THE UNIVERSAL GESTURE
Raven is crawling his way through the newspaper.
“It’s nice to have the real paper, instead of having to read everything on the computer screen.”
Uh huh.
“Don’t worry—only caged birds have a Pavlovian reaction to newspapers.”
Glad to hear it. What’s up on the international front?
“The usual car bombs and the dance of the body parts. Oh, yeah—and a follow-up to Dick Cheney’s F-word caper in the US Senate.”
Oh?
“There’s a photo here of King Juan Carlos of Spain giving the finger to a group of Basque protestors.”
You’re kidding.
“Moi? Not likely.”
Rave grabs the page in his beak and with his feet tears out a photograph.
“I think this needs to go up on the refrigerator door. Right next to Mad Dog Cheney snarling.”
You know, Rave, when I open that door it’s because I am looking for food to cook.
“Okay, I get the point. I’ll put up the photos in the bathroom.”
Thanks.
Monday, June 28, 2004
Friday, June 25, 2004
RATTLING CAGES—the ad canum—er, hominum—argument
“Hah! Look at this photo on the Common Dreams site of Dick Cheney.” Raven points to a fuzzy full color image on the screen that looks to be, from where I am sitting, a mad dog.
Yikes, Rave! Looks like a rabies epidemic is blasting off. Who IS that mad dog, anyway?
“I just told you: Dick Cheney. Snarling the F-word at Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont. Cute guy, right.”
Hmmmm. What did Leahy do, hoist his leg on Cheney’s personal fire hydrant?
“Says here that Cheney was being asked about his manipulating spoils of war contracts for Halliburton.”
And that’s when he snarled out the F-word? Did he start barking, too?
“I don’t know. It doesn’t say anything here about barking. But it does say that Senator Leahy said he thought Cheney must have been having a bad day.”
You know, Rave, this would be very funny if the guy weren’t running the US government. And if he were not sending the troops into the Valley of Death to be slaughtered. Have you noticed that the body count in Iraq is incrementing geometrically now?
“Well, that’s what happens when you let a dog take control. Dogs are not popular with Arabs, you know. There’s not much difference between them and hyenas except domestication. And domestication doesn’t seem to have made dogs a better species. If anything, their worst characteristics: a pack mentality and blind loyalty to the master (in this case the Masters of War) have become dominant.”
Rave, is there a point in there someplace? Or is this an arcanely knitted confection designed to show that Huntington was wrong in his racist analysis of cultures clashing—that is to say the clash of religions between Muslims and Christians—and that it’s really about Arabs hating dogs?
“I’m looking for the point. Just got distracted for a minute looking at Cheney’s crooked teeth. The point is that dogs have been bred not to look at facts or information, just to accept propaganda from their owners and gang up with other dogs to enforce it. Cheney, in this case, apparently sees himself as the Alpha Dog, and hence his outburst of scatology in the Senate. Leahy rattled his cage, and like any conditioned Pavlovian, drooled out the controversial cussword.”
And Ravens don’t pull those capers?
“Of course not. We are the independent shapeshifting tricksters of the animal kingdom. We just move on to another level of consciousness.”
Raven turns of the computer, flaps his wings 3 times and flies into the closed window.
Poor modest little guy. He will return to one of his levels of consciousness soon
“Hah! Look at this photo on the Common Dreams site of Dick Cheney.” Raven points to a fuzzy full color image on the screen that looks to be, from where I am sitting, a mad dog.
Yikes, Rave! Looks like a rabies epidemic is blasting off. Who IS that mad dog, anyway?
“I just told you: Dick Cheney. Snarling the F-word at Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont. Cute guy, right.”
Hmmmm. What did Leahy do, hoist his leg on Cheney’s personal fire hydrant?
“Says here that Cheney was being asked about his manipulating spoils of war contracts for Halliburton.”
And that’s when he snarled out the F-word? Did he start barking, too?
“I don’t know. It doesn’t say anything here about barking. But it does say that Senator Leahy said he thought Cheney must have been having a bad day.”
You know, Rave, this would be very funny if the guy weren’t running the US government. And if he were not sending the troops into the Valley of Death to be slaughtered. Have you noticed that the body count in Iraq is incrementing geometrically now?
“Well, that’s what happens when you let a dog take control. Dogs are not popular with Arabs, you know. There’s not much difference between them and hyenas except domestication. And domestication doesn’t seem to have made dogs a better species. If anything, their worst characteristics: a pack mentality and blind loyalty to the master (in this case the Masters of War) have become dominant.”
Rave, is there a point in there someplace? Or is this an arcanely knitted confection designed to show that Huntington was wrong in his racist analysis of cultures clashing—that is to say the clash of religions between Muslims and Christians—and that it’s really about Arabs hating dogs?
“I’m looking for the point. Just got distracted for a minute looking at Cheney’s crooked teeth. The point is that dogs have been bred not to look at facts or information, just to accept propaganda from their owners and gang up with other dogs to enforce it. Cheney, in this case, apparently sees himself as the Alpha Dog, and hence his outburst of scatology in the Senate. Leahy rattled his cage, and like any conditioned Pavlovian, drooled out the controversial cussword.”
And Ravens don’t pull those capers?
“Of course not. We are the independent shapeshifting tricksters of the animal kingdom. We just move on to another level of consciousness.”
Raven turns of the computer, flaps his wings 3 times and flies into the closed window.
Poor modest little guy. He will return to one of his levels of consciousness soon
Monday, June 07, 2004
FEARING PEACE MORE THAN WAR
Raven is drinking coffee and reading the political writings of Simon Bolivar. His feathered face narrows into a frown.
“Boy is there nothing new under the sun!”
What’s up, Raven?
“Bolivar said, ‘I fear peace more than war’. Do you think that’s what’s going on inside of the Bush Gang?”
Inside? I have a very hard time imagining any of those one-dimensional fascists having what we might risk calling an “interior”.
“What is it, then, that they fear?”
Probably they fear being booted out of the power before they have corralled all the planet’s resources for their various multinational companies.
“Why, then, do you think Bolivar feared peace?”
That’s a whole lot easier question, Rave. Bolivar was able to unify folks in Colombia, Venezuela and Peru at least briefly when he was actively waging war against the Spanish. Guys that in other circumstances were ready to cut each other’s head off would pull together when the Patria was at stake. Then, after a decisive victory, they would go back to intriguing and putting banana peels under each other’s heels. Especially the heels of Bolivar. Let’s not forget that he died broke, wearing a borrowed shirt, driven out of Venezuela and pretty much out of Colombia, too.
“But he was vindicated later.”
Well, yeah—if you call it vindicated that they brought his bones back to Caracas, and that he’s the central figure in their Pantheon. Fat lot of good that did him almost 20 years earlier, when he lay dying in Santa Marta.
“I see a definite similarity. The Bush Gang grabbed hold of 9/11 as a pretext to start declaring wars and limiting the options of US citizens to question them on the basis that questioning their authority was unpatriotic. They wouldn’t have been able to pull off the Afghan Pipeline Caper in Peacetime—the Clinton Gang had already tried that, and after they wined and dined the Taliban, the deal went tits up anyway.”
Okay, I follow you. So when the Afghan Pipeline Caper became clearly unviable for the Bush Gang, too, as they couldn’t control the situation, they declared war on Iraq—with the idea of continuing to wage war so that, first, Bush is elected in November of 2004 and that, second, no one steps aside from the patriotic prattle to mention that the Cross-Eyed Cretin has started to resemble Adolf Hitler.
“Hitler was much more simpatico: smarter, and a vegetarian. He may have had lampshades made out of Jewish skin, but he ate neither his enemies nor his friends.”
Geez, guy, are you saying he achieved the Buddha’s detachment?
No, of course not. But at least he had a few twisted bits of ideologies to pull out of his sleeve. All this guy has is his imaginary playmate: God.”
So, if the Bush Gang gets a shot at another 4 years, we can expect more war?
“Didn’t he say on t.v. in front of his imaginary playmate and everybody that he was the War President? He’ll probably send troops into Syria—it’s right next door—and into Cuba. And probably Venezuela—if Chavez wins the referendum.
If he loses, the Escualidos will hand Venezuela’s oil over to Bush in exchange for a plate of lentils. Al estilo mexicano.
“In that case they’ll use all the troops in Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and the Caribbean to liberate the Amazon Basin.”
So there will not be peace in our time.
“Not a chance. I’ll overlook the reference to Chamberlain.”
This is very grim, Rave. I can’t even run away to the Amazon jungle to escape?
“Afraid not. The US soldiers will be so busy liberating oppressed peoples that you won’t find anyplace on the planet to hide.”
I believe Bolivar had something else to say, Rave.
“He had a lot to say, actually. But in this case, what?” Raven closes the book.
Something on the order of : “The United States appears to be destined by Fate to plague the Americas with miseries in the name of freedom.”
“Seems like he was right, too.”
Raven is drinking coffee and reading the political writings of Simon Bolivar. His feathered face narrows into a frown.
“Boy is there nothing new under the sun!”
What’s up, Raven?
“Bolivar said, ‘I fear peace more than war’. Do you think that’s what’s going on inside of the Bush Gang?”
Inside? I have a very hard time imagining any of those one-dimensional fascists having what we might risk calling an “interior”.
“What is it, then, that they fear?”
Probably they fear being booted out of the power before they have corralled all the planet’s resources for their various multinational companies.
“Why, then, do you think Bolivar feared peace?”
That’s a whole lot easier question, Rave. Bolivar was able to unify folks in Colombia, Venezuela and Peru at least briefly when he was actively waging war against the Spanish. Guys that in other circumstances were ready to cut each other’s head off would pull together when the Patria was at stake. Then, after a decisive victory, they would go back to intriguing and putting banana peels under each other’s heels. Especially the heels of Bolivar. Let’s not forget that he died broke, wearing a borrowed shirt, driven out of Venezuela and pretty much out of Colombia, too.
“But he was vindicated later.”
Well, yeah—if you call it vindicated that they brought his bones back to Caracas, and that he’s the central figure in their Pantheon. Fat lot of good that did him almost 20 years earlier, when he lay dying in Santa Marta.
“I see a definite similarity. The Bush Gang grabbed hold of 9/11 as a pretext to start declaring wars and limiting the options of US citizens to question them on the basis that questioning their authority was unpatriotic. They wouldn’t have been able to pull off the Afghan Pipeline Caper in Peacetime—the Clinton Gang had already tried that, and after they wined and dined the Taliban, the deal went tits up anyway.”
Okay, I follow you. So when the Afghan Pipeline Caper became clearly unviable for the Bush Gang, too, as they couldn’t control the situation, they declared war on Iraq—with the idea of continuing to wage war so that, first, Bush is elected in November of 2004 and that, second, no one steps aside from the patriotic prattle to mention that the Cross-Eyed Cretin has started to resemble Adolf Hitler.
“Hitler was much more simpatico: smarter, and a vegetarian. He may have had lampshades made out of Jewish skin, but he ate neither his enemies nor his friends.”
Geez, guy, are you saying he achieved the Buddha’s detachment?
No, of course not. But at least he had a few twisted bits of ideologies to pull out of his sleeve. All this guy has is his imaginary playmate: God.”
So, if the Bush Gang gets a shot at another 4 years, we can expect more war?
“Didn’t he say on t.v. in front of his imaginary playmate and everybody that he was the War President? He’ll probably send troops into Syria—it’s right next door—and into Cuba. And probably Venezuela—if Chavez wins the referendum.
If he loses, the Escualidos will hand Venezuela’s oil over to Bush in exchange for a plate of lentils. Al estilo mexicano.
“In that case they’ll use all the troops in Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and the Caribbean to liberate the Amazon Basin.”
So there will not be peace in our time.
“Not a chance. I’ll overlook the reference to Chamberlain.”
This is very grim, Rave. I can’t even run away to the Amazon jungle to escape?
“Afraid not. The US soldiers will be so busy liberating oppressed peoples that you won’t find anyplace on the planet to hide.”
