THE WULFSHEAD

Year of the Dragon

2012-01-24T12:08:00.000-08:00

Do not spend a long time rubbing one side of an elephant,
and do not be surprised by a real dragon.
—Dōgen

The words to say it

2012-01-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

Rain

2011-12-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

And now for a bit of brutal honesty

2011-11-29T20:27:00.000-08:00

Speaking truth to power:

1: After 1981, comes 1983

Some call it insolence...

I find it refreshing in its brutal honesty.

The world sure could use a bit more of this on that side of the Atlantic...

As on this side.

Gipsy Song

2011-11-20T18:56:00.001-08:00

lyrics

The Kobayashi Maru scenario

2011-11-16T12:32:00.001-08:00

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The test's name is occasionally used among Star Trek fans or those familiar with the series to describe a no-win scenario, or a solution that involves redefining the problem outside the box.

I feel your pain

2011-11-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

I love the feeling that anything can happen

2011-11-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong

2011-11-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

I'm just a soul whose intentions are good.

But just between you and me, Tim, I just come here for the booze.

That — and the company of some of the patrons, of course.

If you know what I mean...

Here Comes the Sun

2011-11-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

Tales of the Dying Earth

2011-11-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

Is it wrong that this only makes her all the sexier to me?

2011-10-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

Courtney Love Implicated in $100,000 Jewel Heist?!

All Your Base Are Belong To Us

2011-10-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

But it doesn't really matter.

Not really.

Because in the end, a droid is still a droid...

And a talking point is still a talking point... no matter how many carbon copies of it are spawned on the internet or the corporate news media.

Propaganda is as propaganda does.

And mediocrity is as mediocrity does—and is recognizable as such.

While, on the other hand...ideas...

Well...ideas are bullet-proof, Mr. Creedy.

And great ideas are infectious, no matter how hard some may work at suppressing them.

Isn't it so, Mr. Sunstein?
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Trying creates impossibilities . . .

2011-10-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Letting go creates what is desired.

Oh come on people, lighten up, already.

It’s a sexy costume drama full of action, what more do you want?

And yes, it's not 100% faithful to the book. 75% or 50% doesn't even begin to cover it, either.

Do I hear 30%?

I say close enough! Works for me.

And I don't think that Alexandre Dumas is rolling in his grave, either.

As any reader will tell you, movies can never hope to recreate on the screen anything even remotely close to the reading experience of a good book (LOR was, in my opinion, a monumental staggering failure of epic proportions to that regard)—the fact is that those media are two totally different realms of exploration and perception. If you want to write a book, write a book. If you want to write a movie, write an original screenplay (invent your own universe - e.g. Star Wars). Or do both at the same time (e.g. Harry Potters—though, even there, many a teen will tell you that they prefer the books to the movies).

Let's face it, historical romances do not make for good screenplay material. The redeeming value of this movie is that it doesn't make the mistake of even trying to go there.

This adaptation, to those familiar with the concept, is more like an RPG experience in the Shared Universe of Alexandre Dumas's historical novels of high adventure set in the 17th century—with a touch of steam-punk, to boot.

If you would rather read the books (as any RPG player would, so as to get a good grasp of the shared universe they are playing in), by all means have a ball, go ahead and read them all. I have. The full D'Artagan romances trilogy (The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte of Bragelonne). And the Valois romances trilogy before it: Queen Margot, The Lady of Monsoreau, and The Forty-Five Guardsmen.

The problem with our times is that most people do not read, and those who do, tend to take things way too seriously.

Cheer up, people. I have yet to meet a musketeer I didn't like. One for all, and all for me—that's what I always say.

What?

Unclear on the concept

2011-10-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

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Verbatim

A Likely Story . . .

2011-09-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

Won't you please, please help . . .

You've got to be kidding me!

2011-09-20T00:13:00.001-07:00

Is this someone's idea of a joke?

Breaking News: Super Congress To Appoint Super-Duper Congress

2011-09-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Because why even bother putting up a modicum of a pretense any longer?

Long gone the rendezvous

2011-09-16T02:21:00.001-07:00

-

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You Can't Go Home Again

2011-09-15T14:25:00.001-07:00

Yes...well...uh...I am not entirely sure this is quite exactly how Thomas Wolfe meant it...er...precisely...in the present context. And...ah...I mean, the gentlemen are welcome to stay at The Wulfshead for as long as they want to, of course.

But, the gentlemen do realize that...eventually...they DO have to go back home again, don't they?

Think of your people, Sire...

Meanwhile in Topeka . . .

2011-09-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Ack! Sounds just like ~~old recycled campaign slogans~~ the kind of things candidate Obama used to say—you do remember candidate Obama, don't you?

Yup! Must be getting close to election times in Topeka.

Popcorns, anyone?

Orwellian Reality

2011-09-12T20:19:00.001-07:00

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That's because he doesn't have too, Paul. Not when the odds are stacked in favor of the "house."

