I think that I think, therefore I think that I am

(written one day in 2002)

I am…

I am not sure.

I am trying.

I want to believe in God

I am not sure if I do.

I am Ray Davies circa 1972

I am envious of you

I am sure I could fix you

I am trustworthy

I am not opposed to stealing what I want

I am ashamed sometimes

I am lazy

I am a dreamer

I am a cat person

I am against other people's opinions being forced on me

I am for abortion rights

I am not interested in opera, not even a little bit

I am not the bullgod

I am like the ocean

I am totally not having fun on boats

I am, I am superman, yet I cannot do anything

I am inside out and upside down

I am all the same

I am a music lover and a musician appreciator

I am not at all into Jazz

I know a little bit about a lot of things

I am an excuse maker

I am all about the benjamins

I am unmotivated

I am inspired

I am lost yet found

I am not against the eradication of all teenagers

I am not into corduroy

I am that little smudge on your sunglasses

I am sleeping with another man's wife

I am fiercely loyal

I want my space

I want to lie down

I am the straw that stirs the drink

I am not too blind to see

I am far away

I am in debt

I don't care

I could live without seeing another human being for weeks on end

I am lonely

I am bored

I am bothered by your presence, your uncertainty, your mistrust

I am loved by many

I am always sweating

I am absorbing you like a sponge

I am admitting I have the attention span of a five-year-old.

I am not the one

I am also not the man

I have an itch I can't scratch inside my head

I am not in love with another man's woman

I am confusing to you

I only let you know what I want you to know so if you reject me, it wasn't really me

I am a huge fan of comic books, video games and cartoons.

I not a good writer but a great express-er of emotion

I am sorely lacking in social skills

I am everyone's friend

I am not interested, really, I'm not

I am interested in you

I am the life of the party, sometimes.