I believe Bolivar had something else to say, Rave.
“He had a lot to say, actually. But in this case, what?” Raven closes the book.
Something on the order of : “The United States appears to be destined by Fate to plague the Americas with miseries in the name of freedom.”
“Seems like he was right, too.”
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
OBSCENITIES
“So,” Raven dunks a piece of stale bread in his coffee. “How would you define obscenity?”
Gee, Rave, that’s a big question for so early in the morning. I have an easier one for you: How can you stand to eat that stale bread?
“That’s easy. It holds up in the coffee. The fresh rolls get all soggy and fall apart.”
Guess that told me. Very W.B. Yeats. I didn’t realize Ravens were such connoisseurs.
“Gourmets of garbage would be a more apt description, probably.”
Thanks a lot! I don’t see you cooking around here.
“Point well taken. But you didn’t answer my question. How do you know when something is obscene? Does it have to have been intended as obscene?”
Intentional fallacy, guy. Intentions have nothing to do with something once it enters the public domain. I think something is obscene when it violates cultural norms of acceptability.
“That’s pretty slippery. That means that, because cultural norms are not the same everywhere, something could be considered obscene in one part of the world and not obscene in others.”
I suppose so. I’m not sure where you’re heading with this.
“More or less to Lower Slobovia—as the Crow flies. Don’t you think it’s obscene for George W. Bush to complain that Iraqis are not seeing the 'real heart of Americans' because of a few renegade bad apples?”
Yes, I do. Because he is negating and trivializing the pain, suffering, death and humiliation that he has inflicted on innocent people. I also consider the spokesman for the military who dismissed the massacre at a wedding out in the desert by saying “bad people have weddings, too” to be obscene as well.
“You know what else is obscene? The New York Times—the editors made a “light” apology, buried in the middle of the paper, for having been shills for the Bush Gang’s invasion of Iraq. We don’t know how many Iraqis have been killed to date—as the forces of invasion don’t bother to count Arab bodies—but we do know that at least 800 US soldiers have been killed—and who knows how many mercenaries with them—and The Times thinks if they say, ‘Gee, we’re sorry we didn’t do a better job’—that everything’s hunky dory.”
If they didn’t have the courage to do the right thing in the first place, why do you think they would have the courage to admit that they did the wrong thing now?
“Yeah, you’re right. Yesterday’s newspapers are just…yesterday’s newspapers for those guys. Like this bread—they’re only good for dunking in coffee and throwing in the garbage.”
Raven drops his scrap of stale soggy bread in the garbage can.
So that’s it? You’re washing your hands of this whole obscenity thing?
“Anthropomorphizing will get you nowhere. I don’t have hands. Besides, everybody else is so busy washing his that mine will not be an issue. Obscenity is, after all, unique to your species. We feathered fellows are free of all that. And this feathered fellow is off to pursue the pristine here in—what’s this place called?”
Don’t ask, Rave.
“So,” Raven dunks a piece of stale bread in his coffee. “How would you define obscenity?”
Gee, Rave, that’s a big question for so early in the morning. I have an easier one for you: How can you stand to eat that stale bread?
“That’s easy. It holds up in the coffee. The fresh rolls get all soggy and fall apart.”
Guess that told me. Very W.B. Yeats. I didn’t realize Ravens were such connoisseurs.
“Gourmets of garbage would be a more apt description, probably.”
Thanks a lot! I don’t see you cooking around here.
“Point well taken. But you didn’t answer my question. How do you know when something is obscene? Does it have to have been intended as obscene?”
Intentional fallacy, guy. Intentions have nothing to do with something once it enters the public domain. I think something is obscene when it violates cultural norms of acceptability.
“That’s pretty slippery. That means that, because cultural norms are not the same everywhere, something could be considered obscene in one part of the world and not obscene in others.”
I suppose so. I’m not sure where you’re heading with this.
“More or less to Lower Slobovia—as the Crow flies. Don’t you think it’s obscene for George W. Bush to complain that Iraqis are not seeing the 'real heart of Americans' because of a few renegade bad apples?”
Yes, I do. Because he is negating and trivializing the pain, suffering, death and humiliation that he has inflicted on innocent people. I also consider the spokesman for the military who dismissed the massacre at a wedding out in the desert by saying “bad people have weddings, too” to be obscene as well.
“You know what else is obscene? The New York Times—the editors made a “light” apology, buried in the middle of the paper, for having been shills for the Bush Gang’s invasion of Iraq. We don’t know how many Iraqis have been killed to date—as the forces of invasion don’t bother to count Arab bodies—but we do know that at least 800 US soldiers have been killed—and who knows how many mercenaries with them—and The Times thinks if they say, ‘Gee, we’re sorry we didn’t do a better job’—that everything’s hunky dory.”
If they didn’t have the courage to do the right thing in the first place, why do you think they would have the courage to admit that they did the wrong thing now?
“Yeah, you’re right. Yesterday’s newspapers are just…yesterday’s newspapers for those guys. Like this bread—they’re only good for dunking in coffee and throwing in the garbage.”
Raven drops his scrap of stale soggy bread in the garbage can.
So that’s it? You’re washing your hands of this whole obscenity thing?
“Anthropomorphizing will get you nowhere. I don’t have hands. Besides, everybody else is so busy washing his that mine will not be an issue. Obscenity is, after all, unique to your species. We feathered fellows are free of all that. And this feathered fellow is off to pursue the pristine here in—what’s this place called?”
Don’t ask, Rave.
Friday, May 28, 2004
DARK WISDOM
"Here's a good quote to start the weekend off on the right wing!"
Raven is puddling with coffee in his saucer.
Okay, what is it?
"From the Common Dreams site, a writer quotes 'from the testimony of Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials, not long before Hitler's vice-fuhrer poisoned himself in his jail cell:
"... It is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."
Just what we needed, Rave. In the US they will be celebrating Memorial Day with more new graves. Whose coffins had flags draped over them.
"Here's a good quote to start the weekend off on the right wing!"
Raven is puddling with coffee in his saucer.
Okay, what is it?
"From the Common Dreams site, a writer quotes 'from the testimony of Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials, not long before Hitler's vice-fuhrer poisoned himself in his jail cell:
"... It is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."
Just what we needed, Rave. In the US they will be celebrating Memorial Day with more new graves. Whose coffins had flags draped over them.
Monday, May 24, 2004
BURNING UP THE TRACK OF TYRANNY
With 132 Colombian paramilitaries slapped in the slammer in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez is still not breathing easy. Raven, what's your take?
"Where there's smoke, there's fire. Where there's 132, there are more. Hey, the US-supported "opposition"--opposition?, give me a break--isn't going to give up that easily."
But the signature reparations are this week. They can still get their referendum.
"Hey, those jokers had weeks to come up with 2.4 million signatures. And they didn't make it. To take out Chavez in a referendum they'd need to get 3.7 million IN ONE DAY--the number he received in the last election. Chavez says there's no way, that he will get 4 million this time. And even Wall Street agrees with him."
Wall Street doesn't have a lot of political credibility in this case, Rave. This is Theater of the Absurd, where the opposition says Chavez is a tyrant.
"Yeah, well. yesterday on his t.v. show he said that the mere fact that they have the freedom to call him a tyrant negates the claim. he said, "Some folks say I am walking towards tyranny, but I must be walking awfully slow because I have been governing for 5 years and 3 months. Although in Washington they say that I am walking very fast."
Burning up the track to tyranny. And in the US all it took was 9/11 and bzzzt--all the way to tyranny in 60 seconds.
"By the way, Michael Moore received the Palme d'or in Cannes for "Fahrenheit 9/11" on Saturday."
I am behind on the news, Rave, but good for him! He'll probably do more to unseat the Crawford Cretin than all the other political activity combined.
"If he can show it in the US."
He will, Rave--after the Palme d'Or they can't stop him.
"They'll blame the French, again. Liberty, equality and fraternity are swear words in the Oval Office."
Or at least words the Cretin can't pronounce....
With 132 Colombian paramilitaries slapped in the slammer in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez is still not breathing easy. Raven, what's your take?
"Where there's smoke, there's fire. Where there's 132, there are more. Hey, the US-supported "opposition"--opposition?, give me a break--isn't going to give up that easily."
But the signature reparations are this week. They can still get their referendum.
"Hey, those jokers had weeks to come up with 2.4 million signatures. And they didn't make it. To take out Chavez in a referendum they'd need to get 3.7 million IN ONE DAY--the number he received in the last election. Chavez says there's no way, that he will get 4 million this time. And even Wall Street agrees with him."
Wall Street doesn't have a lot of political credibility in this case, Rave. This is Theater of the Absurd, where the opposition says Chavez is a tyrant.
"Yeah, well. yesterday on his t.v. show he said that the mere fact that they have the freedom to call him a tyrant negates the claim. he said, "Some folks say I am walking towards tyranny, but I must be walking awfully slow because I have been governing for 5 years and 3 months. Although in Washington they say that I am walking very fast."
Burning up the track to tyranny. And in the US all it took was 9/11 and bzzzt--all the way to tyranny in 60 seconds.
"By the way, Michael Moore received the Palme d'or in Cannes for "Fahrenheit 9/11" on Saturday."
I am behind on the news, Rave, but good for him! He'll probably do more to unseat the Crawford Cretin than all the other political activity combined.
"If he can show it in the US."
He will, Rave--after the Palme d'Or they can't stop him.
"They'll blame the French, again. Liberty, equality and fraternity are swear words in the Oval Office."
Or at least words the Cretin can't pronounce....
AS EASY AS FALLING OFF A BICYCLE
Ah, Rave, here’s a bit of interesting news: yesterday morning—just after midnight, actually—three bombs exploded in banks in Cuernavaca.
“Who did it?” Rave is licking peach jam off his feet.
A group that calls itself Comando Jaramillista Morelense 23 de Mayo. They sent this e-mail to La Jornada titled “42nd Anniversary of the Murder of Ruben Jaramillo”: “Let no honest forces be surprised by this shout of protest that we have been given as our only option! Sergio Estrada Cajigal and your gang of delinquents and drug-traffickers, get out of the government of Morelos! Corrupt and inept politicians, get out; all of you, go! (Que se vayan todos.) “
“Sounds good to me. Xochicalco still carries the stain of the murder of Jaramillo and his family. How they could kill someone there is beyond me. Zapata must have been spinning in his grave—well, in his statue.”
I don’t think it was a case of cultural continuity or anything like that, Rave. Although apparently there were human sacrifices at Xochicalco. I think they took Jaramillo and his family there and killed them because they figured there would be no witnesses. Only the stones.
“Humph—and a bunch of birds like your humble servant!”
You guys have big mouths but not very many people understand your lingo. Anyway they thought they could do their dirty deed unobserved. Interesting that this new group has appeared. Not altogether surprising, though. Things have gotten pretty desperate in the state. Lots of heads have rolled, but not the head of the frivolous fop at the top of the dungheap.
“Speaking of frivolities, they haven’t gotten rid of the fool on the hill in Washington, either.”
He will not go gentle into that good night, guy. Nor will any of the other corrupt, inept politicians leading the world down the primrose path to ruin.
“In the bird kingdom, they would be tarred and feathered—literally.”
It’s not so easy to do that in the hallowed halls of government.
“Hallowed my tushie. Blake may have said that the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom—or some such nonsense—but he was just wrong.!”
Big Brother was wrong, too: ignorance is NOT strength! Fat lot of good that recognition does toward throwing the bums out.
“It’s because your species sees processes like that as difficult. A military coup would do the trick in a heartbeat. As easy as falling off a bicycle.”
Which, by the way, Bush did on the weekend at his ranch in Texas. I didn’t know birds had a military chain of command.
“We don’t. But we know our place in the food chain. Which your species doesn’t. I suppose he fell on his least vulnerable part—his head. Speaking of which, I think you should buy a bit of head cheese in the mercado.”
I hate that stuff, Rave. It tastes like—I don’t know—something rotten.