Guys like you, Paul, you live in what they call "the reality-based community," which they define as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality."

But, they will tell you "that's not the way the world really works anymore."

Remember this?

You didn't think this philosophy just applied to the Bush doctrine or was exclusively limited to the field of war and foreign policies, did you?

Economic wars are by far the most devastating of them all, their casualties highly unreported, and their violence hidden. Examples abound in the Majority World of the poorer and less developed countries, where the effects are more overt than they are in Western Europe and the USA. But the violence is the same: Reality is whatever they say it is.

And there is nothing you, or anyone, can do about it—this is what makes it violence.

You are either with the program or you are not, Paul. There is no middle ground, here (and, ironically, perhaps even most especially so for the so-called centrists or new-democrats, à la Obama.) You are either for the banksters or you are against them—and you're not going to make it very far in this game if the house hasn't got your back. Obama understood that from day one. As did G. W. Bush before him.

Dubya's rise to the highest office in the land has been to that regard a most perfect example of what "house advantage" means, if any such a demonstration was ever needed. So has the impotence and ongoing belittlement of the Left made irrelevant under the Obama presidency—this, at the very same time Astroturf wars were building up what was eventually to grow into the current Tea Party movement.

Shock and awe! What a demonstration of strength! The rest is history, and history is written by the victors... Enters Robert Barro...
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e = mc², mon Amour

2011-09-12T13:01:00.001-07:00

Boys and girls of every age

2011-09-08T19:26:00.001-07:00

Wouldn't you like to see something strange?

Meanwhile in the Los Angeles Times today—surprise, surprise...not! (not really):

Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream...

But, hey, don't blame the Los Angeles Times, they are just the messenger—right?

In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

In this town, don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise

Aah...and here is the online version (same story, different title):

That's right, folks, we gotta "protect" them jobs from "Big Government," ya' know.

[WEREWOLF]

Aren't you scared?

[WITCHES]

Well, that's just fine

Say it once, say it twice

Take a chance and roll the dice

Ride with the moon in the dead of night

[CLOWN]

I am the clown with the tear-away face

Here in a flash and gone without a trace

[GHOUL]

I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"

I am the wind blowing through your hair

[OOGIE BOOGIE SHADOW]

I am the shadow on the moon at night

Filling your dreams to the brim with fright

Sweet Mystery of Life — take two

2011-09-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sweet Mystery of Life

2011-09-07T16:45:00.001-07:00

I know... I am surprised that the gentleman from Seattle is not already on top of that story by now...

Or that story:

I do not have the pretension of filling in for the gentleman—I would never presume. But you know how it is... Somebody's got to do it.

Shane on you!

2011-09-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

How does media shape public opinion?

Easy!

Case in point. Take Shane Goldmatcher's article on the front page of today's edition of the Los Angeles Times, for instance:

Note: For those of you looking for the online edition, the title has been changed already to:
Poll illustrates California voters' anger.

I quote:

Gee, I wonder why that is, Shane?

Lemme see...could it have anything to do perhaps with how the media pundits and political hacks, including President Obama and Shane Goldmatcher himself, have been framing the issue?

I quote:

Strident pro-government rhetoric?

Whoa! Gag me with a spoon. We don't want that, now, do we?

What would a "more nuanced" Democratic message ought to be now, pray tell?

Shh! Let's pay close attention now; Shane the nuanced one is speaking:

"Rollback of Corporate taxes" and "targeted spending cuts," quoth Shane Goldmatcher, that's what a more nuanced Democratic message is!

Now, you know.

And, just for the record, Shane is a graduate of UC Berkeley.

Makes you wonder what it is they teach at Berkeley, these days?

Probably some of the same thing they teach at Harvard, no doubt . . .

Or Yale . . .

Ja wohl, mein Führer

2011-09-01T14:41:00.001-07:00

...and the IQ of a turnip, no doubt.

I mean, what's this?

The rise of the Fourth Reich?

(I kid Mark Zuckerberg.)

But seriously now, when did anyone ever needed a Facebook account to make their profile available online, if they so chose.

I don't know either that anyone ever needed a Facebook account to find anyone's bio online.

Not with the multitude of web hosting programs, personalized splash pages, and search engines available on the World Wide Web.

OK now, one more time:

Anything on these protests outside the White House?

2011-08-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

LOL

The Candidate...

2011-08-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

That's as good a definition as it gets.

Thank you, Paul!

Machiavelli 101, really:

Paul Krugman was speaking very specifically, here, of "one of our two major political parties" (the party Jon Huntsman Jr. referred to as "the anti-science party.")

And his point is well taken:

and

But then again, Democrat or Republican candidates alike (does it even matter anymore?), do we ever know who it is really who's won the presidential election, beyond...

Do you really believe you know who your president is?

They say:

But what end is that?

Who are these people?

Where are they taking the country?

Nobody knows.

