature. Because they begin to paint a picture of an empire in decline, doing the best it can to continue to pull strings and influence events in spite of the fact that everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that its days of global dominance are numbered.
Did I ever mention that my favorite literary character was Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind? Because Ol' Rhett knew full well that the Confederacy was doomed from in front, in spite of all the bravado exhibited by its supporters, and acted accordingly.
Anyway, in typical blustery blundering Neo-Con American fashion, the Guv'ment reacted in such a way as to make an actual martyr out of Julian Assange. Smooth move. So now every malcontent teenager with a computer is throwing digital fireworks at places like PayPal and MasterCard. There is an entire anarchistic rebellion brewing that has much more to do with the U.S. reaction to the leaked cables (hang him, lock him up, flay him, and so on) than the cables themselves.
Even though the mainstream media in the United States continues to focus on other important things (Dancing With The Stars, Sarah Palin plugging a caribou, yabadayabada), around the world, this is getting some major coverage. Our media is tending to turn it into some kind of cartoon melodrama, with Assange cast as the villain. Globally, however, the actual content of the leaks (which have really just begun to come out... there are roughly 249,000 cables left to be released) is being examined, and it is causing a good deal of uproar.
The best place I've found to get good coverage, btw, is the Guardian in England.
It truly is a press freedom issue. What's amazing is watching an administration that lauded the importance of transparency in government do everything possible to fog up the window of transparency when the curtains are opened.
Then, at the same time, you have Barack Obama negotiating with the Republican leadership (uhhh... hello! say the Dems in Congress.... we still exist!) and coming up with a tax bill that not only increases expenditures, but continues the Bush tax cuts at the same time. Another trillion in the hole. Ka-ching! It makes both parties look like the phony ass political storefronts for the Great Corporatocracy they are.
You have student riots in Great Britain, over tuition hikes. They scare the bejeezus outta Prince Charlie and his lovely bride on their way to the thea-tuh by rocking their limo. 40 of said students get their skulls cracked.
There are riots in Haiti over a phony election nobody buys into. And cholera spreading daily.
Meanwhile, there are allegations against Shell Oil, Pfizer, stories of collusion, coercion, subterfuge and political underhandedness.... coming in a slow drip like a leaky faucet in the middle of the night.
WikiLeaks has managed to overturn a stone of secrecy in the world of global governance, seen through the eyes of the actually competent U.S. diplomatic corps. And, quite simply, the bugs are scrambling to get out of the daylight.
And then we still have two wars going, with no real end in sight, which means our voluntary military is stretched thin and unable to respond with much gusto to things like, say... North Korea slamming missiles into an island owned by South Korea. Instead, we posture a bit and say gee fellas, could you stop it please?
Meanwhile, here in the Good Ol' U.S. of A. (a place which I truly do love, in case you didn't know) unemployment remains way higher than even the figures show, and the figures ain't pretty. And we have a leader who seems all too willing to compromise with anybody, any time. On anything. In spite of the fact that he has written two best selling books, he needs to bring out Bill Clinton to explain why this new tax bill (which, yes, cuts taxes and raises spending) is such a brilliant idea. Because, of course, otherwise our fragile li'l ol' economy will tank. Obama uses The Economy like Bush used Terrorists. Be afraid. Very afraid. Trust us. We know what we're doing. And you, of course, are too friggin' stoo-pid to be burdened with anything resembling honest assessment, or God forbid actual input.
Ever since the Great Bloodless Coup of 2000, the actual will of the people has been deemed irrelevant at best.
People all over the world are getting fed up the the American Empire. Now personally, I think you have to be very careful in wishing for its demise, because what's likely to replace it is probably going to be worse. But all vassal states (and many, many countries are historically essentially vassal states to the United States) come to loathe the empire that controls them. Even though that empire may have been basically beneficial to them in the long run.
Empires fall. Always. Not a single one has survived. We are no different. We will survive as a country, but not as an empire. Quite simply, the clock is running out.
The dialog among our leaders should be geared toward what kind of country we want to be after the inevitable fall of the empire. But, of course, almost everybody in government has a vested interest in the empire itself, and wishes to prop it up as long as possible.
The only question seems to be whether it will be dismantled in some semblance of order or come crashing down like the twin towers. And after that, what kind of country will we be?
One thing is for certain. Most of us will survive the decline and demise of the American Empire. The Roman Empire is long gone. But Italy is still there, as are the many other countries that made up the Roman Empire.
Sooo... do we want to be an open society, with freedom of expression? Or do we wish to be a closed society, where people are repressed and afraid to say what they really think?
If we all speak our minds, they can't shut us all up. But if we don't...
First, after years of being a relatively user friendly place, MySpace inexplicably morphs into a nightmarish headache of neon gibberish. And thus, many who used it for actual social interaction through blogs, messaging, and so on are left in the lurch. Coincidentally? Oh God, do we really need another conspiracy theory? But, alas, Rupert Murdoch actually owns the place, and one wonders if for some reason he wished to halt all intelligent interaction on it. Whether or not that was his intention, that is the result. A small thing, except that it successfully interrupts the dialog of millions of people who use the site around the world for purposes other than selling grommets. Political discourse included.
At the same time (mas o menos) the notorious (and indeed, at least in the U.S., nefarious) Julian Assange begins to release a virtual cornucopia of leaked U.S. State Department cables. Provided to him by an active member of the U.S. military. None of them important enough to be classified "top secret", or even whatever the next grade lower of secrecy is called. But embarrassing, and perhaps even game changing, in nature. Because they begin to paint a picture of an empire in decline, doing the best it can to continue to pull strings and influence events in spite of the fact that everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that its days of global dominance are numbered.
Did I ever mention that my favorite literary character was Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind? Because Ol' Rhett knew full well that the Confederacy was doomed from in front, in spite of all the bravado exhibited by its supporters, and acted accordingly.
Anyway, in typical blustery blundering Neo-Con American fashion, the Guv'ment reacted in such a way as to make an actual martyr out of Julian Assange. Smooth move. So now every malcontent teenager with a computer is throwing digital fireworks at places like PayPal and MasterCard. There is an entire anarchistic rebellion brewing that has much more to do with the U.S. reaction to the leaked cables (hang him, lock him up, flay him, and so on) than the cables themselves.
Even though the mainstream media in the United States continues to focus on other important things (Dancing With The Stars, Sarah Palin plugging a caribou, yabadayabada), around the world, this is getting some major coverage. Our media is tending to turn it into some kind of cartoon melodrama, with Assange cast as the villain. Globally, however, the actual content of the leaks (which have really just begun to come out... there are roughly 249,000 cables left to be released) is being examined, and it is causing a good deal of uproar.
The best place I've found to get good coverage, btw, is the Guardian in England.
It truly is a press freedom issue. What's amazing is watching an administration that lauded the importance of transparency in government do everything possible to fog up the window of transparency when the curtains are opened.
Then, at the same time, you have Barack Obama negotiating with the Republican leadership (uhhh... hello! say the Dems in Congress.... we still exist!) and coming up with a tax bill that not only increases expenditures, but continues the Bush tax cuts at the same time. Another trillion in the hole. Ka-ching! It makes both parties look like the phony ass political storefronts for the Great Corporatocracy they are.
You have student riots in Great Britain, over tuition hikes. They scare the bejeezus outta Prince Charlie and his lovely bride on their way to the thea-tuh by rocking their limo. 40 of said students get their skulls cracked.
There are riots in Haiti over a phony election nobody buys into. And cholera spreading daily.
Meanwhile, there are allegations against Shell Oil, Pfizer, stories of collusion, coercion, subterfuge and political underhandedness.... coming in a slow drip like a leaky faucet in the middle of the night.
WikiLeaks has managed to overturn a stone of secrecy in the world of global governance, seen through the eyes of the actually competent U.S. diplomatic corps. And, quite simply, the bugs are scrambling to get out of the daylight.
And then we still have two wars going, with no real end in sight, which means our voluntary military is stretched thin and unable to respond with much gusto to things like, say... North Korea slamming missiles into an island owned by South Korea. Instead, we posture a bit and say gee fellas, could you stop it please?
Meanwhile, here in the Good Ol' U.S. of A. (a place which I truly do love, in case you didn't know) unemployment remains way higher than even the figures show, and the figures ain't pretty. And we have a leader who seems all too willing to compromise with anybody, any time. On anything. In spite of the fact that he has written two best selling books, he needs to bring out Bill Clinton to explain why this new tax bill (which, yes, cuts taxes and raises spending) is such a brilliant idea. Because, of course, otherwise our fragile li'l ol' economy will tank. Obama uses The Economy like Bush used Terrorists. Be afraid. Very afraid. Trust us. We know what we're doing. And you, of course, are too friggin' stoo-pid to be burdened with anything resembling honest assessment, or God forbid actual input.
Ever since the Great Bloodless Coup of 2000, the actual will of the people has been deemed irrelevant at best.
People all over the world are getting fed up the the American Empire. Now personally, I think you have to be very careful in wishing for its demise, because what's likely to replace it is probably going to be worse. But all vassal states (and many, many countries are historically essentially vassal states to the United States) come to loathe the empire that controls them. Even though that empire may have been basically beneficial to them in the long run.
Empires fall. Always. Not a single one has survived. We are no different. We will survive as a country, but not as an empire. Quite simply, the clock is running out.
The dialog among our leaders should be geared toward what kind of country we want to be after the inevitable fall of the empire. But, of course, almost everybody in government has a vested interest in the empire itself, and wishes to prop it up as long as possible.
The only question seems to be whether it will be dismantled in some semblance of order or come crashing down like the twin towers. And after that, what kind of country will we be?
One thing is for certain. Most of us will survive the decline and demise of the American Empire. The Roman Empire is long gone. But Italy is still there, as are the many other countries that made up the Roman Empire.
Sooo... do we want to be an open society, with freedom of expression? Or do we wish to be a closed society, where people are repressed and afraid to say what they really think?
If we all speak our minds, they can't shut us all up. But if we don't...
