Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Wikileaks: Fulfilling Obama's Promise of Transparency(Now Facing Charges from DOJ and Pleas for Assassination from "Constitutionalists")


(Truth Held to the Fire by Both Sides)




“Information is the currency of democracy.”

-- Thomas Jefferson.



"As president, Obama will restore the American people’s trust in
their government by making government more open and transparent
and by giving regular Americans unprecedented new tools to keep
track of government officials, who they are meeting with, who is
giving them money and how they are spending taxpayer dollars."

---E-Mail from "Obama for 2008"



The irony of Attorney General Holder looking for ways to charge Julian Assange
of criminal activity when Wikileaks is busy following through with a major vow
of President Obama's campaign is bizarre. Candidate Obama railed against the
secrecy of the Bush Administration at every stop on the campaign trail. Now, as
President, he zealously prosecutes those who listened and are acting on his vows.
Anybody else laughing at this clumsy tripotage?


Another incongruity is the "Originist" crowd calling for Assange's execution.
They hate Big Government except when it involves illegal wars, criminal
enterprise and the massive waste of taxpayer dollars handed to war contractors.
Anti-Big Government folks are against an informed populace. Interesting. I
guess they really do want a smaller government. But only in the sense that a
few can know about policies and implementations that the masses must
obediently, in ignorance, accept. Is democracy possible with this kind of
"small government"? Only a few in the know? Wouldn't President Jefferson
call that tyranny? Isn't media supposed to be a check on such Gov't abuses
instead of acting as a dutiful monkey butler?

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Isabelle Takes a Powder

She doesn't smile enough.
A brahmin told her it relaxes
capillaries 'round the head.

All day her eyes' clouded amber
turns down, shamed by daylight's
lack of restraint.

At a dinner-party her gaze is weighted
by unease and the inability to escape 
daily travail.
In the bathroom a powder
ministers sufficient wonder.

Now her eyes shine like stars bathe in them.
The snowy bezeled ball makes her iris wax
with flecked flame.
Then her laughter is the euphony of pearls
raining on harps.

At home she caps the splendid eve...
fucking thorough as the deepest
Stax groove.

Dew rinses the magic down grated manholes.
Another morn awaits clad in clouded amber.










Tuesday, November 23, 2010

China and the Reunification of Korea


"There is nobody who on leaving this city does not possess greater
caution than when he arrived: by surrendering one's money to
others one learns how to preserve it, which is the only advantage
that foreigners derive from this city of enchantments."

------------Persian Letters. Letter 58, Montesquieu.


Two dinosaurs spawned by post World War 2 realignment sadly
outlive their purpose on this planet. One is NATO and the other
the partition of Korea. Wherever they roam one can see the tracks
of instability, rapacious economic policies and outdated cold-war era
militarism.

Most, if not all, Koreans desire reunification. There are only two
nations on this planet who'd attempt to stop this, Japan and The
United States. The first fears the economic competition. The latter
is not desirous of reunification because it renders their military
presence on the peninsula pointless.






We will always have flare ups and provocative war games between
North and South Korea as long as the US guards the parallel. It is in
the Pentagon's interest to have an enduring presence on the Yellow
Sea. The Failure of the latest G-20 meeting in Seoul has inspired
this artillery incident. Here it is apropos to recall the ballistic missile
fired from a Chinese Submarine just off the coast near Los Angeles......

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

China could seize this moment and head a diplomatic effort towards a
foregone conclusion: The Reunification of Korea. With one stroke of a
pen they could cripple US hegemony in Asia and unite a prosperous
peninsula in their favor. They could also implement an Economic Aid
package involving US Bonds to ease the transition of the North into a
more open society.


South Korea needs to escape US control of their political system.
They need to stop being Japan, Jr..

With the US out of the Korean Peninsula East Asia could be free
to grow on its own terms. Fostering organic trade relations unfettered
by the strain of military alliances.

Friday, November 19, 2010

The Panglosses of Private Enterprise


"It was all indispensable," replied the one eyed doctor, "and private misfortunes
make the public good, so that the more private misfortunes there are, the more
everything is well."
--------Pangloss in Candide, Voltaire.



“Now, if you talk about bailouts for everybody else, there comes a place where if
you just start bailing out all the individuals instead of telling them to adapt, the
culture dies.”

-------Charles Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, 9/14/2010.




Mr. Munger, as well as his "good friend" and partner, Warren Buffett,
says we should "thank God" the Government had the taxpayers bail out
the Investment Banks. Private misfortunes, fraud and racketeering by
Wall Street investment entities, should be rescued by the very public it
fleeces daily. And, we should be thankful for the opportunity of helping
those who destroyed our pensions, savings and social safety net our tax
revenue secures.


