China, Brazil and North Korea

A good time to be a human taxi.

For those of you unfamiliar with my opinion of cars, it briefly sounds like this: cars are waste of money, resource, and all too often, lives.

China, the beast in the east, the country that gives the middle finger to time zones and free speech, is banning people from driving cars to help with pollution and congestion for the upcoming Olympics. If your license plate number ends with an odd number you can’t drive today. If it’s an even number, you can’t drive tomorrow, and so on. I realize that schematically this would take a while to fly here, but it’s an idea worth mulling over.

Maybe we could try it two days a month for starters. Allow working folk to plan ahead with car-pooling, grocery shopping, and the like. Then, when people seem to be getting it, try it one day a week. If the shift away from privately-owned automobiles is to someday happen, it would take gradual measures like this to wean the American public from the gasoline teat.

China certainly isn’t taking such measures for any other reason than to save face concerning the putrid air quality in its Olympic-sized cities - they’ve always been more red than green - and the last thing China needs is more rules imposed on its people, but the notion should be encouraged to America to someday give an idea like this a shot.

News from Bizarro World

Reports surfaced last year of some infighting in the Bush camp between Cheaney and Condi over the strategy of handling talks with North Korea. Last week, Ms. Rice seemed to have won the battle, making breakthroughs with the bass-ackward country that has finally allowed food and medical aid to its starving population. Of course, Darth Cheaney and his “hard-liners” are disappointed with the outcome saying we gave away too much in the deal, as if it were a trade for young pitching prospects. Skeptics on the left complained the agreements took too long and that they could have plenty of weapon-grade plutonium by now that could still be used or sold off to other evil nations.

Either way, literally millions of people should be spared from starving to death thanks to the recent agreements and while it’s painful to write, the Bush administration seems to have actually done something positive interacting with an ‘enemy’ nation. I’m still extremely skeptical that there isn’t some super-shady, behind-the-scenes corporate involvement in all of this humanitarian optimism, but for now, it looks good on paper.

- B. Clifton Burke

Brazilian Energy

Short piece on Brazil seeking entrance into OPEC. Also gives some insight into President Lula. Seems to me the left is moving to the center in Latin America, thus gaining more of a political foothold - Lula seems to be a prime example, someone in power that understands the reality that capitalism is going nowhere, therefore solutions (realistic ones at least) must work within the system. In the past many leftist candidates were overtly Marxist-Socialist-Communist oriented.

I think leftists in the US could take some lessons from this type of thinking - that even if you cannot find the perfect candidate, realism must take hold. I tend to believe that the major political parties in this country are more similar than different, but certainly having Obama in power versus McCain would be good news for the most people in the world. That's enough to get my ass to the polls I suppose. I think we need to encourage this type of thinking among fatalistic/apathetic liberals. Living life on principle at all times won't get you very far...

So, that was very tangential to the article about biofuels, but oh well...

- Aaron Howell

June 25, 2008

Exxon/Exxoff
Looks like Exxon Valdez was let off the hook by the supreme court, cutting the total they owe to local inhabitants of the disaster area from $2.5 billion to $500 million. Interesting note: Judge Alito was not allowed to vote because he owns stock in Exxon.

The real story here is that Exxon will continue to appeal the ruling for the next few hundred years. They will drag their feet on this issue until they're knee-deep in concrete. The surviving animals and people harmed by this spill will all be dead before Exxon writes a check. Or, the oil company will have successfully dwindled the amount to $0 through shrewd legal manuevering. Either way, a drunk sea captain's mishap will be swept under the rug and only those directly affected by it (which is mostly wildlife) will remember.

What about me?
Four Americans died in another roadside bomb yesterday in Iraq. Three were soldiers and one was an interpreter, yet the New York Times headline reads, "3 U.S. soldiers killed by bomb in Iraq." In the lede sentence, the paper mentions the fourth casualty but being concpicously absent from the headline suggests that soldiers deaths are more important than others working in some non-combative capacity in the war. It's subtle, but we need to keep a close eye on the way media outlets provide us with bite-sized nuggets of information.

