"Freedom Fries" and Other Signs of Decline

“We’ll call ‘em Freedom Fries! That’ll teach ‘em!”

What a crazy couple of years, eh? Holy shit! You know the one that I thought was one of the funniest was the whole anti-french sentiment after the Nato ‘dog and pony’ show, culminating in ‘Freedom Fries’, and stores in the Bible Belt sell out of French Wine for the citizenry to triumphantly pour down the sewers and probably right back into their drinking water.
It was easily the highest sale of all wines French in that region in history. I wonder what the French thought of that?

"Oh, oui oui, I am so insulted! Rich but insulted!"

We’ll of course never know, cuz all we get is Freedom television.

But the ‘Freedom Fries,’ though, remember them?!? That almost requires a new logo, like a stern and flapping American Eagle, clutching golden and grease-dripping Freedom Fries over a clamouring populace. Keep eatin' them fries, Citizens, for TO BE FAT IS TO BE FREE!

They changed everything French to Freedom. Freedom Fries with Freedom Dressing! I’m proud to say I’ve Freedom Kissed for my country, and you know what, I’d do it again!!

I certainly don’t intend to offend anybody here but the whole thing seems, I don’t know…would you say a little bit childish? Yep, petty and childish…tacky even. Am I wrong? Would you say it was tolerable if it was coming from your neighbour’s kid, but disturbing when coming from the dudes running the show? Would you not just tell somebody to ‘grow up’ if you encountered that behaviour in your day-to-day life?

How easy it is to feel superior to the French. Except of course when all your reasons for going to War turn out to be bogus. Maybe they can't fight their way out of a paperbag but they seem to know bullshit when they smell it, unlike so many of us, eh?

But fuck all that. I’ll have you know that this very moment I returned from a drug transaction of sorts (a smallish nugget of free weed) without ever having to leave my apartment building or even my bathrobe and slippers. I hope they never legalize it. I'd have to get dressed.

But Jesus H. Christ in a sidecar, I hope they’re fighting this ‘War on Terror’ with a little more finesse than the ‘War on Drugs’ or we can expect to live in Fear pretty much forever. Or is that already inevitable? Fear is difficult to break down, but it’s do-able, even at the macro levels.

“Time to bunker down and duct-tape up, Citizens!” a voice booms from public address systems throughout the streets of America, the era of the manufactured symbiosis of fear and consent has begun. “There’s a Terrorist under every bed! A terrorist in every neighbourhood, maybe even YOURS! Keep an eye on your neighbor, it’s the only way to preserve freedom!”

Keep your heads down, Citizens, and your Freedom ticklers ON!

-SenseChange

RandomMP3age: "Children," Robert Miles

To Be or Not to Be

As a Mortal, I can choose to "be". Mortals have that choice, Immortals, by definition, do not. In that one small way is something we mortals can do that the immortals cannot. Which is what probably makes us so damned interesting. Right?

To choose.

Can you choose not to choose and by doing so have chosen? Or not? That is the question. Or is it?

They last forever, this God, these Gods, this MultiVerse. We get one kick at the can. I look at my one Life as an Adventure fraught with Beauty and Peril, a battle at times, a party the next.

Is Life a Story? Can a Mortal make one's story Epic or does one have the choice? To make a difference or not? To leave your mark or not?

Or to just settle down and play the game like everybody else, retire in a place chock full of gorgeous, ethnic women. With GREAT ASSES! Get drunk lots, have kids lots. Fall asleep in hammocks on beaches. Learn to play the guitar. And the piano. Hang around with buddies. Laugh alot.

Is it nobler to make a difference? But noble to whom and for what? Why not identify yourSelf or Selves to those that would forswear their fealty? There is a great confusion as to the Identity or Identities of this Supreme Being or Pantheon. Or if there is an Identity at all. If there's even a You. Or a you. Or nothing. Just that one shot at it, in the final analysis, of that much, and that much alone, we can be certain.

God and the Devil, another Great Dichotomy. Like Heaven and Hell, Gods and Devils, Good and Evil. Well, what about Life and Death? Young and Old? Man and Woman? Black and White? Is it not all just the Yin and Yang? If all Mortal and Immortal things operate in dichotomies, does that mean we can apply a systems approach to Existence and say that all Things are chips found along the Grand Binary? And if yes, is our spot precise in this binary or can it move, and can the chip move of it's own accord if it so chooses? And is it in levels and therefore all Quantum?

Is it a system? If yes, what then, this system? Does it even have a personality? Or is it some amorphous, impersonal power that is itself that binary system? An organism of some sort? Is it a Machine? A Polarity? What?

Form or system, Gods, or anything at all? Is it the Universe simply being the Universe, whatever that is?

But what of those strong feelings around 'coincidences'. Are they coincidences or are they confluences of trillions of events and choices that dictates you Being in that exact spot at that exact instant of Confluence? It most certainly feels like things happen with an audible click sometimes, of things having fallen into place before a Mortal. What of those?

Coincidence or Confluence? Form or Substance? Bearded Old Man or Impersonal SupraNatural System? Free Will or Determinism? Choice or Destiny? Or NOTHING AT ALL? Just what the Heaven/Hell/Whatever is going on here, anyways?

Does Destiny exist, and if it does, is that a limitation? Am I powerless but to do whatever it is I do? Is the path nailed into place before a Mortal or does one choose one's path? Can you even make a choice? Have I ever made a choice or is it all I've ever done? You know?