After the derivatives driven debt crisis and various other episodes of
malfeasance by private enterprise; British Petroleum in the Gulf,
ENRON and many others; why do Americans still have more faith in
private enterprise over public enterprise in providing best for all?


This "one-eyed" naivete is akin to Pangloss's belief that "Everything is
for the best." It displays a total ignorance of the past and parrots marketing
points corporate media outlets broadcast as gospel truth 24 hours a day.
Private enterprise benefits a few with the revenue of many. To believe it
provides better outcomes for society, insofar as being egalitarian, just or
ethical, is to deny its very essence. It was created to provide revenue for a few.


The past 30 years have been "The Age of Private Enterprise Panglosses".
They reign uncontested. Poverty rates are rising. Income gaps have never
been greater. Social Mobility is nil. The wealthiest 2% are doing wondrous
as the lower 98% are stagnant or doing worse. Corporations and Banks sit
on mountains of cash. Average Americans suffer foreclosure in record
numbers or live under enormous debt burdens. And still, after all this, we
hear the proud banter of these Private Enterprise Panglosses telling us it's
all the Government's fault. They're half right. The Government sides with
them.


We should give them another chance to help us(out of our wealth). And, for
God's sake, don't ask them to "rescue civilization" or give a penny more in
taxes because that's asking too much. It would destroy them. And what could
we ever do without them? Thank God they're around to pilfer everything that
slipped through their fat fingers last time.




Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Jubilee II

The day, silent with labor,
hastened the demise of dusk's calm.

Youths danced in the square,
their pliant limbs
coarsely figured
by tambourines'
frenzied clamor.

Shadows glided, undisturbed,
'cross tacit house-fronts
as the horned moon
began its lonely rise,
jealous of fire
in the square
and lithe bodies
gathering 'round
its gold.

Paper lamps swayed
left to right,
gracious as a mother's gait,
drawing gentle arcs
above revelers' heads.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Last Tide





The light trill of Ines' voice spreads gentle as a songbird's
wing over the room. A weightless tide of waves carry words
in a suasive andante. I awoke and escaped the pull of an
ominous dream. The sea was troubled and no moon lit its
crests with kind silver. My grandfather was wading too far
from the shore. I sensed sea monsters were lurking under the
endless black to take him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He passed in 1986. I was a child then. Many people as close have
died since. His death broke life's cherry.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ideals are like the cruel expanding ink blots of an interminal
writer's block. The wall Kafka tried to write through. Character
appears lost to the living. It is buried in seeking. Writing is an
act that consumes the world in character.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We can disintegrate particles with the heat of one million
suns. Why can't we practice justice? Our hopes float on an
ocean of appeasement.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I go out to greet the public. Smiles are foolish. Laughter is never
kind. Eye contact is offensive. A people without character avoids
justice. This nation cannot face its defeat. When voices rise the
tide has already taken them. Fraud is the basis of our culture.
We derivate to suspend the realization as the heat of one million
suns destroys a quark. Love loses to death.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
His character speaks to me in dream. It never leaves. He rarely
laughs. Death allows him a free tongue. When I tried to save
him he pushed me away. It wasn't in anger. His look was gentler
than Ines' voice. The gesture's beauty eclipsed the most vivid
mixed metaphor. I didn't confuse it with pity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are we ready for the Last Tide? Will the Sun always gild our days
with a promise of neverending growth?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tighten your belts and listen to the dead. They know the fear we
prune and water daily only strengthens death's hold. We barter
character for false ideals. Justice is discarded like an overly candid
friend. Fraud triumphs by its own terms. Love is devoted to revising
the past.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We must swim against the tide. Unseen monsters are not as great
as ignorance make them. Love is the deepest way of knowing. It
stands fearless in truth.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Life laughs at me.
My grandfather looked upon me with a love that rose above all
tides and monsters. Debt disintegrates in the presence of such love.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love is stronger than the heat of 14 trillion suns. It consumes the
imposture of debt.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Incipit the Jubilee.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Medieval "Little Optimum", Black Death and Climate Change Deniers


