Monday, February 28, 2011

Labor pains

No matter how this ends, it's gonna be a damn ugly baby.
Wisconsin broke the water and now it seems that all over the country, state unions are reluctantly entertaining the idea of giving up wages, benefits and work rules in order to keep their most basic bargaining rights.
Collective bargaining is the corner stone of unions. Without that, there's really no point to even having them. And that is the point of of this war.
I agree that Unions can be a royal pain in the ass - but not having them would prove to be a bigger pain in the ass.
Of course, not for the thick walleted law makers barreling through our rights like a fat kid through cake. According to Republicans, these public sector unions are sucking funds out of the states unnecessarily. Furthermore, their popularity in those states has greatly declined since many private sector workers find the job protection, health benefits and pension plans of public workers unfair...
Um...how is that a fucking argument?
Daddy, the big corporations aren't being nice to me so I don't think you should be nice to...um...the people who work for you! That makes total sense! Meanwhile, Obama is further letting up on corporations so they won't have to spend their hard earned money on protecting their workers. His plan to allow the Health Care Bill to be more of a suggestion than actual law makes for yet another avenue for corporations to skirt their responsibility and pocket a few extra dollars on the back end.
The Bahamas are lovely this time of year I hear...
What the fuck?! Really?!
Once again, these incredibly far removed pompous ticks in suits carrying a wall street journal are on their way to rape and rob the average American.
I'd like to blame it all on the newcomer Republicans, pumping their chests after a win in November. But unfortunately, both sides, as usual are to blame.
Governors on the left and the right have made the case against unions, stating that public workers are overpaid and have far too generous health and pension plans.
So, what do their constituents have to say?
A full 71% of those polled said that they were against weakening the collective bargaining rights of public unions. In fact, a recent poll suggests that while the majority of Americans don't love public employee unions, they are not in support of weakening or all-together stripping them of their collective bargaining rights.
It gets better - you know how these flag waving jack-offs are always promising not to raise taxes? In the same recent poll, Americans said that they actually prefer raising taxes to cutting benefits and pay to public workers - dirty fucking socialists...oh wait, that's us.
You mean, we the people, want to help, we the people...? That's just too fucking weird.
Underneath these clouds of apathy, underneath the veils of nonchalant, laissez-faire arrogance, there is a group of Americans who don't want to see corporate America steal our last breaths of freedom and the pursuit of happiness?
Damn...well, if that's true, then couldn't we, possibly, just maybe...Do Something...?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Diplomacy vs. Good and Bad Politics


At what point do you draw the line between diplomacy and politics?
What are good and bad politics?
Meanwhile, as always, the top 1% and the bottom line are joining forces to pull the rug out from under good politics while crushing progress from above...
I always thought bad politics was a mixture of doing nothing and doing stupid things...two roads Obama has unfortunately traveled all too frequently during his presidency...
However, the argument has been made, many times by me, that not doing anything and staying the hell out of other peoples' business is often times the best option. Let's think back to Iraq - we never had a problem with Hussein until we wanted to - until we felt that a nice juicy war washed down with black gold would make a tasty meal.
Let's say we did spring into action in Libya? Then what? Is it our people to govern? Is it ours to decide how to format their future?
No. We shouldn't go in there, we shouldn't send anyone over, waving our flag like a drunk redneck at a 4th of July BBQ.
What we should do is ALWAYS condemn the killing of innocent people. That's not choosing a side, that's just good politics. Isolationism is clearly not an option, but neither is being world police. It's not our place and to be frank, we don't have the fucking money or the strength. The more we stick our noses into the Middle East, the more we are regarded as complete dick strings. And with good reason. We are incapable of "helping" without making a total cluster fuck of things. So, the best thing to do?
Use diplomacy when it's usable...for example, Iran. Use good politics when diplomacy won't work, i.e. in Libya. Condemn the killings but don't go further than that. By condemning the violence, you show that you are pro-freedom, which is our whole shtick anyway. By staying the fuck away, you allow the people to deal with their own country and hey, you might actually find some time to deal with ours!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Deja Vu