A choice then. So choose. I, for one, not only choose to live but to live each day, breathless, amidst Grand Adventure. I will Question and Know. I will Fight and Fuck. I will Love and Hate, I will Live and Die my Life along the Great Binary of Existence and Nothingness.
Of that much, I am certain. The story, Epic or not, has an ending. As does all things but Change itself.

-SenseChange...and I do, by the way. Did I mention it?

p.p. I am also most certain that I am a Fool.

NonRandomMP3age: "Ode to Joy," by Beethoven. "the Peer Gynt Suite," and "Wandering Star" by Portishead.

American Idolatry: Waiting for the Paula Meltdown

American Idol. Smoked one and watched it. First time. Not sure what to make of it all.
Never cared about Paula til I heard she drinks. Now I find her interesting. I'd be drunk for that too.

See, I never watch the show but had heard she gets ripped on there. So I see it on t.v. and sure enough, she's drinkin'. That's awesome. Consistent drinker. Doesn't mind getting bombed and making an ass out of herself in front of the world. I tend to like that in a woman.

Black Dude is like, over-Black-Dudin' the thing. The "yo"s are forced, not natural. He might not even be a Black Dude. Can't be certain.

A contest on who gets to be our next idol. That's interesting. I actually require more from my idols than that, thank you very much. Alot of freaks and a couple of hot bunnies, some can sing, some can't. Who cares?

I'm waiting for the Paula meltdown where she gets all blitzed and brassy, out of control drunk. It's gonna happen! Now, that's reality TV! And it's not even that Simon dude, she loses it and calls bullshit on the whole scene. "This isn't Reality" Paula bellows, "none of it is! You ridiculous fools! You want reality? This is reality!" she rips off her top and deeply tongue-kisses some poor nerdy kid who can't sing, who ejaculates helplessly all over himself, causing Paula to puke all over him and start trashing the place. Paula's gonna get all PostModern and just like that she transcends the genre, becomes Reality TVs 'Hamlet'. American Idol becomes High Art. This is exciting television by anybody's standards.

Realization: We're actually making false idols now. It's the hottest show on tv, #1 show in America, making new false idols for people to worship. America is an amazing country. But what do the Right Wing Religious Nutters (henceforth dubbed the RWRN) make of it? Have they been called on this?

They're all drinking! Simon's gettin' gassed too! I worked the bars for years, I know when people are gettin' ripped and Simon's there too! This is unprecedented, brand new shit! Wow. Is Black Dude drinkin' too? Are there any drugs? This is out of control! A little sick even. But I like it!

Paula's perked up. She was getting glassy, could barely muster a response. Now she's alive and involved. I suspect cocaine. Can't be certain. Uppers for sure, though. Speed? So drugs too, huh? Wow.

Hmmm. More to this than I thought. It's not about the cuntestants at all. It's about the poor judges who have to sit there and listen to this atrocious over-divacised clatter and pretend to give a shit. So they get bombed! And stoned out of their minds! But who's in on the Party and who actually think it's some kind of retarded singing Contest? This is valuable, cutting edge stuff! What insight to the Human Condition!

This, finally, Reality Television.

-SenseChange
RandomMP3age: "Superman Song" Crash Test Dummies

The Impending Renaissance: Part One: Covey Capitalism

As you know, the good folks at SenseChange have been predicting massive impending changes in how all of us live our day to day lives, that these changes can be viciously awful (why not get caught up and read the blog that the Wichetaw Clarion called '..scathing..." and the Pawtucket Revue called "a wakeup call for civilization..." go ahead, we'll wait for you: http://www.writingup.com/sensechange/your_sensechange_guide_to_the_impending_apocalypse)
But Man's path could just as easily go the other way, transcendent, beautiful and fully fortified in funktitude.

Now, I know what you're saying. But how, Sensechange? You've painted such an ugly picture of how things are now and how they're going to end up! How do we get a Renaissance? And do we even deserve it?

Yes, kiddies, we deserve it. Here's how it's gonna happen.

THE IMPENDING RENAISSANCE - PART ONE: COVEY CAPITALISM

First of all, Capitalism morphs into something that benefits everybody, not just a bunch of grey-haired Suits around a table. We all know about the sweat-shops and we all know about the pollution and we all know about the global warming and we know about all the dirty little tricks now. We just know. And we're starting to get sick of it. But Big Business isn't gonna start cleaning up its practises...until it becomes profitable to do so. It is ingrained into the Beast. One should sooner get angry at the dog for barking or the fish for swimming. S

So how does it become profitable to actually give a rat's ass about something other than profit at all costs?

PREDICTION ONE: A few businesses will start the most successful marketing campaign in history, that will revolutionize Capitalism. But it's not just about marketing, it's about business practices.

THE PRACTICE: application of Stephen R Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Succesful People" to Capitalism and Capitalist Enterprises. Think 'win/win' situation for everybody, not just the few. Synergy. Is it do-able? Of course it is, Citizens! Just because you're a Capitalist doesn't mean you necessarily have to be a jerk, does it? Uhm... does it?

Your business enters a foreign land and you leave it a better place than you found it, the people, like you, will be richer. And not just the government or a few people at the top, but the general populace will benefit. And not just monetarily richer. Quality of Life richer.

How does this happen? You have to actually give a shit. This will only be difficult at first. At first maybe you give a shit because it's a slick marketing gimmick: in a time where Big Business is running around like pirates, polluting, killing and stealing, and the Masses are finding out about it more and more, your company is doing something better. For everybody. And at first, it's gonna be all about the money your company is gonna make from this gimmick, but you know what's gonna happen? You're gonna start to feel good about doing good. So will your employees. So will your customers. And just maybe, so will your Government. It's gonna become an addiction, a positive feedback loop: you help people, REALLY help people and other people see it and want to help you by buying your products or working for you. Which encourages you to help more people and it becomes a cycle of benevolence that ACTUALLY MAKES MONEY!