“It’s very popular in Denmark, I hear. And in Crawford, Texas. Buy me a little piece. I can imagine I am eating Bush’s brain.” Raven rolls his eyes, and lets loose with one of his eardrum-shattering cackles.
It’s going to be a difficult day.
Ah, Rave, here’s a bit of interesting news: yesterday morning—just after midnight, actually—three bombs exploded in banks in Cuernavaca.
“Who did it?” Rave is licking peach jam off his feet.
A group that calls itself Comando Jaramillista Morelense 23 de Mayo. They sent this e-mail to La Jornada titled “42nd Anniversary of the Murder of Ruben Jaramillo”: “Let no honest forces be surprised by this shout of protest that we have been given as our only option! Sergio Estrada Cajigal and your gang of delinquents and drug-traffickers, get out of the government of Morelos! Corrupt and inept politicians, get out; all of you, go! (Que se vayan todos.) “
“Sounds good to me. Xochicalco still carries the stain of the murder of Jaramillo and his family. How they could kill someone there is beyond me. Zapata must have been spinning in his grave—well, in his statue.”
I don’t think it was a case of cultural continuity or anything like that, Rave. Although apparently there were human sacrifices at Xochicalco. I think they took Jaramillo and his family there and killed them because they figured there would be no witnesses. Only the stones.
“Humph—and a bunch of birds like your humble servant!”
You guys have big mouths but not very many people understand your lingo. Anyway they thought they could do their dirty deed unobserved. Interesting that this new group has appeared. Not altogether surprising, though. Things have gotten pretty desperate in the state. Lots of heads have rolled, but not the head of the frivolous fop at the top of the dungheap.
“Speaking of frivolities, they haven’t gotten rid of the fool on the hill in Washington, either.”
He will not go gentle into that good night, guy. Nor will any of the other corrupt, inept politicians leading the world down the primrose path to ruin.
“In the bird kingdom, they would be tarred and feathered—literally.”
It’s not so easy to do that in the hallowed halls of government.
“Hallowed my tushie. Blake may have said that the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom—or some such nonsense—but he was just wrong.!”
Big Brother was wrong, too: ignorance is NOT strength! Fat lot of good that recognition does toward throwing the bums out.
“It’s because your species sees processes like that as difficult. A military coup would do the trick in a heartbeat. As easy as falling off a bicycle.”
Which, by the way, Bush did on the weekend at his ranch in Texas. I didn’t know birds had a military chain of command.
“We don’t. But we know our place in the food chain. Which your species doesn’t. I suppose he fell on his least vulnerable part—his head. Speaking of which, I think you should buy a bit of head cheese in the mercado.”
I hate that stuff, Rave. It tastes like—I don’t know—something rotten.
“It’s very popular in Denmark, I hear. And in Crawford, Texas. Buy me a little piece. I can imagine I am eating Bush’s brain.” Raven rolls his eyes, and lets loose with one of his eardrum-shattering cackles.
It’s going to be a difficult day.
Friday, May 21, 2004
THE AMERICAN WAY
“Here in the paper a columnist is asking why people in the US are not incensed about the torture in Iraq. Why they aren’t demanding accountability and demanding that their leaders be replaced.” Raven slurps his coffee and pecks off the corner of a cinnamon roll. “What’s your theory?”
My theory is not a theory, Rave. It’s a description based on empirical observation. Unfortunately, the majority of folks in the US are addicted to violence—either directly or as spectators. They think the US should be kicking ass around the planet. That’s what they see their heroes in the Hollywood action movies doing.
“They think they’re Rambo?”
Rambo is sort of old hat. Now the violence has been passed through the production values of Hong Kong and the sieve of computer-generated special effects, so that watching an action movie is like watching a video game on the big screen. The old, horrified responses to violent images have been replaced by excitement. It’s violence as another form of pornography. And we know with addictive behavior that the addict doesn’t want to give it up.
“So you’re saying that a lot of folks are getting their fix looking at the torture pics?”
Sure I am. When the social context is violence, when the cross-eyed cretin in the Oval Office thumps his chest and grunts, “Let’s go kick some ass”, the rest of the addicts are given permission to indulge their addiction. That’s what the soldiers and paramilitaries in Iraq are doing. And the folks at home are kicking Arab ass vicariously, living out their violent and pornographic fantasies looking at the photos and videos of torture—let’s not forget that lots of folks in the US are racist and xenophobic in the extreme. It’s the American Way.
“And people have been conditioned to live through fantasies--in front of their t.v. sets, primarily.”
And beating off to pornographic magazines—some of which have very violent components.
“I have said it before, and I will say it again: your species deserves to be eliminated from the food chain.”
Raven has given up on the cinnamon roll, tosses it into the garbage can.
“Here in the paper a columnist is asking why people in the US are not incensed about the torture in Iraq. Why they aren’t demanding accountability and demanding that their leaders be replaced.” Raven slurps his coffee and pecks off the corner of a cinnamon roll. “What’s your theory?”
My theory is not a theory, Rave. It’s a description based on empirical observation. Unfortunately, the majority of folks in the US are addicted to violence—either directly or as spectators. They think the US should be kicking ass around the planet. That’s what they see their heroes in the Hollywood action movies doing.
“They think they’re Rambo?”
Rambo is sort of old hat. Now the violence has been passed through the production values of Hong Kong and the sieve of computer-generated special effects, so that watching an action movie is like watching a video game on the big screen. The old, horrified responses to violent images have been replaced by excitement. It’s violence as another form of pornography. And we know with addictive behavior that the addict doesn’t want to give it up.
“So you’re saying that a lot of folks are getting their fix looking at the torture pics?”
Sure I am. When the social context is violence, when the cross-eyed cretin in the Oval Office thumps his chest and grunts, “Let’s go kick some ass”, the rest of the addicts are given permission to indulge their addiction. That’s what the soldiers and paramilitaries in Iraq are doing. And the folks at home are kicking Arab ass vicariously, living out their violent and pornographic fantasies looking at the photos and videos of torture—let’s not forget that lots of folks in the US are racist and xenophobic in the extreme. It’s the American Way.
“And people have been conditioned to live through fantasies--in front of their t.v. sets, primarily.”
And beating off to pornographic magazines—some of which have very violent components.
“I have said it before, and I will say it again: your species deserves to be eliminated from the food chain.”
Raven has given up on the cinnamon roll, tosses it into the garbage can.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
BLOWING HIS COVER—RINGERS AND OTHER PERVERSIONS
Rave, bad news. I just got an e-mail from Rifle with an article about ravens from…the Economist.
“Why is THAT bad news? THIS stuff is bad news.” Raven is playing with spaghetti he didn’t eat last night and which is now hardened threads of paste on his plate.
Well, perhaps you should decide for yourself. Want me to read you the article?
“Why not? Meanwhile, I’ll be thinking about ways to commit suicide.”
Okay. It’s called “Quoth the Raven”—from the Poe poem.
“That’s where all I say is ‘Nevermore’, right?”
Umm. Ready? “Now, it seems, even the bird-brained have theories of mind.”
“Offensive! What is this bird-brained horseshit?”
Rave, I am just reading you the article. Okay? “HUMANS like to regard themselves as exceptional. Other animals do not
have complex, syntactical languages. Nor do most of them appear to
enjoy the same level of consciousness that people do. And many
philosophers believe humans are the only species which understands that
others have their own personal thoughts. That understanding is known in
the trade as having a "theory of mind", and it is considered the
gateway to such cherished human qualities as empathy and deception.
Biologists have learned to treat such assertions with caution. In
particular, they have found evidence of theories of mind in a range of
mammals, from gorillas to goats. But two recent studies suggest that
even mammalian studies may be looking at the question too narrowly.
Birds, it seems, can have theories of mind, too.”
“I’ll give those bird brains theories of mind!” Raven is getting hot under the collar—er, feathers.
“FEATHERBRAINS
In the PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, Bernd Heinrich and Thomas
Bugnyar of the University of Vermont, in Burlington, describe a series
of experiments they have carried out on ravens. They wanted to see how
these birds, which are known to be (at least by avian standards) both
clever and sociable, would respond to human gaze.
Response to gaze is reckoned to be a good measure of the development of
theory of mind in human children. By about 18 months of age most
children are able to follow the gaze of another person, and infer
things about the gazer from it. Failure to develop this trick is an
early symptom of autism, a syndrome whose main underlying feature is an
inability to understand that other people have minds, too.
To test whether ravens could follow gaze, Dr Heinrich and Dr Bugnyar
used six six-month-old hand-reared ravens, and one four-year-old. The
birds were sat, one at a time, on a perch on one side of a room divided
by a barrier. An experimenter sat about a metre in front of the
barrier. The experimenter moved his head and eyes in a particular
direction and gazed for 30 seconds before looking away. Sometimes he
gazed up, sometimes to the part of the room where the bird sat, and
sometimes to the part of the room hidden behind the barrier. The
experiment was videotaped.
Dr Heinrich and Dr Bugnyar found that all the birds were able to follow
the gaze of the experimenters, even beyond the barrier. In the latter
case, the curious birds either jumped down from the perch and walked
around the barrier to have a look or leapt on top of it and peered
over. There was never anything there, but they were determined to see
for themselves.
A suggestive result, but not, perhaps, a conclusive one. However, the
second study, carried out by Dr Bugnyar when he was working at the
University of Austria, and published last month in ANIMAL COGNITION,
suggests that ravens may have mastered the art of deception too.
In this case, the observation was serendipitous. Dr Bugnyar was
conducting an experiment designed to see what ravens learn from each
other while foraging. While doing so he noticed strange interactions
between two males, Hugin, a subordinate bird, and Munin, a dominant
one.
The task was to work out which colour-coded film containers held some
bits of cheese, then prise the containers open and eat the contents.
The subordinate male was far better at this task than the dominant.
However, he never managed to gulp down more than a few pieces of the
reward before the dominant raven, Munin, was hustling him on his way.
Clearly (and not unexpectedly) ravens are able to learn about food
sources from one another. They are also able to bully each other to
gain access to that food.
But then something unexpected happened. Hugin, the subordinate, tried a
new strategy. As soon as Munin bullied him, he headed over to a set of
empty containers, prised the lids off them enthusiastically, and
pretended to eat. Munin followed, whereupon Hugin returned to the
loaded containers and ate his fill.
At first Dr Bugnyar could not believe what he was seeing. He was
anxious about sharing his observation, for fear that no one would
believe him. But Hugin, he is convinced, was clearly misleading Munin.
As it happened, Munin was no dummy either. He soon grew wise to the
tactic, and would not be led astray. He even stooped to trying to find
the food rewards on his own! This made Hugin furious. "He got very
angry", says Dr Bugnyar, "and started throwing things around." Perhaps
ravens have something else in common with people--a hatred of being
found out.” There you have it.
“Hey, I never said we were perfect. But at least we aren’t ringers.”
Would you care to explain that?
“Avec plaisir, madame. For example, John Kerry is not a real candidate. He’s a ringer.”
Oh?
Haven’t you noticed that he and Georgie Porgie continue to be Tweedledee and Tweedledumb? First we find out they’re cousins several times removed. Then we see that they have the same anti-program: invade Cuba, send more troops to Iraq, invade Venezuela, send more troops to Iraq, invade Syria. Ad nauseum. It’s obvious that they came up with this guy—this cardboard cutout—so that the voters would not have a real choice. He’s a ringer!”
That sounds way beyond Maquiavellian, guy.
“So? Those neocons were writing their How to Take over the World manual more than 12 years ago. They cooked the ballot boxes in Florida to get Georgie into the Oval Office. But it was a close shave. And the Supreme Court his daddy packed had to bail them out. They’re not going to let it happen again. Now they have two candidates. And the voters can go to hell.”
I see. So when are you going to talk to Ralph Nader about this theory?
It’s not a theory of mind. It’s plain common sense. The one party system is here. The end of elections as we know them.
So that’s it for free choice, Rave?
“Right. Nevermore.”
He got me again….
Rave, bad news. I just got an e-mail from Rifle with an article about ravens from…the Economist.