I am better one on one

I am trying to find the words on the tip of my tongue

I am into cunnilingus

I am a cunning linguist

I am trying to be nice

I am under your thumb

I am smiling, really, I swear

I am always gonna look this way

I am tougher than leather

I am without a garage or a basement

I am willing do anything for you

I am secretly wanting something from you

I am sensitive

I am always wondering what if

I am that book you haven't gotten around to reading yet

I am the dust behind the refrigerator

I am a rock, I am an island

I am the finger

I am rushing through a yellow light

I am now changing the format

I am now demanding a new key

I do want to help

I don't have the time

I have all the time in the world

I am scared of dying

I am charging you for not rewinding

I used to love her but it's all over now

I am sure it doesn't make a difference

I am caring

I am not awake

I am thinking of something else while you are talking

I am scared

I am listening, really, I am

I am a sleepwalker, I am a nightstalker

I am solving problems in my head

I am unknown

I am unlisted

I am reformatted

I am double sided

I am looking it up

I am sure

I am coming

I am a broken leg that hasn't happened yet

I am the Stanley motherfucking Cup

I am an electrode soldered to a motherboard

I am ringing like a bell

I am afraid not

I am going to call you later

I am going to be late for dinner

I am forgetful

I am sure I have had enough

I am going to drop this off

I am so goddamned down that it looks like up to me

I am never going to call again

I am hoping you will call

I am a woman

I am a man

I am all things to everyone

I made her cry

I cried as well

I am not ever speaking about anyone in particular

I am talking about you

I am thinking of you

I am wishing I was you

I am glad I'm not him

I think he meant to do it

I forgive her

I am not interesting enough

I am trying to make you like me, even though I really don't care

I am playing games with my own head

I have a bad back

I am typing

I am breathing

I am smoking

I am dying

I am alive

I am respectful

I have extreme lust

I am not going to hurt you, not on purpose

I am the breeze off the lake

I am soft

I am harder than steel

I have a dirty carpet and clean socks

I have some unfinished business to take care of

I am going but I'll be back

I am in front of you in line

I am misrepresenting what I really am

I am not talking, I am all action

I am like a tooth ache

I am persistent

I am going to get on your nerves

I am not trusting you, not yet, possibly not ever

I am two for the price of one

I am one size fits all

I am a sure thing

I am going to get what I want

I am done now

I am in like

I am green

I am home

I am up late

I am alone

I am going to sleep

I am going to work

I am going to stop because she said so

I don't want to

I have sore tongue

I am glad I do

I am going to call

I am not sure

I am misunderstood

I am deceitful

I do not mean to be

I am sorry

I am going to try again

I am probably going to succeed

I am going to have to live with that

I am going to have to be there

I am thirsty

I am drowning

I am so confused

I am afraid of the future

I am sick of the past

I am in the present

I am past the present yet in it again

I am the sweat on your brow

I am on top of you

I am inside of you

I am far from you again

I do not know you

I don't want to hurt you

I don't want to owe you

I am going to be tired at work

I am going to wish I was home

I am going to sleep with her

I am going to be nice to her

I am not going to marry her

I am going to look past her

I am going to regret it all

I am going to the bathroom

I am sorry I have blue balls

I am sure she knew it

I am here forever

I am this close

I am going to save some hope

I am going to share some faith

I am going to lose some of me

I am beyond

I am above

I am now and then

I am petting and stroking and feeling

I am cleaning out my files

I am listening to my own heartbeat

I am counting the ways

I am remembering that thing you said

I am smiling because, just because

I am a magic carpet ride

I am pass interference

I am fire and I am rain

I am ashamed

I am going to forgive

I am not going to forget

I am giving advice

I am ignoring advice

I am not as strong as you may think

I am in shock

I am dulled over by the repetitive nature of relationships and I am telling the same stories over and over again and I am wanting new stories with a new ending and I am never going to open my mouth again and I am going to make it work and I am afraid I am going to settle

I am going to try

I am giving up

I am missing you

I am jealous and envious and greedy and just plain wrong

I am deserving of your love

I am cursing fate

I am scratching my face

I am the guy who stole the soul

I am not Hootie or a Blowfish or Dave Mathews or his band or Gladys Knight

I am a pip

I think that I think, therefore I think that I am

I am not the walrus

I am sick to my stomach for the umpteenth time

I am disillusioned by love

I am brown now

I am contemplating a new venture

I am sure I'll succeed

I am living the lie

I am having second thoughts

I am going to go with the flow

I am going to rock the boat

I am in-between right now

I am waiting for inspiration to come

I am reactive

I am radioactive

I am not feeling active

I am wishing I was you

I am cut and I am bleeding

I am stretching my legs

I am a twenty percent tip

I am feeling sorry for that old woman because she is smiling

I am thinking she is afraid and that's why she is smiling

I am pissed at my phone bill and fuming over a parking ticket

I am letting the days go by

I am going to nap before work

I am giving up on this day already

I am sure I gave up on this day yesterday

I am sure she is not the one

I am comfortable with her

I am afraid I'm already going through the motions with her

I am feeling like a fraud and a bad actor

I am reaching out yet again for something with someone whose time has long passed

