To get an idea how downcast I was
After Bush got reselected in 2004,
Read one of my first posts: Last Stand.
I still stand by the visions
Built into that post.
Nevertheless...
Crestfallen,
I had to deal with the lamentable fact
That Custard was still stumbling,
Mumbling
Bumbling
And issuing his,
World-crumbling orders.
And that basically...
Custard was going to be
Despoiling our sacred planet
For 4 more years
Of despicable tears,
And contrived fears.
Then...
I remembered a Timothy Leary quote
That radically shifted the perspective
And altered the focus,
Of my universe
From that psychologically sick "he" in DC
To the robust
Good nature
Inherent in me,
And in thee...
In other words:
The greatest power in the universe
Does not reside in Washington:
"The young revolution today is a religious renaissance. Turned-on kids believe in a living, down-to-earth God because it's more fun than being an antheist or a humanist. God? Superior intelligence that designs and operates the whole business. The DNA code is its agent. The fact of the matter is that it's a 25 carat-stone gas to believe in a celestial conspiracy. A simple trick of faith that immediately charges everything you see and do with multiple meaning. Believing in God is a mind-blower baby. The cosmic mystery thriller. Do you prefer to believe that the ultimate power you can conceive of resides in the Washington, or Moscow, or in the secret English tobacco cartel, or in a bunch of Swiss bankers? We are limited only by the poverty of our paramters. Thing very big, baby."
~ Timothy Leary in the essay Thank God for the Beatles
Thank you Mr. Leary...
It is truly well
To remember that now and then.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Where is Pat Tillman's Journal?
"A Chronicle review of more than 2,000 pages of testimony, as well as interviews with Pat Tillman’s family members and soldiers who served with him, found contradictions, inaccuracies and what appears to be the military’s attempt at self-protection."
Three probes
Have now poked
Into Pat Tillman's death.
Here is what we now know:
All the lies,
All the theatrics,
All the embellishments,
Undoubtedly,
Trace upwards to that movie mogul,
That hero maker,
That silver star director,
Of the big war screen...
Rumsferatu.
His claws
Are all over this
Dramatic debacle.
But beyond,
The conflicting testimonies,
The unaccountability
The inaccurate information
The legal liabilities...
Beyond Rumsferatu's
Clever crafting of the media sound stage,
There is something
More sinister,
More fetid,
Buried in this
Epic of spurious proportions.
It is one thing
To splice together a false plot,
Of how a man died,
And quite another thing altogether
To destroy a dead man's thoughts.
We now know that Tillman
Really was a man's man:
"Interviews also show a side of Pat Tillman not widely known — a fiercely independent thinker who enlisted, fought and died in service to his country yet was critical of President Bush and opposed the war in Iraq, where he served a tour of duty. He was an avid reader whose interests ranged from history books on World War II and Winston Churchill to works of leftist Noam Chomsky, a favorite author."
And that Tillman
Cherished the written word:
"He said both Pat and Kevin “were amazingly well-read individuals … very firm in some of their beliefs, their political and religious or not so religious beliefs.”
Baer recalled that Tillman encouraged him in his ambitions as an amateur poet. “I would read him my poems, and we would talk about them,” Baer said. “He helped me grow as an individual.”
And that Tillman
Kept a journal:
"He started keeping a journal at 16 and continued the practice on the battlefield, writing in it regularly. (His journal was lost immediately after his death.)"
Now...
Journals don't get misplaced.
They don't just disappear.
Especially not the devoted journal
Of a confirmed language artist.
Journals are treasured.
Packed away
Neatly,
Orderly,
Resolutely.
They are stowed.
Tilman's jornal was
Either purposely destroyed
Because of the thougths it contained,
Or purposely lost
Because of the thoughts it contained.
Herr Movie Director,
The great Rumsferatu
Or some slimy assistant director
Didn't like the script
Produced by Tillman's mind.
The Destruction,
Or the deliberate hiding
Of that journal,
Is a crime beyond pardon.
It is one thing,
To lie about how a man died
And so preserve one's
Carefully staged stage.
But to purposely destroy
The thougths of a dead man
Who died defending his country?
These are not just
Bad actors,
Or bad directors...
These are unspeakable criminals
Committing unspeakable crimes.
These are...
The most contemptous
Grave robbers of all.
For they,
Cut out the tongues
Poke out the eyes
Lobotomize the brains
Of our war dead.
For these sins,
No gallows
Can hang them high enough,
Nor work its
Black-tongue misery
Slowly enough.