More and more, our rushed, overworked society read about current events as they tick across the bottom of the screen on cable news networks or skimming the small blurbs on internet news sites. Ignoring "the whole story" gives tremendous powers of influence to the storyteller, highlighting what sells, and hiding what doesn't. We should be a nation of skeptics when it comes to spoon fed news.

Flying bats
I've said that it's only a matter of time before somebody on a baseball field is hit with a shard of broken bat. An umpire suffered a gash to the head by a sharp piece of a maple wood bat last night in Kansas City.

These bats are splintering all over the infield these days and it truly is dangerous. These pieces can be large wooden stakes that would have no problem impaling someone. Maple bats are made of cheap, light wood that simply can't hold up to baseball's standards. Players should have to adjust to ash bats (although I hear the Emerald ash borer is a current problem concerning ash bats), and eliminate the greater threat of injuries to everyone on the field and in the stands. It's one thing to get hit with a ball - that has to suck and could still be lethal - but a heavy broken bat is a lot harder to catch, or even avoid.

Adam Dunn has used up an entire forest of maple trees this year alone. The man breaks a bat a week it seems. Maybe a heavier ash bat would make him go the other way sometimes and raise that batting average. Just a thought.

-B. Clifton Burke

Stepping Out of the Kiddie Pool:
Monday, May 02, 2005

Today I woke up with one of those, “I need to grow up a little bit” attitudes. It’s time to really step up to the plate and live like an adult. No more excuses to myself, nor to anyone else. If I want to create some type of immediate family - which I do - it’s time to prepare for one. I would like to embrace the true meaning of carpe diem, which is “seize the day”. Not my meaning which has morphed to, “fuck it, I’m playing hoop with you guys instead of going to class”.
My academic progress is controlled by one thing...my lazy ass. I enjoy thinking aloud that I take less classes in order to ensure that I’m not overwhelmed, and achieve higher marks because of this. But if anything I’ve become underwhelmed in my studies. I do well without trying, which is obviously comfortable. But what lesson do I learn from success that comes easily? I’ve become a ridiculous procrastinator often times turning in decent work instead of well thought out, organized work. My time management is bad, my study skills worse, I’m less than punctual, and rarely appear in control of much responsibility. I have vast potential to blow this Earth out of the water, but have yet to muster enough courage to tap into that potential.
It starts with the small stuff. Wake up!!! Dreaming is cool but it accomplishes little. At night, ask yourself, “Self. Is watching the fourth quarter of a thirteen point game in the first round of the NBA playoffs worth sacrificing a shower tomorrow morning for”? My mind usually counters with, “what if I miss an amazing buzzer-beating comeback win”? But the more sensible question would be, “what if I miss the number seventeen bus, and miss the review for an accounting three test, which I fail and get a ‘C’ for the term”? A healthy, young, strapping buck like myself, probably doesn’t need eight hours of dreamy bliss every damn night. Drink more water, and get ya ass outta bed! (Any advice can be accompanied with drink more water).
General consideration for others is another quality which needs constant attention. I’ve become selfishly numb of friends/family/strangers feelings, which can build, quickly sometimes, into a volcanic eruption. Thinking even more before reacting might be a good practice when interacting with people.
Time management. Whoa... that’s a biggie. Let’s face it, I’ve got a shit load of time. Admittedly, much of that is wasted on ...um...forgettable activities that I’ll wished I’d stayed away from when I’m dying. I don’t want to live with much regret of the ways I’ve spent my time. So the challenge here is discovering the fine line of enjoying life to the fullest, while handling moral responsibilities. I need to get tougher with the latter, or I’ll never truly experience the former. Realistic planning and goal setting, then sticking to it, is the recipe to successful time management. I know it, so why do I not execute it? Laziness, weakness to temptation, selfishness to do what I want. Whack!
Let’s watch me gain some positive momentum into a crucial stretch in my life. Pound out school, acquire some more financial stability, provide more diligently for Mojo, help out more, watch TV less (including sports), read, don’t forget about God, finish your story then write others, think about my future and how I want it to be. Also, the whole relying on other people for major logistic support, has grown tiresome for myself and all involved (you know who you are). If it can’t be done without the assistance of friends/family than find another way dammit. I need to suck it up and stop being “that guy”. The next few will be the window years. I better at least be able to look through as many as possible. Play time’s not over, it’s just gotz to chill.
Mojokong the Contemplative