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Fixing A Hole
I've been following this whole WikiLeaks thing with no small amount of interest. Okay... I've been pretty obsessed with it. Because sometimes events just feel huge.
What's most interesting (so far) is not so much what's in the cables is how people have responded.
The U.S. government, who seems to have no problem prodding us at airports, delving into our e-mails and so on, is aghast that they should be held to the same microscopic examination themselves. There is some kind of karmic justice there... you touch our private parts, photograph us naked and eavesdrop on our private conversations, and we do the same to you.
The shame of it all is that it has gotten to that "us versus them" mentality. If anything has been exposed, it is the sham of American democracy.
Of course, that sham has been apparent to many for decades. Frank Zappa famously said years ago that he thought democracy was such a great idea we should try it here in America. What we have instead is a system in which huge corporations (apparently including the government of China) control both major political parties, all three branches of government, and the media.
The American Empire seems to be in a bit of a wobbly condition. And nobody in a position of power, being that they all work for the same master, wants to rock the boat. Because they're on it, and it's already taking on water. And thus, you have an American media that so far has been embarrassingly mute on what's going on, trying to either shrug off the importance of what's happening or demonize the messenger.
Which is exactly what government leaders from both political parties are doing as well.
And by demonizing the messenger, they've turned him into a folk hero.
Except, of course, for Ron Paul, who hasn't attempted to demonize anyone. He has publicly stated that we should examine the policies that have led us into this dark morass of perceived necessity for secrecy and subterfuge to begin with. But Republicans won't pay any attention to Ron Paul because they view him as the crazy old uncle who shows up at family functions, Democrats won't pay any attention to him because he's a Republican, and nobody else will pay any attention to him because he's from Texas. And so he remains one of the few voices of reason in Washington, D.C., whose utterances seem to reverberate through empty halls.
I'm no political expert. But underlying all this is a fundamental fact that people in the music business have known for a long time. In the digital age, there is no way to keep people from downloading your shit. The rules are simply not enforceable. Sure, you can shut down Napster. But a dozen other file sharing sites will pop up who will do the same thing, only more effectively.
So I can sympathize with these folks whose careers are endangered. Political careers, media careers and so on. I've seen numerous careers decimated and in some cases destroyed by file sharing.
What has emerged is a music industry that is much smaller and continues to re-invent itself to stay in sync with the world we live in.
Of course, few will argue that the mainstream music coming out of this modern music business is better than the old mainstream music. But there is a lot more room around the edges of it for stuff that is honest and real.
So maybe we could just have a shrunken government rife with corruption and subterfuge and corporate interests, and around it an encampment of actual democracy.
Which is why I'm backing Justin Bieber for president.
What's most interesting (so far) is not so much what's in the cables is how people have responded.
The U.S. government, who seems to have no problem prodding us at airports, delving into our e-mails and so on, is aghast that they should be held to the same microscopic examination themselves. There is some kind of karmic justice there... you touch our private parts, photograph us naked and eavesdrop on our private conversations, and we do the same to you.
The shame of it all is that it has gotten to that "us versus them" mentality. If anything has been exposed, it is the sham of American democracy.
Of course, that sham has been apparent to many for decades. Frank Zappa famously said years ago that he thought democracy was such a great idea we should try it here in America. What we have instead is a system in which huge corporations (apparently including the government of China) control both major political parties, all three branches of government, and the media.
The American Empire seems to be in a bit of a wobbly condition. And nobody in a position of power, being that they all work for the same master, wants to rock the boat. Because they're on it, and it's already taking on water. And thus, you have an American media that so far has been embarrassingly mute on what's going on, trying to either shrug off the importance of what's happening or demonize the messenger.
Which is exactly what government leaders from both political parties are doing as well.
And by demonizing the messenger, they've turned him into a folk hero.
Except, of course, for Ron Paul, who hasn't attempted to demonize anyone. He has publicly stated that we should examine the policies that have led us into this dark morass of perceived necessity for secrecy and subterfuge to begin with. But Republicans won't pay any attention to Ron Paul because they view him as the crazy old uncle who shows up at family functions, Democrats won't pay any attention to him because he's a Republican, and nobody else will pay any attention to him because he's from Texas. And so he remains one of the few voices of reason in Washington, D.C., whose utterances seem to reverberate through empty halls.
I'm no political expert. But underlying all this is a fundamental fact that people in the music business have known for a long time. In the digital age, there is no way to keep people from downloading your shit. The rules are simply not enforceable. Sure, you can shut down Napster. But a dozen other file sharing sites will pop up who will do the same thing, only more effectively.
So I can sympathize with these folks whose careers are endangered. Political careers, media careers and so on. I've seen numerous careers decimated and in some cases destroyed by file sharing.
What has emerged is a music industry that is much smaller and continues to re-invent itself to stay in sync with the world we live in.
Of course, few will argue that the mainstream music coming out of this modern music business is better than the old mainstream music. But there is a lot more room around the edges of it for stuff that is honest and real.
So maybe we could just have a shrunken government rife with corruption and subterfuge and corporate interests, and around it an encampment of actual democracy.
Which is why I'm backing Justin Bieber for president.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
In Praise of Common Sense
Ron Paul continues to be a voice of reason when there are precious few left. Though I don't agree with all of his positions, especially domestic, I do think his take on foreign policy is one hundred per cent spot on. He's one of the few political figures who correctly equates the nonsensical policies (lately exemplified by the almost farcical security scrutiny given airline travelers) with an indefensible empirical foreign policy that is not only bankrupting the country financially but in terms of common sense as well.
Quite simply stated, to paraphrase, the viewpoint is this... if we weren't all over the world fucking with people, they wouldn't be fucking with us. The idea that anybody hates our freedom is ludicrous. What they hate is us meddling in their affairs. What they hate is drone missiles and full on invasions. What they hate is us entering their homes and homelands, doing as we wish, ostensibly for their own good. What they hate is us building military bases that never go away. And as long as we continue these policies, our country will continue to deteriorate, from both outside and inside forces.
To me, this is a no-brainer. Many thinking individuals agree. The majority of Americans think that our involvement in long term overseas military ventures is unsustainable if not flat wrong. And yet, we continue to do it... year after year, generation after generation.
Were Ron Paul a Democrat or Independent, he would be railed at by the "right" as being un-patriotic, if not un-American. However, being that he's a Republican, and from Texas to boot, they really can't accuse him of such. The "left" pretty much ignores him as well, as he is, after all, a member of the ostensibly "enemy" camp. And still, whenever given the opportunity, he continues to point out the glaringly obvious reality that the messy bed we are currently tossing and turning in as a nation was in fact made by us.
Does this give hope that voices of reason will prevail? Not really. There are too many voices, both shrill and subtle, that wish the unreasonableness to continue. Because it is, after all, hugely profitable. But it is nice, even blatantly good, to hear at least one voice of truth in a cacophony of lies and half truths from both sides of the political aisle.
Quite simply stated, to paraphrase, the viewpoint is this... if we weren't all over the world fucking with people, they wouldn't be fucking with us. The idea that anybody hates our freedom is ludicrous. What they hate is us meddling in their affairs. What they hate is drone missiles and full on invasions. What they hate is us entering their homes and homelands, doing as we wish, ostensibly for their own good. What they hate is us building military bases that never go away. And as long as we continue these policies, our country will continue to deteriorate, from both outside and inside forces.
To me, this is a no-brainer. Many thinking individuals agree. The majority of Americans think that our involvement in long term overseas military ventures is unsustainable if not flat wrong. And yet, we continue to do it... year after year, generation after generation.
Were Ron Paul a Democrat or Independent, he would be railed at by the "right" as being un-patriotic, if not un-American. However, being that he's a Republican, and from Texas to boot, they really can't accuse him of such. The "left" pretty much ignores him as well, as he is, after all, a member of the ostensibly "enemy" camp. And still, whenever given the opportunity, he continues to point out the glaringly obvious reality that the messy bed we are currently tossing and turning in as a nation was in fact made by us.
Does this give hope that voices of reason will prevail? Not really. There are too many voices, both shrill and subtle, that wish the unreasonableness to continue. Because it is, after all, hugely profitable. But it is nice, even blatantly good, to hear at least one voice of truth in a cacophony of lies and half truths from both sides of the political aisle.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Babble On
Like lots of other people ostensibly on the "left", I tend to wonder what happened to Barack Obama. Of course, if the polls tell the truth, the "left" I'm on is actually remarkably near the center. For instance, I'm for universal health care. So are most people. I'm for ending the two wars we're in... like now. As are most people. I'm for taxing the socks off the ultra rich. As are most people. And so on.
As for Obama... well, he's not so easy to define. He used to make noises like he was one of us. You know... like most people. He even did some ballsy things... like taking over the majority ownership of General Motors, for instance. And look how that worked out. General Motors has now totally turned things around. The idea that a government can't be involved in industry is ludicrous. Ask China.
But, alas, we have a system, and by golly we stick with it. Our system is to make sure the stupid rich get stupid richer and then some of the crumbs will fall off the table and we can eat. Republicans and Democrats both support this system wholeheartedly, judging by their actions.
Obviously the crumbs the politicians are getting are substantially larger than the ones most of us get.
We also invade countries for reasons unbeknownst to any but those in the loop. At least we hope those in the loop know the reasoning. We're given reasons, of course, but upon examination, they usually vaporize. We're fighting communism (remember... we used to fight communism... now we buy all our crap from China) or we're fighting terrorism, and so on. Again... Democrats and Republicans are for doing this. Most of us aren't. But in our ostensibly representative government, what most of us want really means surprisingly little. And an endless state of war is extremely profitable to some people. The money that is drained from our national treasury goes directly into their offshore accounts, or gold bullion stashes, or wherever they keep it.
I'd like not to be thought of as cynical. I consider myself realistic. I'd love to sing cumbaya and wear silly cute t-shirts and have a designer dog. But alas, I gravitate toward blues, my dogs are mutts and my t-shirt is white with a couple of stains on it.