Three probes
Have now poked
Into Pat Tillman's death.
Here is what we now know:
All the lies,
All the theatrics,
All the embellishments,
Undoubtedly,
Trace upwards to that movie mogul,
That hero maker,
That silver star director,
Of the big war screen...
Rumsferatu.
His claws
Are all over this
Dramatic debacle.
But beyond,
The conflicting testimonies,
The unaccountability
The inaccurate information
The legal liabilities...
Beyond Rumsferatu's
Clever crafting of the media sound stage,
There is something
More sinister,
More fetid,
Buried in this
Epic of spurious proportions.
It is one thing
To splice together a false plot,
Of how a man died,
And quite another thing altogether
To destroy a dead man's thoughts.
We now know that Tillman
Really was a man's man:
"Interviews also show a side of Pat Tillman not widely known — a fiercely independent thinker who enlisted, fought and died in service to his country yet was critical of President Bush and opposed the war in Iraq, where he served a tour of duty. He was an avid reader whose interests ranged from history books on World War II and Winston Churchill to works of leftist Noam Chomsky, a favorite author."
And that Tillman
Cherished the written word:
"He said both Pat and Kevin “were amazingly well-read individuals … very firm in some of their beliefs, their political and religious or not so religious beliefs.”
Baer recalled that Tillman encouraged him in his ambitions as an amateur poet. “I would read him my poems, and we would talk about them,” Baer said. “He helped me grow as an individual.”
And that Tillman
Kept a journal:
"He started keeping a journal at 16 and continued the practice on the battlefield, writing in it regularly. (His journal was lost immediately after his death.)"
Now...
Journals don't get misplaced.
They don't just disappear.
Especially not the devoted journal
Of a confirmed language artist.
Journals are treasured.
Packed away
Neatly,
Orderly,
Resolutely.
They are stowed.
Tilman's jornal was
Either purposely destroyed
Because of the thougths it contained,
Or purposely lost
Because of the thoughts it contained.
Herr Movie Director,
The great Rumsferatu
Or some slimy assistant director
Didn't like the script
Produced by Tillman's mind.
The Destruction,
Or the deliberate hiding
Of that journal,
Is a crime beyond pardon.
It is one thing,
To lie about how a man died
And so preserve one's
Carefully staged stage.
But to purposely destroy
The thougths of a dead man
Who died defending his country?
These are not just
Bad actors,
Or bad directors...
These are unspeakable criminals
Committing unspeakable crimes.
These are...
The most contemptous
Grave robbers of all.
For they,
Cut out the tongues
Poke out the eyes
Lobotomize the brains
Of our war dead.
For these sins,
No gallows
Can hang them high enough,
Nor work its
Black-tongue misery
Slowly enough.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Random Quote Fridays.1
Introducing a new feature to Brave New Coffee Pot...
Every Friday,
From now until I grow tired of it...
I will post a random quote.
A snatch of writing that I have found...
Particular insightful
Or,
Particularly beautiful.
Avant garde oddities,
And counter intuitive wonders...
Quotes that have helped make me who I am...
Drawn both
From my private journal,
And my private library.
I begin with one drawn from
Of all places,
A preface to a very special cookbook:
"We have been hoodwinked somehow into believing that creativity is a separate category from the simple acts of daily life. Art is something you do in a crafts studio or a writer's workshop. We dispatch our housework as swiftly as mechanization and frozen dinners will let us, so that we can hustle off to the Y to get recharged with a few hours of "creativity." Meanwhile, to support this pattern of life, we Americans are consuming the lion's share of the world resources, and time is ticking out for the poor people of the world--and, just a little more slowly, for ourselves. Surely our "creativity" need not have so high a price.
Why comparmentalize our lives so that art is a thing apart? There is an artistic way to carry out even the simplest tasks, and there is great fulfilment to be had from finding out that way and perfecting it. That is the silent message that comes to us in the village hanidcrafts we value so. A culture that gives priority to speed and greed and multiplicity--well, it is no culture, it has no culture. To lead lives of artistry, we have only to slow down, to simplify, to start making wise choices."
--Page 47, Laurel Roberton in Laurel's Kitchen
She is right of course,
There is even
A beautiful way to make a bed...
Fulfillment has absolutely nothing to do with being rich...
And everything to do with being
Present in the present.
Life is all about sensations.
And I...
For one,
Insist on being sensuous.
Next week?
Maybe I will be a bit more conventional..
How does a slab of Timothy Leary sound?
Every Friday,
From now until I grow tired of it...