Some religions are a collective agreement of an ancient person’s interpretation of their natural environment.
In various time frames throughout history, select men have, on paper, spoken with God. These men were blessed with such an honor for living the way God had intended we humans to live. There are, of course, no more such privileged men now because Mohamed perfected God’s message, which was perfectly written down and has been preserved perfectly ever since.
By and large, people concede there is an outer space which does contain other planets, like the one we live on here. God probably created those too, right? So now we go into the fact that we’re intelligent life forms. That’s why we have the intellect to understand our relationship with God enough to have a soul. Unlike dogs, or dolphins, we have free will, and that already puts us on a higher spiritual plateau. It’s how we use it that will separate our souls once the big Apocalypse rolls around.
The point is this, if life cropped up on, lets say Saturn’s moon Titan for instance. Just a basic simple organism, growing from an environment made up almost entirely of nitrogen. God isn’t concerned with that because it isn’t intelligent enough to understand God, cant make free will decisions, and is therefore ignored by God. And if life evolved on Titan (not that life evolved here, I’m not saying that), and became intelligent enough to send us an encrypted radio signal that made no mention of any God fellow in it, they would still be ignored by God because they would not look like man, and therefore wouldn’t have been created in God’s image. After all, God likes the human look with hair and hands, not some weird crustacean submerged in an ocean of liquid nitrogen.
The prophets never spoke with God, because of a variety of reasons.
1. God is cosmic, not Earthly, except for the fact that Earth is part of the cosmos. God is nature not human, except for the fact that humans are part of nature. God’s favoritism toward Earth and it’s humans is, like the wind favoring leaves to blow around instead of sand. The wind blows everything it touches, no matter what’s in its way.
2. What the prophets thought was God speaking to them was the powerful combination of wisdom, reason, and logic, forming truths of reality. Sometimes ideas that have lived a long time alone in the shadows of someone’s mind, will come out, have a drink, and start to mingle a little with other lonely ideas. Eventually these ideas hook-up, and produce a new idea so sensible and helpful, that the man who owns the mind and it’s ideas will believe that he is incapable of forming such a truth of reality. Now here’s the kicker. Other people will say that this logical, practical, reasonable, clear truth of the world is indeed false. In short, it sounded so good at the time, that it was hard to believe any man could have such a thought in his human brain. So they decided that God must be communicating to that person in some obscure way. Not directly per say, but through some means of telepathy. The term Angel was born to describe the telepathic communications they perceived as taking place.

Beads! We know the story well. Four hundred years ago, the Whites came across a new continent, a big one, and needed a massive workload to properly dominate it’s resources. They certainly didn’t ponder this issue long. Hmmm...who could we work the hardest and pay the least? “I know”, said a white man with a white wig, “Got any shiny beads?” The Africans fell for the bead trick. So did the Indians. So did the Mayans, Incans, and Aborigines. Damn beads!

“Chain of Events”


The space between continents is vast, separated by sea. The space between planets is vast, separated by junky satellites and government issued sound waves. The amount of physical land, on which humans dwell is microscopic on a larger scale. There are only three billion people in existence. Not on planet earth...anywhere. And somehow, you and I are one of those.
How did I get a ticket to the big dance? I suppose I don’t really care. I’m here, breathing oxygen, laughing, smoking pot. In fact, I’ve had the ability to become friends with another species of mammals, who happens to be more rare than humans. I am truly grateful to stand on our little rock, and alter the lives of others. To that small organism that once lived on a blade of grass, in a park, next to a river, in Ohio... I am sorry I killed you.
Mojokong 2004 A.D.

“The Wading Pool”

There is a woman who wants me.
There is a woman I want.
They aren’t the same woman,
yet both have a cunt.
So when the woman I want suggests that I punt,
I call up the other and forget with a blunt.

Mojokong - 2006A.D.

