Muh man, Keith demonstrates again why "the left" is right and "the right" is wrong.
Mar 24, 2011
Today's Quote
"Destiny is a tyrant's justification for his crimes, and a fool's excuse for his failures."
--Ambrose Bierce
--Ambrose Bierce
Mar 23, 2011
Political Science
A longtime personal favorite. I played this in a tourist bar in BVI sometime in 2003 (we were there on vacation), not knowing of course, if the crowd would get it. Most did. Some didn't. Some things never change.
Hat tip to Steve P in Oregon. I had no idea anybody else even knew this tune existed.
Hat tip to Steve P in Oregon. I had no idea anybody else even knew this tune existed.
The World Is A Battlefield
Wondering why Obama isn't following thru on what we all took as a pledge to change how we approach the "War On Terrorism"? Simple answer = he can't.
It's possible that a lot of the turmoil and upheaval in Western Asia grew out of The Bush Doctrine (tho' it's more probable it was happening by itself anyway), but the main thing is that something very big and very dangerous is in motion, and is gathering a heavy inertia.
All Obama can do now is try to guide the thing on its path; to minimize the damage, and to position us to take advantage of whatever tiny crumbs of benefit might fall out of it along the way.
So here's the thing: The massive cluster fuck we call The Arab World gets bigger and more complicated every day.
Jeremy Cahill on Democracy Now.
BTW: you know Cahill is probably onto something because our Corporate Government insists on ignoring what he reports.
It's possible that a lot of the turmoil and upheaval in Western Asia grew out of The Bush Doctrine (tho' it's more probable it was happening by itself anyway), but the main thing is that something very big and very dangerous is in motion, and is gathering a heavy inertia.
All Obama can do now is try to guide the thing on its path; to minimize the damage, and to position us to take advantage of whatever tiny crumbs of benefit might fall out of it along the way.
So here's the thing: The massive cluster fuck we call The Arab World gets bigger and more complicated every day.
Jeremy Cahill on Democracy Now.
BTW: you know Cahill is probably onto something because our Corporate Government insists on ignoring what he reports.
God Needs Us
Cain slew Abel, Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord
And the Lord said:
"Man means nothing, he means less to me
than the lowiliest cactus flower
or the humblest yucca tree
he chases round this desert
cause he thinks that's where I'll be
that's why I love mankind"
"I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
from the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That's why I love mankind"
The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree
The Buddhists and the Hindus joined on satellite TV
They picked their four greatest priests
And they began to speak
They said, Lord a plague is on the world
Lord no man is free
The temples that we built to you
Have tumbled into the sea
Lord, if you won't take care of us
Won't you please please let us be?
And the Lord said
And the Lord said
"I burn down your cities--how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
Y'all must be crazy to put your faith in me
That's why I love mankind
You really need me
That's why I love mankind"
Mar 22, 2011
Super Moon
An old high school buddy has become a right fine picture taker.
Find him at Larry Bollig Photography (www.larrybollig.com)
Find him at Larry Bollig Photography (www.larrybollig.com)
Mar 21, 2011
If It's March, This Must Be War
It's like nobody even notices anymore. Somebody in the White House prints out a few pieces of paper, and people 5000 miles away start dying.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech, American Society of Newspaper Editors, 16 April 1953
I recoil with horror at the ferociousness of man. Will nations never devise a more rational umpire of differences than force? Are there no means of coercing injustice more gratifying to our nature than a waste of the blood of thousands and of the labor of millions of our fellow creatures? ~Thomas Jefferson
Mar 20, 2011
Mar 19, 2011
Upside Down And Backwards
Every time something happens that contradicts the conventional wisdom, we get a whole squad of spokesmodels who swarm to the airwaves trying to countervail the obvious.
The double whammy of earthquake and tsunami is causing a major problem at the Fukushima nuke plant that threatens to become a full-blown catastrophe. People look at what's going on there, and start to have some doubts about nuclear energy here in the US; which threatens the profitability of some very powerful commercial interests - and that simply won't do. The thinking of the citizenry must be brought back under control.
Here's Ann Coulter to argue that doses of radiation which are higher than the gubmint recommends are not only safe, but good for ya! And, of course, Baghdad Bill tries to play the roll of skeptical journalist, but that's just part of the show. He "resists" Coulter's claims just enough to give her lots of chances to make the points she's being paid to make.
