Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Sibylline: Prophecies 2011


1. Greater US military activity in North Pakistan results in Coup. Military
Junta will rule Pakistan again. Civilian Government charged with
corruption...People back Coup in revulsion towards US.
2. Tensions in Kashmir escalate.
3. South Korea will be cause of distress on Korean peninsula.
4. Japan's economy collapses.
5. Oil prices continue to rise. Heating shortages in US and Ukraine cause
deaths.
6. War in Lebanon. Syria and Iran beat back Israelis once again.
7. Violence in Yemen spreads to Saudi Arabia.
8. Dick Cheney, the man without a pulse, dies.
9. Bank of America folds.
10. US Markets rise until March. A terrible crash in April.
11. Economic downturn for nation outside of Wall Street and K Street
deepens. Afghan War and spike in violence throughout Iraq coupled
with the ongoing Economic catastrophe sends Obama's approval
rating under 30%.
12. Republicans in House outdo farce of Gingrich era Republicans. The
reaction and scapegoating will be fierce.
13. The Internet will be censored.
14. Julian Assange escapes extradition to US.
15. Jeb Bush begins 2012 Presidential Campaign in earnest.
16. Sec of State Hillary Clinton succumbs to heart failure in May.
17. Secretary Geithner ousted from Treasury when unemployment
numbers continue to rise.
18. Obama and Congress agree to make cuts in Social Security. Riots
ensue.
19. Eurozone experiences hardship. United Kingdom suffers economic
crisis much worse than Greece or Ireland.
20. Famine in Eastern Europe.
21. NATO collapses because of IMF exacerbating Eurozone debt crisis.
22. Cuban Doctors solely responsible for ending Cholera epidemic in
Haiti.
23. China intervenes to quell sabre-rattling of South Korea.
24. City and State Governments go bankrupt all over US.
25. Drought in Midwestern US starts in April.
26. Bombing and unrest in Iraq fueled by US private mercs.
27. Indian cities rocked by suicide bombings.
28. Mubarak dictatorship toppled in Egypt.
29. Drug War in Mexico worsens with increased US involvement.
30. Colombia erupts into Civil War over crimes of government.
31. Police State measures tighten in US.
32. Hurricanes hit Northeast US.
33. General Petraeus quits Afghanistan in disgrace.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Holidays!(Shitting on Shopping Frenzies with Love)

"The lucky day dawns. Voice and heart should show respect;
You must now speak good words on this good day.
Listen to no lawsuits, clear the air of frenzied
Strife; suspend your labors, jaundiced mob."

--- Ovid, Fasti, I "Kalends Fastus", lns. 71-74.



Think of those less fortunate and think how easily it could be you in
their place. Love them as you'd desire the same. Civility is strength.
It starts with the simple realization that others are not so different.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have a wonderful holidays! Procuring gifts for others overlooks the greater
gift we can all give by striving, through words and deeds, to inspire all to be
conscious of increasing injustice and inequality. Perhaps that consciousness
can spur action ending our sad retreat. Now is the season when manically
marketed consumerist dreams should be shed in favor of a higher calling to
redress that shameful regression.

We are all in this together. Division is a shortsighted illusion.

Smile and cheerfully engage in the sweetest labor: serving others.
(It's not a cookbook!)

Uh-uh KMA, no cakes. It'd be cruel of me to punish palates.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Best and Worst of 2010

"Corrupted by the complete absence of resistance, power went on
occasions to outrageous lengths...."

-------- Alexander Herzen, "Farewell".


1. Worst Propaganda Campaign: "Recovery Summer"
runner-up: "Policy is working in Afghanistan but hasn't worked."
Best Propaganda Campaign: CrashJPMorgan: Buy Silver

2. Worst Kind of Fundamentalism: "Free-Market Fundamentalism"
Islamic Fundamentalism is merely an anti-Colonial struggle against
"Free Market" fundamentalist interventionism in Middle East and Asia.
These same "Free Marketeers" created and funded Islamic groups to
destabilize Afghanistan to wound the Soviets and Kashmir to punish
India for cozying up to Soviets.

3. Best Weapon Against Plutocratic Imperialism and War Crimes: The free
distribution of information. Wikileaks, etc.

4. Worst Servant of the People Besides Corporate Run Government: Corporate
Run Mass Media. Their disservice towards the interests of the people is
shocking. Disinformation and propagandizing for "Free Market" Elitists
is pandemic.