The above is a painting by Matthias Grunewald. In the lower right corner
of the painting is a bloated and sickly humanoid figure with open sores.
This demon represents a plague sufferer in Grunewald's time(ca. late 15th
early 16th Century Europe). He had treated many plague victims and used
their sickly appearance not only in this piece, "The Temptation of St. Anthony",
but also in his "Crucifixion" of the Tauberbischofsheim Altarpiece. When
present day Climate Change deniers mention what climate scientists call the
warming of the Medieval Period, the "Little Optimum", it is used as a post hoc
argument against manmade Climate Change and as a rational bromide stifling
need for concern when temperatures are trending up. What they always fail to
mention: The "Little Optimum" led to the greatest kill off of the Human species
in recorded history, The Black Death. World Population fell by at least a third
with massive death tolls in Europe, Asia and Africa.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The warming during this period created great crop surpluses and the need
for bulk and break sites, Cities, to store them. Trade grew exponentially with
the great surpluses held in cities.
Trade between East and West facilitated the Yersenia Pestis virus, carried
by fleas and passed to Black Rats(Rattus Rattus), to spread over a large
land mass stretching from east China, through the Russian Steppes and
the Levant, to the far west of the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Climate change, throughout history, always brings unforeseen consequences.
The Black Death was one of them. For Climate Change deniers to utilize the
"Little Optimum" in defense as a benign climate event that was a boon without
harm displays an astonishing ignorance of not only Medieval European
history, but of all available World History. The Plague never left Europe
and Asia fully until the late 19th Century. It returned cyclically for nearly
a half millenia killing thousands in every recurrence.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Pre-Emptive War Criminal Book Tour Invasion!


Cutting the carpet with the elan of psychopaths, these two mass murderers put their
names to memoirs detailing their "spiritual travails"........as if they have a smidgeon of
soul between them. Mass Murder, torture, bankruptcy and tyranny are their only legacy.
I am against burning books. I'd rather we burn these two sociopaths. But, one could say
in defense, "They said God inspired them!". Shameless. Did they use Iraqi and Pashtun
blood to print these Necronomicons?

London Youth Against Neo-Thatcherism(Austerity)


Students, Workers and the Elderly are asked to tighten their belts to bail
out the rampant fraud and gambling losses of Investment Banks.
War on Social Safety Nets has always been the focus of Globalist Finance.
The IMF always preaches austerity as it, like a Vampire, sucks more wealth
from nations and funnels it into banks. The Western Poor will soon learn
what the "Third World" poor has dealt with for years. Globalism is baring its
fangs and it's great to see people in France, Spain, Greece, Ireland and the
UK stand up. In the US citizens have protested by electing reactionaries
who are even worse shills for the vampires.
Until people rise up and demand to be heard, their rights will be trampled and
futures destroyed.
Vodaphone gets a 4 billion pound tax write off as students suffer cuts to tuition
aid.
Fuck the future and appease Corporations! Fuck that!

Friday, November 05, 2010

Apollo Psychopompos

Eyes alight
to blinding showers
of lustrous hair.

Life rises in cresting waves
brightly breaking.

At dusk he decamps the sky
and leaves lines of marked brilliance
to guide us through growing darkness.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

It Will Happen Here(The Midterm's Message)

"The new governor's ambition was to clean up the streets and protect them
from any further blots upon their honor; he talked about streets as if they
were people."

------------ Albert Cossery, The Jokers.



A spectre is haunting the land. It speaks with a dotardly tone and carries
a shoe black sculpted head of hair. Its specious truisms spread over the
land. "Shrink the government.""The Government must get out of the way
of the Entrepeneurial Spirit of America." etc. We are now suffering the
wages of Reagan's sins of debilitating labor value, increasing military
spending, deregulating corporate entities the successive four Presidents
have irresponsibly continued. The American people have masochistically
elected candidates who will not only continue the cronyism of Reagan but
go further and usher in the social inequalities of the 19th century.

The winners exclaim they will cut deficits and spending in a meaningful
way without touching the defense budget. They tacitly approve Dubya's
fiscal conservatism of cutting taxes while waging a global war on
terrorism.

They side with their funders, the Corporations. Expect to see a greater
income gap and over 15% unemployment as the new norm. Also expect
to see cuts in Social Security. Wall Street fraud will be celebrated.

Experts will say President Obama went too far to the left by signing
into law a Corporatist Healthcare Reform Bill and a toothless
Financial Reform Bill. On the contrary, Obama has invited reaction
by abandoning his base in moving to the right and encouraging a
catastrophic counter-reaction to go further in resistance.

In a few years a greater reaction will sweep away these Reagan epigones.
Immense damage will be done. A call for a strong leader will be heard. Americans
love uniforms. The United States will become an open Military Dictatorship.
As of now it is a soft and secretive Security Dictatorship. The Patriot Act and
Supreme Court rulings on Corporate Personhood, Speech and on disallowing
private discourse with groups deemed "terrorist organizations" have already
prepared the way. It will happen here very soon.