I don’t have one nice thing. My computer is $400 tops.. I’m twenty-seven and have owned a car for about three months in my life. My furniture is one small step up from a homeless shelter’s. A really crappy recliner, a futon that needs to lean on a wall to function, a coffee table that looks like wood but weighs like 8 ounces, a decent rocking chair, and a broken speaker that works as a lamp table. Oh yeah, some wobbly metal shelves and a dented mini fridge. I have a PS 2 with two broken controllers that we still try to play with, and two football games. A 19 inch TV that looks bruised on the sides from discoloration. I don’t have a printer, scanner, digital camera, or an ipod for my computer. I have a bed that my ex girlfriend and perhaps others sleep on every night, at her apartment which I’m not even sure where that is. I have a dog, who’s an old mutt with early signs of arthritis. I have a bunch of books most of which are second hand and some outdated useless textbooks. My backpack’s zipper is broken and I can’t quite zip it closed all the way I have a suit that’s too big, five collard shirts; three are plaid, I don’t own any dress shoes or a tie. Or dress socks. I have a leather jacket that I wore once before Andy’s dog ripped the shit out of the front of it. I have a really dilapidated, dusty ass guitar that I’ve played a combined three minutes. I have a few broken space heaters that are major fire hazards. I live in a cold basement at my dad’s house. I make $400 a month. I have about thirty five bucks in change...that’s nice.
This sounds like the profile of Grounds Keeper Willie.

Bob. My Dad. More unique than you know. Not one of a kind, because you and I know many people with pieces of him, but not anyone’s all that much like him. I always catch myself shaking my head at him, constantly amazed at his insight to life. That’s what it is. He literally sees life differently from us. Never have I seen a person seize the moment like my dad. The way Kobe is able to see the game he plays in slow motion, Bob plays life that way. He’s a hard worker, and a good parent. He’s the most thoughtful guy you could ask for and truly takes pleasure in helping folks who need some.

Dad’s humor is a calling card to his personality. A punster for life. He loves his classics, which I use regularly out of habit. He makes smiles like Gates makes money, affecting whole rooms sometimes. He can be the central nervous system to some parties, and always chooses the most complimentary things to say when conversing with any woman. His romantic endeavors are tactical missile strikes equipped with flowers and homemade cards. The CIA wishes they could operate so efficiently.

As a parent he’s gone to imaginative limits to positively entertain his kids. It doesn’t take too long of a look to see he tries his best for his kids. If I’m ever a parent, I could only wish I would be able to be such a terrific dad. He’s the greatest.

There was a moment, in Italy for his fiftieth birthday, where his friends and family were going around the table toasting him. It came to be my turn and instead of saying how I truly felt, I wilted under the spotlight knowing the importance of the moment. I said something unimpressive enough that no one remembers it today. He is my favorite thing. I have no kids, no wife. I love my mom, my sister, and my dog. But there could never be anything like Dad. I value our time together, I know it wont be forever. To my Dad, Bob Burke.

I want a woman to write about. I want a woman who knows how to socialize but leaves with me. I want a woman who makes me laugh because she’s funny and not just cute. I want a woman who is wild sometimes and loving others. I want her to want me, not just accept me. I want a woman who touches me first. I want a woman who trusts me, though I’d have to prove that to both of us first. I want a woman who can love me now, not how I was or how I might turn out. I want her to motivate me for more, and not let either of us settle for less. I want a woman who sometimes makes me feel foolish. I want a woman to grow old with. A woman I profess my genuine gratitude toward during the quiet, loving moments throughout life. A woman who tells me she loves me when the time is right, not every day or every time we speak on the phone. I want to rub her back and her feet after a long day and hold her when she needs to cry. I want to love someone so much it hurts. I want a woman who loves me for my perspective, and I for her’s. I want a woman who looks great in her underwear. A woman who rolls her eyes at me when I gripe about petty things. I want her to challenge me, to sass me. I want to do extra, thoughtful things for her so she can brag about me to her mother and friends. I want a woman to share each other’s problems with. I want a woman to sleep in with, to drink with, to go on vacation with. I want a woman who is proud of me. A woman who makes me feel proud of myself. I want a woman who my friends, and sometimes complete strangers feel they need to remind me of how wonderful she is. I want a woman who smiles. A woman who dresses smartly. A woman who sings in the shower. I want her to be spontaneous with her ambitions and affections. I want a woman to notice the little things I do everyday I perceive as helpful. I want a woman who doesn’t have to ask if I’m upset. I want a woman who finds it difficult to resist me. A woman who is unabashed in her passions for me. A woman who does not feel subservient to me. A woman who takes good care of herself and is proud of who she is. A woman who enjoys my lust for her. I want a woman who will love me.