I am capable of happiness

I am able to make myself feel energized

I am making a deposit

I am wastefully spending money again

I am starting school next week

I am coughing, wheezing and not sick

I am God am

I am the light at the end of the tunnel

I am the front of an oncoming train

I am sure God knows but he ain't telling

I am in need of a haircut

I am lighting a candle

I am cursing the darkness

I am duality at it's finest

I am manic

I am not manic

I am wishing I could write expressively

I am always learning

I am always forgetting

I am keeping a record

I am searching for something to say that interests you

I am watching the digital clock flicker

I am sure it has not been 12:00 a.m. for the last two hours or so

I am going to set things straight

I am going to lose track of my goals

I am going to start over

I am going to keep trying

I am going to stop eating out

I am looking and searching and reaching and grasping

I am hiding

I am going to call my mom

I am going to be grateful she is still alive

I am yelling at Otis

I am using the word "conundrum" because it makes me laugh and I don't know why

I am wondering about procreation

I am afraid of commitment

I am hurting, in a consistent way, like an ingrown toenail

I am able to schmooze

I am good at it though hardly ever in the mood

I am hating people who bullshit for a living

I am able to do it for money

I am a whore

I am going to take the easy way out

I am blaming my father for that, even though I am aware that that is a cop-out

I am able to change my bad habits

I am wondering if I'm still online, or did I get logged off due to inactivity

I am able to m ake you love me, and I am doing it, now

I am kind of cute, sort of

I am a knockout

I am 12 rounds

I wish I could fly like superman

I mentioned superman twice already, yet never read his comics

I am a huge fan of spiderman and wolverine

I am looking for my lost love

I am sure it wasn't love

I am in need of some good, meaningless sex right about now

I am looking for a girl who doesn't feel guilty about sex

I am sure there are way too fucking few of them out there

I am lighting up

I am cooling down

I am that rip in your couch

I am re-stringing my guitar

I am wondering how my CD player broke all by itself

I am wishing I would practice everyday

I… no… we?  Ok, no. Just me. Really? You too? I thought it was just me?

I have a spare set of keys

I have them in a place which will be totally useless to me if I ever need them

I am content

I am the test pattern at 4:30 a.m. after the national anthem

I am old enough to remember that

I am young enough to give you the finger

I am looking through my little black book

I am sure I would envy me if I was someone else and didn't know the real truth

I am lucky to have my health, such as it is.

I am not leaving a message on your machine

I am going to call even though I have nothing to say, but I said I would call, so here goes

I am not ready today

I am going to continue this at a later date

I am standing on the corner with a violin under my chin

I am sitting at the back of the bus

I am laying the foundation

I am choosing the location

I am leaving early

I am cheating

I am grainy and blurry

I am changing the channel

I am visualizing

I am the ball

I am agreeing to something I do not want to do for her sake

I am a gentleman

I am on the wrong side of the tracks

I am moving on up to a de-lux apartment in the sky

I am not going to smile just because you want me too

I am a little style and a little more substance

I am not done yet…

Fuck Buddy

New punk song I just wrote


fuck buddy, fuck buddy
me an you
fuck buddy, fuck buddy
and a girl named sue

just fuckin each other
when there's nothing to do
and fuck and fuck and fuck
til our shit turns blue

fuck buddy, fuck buddy
her and you
fuck buddy, fuck buddy
her and me

fuck buddy, fuck buddy

me and you

fuck buddy, fuck buddy
maybe all three

fuckin'outta lust
fuckin when I'm bored
and fuck and fuck and fuck
until I'm fuckin'sore

 The opening stanzas of his verse, “Poetry" - Pablo Neruda

And it was at that age… Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don’t know,
I don’t know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don’t know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence but from a street
I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone, there I was
without a face
and it touched me.

My mother shared this with me when I was 10, on my birthday. She said that I was growing up too fast and had too many questions for my own good. 
I miss you, Mom. 

The Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.  As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.  Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they, too, have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.  If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.  Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.  Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.  But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.  Especially, do not feign affection.  Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.  Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.  But do not distress yourself with imaginings.  Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.  Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here.  And whether or not it is clear to you no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  Be cheerful.  Strive to be happy.

Subj: the rain in spain
Date: 3/19/01 1:12:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Bdwyblues
To: Junrmint


Yuck...a rainy Monday. Even for sleepin late stiff like me, the grey matter in the sky is not doin much for my constitution... 
As I work on a second draft of an "impact of Islamic society in the first millennium" paper I dream of a sunny Sunday in June. The wheels of my rollerblades barely make a sound spinning loyaly on their hubs, swiftly cutting through a light ocean breeze. The salty Atlantic air cools my skin,  I close my eyes and imagine being a bird way up over the world, and I skate. And skate. The further I get form the ground the more peaceful and serene civilization seems to be. Everyone wants to be me, away from the crowds and worker bees. I stake a grin in the face of all that which holds me down, confident in how I skate it all away. A tailwind catches the wings on my feet, propelling me forward along, but not quite touching, the hot pavement; a sleep-like calm envelops my brain. I cannot be hindered. I am the sum total of the forces of nature! I am the embodiment of all the spirits below me, the envy of the damned! The manifestation of dreams! The...the..er...oooff!...a pebble jars my wheel and upends my balance, as I am sent spinning into a parked car. I roll into the skin-slicing gravel while I gnash my teeth and brace my fall with an about to be broken wrist. I remind myself to keep my eyes open while rollerblading........ 