The Inevitable Realization: You'll take your rich, multinational corporation into a third world country and realize that you are the Power in that country. You snap your fingers and the government jumps for you, so does it's military. It's been like that for a long time, and so far Big Business has used that power to maintain a horrific status quo: keep your people prisoners because it's good for my bottom line. I don't have to see it or think about it and neither do my customers.

But that's changing, see? The InterNet is just one way in which good and decent people are realizing that bad shit is going down so we can have our top-of-the-line 200 dollar tennis shoes. And there is an impending backlash against companies being evil fucks to third world Peoples so they can over-charge us for shoes. It's already out there. And, more specifically, in HERE.

So Capitalist Pirateerism becomes OldWorld, and your company is NextLevel. So you're gonna do some things a little different. But the kicker is that it's gonna make you feel good to do it and it will make you and everyone around you rich.

These third world governments want your dollars and will do whatever you want. So rather than using that power to further entrench the populace in poverty and squalor you start using your influence to better the whole society. "We'll do business with you, we'll give you a one-year contract. But pay attention: If you want to re-sign at the end of that year we expect your literacy rate to be up by a certain percentage. And we're gonna help you do that. We work best in environments in which the surrounding populace actually likes us.

And their governments." And if you tell them to do that, you know what? THEY'LL DO IT. Know why? Oldest rule in the book, the Golden Rule: he who that has all the gold gets to make all the rules. And Big Business has ALL THE GOLD ON EARTH, right NOW. YOU MAKE ALL THE RULES. Way of the Heart or way of the Bullet, it's always been your choice and yours alone. It is YOU that makes the RULES of this Earth, right here, right NOW.

You enact business structures so that those who you would normally chain to their desks and work for 18 hour days, work decent hours for decent wages, but they work harder for you, know why? Because if they work harder for you they have a chance for bonafide advancement in a multinational corporation. Once they reach a level of proficiency they are going to train others to replace themselves so they can advance to the next level of employment, which means more money for them and an increased chance for upward mobility, and this extends to all employees, that chance for advancement. Work hard, make me money and replace yourself so that you can start making money too. It ain't rocket science. It's a Covey Style Win/Win business strategy.

You put that into place, and then? Well, all of a sudden you're making real change. And it's gonna feel so good! And people will see and hear the effects of your new style of business/philosophy of Life, and guess what, IT'S CATCHING ON! Other businesses see your success and WANT A PIECE OF IT! Maybe they're forced to change because this new mode of business/life is catching on, and they don't want to be OldWorld! NOBODY wants to be OldWorld! NOBODY wants to invest in OldWorld! BECAUSE OLDWORLD'S DEADER THAN SHIT!

NextLevel is where it's at.

So, all of a sudden, you've got a genuine movement on your hands and it's glorious. All of a sudden Corporations are competing with one another about who's helping which Third World Nation more:
"Oh yeah, well Guyana's literacy rate just jumped to 48%" brags IBM.
"Oh yeah?" returns Nabisco, "well, 3/4 of Surinam's population now has access to clean drinking water!"
It gets to the point that all the big companies have to jump on board, because it's a movement, see? And deep down even the most piratous of CEOs kinda digs that it's their companies are doing good things AND showing a profit!

So you keep riding this wave of success and Change and your next step is you get yourself some lobbyists. But these Lobbyists are different. They're not looking for more Wars so they can sell more weapons. They're not lobbying for decreased legislation against pollution so they can keep turning the earth into an ashtray. They're lobbying for real positive Change on earth. For everybody. Tell Washington how you and the People want to run things! And you know what? They'll jump to it! Know why? Because of the Golden Rule! Big Business rules the world. Your NextLevel company just became Big Business. You got Gold so you get to make Rules, it's that simple. And they gotta do what you say! It's their job to facilitate your business!

Thus, Covey Capitalism bceomes the NextLevel catchphrase and Capitalism saves it self from destruction at the hands of the hungry Masses, by feeding, educating and enriching the lives of said Masses. Impossible? No. Likely? On some levels it has already begun.

So, thus endeth the first part of your SenseChange Guide to the Impending Renaissance. There are many other components that need to fall into place for us to have a Renaissance rather than an Apocalypse and in the coming days the good folks at SenseChange will outline a few of them for you as a public service. The key understanding is that for a Renaissance it's gonna take hard work, from all of us. For an Apocalypse, you need do nothing. Just sit back and let the governments of the world take care of that for you. That too, has already begun.

End or Transcend, Citizens, it's truly your choice. I choose the latter. You?

-SenseChange
NonRandomMP3age: "Minute Waltz" by Chopin.

the YinYang of LifeDeath

Internet, computers, the digital world is a mirror of Life and reality in that it appears to be a construct composed of untold billions of little opposite but equals, manifested in little 1s and 0s, just as our minds, bodies, the air we breathe and our material world\universe are composed of its untold billions of little opposite but equals, manifested in protons and electrons, or positive and negative charges, up and down quarks, etcetera etcetera, ad infinitum, amen.