There is a word for this:

In this technological age of political consulting, opinion polling, and Machiavellianism on crack, now, more than ever, political and economical obscurantism rules the day.

Not that the pretense of a real political alternation is any more believable on the other side of the Atlantic...

Perception is everything, don't you know?

The Reason Greens Do Not Matter

2011-08-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't want to demean the dedication and the courage of those people—good honest and responsible citizens (US citizens and Earth Citizens alike), humans with a conscience, each and everyone of them...

And Virginia Kennedy's open letter to Obama is a telling and moving account of where the movement is standing, right now.

But nobody cares—not the media, not the corporatist political elite, and not much of the people in America really.

And here are the reasons why:

1. THIS:

You guys are not members of the Tea Party—and so anything you may have to say, any protest you may stage, simply doesn't exist in so far as the corporate News media are concerned. It's not news, unless they say it's news, right? Besides all the pundits knows you guys are just a bunch of well-meaning but deluded fringe lunatics who don't understand anything to the realities of the world we live in. Furthermore the number of people taking Global Warming seriously has decreased by a whopping 15% [Gallup poll], ever since Obama took office (I wonder why?)

2. AND THIS:

I give you Daniel J. Weiss, a senior fellow with the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund, and Tony Cani, the Sierra Group’s national political director...

I rest my case.

Where else are they going to go, right?

Obama doesn't have a credibility problem; the Green movement has a credibility problem.

It matters little how softly or how loudly one speaks, when one doesn't carry a big stick.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Pale Blue Dot

2011-08-28T16:14:00.001-07:00

One night, as I was slumbering in some English pub in the heart of London...

2011-08-27T17:49:00.001-07:00

Reality 2.0

2011-08-24T20:50:00.001-07:00

Where is the counterculture when we need it?

Depends whom you ask...

- Philippe Breton (Le Monde Diplomatique):

- Future Man:

- Sam Smith (the Progressive Review):

Neoliberalism 2.0

2011-08-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

LOL

I kid the neo-libs.

Not that there is anything wrong with that — being a neo-lib, that is.

I mean that's fine if that's who you are.

But, please, do not insult people's intelligence: let's drop the pretense that we still have two parties in this country.

Another Fine Myth

2011-08-23T23:19:00.001-07:00

Good Cop/Bad Cop

2011-08-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

A common dramatic technique in cinema and television...

...and American Politics!

But who cares about "angry liberals", really:

From where the DNC is standing, Obama doesn't have a credibility problem;
liberals have a credibility problem.

The sad thing about it, is that this pollster probably got it right, angry liberals are just experiencing stage 2 of the Kübler-Ross model, right now. Some have been trying bargaining (stage 3), to no avail (as an old proverb puts it, "the prettiest girl in the world can only give what she has," and the DNC already took that from her); others are already undergoing stage 4 (depression); soon stage 5 (acceptance) will follow.

Or as J.R. Ewing would put it:

Until then, liberals' place at the table will be little more than this:

Or this:

Not that there is anything wrong with that. After all, rodeo clown is a respected occupation—better than being a liberal, actually, in many quarters, including the DNC, from what I understand.

Unless, of course, you are one of those who still happen to think that the Democratic party really has a socially liberal and progressive platform (in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, John F. Kennedy's New Frontier, and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society) and president Obama truly is a social liberal (and not a neoliberal in the tradition of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher). It's OK, you are only experiencing stage one of the Kübler-Ross model. Nothing wrong with that. You are not alone. Many people do...at first.

Careful. Human no like smart ape.

2011-08-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Like the way humans have been living alongside their own kind, no doubt: the same way Hernan Cortes de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, lived alongside the indigenous people of the Americas; or the neo-conquistadors of the 19th and 20th century, alongside their African, Indians, and Far-Eastern brethren; or, more recently, the modern conquistadors of the 3rd millennium and their predator drones, in the Middle East and South Asia.

And intelligence drug that works on human would be nice.

Or perhaps just simply a culture based on individual empowerment, instead of a dystopian society that controls its middle and lower citizenry through fear, ignorance, insecurity, and a suppressive socio-economic order that thrives on making people feel like less than they are.

Sadly, if such a drug were to be found, chances are that it would be immediately suppressed.

An empowered and fully cognizant citizenry is the last thing those who occupy that "exalted place at the top of the food chain" really want right now.

A fearful and ignorant citizenry is easier to control.

To that regard, it has been abundantly clear from day one that the Tea party has been nothing but a boon to the political agenda of the ruling elite on either side of the political spectrum (i.e. the current two parties), and probably more so to the DNC, which has been more comfortable with the Tea party and the non-nonsensical irrelevant day to day welcome distraction (and convenient alibi) the said party provides (e.g. "Obama is a Kenyan," "Obama wants to kill grandma," etc.) than it is with its own progressive base, or any kind of genuine informed debate about anything at all with anyone, for that matter. What the people think (progressives, independents, conservatives, or Tea-party-ers alike), is irrelevant — all the decision (the ones that matter) have all already been taken behind closed doors, in secrecy, by "your betters."