Think back, if you will, to Columbine. Peel away the layers of dusted and decrepit news stories, the conspiracies and lies, lows and highs, and hunker down to that awful day in 1999.
15 dead, 24 injured.
Marilyn Manson.
If you're still with me, fast forward to January 8th of this year.
6 dead, 14 injured.
Zeitgeist.
No, I'm not just rambling off random numbers and names. Below the dead and injured, I've made a note as to who gets the blame.
In this country we have a very interesting system of blame. If something is too terrible to fathom, it either has to be because the perpetrator was foreign or disturbed.
We don't say that the man who walked into a crowded marketplace with a bomb strapped to his chest is crazy. He's just a Muslim.
But holy shit, watch out - if it's an American - a true red, white and blue patriot, well fuck, he must be disturbed and crazy. No American would ever do something like that.
Hmmmm...why the double standard?
To quote Carl Jung again (I know I've used this one in a previous post), "People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own soul."
This quote is applicable two fold. First of all, we can't handle the truth. We can't handle the idea that one of our own, one that walks among us happy valley troopers could be so twisted. We're fine with the idea that the "outsiders" could be, and in fact are, beneath us and capable of grotesque and horrific deeds. But one of our own? No. That's our kids, our friends, our neighbours, our church-going buddies...no!
Secondly, it applies to the ones who do it. Extremism, as Eric Hoffer once said, is a great escape from your own self. In order to be extremist, you must drop all sense of self, you must abandon your own mind, your own soul, in the pursuit of the mass ideology.
The two shooters at Columbine were looped. Jared Loughner is looped. They held on to ideals that allowed them to not find fault in their actions, that allowed them not to think of consequences or emotion. Now, I happen to think that there was more at play here than just a simple dose of extremism. I think these kids were damaged from long before...but then who's fault is that?
Did Marilyn Manson raise Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold? Did Zeitgeist tell Loughner to shoot Giffords in the head? If anyone is at fault here, wouldn't it be the parents, the community, the people around them who did nothing and said nothing as the men they knew fell deeper into a dark hole of psychotic behaviour? A close friend to Loughner is quoted as having said that Zeitgeist poured gasoline on Loughners paranoia and as his grip on reality gave way to mental illness, he repeatedly watched that movie....
Well um..."close friend"...why the fuck didn't you say anything? Why the fuck didn't anyone say, um, you know Jared, he's been acting kinda creepy lately...writing some fucked up shit online. Perhaps we should say something...
But now, it's too late. If we could've stopped it, we'd be heroes, but now, since we didn't, we wash our hands of the whole thing.
If not, then we'd have to admit some blame, shoulder some responsibility. We'd have to point the finger back at ourselves instead of at the "others," the creatively twisted and societal outsiders. The ones who think outside the confines of appropriate borders.
Or, drum roll please...we might actually have to blame the fucked up nut jobs who did it - and the country that allows children to grow up with totally warped views of the world - lack of education, choke collared to patriotism, "US is the best", religion, and happy ignorance.
How many high school shootings occur in Europe? Oh...right...
I recently read an article by Michelle Goldberg citing the fact that Jared Loughner had become a big fan of Zeitgeist, the movie that sheds light (of course very opinionated light) on the workings of our government, economy, 9/11 and even Jesus. It is the most watched independent film ever. I have seen it a few times. It's certainly not uplifting but you don't see me cocking my gun and running over to City Hall. What Goldberg misses here is the most crucial: you can't always use media as the scapegoat. And I don't mean FOX news or American Idol. If someone blamed a shooting spree on those two, I might actually agree with them.
No, I mean music, art, film, books, newspapers, magazines. Should we arrest everyone who's read Mein Kampf? Should we bug everyone who listens to dark industrial metal? Should we point fingers at the artists who display horrific truths in their work?
I have a band that uses visuals AND music to discuss the political and social ills of our world. I constantly implore people to "Do Something." Can I be blamed if someone goes and "does something" violent or insane?
Under Michelle Goldberg's opinion I can. Under the opinion of the lovely, homey patriots of Colorado, I can.
As I said in my previous post, this is psychotic behaviour. This is the kind of fucked up mentality that spawns more fucked up mentalities that will snap and go over the edge.
We excel at never blaming ourselves. We excel at avoiding truth and holding on for dear life to the clean cut, wholesome American image we've been force fed since birth. Well, it's time to grow up. The creative, artistic Americans who call out the crooked, scheming workings of our government and country, should be supported! They should be appreciated for actually knowing what the fuck is going on in this damn country.
We do not live in an idealistic country. We have WAY more fucked up people walking around than we'd ever like to admit. And yes, they are Americans. They look like regular Americans. They don't look like Arabs, or gang members or soldiers. They look completely normal. They look like you and me.
Until we can admit that, until we can accept that we as a country, are fucked up, from the very top to the very bottom, we will never change. We will continue to see things like Columbine and Arizona. We will continue to piss off the world and ruin our own kids.
And we'll continue to blame it on the ones who are furthest from real fault, the people trying to change it.
Pity our complicity.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Before the world ends...