A person who knows me very well, said today that I’ve become a cynical nerd. This person sighed as they explained to me that it’s ok and that they’ve become used to it. I was surprised at how much it hurt my feelings.

Perhaps I have become a bit salty. I find myself easily frustrated and put off by those around me. I have to work hard to keep my judgments of others in check. I allow little things to irritate me and scarcely demonstrate much patients to strangers.

I’m frustrated with my life. I feel ignored. I feel like my individuality isn’t as celebrated as my social statuses, which are measly. Women can’t take me seriously because I don’t own a car.


MK

Earth: Let's just buy a new one.

80 years ago, I’d be arrested for expressing the following views. Today, no one cares enough for them to matter. I don’t know what’s worse.

The social architects, by their political, economic and historical means, have successfully created a group of individuals who are drugged, distracted, ultra-competitive and dangerously impulsive. We are so removed from one another as a society, that we lose focus of the world outside of our immediate bubble. It’s worrisome to think a collective spirit of a nation has been broken from luxuries and advertisement. We are provided just enough cell phone service, cable television, air conditioning, clean (although poisoned) drinking water, big cars, and many other nice things most of the world lives without, that we keep our heads down and do what we’re told. How are we told? Through the bombardment of advertisements we encounter every second of our day. I dare you to look around your area and not immediately identify a corporate logo or label. The symbols of companies and businesses are literally everywhere. The moon will soon be, Moon: brought to you by Zantac ®, and copyright infringements will be actionable to any who fail to refer to it as that.

We Americans buy so much crap due to our willingness to dispose of our existing crap. If we put a even a minute effort into improving what already exists, we wouldn’t have to pillage natural resources like it’s an eating contest. I think it’s great that we recycle, but many use that sentiment to rationalize their extreme consumerism and waste.

On that note, does the world still need Styrofoam? I watched ten people enter the break room at the library today carrying a Styrofoam food container or a Styrofoam cup or both. I’ve gone to the measure of avoiding places where they’ll force Styrofoam on me, like Silverglades. While I love their food and their place, to give me a Styrofoam plate when I dine in is more than my conscious can handle. I’ve began asking if I can have food wrapped up in a wax paper and no bag if I can manage it. My everyday coffee cup, my everyday water bottle. No paper towels to dry my hands. No one has to be an environmental hero. By doing the little things, you’re doing your part.



This rant wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t draw attention to the cigarette smokers of the world who find it acceptable to discard their smoldering trash anywhere outdoors. We know you’re better than that.

-B. Clifton Burke

Wednesday's News

Iran and Us

It’s not a matter of when the civil war in Iraq escalates into a larger, regional battle, but the more pertinent question is how soon that will happen. Iran has been assisting Iraq’s Shiite militias with weaponry and resources in somewhat of a covert fashion. These weapons are used against Sunnis and US troops alike, but only recently did Bush feel the need to remind the world that Iranians who fire upon us will be responded to with lethal force. It’s just more rhetorical nonsense from the King of Rhetoric himself, but the message indicates some more coded information. We, the US, are afraid of Iran’s involvement in the skirmish. Our military is stretched too far, our people are war fatigued, and the entire known universe thinks we suck right now. Unlike the country we’ve invaded and are having a tough time getting in order, Iran has a military, and is eager to secure a totally Shiite governed Iraq. That would spell out more trouble for US policy makers and certain death to any Iraqi Sunni. To me, it seems inevitable.

If the US pulls out now, or soon, Iran will move in immediately and increase its power in the region. If the US stays and polices an entire country of death and chaos, Iran and Shiite militias, which are one in the same, will wear the Giant down little by little until our military feels they can’t continue anymore. That could take decades and many more American deaths. There is no easy answer.