“Why is THAT bad news? THIS stuff is bad news.” Raven is playing with spaghetti he didn’t eat last night and which is now hardened threads of paste on his plate.
Well, perhaps you should decide for yourself. Want me to read you the article?
“Why not? Meanwhile, I’ll be thinking about ways to commit suicide.”
Okay. It’s called “Quoth the Raven”—from the Poe poem.
“That’s where all I say is ‘Nevermore’, right?”
Umm. Ready? “Now, it seems, even the bird-brained have theories of mind.”
“Offensive! What is this bird-brained horseshit?”
Rave, I am just reading you the article. Okay? “HUMANS like to regard themselves as exceptional. Other animals do not
have complex, syntactical languages. Nor do most of them appear to
enjoy the same level of consciousness that people do. And many
philosophers believe humans are the only species which understands that
others have their own personal thoughts. That understanding is known in
the trade as having a "theory of mind", and it is considered the
gateway to such cherished human qualities as empathy and deception.
Biologists have learned to treat such assertions with caution. In
particular, they have found evidence of theories of mind in a range of
mammals, from gorillas to goats. But two recent studies suggest that
even mammalian studies may be looking at the question too narrowly.
Birds, it seems, can have theories of mind, too.”
“I’ll give those bird brains theories of mind!” Raven is getting hot under the collar—er, feathers.
“FEATHERBRAINS
In the PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, Bernd Heinrich and Thomas
Bugnyar of the University of Vermont, in Burlington, describe a series
of experiments they have carried out on ravens. They wanted to see how
these birds, which are known to be (at least by avian standards) both
clever and sociable, would respond to human gaze.
Response to gaze is reckoned to be a good measure of the development of
theory of mind in human children. By about 18 months of age most
children are able to follow the gaze of another person, and infer
things about the gazer from it. Failure to develop this trick is an
early symptom of autism, a syndrome whose main underlying feature is an
inability to understand that other people have minds, too.
To test whether ravens could follow gaze, Dr Heinrich and Dr Bugnyar
used six six-month-old hand-reared ravens, and one four-year-old. The
birds were sat, one at a time, on a perch on one side of a room divided
by a barrier. An experimenter sat about a metre in front of the
barrier. The experimenter moved his head and eyes in a particular
direction and gazed for 30 seconds before looking away. Sometimes he
gazed up, sometimes to the part of the room where the bird sat, and
sometimes to the part of the room hidden behind the barrier. The
experiment was videotaped.
Dr Heinrich and Dr Bugnyar found that all the birds were able to follow
the gaze of the experimenters, even beyond the barrier. In the latter
case, the curious birds either jumped down from the perch and walked
around the barrier to have a look or leapt on top of it and peered
over. There was never anything there, but they were determined to see
for themselves.
A suggestive result, but not, perhaps, a conclusive one. However, the
second study, carried out by Dr Bugnyar when he was working at the
University of Austria, and published last month in ANIMAL COGNITION,
suggests that ravens may have mastered the art of deception too.
In this case, the observation was serendipitous. Dr Bugnyar was
conducting an experiment designed to see what ravens learn from each
other while foraging. While doing so he noticed strange interactions
between two males, Hugin, a subordinate bird, and Munin, a dominant
one.
The task was to work out which colour-coded film containers held some
bits of cheese, then prise the containers open and eat the contents.
The subordinate male was far better at this task than the dominant.
However, he never managed to gulp down more than a few pieces of the
reward before the dominant raven, Munin, was hustling him on his way.
Clearly (and not unexpectedly) ravens are able to learn about food
sources from one another. They are also able to bully each other to
gain access to that food.
But then something unexpected happened. Hugin, the subordinate, tried a
new strategy. As soon as Munin bullied him, he headed over to a set of
empty containers, prised the lids off them enthusiastically, and
pretended to eat. Munin followed, whereupon Hugin returned to the
loaded containers and ate his fill.
At first Dr Bugnyar could not believe what he was seeing. He was
anxious about sharing his observation, for fear that no one would
believe him. But Hugin, he is convinced, was clearly misleading Munin.
As it happened, Munin was no dummy either. He soon grew wise to the
tactic, and would not be led astray. He even stooped to trying to find
the food rewards on his own! This made Hugin furious. "He got very
angry", says Dr Bugnyar, "and started throwing things around." Perhaps
ravens have something else in common with people--a hatred of being
found out.” There you have it.
“Hey, I never said we were perfect. But at least we aren’t ringers.”
Would you care to explain that?
“Avec plaisir, madame. For example, John Kerry is not a real candidate. He’s a ringer.”
Oh?
Haven’t you noticed that he and Georgie Porgie continue to be Tweedledee and Tweedledumb? First we find out they’re cousins several times removed. Then we see that they have the same anti-program: invade Cuba, send more troops to Iraq, invade Venezuela, send more troops to Iraq, invade Syria. Ad nauseum. It’s obvious that they came up with this guy—this cardboard cutout—so that the voters would not have a real choice. He’s a ringer!”
That sounds way beyond Maquiavellian, guy.
“So? Those neocons were writing their How to Take over the World manual more than 12 years ago. They cooked the ballot boxes in Florida to get Georgie into the Oval Office. But it was a close shave. And the Supreme Court his daddy packed had to bail them out. They’re not going to let it happen again. Now they have two candidates. And the voters can go to hell.”
I see. So when are you going to talk to Ralph Nader about this theory?
It’s not a theory of mind. It’s plain common sense. The one party system is here. The end of elections as we know them.
So that’s it for free choice, Rave?
“Right. Nevermore.”
He got me again….
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
JUNE BUG AT THE WINDOW
Raven is pecking at the cap of a pen.
Rave, you’re pecking pensively, I think.
“Idly is more like it. The Devil finds work for idle beaks, and all that. By the looks of things, there must be millions of idle folks out there.”
Oh no. Does that mean more scandals?
Raven scrolls through the news headlines in La Jornada.
“The usual suspects, that’s all. Invading Venezuela. And hundreds of thousands of venezolanos marching to protest US intervention and Plan Colombia.”
What else?
“More torture pics. Three Iraqi journalists who work for Reuters denouncing that they were picked up and tortured by US soldiers. Oops—there’s a June Bug here—just flew in the window.”
Is that a news item, guy?
“Don’t be silly. I am talking about a real bug. Don’t you see him there on the table?”
Well, yes I do. And it’s only May. Wonder what it means.
“They always start revving up in May. What do you mean what does it mean?”
Don’t you remember the Jung story, where the patient dreams about the scarab beetle and goes to her session with Jung and there’s a scratching at the window and it’s a scarab beetle wanting to get in?
“No.”
Jung uses that scarab apparition to talk about synchronicity—that everything in a a given moment has the properties of that moment.
“In that case, we’re in deep doo-doo. Look at the moment we are living—chaos, torture, perversion all over the planet. Your species running amok and dragging the rest of us down with you. And a long list of etceteras. What would Jung make of that?”
Probably he would say that the unconscious—the unaccepted shadow exemplified by the dark deeds in Iraq and other places—has exploded into consciousness, and has taken over. He saw that happening before both World War I and World War II.
“And the June Bug? Where does it fit in?”
I suppose as a harbinger. of something. The scarab is also a symbol of rebirth in Egyptian cosmology.
“And in Mesopotamian cosmology?”
Probably it’s about the same, given the cultural overlap.
“So that means we’re on the way out, right? I mean, you have to die before you can be reborn.” Raven looks doubtful.
‘He not busy born is busy dying’—in the words of Bob Dylan.
“I don’t see a whole lot of emphasis on being born right now, do you?”
No, dying seems to have the upper hand.
“He should have been a cockroach.” Raven pokes at the June Bug with one talon.
How do you know it’s a he?
“We lower animals have not lost our ability to relate to other species.”
Okay, and why should he have been a cockroach?
“Those guys are not about being busy dying and being born again. They are about being busy surviving. Hunkering down and just getting through it. Which is what we probably should be doing.”
Oh, Rave, I don’t know. I think I’d rather go write my will. All things considered.
“All things considered, I don’t think you need to bother.”
Raven has to have the last word.
Raven is pecking at the cap of a pen.
Rave, you’re pecking pensively, I think.
“Idly is more like it. The Devil finds work for idle beaks, and all that. By the looks of things, there must be millions of idle folks out there.”
Oh no. Does that mean more scandals?
Raven scrolls through the news headlines in La Jornada.
“The usual suspects, that’s all. Invading Venezuela. And hundreds of thousands of venezolanos marching to protest US intervention and Plan Colombia.”
What else?
“More torture pics. Three Iraqi journalists who work for Reuters denouncing that they were picked up and tortured by US soldiers. Oops—there’s a June Bug here—just flew in the window.”
Is that a news item, guy?
“Don’t be silly. I am talking about a real bug. Don’t you see him there on the table?”
Well, yes I do. And it’s only May. Wonder what it means.
“They always start revving up in May. What do you mean what does it mean?”
Don’t you remember the Jung story, where the patient dreams about the scarab beetle and goes to her session with Jung and there’s a scratching at the window and it’s a scarab beetle wanting to get in?
“No.”
Jung uses that scarab apparition to talk about synchronicity—that everything in a a given moment has the properties of that moment.
“In that case, we’re in deep doo-doo. Look at the moment we are living—chaos, torture, perversion all over the planet. Your species running amok and dragging the rest of us down with you. And a long list of etceteras. What would Jung make of that?”
Probably he would say that the unconscious—the unaccepted shadow exemplified by the dark deeds in Iraq and other places—has exploded into consciousness, and has taken over. He saw that happening before both World War I and World War II.
“And the June Bug? Where does it fit in?”
I suppose as a harbinger. of something. The scarab is also a symbol of rebirth in Egyptian cosmology.
“And in Mesopotamian cosmology?”
Probably it’s about the same, given the cultural overlap.
“So that means we’re on the way out, right? I mean, you have to die before you can be reborn.” Raven looks doubtful.
‘He not busy born is busy dying’—in the words of Bob Dylan.
“I don’t see a whole lot of emphasis on being born right now, do you?”
No, dying seems to have the upper hand.
“He should have been a cockroach.” Raven pokes at the June Bug with one talon.
How do you know it’s a he?
“We lower animals have not lost our ability to relate to other species.”
Okay, and why should he have been a cockroach?
“Those guys are not about being busy dying and being born again. They are about being busy surviving. Hunkering down and just getting through it. Which is what we probably should be doing.”
Oh, Rave, I don’t know. I think I’d rather go write my will. All things considered.
“All things considered, I don’t think you need to bother.”
Raven has to have the last word.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
THE MOST STUPID, CYNICAL ARGUMENT!
Raven is outraged. Again.
“Get a load of this: in the newspaper they are quoting Dick Cheney’s reaction to the torture routinely applied to Iraqi prisoners by occupation forces.”
Okay, Rave, I’ll bite. What was his reaction?
“He said the important thing to remember is that the soldiers didn’t try to conceal that they were torturing Iraqis.!”
Oh my….Actually, I am not surprised. I suppose that’s why all the photos and videos of the torture sessions were made—so that the invasion forces could parade their hijinks in front of the international community?
“Hmmm. And I had assumed they made the videos to sell to porno distributors in the States. Poor misguided me….”
Nothing like a stupid cynical leader to establish the priorities.
Raven is outraged. Again.
“Get a load of this: in the newspaper they are quoting Dick Cheney’s reaction to the torture routinely applied to Iraqi prisoners by occupation forces.”
Okay, Rave, I’ll bite. What was his reaction?
“He said the important thing to remember is that the soldiers didn’t try to conceal that they were torturing Iraqis.!”
Oh my….Actually, I am not surprised. I suppose that’s why all the photos and videos of the torture sessions were made—so that the invasion forces could parade their hijinks in front of the international community?
“Hmmm. And I had assumed they made the videos to sell to porno distributors in the States. Poor misguided me….”
Nothing like a stupid cynical leader to establish the priorities.