This is how the Republic is ruled.

Careful. The Man no like smart ape.

Tchi-Cum-Bah!

2011-08-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

You gotta love it!

LOL

Superbus comes to mind ;-)

Rosie's Honor

2011-08-17T11:52:00.001-07:00

Bottom line: He got his way with her . . .

And, thus far, short of a meaningful opposition in the State Senate, the scoundrel is getting away with it . . .

Same ol' same ol' . . .

Where is Rob Roy, when we need him?

We all know the bar is a good place for a joke so...

2011-08-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

A CEO, a tea party-er and a union man sit down to a plate of a dozen cookies - The CEO promptly takes 11 of the cookies and turns to the tea party-er and says: "Watch it! That union guy wants part of your cookie!"

Upton Girl

2011-08-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

Ah! I am not sure what the relevance is, either.

But thank you for the pointer.

Your Future Has Been Adjusted

2011-08-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Which does raise the question:

What is the perfect amount of scuffing?

Do they really pay consultants seventy three hundred dollars to figure these things out?

I mean, don't get me wrong, if supply-side economics is your shtick, that's fine with me.

Just one school of macroeconomic among others . . .

The way I look at it, everyone's entitled to their beliefs and all that. But shouldn't the guy have run under the GOP banner?

Just asking.

This explains it

2011-08-02T17:14:00.001-07:00

Rank incompetence or . . . ?

2011-08-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Could Matt Taibbi be right about this:

GREETINGS PROFESSOR FALKEN

2011-08-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

The Long View™

2011-08-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

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That's the problem with those who draw their power directly form the Most High.

Neither side cares about people; it's always the long view™ for them. Always oh so reasonably willing to sacrifice "today" (i.e. people), in the name of tomorrow™.

God helps the millions of poor souls these cold-blooded apparatchiks, Democrats and Republicans alike, are willfully sacrificing on the altar of their single-minded ideology.

Correct me if I am wrong, but last time I checked Grover Norquist was not president of the United States.

I don't remember him running for president in 2008. And I don't recall him being elected to the highest office in the nation. But, for all practical purpose, he may as well have been.

Or did I miss something?

Did I come out the wrong door, leaving The Wulfshead one night, and unwittingly re-entered an alternate reality?

You know... The kind of stories one reads about in these science fiction alternate history novels in which the Allied lost WWII and America surrendered to Nazi Germany?

Whatever happened to The Dream?
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The 3rd millennium is so tame

2011-07-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

Mother Fountain

2011-07-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

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Wine?

Man is more ape than many of the apes

2011-07-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Be that as it may . . .

I am still not sure what to make of that new DJ at the Wulfshead.

Expect the Unexpected

2011-07-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

With Friends Like These...

2011-07-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

Cuts to Anthem's rate hikes are not for everyone
150,983 people with individual Anthem policies plans overseen by the Department of Managed Health Care, an agency under California Gov. Jerry Brown (left), saw raised rates by as much as 26% in their premium starting May 1st — in addition to a hike in co-pay and deductibles.

Practically all of them will be paying significantly more than those (about 600,000 people) who had the good fortune of being under the supervision of State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.

Many of the policyholders facing bigger rate increases said they were surprised to learn that their individual plans were regulated by the managed healthcare department. They said they had believed — incorrectly — that they too would see a limited increase on their rates and other costs, like most other consumers with individual policies from Anthem.

The department asked Anthem to justify the cost differences and report back by April 25 — days before the new rates took effect.

More than two months later, now, nearly 121,000 people are still eagerly awaiting an answer.

Doubtless, any time soon, now, they'll be hearing back from the department...

Consumer advocates also are puzzled:

Contempt for the People

2011-07-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

I didn't like it, then, when the Bush-Cheney administration was doing it.

And I don't like it, now, when the Obama administration does it.

Transactional Analysis calls it a Crossed Transaction:

A Crossed transaction is one in which the ego-state being responded to is not the ego-states that was addressing the respondent.

While usually not intentional (i.e. non-conscious), this state of things however can be deliberate where politics is concerned—and oftentimes carefully cultivated (the father figure still remains to this day a proven potent political archetype).

Happens all the time.

Especially in a system, where the relationship between a wealthy political elite and ordinary citizens is not unlike that between nobles and commoners.

Low levels of education and literacy and a debilitated media (subservient to the aforementioned elite) mean that many people are not fully informed about what matters to them. Their deliberate isolation from social, economical and ecological realities means that many do not even think of politics, other than the unexamined commonplace and misleading talking points of the day being served to them by the media (aka disinformation). There is a common feeling that the average person cannot affect the politics of the country, so there is no reason to try (other than once every few years—those who still have faith in the system—during election time).

As for those who try...

Except, that, as it turns out, the Republican caucus really does have nothing to do with it, does it, Mr. President?