One minor problem with the study Coulter cites:
The double whammy of earthquake and tsunami is causing a major problem at the Fukushima nuke plant that threatens to become a full-blown catastrophe. People look at what's going on there, and start to have some doubts about nuclear energy here in the US; which threatens the profitability of some very powerful commercial interests - and that simply won't do. The thinking of the citizenry must be brought back under control.
Here's Ann Coulter to argue that doses of radiation which are higher than the gubmint recommends are not only safe, but good for ya! And, of course, Baghdad Bill tries to play the roll of skeptical journalist, but that's just part of the show. He "resists" Coulter's claims just enough to give her lots of chances to make the points she's being paid to make.
One minor problem with the study Coulter cites:
In popular treatments of radiation hormesis, a study of the inhabitants of apartment buildings in Taiwan has received prominent attention. The building materials had been accidentally contaminated with Cobalt-60 but the study found cancer mortality rates 96.4% lower than in the population as a whole. However, this study compared the relatively young irradiated population with the much older general population of Taiwan, which is a major flaw. A subsequent study by Hwang et al. (2006) found a significant exposure-dependent increase in cancer in the irradiated population, particularly leukemia in men and thyroid cancer in women, though this trend is only detected amongst those who were first exposed before the age of 30.
Mar 18, 2011
The Descent Into Empire
From The Festival of the Book here in Charlottesville yesterday:
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
Mar 17, 2011
Mar 15, 2011
Pi vs Tau
I'm OK for the first 90 seconds, but then it's just hopeless. But what really chaps my ass is that there's a couple of middle-schoolers living in my house right now who'll have a handle on this in a year or two, while I just get deeper into the fog.
Beyond Wisconsin
Hat Tip: JR in Boulder
I believe there are ways to get what you want in this world without being a complete asshole about it. Took me a long time to figure that out, and to build the skills I needed to stay within that construct. Unfortunately, hardly any of that matters anymore.
Case in point: The guy who runs the joint where my wife works has said on more than one occasion (and out in the open for all to hear), "I have the power here. If you want any kind of power, you'll have to take it away from me." That's not quite a direct quote, but very close to it.
That's the dominant thinking in the executive suite now - actually it's been that way for a while. For the guys who've clawed their way up over the last 12-15 years, it's become a zero sum game. They believe with all their hearts that the only way they can win is for everybody else to lose - it's a binary universe where everything is either all one way or all the other way, so there are always and ONLY two diametrically opposed choices (which always seem to comprise a set of false alternatives, but that's a different discussion).
I don't like it of course, but my way of thinking has fallen out of favor (and is not bloody likely to make a big comeback soon), so I have to play in the other guy's house now.
Chris Hedges explains.
And this is what I need to know about right now:
I believe there are ways to get what you want in this world without being a complete asshole about it. Took me a long time to figure that out, and to build the skills I needed to stay within that construct. Unfortunately, hardly any of that matters anymore.
Case in point: The guy who runs the joint where my wife works has said on more than one occasion (and out in the open for all to hear), "I have the power here. If you want any kind of power, you'll have to take it away from me." That's not quite a direct quote, but very close to it.
That's the dominant thinking in the executive suite now - actually it's been that way for a while. For the guys who've clawed their way up over the last 12-15 years, it's become a zero sum game. They believe with all their hearts that the only way they can win is for everybody else to lose - it's a binary universe where everything is either all one way or all the other way, so there are always and ONLY two diametrically opposed choices (which always seem to comprise a set of false alternatives, but that's a different discussion).
I don't like it of course, but my way of thinking has fallen out of favor (and is not bloody likely to make a big comeback soon), so I have to play in the other guy's house now.
Chris Hedges explains.
Slick public relations campaigns, the collapse of public education—nearly a third of the country is illiterate or semiliterate—and the rise of amoral politicians such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who posed as liberals while they sold their souls for corporate money, have left us largely defenseless. The last vestiges of unionized workers in the public sector are reduced to protesting in Wisconsin for collective bargaining—in short, the ability to ask employers for decent working conditions. That shows how far the country has deteriorated. And it looks as though even this basic right to ask, as well as raise money through union dues, has been successfully revoked in Madison.
And this is what I need to know about right now:
The only hope now is more concerted and militant disruptions of the systems of power.
Meanwhile, Back In Madison
With everybody raptly gazing at all the glorious disaster porn from Japan and Libya, it's easy to forget that we still have a few little items here at home to address.
I'm sure this guy has plenty to do, but I hope he'd at least consider running for a local office of some kind.
I'm sure this guy has plenty to do, but I hope he'd at least consider running for a local office of some kind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)