Nobody is going to listen to us. Not Democrats, not Republicans, not Tea Partiers, not Jon Stewart, not nobody. Power corrupts, and every time somebody gets into a position of power, they are corrupted. It's inevitable. It's a law of nature, as irrefutable as the law of gravity.
And so the best we can achieve, I suppose, is to state our little opinions, our small truths if you will, for posterity, and for the sake of others who might feel similarly. So that maybe, just maybe, when the dust settles in some unknown time, people will know that amongst the insanity, there was maybe a glimmer of light among the supposedly ignorant masses.
As for Obama... well, he's not so easy to define. He used to make noises like he was one of us. You know... like most people. He even did some ballsy things... like taking over the majority ownership of General Motors, for instance. And look how that worked out. General Motors has now totally turned things around. The idea that a government can't be involved in industry is ludicrous. Ask China.
But, alas, we have a system, and by golly we stick with it. Our system is to make sure the stupid rich get stupid richer and then some of the crumbs will fall off the table and we can eat. Republicans and Democrats both support this system wholeheartedly, judging by their actions.
Obviously the crumbs the politicians are getting are substantially larger than the ones most of us get.
We also invade countries for reasons unbeknownst to any but those in the loop. At least we hope those in the loop know the reasoning. We're given reasons, of course, but upon examination, they usually vaporize. We're fighting communism (remember... we used to fight communism... now we buy all our crap from China) or we're fighting terrorism, and so on. Again... Democrats and Republicans are for doing this. Most of us aren't. But in our ostensibly representative government, what most of us want really means surprisingly little. And an endless state of war is extremely profitable to some people. The money that is drained from our national treasury goes directly into their offshore accounts, or gold bullion stashes, or wherever they keep it.
I'd like not to be thought of as cynical. I consider myself realistic. I'd love to sing cumbaya and wear silly cute t-shirts and have a designer dog. But alas, I gravitate toward blues, my dogs are mutts and my t-shirt is white with a couple of stains on it.
Nobody is going to listen to us. Not Democrats, not Republicans, not Tea Partiers, not Jon Stewart, not nobody. Power corrupts, and every time somebody gets into a position of power, they are corrupted. It's inevitable. It's a law of nature, as irrefutable as the law of gravity.
And so the best we can achieve, I suppose, is to state our little opinions, our small truths if you will, for posterity, and for the sake of others who might feel similarly. So that maybe, just maybe, when the dust settles in some unknown time, people will know that amongst the insanity, there was maybe a glimmer of light among the supposedly ignorant masses.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The Sound of Hooves
MySpace (or my_, as it is now apparently called) has finally truly imploded. This is what a poison gas attack must look like. In case you haven't visited Rupert's Playground lately, you should don your hazmat suit and take a gander at what WWI was like. It ain't pretty.
And Facebook, in spite of its vast popularity, somehow still creeps me out a bit. I don't know why. I don't analyze stuff like that too much. It's not that it's inherently evil (is it?) or anything... but I mean, that is where Sarah Palin spreads her nonsense and really... is openly inviting something that's gone viral into your life a good thing? Hmmm.
So I guess I'm back to real people in the real world. You know, people I actually know. People I actually meet. What a concept.
Not that I don't feel I know people I've met (especially on MySpace before the invasion of the body snatchers) through social networking sites. But alas, it's time to pull back. At least from trying to meet any new people. It's time to move on.
The Summer of Love, after all, was a wonderful thing... but not even for a whole summer. And once fall came there was nothing but human flotsam and jetsum washing up on the sidewalks.
So I'm going to try posting my blog over here for awhile. A blog is almost an antiquated notion now. Which makes me like it. You have to put whole sentences together, and paragraphs and such. And then people respond in kind.
Whew. All that syntax in one place is kinda daunting, isn't it?
Of course, I'll still make an occasional visit to Lisa Ferreri's site, Wiffledust.com. And I'll get in and out of Facebook to accept friend requests, and then leave before I get anything on me (that's actually kind of the way I feel... I hurry along, with my helmet on, hoping to escape unscathed). And if I absolutely have to, and I'm feeling courageous and fortified, I'll wade into "my_" and get back out as soon as humanly possible.
Telephones still work. E-mail is a good option. Maybe we should go back to writing letters and sending them in the mail. Remember what a cool feeling it was to actually get a surprise letter from a friend n the mail?
Besides, the way the country is going, we might be back to mail delivery by pony express. Which is good for the employment of horses, I suppose...
And Facebook, in spite of its vast popularity, somehow still creeps me out a bit. I don't know why. I don't analyze stuff like that too much. It's not that it's inherently evil (is it?) or anything... but I mean, that is where Sarah Palin spreads her nonsense and really... is openly inviting something that's gone viral into your life a good thing? Hmmm.
So I guess I'm back to real people in the real world. You know, people I actually know. People I actually meet. What a concept.
Not that I don't feel I know people I've met (especially on MySpace before the invasion of the body snatchers) through social networking sites. But alas, it's time to pull back. At least from trying to meet any new people. It's time to move on.
The Summer of Love, after all, was a wonderful thing... but not even for a whole summer. And once fall came there was nothing but human flotsam and jetsum washing up on the sidewalks.
So I'm going to try posting my blog over here for awhile. A blog is almost an antiquated notion now. Which makes me like it. You have to put whole sentences together, and paragraphs and such. And then people respond in kind.
Whew. All that syntax in one place is kinda daunting, isn't it?
Of course, I'll still make an occasional visit to Lisa Ferreri's site, Wiffledust.com. And I'll get in and out of Facebook to accept friend requests, and then leave before I get anything on me (that's actually kind of the way I feel... I hurry along, with my helmet on, hoping to escape unscathed). And if I absolutely have to, and I'm feeling courageous and fortified, I'll wade into "my_" and get back out as soon as humanly possible.
Telephones still work. E-mail is a good option. Maybe we should go back to writing letters and sending them in the mail. Remember what a cool feeling it was to actually get a surprise letter from a friend n the mail?
Besides, the way the country is going, we might be back to mail delivery by pony express. Which is good for the employment of horses, I suppose...
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Lord's Prayer as an Economic Model
Well, I'm back to blogging at MySpace. Because, quite simply, I have a lot of readers over there who have been reading my stuff for a long time. I'm not sure where they come from. But they go there to find it. I know this by reading the stats. If you want to check out my blog on MySpace, you just need to google David Vidal. The link to my website will pop up. Go there. At the bottom of the page is a link to MySpace. Click it. That will take you to my MySpace site. You can easily navigate that to find the latest blog, or the old ones, for that matter. You don't have to log onto MySpace to do this. You can also check out music, pictures, etc. You know the drill. It's freakin' MySpace. But you only have to log on in order to leave a comment.
Having said that... I like this spot too. It's a little more academic somehow. So, I'll probably leave the occasional literary droppings over here as well. (Excuse me... I have dogs and cats.)
I looked up economic theory today. On Wikipedia and maybe one other place. Because honestly I never studied it. And I like Paul Krugman, the writer at the New York Times. I like the way he thinks, and he's a good writer. And I kinda wanted to know more about what he's talking about. Because I know economic theory is just that... theory.
You probably know all this, but allow me to break down what I gleaned out of my perusing. You have Keynesian theory on the one hand, which is a belief that government manipulation of markets (interest rates, money flow and so on) is a good thing. On the other hand you have supply side economics (a theory that was apparently first named during the Nixon years) in which the basic premise is that markets will regulate themselves, and the best governance of them is no governance at all.
And it dawned on me (again, please humor me if this is old hat to you) that the difference between Democrats (who are essentially Keynesian) and Republicans (who are basically supply siders) all boils down to the conflict between these two economic theories. Everything else is just steam that rises into the air and dissipates. Hot air.
What we have in our actual economic system is a combination of the two theories. Were we to be totally Keynesian, we'd be socialist. The government would manipulate the market from top to bottom. Were we to be totally supply side, there would be no economic regulation at all.
The problem that our economy is going through now is that this amalgam of economic theories doesn't seem to be working. People who think in fundamentally Keynesian terms (I'm one of them... who knew) think that representative government in control of economic machinery is the best way to go. And supply siders (who in my world view have screwed things up since the days of Reagan) think the opposite.
What we have is a kind of wobbling back and forth between the two. Either one might work... but the combination of them probably doesn't.
Then it occurred to me... what if they're both wrong? I mean, in reality, most of us use something more akin to the Lord's Prayer in our personal economic policies. We're thankful for a roof over our head if we're fortunate enough to have one, and food on the table, if there is some. And we hope that tomorrow we will have those things still. Or get them.
Seems to me the entire monetary system has been about economic slavery from day one. It wasn't imposed for the betterment of humanity. Humanity might have gotten betterment from it, but that wasn't the driving force behind it. The driving force was (and is) for the people who control the coinage (antiquated term I know... there used to be actual coins involved in this deal, made of gold and silver 'n' stuff) to control the people who didn't. That simple. And people were forced, often under penalty of death, to use that coinage. Otherwise, the powers that be would ride into your village and lop your head off.
So all of economic theory (or at least a good part of it) is designed to keep control of the populace, and gain control over more people on the planet (growth economics). The Keynesian model believes that through manipulation of the markets, the serfs (you and me) will be kept happier and consume, consume, work, work. The supply side doesn't even pretend to give a rat's ass about the serfs, and goes by the old philosophy of just lopping their heads off if they doth protest too much. By that theory, the rich should get continually richer, and the poor... well, who cares, really.
The Keynesians don't really care much about the poor either... they just feel they're more easily controlled if they're relatively happy.
Now we find ourselves in the digital age... and everything is turned topsy turvy. Because coinage is now nothing more than digits. And trading of digits is based on speculation based on projection of ideas. And so on.
These things are couched in fancy schmancy economic speak by economists... but really, they don't know what to do.
And, actually, we don't either. But I think we're used to that, many of us. Or getting that way. Because, at the end of the day, if we have food on the table and a roof over our heads, we're still thankful. And if we don't, or somebody we know doesn't, or even somebody we don't know... we try to help them, and they us. Because most of us aren't out to control anybody.