Monday, May 10, 2004
IT'S ALL THE FAULT OF THE PICTURES?
Listen to this, Rave:
'"There is no question that these pictures … make our work much more difficult," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell acknowledged in an interview with Agence France-Presse news agency Friday.
"These images are very destructive to our foreign policy efforts," he said, including the effort to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.'
"Apparently, one picture is worth more than a thousand words. Powell seems blithely unconcerned with the fact that the pictures, the images were photographic evidence of aberrant BEHAVIOR." Raven is outraged.
Yeah--it's like the guy who murders his wife and then complains about the inconvenience of being caught. Being caught was a mistake. Killing his wife was not.
Listen to this, Rave:
'"There is no question that these pictures … make our work much more difficult," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell acknowledged in an interview with Agence France-Presse news agency Friday.
"These images are very destructive to our foreign policy efforts," he said, including the effort to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.'
"Apparently, one picture is worth more than a thousand words. Powell seems blithely unconcerned with the fact that the pictures, the images were photographic evidence of aberrant BEHAVIOR." Raven is outraged.
Yeah--it's like the guy who murders his wife and then complains about the inconvenience of being caught. Being caught was a mistake. Killing his wife was not.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
QUE SE VAYAN TODOS!
Raven is pecking at a cookie while he scrolls through the news in Internet.
“Yesterday US Secretary of Offense Rumsfeld apologized for the torture of Iraqi prisoners. But he refuses to resign. What’s with this guy?”
Well, I suppose he doesn’t want to give up his lucrative “chamba”, Rave. Besides that, he probably feels that he shouldn’t have to be the sacrificial lamb when the entire Bush Gang is in this mess up to their necks.
“For how many months now have we been calling for a regime change?”
Far too many, I’m afraid. And this week 58 former US diplomats echoes the statement issued by 52 former UK diplomats, expressing their complete inconformity with the occupation of Iraq. But the Bush Gang presses on—now aiming their artillery at Latin America in the hopes of capturing Miami Mafia votes in November. Cuba is digging in for another Bay of Pigs.
“And the US citizens? Where is their hue and cry against these outrages?”
In the progressive community the usual voice are activated. But the general citizenry—who knows? You’d think when they pulled their SUVs up to the gas pumps they would notice something—even if they don’t care about the havoc being wreaked in their name around the globe.
“Probably they just blame the high prices on Chavez and OPEC:”
Chavez responded to that a few days ago with a “yo no fui”, saying that the person rsponsible for petroleum at 40 bucks a barrel is none other than George W. Bush—that if the Bush Gang hadn’t invaded Iraq to grab the petroleum that they haven’t been able to produce, petroleum prices would be the same as in March of 2003.
“So who’s going to pay the piper for this misadventure?”
In a fascist, patriarchial society the prime targets are women. Please note that the lady general’s head has rolled—sort of—and that the Trailer Park Tootsie with the Dominatrix Complex will probably be drummed out of the corps.
“For not being photogenic? Big deal. They aren’t decision-makers.”
Of course not, guy. But can you imagine Bush—with his double digit IQ—articulating something in the way of an apology to the planet, admitting that he and his minions were too greedy and too stupid to see where their actions were leading?
“You know, if the US were a Latin American country, folks would be in the streets banging on their frying pans, demanding a new government. If the US were Argentina, maybe. They’s be demanding that the whole kit and kaboodle get out.”
Yeah, but Argentina is a democratic country—at least for the moment. The US is a totalitarian state—where even the Disney Company is too cowardly to release the new Michael Moore film, “Fahrenheit 911”, because it’s critical of Bush.
“They’re afraid ol’ Jeb Bush will pull the plug on their tax-free boondoggle, Disney World, in Florida. Mickey Mouse must be spinning in his grave.”
Mickey—no. But Walt Disney must be.
“Even Richard Nixon must be! He was a saint compared to these guys.”
Let’s not canonize him quite yet, Rave. But you’re right: these guys are right down there with Hitler and Stalin.
“I’m not big on nostalgia. Que se vayan todos!”
Raven grabs a spoom amd begins to beat on our frying pan. If we had two, I would join him.
Raven is pecking at a cookie while he scrolls through the news in Internet.
“Yesterday US Secretary of Offense Rumsfeld apologized for the torture of Iraqi prisoners. But he refuses to resign. What’s with this guy?”
Well, I suppose he doesn’t want to give up his lucrative “chamba”, Rave. Besides that, he probably feels that he shouldn’t have to be the sacrificial lamb when the entire Bush Gang is in this mess up to their necks.
“For how many months now have we been calling for a regime change?”
Far too many, I’m afraid. And this week 58 former US diplomats echoes the statement issued by 52 former UK diplomats, expressing their complete inconformity with the occupation of Iraq. But the Bush Gang presses on—now aiming their artillery at Latin America in the hopes of capturing Miami Mafia votes in November. Cuba is digging in for another Bay of Pigs.
“And the US citizens? Where is their hue and cry against these outrages?”
In the progressive community the usual voice are activated. But the general citizenry—who knows? You’d think when they pulled their SUVs up to the gas pumps they would notice something—even if they don’t care about the havoc being wreaked in their name around the globe.
“Probably they just blame the high prices on Chavez and OPEC:”
Chavez responded to that a few days ago with a “yo no fui”, saying that the person rsponsible for petroleum at 40 bucks a barrel is none other than George W. Bush—that if the Bush Gang hadn’t invaded Iraq to grab the petroleum that they haven’t been able to produce, petroleum prices would be the same as in March of 2003.
“So who’s going to pay the piper for this misadventure?”
In a fascist, patriarchial society the prime targets are women. Please note that the lady general’s head has rolled—sort of—and that the Trailer Park Tootsie with the Dominatrix Complex will probably be drummed out of the corps.
“For not being photogenic? Big deal. They aren’t decision-makers.”
Of course not, guy. But can you imagine Bush—with his double digit IQ—articulating something in the way of an apology to the planet, admitting that he and his minions were too greedy and too stupid to see where their actions were leading?
“You know, if the US were a Latin American country, folks would be in the streets banging on their frying pans, demanding a new government. If the US were Argentina, maybe. They’s be demanding that the whole kit and kaboodle get out.”
Yeah, but Argentina is a democratic country—at least for the moment. The US is a totalitarian state—where even the Disney Company is too cowardly to release the new Michael Moore film, “Fahrenheit 911”, because it’s critical of Bush.
“They’re afraid ol’ Jeb Bush will pull the plug on their tax-free boondoggle, Disney World, in Florida. Mickey Mouse must be spinning in his grave.”
Mickey—no. But Walt Disney must be.
“Even Richard Nixon must be! He was a saint compared to these guys.”
Let’s not canonize him quite yet, Rave. But you’re right: these guys are right down there with Hitler and Stalin.
“I’m not big on nostalgia. Que se vayan todos!”
Raven grabs a spoom amd begins to beat on our frying pan. If we had two, I would join him.
Monday, May 03, 2004
IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT….
Ha! Get this: Bush is blaming Clinton for 9/11. TIME magazine is fanning the flames of contradiction in their web site.
Raven scratches his tiny head.
“Huh? I thought Clinton went out of office in January of 2001.”
He did, Rave. But a small detail like that is invisible to Mr. 79 IQ.
“Small potatoes, indeed. Just how is he blaming him? And why is he stealing the thunder of the future from the CIA? They went to great lengths to orchestrate 9/11.”
It says here that Bush told the Commission that when he met with Clinton during the transition period that Clinton was all wrought up about North Korea, and that he downplayed the importance of Al Qaeda. Therefore, clearly it’s all Clinton’s fault. How embarrassing: to have a sniveling simpleton like Bush in the Oval Office.
“He belongs in a sandbox, that’s for sure. Something doesn’t add up. Not surprising, I suppose. Clinton told the Commission that Al Qaeda’s leader, Osama Bin Laden would be the number one problem of the new administration. And I think he said that in a number of different venues.”
Bush also claims that he was not notified of any worries the CIA and the FBI had in regard to Zacarias Moussaoui, a pilot who was arrested in August of 2001 and who was a member of the commando that hijacked airplanes on September 11th.
“What, he worry? Alfred E. Newman Bush?” Naw!”
Speaking of the CIA, that lady general who had the can tied to her last week is saying that the CIA and Army Intelligence (oops, just a tiny oxymoron there) were responsible for inciting soldiers to torture Iraqi prisoners, that those guys were in and out of the prison at all hours of the day and night doing their dirty deeds.
“And wasn’t she supposed to be in charge? Sounds like the lunatics were running the asylum all right. I would have fired her for incompetence.”
There are more photos emerging, Rave. British soldiers urinating on Iraqi prisoners, forcing them to drink urine while blindfolded, breaking their jaws. Chavez called them SAVAGES on his t.v. show, “Alo Presidente” yesterday. Said that the mistreatment was an “aberration”, and that the young woman shown in one of the photos inciting the mayhem was “sick”.
“I believe that’s what we said yesterday.”
Raven is playing with bread crumbs on the tie-dyed tablecloth—our one souvenir of Guayaquil.
Chavez said, in regard to the photos: “This is the war of Mr. Bush—let the world judge him.”
“It’s the least it can do. But let him be judged by ALL species, as we are all being damaged by that very damaged homo sapiens—well, sapiens, no.”
No, of course not. After all this is the offspring of a mother who said that no photos of body bags and dead soldiers should be shown—that she shouldn’t have to trouble HER BEAUTIFUL MIND with those things!
“Wow! Well, of course she has had no experience of that; Georgie Boy was AWOL in Alabama during Vietnam. What else did Chavez say?”
Seems he decided to accept CNN’s media war against him. Probably he said “Bring it on”.
“In the ironic sense, of course.”
No one could quote Georgie Boy and not be ironic.
“How about bringing on a cup of coffee?”
Ha! Get this: Bush is blaming Clinton for 9/11. TIME magazine is fanning the flames of contradiction in their web site.
Raven scratches his tiny head.
“Huh? I thought Clinton went out of office in January of 2001.”
He did, Rave. But a small detail like that is invisible to Mr. 79 IQ.
“Small potatoes, indeed. Just how is he blaming him? And why is he stealing the thunder of the future from the CIA? They went to great lengths to orchestrate 9/11.”
It says here that Bush told the Commission that when he met with Clinton during the transition period that Clinton was all wrought up about North Korea, and that he downplayed the importance of Al Qaeda. Therefore, clearly it’s all Clinton’s fault. How embarrassing: to have a sniveling simpleton like Bush in the Oval Office.
“He belongs in a sandbox, that’s for sure. Something doesn’t add up. Not surprising, I suppose. Clinton told the Commission that Al Qaeda’s leader, Osama Bin Laden would be the number one problem of the new administration. And I think he said that in a number of different venues.”
Bush also claims that he was not notified of any worries the CIA and the FBI had in regard to Zacarias Moussaoui, a pilot who was arrested in August of 2001 and who was a member of the commando that hijacked airplanes on September 11th.
“What, he worry? Alfred E. Newman Bush?” Naw!”
Speaking of the CIA, that lady general who had the can tied to her last week is saying that the CIA and Army Intelligence (oops, just a tiny oxymoron there) were responsible for inciting soldiers to torture Iraqi prisoners, that those guys were in and out of the prison at all hours of the day and night doing their dirty deeds.
“And wasn’t she supposed to be in charge? Sounds like the lunatics were running the asylum all right. I would have fired her for incompetence.”
There are more photos emerging, Rave. British soldiers urinating on Iraqi prisoners, forcing them to drink urine while blindfolded, breaking their jaws. Chavez called them SAVAGES on his t.v. show, “Alo Presidente” yesterday. Said that the mistreatment was an “aberration”, and that the young woman shown in one of the photos inciting the mayhem was “sick”.
“I believe that’s what we said yesterday.”
Raven is playing with bread crumbs on the tie-dyed tablecloth—our one souvenir of Guayaquil.
Chavez said, in regard to the photos: “This is the war of Mr. Bush—let the world judge him.”
