I
generally try to say what I think I think.
@Cyberwar! The Pentagon, fearing that Americans were not fearful enough, have sent forth Mike Rogers - director of NSA, head of the US Cyber Command and an Admiral with a very pretty uniform - to shake his finger at us and warn us that China “...and two or three others...” can shut down most of the important infrastructure systems in the country – power grids, water supplies, nuclear power plants, McDonald's and the NFL. And they've been able to do this for some years now, but War, Inc. thought we needed the reminder.
Revealed Word: Republican Ira Hansen, Nevada's new House Speaker, explains the race problem this way: “Simple minded darkies [show a] lack of gratitude” to whites. Say amen.
Turkeys: Walmart is organizing food drives among its employees to feed its employees who don't make enough working at Walmart – to the point that Walmart employees get $6.2 billion a year from the taxpayers to help them survive Walmart's starvation wages. The company says that the food drive is proof that its employees care far more about their fellow employees than the company does.
Breadcrumbs: An investigation by the US Senate has concluded that when banks get involved with commodity markets, they rig them. Same holds for the Senate.
Thanks Giving: I'm thankful that I was born white. And male. And straight. And have had decent health insurance my entire life.
Budget Message: Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel says the US must increase its military spending, maintain waste and profiteering at current levels, and start several small wars, or risk being overrun by Sri Lanka.
Crapafornia: The California University System plans to increase tuition by 25% over the next five years. Do not expect a corresponding increase in knowledge or the starting salaries of graduates.
New & Improved: Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey says that the new war in Iraq is “different.” Last time we killed them because Saddam tried to do something unkind to Georgie's dad and besides they had a lot of oil. This time it's because they don't like us for what we did last time.
1 comment:
your thankfulness about being born a straight white male reminded me of the following poem
"The Promotion" by James Tate
I was a dog in my former life, a very good
dog, and, thus, I was promoted to a human being.
I liked being a dog. I worked for a poor farmer
guarding and herding his sheep. Wolves and coyotes
tried to get past me almost every night, and not
once did I lose a sheep. The farmer rewarded me
with good food, food from his table. He may have
been poor, but he ate well. and his children
played with me, when they weren’t in school or
working in the field. I had all the love any dog
could hope for. When I got old, they got a new
dog, and I trained him in the tricks of the trade.
He quickly learned, and the farmer brought me into
the house to live with them. I brought the farmer
his slippers in the morning, as he was getting
old, too. I was dying slowly, a little bit at a
time. The farmer knew this and would bring the
new dog in to visit me from time to time. The
new dog would entertain me with his flips and
flops and nuzzles. And then one morning I just
didn’t get up. They gave me a fine burial down
by the stream under a shade tree. That was the
end of my being a dog. Sometimes I miss it so
I sit by the window and cry. I live in a high-rise
that looks out at a bunch of other high-rises.
At my job I work in a cubicle and barely speak
to anyone all day. This is my reward for being
a good dog. The human wolves don’t even see me.
They fear me not.
i conclude that the cubicle dweller of Tate's poem is worse off in his current incarnation - his "promotion" to a human life has not gone well - for two reasons
1)his emotional needs were much better met in his life as a dog - Tate evokes this beautifully, and anyone who has loved a dog must be moved by this
2)contrariwise, Tate's protagonist, looking backwards at his former happiness, has not yet grasped his current opportunity and responsibility for "the development of his soul", to use old-fashioned language
see the Monty Python creed - movie excerpt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2QJvc_SxFQ
my exegesis of the above:
http://tinyurl.com/25wbddu
Tate's protagonist is "reborn" into human circumstances, but he is still in the egg of reacting, rather than responding to, his current place in the universe -
he needs to be reminded of the possibility he has to "shine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y6S1-Jj8cE
may the Creative Forces of the Universe be with us all
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