5. Worst Act of Legislation: Failure to end Bush Tax Cuts. After these Cuts were
passed US experienced the largest rate of job loss in US History. It also allowed
a continued stagnance in living wages for middle class folks as the top .1 %'s
wealth grew exponentially as their tax burden lessened. So much for trickle
down..This trickle defies gravity and goes up.

6. Best New Criminalization of a Former Freedom: Targeting Wikileaks for
providing information to people on its government's action around the world.
This is an attack on free speech and also on the right of citizens to have access
to such information.

7. Worst Government Agency: DOJ. Protects torturers and war criminals and
punishes and tortures those who report them. President Obama's Executive Order
to continue Indefinite Detention without charges enshrines Bush era torture and
war crime policies.

8. Best New Feel Good Form of High Tech Terrorism: Drone Bombing.

9. Best New Sign 18th Century Values are Back: People incarcerated for Credit
Card Debt in multiple states.

10. Best New Sign 19th Century Age of Trusts is Coming Back: Income Disparity
is at its highest in US history. TBTF Banks account for 60% of US GDP.

11. Best Welfare Bum on Planet: The Pentagon. US spends more on Military than
the next 48 nations combined. Keep in mind this is during a Depression.

12. Best Welfare Queens Ever: CEO's of Major US Corps and Hedge Fund
managers. Many were bailed out in the billions by US Taxpayers and cried about
a 3% rise in taxes on high income earners. One compared a 3% hike in taxes
after receiving billions in TARP funds to Nazi Germany's attack on
Poland(Blackrock). BTW Blackrock has yet to pay anything back on its TARP
assistance.

13. Worst Form of False Consciousness: American people accepting MSM
demonization of Assange and agreeing he is a "threat". When the truth about
your Gov't's actions all over the world is a "threat" do you shoot the messenger
or question the policies?

14. Worst Person of the Year: President Barack Obama A criminal DOJ,
washing his hands and doing nothing as Banks defraud homeowners and
violate property law. Increasing military presence in Yemen, Afghanistan
and Colombia. Enabling Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in West
Bank and not demanding the end of Blockade of Gaza. Also silence over IDF
assassinating a 17 year old defenceless US Citizen in international waters.
Shameful spinelessness towards Wall Street. The same towards BP. Hillary
Clinton a close second for the militarization of State Department and
pushing the greater use of Private Mercs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

15. Best Person of the Year: PFC. Bradley Manning. For allegedly exposing
military personnel committing War Crimes in Iraq and leaking cables
embarrassing US diplomats.


16. Worst Trend of the Year: The continuing corporate and gov't attacks on
the free distribution of information. From Cable, Net Neutrality to the co-option
of MSM we are seeing a new effort to silence dissent and truth by controlling
information distribution.

17. Best Trend of the Year: People becoming conscious of Gov't's and Corp's
colluding to shroud crimes under secrecy as people are asked more and more
to surrender their privacy rights for protection. It's a double move to set up a
Pop Authoritarianism.

18. Best Hope: Consciousness

19. Worst Fear: American Exceptionalism and love of Militarism supports tyranny
for our own interests and to protect "Free Markets". Free Market Fundamentalism
is the greatest and most murderous form of Terrorism on this planet.

20. Best Institution: Wikileaks

21. Worst Institution: Federal Reserve (Private Banking Consortium)

22. Worst Currency: US Dollar

23. Best Currencies: Silver and Information.

24. Worst Example of Disinformation: US Unemployment Numbers

25. Best Example of Disinformation: Dow Jones

26. Worst Economic Policy: Chicago School Monetarism
close second--Austrian School "Rentiernomics". The "Fraudulent
Debts Must Be Paid at All Costs" crowd--Either by monetizing
or austerity.

27. Best Sign Financiers Exploit System: Wages from Labor are taxed higher than
wages from Investment, Interest from Debt and Inheritance.

28. Worst Sign They are Winning: Continuing calls for Austerity and cuts to
Social Security and Medicaid but silence on Military spending....Why?
Military Spending is corporate welfare to Arms Contractors, Multinational
Oil Companies and Banks.

29. Best Sign of American's Waking Up: Desire to end Criminalization of Drug
Use and the insane and costly War on Drugs.

30. Best Book of the Year: "It Can't Happen Here"---Sinclair Lewis

31. Worst Book of the Year: "Decision Points"--War Criminal Bush

32. Best Country: Iceland

33. Worst Country: United States

34. Woman of the Year: Marcy Wheeler--emptywheel on Firedoglake

35. Man of the Year: Max Keiser---Keiser Report, Activist against criminal
actions of international banking cartels. His many TV and radio shows
are not only informative but incredibly entertaining. Kudos to Stacy
Herbert who keeps him sane.











Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Odessa, Nine Arrows to the Heart


Nervous as a dyspeptic Canary, I stumbled past the Checkpoint

at the airport, "Imperial Maudit" written on every inch of my

tiny frame. Luckily the shamed look pleased them. A pat on the

back and a consoling smile to my partner blessed our passage.

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

Odessa is a beautiful city. Ironic I took my bride to a mail order bride

marketing center. The people are kind without a dissimulating air. So

many speak English as well as our "Leaders"(looking at you Mama Grizzlies).

It was fun approaching the Potemkin Stairs and making a joke with an

obliging mother and her baby in a carriage. People all around

laughed at the "crazy Canadian". They couldn't believe an American would

do a fake reenactment of an iconic scene from a classic Russian film.

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

The Cathedrals were lovely as Faberge Eggs. Powder blue domes outdid

the cold azure of the skies, an architectural sign of the tenderness of Orthodox

Faith there. It is grandiose. Nevermind the heroin users huddling in the parks

and alleyways.

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

Besides the rites of Venus, my finest memory was discussing the noxious

influence of NATO on Ukrainian policy with an elderly man. It has created

needless strife with a neighbor and hardships for the people. The Russians

are far from perfect, but they are far more trustworthy and considerate

than NATO. NATO's expansion is a vestige of Cold War Era policy. We

agreed and then discussed less portentous matters. A lively discussion

on literature, Olesha, Mandelstam etc...and History. I'll remember him......

and the Opera and a certain Statue of a French nobleman. It was a small

piece of Paris on the Black Sea.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Imperial Oblivion: What's Buried