What a concept.
I'm reminded of the old Chinese curse... "may you live in interesting times".
Having said that... I like this spot too. It's a little more academic somehow. So, I'll probably leave the occasional literary droppings over here as well. (Excuse me... I have dogs and cats.)
I looked up economic theory today. On Wikipedia and maybe one other place. Because honestly I never studied it. And I like Paul Krugman, the writer at the New York Times. I like the way he thinks, and he's a good writer. And I kinda wanted to know more about what he's talking about. Because I know economic theory is just that... theory.
You probably know all this, but allow me to break down what I gleaned out of my perusing. You have Keynesian theory on the one hand, which is a belief that government manipulation of markets (interest rates, money flow and so on) is a good thing. On the other hand you have supply side economics (a theory that was apparently first named during the Nixon years) in which the basic premise is that markets will regulate themselves, and the best governance of them is no governance at all.
And it dawned on me (again, please humor me if this is old hat to you) that the difference between Democrats (who are essentially Keynesian) and Republicans (who are basically supply siders) all boils down to the conflict between these two economic theories. Everything else is just steam that rises into the air and dissipates. Hot air.
What we have in our actual economic system is a combination of the two theories. Were we to be totally Keynesian, we'd be socialist. The government would manipulate the market from top to bottom. Were we to be totally supply side, there would be no economic regulation at all.
The problem that our economy is going through now is that this amalgam of economic theories doesn't seem to be working. People who think in fundamentally Keynesian terms (I'm one of them... who knew) think that representative government in control of economic machinery is the best way to go. And supply siders (who in my world view have screwed things up since the days of Reagan) think the opposite.
What we have is a kind of wobbling back and forth between the two. Either one might work... but the combination of them probably doesn't.
Then it occurred to me... what if they're both wrong? I mean, in reality, most of us use something more akin to the Lord's Prayer in our personal economic policies. We're thankful for a roof over our head if we're fortunate enough to have one, and food on the table, if there is some. And we hope that tomorrow we will have those things still. Or get them.
Seems to me the entire monetary system has been about economic slavery from day one. It wasn't imposed for the betterment of humanity. Humanity might have gotten betterment from it, but that wasn't the driving force behind it. The driving force was (and is) for the people who control the coinage (antiquated term I know... there used to be actual coins involved in this deal, made of gold and silver 'n' stuff) to control the people who didn't. That simple. And people were forced, often under penalty of death, to use that coinage. Otherwise, the powers that be would ride into your village and lop your head off.
So all of economic theory (or at least a good part of it) is designed to keep control of the populace, and gain control over more people on the planet (growth economics). The Keynesian model believes that through manipulation of the markets, the serfs (you and me) will be kept happier and consume, consume, work, work. The supply side doesn't even pretend to give a rat's ass about the serfs, and goes by the old philosophy of just lopping their heads off if they doth protest too much. By that theory, the rich should get continually richer, and the poor... well, who cares, really.
The Keynesians don't really care much about the poor either... they just feel they're more easily controlled if they're relatively happy.
Now we find ourselves in the digital age... and everything is turned topsy turvy. Because coinage is now nothing more than digits. And trading of digits is based on speculation based on projection of ideas. And so on.
These things are couched in fancy schmancy economic speak by economists... but really, they don't know what to do.
And, actually, we don't either. But I think we're used to that, many of us. Or getting that way. Because, at the end of the day, if we have food on the table and a roof over our heads, we're still thankful. And if we don't, or somebody we know doesn't, or even somebody we don't know... we try to help them, and they us. Because most of us aren't out to control anybody.
What a concept.
I'm reminded of the old Chinese curse... "may you live in interesting times".
Sunday, September 26, 2010
A Two Lane Çountry Road Into The Future
There's a great piece by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times, comparing the strategy the Chinese have for the coming decades to that of the U.S. The Chinese are developing infrastructure and going full bore into the post-oil dependence reality of the future. Which means, of course, a major commitment to electric cars, trains, etc. And we, meanwhile, are going full bore into developing the nation of Afghanistan. As Friedman points out, if we persist on our path of nation building, the Chinese are going to win that contest, and thus be the real global powerhouse.
Now Friedman has a lot more inside knowledge than I do, and works for the New York Times to boot, which means he kinda has to put a positive spin on this stuff. So he ends on a hopeful note... suggesting that somehow we will heal our internal rifts, give up our oil dependency, and forge boldly into the future. Or at least he suggests it's a possibility worth striving for. Which, of course, it is.
I guess.
On the other hand, I have spent a lot of time in Texas the last couple of years. And my sense of it is the Texas oil folks ain't a-gonna give up their stranglehold on the U.S. economy until every last drop of oil has been sucked out of the ground and used as fuel or turned into a plastic thingamabob.
I really do hope the Afghans are happy with the new country we're trying to build them. Whether they want it or not. And I'm darn thrilled that the Iraqi's have a new country too.
Kinda.
But these two disastrous escapades have put us way behind in the race toward the future. We were sitting in a pretty good position during the Bill Clinton era. But we're not in a very good position now.
We can still develop the stuff needed here. But then we can't seem to implement much. The left hand is constantly fighting the right hand. And so, the Chinese (and others) buy this cool techno stuff we've developed and actually utilize it.
While we argue back and forth about what the founders and Jesus would do.
The Chinese are not burdened with Democracy or religion. They don't care what the people want, nor the supposed representatives of the people. And they don't give a damn what Jesus would do. They look at science, evaluate, and act accordingly. Whether the science be environmental, economic, or whatever. The Chinese have been running China for a long time.
Honestly, I don't think America has much of a chance in this contest. It's kind of like pitting petulant children against grown ups. As much noise and disruption as the children cause, ultimately the grown ups are going to send them to their room. And Americans don't want to be anything but petulant children, really. It's all we know.
We're good at it, too.
Oddly enough, I'm pretty okay with America just being itself. With our quirky little ideas of democracy, our freedom of religion, and our love of classic cars. America is a huge country, full of wonderful people. It's just that we're not gonna dominate the planet forever. We've done it for fifty years or so, and already one gets the sense that we've gone beyond the apex. And the reason for that is quite simple. We haven't apparently learned from past empires... that what brings them down is military ventures far from their own borders, and the unwillingness or inability to pay for them. Every military venture ever engaged in by any empire was presented and sold with some rational argument. But eventually, they destroy the conquerors themselves.
Maybe we will stay neck and neck with China in the race to the future. But I doubt it. Because here in America, we're too attached to our past. And our past is that of a very recent frontier. Our values are formed by that frontier mentality, and don't necessarily juxtapose well with civilization. And in China, where civilization goes back so much further, they seem much more willing, and able, to move forward quickly and decisively.
I love America for what and who She really is. A quirky, industrious, musical, creative, petulant, ambitious, occasionally cruel, often funny and endlessly argumentative group of misfits and ne'er-do-wells who can't really agree on much of anything except that we have the right to disagree.
I don't think we can make anybody be like us even if we try. And I don't see why we'd want to.
Now Friedman has a lot more inside knowledge than I do, and works for the New York Times to boot, which means he kinda has to put a positive spin on this stuff. So he ends on a hopeful note... suggesting that somehow we will heal our internal rifts, give up our oil dependency, and forge boldly into the future. Or at least he suggests it's a possibility worth striving for. Which, of course, it is.
I guess.
On the other hand, I have spent a lot of time in Texas the last couple of years. And my sense of it is the Texas oil folks ain't a-gonna give up their stranglehold on the U.S. economy until every last drop of oil has been sucked out of the ground and used as fuel or turned into a plastic thingamabob.
I really do hope the Afghans are happy with the new country we're trying to build them. Whether they want it or not. And I'm darn thrilled that the Iraqi's have a new country too.
Kinda.
But these two disastrous escapades have put us way behind in the race toward the future. We were sitting in a pretty good position during the Bill Clinton era. But we're not in a very good position now.
We can still develop the stuff needed here. But then we can't seem to implement much. The left hand is constantly fighting the right hand. And so, the Chinese (and others) buy this cool techno stuff we've developed and actually utilize it.
While we argue back and forth about what the founders and Jesus would do.
The Chinese are not burdened with Democracy or religion. They don't care what the people want, nor the supposed representatives of the people. And they don't give a damn what Jesus would do. They look at science, evaluate, and act accordingly. Whether the science be environmental, economic, or whatever. The Chinese have been running China for a long time.
Honestly, I don't think America has much of a chance in this contest. It's kind of like pitting petulant children against grown ups. As much noise and disruption as the children cause, ultimately the grown ups are going to send them to their room. And Americans don't want to be anything but petulant children, really. It's all we know.
We're good at it, too.
Oddly enough, I'm pretty okay with America just being itself. With our quirky little ideas of democracy, our freedom of religion, and our love of classic cars. America is a huge country, full of wonderful people. It's just that we're not gonna dominate the planet forever. We've done it for fifty years or so, and already one gets the sense that we've gone beyond the apex. And the reason for that is quite simple. We haven't apparently learned from past empires... that what brings them down is military ventures far from their own borders, and the unwillingness or inability to pay for them. Every military venture ever engaged in by any empire was presented and sold with some rational argument. But eventually, they destroy the conquerors themselves.
Maybe we will stay neck and neck with China in the race to the future. But I doubt it. Because here in America, we're too attached to our past. And our past is that of a very recent frontier. Our values are formed by that frontier mentality, and don't necessarily juxtapose well with civilization. And in China, where civilization goes back so much further, they seem much more willing, and able, to move forward quickly and decisively.
I love America for what and who She really is. A quirky, industrious, musical, creative, petulant, ambitious, occasionally cruel, often funny and endlessly argumentative group of misfits and ne'er-do-wells who can't really agree on much of anything except that we have the right to disagree.
I don't think we can make anybody be like us even if we try. And I don't see why we'd want to.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
UFO's and Aliens
Well, I admit it. Tonight (actually in the wee hours of the morning) I was perusing sites about UFO's and aliens. Not the kind who sneak across the border to find work, but the kind who zip around in flying saucers and apparently sometimes crash and such.