What? Islam? Oh yeah...Of all the cultures throughout world history, Islamic society affected the most progress in science, language, and arts through cultural diffusion. Interpret i n g t h e w or k s of a ncie nt gr e e c e zzzzzzzz........... 

Resistance is Futile

We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. 

   The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. 

 Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-  transcendence; in vain. 

    By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude.

    Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies--all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, impossible to share.

   We can share pooled information about experiences, but can never share the experiences themselves.

    From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes. 




Whoops It should have said " - Aldous Huxley" here. My bad..

From 2051: The Fall of the American Empire

A note: The following is an imaginary essay for a history project at the middle of the 21st century.   

It  assumes a continuation of current political and economic trends set in motion by the Bush Administration, with a brief dash of hope during the Obama administration's 8 years in office in the middle, only to be dashed by the further Tea-bagging of America.

If only there was an early awakening of sanity amongst the public, the media and the elites, which catalyzes effective dissent, protest and reform, a far different future might be realized.  

Who could have imagined, at the turn of this century, how quickly and completely the American republic would collapse? Historically, the decline and fall of great empires normally takes place over decades, and in the case of Rome, over several centuries. The disintegration of the United States took place in just a few brief years.

At the close of the twentieth century, the United States was at peace and enjoying one of the most sustained and productive periods of prosperity in its history – a prosperity that favourably affected all segments of society. President Clinton, though mercilessly harassed by his political opponents, was highly esteemed by heads of state and ordinary citizens throughout the world. The United States, despite its manifest faults, was widely admired and envied by free peoples everywhere.

It was, to put it simply, a great time to be an American.

And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.

The American economy collapsed and the American leadership, unlike the Roosevelt administration during the great depression of the 1930s, lacked the insight and will, and the federal treasury lacked the funds, to effect a rescue. The admirable American system of constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, of a free and diverse press, of free enterprise and economic opportunity, and of popularly elected government was, by the close of the first decade, replaced by a despotic oligarchy in total control of the permanently ruling Republican party. Finally, the United States, through a unilateral abrogation of its treaty obligations and a series of aggressive wars, was transformed from "the leader of the free world” into a rogue state. As we all know, the community of nations responded to the new threat of American economic imperialism by forming the alliances that are today the dominant world powers: the Eurasian Union and Islamia.

Distrusted and isolated from the global community, the United States withdrew into itself to become the pitiful and impoverished third-world despotism that it is today.

The forces set in motion during the illegitimate Presidency of George W. Bush that led to this decline and fall were plain for all to see, and amazingly, however outrageous and contrary to the most fundamental American political traditions, they were not effectively resisted. When the American public came face-to-face with the dreadful consequences of these regressive and despotic forces, it was too late to resist and turn back. The fate of the American republic was sealed.

The American Economy

Late in the twentieth century, twenty percent of the private wealth in the United States was owned by the top one percent of the population. At the turn of the century, that share had doubled. Then, with abolition of dividend, capital gains and estate taxes, the flow of national wealth to the very few accelerated, so that in 2012, midway through the Jeb Bush administration, eighty percent of the national wealth was in the hands of the top one percent, and sixty percent owned by the top one-tenth of one-percent.

Of course, by that time, the United States was in the depths of The Great Depression. A full year into George Bush’s second administration, the unemployment rate was above ten percent and rising, eventually to reach one-third of the work force when his younger brother succeeded him in 2009. Compounding that disaster was the retirement of the “baby boom” generation, which found that the Social Security and Medicare funds which they had confidently expected, had been exhausted. Those retirees who could not be cared for by their children often ended up in the streets, for the only remaining social services – “faith-based” agencies supported by federal funds – were overwhelmed and willing only to accept devout members of their various (usually evangelical) denominations.

The primary cause of the depression was compellingly obvious: with the wealth of the nation withdrawn from the population at large, there was little disposable income remaining to feed the cash-flow of commerce. First the “expendable” industries – amusements, recreational vehicles, resorts, automobiles – were bankrupted and their employees discharged, causing the succeeding dominoes to fall and leading to the downward spiral of depression.