The opposites exist in almost everything; it is the black\white, man\woman, cock and pussy, alive or dead, strong\weak, peace/war, God and the Devil, Heaven or Hell, Democrat\Republican, Capitalist\Communist, Religion\Science, Yin or Yang, Me/You, Us\Them. The old maxim that there is always two sides to ever story may just be the truest words ever spoke, or it may just be utter horse-shit.

What about the ups and downs we all experience as a part of our mortal journeys? Things have been great and they’ve been bloody awful. No peaks without valleys. Without lows, no highs. We’ve had a lot of fun and been awfully bored. We’ve loved, we’ve loathed. We’ve felt like kings of the world and like the lowliest of gutter-tramps. We’ve all laughed and cried, some of Us more than Others. We’ve fought and we fucked, some of Us more than Others. Claimed our victories and suffered our defeats to some degree or another.

Tied in with that again is what we will do as a people. Buddha or the bomb? The way of the heart or the way of the bullet?

Do all these binaries then necessarily imply everything as part of a construct involving extreme opposites and if yes, does a construct then necessarily imply a maker, or does said construct imitate existence as art does Life? Have we always been here? So where are we? Where are you? What edge do you walk, what set of extremes is your black and white, what oppositional binary best describes your passage through this wild, topsy-turvy rollercoaster Life\Death?

I’m not saying it can be either or niether, but rather that Life is “Both” on a sliding scale of “Either” and “Neither.”

-SenseChange
RandomMP3age: "The Sea", by Morcheeba

Your SenseChange Conspiracy Guide: The Dubai Port Distraction

As a Public Service, the SenseChange Center for Positive Change is pleased to present you the very latest in political conspiracy understanding.

The Action: The Dubai Port Distraction.

The Players: George "Dubya" Bush and the Senate.

The Details: The whole country has been in an uproar over Dubya's intent to sell of the security of several key american ports to a company based and owned by the nation of the United Arab Emirates. Safe ports being important to Security and Dubai being located in a Mid East Country with connections to the both the Taliban and the 911 hijackers (two of them were from UAE, which is a far vaster connection than exists between Iraq and 911, which is of course zero), this has been a confusing deal for politicians, talking heads, intellectuals and regular joes.

The idea was considered so universally bad by all Americans that even Dubya's own Republican Rubber Stamp Congress started hissing like snakes, to which Dubya responded, "hey I got one 'a them veto thingees I haven't used yet. You guys wanna mess with 'Ol Texas? C'mon, make me use my veto!"

So that was the scene. Until today. the Deal collapsed...why?

THE CONSPIRACY: Three things happened during this whole tangled web of lies and stupidity.

1) The Republican party has never looked worse since Dubya took the helm. And elections are coming up this season. If they don't want to get kicked out of their asses they have to
A) distance themselves from this leering, incompetant and possibly deeply evil Chimp-In-Chief
B) Look like they care about anything rather than money
C) Easily hack the voting machines which they own entirely. AGAIN!

With the Ports deal the Republican Party stands up to the President. We've REFORMED! HONESTLY! SEE HOW WE STOOD UP TO DUBYA?

They're going to use this. They NEED this.

That's facet one of the Dubai Port Conspiracy, the other is vastly more important.

2) the Port Deal crashes the very same day that the Second Patriot Act is pushed through, amongst little fanfare. PATRIOT II! Scared by the first one? THEY JUST DID IT AGAIN! JUMPIN' JIMINY CHRIST in a FUCKING SIDECAR!!!!

Oh they're good. Reeeeeeeeal good.

Patriot II: It's now that much easier for them to just erase you.

We were all so busy and up in arms about Dubai and they just took more freedoms away from your average American. Know how cocky they are? They did it all on the same day. They know some of us are gonna clue in, just as they know most of us won't. They'll get away with it. They just did. See you in the clink, Citizens. Or the gulags.

3) Know who's running the ports now that Dubai isn't going to? Halliburton. Cheney's crew. That he STILL gets paid from, which is STILL a clear conflict of interest! Sigh...take it America, right in the ass. AGAIN!

Fools, one and all. Self included. Shit.

This has been your SenseChange Conspiracy Guide, brought to you by the good folks at the SenseChange center for Positive Change, reminding you as always that everything is a conspiracy until further notice.

Eyes Open Citizens!

That is all.

-SenseChange

NonRandomMP3age: "Everybody Knows" Leonard Cohen

Why George Bush is an Evil Jackarse

(this blog entry was a originally a response to somebody else's blog. It has now become my own blog. Welcome to the Machine.)

I encounter alot of people who don't understand why so many people intensely dislike that evil golem George "Dubya" Bush. I don't pretend to know anybody else's motivations, but here's why I don't like him. Join in with your own reasons or call me a Leftist, Commie Pinko or what-have you. I don't really care.

I HATE George Bush because he LIED and keeps lying nearly every time he opens his mouth. What does it take for people to wake up to that? He's not a hero, he's the worst president ever and the most dangerous Idiot in history. It's not that it's fashionable to trash the guy, it's because people are genuinely angry.

At what?

How he LIED about all the reasons for going into Iraq. Every single one of them. Which means he took advantage of everybody, ESPECIALLY THE SOLDIERS who now die for his lies.
And the soldiers that went into Iraq under the flag of America? Their country called them, and bravely, they answered that call. What they are starting to realize is that their country, their commander in chief LIED to them. Used them. Manipulated their loyalty and their love for everything they held dear. And they die for that lie. And it's atrocious. There is no defending what Dubya did, asking for their sacrifice over bullshit.

Can you dig that, Citizens?