I'm not sure how I got sucked into the search. It had something to do with military experts testifying that there has been a big coverup regarding space ships and aliens for decades, and how these ships were seen beaming lights into our nuclear arsenals, somehow disabling their launching capabilities. Or something. So, you know... a few clicks, and I'm looking at "dead alien" pictures, and autopsies, and different photos of alleged spacecraft.
One thing struck me right away. The UFO pictures taken in the 1960's show spacecraft that are a lot more clunky looking than the more recent pictures. Apparently, aliens like to buy a newer model space craft every year or so. Some of the classic space craft have a certain appeal to them, kind of like the old Cadillacs of the 50's. You know... solid, no discernible fins as yet, a little tank-like but ultimately functional and luxurious in a practical kind of way. The new ones are more modern... sleek, with fluid lines and much fancier lights. I don't know if the old classics are still up there zipping around or not. Maybe the aliens, like the Japanese, are required by law to upgrade every year. Maybe that's what's actually on the dark side of the moon, that the astronauts ostensibly saw and couldn't talk about. A giant wrecking yard full of old space ships, bunches of clunkers from the fifties and sixties that nobody wants to drive any more.
The autopsy picture I saw of an alien revealed that they don't have much skeletal structure, or muscle for that matter. Apparently you just kind of peel back their "skin" and there's a hodgepodge of gloppy lookin' stuff in there that vaguely resembles stew meat. Ahh, mysteries abound.
Lest you think I am totally skeptical of the existence of aliens... well, I'm not. Matter of fact, the odds of there being alien life forms are much better than the odds of there not. And I don't doubt some could have visited here, or even kinda keep an eye on the place. It's entirely possible. I don't trust 'em much, mind you. But by now, I don't really trust anyone very much. I've been around too long, and figure if I can't trust people born on the same planet as me, there's no reason to trust someone born in an entirely different galaxy. I figure E.T. was a con man.
This brings to mind one time in my wayward youth... when I was still in high school, actually. I was with a group of friends, driving on a dirt road south of Denver. We were, uhhh... in an altered state. Which makes one perfectly ripe for alien sightings. And sure enough, as we were driving down this bumpy dirt road in the twilight, a giant orb rose over the horizon. "Holy shit! What's that??" one friend asked incredulously. "Wow," said another, as that was all he could get out of his mouth. I pulled the car over to take a closer look. "What the fffffff....." exclaimed another. And I, always the party pooper, looked up and said, "Uhhhh... it's the moon." Which of course it was. It was big, and orange-ish, and orb like, and a little more imbued with life when viewed in an altered state. But it was, nonetheless, the moon.
"Ohhh," my friends exclaimed all at once. "Yeah.... it's the moon....."
And people wonder why Americans don't do that good on test scores. If you're so wrecked you can't tell the moon from a UFO, trigonometry is gonna throw you for a loop.
I took care of a gentleman with Alzheimer's disease a few years back. Eventually he passed away, as we all do. He was a retired Air Force officer, and at one point he had actually been in charge of the base near Roswell, New Mexico. He could remember stuff that happened a long time ago. He just couldn't necessarily remember stuff that happened a few minutes ago. And I asked him, point blank, one time if there was evidence of truth to the persistent rumors that aliens had been found near Roswell.
"Not that I ever saw," he smiled with the childlike honesty of the Alzheimer's afflicted.
Of course, he could have been part of the giant cover up plot...
I'm not sure how I got sucked into the search. It had something to do with military experts testifying that there has been a big coverup regarding space ships and aliens for decades, and how these ships were seen beaming lights into our nuclear arsenals, somehow disabling their launching capabilities. Or something. So, you know... a few clicks, and I'm looking at "dead alien" pictures, and autopsies, and different photos of alleged spacecraft.
One thing struck me right away. The UFO pictures taken in the 1960's show spacecraft that are a lot more clunky looking than the more recent pictures. Apparently, aliens like to buy a newer model space craft every year or so. Some of the classic space craft have a certain appeal to them, kind of like the old Cadillacs of the 50's. You know... solid, no discernible fins as yet, a little tank-like but ultimately functional and luxurious in a practical kind of way. The new ones are more modern... sleek, with fluid lines and much fancier lights. I don't know if the old classics are still up there zipping around or not. Maybe the aliens, like the Japanese, are required by law to upgrade every year. Maybe that's what's actually on the dark side of the moon, that the astronauts ostensibly saw and couldn't talk about. A giant wrecking yard full of old space ships, bunches of clunkers from the fifties and sixties that nobody wants to drive any more.
The autopsy picture I saw of an alien revealed that they don't have much skeletal structure, or muscle for that matter. Apparently you just kind of peel back their "skin" and there's a hodgepodge of gloppy lookin' stuff in there that vaguely resembles stew meat. Ahh, mysteries abound.
Lest you think I am totally skeptical of the existence of aliens... well, I'm not. Matter of fact, the odds of there being alien life forms are much better than the odds of there not. And I don't doubt some could have visited here, or even kinda keep an eye on the place. It's entirely possible. I don't trust 'em much, mind you. But by now, I don't really trust anyone very much. I've been around too long, and figure if I can't trust people born on the same planet as me, there's no reason to trust someone born in an entirely different galaxy. I figure E.T. was a con man.
This brings to mind one time in my wayward youth... when I was still in high school, actually. I was with a group of friends, driving on a dirt road south of Denver. We were, uhhh... in an altered state. Which makes one perfectly ripe for alien sightings. And sure enough, as we were driving down this bumpy dirt road in the twilight, a giant orb rose over the horizon. "Holy shit! What's that??" one friend asked incredulously. "Wow," said another, as that was all he could get out of his mouth. I pulled the car over to take a closer look. "What the fffffff....." exclaimed another. And I, always the party pooper, looked up and said, "Uhhhh... it's the moon." Which of course it was. It was big, and orange-ish, and orb like, and a little more imbued with life when viewed in an altered state. But it was, nonetheless, the moon.
"Ohhh," my friends exclaimed all at once. "Yeah.... it's the moon....."
And people wonder why Americans don't do that good on test scores. If you're so wrecked you can't tell the moon from a UFO, trigonometry is gonna throw you for a loop.
I took care of a gentleman with Alzheimer's disease a few years back. Eventually he passed away, as we all do. He was a retired Air Force officer, and at one point he had actually been in charge of the base near Roswell, New Mexico. He could remember stuff that happened a long time ago. He just couldn't necessarily remember stuff that happened a few minutes ago. And I asked him, point blank, one time if there was evidence of truth to the persistent rumors that aliens had been found near Roswell.
"Not that I ever saw," he smiled with the childlike honesty of the Alzheimer's afflicted.
Of course, he could have been part of the giant cover up plot...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
My Sorry Ass Space
Well, I keep returning to the MySpace blog, where some of you know me from. Old habits are hard to break, I suppose. And also, I just get a lot more readers over there. But every time I think I can get used to the new format and barrage of mind numbing, eyeball-singeing promo clips they throw at you, and have crawling across the page, and leaping up out of nowhere... then they come up with another one. What kind of a brain dead moron thinks of these things? Now they've got it set up where your sign in page actually slides down your screen while some advertisement for something or other (I actually refuse to watch 'em, so really don't know what they're for) looms up and tries to beat you over the head with a cast iron skillet. It's become worse than television. Who knew that was even possible? I keep the sound down, so Lord knows what kind of noises are going on as well. There are usually some very earnest and often provocatively clothed young folk (hey, almost everybody looks young to me these days... old people actually call me "sir"... it ain't pretty). They are usually incredibly intense, blowing something up, or having something blow them up, or blow up them... or something. Somebody over there at MySpace is taking the bad drugs, seems to me.
However, I do still post over there on occasion. And if you don a flak jacket, a steel helmet, a hazmat suit, a gas mask and carry a giant b.s. detector, you might find it of interest. Be sure to fully hydrate yourself before you attempt entry, though. The log-in page to MySpace is strewn with the bodies of those who tried to enter without fully preparing themselves.
What I always liked about MySpace was the fact that it could serve basically as an all purpose site for communication, promotion, meeting new people, finding old friends, and so on. Of course, the Summer of Love had its brief moment of relevance too.
Now, with everything being scattered all over the internet, it seems to take an unwieldy amount of time to do things. I come here to write a blog (I also occasionally blog over at Lisa Ferreri's wonderful Wiffledust site). I have my Facebook page, of course. But I just can't get very comfortable on Facebook. I don't know why. And I have my Facebook Fan Page. Twitter. Reverb Nation. Plaxo. And honestly, I'm not sure what else. Oh yeah, my website.... www.davidvidal.net... which were it not for the heroic efforts of my friend Paul McCarty would be a wasteland of blowing tumbleweeds and rusting swing sets.
I used to be able to sit at the computer (yeah, I'm way old fashioned I know... I have an actual stupid phone, and I barely know how to use call waiting on it), go to MySpace, take care of e-mails (oh yeah, I forgot to mention e-mail), messages, promo, blogs and so on in one swell foop. Or close to it. Now, I feel like I'm spraying bullets with an automatic rifle, just hoping to hit something on the internet. (Dear FBI, please understand my occasional use of analogy, euphemism and other such linguistic baubles and don't put me on any more lists... 'kay? I asked nicely...)
And really, I shouldn't be doing any of this. There are always pressing matters in the "real" world as well. Ahhh, well.
Anybody havin' fun yet?
However, I do still post over there on occasion. And if you don a flak jacket, a steel helmet, a hazmat suit, a gas mask and carry a giant b.s. detector, you might find it of interest. Be sure to fully hydrate yourself before you attempt entry, though. The log-in page to MySpace is strewn with the bodies of those who tried to enter without fully preparing themselves.
What I always liked about MySpace was the fact that it could serve basically as an all purpose site for communication, promotion, meeting new people, finding old friends, and so on. Of course, the Summer of Love had its brief moment of relevance too.