...I have a question...
Has anyone even fucking noticed?
You know in those "end of the world" movies where an overpaid actor trudges through the snow looking like he just walked out of a spa, complaining of frostbite and the ignorance of the few who could have done something?
I feel for him right now...not the actor, the actual character. Although I'm sitting in sunny California, my scope is turned towards the literal and figurative rumblings across the globe.
I am not at all superstitious. I do not subscribe to the bat shit crazy wailings of extremists and loony tunes; that we'll all be judged and 2012 is it so get your shit in order.
I think that is just another example of the psychotic projections of our shortcomings onto the past and/or a higher being.
For example, all the hullabaloo surrounding next year. Many historians claim that the ancient peoples of South America who we credit with this prophetic observation, just got tired of fucking counting so high, and figured they'd continue later. There is actually no hard evidence to suggest that they thought it was going to be the end of the world.
I stopped writing in birth control reminders once I got to December 2011 in my calendar. That does not mean that I expect to wake up pregnant on December 1st. It just means I can fill that in later. However, this is not how we, the people, think.
There is no need to take care of our ills and sins now, because the world will simply end whenever it wants to ; God will simply pull the plug when he feels like it ; mother nature will shrug us off when we get too obese and dirty to carry, etc, etc. The problem with these ideas isn't necessarily the fact that people believe them, it is that they feel it relieves them of any sort of responsibility in crises, from the local level to the global level.
If I had a dime for every time I heard some religious nut say "It's not in our hands," I could probably single-handedly bring this country out of debt.
And while I enjoy picking on religious extremists, it's not just them. Even people who are not extremist (either secular or non), find it easier and more convenient to rest on the assumption that their actions will make no difference in the impending doom of our species and our world.
So, we sit and watch with detached apathy, thinly veiled with a facade of care, as the world takes a swan dive.
New Zealand experiences two major quakes in less than half a year...oh, shame.
Libyan civilians are fired upon from helicopters by their own people...oh, bummer.
Our own government is ready to literally just fucking shut down because nobody can agree on a damn thing other than the fact that we're broke and in deep shit...oh, well, I'm fine.
From the Pyramids at Giza to the royal palace in Jordan - like dominoes along the Northernmost countries of Africa, civil unrest marks the end of an era in the mid-east and all Americans care about is whether Steven Tyler eye-fucked the next candidate for musical poser of the year.
We have had the most fucked up weather ever this year and all people do in response is crank the heat, keep the engines running and buy some more fur.
Why?
How?
Is our apathy a sign of devolution or of evolution? Is it a sign that our brains have progressed to the point that we are able to use it as a defense? Is it, like I said, a conscious projection? because somewhere we fear the truth - we fear the outside confines of our cuddly bubble? Or is it subconscious or not even? Is it more cynically the simple dumbing down of a nation? Is it just the continued idiotization of the great U S of A?
These questions aren't rhetorical. I would really LOVE a response.
Although, I don't expect anyone to really have the answer. Even if I knew exactly why, the question needs to be how can we fix it?
How do you get people to care about their own lives and world?
It seems an asinine question to ask. But that's where we're at.
My heart goes out to the people in New Zealand, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Afghanistan, the homeless man I passed today, the man I saw commit suicide last week. My heart goes out to the people who can not help their situation, who are born into mayhem or it is cataclysmically brought upon them.
I have no pity, however, for the people who do nothing, who pray for change. Who sit and wishfully think about a better future but don't DO anything. That's pathetic and ultimately, psychotic.
It is up to the people to change the fate of this world. It is not up to the Mayans. It is not up to God. It is not up to the Tooth Fairy or Santa or Obama or Palin. It is up to you. It is up to me.

Do Something.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Fast Blast: News 2.10.11

From fashion and art to dictators, school boys and whales, it's a helluva day around the world.