How he puts incompetant shlubs in charge of important positions - like Brown and Chertoff, who had no previous experience in 'protecting' anything, in charge of homeland security. Homeland security being what is supposed to protect us from further terrorist attacks and even natural disasters. Which is why the response to Katrina was so hopelessly f@#ked up.

Like how he keeps giving hand-outs to his rich buddies and ripping off your average American.

Like how he screwed up all of America's alliances with the rest of the world

Like how he caused untold tens of thousands of more terrorists by invading a country that never had a damned thing to do with 911 and hadn't been a threat to even it's neighbors in over a decade. And YES Virginia, I AM talking about Iraq!

THE ESSENTIAL POINT WE ALL NEED TO WRAP OUR MINDS AROUND: There never was nor never will be any connection whatsoever between Iraq and 911. It's been proven that was false information OR a lie. So he's either grossly incompetant (over 2000 American soldier's lives, remember) or an evil son of a bitch, but one thing he wasn't doing by going into Iraq was fixing anything to do with 911. No connection, not now, not EVER.

And that's not opinion or conspiracy, it's widely known all over the world and EVEN America. Get it into your cast-iron, red, white and blue skulls.

Know what that means, sweethearts? It means that Democrat, Republican or Moonie, if you want to elicit any kind of INFORMED political opinion on America and Bush in 2006 you're going to have to go ahead and make a grown-up decision:

EITHER: George Bush and his Administration lied to the People and the World about their reasons for going into Iraq

OR: George Bush and his Administration's gross negligence (ie.couldn't get their facts straight) has cost over 2000 american soldier's lives.

That IS the situation. No spin. No Lefty/Righty. Just reality.

What would I have done? I would have treated Terrorism like it is: a crime. Plain and simple.
It's not a War because terrorists aren't nations. I'd treat it like a crime. Remember the London bus bombings? England didn't go and invade any Nations over that, they treated it like a crime, and you know what? THEY CAUGHT THE TERRORISTS RESPONSIBLE IN DAYS.

If he had focussed all his resources on finding Osama Bin Laden they would have found Bin Laden. If he had focussed all his resources on securing America's borders and ports, he would have secured America's borders and ports. But he wanted to invade Iraq, so he invaded Iraq.
You don't get to invade any country you want just because you were attacked, especially if that country had NOTHING to do with the people who attacked you. But Dubya did anyways. And now America pays for it in blood, money and spoiled international alliances every day.

But why else don't you like Dubya, SenseChange? Glad you asked, kiddies, now PAY ATTENTION!

Like how he transformed a federal surplus to the biggest federal deficit in the history of the world (so, that means we didn't have a debt before Bush, and now we have a really big one), then says his economic plan is working like a charm. Which only makes a modicum of sense if his plan is to single-handedly bankrupt his own country. Which it may well be. I don't know.

Like how he got Daddy to switch him into the National Guard so he wouldn't have to fight in Vietnam and then he becomes President, starts an illegal war in Iraq and sends in not only American soldiers but that same National Guard he used to hide in. PUSSY! Cheney too, Cheney was quoted as saying he had "other priorities than fighting in Vietnam," but has no problem sending American sons and daughters to their DEATHS in the Middle East! PUSSY ALSO! EVIL PUSSY!

AND THEN THEY DON'T ARM THEM PROPERLY!!! FUCKS!

Like how he is still using 911 to erode the Constitution with things like the Patriot Act (which means a van can show up at your house right now, legally kidnap you, hold you for a mock trial in a local basement and summarily throw you in prison for life. Or to be tortured overseas. Or just put a bullet into your head and be done with you. You will not be able to defend yourself and there is no oversight on this process. Your government can just take you away and nobody will ever see you again and you'll never have the right to an attorney or nothing. that's what the Patriot Act allows) and Domestic Spying, all of which is completely illegal and the polar opposite of everything for which the Constitution stands.

The Constitution is a document that was written by the American Forefathers (so, a bunch of old guys, but important old guys, you know?) and was intended for times of Peace and times of War, otherwise, they warned, the document is useless. George Bush and his evil band of pirates strive every day to render the Constitution useless. Because, I propose, they're evil bastards. Did I mention that already? Well they are.

Ben Franklin -another one of these old, important guys- once said that "those who would sacrifice Freedom for Security will get neither and lose both."

I don't trash Bush because it's fashionable to do so. I trash him for being a genuinely evil man who made the whole world less safe, America first and foremost.

If you voted for him in the first time, he let you down. If you voted for him again, well, he let you down again. And he's gonna keep on letting you down (like selling the nation's ports to the government of Dubai, for instance, do you BELIEVE THAT? I thought we were suppposed to be AFRAID!)as long as you let him. He will just get harder and harder to defend.

At this point, if you'll defend Bush's actions, you'll do so forever. Which makes you a sheep. And a fool. History will always be curious about that particular sector of people in this particular time, blindly defending this scoundrel and his gang of pirates COME WHAT MAY!

A Correlation: those that still defend the actions of the scurrilous "Thief in Chief" in blogs like those found in writingup and bloggerparty and such are also those that write about Jesus and God, quote scripture and wait patiently for the Rapture! Am I wrong? I may be, but I don't think so.

It also turns out that those that are quoting scripture and such seem to be the least informed about the current events that shape the debate about Dubya and Gang, ie: "They" (so Iraq or Saddam) attacked us first, or that they DID find WMDs in Iraq, etc, lies that even Bush and co don't really bother trying to convince anybody of anymore. They are also the most likely to assume that Bush wasn't lying. Why? Because he claims to be religious. And maybe he might some day do something about abortion and about gay people. Which somehow makes ATTACKING a foreign land (and its people) for NO REASON palatable. Fascinating! And really weird!