Prominent so-called “conservative” theoreticians in the first decade, such as Grover Norquist, with the full support of the George Bush administration, called for the virtual elimination of all government services and functions, federal, state, and municipal, with the exception of the military and “Homeland Security” which soon evolved into the Federal Police. Of course, the obvious fact that no civilized and industrialised nation has ever functioned without a central government, did not concern these theoreticians. Consumed by dogma, they had no inclination to be “confused by the facts.” And so, their stated objective of “drowning the government in the bathtub” and “bankrupting” state governments was achieved, with disastrous results.

The public schools and universities closed and, unable to afford the tuition of the remaining private schools, most of the children were deprived of an education. Similarly, private college and university enrollments plummeted. Literacy rates fell and the pool of trained and resourceful workers evaporated. Attempts to privatise the infrastructure – roads, bridges, electrical grids, pipelines, etc. – failed dismally, and with the governments bankrupt, no funds were available to bail them out. And so, these facilities fell into useless ruin, which further crippled the national economy.

Due to widespread evictions, single-family homes and apartments became crowded communes when only the combined resources of three and four families could pay the utilities, rents and mortgages. And these were the lucky ones, as millions of Americans were forced to live on the streets or in tent cities.

The United States of America, once the powerhouse of the world economy, was headed hell-bent toward the third-world status that it has today.

The World Economy

When the United States was the predominant economic power in the world, economic policy-makers used to say that when the US sneezes the world gets a cold, and when the US gets a cold, the world gets pneumonia. So when the US economy collapsed in 2006, this had serious global repercussions. And yet, to the amazement of all, the world economy fared far better than expected. By employing the sort of cooperative and collective policy and planning despised by the American “conservatives,” and free of interference by American corporations, the global economy soon recovered and went on to prosper.

The greatest shock to the world economy was the sudden announcement by President Jeb Bush that the United States would no longer honor its three trillion-dollar foreign debt. A resulting collapse of the world economy was averted when the leading governments of the industrial nations agreed together to absorb the debt – a policy that accelerated the emergence of the Eurasian Union.

With the American credit-rating thus reduced to zero, the United States was effectively isolated from the world economy. The Americans then discovered that they were in desperate need of raw materials that were unavailable within their borders. The world at large, on the other hand, enjoyed resource-independence from the Americans. The Americans suffered most acutely from the severe shortage of petroleum, upon which their once-thriving agricultural industry depended. And so the spectre of famine, unimaginable in the previous century, haunted the unfortunate Americans.  (See “The Oil Trap”)

In the 20th Century, America’s primary contribution to the world economy was its advanced technology, as young students from around the world flocked to its excellent universities to acquire advanced degrees and to engage in cutting-edge research and development. With the closing of the public education system and the end of federal research funding (except, of course, for the military), superior centers of scientific and technological research appeared in Europe and Asia. First to depart was bio-medical research, severely crippled by the United States ban on stem-cell research. But this was only part of the story. The manifest contempt for science by the Bushes and their corporate and fundamentalist supporters accelerated the demise of the scientific and technological pre-eminence of the United States.

Finally, with the United States government in the complete control of the petroleum industry, the Bushes had no inclination whatever to build a bridge to the post-petroleum age – with predictable and disastrous results. In stark contrast, the Eurasian Union clearly foresaw the coming emergency, and made massive preparations for it. Thus, in Eurasia today, the remaining petroleum reserves are being properly utilised for their petrochemicals, while the combination of biomass, solar, nuclear fusion and other sources, and the hydrogen fuels produced thereby, offer abundant energy to the peoples of Eurasia and Islamia. The United States, with no exportable commodities or technologies of any worth, and bankrupted by the tax policies of the George and Jeb Bush Administrations, is unable to enjoy the advantages of these innovations, except, of course, out of the largesse of humanitarian aid from Eurasia.

The New Despotism

The American democracy died with the invention and complete implementation of paper-less computer voting. But this was a coup-de-grace, delivered to a body politic critically injured by the rigging of the 2000 Florida presidential election, engineered by Jeb Bush and his accomplices, and the subsequent vote of five Republican operatives on the Supreme Court in the notorious ruling, Bush v. Gore.The winner of the 2000 election, Al Gore, meekly acceded to this judicial coup d’etat, and the public followed his lead. 

