Dirty Pool

Here it is, the specter of brilliance overcasting eight years of governmental/social/cultural appropriating, eclipsing four hundred years of oppression, providing a beacon of hope, even in the event of ultimate failure and America still doesn’t get it.

Yes there is a serious chance that the next President of the United States may in fact be African-American [although I’m okay with identifying him as black]. Yes, he ran tough, some may even say painful campaign against an opponent with a strong sense of entitlement, and yes he did it without so much as playing dirty pool.

However, what is left for governance, it seems like the Bush Administration is having a fire sales with American infrastructure. They’ve already dug in and damn near destroyed our superstructure, the societal operating system that helps us forma cohesive shared system of beliefs in our space or spaces as is the case, here in America. The United States are spokes in the wheel that is America, which in turn creates the image of who we are. The American image is on sale and has been for some time now. We haven’t paid attention because…, well… most of us haven’t come to the realization that our beliefs in our country, our people, in ourselves are priceless. So while they’re looting the image…, our understanding of ourselves, no matter how commercial, remained untouched like the free floating Clarke-ian obelisk, Neribu, two galaxies away on a 3,600 Earth-year trajectory. But now… the amorphous “they” have their hands in the public coffers. Arguably, most transparently this began in March, 2003 with the declaration of Bush’s revenge campaign in the Central Asian theatre. We were sold this campaign as a fight for our “freedoms,” “terrorism” and “creation of democratic States”; despite the fact that GW Bush was adamantly anti-nation building. Contradictory and self-serving ideology aside, American blood and money was being spend for somewhat “noble” good. We sucked it up like a bukakke porn-star at a fraternity-hosted barbeque.

Now that the financial market has fell wide open, the stock market is in peril, investment banks are losing their shirts and while they’re at it: your and mine as well. And this all happened because they were loaning out money to people who couldn’t afford it, with interest rates bordering on usary and then selling the interest value—the credit principal of those loans to other financial entities at home and abroad thus creating a shell game, or if you the criminal element metaphor disturbs your delicate sensibilities…, they created a house of cards built on credit yet not paid but will, speculatively, be paid at a later amorphous date. A house with no base is sure to crumble in a storm. Credit is given on the condition that the debtor will either be able to pay in the future or has access to resources t o cover its debt. No resources, no base, the house falls.

Is it appropriate to say…”fuck you and yo’ couch of a shitty business model, you pathetic predatory parasitical fungal excuse of a human being.” You made your bed now lay in it. Funny thing I mention humanity. Financial institutions are corporations in whatever structure they choose to minimize liability and taxes. As such they are treated as individual legal bodies. Do we look at these “people” and demand they show common courtesy, respect [ne’ fiduciary respect] to his/her neighbors? Do we call out their behavior and question their humanity or do we recognize them for what they are… dangerous sociopaths who pose a threat to our civil society. Do we say…, go screw, file chapter 11. You made it hard for ordinary Americans to mitigate personal debt, why should we help you? “Fuck off.” Or in response to your cynical pleas for assistance, in answer we quote P-Diddy,”No bitchassness!”

No. We.. or let’s be candid, the Bush Adminsitration and it’s cronies, bail out these bastard with an $810 billion dollar financial package over a two year period, renewable for 1 year upon consent. We’ve rewarded guile and greed and deceptiveness and waste. We’ve also been robbed. The administration has jammed its hands into our pockets in a most blatant fashion. Not unlike having a shifty guy in a hoodie with one hand hold a gun, digging into your pockets with the other hand all the while menacing, “ Run your shit--bitch, run it!”

This grab is a transparent grab at the American treasure chest. Naomi Wolf, prominent feminist writer turn civil libertarian lays out a 10 step plan potential dictators use to move democratic nations towards fascist Statehood; she posits that the government has just experience a bloodless coup de tat. [For a really nice presentation go here.] Call her a nutjob. Wail at Senator , who claims that Martial Law was threatened if the bail out packaged didn’t pass and we’re left with unmitigated suspicion that the people in charge do not care about us. Or if you think in solsiplistic terms, they do not care about you. They do not care nor support American ideal And quite frankly, would accept you like they would a warm wet fart.

Not to be alarmist, but we’re got some serious shit to contend with. The wolf’s at the door and he’s huffing and puffing. Will you let him blow the house in? Because surely, you won’t let him in the by the hairs of his chinny-chin-chin.

I would suggest approaching the wolf at the door with already having reinforced your house rather than be taken by the whims of a predator. Forewarned is forearmed. Figure out what’s true for you and make preparations for yourself. These may be simply educating yourself and voting and staying economically vigilant. This may be saying, "fuck it," battering up the hatches and digging in for a long superstructural and infrastructural occupancy.