Buried Stories of 2010.
1. BP Gulf Spill slows Gulf Stream. Results in changed climate for World.
Droughts and floods in varying areas of Europe and Asia. Colder winter for
Northern Europe and Middle parts of North America and Canadian eastern
coast. Damage from the spill in destruction of ecosystem and current
systems will be a problem for decades.
2. War Crime Pays. Massive increase in use of Private Mercenaries in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 100,000 Private Mercenaries in Iraq. They
give US plausible denial in commission of war crimes. This is why they
are paid more and used more than US Military personnel. If they commit
crimes(torture, murder, etc) US Gov't has taxpayers fund their defense.
Erik Prince is now using the services of Bank of America to complete
the sale of Blackwater. Crimes of Bush Administration are not only left
behind but actively buried by Obama administration and Senate by begging
Spain's government to drop War Crimes inquiry on Bush officials over
illegal kidnapping and torture of a Spanish citizen. Also UK Iraq War
Inquiry promised not to delve too deeply into US role to prevent any
embarrassment.
3. India in Afghanistan. India's support of Karzai's corrupt Opium
Running Junta forces Pakistani military's hand to support Taliban
as a balance. Pakistan's Govt is a creature of US cronyism. It is
incredibly corrupt and disconnected from the people. The Military
plays both sides to survive. Meanwhile Kashmir is still an issue. US
and Indian presence in Afghanistan destabilizes the entire region. It
will ultimately lead to another Military Junta in Pakistan displacing
another corrupt regime.
4. US State Department's lies about Yemen. The extent of US
involvement in Yemen is so much greater than admitted by the
State Department or reported by Media. Jet fighter bombing and
Drone bombings are routine and serve as proxy forces aiding
Sunni Majority oppressors against Shiite minority resistance
in Civil War.
5. The silence about conditions in Fallujah after extensive use of
Depleted Uranium munitions during Iraq War. Birth defect rates
are higher in Fallujah and suburbs now than rates in Nagasaki
and Hiroshima after Atomic Bombings in 1945. This has been
reported by foreign media. Complete silence in US.
6. Balkan Revisionism and Holbrooke. Giving Holbrooke the title
of peacemaker for the Dayton Accords is particularly galling. The
talks were delayed to allow General Wesley Clark time to let the
Croats murder and cleanse thousands of Serbs from their homes in
Croatian territory. After the accord he urged US to sit on its hands
while Serbia ousted Albanian moderates in Kosovo which fostered a
resistance movement funded by Opium Trade and links with
Fundamentalist groups all over the world. This group, the KLA, was
then chosen as a heroic freedom fighting group for NATO to back
in an effort to make the Balkans a fiefdom. Holbrooke has often
backed drug dealers to support US/NATO Imperialism, Afghanistan.
Holbrooke was the point man to force a massive bombing war on
Serbian infrastructure by handing Milosevic the Rambouillet
ultimatum. Milosevic could not accept an unconditional and complete
surrender of Serbia to NATO without any stipulation. When he
refuses the suicide of Serbia the carpet bombing began. The
US/NATO utilized cluster bombs in urban areas, destroyed
manufacturing sites, bridges, roads and media outlets. This
process of forcing war onto a nation by any means was the same
method used in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Non-Binding Resolution"
and if you refuse, carpet bombing. The Shock and Awe bombing
of Iraq had a precedent in Serbia.
7. The Increasing Bigotry of Israeli Government as evidenced in
the "Israel is a Jewish Nation Oath" and in the Cleansing of
Palestinians in West Bank. The expansion of Israeli Settlements
in the West Bank and East Jerusalem not only violates international
law, it also violates 50 years of US policy in the conflict. The US
attempted to bribe Netanyahu into freezing the settlements for 90
days by giving them fighter jets and other arms. We also gave Israel
a large amount of enriched Uranium to increse their stockpile of
illegally held Nuclear Arms. They have refused to sign the NPT and
will not allow their sites to be inspected like other nations that abide
by International Law. Some nations are bombed for non-compliance,
by the US no less. And here we are supplying a non-complying nation
with more Uranium to create more Nuclear Arms. I thought the US
wanted less proliferation. I haven't mentioned the collective
punishment war crime policy of Israel towards Gaza. US has never
been an honest broker in Peace talks between Palestinians and
Israelis. We openly arm Israel with tanks, helicopters, missiles
and jets Israel uses to terrorize and kill Palestinians. The role
of US Corporations and Private Interests funding illegal settlements
in the West Bank needs to be mentioned.
8. Continued unrest and desolation in Iraq. The Iraqi Gov't is one
of the most corrupt in the world besides Afghanistan. Potable
Water and Electricity availability are at pre-1960 levels.
Honor killings of women are on the rise and sectarian violence
is rising despite US Mercenary and Troop presence. US is
building megabases across Iraq belying notions it will soon
leave. The size and security excess of US Embassy in Green
Zone of Baghdad is clear evidence of an Occupying Power's
continued presence for years to come.
9. Haiti not receiving any real aid while millions are still
homeless and over a thousand die of Cholera. Though the
rhetoric and announcements of aid sound beautiful, very
little of it is reaching Haiti. Lack of medical supplies almost
a year after a major catastrophe left millions homeless is
inexplicable. Only the Cuban government has made efforts
to help the people of Haiti. The UN is there to spread Cholera,
stand silent as elections are rigged and turn a blind eye to US
small arms dealing and exploitation of laborers.
10. Massive crime wave of bank fraud in Mortgage Services
and Mortgage Backed Securities. Banks are daily violating
centuries of property law by passing on land titles to multiple
investment entities to incentivize default and build layers of
CDO Securities on every property. This is being done in broad
daylight at courtrooms and banks across the country. Robosigning
Mortgage documents to commit fraud against homeowners to
undermine any rights they may have to their home. The Treasury
and President Obama have stated the banks "will sort this out".
This is an open admission that property law in the US is now
determined solely by Banks who utilize fraud and ponzi style
financial chicanery to securitize properties into a collateralized
grave where homeowners are expected to obediently kiss the
spade that buries them.
11. The aim of Austerity Measures in Western Nations is to socialize
the losses of wealthy financiers and bankers onto the people of a nation.
They cut social services, education grants and bail out bond holders and
bankers. This is a redistribution of wealth(i.e. the War on Welfare
State and Entitlements) where tax dollars usually devoted to social
services for the people are now being devoted to multinational
financiers and bankers. The wealthiest people on this planet are
now the greatest Welfare recipients. Those who have the least
are being asked to give up more to allow the small minority that
has the most many times over(income disparity is at record levels)
to be civically responsible for even less.
12. In a recession The Pentagon is spending billions on a chain of
superbases in Colombia and Afghanistan. I guess we will not be
leaving Afghanistan in 2014 after all.
13. Orszag leaves White House Economic Advisor post and quickly
becomes executive at Citigroup. Wall Street Banks and Financiers
and our government are united.
14. US firearms comprise 80% of arms Mexican Drug cartels use
in the ongoing Mexican Drug War.
15. US Unemployment rate is really at 15%. Not the 9.8% released
by Government. The numbers are cooked to hide the reality of how
deep the economic depression is. Also to stifle rage of people towards
Banks and Corps on Wall Street posting record earnings and rewarding
themselves with record bonuses.