I've got some medicine here for you. It's like Buckleys, you know? Tastes bad but it works. You ready? Down the hatch:

WAKE UP YOU CHRISTIANS! He LIED! AND HE USED YOUR RELIGION FOR HIS OWN FOUL PURPOSES AND WILL CONTINUE TO USE YOU, YOUR FAITH, YOUR RELIGION AND YOUR GOD TO CONTINUE TO COMMIT ATROCITIES!!!!
SMARTEN UP! HE'S NOT THE FIRST POLITICIAN TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR BELIEFS AND HE WON'T BE THE LAST! USE YOUR HEADS! IF HE IS NOT HELD TO ACCOUNT NOW WE WILL ALL HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHOEVER COMES NEXT, WHO IS EMBOLDENED BY WHAT YOU'VE ALREADY ALLOWED BUSH TO GET AWAY WITH!
IF YOUR HELL EXISTS, DUBYA WILL BURN THERE! IF HE AND PRESCOTT AREN'T ALREADY RUNNING THE PLACE!!!

Whew.

No wonder they ask you to be sheep. YOU ARE!

Does not your own religion condition you to be sheep? Am I wrong? Are you not told all the time in the bible and in church to be sheep? My idea is that this is the case. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. If not, Baaaaaaaahaaahhh.

History will see it that way. Unless you call bullshit on this evil, evil man.

Some of this might sound harsh, and I'm not in the habit of insulting people I don't know, but I think it's medicine, and I think you need to take it because its good for you. And America. And the World.

Hey, vote for whoever you want in the 2006 and 2008 elections, because at least we know we don't have to deal with Dubya again. But don't keep defending him. When Men in Power are allowed to get away with whatever they want, that emboldens the next generation of men in Power (Dem or Repubby) to take it a step further. We can afford to go no further than Bush has dragged us. Or at least, some of us.

-SenseChange

p.p. This by the way was just a few of the reasons many people all over the world trash George 'Dubya' Bush, it is by no means a comprehensive list. Just off the top of my head.

RandomMP3age: "Help Me Rhonda," the Beach Boys

Canto III: the War Lead-up Lies

Canto III

Three reasons for war, each more false than the last
The first one a lie when you consider the past.
Yes, Saddam’s a tyrant and most evil brute
That crushes detractors ‘neath the heel of his boot
That lives in a palace, his people a tent
That part of it’s true, one hundred percent!
To say this is a lie, that nobody dares!
The lie is by saying that America cares!

Pardon me, Citizen, but give me a break!
How much feigned altruism can any of us take?
When throughout history it clearly seems
The US has supported some of the foulest regimes
And the most murderous thugs to ever cross earth,
And crushed many a fledgling Democracy at birth!
Crying ‘Liberty!’ and ‘Freedom!’ beats the heart in our breasts
It’s a call much more stirring than ‘American Interests!’

We move on to the next of the war lead-up lies
Which was that of Saddam and his terrorist ties
To Osama and Al Quaeda of 9-11 fame
And the unsubtle hint that Saddam was to blame.
To a nation still healing and a people still grieving
Small wonder so many had no trouble believing
The two madmen were united towards America’s end
Said ‘the enemy of my enemy must be my friend’.

But this was untrue, and t’was a well documented fact
That Osama and AlQuaeda had made a blood pact
To murder Saddam who they actually hated
Almost as much as America it’s been stated.
There was no collusion between these Mid-Eastern powers
To bring forth the terrorists that brought down the Towers.
And though there’s a chance the wrong way this’ll rub ya
Bin Laden’s greater linked to America and Dubya.

An Al Quaeda connection to Iraq is hair-brained
But to America, here’s one: he was CIA trained,
They taught him to fight and they taught him to plan
They had him fight Russians in Afghanistan
No reason to get mad, man, don’t lose your couth!
It’s established as fact and a bonafide truth.
But this is not the last tie, I’m sad to report
There’s ties of a much more nefarious sort.

The Bin Ladens and Bushes go back a long way
And those ties remain very strong to this day
Want further proof of a continued connection?
Look to 9-11 and the Bin Laden family’s protection
It’s said that Bush Senior couldn’t get a flight that day
Yet somehow the Bin Laden’s had been spirited away
Safely back to Arabia and though it makes us all nervous
The Bin Laden’s were rescued by the US Secret Service.

It may be coincidence and I couldn’t be wronger
But the appearance of one always makes the other stronger.
Bin Laden gains strength fighting the American beast
And emerges as a hero to the rest of the Mid-East
Bush gets his ratings and the chance to appear
A strong and brave President for a Nation in Fear.
Maybe that’s what it comes down to, and in the end
It’s the least each can do for an old family friend.

But the last reason was scariest and best of the bunch
T’was a lie cuz they said it was fact, not a hunch
Twas said a thousand times for all to hear
They made it seem so perfectly clear
To a nation in grips of such unholy terror
That with the hateful Saddam there’s no margin for error.
Said to owners of stores, and ‘security moms’
“We have to go get him, the fucker has bombs!”
Talk of inspections, resolutions and the like
But Citizens there’s no choice but a pre-emptive strike!”
And just as we once learned the birds and the bees
So now we all learned of the dread WMDs.
“‘Nucular’ bombs” Bush mispronounced to the masses
“An’ if we don’t get him we can all kiss our asses
Goodbye once and for all, cuz Saddam, well he’s got em
How do we know? We were there when he bought ‘em!”