The Republican control of the media and the election procedures was maintained and extended in the election of 2004, when the Democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry, was ruthlessly slandered, and a nationwide conspiracy of voter suppression and computer hacking of election returns once again handed the White House over to manifestly incompetent George Bush.  Once again, the Democratic Party meekly submitted to its victimhood, despite the outrage of the millions of supporters of the defeated candidate.

Encouraged, if astonished, by this passivity of the public and the “opposition” party, the victorious George Bush administration proceeded to snuff out the civil liberties of the American people, until the final lights went out halfway through the Jeb Bush administration. This twilight of the American democracy was accelerated by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 upon New York City and Washington, DC, whereby a stunned public and Congress accepted without protest a draconian attack on the Bill of Rights, cynically named the USA PATRIOT Act.

Soon after the re-election of George Bush in 2004, and the “uncovering” by the CIA and FBI of an alleged plot by al Qaeda to set off a nuclear device in New York Harbor, “Patriot Act II” was enacted by the Republican Congress. With this, habeas corpus, and the constitutional rights of citizens to open trials by juries, access to counsel, were all suspended. On the assumption that “you are either for us or against us,” as articulated by George Bush soon after the September 2001 attacks, critics of the government were regarded as “traitors.”  Mere hours before their intended arrests, dissenters Noam Chomsky and Paul Krugman escaped to Canada and thence to the faculties of Oxford and Cambridge. Democratic presidential aspirants Howard Dean, Dennis Kusinich and John Edwards, and the defeated candidate, John Kerry, were not so lucky, and have not been heard from since their disappearance in the summer of 2006.

Quite possibly these dissenters joined millions of others in the Alaskan Gulag, perchance to work in the oil fields of ANWR and Prudhoe Bay. Or perhaps they were impressed along with the millions of the unemployed to toil as farm laborers when, due to the acute petroleum shortages, the farm machinery was shut down and it became impossible to transport sufficient food for the starving masses in the inner cities. “You work or you starve,” was the stark choice given to the unfortunate unemployed.  Sadly, many who remained in the cities did, in fact, starve or, weakened by malnutrition, fell victim to the great plagues of the "twenty-teens." 

Despite these catastrophes, the Republicans have been the sole ruling party in the United States throughout the 21st century to this date. Typical Congresses have contained about 80% Republican seats. The Democrats exist at the sufferance of the Republicans, as unpersuasive “window dressing” to preserve at least the appearance of democracy. Republicans congressmen who show any independent tendencies are generally marked by the Party bosses for defeat in primary elections, or in the general elections by designated and compliant Democrats.

Observers from abroad regard American elections with the same contempt as historians show toward “elections” in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Informal polls (conducted with great difficulty and at great risk) show a residual opposition to the Republicans, and often an overwhelming majority preference for the Democrats. But no matter. The official results issuing from the paperless voting machines are uniformly just what the Administration desires. As always, the voting machines are manufactured, and the secret software codes are written, by corporations completely controlled by the Republicans (as, indeed, are all corporations). Exit polling is banned. Advance polling by organisations such as Gallup accurately predict the final results. But, of course, the Gallup organisation was acquired in 2006 by the Murdock corporation.

Ninety percent of the media are owned by the three interlocking corporations of “The First Amendment Consortium.” The remaining ten percent are licensed by the federal government. Independent newspapers or magazines that dare to criticise the government are soon absorbed in “hostile takeovers” by the Consortium. Of course, independent broadcast media no longer exist in the United States.

In late 2005, Rupert Murdock acquired full ownership of the Internet, whereupon dissenting (“unpatriotic”) websites were banished from the Net.

A tragedy, to be sure, but not unforeseen. As early as 2003, the journey toward this dreadful destination was well-embarked. The stolen 2000 Presidential election, well known to those who cared to study it, was two years in the past. The PATRIOT Act had been enacted and several American citizens were being held incommunicado, in violation of the Constitutional rights. The use of paperless computer ballot machines was widespread and growing. The FCC successfully ruled in favour of media conglomeration, and dissenting liberal opinions were severely restricted on television, and virtually non-existent on the radio.

Finding no resistance, the triumphant Republicans proceeded, and by unopposed increments, destroyed the American democracy.