Just as the Republican Caucus really had nothing to do either with the "no public option" backroom deal you made with the for-profit hospital lobby in Summer 2009 (I know what you did last Summer).

In a perfect modern representative democracy, of course, the ideal line of communication between the people and their political representatives would be the mature and rational "Adult-Adult" relationship:

Talking at the same level as the other person acts to create trust.

Don't hold your breath, though—it's not going to happen.

There is nothing that politicians fear most than an educated and informed population.

In politics, people are not to be "informed," they are to be "handled" (this is Machiavellianism-101, for you).

"Controlling-Parent" politicians invites their constituents into a Child state where they may conform with their demands. The Adaptive "naughty child" and rebel, of course, is, a natural byproduct of that kind of dynamic. The Adaptive Child reacts to the world around them, either changing themselves to fit in or rebelling against the forces they feel. But "naughty children" have always been so easy to marginalize—especially with the help of the compliant media. They can be manipulated and their anger and frustration channeled and redirected (e.g. Tea Party movement), or they can be ridiculed and dismissed as irrelevant (e.g. President Obama's most favored method in handling dissent from his progressive base).

Le Grand Vent

2011-07-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

Le renard et la belette

2011-07-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

2011-07-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

Where have I heard that tune before?

2011-07-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Un

Deux

Trois

Quatre

Un

Deux

Trois

Quatre

Why, I think it's a mazurka, sir.

Nature Shows . . .

2011-07-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

Always sure to captivate and amaze!

Entertaining and educational, and entirely factual, they portay the environment in fun, adventurous, amusing ways – ideal for a solid learning experience, no matter the age.

You should be so lucky

2011-07-06T16:45:00.001-07:00

The question is . . .

Would the inhabitants of New Pacifica conceivably be as gullible as the Aztecs or the Incas?

Sometimes it's hard

2011-06-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

But you gotta understand...

When the lord made me, he made a ramblin' man...

Philosophy with Dice

2011-06-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

I like White Wolf's D10 Dice Pool mechanic.

And WoD certainly takes you places:

It's just that...I don't know...I never could quite exactly explain the feeling, until Chris Gunning aptly and somewhat poetically put it this way, here:

Reading one of these books is like...

Truly excellently put. That's the feeling, exactly.

That, and also the fact that White Wolf is a publisher in the business of...
publishing—obviously!

And it shows!

The more books, the better (for the publisher—quite obviously!):

The books cover what they choose to in exacting detail, and send the reader for more and more books to complete the big picture.

Most of them can be fun:

- Spirit Rules – the Storyteller’s Companion
- Spirits – Book of Madness
- Demons and Infernal Pacts – Book of Madness
- The Spirit Wilds – Umbra Revised (for Werewolf)
- The Shadowlands – Wraith: The Oblivion
- The Dreaming – Changeling: The Dreaming

But the list is endless, not to mention that it can rapidly become costly, and role-playing a predefined "paradigm" (especially in the Mage series), as opposed to something less constraining, like, say, the more generic D&D characters alignment system, can feel like too much of a straitjacket, at times.

Ideally, a good tabletop RPG settings should give just enough of a shared-universe for players to manifest their characters without burdening them with so many details and so much game mechanics that the players and GM's imagination can no longer take flight.

Because, otherwise, it would be too much like the "real world" out there—the make believe world of our politicians and economist and media pundits—wouldn't it?

Master of the game is he who creates the rules—not he who just follows them.

In my experience, most Game Masters seldom bother following the letter of any given system's law, anyway. The best of them eventually end-up generating their own material independently, and, oftentimes in contradiction with the rules and premises of all the painstakingly pre-written material laid out for them in these books.

They do make for a fine collection, though.

What care I for human hearts?

2011-06-17T19:46:00.001-07:00

The Man, the Legend

2011-06-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.
When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
— Buddha

Am I the only one here to see another wasted opportunity for the Dems—yet again—out of all that nonsensical mass media nonsense?

On a peripherally related matter—speaking of missed opportunities and all—a genuinely progressive President with some lead in his pants could have been some change one might have believed in . . . for a change.

I am just saying.

Whiners and Winners

2011-06-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

Now, you know.

You're like a sheep, my brother

2011-05-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

You're like a scorpion, my brother,
you live in cowardly darkness
like a scorpion.
You're like a sparrow, my brother,
always in a sparrow's flutter.
You're like a clam, my brother,
closed like a clam, content,
And you're frightening, my brother,
like the mouth of an extinct volcano.

Not one,
not five--
unfortunately, you number millions.
You're like a sheep, my brother:
when the cloaked drover raises his stick,
you quickly join the flock
and run, almost proudly, to the slaughterhouse.
I mean you're the strangest creature on earth--
even stranger than the fish
that couldn't see the ocean for the water.
And the oppression in this world
is thanks to you.
And if we're hungry, tired, covered with blood,
and still being crushed like grapes for our wine,
the fault is yours--
I can hardly bring myself to say it,
but most of the fault, my dear brother, is yours.