Now, with everything being scattered all over the internet, it seems to take an unwieldy amount of time to do things. I come here to write a blog (I also occasionally blog over at Lisa Ferreri's wonderful Wiffledust site). I have my Facebook page, of course. But I just can't get very comfortable on Facebook. I don't know why. And I have my Facebook Fan Page. Twitter. Reverb Nation. Plaxo. And honestly, I'm not sure what else. Oh yeah, my website.... www.davidvidal.net... which were it not for the heroic efforts of my friend Paul McCarty would be a wasteland of blowing tumbleweeds and rusting swing sets.
I used to be able to sit at the computer (yeah, I'm way old fashioned I know... I have an actual stupid phone, and I barely know how to use call waiting on it), go to MySpace, take care of e-mails (oh yeah, I forgot to mention e-mail), messages, promo, blogs and so on in one swell foop. Or close to it. Now, I feel like I'm spraying bullets with an automatic rifle, just hoping to hit something on the internet. (Dear FBI, please understand my occasional use of analogy, euphemism and other such linguistic baubles and don't put me on any more lists... 'kay? I asked nicely...)
And really, I shouldn't be doing any of this. There are always pressing matters in the "real" world as well. Ahhh, well.
Anybody havin' fun yet?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Dumpster Diving for Healthcare
I ran into my old friend David Chamberlain last night. Actually, I didn't run into him so much as went to see the band he plays with on occasion at a cocktail lounge in the San Fernando Valley. David is quite simply one of the best bass players on the planet. He's worked with Glenn Frey, Roy Buchanan, blah blah. He's melodic, funky and has the best tone maybe ever. More important, he's got a heart of gold, and has survived many of the addictions and afflictions musicians are prone to going through.
So in the course of conversation, we talked about... hip replacements. What else? Chamberlain is looking forward to having one. Because he's low income (as most musicians are) he has qualified, by waiting in the right lines and filling out the right forms, to have his hip replaced. And he's excited about it. I think it's cool that he's having it done. Meanwhile, I prefer to slowly let mine deteriorate. Partly out of stubbornness and blatant denial, and partly because I don't think I would qualify for such a thing.
I would certainly qualify in the income department, but because I own a house, I think my assets would throw me out of qualifying. Which is kind of the norm for a lot of us. We don't quite fit in any category. If you rent, and are below a certain income level, there are options for you. If you own, and are steadily and gainfully employed, there are options for you. If you fall through the cracks (which I'm pretty sure is how I got to this planet to begin with), you often find that your options are very limited.
I'm not complaining. And I'm actually happy for my friend, and the fact that my niece got her cancer treated, and so on. And I'm pretty okay with people who have great health insurance through their jobs or whatever. But it seems to me that the system we have is just too convoluted.
Many of us voted for Barack Obama because of his seeming dedication to universal health care. For all Americans. An expansion of existing programs to cover everyone. That's what he sold us. Many of us bought into his idea. I still buy into it. In this country, we seem willing to fire people who work for the post office, but God forbid any insurance executives lose their jobs.
As we all know, that's not at all what we got. After a year of political wrangling, wrestling, glad handing and brown nosing we got, instead of simple and understandable universal health care, a convoluted mess that we are all required by law to buy into, even though most of us don't have a clue what it is we are buying. And many of us are just going to take the hit. We'll pay the fine, and keep living on a wing and a prayer.
If Obama is looking for the source of mass discontent among many people who voted for him, he need look no further than this. Plain and simple, he did not deliver on his promise, and then has tried to convince us that what we got was what we really needed. It's kind of a father knows best line of thought that might work on his daughters, but doesn't work on most grown ups.
I don't hold Obama entirely accountable for the mess of a health care bill that wormed its way through the legislative process. He has an opposition party that has been nothing short of obstructionist from day one. And I don't think he had a clue how powerful the insurance company and pharmaceutical companies truly are. His big mistakes seem to be 1) he spent too much time trying to compromise with a group of people who wanted nothing short of his political head on a platter and 2) instead of fighting for what he promised in his campaign and possibly losing, he chose a Pyrrhic victory instead. And almost everyone agrees that the result was a total mess of a health care bill signed into law.
I'm not one who expects the government to fix everything for me. But I do resent it when somebody promises me a steak dinner and then tries to convince me that a cold meatloaf sandwich is the same thing. And then insists that I pay for the meatloaf sandwich that I didn't want to begin with.
This is going to bite Obama in the ass come election time. He's a masterful campaigner, and the Republican Party is in such disarray that I still think the smart money will be on him getting re-elected. But it's kind of reminiscent of the old Pete Townsend line, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
We have a new captain at the helm, but the ship is going the same direction.
Many of us had hoped that change would mean something... well, a little different....
So in the course of conversation, we talked about... hip replacements. What else? Chamberlain is looking forward to having one. Because he's low income (as most musicians are) he has qualified, by waiting in the right lines and filling out the right forms, to have his hip replaced. And he's excited about it. I think it's cool that he's having it done. Meanwhile, I prefer to slowly let mine deteriorate. Partly out of stubbornness and blatant denial, and partly because I don't think I would qualify for such a thing.
I would certainly qualify in the income department, but because I own a house, I think my assets would throw me out of qualifying. Which is kind of the norm for a lot of us. We don't quite fit in any category. If you rent, and are below a certain income level, there are options for you. If you own, and are steadily and gainfully employed, there are options for you. If you fall through the cracks (which I'm pretty sure is how I got to this planet to begin with), you often find that your options are very limited.
I'm not complaining. And I'm actually happy for my friend, and the fact that my niece got her cancer treated, and so on. And I'm pretty okay with people who have great health insurance through their jobs or whatever. But it seems to me that the system we have is just too convoluted.
Many of us voted for Barack Obama because of his seeming dedication to universal health care. For all Americans. An expansion of existing programs to cover everyone. That's what he sold us. Many of us bought into his idea. I still buy into it. In this country, we seem willing to fire people who work for the post office, but God forbid any insurance executives lose their jobs.
As we all know, that's not at all what we got. After a year of political wrangling, wrestling, glad handing and brown nosing we got, instead of simple and understandable universal health care, a convoluted mess that we are all required by law to buy into, even though most of us don't have a clue what it is we are buying. And many of us are just going to take the hit. We'll pay the fine, and keep living on a wing and a prayer.
If Obama is looking for the source of mass discontent among many people who voted for him, he need look no further than this. Plain and simple, he did not deliver on his promise, and then has tried to convince us that what we got was what we really needed. It's kind of a father knows best line of thought that might work on his daughters, but doesn't work on most grown ups.
I don't hold Obama entirely accountable for the mess of a health care bill that wormed its way through the legislative process. He has an opposition party that has been nothing short of obstructionist from day one. And I don't think he had a clue how powerful the insurance company and pharmaceutical companies truly are. His big mistakes seem to be 1) he spent too much time trying to compromise with a group of people who wanted nothing short of his political head on a platter and 2) instead of fighting for what he promised in his campaign and possibly losing, he chose a Pyrrhic victory instead. And almost everyone agrees that the result was a total mess of a health care bill signed into law.
I'm not one who expects the government to fix everything for me. But I do resent it when somebody promises me a steak dinner and then tries to convince me that a cold meatloaf sandwich is the same thing. And then insists that I pay for the meatloaf sandwich that I didn't want to begin with.
This is going to bite Obama in the ass come election time. He's a masterful campaigner, and the Republican Party is in such disarray that I still think the smart money will be on him getting re-elected. But it's kind of reminiscent of the old Pete Townsend line, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
We have a new captain at the helm, but the ship is going the same direction.
Many of us had hoped that change would mean something... well, a little different....
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Step Away From The Bus
The real news in America is that the poverty rate is the highest that it's been in the fifty years since they started tracking such things. One in seven Americans now officially lives in poverty. And the demographics are remarkably egalitarian... in plain speak, it doesn't matter whether you have a degree or not. More and more people with advanced degrees and great looking resumes are now turning to shelters to feed their families.
Not being an economist, I have no idea when a recession crosses the line and becomes a depression. But this economy is looking more and more dastardly. We're all affected by it, some more than others. The exception seems to be the very wealthy. The upper few percent of Americans are doing remarkably well. They still conduct their lives much as they always have. Maybe even a bit more lavishly. And one gets the sense, not only from them but in general, that the rest of us now exist primarily to serve them.
This is not what the American Dream was sold as. And for all the opportunities that we still have in this country, more and more of those opportunities are slipping away for the average person.
Obviously this is going to lead to class resentment. How could it not? And that is the one thing that politicians fear, while at the same time they play on it to their own advantage. Because they. for the most part, have always served the interests of the very wealthy, while pretending to do otherwise.
There are going to be no solutions from our two party system. It has driven us into this ditch, as the Great Corporatocracy drives both of them. Yet it is so ingrained as part of America, I doubt that it will ever be jettisoned. Which doesn't bode well for our future. We're stuck with two perennially bickering political parties that hold each other hostage and accomplish little if anything in our interest.
The only way out of the ditch is for us to dig ourselves out. But, more and more, people are just deciding they really don't need the bus any way, and walking away.
Not being an economist, I have no idea when a recession crosses the line and becomes a depression. But this economy is looking more and more dastardly. We're all affected by it, some more than others. The exception seems to be the very wealthy. The upper few percent of Americans are doing remarkably well. They still conduct their lives much as they always have. Maybe even a bit more lavishly. And one gets the sense, not only from them but in general, that the rest of us now exist primarily to serve them.
This is not what the American Dream was sold as. And for all the opportunities that we still have in this country, more and more of those opportunities are slipping away for the average person.
Obviously this is going to lead to class resentment. How could it not? And that is the one thing that politicians fear, while at the same time they play on it to their own advantage. Because they. for the most part, have always served the interests of the very wealthy, while pretending to do otherwise.
There are going to be no solutions from our two party system. It has driven us into this ditch, as the Great Corporatocracy drives both of them. Yet it is so ingrained as part of America, I doubt that it will ever be jettisoned. Which doesn't bode well for our future. We're stuck with two perennially bickering political parties that hold each other hostage and accomplish little if anything in our interest.