The New World Order

A fundamental rule of politics, well-known to Aristotle and political philosophers since, asserts that alliances are formed out of the shared perception of a common threat. Thus, in the mid-twentieth century, the United States, England and the Soviet Union joined forces against Nazi Germany. Following the defeat of Germany, that alliance fell apart, as the NATO alliance arose to meet the Soviet threat.

The unification of the Eurasian continent, long assumed to be a fantasy, was brought about by the shared perception of a threat by the “rogue” American imperialists. The American neo- conservatives could not have been clearer in their intention that the United States would go it alone in the world. Following their statement of this intention in such documents as the “Project for the New American Century,” the George Bush administration proceeded to follow this guideline to the letter, abrogating treaties at will, invading defenseless countries on patently false pretenses, and in general earning for itself the fear and contempt of the global community.

In the face of this, the once-inconceivable unification of the nations of Europe and Asia became an inevitability.

Similarly, following the invasion of Iraq in early 2003, and thence of Iran in the spring of 2005, the Islamic nations united to form the Federation of Islamia, which now stretches from the Atlantic, across north Africa, all the way to Indonesia. The unity of Islamia was enhanced by the expulsion of the American forces from Iraq in 2005, followed by the establishment of a Shi’ite Islamic republic. As in neighboring Iran, Iraq suffered through a period of fundamentalist repression, until the fanaticism consumed itself and was replaced by a moderate semi-democratic government. So it has been throughout Islamia, as the member states, faced with a choice between religious fundamentalism and technical-economic development, have chosen the latter option.

The overwhelming American military, the budget for which, at the turn of the century, almost equaled the sum of all other military budgets combined, proved to be of little use to the United States. Nuclear blackmail would not work since, of course, the Eurasia was also a nuclear power. And as Viet Nam and Iraq proved, the strategically astute response to a technologically overwhelming force is to absorb the force and then to bleed it white with a thousand cuts. (The Russians used the strategy successfully against Napoleon and Hitler. The Americans, typically, learned nothing whatever from this history).

Furthermore, the Eurasians and Islamics wisely understood that even if the an opposing nation’s military is invincible, it does not follow that the nation itself is invincible. It might be vanquished non-militarily. And this, of course, is exactly what happened. The United States, starved of resources and credits, weakened internally by the fiscal insanity of the Bush brothers, blinded by dogma to the insights of science and scholarship, collapsed from within. (See “The Vulnerable Giant").

After their military had suffered several defeats in Islamia, the United States withdrew, whereupon the military was put to use by the Department of Homeland Security to put down insurrections, to protect the few oligarchs in their gated communities, and to keep the masses confined to their gated ghettos in the inner cities. In this capacity, aircraft carriers, submarines and ICBMs proved to be of little use.

And so, the world beyond the shores of the United States has gone on to an era of prosperity and enlightenment which the Americans cannot share – excepting, of course, those fortunate American who manage to escape from the despotic Republican regime and are welcomed immigrants to the Global community.

The growing community of American expatriates, who have contributed so generously to world science, scholarship, literature, art, industry, and culture, have also brought to our world the vivid memory of the magnificence of the first two centuries of the American Republic – and the undying aspiration for its restoration in that once-blessed land.

In the American Diaspora, the spirit of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln and Roosevelt survives and flourishes.

May it soon return to its home.

NJ: The Soprano State (The Movie) !

http://www.bluejersey.com/diary/16923/the-soprano-state-movie-sneak-peek




"You can't make this shit up"

I worked for the state government in Trenton for 8 years. Every rumor you've heard about public workers? Not entirely baseless, if yaknowwhatImean..

On Computers and Networks (Part 1)

The recent, current, and future generations will have been raised on computers from childhood and will have a keen instinctive ability for both the expressiveness and the limitations of digital output, solitary sharing and digestion of massive amounts of data, or information.