— Nâzım Hikmet, The Strangest Creature on Earth
(Trans. by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk, 1993)

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

2011-05-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

I was busy watching this, last night:

So . . .

. . . don't ask me about that:

I wouldn't know anything about it.
-

Facebook and Twitter are just so passé

2011-05-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

Q:

A:

You know what your problem is, Don? You just need to grow up.

You remind me of Armand. You two are just so afraid you're going to be left behind and fall off the "bridge" to the next century.

You're clinging to youth as if your lives depended on it, but do you know what youth is?

Do you remember when you were five?

Of course, you don't. Not to worry, most people don't.

What about thirteen, then?

Remember what it felt like when you were thirteen, Don? The other kids, older than you, on the playground? Two feet taller and looking down at you?

You and Armand, you're just like Will, aren't you? All grown-up, and yet still so scared you're going to be ditched.

You realize how Adlerian all of this is, don't you? Über den nervösen Charakters!

I mean, look at Armand. Armand is 400 years old. Remember when you were thirteen and how you looked up back then to the kids three or five years older than you were? Now, imagine facing a kid much older than you are. A kid twice your age. Three, four, five...ten times your age, or more.

No wonder, Oedipus killed his father. Who wants to live in the shadow of another, your elder forever?

Biologists call it SAS (Shade Avoidance Syndrome).

It's a pretty universal theme, really.

Modern moms nowadays, they are trying so hard to stay fit and trim; like some of your colleagues, Don, they've become so intent mimicking what the next generation is doing.

This is the reason why they follow the same fashion their daughters do, and wear the same things—or try to. And vice-versa—don't ask—clothing fashion can be so elusive (way more transient than any technological trend).

And this is the reason why their daughters are trying so hard to create their own style and eventually end-up wearing clothes that would look utterly ridiculous on their moms—it's the whole point.

I don't blame them. I mean, Madonna is great and everything, but who wants to live forever in the shadow of anyone, regardless of how great they are?

This is the reason why these kids aren't exchanging emails with you anymore, Don. This is your thing—that's what your generation did. Kids, they don't want to just catch up and follow in your footsteps, they don't want to play by your rules, Don, you know that! Not if there is another way around. Not when they can change the rules and have it "their way."

As for Facebook and Twitter, they are so passé, already. Do you know how I know that, Don? Your generation has just begun getting into it... Time to move on to the next thing. I wonder what it will be, next year.

The Heretic

2011-05-13T12:12:00.001-07:00

Who would have thought?

Until then, I had always thought of the man as a jaded and scornful cynic, through and through; a man with no illusions about human nature, skeptical of the motives of others, distrusting of human sincerity or integrity---you know, essentially, the kind of cynicism on which is founded the gospel of capitalism à la Milton Friedman, rooted in the fundamentalist belief that people can only be motivated by base or selfish concerns, and the dogma that profiteering is the only possible engine to any viable society.

Which brings us to organized religion. Because, this is what we are talking about, here, aren't we? And, like all the high priests of any organized religions, the hierophants of the invisible hand of the market do not tolerate any shade of gray; there can be no middle ground where the faith is concerned. It's either Milton (Friedman)'s paradise or Hell (think Joseph Stalin and Chairman Mao with pitchforks). It's Paul the Apostle all over again: the original sin. Man is lazy (especially colored people, don't ya know) and selfish and no good can come of them. Only in blind obedience to the holy trinity, Profit (the father), Corporate Capitalism (the son), and the invisible hand of the market (the holy spirit), can society ever hope to be redeemed. And, of course, all must be converted to the faith—no room for dissent, here—there is no other way. Any form of deviance from the established dogma is heresy and the work of the devil. You are either with us or you are against us. Are you saved, brother? Are you a born again Venture Capitalist, yet, sister? Have you worshiped on the altar of Wall Street? Are you...a shareholder?

This once, here is hoping that Christopher is right about this (the part about human solidarity). The man is a humanist—an affirmation of some positive notion of "human nature" by contrast with the anti-humanism of people like Milton Friedman and his ilk. There's got to be more to the world than that.

Or is there?

Softly, softly, treads the Mungle

2011-05-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Clearly Assad ought to be commanded, here, for his non-lethal methods of crowd control. I mean this is the way it is done in Europe and the US and the rest of the "civilized" world, isn't it so?

Iran, you say?

Ah, that would explain it, then.

Cause', you know, I was going to say:

"What? No water cannons?"

Ah, Assad, Assad, Assad...you've still got so much to learn (—and so little time?)

If crowd control is your game, forget Ahmadinejad, the man is just an amateur
— like you, he's still got so much to learn in the ways of the free word.

Take your cue form the pros:

Don't pay the Mullahs of Iran any heed — you know better than that. Do your own research.

Keep up to date:

Canadian police show off another “less lethal” crowd control toy deployed at the coinciding G8 and G20 in Canada, last year.