Mubarak hangs on: Egyptian president Mubarak gave a speech this evening in front of a packed Tahrir square, surprising his constituents and the world by proclaiming that he wasn't going to step down. The crowds had already been cheering and celebrating all day in preparation for the official word. Needless to say, they were disappointed and angry. Mubarak announced that he will be handing over certain powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman. This didn't do much to quench the anger in the masses. Suleiman is a military man, head of intelligence gathering and widely regarded as a heartless extension of Mubarak.Major opposition leader, Mohamed ElBardei warned that things will rapidly turn violent if Mubarak does not step down. "Egypt will explode," he tweeted. After Mubarak's speech, crowds chanted "Get out, Get out!" The latest development reports masses of more than 1,000 encircling the presidential palace where heavy security guards the building and others nearby. This will be a long night.

The soldier's side: Reports show that for the second year in a row, the US military has lost more soldiers to suicide than in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, over 468 troops committed suicide. If everyone bitches so much about supporting the troops, shouldn't we support them enough to bring them home and pay for adequate physical and mental healthcare...? Nah, that's not as fun as moving little green men around on a board.

A billion pounds of flesh: House Appropriations Committe Chairman Hal Rogers announced today that he intends to cut $100bn from Obama's budget this year. "Our intent is to make deep but manageable cuts in nearly every area of government, leaving no stone unturned and allowing no agency or program to be held sacred," Some Democrats feel, like Rep. Schumer, that the Republicans are "blindly swinging a meat ax to the budget when they should be using a smart, sharp scalpel." He said that they need to pay special attention to what areas of government spending will benefit job growth and the economy and what areas won't, as opposed to just throwing a blanket over the whole thing and slicing $100bn. However, it seems that even some of Rogers' co-workers are unsure of exactly what's being cut: "We will make $100 billion in discretionary cuts while making common sense exceptions for our troops and veterans. " House Appropriations Committee Communications Director Hing said (that by the way, is the most made up job ever). Ummmm...oh right, that's a bullshit patriotic way of saying you won't cut military funding, but everything else, from schools to health care to jobs and public works will be bent over the House podium and royally raped - while you have that image in your head, imagine Obama's speech to corporate America the other day where he vowed to try and slash corporate taxes to make free trade easier. You're welcome America.

Saving the whales: Thanks to less pollution and international bans on whaling, whales have returned to the waters of New York Harbor, just beyond the Verrazano-Narrows bridge which connects Staten Island to Brooklyn. An estimated 50 fin whales now live in the area. Guess that campaign really did work...save the whales!

School boy bomber: A man dressed in a school boy uniform blew himself up, along with Pakistani troops at an army training camp in Northwest Pakistan this morning. There seems to be some discrepency as to the age and identity of the suicide bomber: army and police claim it was a teenager in a school uniform, the Pakistani taliban said it was a soldier on the base who had volunteered, and Reuters claims it was a boy as young as 12. This comes as a sharp reminder of the strong Al-Qaida and Taliban operations along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, despite years of attacks against the groups. Not to beat a dead horse, or a dead ideology, but at what point did we decide that we could conquer what essentially is an entire continent deeply rooted in faith - with nothing more than firepower and arrogance? It was all about Bush in his flight jacket on the aircraft carrier wasn't it? Congrats USA - no mission accomplished, missing a conscience.

The fashionable apple: Mercedes Benz fashion week kicks off today in the Big Apple with BCBG stealing the show in throwback 70s style on Auschwitz survivor thin models...I dunno, seems a little retro for my taste.

Art Walk: If you live in LA, check out the Art Walk downtown. In the center of the city (Spring-Broadway between 3rd and 8th), galleries will showcase their pride and joy along with live music, alcohol and free swag like condoms and fashion magazines.


Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Fast Blast: News 2.8.11

From alien tumors to dwindling rights, today is one helluva day for news stories. Here's your ADD news blast. Enjoy.

We come with cancer: A man underwent several hours of surgery to have a large tumor removed from his back, that apparently had tentacles, something doctors have never seen before, prompting the name "alien tumor." Scully, Moulder...we need you. (More on CNN.com)

Less rights, more patriotic: The House will vote today on extensions to the PATRIOT ACT, including allowing the FBI more leeway in wiretapping, access to library and other records (would really like to know what "other records" are), and drumroll please! Surveillance of "lone wolfs," i.e. people who have no connection with any terrorist organization...for example, me...I thought I felt like I'd lost something when I woke up this morning...huh, just more rights, par for the course. (More on democracynow.org)