The only way out of the ditch is for us to dig ourselves out. But, more and more, people are just deciding they really don't need the bus any way, and walking away.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Election Update
I know you're all just waiting for my political analysis. I do, after all, have a tremendous amount of expertise in the field, having performed in more dive bars than you've probably ever been in. and hanging out with ne'er do wells and such.
The political season is upon us, in case you haven't noticed. And this is when you can tell who is jockeying for what position. Sarah Palin... gasp.... is actually being dangled as a presidential contender by the Republicans. I can surmise this because she is veering more to the center, having reeled in the "wing nut" branch of the Republican Party. She is actually positioning herself as a conciliator of sorts. Or rather, the powers that be are positioning her as such. And they are unleashing none other than the old stalwart of the "right", Newt Gingrich, as the new voice of the wacko's. Which allows Ms. Palin to scoot to the center a bit. You heard it right here. Sarah Palin will be the Republican candidate for president.
Newt is pretty comfortable in the role of the comforter of the wacko's, though of course he doesn't believe a word that comes out of his own mouth. He knows Barack Obama is actually the personification of the American Dream. And yet, he is willing, and able, to paint him as some kind of foreign born alien species who by some dastardly and no doubt devious scheme managed to become president, and is leading the nation into the abyss of socialism and Devil worship.
The Democrats, on the other hand, have allowed the Republicans to define the battle. Because they are, after all, a bunch of wusses. They can't help it. They just came out that way.
Obama somehow managed to squander most of his momentum on a healthcare bill that nobody really wants. And now that the honeymoon with the electorate is over, he is scrambling to get his old groove back. Of course, he is dragged down by two wars and a slogging (at best) economy. The relationship of which nobody but those of us on the outside seem to be able to grasp. Two Wars plus No Money equals Slogging (at best) Economy.
John Boehner is practically salivating at his seemingly inevitable leadership position in Congress. I'd like to say Boehner seems like a nice guy, but honestly, he seems like a creep. The guy in the dark recesses of the lounge with the scotch on the rocks and the cigarette hittin' on the young barmaid. I'm tellin' you, I've seen this guy before. Plenty of times. And his name is John Boehner.
One thing you can count on in an election season is that all truth will be out the window. Don't expect anybody to utter a single word of truth until the election is over. And even then, I wouldn't hold my breath.
The political season is upon us, in case you haven't noticed. And this is when you can tell who is jockeying for what position. Sarah Palin... gasp.... is actually being dangled as a presidential contender by the Republicans. I can surmise this because she is veering more to the center, having reeled in the "wing nut" branch of the Republican Party. She is actually positioning herself as a conciliator of sorts. Or rather, the powers that be are positioning her as such. And they are unleashing none other than the old stalwart of the "right", Newt Gingrich, as the new voice of the wacko's. Which allows Ms. Palin to scoot to the center a bit. You heard it right here. Sarah Palin will be the Republican candidate for president.
Newt is pretty comfortable in the role of the comforter of the wacko's, though of course he doesn't believe a word that comes out of his own mouth. He knows Barack Obama is actually the personification of the American Dream. And yet, he is willing, and able, to paint him as some kind of foreign born alien species who by some dastardly and no doubt devious scheme managed to become president, and is leading the nation into the abyss of socialism and Devil worship.
The Democrats, on the other hand, have allowed the Republicans to define the battle. Because they are, after all, a bunch of wusses. They can't help it. They just came out that way.
Obama somehow managed to squander most of his momentum on a healthcare bill that nobody really wants. And now that the honeymoon with the electorate is over, he is scrambling to get his old groove back. Of course, he is dragged down by two wars and a slogging (at best) economy. The relationship of which nobody but those of us on the outside seem to be able to grasp. Two Wars plus No Money equals Slogging (at best) Economy.
John Boehner is practically salivating at his seemingly inevitable leadership position in Congress. I'd like to say Boehner seems like a nice guy, but honestly, he seems like a creep. The guy in the dark recesses of the lounge with the scotch on the rocks and the cigarette hittin' on the young barmaid. I'm tellin' you, I've seen this guy before. Plenty of times. And his name is John Boehner.
One thing you can count on in an election season is that all truth will be out the window. Don't expect anybody to utter a single word of truth until the election is over. And even then, I wouldn't hold my breath.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Talking Stick in Venice
I had the honor of sharing the bill with Jude Johnstone and Gretchen Peters last Saturday at the Talking Stick in Venice, California. The event was a benefit for the Alzheimer's Foundation, and over two thousand dollars was raised during the evening. (You should know that I was the only one tasteless enough to make an actual Alzheimer's joke about remembering lyrics. What can I say.)
Anybody who is not familiar with these two outstanding artists should be. They both have written hit songs out the wazoo, for the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, and on and on. Their discography is enough to keep you humble, believe me. And they each have released multiple outstanding albums of their own material. They are compelling, gifted, and seasoned performers.
The Talking Stick is a legitimate coffee house in Venice... so legitimate you can hear the grinder making up cafe lattes and such as you perform. But the audience is attentive, and appreciative, and in the end, giving.
Mark Islam was responsible for the event. He runs a non-profit organization called Grassroots Acoustica, whose sole purpose is to raise money for charity. Mark is an accomplished singer/songwriter himself, in addition to being a wonderful host and organizer. He has been responsible for raising money for multiple charities through the years, benefiting the homeless, the downtrodden, and the misunderstood, among others. He is, in a nutshell, a gentle, caring and giving soul.
Sometimes, in this world in which so much is wrong, it is a privilege to be involved in something that is so unequivocally right.
Anybody who is not familiar with these two outstanding artists should be. They both have written hit songs out the wazoo, for the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, and on and on. Their discography is enough to keep you humble, believe me. And they each have released multiple outstanding albums of their own material. They are compelling, gifted, and seasoned performers.
The Talking Stick is a legitimate coffee house in Venice... so legitimate you can hear the grinder making up cafe lattes and such as you perform. But the audience is attentive, and appreciative, and in the end, giving.
Mark Islam was responsible for the event. He runs a non-profit organization called Grassroots Acoustica, whose sole purpose is to raise money for charity. Mark is an accomplished singer/songwriter himself, in addition to being a wonderful host and organizer. He has been responsible for raising money for multiple charities through the years, benefiting the homeless, the downtrodden, and the misunderstood, among others. He is, in a nutshell, a gentle, caring and giving soul.
Sometimes, in this world in which so much is wrong, it is a privilege to be involved in something that is so unequivocally right.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
September 11
September 11 is now etched firmly in the national consciousness of America. It is a day to honor the truly heroic efforts of many on that fateful day, and since, and also a day of mourning for those who were lost.
Somehow, the events of September 11 unalterably changed the way America views herself. In a way, we lost our national innocence, and realized how vulnerable we are. We were suffering from the delusion that somehow the violence and destruction going on in far reaches of the world couldn't reach us. We learned different, and in a big and horrible hurry.
Unlike most other national days of remembrance, there is really nothing to celebrate regarding 9-11. There are acts to honor, yes. And lives to remember. But you can't really celebrate a tragedy. Even though the wounds inflicted on that day are no longer open, they have left a large amount of fresh scar tissue behind. And it's not a clean, surgical scar. But rather a jagged and hideous scar, as though the wound was inflicted by a broken bottle in a dark alley. And every day, when we look in the mirror, there it is. We can cover it up, but it's still there.
America was mugged on September 11. And it's hard to know how to react to a mugging. All you can really do is be thankful you survived, and move on.
We now find ourselves involved in two wars that sprung from that mugging. Though the reasons for the wars have since become increasingly muddied. It's as though we felt in the immediate aftermath that we had to do something, even if it was wrong. And so we lashed out like a wounded beast, at whoever and whatever we could. And yet, the muggers, all these years later, for the most part remain at large.
Innocence is not something you can ever get back. America is young no more. America is middle aged, and as happens when you reach middle age, she has incurred some damage. She's feeling her years. The question that remains is how gracefully she will age. And that is up to us, who live here, to determine.
Somehow, the events of September 11 unalterably changed the way America views herself. In a way, we lost our national innocence, and realized how vulnerable we are. We were suffering from the delusion that somehow the violence and destruction going on in far reaches of the world couldn't reach us. We learned different, and in a big and horrible hurry.
Unlike most other national days of remembrance, there is really nothing to celebrate regarding 9-11. There are acts to honor, yes. And lives to remember. But you can't really celebrate a tragedy. Even though the wounds inflicted on that day are no longer open, they have left a large amount of fresh scar tissue behind. And it's not a clean, surgical scar. But rather a jagged and hideous scar, as though the wound was inflicted by a broken bottle in a dark alley. And every day, when we look in the mirror, there it is. We can cover it up, but it's still there.
America was mugged on September 11. And it's hard to know how to react to a mugging. All you can really do is be thankful you survived, and move on.
We now find ourselves involved in two wars that sprung from that mugging. Though the reasons for the wars have since become increasingly muddied. It's as though we felt in the immediate aftermath that we had to do something, even if it was wrong. And so we lashed out like a wounded beast, at whoever and whatever we could. And yet, the muggers, all these years later, for the most part remain at large.
Innocence is not something you can ever get back. America is young no more. America is middle aged, and as happens when you reach middle age, she has incurred some damage. She's feeling her years. The question that remains is how gracefully she will age. And that is up to us, who live here, to determine.
Friday, September 10, 2010
A Burning Dilemma
As the dust settles (a little) regarding the intellectually challenged preacher in Florida who planned to burn a stack of Korans on 9-11, it is time for a little honesty on the issue.
First off, he has every right to burn copies of the Koran if he wants to. There's no doubt about it. The First Amendment covers it explicitly. The fact that it was turned into such a big ordeal by both the mainstream media and everyone from the Pope to the President tells us more about the world we live in than the preacher himself. He's a dumbass. Let's leave it at that.