Pop goes the Greek police Tactical Baton® over the head of one of the "aganaktismenoi" (the "outraged," of the Indignant Citizens Movement) who have been demonstrating since May in Athens and in many cities across Greece to protest "the pauperizing of working Greeks, the loss of sovereignty that has turned the country into a neocolonial fiefdom of bankers, and the destruction of democracy."

And if all fails, do yourself a favor and hire yourself some real pros, true and tested
— works for us:

All for the good of your people, of course.

Welcome to the free world, Assad, you lucky bastard!.

2012 is approaching rapidly, and there is an election coming on. Pay close attention, now, and you may learn a thing or two.

Our Mungle speaks tonife at eight
He tell us wop to doo

What, with a little luck, soon, your people, too, shall learn to love Vogon poetry.

Some will tell you that listening to it is an experience similar to torture. But don't you believe them, now: "America doesn't torture."

Strangers in a Strange Land

2011-05-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

Come to think of it, there is something that strikes me as oddly familiar about Palobi and Mudeya.

Especially Palobi...

I think he reminds me of Jazzolog.

Anyway, it's just so nice to see that really true gem of a documentary aired on TV again.

I just so happened to catch it on TV5 Monde last Wednesday:

And the National Geographic will be airing it again next week, on Monday:

The central importance of entering into worlds other than our own—and hence of anthropology itself—lies in the fact that the experience leads us to understand that our own world is also a cultural construct.
~Walter Goldschmidt

Is that all there is?

2011-05-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

And...uh...?

Er...

Thanks, but no thanks?

Don't Be Alarmed!

2011-05-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile...in Washington.

SECURITY CLEARANCE

2011-05-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

INFRARED—
CLEARED FOR ALL CITIZENS

TRUST GOOGLE! GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND!

Collective intelligence? Or...

2011-05-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

Only the names and faces have been blurred to protect the innocent.

Speaking of which...

And it keeps getting smaller, every day.
-

A man gets tied up to the ground, he gives the earth its saddest sound.

2011-04-30T12:05:00.001-07:00

They'll tell you that you can't do it, but, remember, it doesn't always work.

Amazing Skill

2011-04-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

Kids nowadays...such cynicism!

I wonder why...

When in Rome...

2011-04-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

Part of the series's appeal is their well written dialogues, rich characters, and subtlety in their interactions...

Or so I have been told.

Sometimes, viewers almost forget to lie...

No that there is anything wrong with that, of course.

But, if it isn't too bold of me to ask...

Why not just go straight to the real thing, then?

"Well written dialogues, rich characters, and subtlety in their interactions" notwithstanding, of course.
-

That old meme again!

2011-04-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

LOL

Hat tip to Keli Goff for a very pertinent social commentary:

I hear you, girls...

2011-04-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

I know how you feel about this.

But what about MY feelings?

The Life of Reason

2011-04-14T18:29:00.001-07:00

Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.

But then again, it requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious:

Works for me.

Stay with us, as researchers explore next some more of Science's most puzzling and mind-bending questions:

My hero!

2011-04-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

Or is he?

Disclaimer: Joe Dinicola is in no way responsible for this alternate version of his work. The origin of this particular version is unknown and can only be accounted for by the atypical location of the Wulfshead at the heart of the multiverse. You do understand about parallel universes...of course you do.

It's true, it's nonfactual, everything is satisfactual

2011-04-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

The bad workman blame his tools

2011-04-12T17:16:00.001-07:00

The higher the artist, the fewer the gestures.

The fewer the tools, the greater the imagination.

This just in:

2011-04-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

But seriously, now...

Who ever gave a wet fart what the public wanted?

Ever?

About anything?

 Who cares what "a majority of Americans" want? That would be mob rule---don't you know?

Can't have that!

Unless, of course, by "a majority of Americans," you mean this nation's "best informed and most engaged citizens".

Two hundred is a crowd!

It goes to show you . . .

2011-04-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

Relativity is a bitch, I guess.
-

Patriot Games

2011-03-31T12:59:00.001-07:00

Why “Patriot”?

They explain it here.

Because "that’s who they are!" They believe--I quote---"in the greatness of our nation, in our Constitution, in God-given liberty and limited government."

Why “Action”?

Because "that’s what they do!" They have---I quote---"a place in the political debate because they are among the best informed and most engaged citizens in our nation."

I say good for them! These are challenging times, and the nation sure can use all the "best informed" patriots and "most engaged" watchmen groups it can.

Take this, for instance:

Fear not, TRUTHER is on top of it here:

I say, good for the Patriot Action Network for posting this---they are "informed"!

Now, how "engaged" are they gonna be?

I mean:

Let's hear what these good patriots have to say about this. Let's hear it from some of our "best informed and most engaged citizens"---this is exciting folks (holding my breath):

Huh?

What would Jefferson say?