Or…., you can just walk softly and carry a big stick.

… But in this day and age, forthright honesty and soft protective measures based on intelligence is just dirty pool.

Favorite Food Songs

From the creative team behind Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. Drunken singing about beef pickle tacos.

Opinions are like...

Blog entries can be solipsistic. Look at me, I'm sharing, ne' imposing my opinion, casting my voice into the abyss of banality and electronic chatter. Opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one. I know my shit smells as bad as yours, maybe even worse. That's the difference between most of us. There are those that recognize the quality of their own shit and those that refuse, delude or recluse themselves from their shit.

While we're on the subject of feces I'll jump right into the vice presidential debates. No direct disrespect meant. I still have a guarded respect for the political process, what I am not keen on is the cynical discourse being used to package a party that caters to the rich and corporate interest but with the rehearsed Texan accent on the one hand and the wink and nod on the other, we're fed the line that the elephant in the room, a maverick hockey mom, a self confessed pitbull with lipstick, is really running to protect conservative American ideals and not the interests of the oil lobby and nutjob fundie-freaks that believe Adam rode dinosaurs hunting mastodons and Eve tended the rock formation house, reared the furry cubs and tended the garden outside Eden. On the weekends, Adam would roast Brontosaurus burgers and pterodactyls wings for his fellow homo-habs. Adam, while congenial and far from being an uptight eugenicist, didn't socialize with the cro-mags. It's beneath him and his buddies.

Dicta aside, I'm done with the political paradigm we find ourselves stuck in this self referencing school of thought that panders to the lowest common denominator. [You choose which class structural branch that represents.] Anyone with a solid eighth grade education can understand the basics of American society: political and social. As we know one informs the other. While it's good to relate to our leaders one should be aware that there are circumstances when that's not needed. Barack Obama is African-American and I can related to how a son of an immigrant has worked his way through our social structure to graduate college and become and organizer, an attorney and teacher. However, there are differences, Obama was a corporate attorney; I worked for a legal services organization. In the realm of legal elitism, corporate lawyer trumps legal services, although I think that assumption is bullshit. Obama was a national organizer while I was local and vacilitated between organizing and activism. Lastly, Obama was a Constitutional Law Professor. Me, I corral 13-16 year-olds and force feed reading and writing skills at a NYC public school. While our experiences are similar, mine do not share the same professional and social capital as Obama's varied resume announces. I am not running for the highest office in the country. I am simply content to sit in my corner of the world and write my little stories, disabuse my students, pester my close friends and continue my passive-aggressive struggle with dating. Quite frankly that shit's enough. Let alone trying to be the leader of the free world, as we so brazeningly refer to the head office. I have to go with Bill Maher, I want my President to be a lot smarter than me. I don't mind my governmental leaders to be a little elitist, it means they'll get the job done. What's wrong with wanting the best. I mean really... is it important that you like the president as a person because s/he appears that they'll most likely have a beer with you? Really?

Remember Barbara Bush's response to the relocate New Orleans citizens:

What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.

Clearly the apple did not fall far from the tree.... And most of her son's working class base believed he was just like them and most likely to grab a drink unlike the drab sterile guy who married the Ketchup Queen.

Two things I got from the debate: The lipsticked pitbull wants to increase the Vice presidential. Beyond that of Dick Cheney, is that possible? [Her argument that the VP is legislative in design and NOT executive is laughable. Note: review Article I of the Constitution, it lays out the designation and powers. If you're too lazy.... the VP spot is executive in nature and it's powers are subject to Congressional review.] The pink elephant really doesn't know how to answer a question and in so doing... it shows there is much behind the empty rhetoric. Oh, my erstwhile roommate pointed out during the debates that the red ribbon was blinking at least 36 times per minute which suggests she was lying because apparently we blink about 22 times per minute, any activity beyond betrays mental activity, in this case lying. I'm not sure on this, but he can be a deeper geek than I so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

In any event, I am troubled by the elephant base. I think I'll stay bi coastal as an American. And for those of you reading this blog with a feminist lens, note I have not referred to the Republican VP candidate by name but colorful [red] objects because she has yet to present herself as a person. So far all I've seen is a prefabricated image of what the Fundie fringe wants in the executive office. And while I'm on the subject of feminism... it's fuck frustrating to see that she's being hemmed in and controlled by her party. The most recent interview with McCain was disgusting. I was not happy watching her refer to him for constant approval.

Opinions are like assholes. Everyone's got one. Some of us wash them before we get the tossed salad. While others don't. Leaving us to smell their shit.