Obama Inc.: Obama reached out to corporations today expressing his wishes to assist them in knocking down some irritating government barriers to their success...
"Now, another barrier government can remove—and I hear a lot about this from many of you—is a burdensome corporate tax code...
Which brings me to the last barriers we’re trying to remove, and those are outdated and unnecessary regulations. "
Yeah, fuck government regulations. Things work out so much better when we let corporations run rabid, inflate prices, knock down trade legislation...oh wait, no...that didn't work. For fuck's sake Obama, are you fucking kidding me?! I'm literally speechless. I'm sitting here staring at my keyboard wondering if there is any word in our vernacular that could express how fucking pissed I am...there isn't, so I'll move on. (More on democracynow.org)

Google power: Egyptian Google marketing executive, Wael Ghonim was released from a 12 day detention today, re-joining protestors at Tahrir square in Cairo. He is hailed as a key organizer in the online campaign against Mubarak that began the protests on January 25th. The internet has power, if wielded for things other than Farmville, porn and celebrity gossip. But fuck it, wacking off to the acquisition of a cyber farm is much more fun than starting a revolution...well, according to us Americans. (More on USAToday.com)

Paranoid DC: Washington DC lifted a 2 1/2 year ban on handguns, prompting more than 1,400 new registrations. The interesting fact: 90% of these new registrations were in the affluent neighbourhoods where crime is at an ALL TIME LOW. One man, who admitted he had never been a victim of a crime, said simply "You gotta be prepared." As a retired military man, he is. He now owns 2 revolvers, 2 semiautomatic pistols and a 12-gauge "combat assault shotgun." Hmmmm...are there fucking Zombies attacking Georgetown?! Did I miss that breaking news? Do the people living nearby him not also have the right to not live by a heavily armed loony tune claiming you gotta sleep with your eyes open? You're in fucking Georgetown. Since the handgun ban, crime has gone significantly down in the capital...oh, that's just a coincidence. Sargeant psycho will be ready and willing when those zombies come sneaking through his azaleas. Fucking christ. (More on Washingtonpost.com)

War-crafter: Chechen Warlord, Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the Moscow airport bombings, threatening more violence due to the "Russian crimes in the Caucasus." Caucasus and more specifically North Caucasus is a mountainous steppe region on the southern border of Russia whose history is marked with feuding clans and warring relations with Russia's government since Tsarist times. The region is mostly Muslim and Umarov has vowed "blood and tears" if Russia does not abandon and retreat from the North Caucasus region. His Jihad has two primary goals: to expel non-Muslims and implement sharia law, and to expand the jihad beyond the Caucasus. (More on Reuters.com)

Palin™: Sarah Palin is trying to trademark her name and that of her daughter, Bristol Palin. She was unfortunately denied due to the fact that she didn't sign her oh so special name on the forms. In her defense, I think it's still up for grabs whether she can read and write...maybe she could just sign an "X"...or hell, just put a target and crosshairs, that seems to be a trademark of hers already. (More on NYTimes.com)

Gluten free: China is experiencing and will continue to experience, a severe drought in the upcoming months, threatening not only drinking water for inhabitants and their livestock but also the wheat crop. China is the largest producer in the world of wheat - so grab some rolls while you can and start looking into some gluten-free options. You may need them. Also, while you're at it, build a bomb shelter and store some water - this fucked up international weather pattern can't bode well for any country or crop. (More on Washingtonpost.com)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Revolution from the rooftops

"If you want something, do something."