-SenseChange

RandomMP3age: "1812 Overture" Tchaikovsky

THEY don't care about TERRORISM!!!!

Dubya, Darth Cheney, Rummy, Condi, General Powell...these dudes don't give a rat's arse about terrorism, Citizen! They never have! You didn't know?

First and foremost, if the Government (past or present) gave a rat's arse about terrorism they'd seal up those borders nice and tight instead of the ridiculous joke that they are RIGHT NOW and find someway to secure those damned ports! You know, the ports? That they're trying to sell to Dubai? They don't give a rat's arse about terrorism, Citizen, and they NEVER have.

If the Government gave a rat's arse about Terrorism they would have appointed somebody with even a modicum of experience to head the All-Important Department of HomeLand Security instead of some schlub who's last experience in management was an Arabian Horse League. Whatever the FUCK that is! And he wasn't even good at THAT job! It's the "Great War on Terror" and the guy they put in charge of defending the homeland has no experience WHATSOEVER! ANYBODY ANYWHERE DEFEND THIS DECISION! I TRIPLE-DOG DARE YOU! CAN'T? Of course you can't. Nope, Government doesn't give a rat's arse about Terrorism and NEVER has.

And if they gave a rat's arse they certainly would never have invaded Iraq for no legitimate reason (Iraq, remember, hasn't been a threat to even it's neighbors in YEARS, now composed of a bunch of poor and dying people who had suffered under Saddam and the economic embargoes that killed thousands during the nineties and early 2Ks). But hey, that just means they're weak, right? Vulnerable? So why not invade? Because invading any part of the Middle East -other than Israel- DRIVES THE MID EAST CRAZY!

This is the Middle East we're talking about! Look up the phrase "Hornet's Nest" in the dictionary and I assure you there's a map of the Middle East. Look up the phrase "Stirring Up a Hornet's Nest" and there's a picture of an American Army boot on Mid East soil. It's that simple and they knew that going in. If they'd read even one book written about the Middle East they could have figured that out. They knew it would drive people crazy and build a fertile ground for more terrorism and they did it anyways. Know why? Cuz the Government doesn't care about Terrorism and NEVER HAS!

You didn't think anybody'd get pissed off about a foreign, pro-Israel and predominantly Christian invading force rolling right through the middle of the place? Please. Dubya may be an idiot (and for the purposes of this particular post I'm gonna say 'may' here, if you can dig that. Think 'Operation Kaiser Sose' and you might be catching what I'm saying) but Cheney certainly is not. A bad guy to go hunting with when he's been drinking, certainly, but never a fool. Oh they knew, they just didn't care. And never did. Getting the point yet?

They knew damn well that invading Iraq was going to create untold thousands of more terrorists. They didn't and don't give a shit, they got their eye on the real prize: a friendly hand on the spigot and boots on the ground for when the shit comes down. Terrorism? Who cares about that and WHY?

A bunch of Americans get killed in another terrorist strike? It ACTUALLY HELPS THEIR CAUSE! Look at the state of America right now, dear Citizens, a few more terrorist attacks and they can INSTITUTE THE DRAFT NO PROBLEM and the country would get behind the extermination of a nation of grandmothers and buck-toothed babies if it came to that. The bloodthirsty Religious Right will be leading the charge to sign up any and all paritioners in the hopes that the Rapture is finally upon us, I can assure you that.

The Government doesn't give a rat's arse about terrorism, Citizen, and here's why they NEVER WILL, are you ready? Because we'll do whatever they say if we're scared shitless.

They might not give a shit about Terrorism but they LOVE Fear.

We'll do whatever they want if we're afraid, like give up all our rights. Like donate our sons, daughters and selves -and your MONEY, Citizens, never forget it's YOUR MONEY- for the War Machine. Like allow them to ruin relationships with the rest of the World and bomb what Nations they want back to the Stone Age. And if we're scared enough, we'll cheer 'em on, HELL, we'll help 'em do it!

The forecast calls for more bombs, more towers, more corporate/state powers, Draft, more War, repeat as necessary until there's nothing left.

Keep your heads down, Citizens, and keep that duct-tape HANDY! FOR ALL THE GOOD IT'LL DO YOU!!!!!

-SenseChange

NonRandomMP3age: "Carmina Burana"

Citizen's Note # 411, inre Funding the Revolution

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE UNDERFUNDED.

UNTIL WE OUT-PIRATE THE PIRATES.

THAT IS ALL.

-Citizen's Note

Why I Stopped Reading Time Magazine

I stopped reading Time Magazine in 2003.

Over at Lucas and Big T's, I find myself watching CNN with a healthy air of irony, as always. They do a big lead-up into who TIME magazine's "Man of the Year" is, but keep flipping back and forth to images of the Iraq situation and various actions of the invading American force.
I'm thinking TIME will have to say it's Bush for "Man of the Year", it has to be Bush, right? Not because he's a great man by any means, in fact I think he's a ruthless money-grubbing cock-sucker, but can there be any doubt that he was the man the world most talked about and watched in 2003? Not bloody likely.

However, I was wrong the year before. The year before I thought the Man of the Year was going to be Osama-Bin-on-Dialysis, and again, not because he's a great man either, just the most talked about, appeared in the most newscasts, newspaper and magazine covers, the most talked about.

I had always assumed this was the protocol for determining Man of the Year, because they gave it to HITLER in 41(?), and they were right to do it, because he was the figure everybody was talking about. He was an atrocious asshole and probably one of the top five most terrible men to have ever walked the earth (so far), but that year he was the biggest figure in the news, bar none, and that’s why he was on there.