“It’s the least it can do. But let him be judged by ALL species, as we are all being damaged by that very damaged homo sapiens—well, sapiens, no.”
No, of course not. After all this is the offspring of a mother who said that no photos of body bags and dead soldiers should be shown—that she shouldn’t have to trouble HER BEAUTIFUL MIND with those things!
“Wow! Well, of course she has had no experience of that; Georgie Boy was AWOL in Alabama during Vietnam. What else did Chavez say?”
Seems he decided to accept CNN’s media war against him. Probably he said “Bring it on”.
“In the ironic sense, of course.”
No one could quote Georgie Boy and not be ironic.
“How about bringing on a cup of coffee?”
Sunday, May 02, 2004
GOLPE DE ESTADO!
Raven is peering at photos of torture in Iraq in the Internet: Iraqi prisoners being tortured and sexually abused by US soldiers.
"This is what your species does when they have helpless victims in their grasp."
Those photos show what's behind the mask of the supposed bringing of democracy to Iraq, that's for sure.
"What also disturbs me is that whoever took the shots is highly suspect, and clearly part of the torture brigade."
That's true, Rave. A very different kind of photographer than the one who took that famous Vietnam image of the little naked girl who had been showered with napalm running down the road screaming.
"'Weren't we just talking about the Heart of Darkness, the Horror?"
These Iraqui shots are so cynical I don't believe there's any heart there--dark or otherwise. It's more like the Anus of Darkness.
"Considering the assholes who cooked up the Iraq Invasion Caper, I'll buy that interpretation. I find it interesting, though, that the head that rolled for this had tits and ass atttached to it: a woman general."
I was surprised at first, too--but then there have been a fair number of lady sadists: sickies with Dominatrix Complexes, Big Nurse in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"....
"Birds have taken it in the beak there. In fact, except for mad dogs--rabid dogs, really--I don't know of any crazy animals."
There's a dicho in Spanish that applies here: "Muerto el perro, se acaba la rabia."
"When the dog is dead, the rabies is over?"
Something like that. Dick Cheney, by the way, has always looked like a mad dog to me.
"Are you suggesting putting him out of our misery? And I mean OUR in the most global sense possible, embracing all species."
I'm not calling for a firing squad, exactly, but given the level of incomformity on the part of the US military high command with the Iraq Caper, the exposure of rampant human rights violations on the part of the forces of occupation--on top of the violations in Guantanamo--and the presidential options being The Cousins, Tweedledee and Tweedledumb, I'd say it's a good time for a golpe de estado.
"A military coup? Hmmm. That would be a pointed irony, since the Bush Gang backed the failed coup against Hugo Chavez in 2002, and then celebrated 200 years of Haitian independence by putting a coup against Aristide just this year."
It'd de interesting to see if Chavez would recognize a military government in the US.
"Well, he's been on both sides of the coup coin. Could be a tough call."
I'm no fascist, and my honorable discharge from the US Army for my 11 days as a conscientously objecting sergeant in Fort McClellan, Alabama, notwithstanding....
"Alabama! Sounds like Deliverance country."
That it is, Rave, but as I was saying: I would support a military coup against the current regime--which was imposed by a non-military coup anyway--because I don't believe that the military high command could possibly be as stupid, inept and unethical as The Cousins--and some of them may have even learned something from the Vietnam experience.
"With all the protesting statements being made by ex-chiefs of staff, etcetera, I think you may be onto something."
Not to mention that the presidential candidate I felt was the best of the litter would be the logical choice to head the military junta.
"Ah. Wesley Clark."
Bingo. The manure is piling up higher every day, Rave. Time to get ol' Wesley cleaning the Augean Stables.
"He's got my vote--er, molotov cocktail?"
I have just one word for you, boy: plastics. As in C-4.
"Speaking of military coups and C-4s, the star of Kaddafi is shining in the sky again: the Alpha Centauri of Arab Modernism. Since when are tribes modern?"
We tribal types have always been hip, Rave. Some folks are just slow to get the picture. Remember all the flak that Chavez caught a few years back when he visited Kaddafi and jump-started OPEC?
"And now Tony Lapdog Blair beats a path to his tent in Tripoli and everything's cool."
And Bush cancels the sanctions against Libya--and the C-4s are forgotten.
"Do you really think that Bush even remebers the Lockerbie Incident?"
Of course not. You don't remember something you never knew. But I bet Chavez is laughing in his papaya juice. Speaking of which, a tall glass of papaya juice would go down pretty good right about now.
"It would go down better than these horrifying torture pics. Saddam had nothing on these guys and gals. By the way, didn't he take power in a military coup?"
He did indeed.
"I have a hunch he would go down a lot better than the Marines with the Iraqis right about now."
Raven rolls his beady eyes and heads for the refrigerator.
Always the joker. Or is he?
Raven is peering at photos of torture in Iraq in the Internet: Iraqi prisoners being tortured and sexually abused by US soldiers.
"This is what your species does when they have helpless victims in their grasp."
Those photos show what's behind the mask of the supposed bringing of democracy to Iraq, that's for sure.
"What also disturbs me is that whoever took the shots is highly suspect, and clearly part of the torture brigade."
That's true, Rave. A very different kind of photographer than the one who took that famous Vietnam image of the little naked girl who had been showered with napalm running down the road screaming.
"'Weren't we just talking about the Heart of Darkness, the Horror?"
These Iraqui shots are so cynical I don't believe there's any heart there--dark or otherwise. It's more like the Anus of Darkness.
"Considering the assholes who cooked up the Iraq Invasion Caper, I'll buy that interpretation. I find it interesting, though, that the head that rolled for this had tits and ass atttached to it: a woman general."
I was surprised at first, too--but then there have been a fair number of lady sadists: sickies with Dominatrix Complexes, Big Nurse in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"....
"Birds have taken it in the beak there. In fact, except for mad dogs--rabid dogs, really--I don't know of any crazy animals."
There's a dicho in Spanish that applies here: "Muerto el perro, se acaba la rabia."
"When the dog is dead, the rabies is over?"
Something like that. Dick Cheney, by the way, has always looked like a mad dog to me.
"Are you suggesting putting him out of our misery? And I mean OUR in the most global sense possible, embracing all species."
I'm not calling for a firing squad, exactly, but given the level of incomformity on the part of the US military high command with the Iraq Caper, the exposure of rampant human rights violations on the part of the forces of occupation--on top of the violations in Guantanamo--and the presidential options being The Cousins, Tweedledee and Tweedledumb, I'd say it's a good time for a golpe de estado.
"A military coup? Hmmm. That would be a pointed irony, since the Bush Gang backed the failed coup against Hugo Chavez in 2002, and then celebrated 200 years of Haitian independence by putting a coup against Aristide just this year."
It'd de interesting to see if Chavez would recognize a military government in the US.
"Well, he's been on both sides of the coup coin. Could be a tough call."
I'm no fascist, and my honorable discharge from the US Army for my 11 days as a conscientously objecting sergeant in Fort McClellan, Alabama, notwithstanding....
"Alabama! Sounds like Deliverance country."
That it is, Rave, but as I was saying: I would support a military coup against the current regime--which was imposed by a non-military coup anyway--because I don't believe that the military high command could possibly be as stupid, inept and unethical as The Cousins--and some of them may have even learned something from the Vietnam experience.
"With all the protesting statements being made by ex-chiefs of staff, etcetera, I think you may be onto something."
Not to mention that the presidential candidate I felt was the best of the litter would be the logical choice to head the military junta.
"Ah. Wesley Clark."
Bingo. The manure is piling up higher every day, Rave. Time to get ol' Wesley cleaning the Augean Stables.
"He's got my vote--er, molotov cocktail?"
I have just one word for you, boy: plastics. As in C-4.
"Speaking of military coups and C-4s, the star of Kaddafi is shining in the sky again: the Alpha Centauri of Arab Modernism. Since when are tribes modern?"
We tribal types have always been hip, Rave. Some folks are just slow to get the picture. Remember all the flak that Chavez caught a few years back when he visited Kaddafi and jump-started OPEC?
"And now Tony Lapdog Blair beats a path to his tent in Tripoli and everything's cool."
And Bush cancels the sanctions against Libya--and the C-4s are forgotten.
"Do you really think that Bush even remebers the Lockerbie Incident?"
Of course not. You don't remember something you never knew. But I bet Chavez is laughing in his papaya juice. Speaking of which, a tall glass of papaya juice would go down pretty good right about now.
"It would go down better than these horrifying torture pics. Saddam had nothing on these guys and gals. By the way, didn't he take power in a military coup?"
He did indeed.
"I have a hunch he would go down a lot better than the Marines with the Iraqis right about now."
Raven rolls his beady eyes and heads for the refrigerator.
Always the joker. Or is he?
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
FLIES IN AMBER
Raven and I have been in a state of suspended animation—like flies in amber—for several weeks.
Rave, I feel like Kurtz in “The Heart of Darkness”. At the end all he could say was “The horror”. And then he died.
“Sounds like Brando in “Apocalypse Now” commenting on the acting style of Dennis Hopper.”
You got it! I open the newspaper and read that 900 people—mostly women and children—were mowed down by marines in one town in Iraq. And then I read in the next headline that the US is “disappointed” that Iraqi soldiers don’t want to kill folks who are resisting. Disappointed!
Raven picks at a slab of left-over vegetarian lasagne.
“Why do they need Iraqi soldiers anyway? They have over 18,000 mercenaries there earning up to 1,000 bucks a day. Retreads from Pinochet’s DINA, from the jolly Ulster boys, the Apartheid reinforcers from South Africa, etcetera. There must be a lot more assiduous readers of Soldier of Fortune magazine out there just burning to sign up.”
Interesting choice of term, Rave: burning. Four of those soldiers of fortune were burned and hanged from trees or lampposts or something. That’s what set the marines on the massacre path this time.
“Hmmm. We could listen to “Strange Fruit”. Seems like we haven’t played “The Best of Billie Holiday” in ages.”
We haven’t played anything in ages. Too bummed out by the horror.
“What was that Robin Williams movie about radio? Ah yes: “Good Morning,
V-I-E-T-N-A-M!”
Sure smells like napalm to me, Rave. Maybe it’s time to break out Country Joe and the Fish? A blast from the past:
Well, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! We're all gonna die.
“Yeah, a blast like C-4 plastic explosives. Or we could snicker over the transcripts from Aunt Jemima at the 9/11 hearings. Looks like she would have moved heaven and earth not to have been there.”
The truth will never be acknowledged, guy. No committee is going to state publicly that their government allowed—or paid—those crazy Saudis to crash into the Twin Towers so that Bush and his cronies could blast off on their broomsticks to take over the Middle East oil fields. The smoke from the Reichstag Fire and the wreckage from the battleship Maine were all over Ground Zero, but almost nobody had the balls to say the Bushies did it. One columnist here in Mexico caught all kinds of flak for his 9/12 piece, “The Martians Speak English”, that made a very solid logical case for the only possible culprit having been the US government.
Raven narrows is beady eyes.
“You mean justice will never be done?”
Rave, I can’t believe you’re asking that. In the world we’re living in! Or the state of Mexico we’re living in, for that matter. Where the fox is paid an obscene number of pesos to guard the henhouse!
“I know—and he builds a landing strip out back for the narcotraficantes.”
And then, when his two top cops are caught with their mitts in the cocaine jar and popped in the slammer, he fires 500 cops. So now we have 500 unemployed semi-literate delinquents roaming the streets with the weapons they didn’t turn in.
“Oh, happy day. I guess that means we won’t be going out today, right?”
I think we’ll do our bit to fight the explosion of excop crimes right here at home.
“And you said another world was possible.”
But not a better one. Apparently.
Raven and I have been in a state of suspended animation—like flies in amber—for several weeks.
Rave, I feel like Kurtz in “The Heart of Darkness”. At the end all he could say was “The horror”. And then he died.
“Sounds like Brando in “Apocalypse Now” commenting on the acting style of Dennis Hopper.”