Well, I'm all moved in to my new apartment, and as expected, my time off from the blog was aptly marked by a shit storm of activity from around the world.
As I listened to NPR on the way to work yesterday, a reporter spoke to one of the protesters in Tahrir square, the epicenter of Egyptian protests in Cairo. The simple fact that this reporter ventured out into the throng is quite impressive. The last few days, the mob has turned on journalists, mugging and beating them. Some experts say they have found evidence that links these incidents to the Interior Ministry of Egypt, an attempt to silence the news of spreading dissent.
Despite this, the NPR reporter seemed to have found a relatively quiet corner where two men sat, breaking from the intense protests of the past week. In broken English, marked by a tired yet defiant air, one of the men said simply, "if you want something, do something."
What a concept.
Egypt is the focus of most international media at the moment, while President Mubarak stands his ground amidst the perfect storm. With Tunisia as a clear catalyst for the Egyptian protests, many other countries in the Middle East brace themselves and eye their constituents with cautious distrust. King Abdullah II of Jordan fired his entire cabinet in a pre-emptive attack against public uprising. The tension in the air is tangible.
Tunisia may be the catalyst but Egypt has been stewing in a pot ripe for revolution for quite some time. Mubarak has been president of Egypt for 30 years, and in that time, little political reform has forged ahead. Regardless of the name, Egypt is in practice, a dictatorship. Corruption from the top to the bottom rungs of government is apparent. With it's explosive population increase, Egypt has been suffering from widespread poverty and high unemployment for years.
Through repressive methods, Mubarak has been able to stifle much of the social and fundamentalist Islamic groups, calling for his resignation. No longer. His main nemesis in that category, the Islamic Brotherhood, is now stepping up as main orchestrator's of protests and demands for his removal.
Yesterday, Egyptian authorities announced a meeting with key members of the Muslim Brotherhood in a thinly veiled attempt, many critics believe, to get them off the streets where they continue to sew seeds of revolution. This makes us pretty damn nervous as well. The Muslim Brotherhood is no friend to the US. On their global website (globalmbreport.org), they remark on comments made a prominent Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood spokesman who said that if President Mubarak is replaced, a referendum will be held to decide the fate of the 1979 peace treat with Israel...awkward for us...here's why.
Egypt is a strong ally in our war on terror, not to mention their continued support, allowing passage through their air space as well as the Suez canal, a critical route to both Afghanistan and Iraq. They've also been instrumental in army training, giving us land to efficiently practice desert combat on...not that that seems to have helped much, but it's the thought that counts.
Then there's the economic factor. Another reporter commented on the cans of tear gas left in the streets, all with the arrogantly proud stamp "Made in the USA." The fighter jets flying over head, manufactured in the US. According to Business Week (businessweek.com), the military ties began during the "1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement and has grown to $1.3 billion in assistance that includes weapons sales, training and joint missions."
That's a lot of dollars and cents in the hands of the fed up masses, particularly when the fed up masses may soon be looking to the Muslim Brotherhood for answers.
The US has a strict policy against negotiations with the Muslim Brotherhood, but what if they end up being custodians of Egypt's government? Again...awkward for us...

So, what do we do? Side with them without really siding with them.
The Senate unanimously (holy shit, they can agree on something!) signed off on a resolution to "immediately begin an orderly and peaceful transition to a democratic political system, including the transfer of power to an inclusive interim caretaker government, in coordination with leaders from Egypt's opposition, civil society, and military, to enact the necessary reforms to hold free, fair, and internationally credible elections this year."
Ummmmm....what?
Clearly the Senate didn't get the memo that the opposition includes the previously oppressed fundamentalist factions who hate us more than fat kids hate fat camp. We're not just dealing with freedom loving secularly educated citizens here. Furthermore, the military is rank with corruption. Many of the bones picked had to do with law enforcement and military flaunting their power and guns without cause.
What a surprise - we pick a side based on one fact alone: who has the most power and will hopefully appreciate our vague support in the future?
We may have short term memory loss when it comes to these things but I don't think the rest of the world does.
For example, in 2009, when Mubarak visited the White House, there was nothing but honey soaked praise dripping from both President's lips. From a Huffington Post article dated 8/18/09, "Obama thanked his Egyptian counterpart for joining him in trying to construct a deal that has eluded world leaders for more than six decades [Palestinian/Israeli Peace]."
First of all, fucking really? I will never understand why much of the world hypocritically cries out for peace between Israel and Palestine while strategically and economically supporting only Israel.
However, I also don't understand how we can lean on Mubarak and his US friendly government for our needs and now insist he get the fuck out of office and let his country work itself out.
Chances are strong that the new government will crave a more autonomous rule than we would like them to have. We want to get in there, move some cards around, stuff some cash into key players' pockets while smiling for the cameras and shallowly discussing world peace.
As my earlier post on the failing war on terror, the people are angry. The people in the Middle East don't appreciate our particular brand of "Uncle Sam knows best" politics.
I don't think they'll buy into our sudden support and condemnation of a man who only a few days ago was considered a friend and ally in the war on terror.
And just as an aside, a philosophical musing, if you will...
What would the world say if it were us out there? What would our president do if suddenly millions of Americans took to the streets, organized in a mass revolution against, well, the same things really: unemployment, corruption, dwindling rights, poverty, with the added issues of two un-winnable wars, a broken economy, a fucked infrastructure and no accountability for the wrong doers?
Oh shit, looks like we have quite a list of grievances...but not to worry corporate America, not to worry. We won't mobilize into a tangible protest against your stranglehold on our souls and livelihood. After all, if you want something, do something. And I guess we don't want it bad enough.