Regardless of how it plays out, America will once again go down in the history books for another boneheaded decision to remove Saddam from power. Sure, Iraqis didn’t have the best situation under his regime, and yes, he was a vicious tyrant. But what we’ve done is accelerated the deterioration of stability in what amounts to an entire continent of people and governments. And for what?

Our government lied to us in justifying their financial and commercial ambitions in Iraq. Then followed by refusing to admit they’d made a mistake. They even have gone as far as to scapegoat select cronies within the administration when evidence turns up that they lied. Their actions have caused thousands of people to be tortured to death, millions more displaced from their homes, and have exemplified to the world how our leaders and ‘powers that be’ are nearly sub human when it comes to securing their expensive means to their greedy ends. I get the feeling that they don’t care about the welfare of anyone at all, American or foreign. How can anyone believe anything they say? They’re worse than children who have been caught in a lie and refuse to confess. And these people lead our country. They make the decisions that affect our lives. I don’t get the feeling people fully understand that. Think about any and every decision they’ve made and tell me how you’re life has been improved from these decisions. The American people are more uninformed and unaware than ever before even with such technological marvels as the Internet. Our global outlook may be damaged beyond repair and our middle class is shriveling under the Bush magnifying glass. We’ve accumulated an insurmountable debt, most of which China has bought and our economy went from pretty strong to laughably fragile.

Whoever takes the reigns of this shit storm will not succeed. We have broken a large, important part of the world and we will feel a nasty backlash because of it. It is not a proud time to be an American and in our efforts of ‘securing world peace’, we’ve managed to make worldwide relations more tenuous than ever. Let’s just hope we’re praying to the right God.

Friday's News

Wiretapping of the NSA and the reality it reflects

The wiretapping civil suits against the NSA are about to get underway, and one of the cases will be tried right here in Cincinnati. Reports today outline the shadowy, unorthodox methods that the NSA has been filing it's reports on the case. Experts point out that attorneys traditionally exchange files for examination, then open the files to the public. Not in this case. The NSA is keeping the documents in their headquarters and only allowing the judges to read the files and not keep copies for themselves. In a sense, they don't want us to see how they got caught.

Why should the NSA start playing by any agreed upon rules at this point? They've already violated the privacy of select Americans without a court order to do so and that's only what we know about. Imagine the countless infractions that go unnoticed or unchecked throughout every defense govt. agency. We all knew Big Brother existed. We, or at least I, never thought they would get caught with their hands in our cookie jars. At least not until they were ready to get caught, that is.

The whole issue provokes the question of how free are we really? How do you gauge something like that? Sure we can vote for public officers, but that's shown to be a faulty, if not a rigged, enterprise as well. We can spend our money and time as we please, but the govt. administered social constructs that have made certain we do so on their terms. That means we spend time working to make money that we spend on crap we've never needed in the first place. I worked out at my school's rec and out of 500 people I saw, maybe twelve who didn't have ipods (it's only fair to confess that I too would like to have one). We have freedom of expression, but the rigid limitations on that issue have been debated for eons. Speak any kind of dissenting truth and you're casted away labeled as a conspiracy theorist. Endorse one thing strongly enough and you're biased and therefore less credible about that of which you endorse. The word 'freedom' is difficult to precisely define. Are we not provided guidelines and recommended ways to spend our lives through media outlets and community leaders? Do we not fall into place among the mass of sheep being herded through this society of consumption and waste? We, the subjects of the all powerful capitalist puppet masters, dance accordingly to the pull of their strings. We jump when we're told and out casted when we refuse. That is a sickening kind of freedom.

The fact that Big Brother is slipping is concerning. America as a superpower is, if not in it's decline, at least in it's twilight. China is rapidly catching up and our nations leadership can be called anything but strong. The masses are becoming increasingly out of touch with reality and the national debt is now laughable. At least I'm laughing. If the agency who spies on it's people and it's enemies alike, the agency we're to fear but not notice, can't go about their work efficiently, then what can US citizens feel confident about?