I keep watching CNN blast the horn of American empiricism and see more and more shots of the US soldiers, still waiting for them to give the story on "Man of the Year." I reflect on how we keep reading from foreign sources about American soldiers that are committing suicide over there, and how we never hear about that on CNN, how the soldiers are never asked about the big WHY and about the big LIE about why they’re over there. I mean it’s not like there was never any time to ask the question! Their inbed/inbred/embedded, right? This in itself was evidence enough of CNN's complete lack of journalistic integrity, as if the whole lead-up to and the imbed/inbred/in-bed reporting fiasco of Gulf Deux weren't enough.

Then a drumroll is presented and it shows the cover of TIME, and the legend underneath says "Man of the Year." When revealed it is three soldiers: all young, one white male, one white female, one black male. I feel like somebody hit me in the gut.

That's the Man of the Year: the war machine that will go wherever they're told, and pump lead into whoever is required.

The guy who fired from a tank into a hotel holding non-US government friendly media? Man of the year!

The guy that dropped leaflet bombs that didn't ignite and will not ignite until stumbled on by a child four years from now? Man of the Year!

The economically downtrodden that signed up for his country as his only way out and now doesn’t have a clue what the fuck he’s doing there? Man of the Year!

The guy who dropped bombs over every square inch of a major city? Man of the Year!

The guy who killed himself when he found out his country had lied to him? Man of the Year!

Also quite reflective of Dubya's impressively creative initiative: if you hate MY war then you hate YOUR soldiers, so show support for your impoverished sons and daughters (but not mine) and show support for our brand new empire. Everybody backs the troops, right?

Lucas finally puts it into perspective for me: "I don't understand why you're so shocked about any of this. You don't expect TIME to hoover on corporate dick like everybody else?"
He'd hit the nail square on the head. That's somehow precisely what I thought, that they were above all that. TIME was what I considered to be the foundation of balanced reporting and journalistic integrity. Now they just pander propaganda, whores of the ilk of CNN or FoxNews, a mouth-piece for govt/corp lies.

Two positives:
Positive #1: You’re smarter now; you rightfully assume all major news sources are compromised, corrupt and on the take. Eyes OPEN Citizen!

Positive #2: I guess it means I still care if they have the capacity to disappoint me.

-SenseChange
RandomMP3age: “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” Robert Palmer

Religious? DON'T SUPPORT WAR!!!!!!

Would your Jesus Christ consent to dropping even a single bomb?

I've come off pretty hard against alot of you religious types on this site and many others. There's alot of you, just as there are alot of us who don't subscribe to any organized religion.

I don't want to 'us' versus 'you' this topic. I think divisions beget nothing but more divisions.

I'm legitimately worried about the state of the world right now, and I think part of the tinderbox that could rage out of control is people in power manipulating the faiths of Muslim and Christians alike to do all manner of awful things. It's happened before and is poised to happen again if we let it. Where does that leave those of us who do not participate in an organized religion but will be stuck with the same violence and anarchy? Call it the 'End of Times' if you like, or the Rapture or what-have-you, but I want no part of it.

Be religious if you want to, and I'm sorry for calling you all a bunch of NUTS. But hey, prove me wrong! PLEASE! Help stop Mankind from descending into an allout World War! How? Here's a few ideas.

1) Do not back War, War-mongering Presidents or War-mongering Political Parties and tell your constituents not to back War, War-mongering Presidents or War-mongering Political Parties. If you are a Pastor or an upstanding member of your community then you have a position of power - in that a sector of your community listens to you. Put that towards Peace, not War.
I'm not saying convert to the D party, I don't care how people vote, but we learned in the last elections that the Relgious vote carries alot of weight, and if such a constituency voices a strong denunciation of War than any political party, Democrat or Republican will have to listen! To you and yours, Pastor!

You KNOW Jesus would never condone to the dropping of a single bomb, Pastor, you know this. Not the Christ I read of when I attended church growing up. If anything, that's the way of Old Scratch himself, and I think you know that too. (and by the way, I don't believe in the Devil or that he walks the Earth in the guise of Man, but if I did I would have no doubt that we are watching him everyday on the American Media, trumpeting War and Hatred and We're Better Than Them and Blind Patriocy and the President Can Do Whatever He Wants. It's probably that Fiend, O'Reilly!).

2) establish contact and communication with Muslim religious leaders. You don't have to go over there, it can start right at home and on the internet. And don't fight with one another, talk. Work towards coexistence. Both are supposed to be peaceful religions, that is a great start for commonality. See if there are other commonalities.

3) If you're gonna preach real Love and true Tolerance than by all means, PREACH IT! And I'm not talking about regurgitating scripture, I'm talking about the real deal Pastor, I'm talking about from your HEART, towards the betterment of all Man, not just the one's who follow your specific beliefs or fall within a moral spectrum! Preach togetherness, not more division! Preach it as loud as you can, and MEAN IT! The world NEEDS it, RIGHT NOW more than EVER before! I promise you, do this and though your God is not mine, you will have my full support, and I stand shoulder to shoulder with you in your cause.

If you increase the divisions that exist today and hasten us down the path of destruction then I truly hope your Hell exists, for that is where you will end up and you will deserve it.
Believe that Man has the power to stop the Rapture, or watch it all burn.

-SenseChange

RandomMP3age: "Nothing Else Matters" by Orchestral Metallica