You got it! I open the newspaper and read that 900 people—mostly women and children—were mowed down by marines in one town in Iraq. And then I read in the next headline that the US is “disappointed” that Iraqi soldiers don’t want to kill folks who are resisting. Disappointed!
Raven picks at a slab of left-over vegetarian lasagne.
“Why do they need Iraqi soldiers anyway? They have over 18,000 mercenaries there earning up to 1,000 bucks a day. Retreads from Pinochet’s DINA, from the jolly Ulster boys, the Apartheid reinforcers from South Africa, etcetera. There must be a lot more assiduous readers of Soldier of Fortune magazine out there just burning to sign up.”
Interesting choice of term, Rave: burning. Four of those soldiers of fortune were burned and hanged from trees or lampposts or something. That’s what set the marines on the massacre path this time.
“Hmmm. We could listen to “Strange Fruit”. Seems like we haven’t played “The Best of Billie Holiday” in ages.”
We haven’t played anything in ages. Too bummed out by the horror.
“What was that Robin Williams movie about radio? Ah yes: “Good Morning,
V-I-E-T-N-A-M!”
Sure smells like napalm to me, Rave. Maybe it’s time to break out Country Joe and the Fish? A blast from the past:
Well, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! We're all gonna die.
“Yeah, a blast like C-4 plastic explosives. Or we could snicker over the transcripts from Aunt Jemima at the 9/11 hearings. Looks like she would have moved heaven and earth not to have been there.”
The truth will never be acknowledged, guy. No committee is going to state publicly that their government allowed—or paid—those crazy Saudis to crash into the Twin Towers so that Bush and his cronies could blast off on their broomsticks to take over the Middle East oil fields. The smoke from the Reichstag Fire and the wreckage from the battleship Maine were all over Ground Zero, but almost nobody had the balls to say the Bushies did it. One columnist here in Mexico caught all kinds of flak for his 9/12 piece, “The Martians Speak English”, that made a very solid logical case for the only possible culprit having been the US government.
Raven narrows is beady eyes.
“You mean justice will never be done?”
Rave, I can’t believe you’re asking that. In the world we’re living in! Or the state of Mexico we’re living in, for that matter. Where the fox is paid an obscene number of pesos to guard the henhouse!
“I know—and he builds a landing strip out back for the narcotraficantes.”
And then, when his two top cops are caught with their mitts in the cocaine jar and popped in the slammer, he fires 500 cops. So now we have 500 unemployed semi-literate delinquents roaming the streets with the weapons they didn’t turn in.
“Oh, happy day. I guess that means we won’t be going out today, right?”
I think we’ll do our bit to fight the explosion of excop crimes right here at home.
“And you said another world was possible.”
But not a better one. Apparently.
Monday, March 15, 2004
REAL ESTATE PRICES SKYROCKET IN MISSOURI?
As a result of last week’s scandal with Tony Blair attempting to suppress the commentary of David King, a scientist from the UK who had commented that Bush’s policy of denying global warming was even more dangerous than terrorism (how does that play in Spain?), more information is coming to the surface about the disastrous effects of abrupt climate changes.
Yesterday’s PROCESO magazine ran a story, “Apocalipsis, ya” (Apocalypse Now), about the report by the Global Business Network that was commissioned by the Pentagon and later given the deep six by the same government agency because it contradicted the Bushites’ position that global warming doesn’t exist.
Raven, I think this is serious business.
”Science fiction, more likely. Those CBN guys say that the US and Mexico will be going to war over the use of the water from the Colorado River!”
They have practically done that already, Rave. Where have you been hiding your head?
“I think I won’t pursue that….”
Listen. There’s more than just that PROCESO article which is a scary script. On the Common Dreams site there’s more:
Ten years after the ratification of a United Nations treaty on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming are still on the rise, signalling a "collective failure" of the industrialized world, according to the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI), a leading environmental think-tank.
"We are quickly moving to the point where the damage will be irreversible," warned Dr. Jonathan Pershing, director of WRI's Climate, Energy and Pollution Program. "In fact, the latest scientific reports indicate that global warming is worsening. Unless we act now, the world will be locked into temperatures that would cause irreversible harm." “
“Your species, again. Destroying the planet.”
I know, guy. But what’s going to be done? Listen:
Studies over the past decade have shown that the warming trend continues. "The five warmest years in recorded weather history have taken place over the last six years," noted WRI's president, Jonathan Lash.
"The ten warmest years in recorded weather history have taken place since 1987. Whether it's the retreat of glaciers, the melting of the permafrost in Alaska, or the increase in severe weather events, the world is experiencing what the global warming models predict," he said.
Europe, the main champion of the Kyoto Protocol, suffered its hottest year on record last year. Some 15,000 people in France alone died due to heat stress in combination with pollution, while European agriculture suffered an estimated $12.5 billion in losses.
Britain's most influential scientist, Sir David King, recently excoriated the Bush administration for withdrawing from the Protocol and ignoring the threat posed by climate change. "In my view, climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today," he wrote in Science magazine, "more serious even than the threat of terrorism."
Even the Pentagon recently issued a warning that global warming, if it takes place abruptly, could result in a catastrophic breakdown in international security. Based on growing evidence that climate shifts in the past have taken place with breathtaking speed, based on the freshening of sea water due to accelerated melting of glaciers and the polar ice caps.
“Freshening?” What kind of word is that?"
I don’t know, but the article goes on to say:
Given enough freshening, the Gulf Stream that currently warms the North Atlantic would be shut off, triggering an abrupt decline in temperatures that would bring about a new "Ice Age" in Europe, eastern Canada, and the northeastern United States and similar disastrous changes in world weather patterns elsewhere--all in a period as short as two to three years.
Wars over access to food, water, and energy would be likely to break out between states, according to the report. "Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life," according to the report. "Once again, warfare would define human life."
Even if climate change is more gradual, recent studies have argued that as many as one million plant and animal species could be rendered extinct due to the effects of global warming by 2050. A recent report by the world's largest reinsurance company, Swiss Re, predicted that in 10 years the economic cost of disasters like floods, frosts, and famines caused by global warming could reach $150 billion annually.
"Accelerated development of a portfolio of technologies could stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, enhance global energy security, and eradicate energy poverty," noted David Jhirad, WRI's vice president for research. "We urgently need the political will and international cooperation to make this happen."
Raven bursts into hysterical laughter.
“Political will? International cooperation? Who are they kidding? Don’t they know that this is the Age of Unilateralism?”
There’s hope, Rave. Yesterday the voters in Spain threw out the burros that hitched their wagon to the Bush star.
“A tiny ray of hope, that. The US burros need to throw out Bush. Then maybe international cooperation will have a shot. In the meantime, how about microwaving a spot of Earl Grey?”
I’ll microwave your spot, all right…Even Walter Cronkite is up in arms over global warming. Listen to this:
One thing we have to keep in mind: While these might only be worst-case scenarios, many of the conditions and processes scientists think might trigger them already are present or under way. Global warming is at least as important as gay marriage or the cost of Social Security. And if it is not seriously debated in the general election, it will measure the irresponsibility of the entire political class. This is an issue that cannot, and must not, be ignored any longer.
"Okay. I give up. I'll make my own tea."
As a result of last week’s scandal with Tony Blair attempting to suppress the commentary of David King, a scientist from the UK who had commented that Bush’s policy of denying global warming was even more dangerous than terrorism (how does that play in Spain?), more information is coming to the surface about the disastrous effects of abrupt climate changes.
Yesterday’s PROCESO magazine ran a story, “Apocalipsis, ya” (Apocalypse Now), about the report by the Global Business Network that was commissioned by the Pentagon and later given the deep six by the same government agency because it contradicted the Bushites’ position that global warming doesn’t exist.
Raven, I think this is serious business.
”Science fiction, more likely. Those CBN guys say that the US and Mexico will be going to war over the use of the water from the Colorado River!”
They have practically done that already, Rave. Where have you been hiding your head?
“I think I won’t pursue that….”
Listen. There’s more than just that PROCESO article which is a scary script. On the Common Dreams site there’s more:
Ten years after the ratification of a United Nations treaty on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming are still on the rise, signalling a "collective failure" of the industrialized world, according to the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI), a leading environmental think-tank.
"We are quickly moving to the point where the damage will be irreversible," warned Dr. Jonathan Pershing, director of WRI's Climate, Energy and Pollution Program. "In fact, the latest scientific reports indicate that global warming is worsening. Unless we act now, the world will be locked into temperatures that would cause irreversible harm." “
“Your species, again. Destroying the planet.”
I know, guy. But what’s going to be done? Listen:
Studies over the past decade have shown that the warming trend continues. "The five warmest years in recorded weather history have taken place over the last six years," noted WRI's president, Jonathan Lash.
"The ten warmest years in recorded weather history have taken place since 1987. Whether it's the retreat of glaciers, the melting of the permafrost in Alaska, or the increase in severe weather events, the world is experiencing what the global warming models predict," he said.
Europe, the main champion of the Kyoto Protocol, suffered its hottest year on record last year. Some 15,000 people in France alone died due to heat stress in combination with pollution, while European agriculture suffered an estimated $12.5 billion in losses.
Britain's most influential scientist, Sir David King, recently excoriated the Bush administration for withdrawing from the Protocol and ignoring the threat posed by climate change. "In my view, climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today," he wrote in Science magazine, "more serious even than the threat of terrorism."
Even the Pentagon recently issued a warning that global warming, if it takes place abruptly, could result in a catastrophic breakdown in international security. Based on growing evidence that climate shifts in the past have taken place with breathtaking speed, based on the freshening of sea water due to accelerated melting of glaciers and the polar ice caps.
“Freshening?” What kind of word is that?"
I don’t know, but the article goes on to say:
Given enough freshening, the Gulf Stream that currently warms the North Atlantic would be shut off, triggering an abrupt decline in temperatures that would bring about a new "Ice Age" in Europe, eastern Canada, and the northeastern United States and similar disastrous changes in world weather patterns elsewhere--all in a period as short as two to three years.
Wars over access to food, water, and energy would be likely to break out between states, according to the report. "Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life," according to the report. "Once again, warfare would define human life."
Even if climate change is more gradual, recent studies have argued that as many as one million plant and animal species could be rendered extinct due to the effects of global warming by 2050. A recent report by the world's largest reinsurance company, Swiss Re, predicted that in 10 years the economic cost of disasters like floods, frosts, and famines caused by global warming could reach $150 billion annually.
"Accelerated development of a portfolio of technologies could stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, enhance global energy security, and eradicate energy poverty," noted David Jhirad, WRI's vice president for research. "We urgently need the political will and international cooperation to make this happen."
Raven bursts into hysterical laughter.
“Political will? International cooperation? Who are they kidding? Don’t they know that this is the Age of Unilateralism?”
There’s hope, Rave. Yesterday the voters in Spain threw out the burros that hitched their wagon to the Bush star.
“A tiny ray of hope, that. The US burros need to throw out Bush. Then maybe international cooperation will have a shot. In the meantime, how about microwaving a spot of Earl Grey?”
I’ll microwave your spot, all right…Even Walter Cronkite is up in arms over global warming. Listen to this:
One thing we have to keep in mind: While these might only be worst-case scenarios, many of the conditions and processes scientists think might trigger them already are present or under way. Global warming is at least as important as gay marriage or the cost of Social Security. And if it is not seriously debated in the general election, it will measure the irresponsibility of the entire political class. This is an issue that cannot, and must not, be ignored any longer.
"Okay. I give up. I'll make my own tea."
Saturday, March 13, 2004
WASP IN THE COFFEE
Raven and I have been loafing since we returned to Mexico. He has several buddies in the area that meet up with us at the swimming complex here in the village, so he’s happy.
This morning it’s back to trying coffee for me—blood pressure inching downward makes me feel invincible again.
Raven is mooning around in the sun coming in the kitchen window.
“Hey. There’s a wasp in my coffee!”
The bird is having none of that. He dumps the cup and the wasp beats a hasty retreat, buzzing in zigzags to the front door.