I will post a random quote.
A snatch of writing that I have found...
Particular insightful
Or,
Particularly beautiful.
Avant garde oddities,
And counter intuitive wonders...
Quotes that have helped make me who I am...
Drawn both
From my private journal,
And my private library.
I begin with one drawn from
Of all places,
A preface to a very special cookbook:
"We have been hoodwinked somehow into believing that creativity is a separate category from the simple acts of daily life. Art is something you do in a crafts studio or a writer's workshop. We dispatch our housework as swiftly as mechanization and frozen dinners will let us, so that we can hustle off to the Y to get recharged with a few hours of "creativity." Meanwhile, to support this pattern of life, we Americans are consuming the lion's share of the world resources, and time is ticking out for the poor people of the world--and, just a little more slowly, for ourselves. Surely our "creativity" need not have so high a price.
Why comparmentalize our lives so that art is a thing apart? There is an artistic way to carry out even the simplest tasks, and there is great fulfilment to be had from finding out that way and perfecting it. That is the silent message that comes to us in the village hanidcrafts we value so. A culture that gives priority to speed and greed and multiplicity--well, it is no culture, it has no culture. To lead lives of artistry, we have only to slow down, to simplify, to start making wise choices."
--Page 47, Laurel Roberton in Laurel's Kitchen
She is right of course,
There is even
A beautiful way to make a bed...
Fulfillment has absolutely nothing to do with being rich...
And everything to do with being
Present in the present.
Life is all about sensations.
And I...
For one,
Insist on being sensuous.
Next week?
Maybe I will be a bit more conventional..
How does a slab of Timothy Leary sound?
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
The iFuck
In the future, all we will have to do is
work out, read, and fuck with robots!
Well then, what happens when we do create a 'droid fucking machine?
Because surely within the next 15 years a very fuckable robot will be marketed.
And yes it will have all the amenities:
Nice skin emulation.
Nice hair.
Nice mons.
Hip motors.
Pneumatic lips.
Ductile breasts.
Prehensile apendages.
Painted fingernails.
Different skin colors.
Easily cleanable.
And no doubt it will moan fairly well,
and say deliciously nasty things
at just the right moment...
No...
not quite West World quality...
Not yet anyway.
But close enough to make the average Joe
take out a second to buy his own iFuck.
Assuming that these hot fakes will sell like hot cakes...
And everything I have ever seen on televsion tells me that:
SEX SELLS!
Assuming all that...
What I want to know is:
Will fundamentalists insist it is immoral to oink the freak out of your she-bot¹?
Will free-machine-sex be a Papal no-no too?
Will the Pope issue an edict about iDicks?
Will these groups work to ban the production of these useful machines?
You see what I am really getting at here?
There is an inherent tension between commerce and fundamentalism that goes all the way down to the stem cells.
This is a wedge.
Karl Rove loves wedges.
Do democrats?
¹ Sorry ladies, the he-bot won't be appearing for at least another decade later. Yes--the corporate world will find he-bots to be strangely emasculating. In the meanwhile, can we interest you in a very special model she-bot?
UPDATE: Don't see any moral dilemmas here?
Consider the following passage from the above link:
"Before Repliee Q1Expo, Professor Ishiguro developed Repliee R1 which had the appearance of a five-year-old Japanese girl."
Even this social liberal blanches at the hideous possiblilities here...
"Oh brave new world,
That has such people and machines in't!
work out, read, and fuck with robots!
Well then, what happens when we do create a 'droid fucking machine?
Because surely within the next 15 years a very fuckable robot will be marketed.
And yes it will have all the amenities:
Nice skin emulation.
Nice hair.
Nice mons.
Hip motors.
Pneumatic lips.
Ductile breasts.
Prehensile apendages.
Painted fingernails.
Different skin colors.
Easily cleanable.
And no doubt it will moan fairly well,
and say deliciously nasty things
at just the right moment...
No...
not quite West World quality...
Not yet anyway.
But close enough to make the average Joe
take out a second to buy his own iFuck.
Assuming that these hot fakes will sell like hot cakes...
And everything I have ever seen on televsion tells me that:
SEX SELLS!
Assuming all that...
What I want to know is:
Will fundamentalists insist it is immoral to oink the freak out of your she-bot¹?
Will free-machine-sex be a Papal no-no too?
Will the Pope issue an edict about iDicks?
Will these groups work to ban the production of these useful machines?
You see what I am really getting at here?
There is an inherent tension between commerce and fundamentalism that goes all the way down to the stem cells.