2011-03-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

Fascismo e libertà

2011-03-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

~~Who is John Galt?~~

Who is Spartacus?

Sign up today!

And get your toga, while supplies last.

And one more thing...

2011-03-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

LOL

Gotta ♥ that pic.
-

Swimming in a fish bowl

2011-03-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

Debbie and Mike suspect something's amiss . . .

2011-03-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

But who will believe them?

These are the people Robert Gibbs warned you about

2011-03-21T11:28:00.001-07:00

Now on tour in the U.S. & Canada:

Acid Mothers Temple 2011 Tour Dates:

03/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland *
03/24 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill *
03/26 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge *
03/27 – Bellingham, WA @ The Wild Buffalo *
03/28 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
03/29 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret *
03/31 – Calgary, AB @ Broken City *
04/01 – Missoul, MT @ THe Badlander *
04/02 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge *
04/03 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge *
04/04 – Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre *
04/05 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry *
04/06 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *
04/07 – Kalamazoo, MI @ The Strutt *
04/08 – Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo *
04/09 – Montreal, QC @ Il Motore *
04/10 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott *
04/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory *
04/13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas *
04/14 – Washington, DC @ Red Palace *
04/15 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar *
04/16 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 *
04/17 – Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light *
04/18 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl *
04/19 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks *
04/20 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgeralds *
04/21 – Dallas, TX @ The Loft *
04/22 – Austin, TX @ Red 7 *
04/24 – Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
04/25 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah

* = w/ Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers
* = w/ Shilpa Ray
* = w/ Melting Parasio UFO

I have been here before

2011-03-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

But when or how I cannot tell.

"Americans overuse medical services because they generally don't have to pay much for them..."

2011-03-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

Presidential Straw Poll

2011-03-16T18:43:00.001-07:00

As GOP presidential hopefuls begin to test the waters in preparation for the 2012 election, Townhall and HotAir are conducting a poll to gauge whom conservatives are currently leaning towards.

May the best ~~man~~ candidate win:

Lord of the Flies

2011-03-16T12:50:00.001-07:00

Wow, quite some program there on the Daily Paul. I wonder what the good doctor's position is on any of this, and whether he endorses the site or any of its content.

Oye Oye OYE VAY! What a concept! Yup, Pol Pot himself couldn't have possibly said it any better!

Who would have thought that the Republican Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas (and presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1988) could have so much in common with the Khmer Rouge of 1975-1979 Kampuchea.

When the Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia in April 1975, age was reversed as a marker of status, very young children--the only ones considered pure--were indoctrinated to denounce and turn against suspect adults. Elderly, who were previously accorded great respect, were cast aside as useless and unproductive. Traditional norms of respect for elders were suppressed and the "Comrade Child" was praised as being "pure and unsullied by the corrupt past of the adults."
(Ponchaud, 1977, p. 143).

Special spy units, Kang Chhlop, were composed mainly of children and were used to spy on adults. One Cambodian woman recalled the power given to children under the Khmer Rouge:

In the Pol Pot times children could catch an adult if they thought they had done wrong. They could beat the adult. For example, if an adult was caught stealing fruit a child could tell the soldiers: "look they are our enemies". Then the soldiers would set a chair for the child to stand on so that they could beat the adult's head.
(Boyden and Gibbs, 1997, p. 44)

Children rose quickly up the ranks of the Khmer Rouge and it was not unusual for children to be in charge of workcamps at the age of twelve. Camps run by these children became notorious for the extreme and arbitrary violence inflicted on the inmates. Children, even more than adults, appeared particularly cruel. Even after Cambodia was liberated in 1979 by the Vietnamese, there remained a "residual fear of children" in the country (Boyden and Gibbs, 1997, p. 98).

When doves cry

2011-03-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

Maybe I’m just too demanding

Maybe I’m just like my father too bold

Bravo.

2011-03-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

So I'm watching the Rachel Maddow show and as you would expect, it's all about the Japan disaster. One of her guests, the head scientist for a group called the Union of Concerned Scientists or something like that, was saying that at this point the "best-case scenario" for the Nuclear power plant accidents is that it is "merely" a Three Mile Island, not a Chernobyl.

Remember the Simpsons episode where Homer stops a crisis at the plant by falling into a tank and sealing an opening therein with his own body?

Burns: Homer, your bravery and quick thinking have turned a potential Chernobyl into a mere Three Mile Island. Bravo!

To coin a phrase: We are all Springfielders now.

Is that a rhetorical question?

2011-03-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

Uh... No, WH, I don't think the author of the article does---have any shame. I don't think that any one at FSM does.

I mean, seriously, have you taken a good look at what that site looks like?

Disclaimer: the edited Fatherland poster featuring Tom McLaughlin is not an actual feature of FSM, the satirical collage is meant only for humorous effect.
-

To be or not to be . . .

2011-03-09T13:49:00.001-08:00

That is the question:

Why, obviously, if he says so, that must be it.