“So. What would Jung make of that?”
Probably he would be more on target if it were a scarab beetle. But I think it means that you are supposed to look at things more closely, not just gulp down adventure after adventure.
“In that case, the message should have been for you. In your cup.”
Or maybe it’s something we can analyze politically. Who is the wasp in the coffee, politically speaking?
“Disingenuous question, I see. Hugo Chavez already nailed that for us this week when he said that the biggest single threat to the survival of the planet is George W. Bush.”
Some scientist in the UK said much the same thing. He said that Bush’s disregard of global warming was more dangerous than the wars he’s intent on waging all around the planet.
“Then you have it. The wasp in the coffee is Bush. Too bad he didn’t drown.”
You’re the one who saved his life.
“Just a reflex action. Next time I’ll let him drown.”
If there is a next time….
Raven and I have been loafing since we returned to Mexico. He has several buddies in the area that meet up with us at the swimming complex here in the village, so he’s happy.
This morning it’s back to trying coffee for me—blood pressure inching downward makes me feel invincible again.
Raven is mooning around in the sun coming in the kitchen window.
“Hey. There’s a wasp in my coffee!”
The bird is having none of that. He dumps the cup and the wasp beats a hasty retreat, buzzing in zigzags to the front door.
“So. What would Jung make of that?”
Probably he would be more on target if it were a scarab beetle. But I think it means that you are supposed to look at things more closely, not just gulp down adventure after adventure.
“In that case, the message should have been for you. In your cup.”
Or maybe it’s something we can analyze politically. Who is the wasp in the coffee, politically speaking?
“Disingenuous question, I see. Hugo Chavez already nailed that for us this week when he said that the biggest single threat to the survival of the planet is George W. Bush.”
Some scientist in the UK said much the same thing. He said that Bush’s disregard of global warming was more dangerous than the wars he’s intent on waging all around the planet.
“Then you have it. The wasp in the coffee is Bush. Too bad he didn’t drown.”
You’re the one who saved his life.
“Just a reflex action. Next time I’ll let him drown.”
If there is a next time….
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
CLEANING THE AUGEAN STABLES
"Well, your favorite candidate for President of the US just dropped out of the race."
Raven turns his head away from the TV screen.
I said he was the best of a bum litter, Rave. Wesley Clark. Too bad he's out of the race, but I hope he ends up on the ticket. He's the only one with the common sense and organizational skills to clean up the mess the Bush Gang has created. Especially in Iraq.
"Clearly a Herculean task."
Yeah, right up there with cleaning the Augean stables. Look what the petrocriminals have done in Iraq: created anarchy. In the past 24 hours alone at least 100 people have been killed in car bombings.
"Not to mention the ongoing inferno of Afghanistan."
I'm sure the CIA operatives are happy there. They've got their opium trade back up to where it was before the Taliban closed that caper down.
"Making themselves the first priority target in the process."
And look at the chaos here in Caracas. The opposition is agitating for another coup attempt--with US financial backing, of course. On Sunday President Chavez denounced the continuing flow of NED (National Endowment for Democracy, haha!) dollars to opposition groups. Documents declassified under the US Freedom of Informaction Act show that after the failed coup in April of 2002 (staged with somewhere between 1 and 3 million dollars from the NED) the money has continuing pouring in to those same folks, and is scheduled to continue at least through September of 2004. The hysterically conflictive atmosphere that's driving me to the plane for Mexico tomorrow morning has the Bush Gang's oily fingerprints all over it.
"It's too goofy for me. I guess they want to try another coup because the polls all show that even if there were a referendum and a new election, Chavez would win with more than 50% of the vote."
We're not talking about rational people, Rave. The Bush Gang includes such luminaries as Alfred E. Bush, Mad Dog Cheney, Death's Head Rumsfeld, Rasputin Rove, Wile E. Wolfewitz and, as cheerleaders, Uncle Tom Powell and Aunt Jemima Rice. And the oligarchy here is so inbred--doubtless because of being terrified of sharing human rights with their fellow citizens--that they can't have 2 brain cells to rub together.
"And your species is at the top of the food chain. Evolution is ironic, isn't it?"
Sure is, guy. We need a revolution within evolution or all the species--except maybe cockroaches--are going to be history.
"Bummer. What have I done to deserve this?"
Don't take it personally, Birdy Boy. You may have put the sun and the stars and the moon in the sky, but you didn't create the atom bomb.
"Thankfully, that's one trick they can't blame on me. Didn't Einstein say if he had known they were going to build a bomb he would have been a watchmaker in Switzerland?"
Probably. J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Manhattan Project said, as the test bomb exploded over Trinity, New Mexico: "I have become death".
Raven is peering intently at the TV screen again.
"Hey, why do they keep calling that guy, Howard Dean, John?"
Beats me. Maybe it's another way the media has cooked up to discredit him. Especially since he asks the hard questions. I think John Dean did time for the Watergate caper. Anyway, he was one of Nixon's gang.
"NIxon! Now there's a good candidate."
He's dead, Rave. And he was a Republican anyway.
"Too bad. I liked that they called him Tricky Dick."
Rave, you're impossibly egocentric today. Pretty soon you'll be printing up bumperstickers.
"'Clean a sticky wicket with Tricky' has sort of a nice ring to it. Besides, if dead people can vote--and they seem to be model citizens in that regard--they should be ablt to run for office. And be elected, too."
I suppose they would do less damage.
"I think we've figured it out: the recipe for peace in the world!"
Right. Dead presidents. Thanks, Rave.
"Well, your favorite candidate for President of the US just dropped out of the race."
Raven turns his head away from the TV screen.
I said he was the best of a bum litter, Rave. Wesley Clark. Too bad he's out of the race, but I hope he ends up on the ticket. He's the only one with the common sense and organizational skills to clean up the mess the Bush Gang has created. Especially in Iraq.
"Clearly a Herculean task."
Yeah, right up there with cleaning the Augean stables. Look what the petrocriminals have done in Iraq: created anarchy. In the past 24 hours alone at least 100 people have been killed in car bombings.
"Not to mention the ongoing inferno of Afghanistan."
I'm sure the CIA operatives are happy there. They've got their opium trade back up to where it was before the Taliban closed that caper down.
"Making themselves the first priority target in the process."
And look at the chaos here in Caracas. The opposition is agitating for another coup attempt--with US financial backing, of course. On Sunday President Chavez denounced the continuing flow of NED (National Endowment for Democracy, haha!) dollars to opposition groups. Documents declassified under the US Freedom of Informaction Act show that after the failed coup in April of 2002 (staged with somewhere between 1 and 3 million dollars from the NED) the money has continuing pouring in to those same folks, and is scheduled to continue at least through September of 2004. The hysterically conflictive atmosphere that's driving me to the plane for Mexico tomorrow morning has the Bush Gang's oily fingerprints all over it.
"It's too goofy for me. I guess they want to try another coup because the polls all show that even if there were a referendum and a new election, Chavez would win with more than 50% of the vote."
We're not talking about rational people, Rave. The Bush Gang includes such luminaries as Alfred E. Bush, Mad Dog Cheney, Death's Head Rumsfeld, Rasputin Rove, Wile E. Wolfewitz and, as cheerleaders, Uncle Tom Powell and Aunt Jemima Rice. And the oligarchy here is so inbred--doubtless because of being terrified of sharing human rights with their fellow citizens--that they can't have 2 brain cells to rub together.
"And your species is at the top of the food chain. Evolution is ironic, isn't it?"
Sure is, guy. We need a revolution within evolution or all the species--except maybe cockroaches--are going to be history.
"Bummer. What have I done to deserve this?"
Don't take it personally, Birdy Boy. You may have put the sun and the stars and the moon in the sky, but you didn't create the atom bomb.
"Thankfully, that's one trick they can't blame on me. Didn't Einstein say if he had known they were going to build a bomb he would have been a watchmaker in Switzerland?"
Probably. J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Manhattan Project said, as the test bomb exploded over Trinity, New Mexico: "I have become death".
Raven is peering intently at the TV screen again.
"Hey, why do they keep calling that guy, Howard Dean, John?"
Beats me. Maybe it's another way the media has cooked up to discredit him. Especially since he asks the hard questions. I think John Dean did time for the Watergate caper. Anyway, he was one of Nixon's gang.
"NIxon! Now there's a good candidate."
He's dead, Rave. And he was a Republican anyway.
"Too bad. I liked that they called him Tricky Dick."
Rave, you're impossibly egocentric today. Pretty soon you'll be printing up bumperstickers.
"'Clean a sticky wicket with Tricky' has sort of a nice ring to it. Besides, if dead people can vote--and they seem to be model citizens in that regard--they should be ablt to run for office. And be elected, too."
I suppose they would do less damage.
"I think we've figured it out: the recipe for peace in the world!"
Right. Dead presidents. Thanks, Rave.
Monday, February 09, 2004
LEAVING MY CLOTHES
Well, that's it, Rave. We're booked for Mexico City on Thursday.
"You mean you're booked. I'm the Invisible Flyer."
Whatever. I'm sure you'll be happy to see your buddies again.
"Yeah. I'll get to have a social life. Instead of hanging around here watching TV news and you wasting away to nothing."
I never knew depression was a way to weight loss. Probably it isn't. Probably it's being on the Saturn line. I won't have to pack most of my clothes, but it's not worth it to lose weight suffering.
"Suffering in stereo, too. Polarization in the public sphere, hysteria, name-calling, death threats, conspiracies. And that's just here in Caracas. On TV the same stuff is on cable, but with different countries' names attached to it: Iraq, Pakistan, Israel, the US, the UK, etc. Makes my head ache."
Gee, Rave, I'm sorry I got you into this. Can birds take aspirin?
"I don't think so--pills are dosed by body weight. But you what probably would beat back my headache for awhile?"
(I had to ask.)
"A little stroll through the sushi bar at the Hilton might just do the trick."
You know I'm allergic to fish.
"Order carrot tempura or something. That'll keep you busy while I'm chasing Salmon upstream. Anything but be here listening to some Archie Bunker lookalike talking about playing in a rock band with John Kerry, back when dinosaurs were top dog on the planet."
I think Archie was on something else. Playing somebody's father.
"Okay, okay. Are we heading for the Hilton or not?"
Sure. The Bourgeois Bird will get the Salmon. Considering the Bolivar went to 2,800 to the dollar on the black market this morning, maybe I'll be able to pay the check.
"Or you could leave them your clothes...."
Well, that's it, Rave. We're booked for Mexico City on Thursday.
"You mean you're booked. I'm the Invisible Flyer."
Whatever. I'm sure you'll be happy to see your buddies again.
"Yeah. I'll get to have a social life. Instead of hanging around here watching TV news and you wasting away to nothing."
I never knew depression was a way to weight loss. Probably it isn't. Probably it's being on the Saturn line. I won't have to pack most of my clothes, but it's not worth it to lose weight suffering.
"Suffering in stereo, too. Polarization in the public sphere, hysteria, name-calling, death threats, conspiracies. And that's just here in Caracas. On TV the same stuff is on cable, but with different countries' names attached to it: Iraq, Pakistan, Israel, the US, the UK, etc. Makes my head ache."
Gee, Rave, I'm sorry I got you into this. Can birds take aspirin?
"I don't think so--pills are dosed by body weight. But you what probably would beat back my headache for awhile?"
(I had to ask.)
"A little stroll through the sushi bar at the Hilton might just do the trick."
You know I'm allergic to fish.
"Order carrot tempura or something. That'll keep you busy while I'm chasing Salmon upstream. Anything but be here listening to some Archie Bunker lookalike talking about playing in a rock band with John Kerry, back when dinosaurs were top dog on the planet."
I think Archie was on something else. Playing somebody's father.
"Okay, okay. Are we heading for the Hilton or not?"
Sure. The Bourgeois Bird will get the Salmon. Considering the Bolivar went to 2,800 to the dollar on the black market this morning, maybe I'll be able to pay the check.
"Or you could leave them your clothes...."
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