This is a wedge.
Karl Rove loves wedges.
Do democrats?
¹ Sorry ladies, the he-bot won't be appearing for at least another decade later. Yes--the corporate world will find he-bots to be strangely emasculating. In the meanwhile, can we interest you in a very special model she-bot?
UPDATE: Don't see any moral dilemmas here?
Consider the following passage from the above link:
"Before Repliee Q1Expo, Professor Ishiguro developed Repliee R1 which had the appearance of a five-year-old Japanese girl."
Even this social liberal blanches at the hideous possiblilities here...
"Oh brave new world,
That has such people and machines in't!
Monday, September 19, 2005
One nation under debt...
I keep hearing queries
And remarks
Of this nature
Over
And over again:
Why couldn't
The richest country in the world
Save it's drowning poor?
Once you tune that phrase in:
Richest country in the world
Richest country in the world
Richest country in the world
You will hear it everywhere:
Hissing
Off the double tongues of congressmen,
Sibilating
Off the glib lips of journalists,
Sighing
Off the tired teeth of Louisana's drenched.
Richest country in the world
Richest country in the world
Richest country in the world
It's as
Ubiquitous,
As it is...
Universally unctuous.
And it gets traded in,
With so much faith,
It has become legal tender.
And yet...
If we are the
Richest country in the world
Why should poorer countries,
Line up to send money and aid to Kartina's victims?
Could it be...
That we are NOT the richest country in the world?
Could it be,
That instead,
We are the...
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world?
Now that's a phrase
You don't hear much trade in:
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world
And what I want to know is:
Why couldn't the
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world
Save it's drowning poor?
Funny...
How everything can make cents,
Once you change a sentence's sense.
For it is one task
To waste a country's taxed wealth
On protecting the poor.
And entirely a different task,
For a nation's government
To waste,
Its debts,
On protecting them.
The first would be
Magnanimty.
The second,
Christianity.
And the latter,
Is simply too much
To ask
Of one nation under debt,
And one government under Mammon.
And remarks
Of this nature
Over
And over again:
Why couldn't
The richest country in the world
Save it's drowning poor?
Once you tune that phrase in:
Richest country in the world
Richest country in the world
Richest country in the world
You will hear it everywhere:
Hissing
Off the double tongues of congressmen,
Sibilating
Off the glib lips of journalists,
Sighing
Off the tired teeth of Louisana's drenched.
Richest country in the world
Richest country in the world
Richest country in the world
It's as
Ubiquitous,
As it is...
Universally unctuous.
And it gets traded in,
With so much faith,
It has become legal tender.
And yet...
If we are the
Richest country in the world
Why should poorer countries,
Line up to send money and aid to Kartina's victims?
Could it be...
That we are NOT the richest country in the world?
Could it be,
That instead,
We are the...
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world?
Now that's a phrase
You don't hear much trade in:
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world
And what I want to know is:
Why couldn't the
Biggest DEBT RIDDEN country in the world
Save it's drowning poor?
Funny...
How everything can make cents,
Once you change a sentence's sense.
For it is one task
To waste a country's taxed wealth
On protecting the poor.
And entirely a different task,
For a nation's government
To waste,
Its debts,
On protecting them.
The first would be
Magnanimty.
The second,
Christianity.
And the latter,
Is simply too much
To ask
Of one nation under debt,
And one government under Mammon.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Monday, September 12, 2005
Two typos are worth a 1000 words....
The journalist Mike Wallace (of Jewish ancestry) once said on the telly:
"The Palestinians are the Jews of the Middle East."
How extraordinarily true:
"The Palestinians are the Jews of the Middle East."
How extraordinarily true:
Friday, September 09, 2005
Brownie... to be or not to be
To fire or not to fire Brownie, that is not the question.
'Tis nobler in the mind of President Bush to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous public ire,
And to take arms against a sea of critics,
And by opposing them, win: and consolidate further his power...
Yep...
'tis nobler to oppose and consolidate one's power.
In other words:
Brownie will not be fired.
I say this for two reasons:
1) "Brownie you're doing a heck of a job"
2) Bush's psyche.
Added together you get…
A stubborn unwillingness to listen to the will of the people that borders on megalomania.
I liken Bush's posture to that of a Mafia Don who absolutely insists on having things his way. He hates to lose any battle of the wills,–- even when he is dead wrong.
So I argue that Bush desires desperately to keep Brownie on the public dole. And that it is completely out of character and against his will to fire him.