What are some of the ethical consequences of whole new generations born into a world of completely new ways to communicate? Some of the many possibilities: 

• A computer's ability to magnify the effects of our actions. (Instant feedback/gratification)
• The level of precision that computers require to operate properly. 
• The alienation they engender by separating the actor from the effect. 
• The unwarranted credibility given to computer output simply because it came from a computer.(low level of bias upon receiving information from sources) 
• The ability of the computer to manipulate information. (At the low end, cheating; high end, hacking government grids and felony level stealing of money, for example)
• Our inability to understand how and why a computer does what it does (The Apple coined phrase "It just works" surely makes it convenient but does little to explain what is going on. Unlike watching TV or listening to radio, basic understanding of core PC functions and basic networking are invaluable) 
• The fact that computers are requiring less and less human intervention to operate. 

Discus...

Addicted To Sex ( or Why I love Tits)

We're chemically predisposed to facilitate the sex act in order for species regeneration and survival  through reproduction.  It's all very evolutionarily necessary.

The brain releases oxytocin, a chemical that produces extreme euphoria for a moment, when you have an orgasm.

We, in a very real sense, are just addicted to sex.

To attach any kind ephemeral experience to it is just fantasy.

On a side, note: the obsession with staring at breasts? Three basic reasons you can't deny:

1. Oral fixation from being "on the tit" as babies.
2. The fact that in out Puritanical society we hide breasts as if looking at them will turn us to stone.
3. Scientists have proven that early evolutionary man, much like all primates, see the breasts as denoting a good mate who will bear offspring, because we're designed to have sex like dogs; from behind. And the cleavage reminds us of a female ass.

NJ Supreme Court Rules for Future Zombie Legal Issues

6-28-12 
Memorial Properties, LLC, et al. v. Zurich American
Insurance Company, et al. (A-119-10; 067913)

Neither the Assurance policy nor the Maryland policy
requires the insurer to defend or indemnify Memorial
and Mt. Hebron for claims asserted in the New Jersey
and New York litigation, arising from the illegal
harvesting of human remains.

I bought The White Album.The White 8-track, The White Cassette...

1. I download (torrent) the shit outta the Beatles, stones, zeppelin, etc.. because in my convoluted logic those dudes made their dough already, and the couple of extra pennies that will trickle down into their now-no-longer-just-artist but “brand” corporate empires is redundant. They’re rich.
   Anything from about 1990 on, I’ll buy. What can I say, I have issues, and rationalizing/denial is one of my best.
   

1. 
   OK, (and I swear I gave up smoking weed years ago) I forgot my main point about those classic rock bands. And it is this:
   I’m 42. I’ve been buying music since you had NO CHOICE but to buy it. And I bought The White Album. And then the White 8-track. And then The White Cassette. And then I lost that, and bought that , shiny , see through plastic White Cassette. The the White CD. Fuck if I’m downloading The White Mp3 from iTunes for even $9.99 after all that, know what I’m saying? (But ITunes and sites like that are the new business model, as far as I can tell. Shit, that model might last as long as 8-tracks, or forever, who knows what these crazy kids will come up with next. So I’m not knocking it.)
   So, I know, I know, the car I bought in 1991 doesn’t come with a guarantee that I will always have a running functioning car. But there are degrees and levels to things.
   Art, any way you wanna define it, is a different form of product. I buy a book, it should last a lifetime if I don’t spill coffee all over it. Same goes for a CD, or even an .mp3 ( I guess). Should I have to pay for something fifteen times?
   Tim said “tunes that will last a lifetime”. Too bad movies didn’t do that. You buy the ticket, see the movie, take the DVD home from the theater for free, right?
   No. Which is my point. I’m down with supporting artists that I like, even if they’re rich. Get rich? Good for you. You did something (I'm assuming: legal) and you made money, so you deserve it. But the corporations and mega-multi-national conglomo-chains will find fifty ways to make you pay to watch “The Big Lebowski” if they can.

1. 
   It’s the redundant purchasing I disagree with. And hell yeah, 40% of my paycheck for the “privilege” to drive at 8% if I get my dad to co-sign for me cuz my credit is all shot from defaulted student loans should bear the fruit of a car that lasts more than six years. But I digress.

Yep, that's me. Killin it on guitar.
On Bass, too.
Drums are Roy "Rigorormortis" Mortenson
Riggle (another roy alias) also mixed the sound (and takes all the blame for the quality, but the mix was tight)

That is all. Just sharing.
Ain't Talkin' Bout Love download here