We live in a world of viral imagery. Videos go around the globe in scant seconds. Image is, apparently, everything. Substance is of very little importance. And this particular image, which in fact would cause no actual harm to anyone, was deemed so volatile that seemingly every leader on the planet chimed in with their opposition. And the preacher, apparently, has caved in to this onslaught of pressure, having decided not to burn, baby, burn in exchange for what he thought was negotiating with the New York imam who is building the mosque and trying to get said imam to move the mosque elsewhere. Something that is much easier said than done. Basically, he was b.s.'d into giving up his position by an imam who was much craftier than he. And, of course, the weight of virtually every known political leader on the planet leaning on him to change his evil ways.
You know and I know that somebody, somewhere in America is going to burn a Koran on 9-11, and that image will go out into the world. And the people who wish to get all upset about it will. The real question is why are people even thinking in those terms... and why are others so damn upset about it. It is, after all, a case of Americans exercising their First Amendment rights. Nothing more, nothing less. My opinion might be offensive to you... but I still have the right to express it.
The idea floated by Hillary Clinton that this Koran burning mindset is an absolute aberration to the way Americans think is an absolute aberration in itself. She knows, you know, I know... there is a certain percentage of people who hold the Islamic religion directly accountable for the attacks of 9-11. And, they actually have a case. Personally, I always thought bin Laden and Co. should have been treated like criminals, and not elevated to the level of being leaders of a military movement. People using box cutters and other peoples' airplanes don't qualify as an actual military. We should have hunted him down, without a whole lot of fanfare, and stuck his severed head on a pike for all the world to see. But, alas, instead we got all mired in the muck of nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan, hunted down and executed the wrong man in Saddam Hussein, and have managed to run up an incredible amount of national debt in the process, thus greatly enriching the movers and shakers of the military industrial complex.
Do I hate the Islamic religion? Not at all. I certainly don't distrust it more than most other organized religions.
But one of the other illusions being bandied about is that Islam is a peaceful religion. It's not. Any more than Judaism is a peaceful religion. Mohammed was, quite simply, a warlord. I've read the Koran. There is nothing pacifist about the philosophy, nor the leader of it. Absolutely, irrefutably the followers of Islam are exhorted to spread the religion, by violent means if necessary. Mohammed spread his religion by military invasion. We can pretend that's not the case, but in fact, unless my English version of the Koran was just totally incorrect, it is the case. So in the name of realism, we shouldn't pretend that Islam is like Christianity in its teachings. It isn't. Jesus preached turn the other cheek. Mohammed didn't even come close to that.
That's not to say all Muslims are violent. Of course they're not. Most people are not inherently violent, and want to go about their daily lives in a peaceful and relatively orderly fashion. And there are lots of good things in the Koran. I think. Heck, basically it's the Old Testament with Mohammed tacked on the end, just like Christianity is the Old Testament with Jesus tacked on the end. But when Moslems of a fundamentalist bent read the Koran, they will see in it an admonition to spread the religion of Islam, by violent means if necessary. Why are we expected to pretend it says anything different?
Personally, I don't like any organized religion. They all lead to trouble. But lots of people do. And sometimes the tenets of those religions clash. That's what is happening now. Historically, Christians and Muslims have gone at it on the battlefield. They're still doing it. Being a believer in neither, it all seems kind of silly to me. But burning a stack of Korans, or not burning of a stack of Korans, is not going to change the fact that there are fundamental differences in the religions. And as long as we believe ourselves to be a Christian nation, and other nations believe themselves to be Moslem, those differences are going to exist.
The real problem is not some preacher in Florida. The real problem is American troops in the heart of Islam. That's what is fueling the fires of anti-American hatred in Islamic countries, and has been fueling them all along. Until that reality changes, whether or not some yahoo burns a stack of Korans is irrelevant.
First off, he has every right to burn copies of the Koran if he wants to. There's no doubt about it. The First Amendment covers it explicitly. The fact that it was turned into such a big ordeal by both the mainstream media and everyone from the Pope to the President tells us more about the world we live in than the preacher himself. He's a dumbass. Let's leave it at that.
We live in a world of viral imagery. Videos go around the globe in scant seconds. Image is, apparently, everything. Substance is of very little importance. And this particular image, which in fact would cause no actual harm to anyone, was deemed so volatile that seemingly every leader on the planet chimed in with their opposition. And the preacher, apparently, has caved in to this onslaught of pressure, having decided not to burn, baby, burn in exchange for what he thought was negotiating with the New York imam who is building the mosque and trying to get said imam to move the mosque elsewhere. Something that is much easier said than done. Basically, he was b.s.'d into giving up his position by an imam who was much craftier than he. And, of course, the weight of virtually every known political leader on the planet leaning on him to change his evil ways.
You know and I know that somebody, somewhere in America is going to burn a Koran on 9-11, and that image will go out into the world. And the people who wish to get all upset about it will. The real question is why are people even thinking in those terms... and why are others so damn upset about it. It is, after all, a case of Americans exercising their First Amendment rights. Nothing more, nothing less. My opinion might be offensive to you... but I still have the right to express it.
The idea floated by Hillary Clinton that this Koran burning mindset is an absolute aberration to the way Americans think is an absolute aberration in itself. She knows, you know, I know... there is a certain percentage of people who hold the Islamic religion directly accountable for the attacks of 9-11. And, they actually have a case. Personally, I always thought bin Laden and Co. should have been treated like criminals, and not elevated to the level of being leaders of a military movement. People using box cutters and other peoples' airplanes don't qualify as an actual military. We should have hunted him down, without a whole lot of fanfare, and stuck his severed head on a pike for all the world to see. But, alas, instead we got all mired in the muck of nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan, hunted down and executed the wrong man in Saddam Hussein, and have managed to run up an incredible amount of national debt in the process, thus greatly enriching the movers and shakers of the military industrial complex.
Do I hate the Islamic religion? Not at all. I certainly don't distrust it more than most other organized religions.
But one of the other illusions being bandied about is that Islam is a peaceful religion. It's not. Any more than Judaism is a peaceful religion. Mohammed was, quite simply, a warlord. I've read the Koran. There is nothing pacifist about the philosophy, nor the leader of it. Absolutely, irrefutably the followers of Islam are exhorted to spread the religion, by violent means if necessary. Mohammed spread his religion by military invasion. We can pretend that's not the case, but in fact, unless my English version of the Koran was just totally incorrect, it is the case. So in the name of realism, we shouldn't pretend that Islam is like Christianity in its teachings. It isn't. Jesus preached turn the other cheek. Mohammed didn't even come close to that.
That's not to say all Muslims are violent. Of course they're not. Most people are not inherently violent, and want to go about their daily lives in a peaceful and relatively orderly fashion. And there are lots of good things in the Koran. I think. Heck, basically it's the Old Testament with Mohammed tacked on the end, just like Christianity is the Old Testament with Jesus tacked on the end. But when Moslems of a fundamentalist bent read the Koran, they will see in it an admonition to spread the religion of Islam, by violent means if necessary. Why are we expected to pretend it says anything different?
Personally, I don't like any organized religion. They all lead to trouble. But lots of people do. And sometimes the tenets of those religions clash. That's what is happening now. Historically, Christians and Muslims have gone at it on the battlefield. They're still doing it. Being a believer in neither, it all seems kind of silly to me. But burning a stack of Korans, or not burning of a stack of Korans, is not going to change the fact that there are fundamental differences in the religions. And as long as we believe ourselves to be a Christian nation, and other nations believe themselves to be Moslem, those differences are going to exist.
The real problem is not some preacher in Florida. The real problem is American troops in the heart of Islam. That's what is fueling the fires of anti-American hatred in Islamic countries, and has been fueling them all along. Until that reality changes, whether or not some yahoo burns a stack of Korans is irrelevant.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
And So
I am moving over here to BlogSpot to see how I like it. MySpace has finally driven me over the edge. It's like being stuck on the Strip at Vegas with a bad hangover. Too many flashing lights and day glo colors and such. The Chinese communist background thingie is what finally did it, though. So... Rupert Murdoch is actually a follower of Mao? Is that the subliminal message? Who knew.
I'll have to see how this works out. I really have nothing to talk about as yet. But talking about stuff is not a problem when I get my groove on.
In case you're not familiar with me, let me explain. I am a musician and writer by profession. I put out albums, tour, write songs for film and television, write an occasional book that may or may not come out, and so on. If it sounds like a glamorous life, obviously you're new. But I enjoy it.
I've been married to the same woman for a long time. We have three grown sons, and too many pets.
I loathe Republicans. And Democrats. The politicians, not the actual humans. I believe that Democrats represent the Great Corporatocracy that actually runs the show. The Republicans, on the other hand, actually are the Great Corporatocracy. I hate the Great Corporatocracy, and therefor have some serious issues with our political system.
I am a big believer in the Constitution of the United States. I believe that the pursuit of happiness is exactly that... a pursuit. There's no guarantees that anyone will find it. But you've got the right to pursue it. Period. (Unless of course your pursuit involves murdering the pool man or something.)
I distrust all organized religion and adhere to none.
And so on. You get the general idea. Let's see if this works...
I'll have to see how this works out. I really have nothing to talk about as yet. But talking about stuff is not a problem when I get my groove on.
In case you're not familiar with me, let me explain. I am a musician and writer by profession. I put out albums, tour, write songs for film and television, write an occasional book that may or may not come out, and so on. If it sounds like a glamorous life, obviously you're new. But I enjoy it.
I've been married to the same woman for a long time. We have three grown sons, and too many pets.
I loathe Republicans. And Democrats. The politicians, not the actual humans. I believe that Democrats represent the Great Corporatocracy that actually runs the show. The Republicans, on the other hand, actually are the Great Corporatocracy. I hate the Great Corporatocracy, and therefor have some serious issues with our political system.
I am a big believer in the Constitution of the United States. I believe that the pursuit of happiness is exactly that... a pursuit. There's no guarantees that anyone will find it. But you've got the right to pursue it. Period. (Unless of course your pursuit involves murdering the pool man or something.)
I distrust all organized religion and adhere to none.
And so on. You get the general idea. Let's see if this works...
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