The Last Resort

The past speaks volumes to me as I contemplate modernity. I am in awe of the paths which have led us into the wasteland. Paths steamrollered into sameness and banality as humanity's "buzz" is getting harder to satiate. Blood and treasure seem to be all there is left for the fortunate few. Eventually, this bloodlust and greed will turn inward and devour even these "eaters of worlds" themselves.

Alternatives are not even being sought. Those who see the wreckage and attempt to enlighten are the "buzzkillers" and "crackpots" and they are dutifully ignored. The reality of our craven existence where war and poverty abound is so blatantly obvious by some that it has to be ignored by the many or we might have to believe in something like peace and equality instead of an invisible sky god who will reward us for our blind devotion. Religion is one of the opiates (the others being violence and money) which keeps the "buzz" going for many and the belief in salvation is the ace which binds them to an unthinking and uncaring mindset.

That's the way of the world and there appears to be nothing we can do about it. The ironic part is that a great many of my fellow travelers who sense that something is amiss will avoid the "buzzkill" because of the children they are raising. Tell me, dear maters and paters, when is it supposed to get better? What kind of world do you believe your children will grow old in? I have been intimate with the past and it bodes ill for a terrifyingly surreal future. The present encompasses both and is disgustingly meaningless.

There's a specter haunting this planet...

Another Brick in the Wall

Farting in the wind:

8 Young Afghans Killed in Strike, NATO Acknowledges

Brig. Gen. Lewis Boone, the NATO spokestool here, said ...

[the boys] “appeared to be carrying weapons and heading for nearby mountains. They were moving in open terrain in a tactical fashion and clearly keeping a distance from each other.”

This is not even an apology (which makes it worse.) This is the mentality of the paranoid military mind. I am sickened by acts (and justifications) like this.

Ball of Confusion

Laugh Tracks

The trail of the funny,
Meanders ever backwards.
In an infinite spiraling loop,
With interchangeable punches and lines.

Artificial sounds emanate,
Out of a plastic wasteland.
Humorless squeals, mocking surreal,
And the brightness dims on the watchers.

Noxious gasses; getting giddy,
A spike through Gaia's heart.
Serious smiles straining and selling,
Under grim furrowed brows.

Chest thumping love monkeys,
Shrieking for more.
With a merciless mocking and lust,
And empathetic indifference.

Screams, tears and maniacal laughter;
Hysterical rides and rails.
Gods write comedy and mortals cry,
Of a lost cause's humor found.

Enter the killing zone.

Where prey is canned and scanned.

Wrinkles in time,
Within frayed edges of impossible dreams.
Soulful, hopeful traces of irony,
Masked by tears shed at its passing.

Who Will Stop the Rain

Farting in the Wind

Marine Corps spokesfunctionary:

"the actions (pissing on the dead) portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps."

Ask Smedley Butler about core values and then get back to me. Same song, different dance...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Universal_Newsreel_-_Gen._Butler_bares_%22plot%22_by_fascists.ogv

Empty Pages

My mind whirls with such frequency these days. Yet, I am gripped by an overwhelming madness that has been creeping steadily on my soul. This perception is so glimmering obvious to me that I can't find the precise words to express my tribulation without careening off into dimensions yet unfounded. Some would call this writer's block, but for me it is as if I took a gigantic "bong toke" of head-spinning pot and tried to fix a flat tire.

I inspect the wheel in question and scratch my head for a bit. Then I circle the vehicle three or four times for no other reason than to try to grasp the situation. Next, I open the trunk and pull out the crap that is covering the spare and I notice a book I hadn't read in years and proceed to sit on the bumper and read. After a few pages I become parched and go into my car and look for my water bottle, whereby I see the pile of trash that has been piling up in my back seat and think to myself, "I need to clean that up."

I now need a plastic bag to contain all the refuse so I go back to the trunk and remember I am supposed to be changing a tire. Needless to say, it will take me another 30 minutes to figure out what I am doing and finish the job.

I need to focus...

Teach Your Children

For the children.

Two items caught my eye today.

One, educational entrepreneurship is still rising (charter schools) as a "bold" idea to fix something that isn't broken (test scores-especially now that most schools teach to the tests.) The facts are that low SES students do well in spite of the lack of balance in funding (where the true problem exists.)

Two, a study that states that by the time a person reaches the age of 23 there is a 40+ percentage chance that they will have been cited/arrested by police for something other than a traffic violation.

What is this saying about our superficial care for a critical part of our population? I believe these two trends in our society are interwoven on many levels; economic, social/psychological and intellectual.

ECONOMICS: As we have decided that the business model is the future of our schools we have made money the focus of the school's functions (reading, writing, arithmetic are just policies that help to promote the brand.) In this model the output (test scores) become paramount to actual learning (critical thinking, civic awareness, etc...) and the result is a misunderstanding of the actual rules and customs that exist. Next, our justice system has devolved to another business model; the casino. There is no incentive to correct an injustice in this system. As long as the "house" keeps the money flowing the young (and we the people) will continue to lose.

SOCIAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL: It is apparent that some/most young people have been trained to accept the word of those in authority (some of it deserved.) However, If we are to believe the numbers involved in the study mentioned above then we have more than a serious problem with our justice system and it begins with both the police and the schools. Here are two segments of the population that hold tremendous power. The abuse of this power has made it difficult for our young to understand that they have the same rights and freedoms as every other individual in this country. Fear of authority is not a healthy seed to sow, let alone grow.

INTELLECTUAL: Schools are not businesses. They serve one function; to educate. The major problem with our school system is the inequality of resources available to students. It is not test scores and it is not teachers. It is the mindset of administrators who are business oriented and not education oriented. I don't see this problem being circumvented anytime soon either. We will be told our schools are failing and that it is the fault of the teachers and the only way to fix it will be to allow a for-profit business to assume leadership. I fear that this message has already been thoroughly sold to the "collective."

The young are no more promiscuous now than they were 50 years ago. Why do we put up with the justice systems abuse of our young? What are we teaching them about us? Do we really care about them? Our justice system is broke and the remedy is to allow it to continue to function (dysfunction) because it is TBTF (too big to fail.) Sure, I know, justice is served at some (not all mind you) meta-level by this system, but at a mega-level it is truly fucked up (the Supreme Court e.g.) Just a rudimentary knowledge of the Bill of Rights would help if it weren't for the fact that those don't seem to apply to us (we the people) either.

The lesson: Hypocrisy and fear is what we teach our children.

Mugwumps

If at any point in your life you considered voting or siding with a republican, you are a mugwump. No ifs, ands, nors ors or buts. I might add that democrats are just a dimmer, less virulent version, but you may be forgiven for that lapse in judgment. The festering rot you see before you, if you take off the blinders for a second, is the result of our political system and specifically, republicans.

"A mugwump sits with his mug on one side of the fence and his wump on the other."
(loose quotation from the movie 1776 attributed to Ben Franklin)