Mafia Dons give orders and criticism, they don't suffer them…
Consider for example Bush's recent private meeting with New Orleans Major Nagin:
Prior to the meeting Nagin had been absolutely livid with the federal government. So then… what was said in their private conversation that instantly suffocated Nagin's criticism? It is as if Nagin emerged from that face to face with his balls cut off.
Bush hates to lose.
Hates to be told what to do.
Hates to be criticized.
He is the Capo di tutti capi.
So standing down on Brownie will not happen.
And if it did... it would only make Bush more sore-eyed, more vicious.
All told: When Pelosi said Bush was "Oblivious, in denial, dangerous."
She was only 1/3 right.
He is Dangerous.
God only knows what sort of knives and axes this thug waves under the table…
'Tis nobler in the mind of President Bush to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous public ire,
And to take arms against a sea of critics,
And by opposing them, win: and consolidate further his power...
Yep...
'tis nobler to oppose and consolidate one's power.
In other words:
Brownie will not be fired.
I say this for two reasons:
1) "Brownie you're doing a heck of a job"
2) Bush's psyche.
Added together you get…
A stubborn unwillingness to listen to the will of the people that borders on megalomania.
I liken Bush's posture to that of a Mafia Don who absolutely insists on having things his way. He hates to lose any battle of the wills,–- even when he is dead wrong.
So I argue that Bush desires desperately to keep Brownie on the public dole. And that it is completely out of character and against his will to fire him.
Mafia Dons give orders and criticism, they don't suffer them…
Consider for example Bush's recent private meeting with New Orleans Major Nagin:
Prior to the meeting Nagin had been absolutely livid with the federal government. So then… what was said in their private conversation that instantly suffocated Nagin's criticism? It is as if Nagin emerged from that face to face with his balls cut off. Bush hates to lose.
Hates to be told what to do.
Hates to be criticized.
He is the Capo di tutti capi.
So standing down on Brownie will not happen.
And if it did... it would only make Bush more sore-eyed, more vicious.
All told: When Pelosi said Bush was "Oblivious, in denial, dangerous."
She was only 1/3 right.
He is Dangerous.
God only knows what sort of knives and axes this thug waves under the table…
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Cheney's dead...
Where the fuck in the world is Dick Cheney?
We are in the middle of the most
Devastating domestic disaster
In our lifetimes...
And...
Not one peep from the veep.
Is that natural?
I am not saying he could help,
After all...
Just as New Orleans has had its fill of water
America has surely had its fill
Of compassionate conservatism.
But still...
Where the fuck is Dick?
You don't suppose...
Nah...
He couldn't be could he?
I mean,
Nah...
No way,
Dick isn't on vacation is he?
Well whatever he is up to,
It really doesn't matter,
Because here is the rub:
All that talk about
Cheney running for President in 2008
Is deader than a floating bloated corpse
Murdered by this simple question:
Where the fuck were you Mr. Vice President
For five full days
After the levees broke?
[note: I originally posted this as a comment to a Kevin Drum post. I did a lot of seraching last night. Turns out Cheney is on vacation. But he is coming back to DC even as Halliburton is getting involved.]
We are in the middle of the most
Devastating domestic disaster
In our lifetimes...
And...
Not one peep from the veep.
Is that natural?
I am not saying he could help,
After all...
Just as New Orleans has had its fill of water
America has surely had its fill
Of compassionate conservatism.
But still...
Where the fuck is Dick?
You don't suppose...
Nah...
He couldn't be could he?
I mean,
Nah...
No way,
Dick isn't on vacation is he?
Well whatever he is up to,
It really doesn't matter,
Because here is the rub:
All that talk about
Cheney running for President in 2008
Is deader than a floating bloated corpse
Murdered by this simple question:
Where the fuck were you Mr. Vice President
For five full days
After the levees broke?
[note: I originally posted this as a comment to a Kevin Drum post. I did a lot of seraching last night. Turns out Cheney is on vacation. But he is coming back to DC even as Halliburton is getting involved.]
Thursday, September 01, 2005
UNFORGIVABLE....
"A military heliocopter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away."
New natural law:
When a huge number of people rush under the sharp blades of a helicopter it means just one thing:
Way too little... way too late.
What is happening in New Orleans is TOTALLY UNFORGIVABLE.
A government that fails and flails this badly... must fall.
New natural law:
When a huge number of people rush under the sharp blades of a helicopter it means just one thing:
Way too little... way too late.
What is happening in New Orleans is TOTALLY UNFORGIVABLE.
A government that fails and flails this badly... must fall.
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