Infanta

I

They've set a tiny throne
before the pitched stake.
A lost soul's cry pierces
dry Castilian air.

II

Her reserve, a closed-blind smile,
is fixed by consuming flame.

III

She turns away.
The circle opened 
to let the throne pass.
Serenely she looked past 
our hands' open gate.

IV

Inscrutably Olympian,
revering eyes tarry
to witness the act's end.

She sheds her graver portion
as God's palms cradle
her breath to Heaven.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Bathing Maidens



Shimmery pink
decks river bank
with laughter
and shivery immersion.


Dawn's delicate tangle,
a collation of chaste tones run
seamless over water's rush.

Light Fables

I  Maria and I watched as they folded the bright wheel up and placed it on the back of a trailer. The wheel that, just two nights before, bumped our heads against the stars. So much dream packed and taken away. It dimmed our eyes. Moral: Dismantling a County Fair teaches youth the brevity of dream. 

II  At the end of a hallway in my Grandparents' house glowed a night-light Portrait of Christ. His blonde hair golden in the soft light adjacent to the bathroom, a guide or refuge to lost souls. Fear of the dark often drew me under its luminous gold. I'd lay looking up and slowly fall asleep dreaming Christ's face into rising and setting Suns. Moral: Glory goes to the light. 

III  Jalil bent double in the stairwell. A nightly observance he performed with the same fidelity as daily prayers. Air Raid sirens shrieked like Djinn over the city. The harmony of sirens and explosions made him rhythmically sway. The earth trembled as if it, too, was dancing. More and more he wished to see the devastation, but caution kept him. Then he thought of Khadijah, his love, and the dream of missiles trailing like tresses of her dark hair in the sky.        Moral: Love and terror mend in simile.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Americana(Consciousness Not Hope)

"The rather narrow wish for a comfortable victory of 'good' over 'evil'
has lamentably retarded the progress of humanity."
----------------Andre Gide, Journals, vol. III.





1. To endure in error driven by hopes of someday being proved "right" poisons so

many lives.

2. Why is America marked by violence and the absence of empathy? Because love

is not consumable? Pecuniary success is the only value?

3. The illusion of gain rises past the bar in Bargaining. So high that people see gain in

amassing debts to purchase cheap goods.

4. Debt spending embraces peonage to Financial Entities.

5. A nation of consumers will only revolt for the market place. Ironic that rigged markets

are the sole oppressor, in union with the Government.

6. The message: It is more ethical to steal, commit widespread fraud and gain wealth

than to be indebted. Our Government does both. It is lauded for its theft and fraud

and pilloried for its debts created by siphoning revenue from the government

(and taxpayers) to private enterprise. In this system the shameless win and the losers

are scapegoated with all the shame.

7. The easiest way to defeat the Kleptocrats is by refusing to engage in markets they

rig. Stop shopping for bargain inessentials. Curtail debt spending. Be a free citizen and

not an indebted consumer. Close your 401k and transfer the money into a Credit Union.

Take all your money out of Private Banks and, again, use Credit Unions. Do not give

money to either major money-machine political party.

8. Refuse to watch any of the major media outlets. Do not buy major newspapers. Crash

their system. If you have to invest buy things that have historically held value, Gold, Silver

and commodity staples like Grains, etc.. Stay out of Currency, Securities(Stocks, Bonds) and

ETF's.

9. Any effort to take down a Kleptocracy will never be painless. To endure in truth is not

based on the hope of being right. It is the consciousness of doing right to vanquish

what's wrong. Loss in a righteous cause plants the seed of everlasting victory

(eg. Jesus of Nazareth v. Roman Empire).

Monday, December 06, 2010

The New Vision of Judgement








The elites are not done extracting everything they can from a cowed populace.


Ultimately profitable human abattoirs will be created and sanctioned by their


abettors in the Military, Legislature, and Judiciary. Hidden from view are


the Lords of Finance. They eviscerate our value in this New Vision of


Judgement. Where God's work is done with a cold hand.