I think the way the US allowed it's people to become genuinely dumber within the past 50 years is beginning to show it's side effects. Didn't the powers that be 50 years ago foresee this when they decided a dumber population would be easier to control? It worked it's way to the top and now we are being lead by extremely average, if not below average, elected officials. Dummies electing dummies is how I see it.

Good day.

Today's News

1/24/07

Thursday’s Headlines

Scooter the Scapegoat
Poor Scooter Libby. He thought he was safe in a camp of ruthless war hawks, only to become exhibit A on why people, no matter what their political rank, are not to trust our esteemed policy makers and war planners. Bush lied to the world about Iraq’s attempts to acquire ‘yellow cake’ for their mythical WMD’s. He knew it was false the entire time. All the White House pricks knew it was false, but it became necessary to build a justification for invading a country to pillage its capital and resources. They also knew the excuse wasn’t going to fly forever, and that sooner or later, the world would catch on to their deceit. Enter Scooter. He’s an ideal fall guy. Too many people know who Karl Rove is and of how he attends the top-secret meetings within the white house. They want to protect Rove, so they throw Libby to the wolves instead. After all, someone’s gotta burn for this.

This type of blame deflection seems to be a pattern. Rumsfeld faced the same heat. The war was falling apart, so they fire a cabinet member who’s on TV a lot, blame him for what went wrong (through actions, not explanations), and take all the heat off themselves in the process. It happens in sports all the time. A coach is hired on to a bad team with no talent, the team loses, the coach is fired and the blame of the losing season leaves with him. The owner is spared, the players are spared, and the fans feel placated. Rumsfeld was a fall guy too. The administration knew the war wasn’t going to go well. But regime change, liberating the Iraqi people, and stabilizing the region weren’t the real objectives for why the US invaded. We’ve established the oil contracts to the big petroleum companies while stating publicly how Iraq will control and retain profits from their oil, when really, Iraq will control less than a third of it. We’ve established groundwork to maintain a huge military and diplomatic presence there that will last forever. We’re doing our best to force our culture upon the people so that they will begin to buy things they have never needed before in order to help our economy at home, which really is the global economy anyway. Our real objectives have been completed. Back to the point.

Scooter Libby and Donald Rumsfeld are terrific examples of how the financial super powers will not only eliminate any opposition that stands in their way, but of how they’ll actually orchestrate and plan on forcing the blame for their unethical policies on the ‘yes men’ they employ. It allows the unchecked empirical global domination of capitalism to continue it’s voracious consumption of the world and it’s peoples.

I watched the State of the Union but didn’t really listen. Does it matter what he says anymore? He’s cried wolf so often that I can no longer even hear his voice. And when he is called on the carpet for his obvious dishonesty, he fires a pawn to save face.

American Cars

It was reported today American car companies continue to lose money hand over fist. Why on earth, would anyone buy a new American car? What benefits or advantages do American cars feature that foreign cars don’t? A person only buys a new American car in order to save peoples jobs at plants and factories. I think it’s amusing that Americans will do anything to get over on the next man, but we somehow have a soft spot for US automakers. Gimmie a break. First of all, Americans should be weaning themselves off of personal automobile dependence anyway, but we’ll get into that another day. The only reason those car companies haven’t closed up shop is the other rich fuckers keeping them afloat. It’s a very political scene. We need strong domestic markets to point to when hippies start screaming about globalization, even though we don’t make anything all that well in this country. We’re fed stories of all the poor people being fired from these plants, yet we rarely read anything about the small business owners forced into bankruptcy by neighboring corporations. I say let Ford die a slow, agonizing death. Let a wealthy white American executive feel the sting of a laze fare economy that they constantly impose on foreign and small domestic markets. It’s about time at least one of them faced the music.



That’s all I have time for today, but there are plenty of other stories I‘d like to address. I’ll try to keep up with these blogs more consistently, but as you all know, time is a valuable commodity. Now that the Bengals are finished (not that the painful news stories don’t continue to flood in – fucking Joseph!), I’ll try to open the range of topics I write about. Good day.

This is the new home for the caged one - Mojokong. Those who have read previous blogs on Myspace will continue to be notified when new blogs are posted. Thanks to all who read this blog, and good day.