There is nothing like dating to convince someone of how much American woman have been oppressed over the years. I don't know if they have to be so heavy-handed; they wear their suffering on their sleeves. Many of them are terrorized by anything not approved by the etiquette police of Cosmo and Redbook and Oprah.

Weren't woman supposed to be the radical force in society after liberation, perhaps up to and including the ease at sympathizing with Third World countries due to feverish, mutual yearnings to shake off the honkie-imperialist yoke. Fat white woman dating black men so they could share crib notes on white male oppression. Let me clue you in girls: its wrong to judge someone on the color of their skin; its not wrong to be prejudiced against public health hazards like upsizing your human carcasses to super-sized sow.

To those with higher-than-average-incomes and fake boobs-at least your giving something back.

Your adopting the same "whatever it takes" model of laissez-faire ethics so prevalent in the post-caring economy. Lies and breasts: the bigger the better. However like our bald, testicular
Nazi shadow, prevarication must be cleansed by hygiene-all backs and vaginas must be dipiliated. We must all have the innocent smooth skin of the baby; who ever heard of Eve sporting a super-bush?

Ok, so blacks were sold out for a place at the Mandarin bankers table; Women sold their moral capital for the right not to be called "baby" on their way up the ladder to middle-mangement. Yeah, lots of people sell out in the valley of the green Manna-so what? Why should fish walk to work?

White males are still leading the traitor brigade: Senator Evan "fucking" Bayh just co-sponsored a bill to starve Iranians of their european oil supplies, all in the interests of his "America first" AIPAC handlers; all the while contradicting the entire legacy of his father-who championed the disadvantaged-by throwing out the specter of "nationalization" of the banks and "socialization" of health care. Evan isn't too concerned about AIPAC personnel going on trial for espionage, and one in his own party, Jane Harman, Democrat from California, caught on FBI tape offering a Quid Pro Quo to the AIPAC traitors; nor the fact that his own healthcare is taxpayer funded.

Maybe all men really are dogs; but real men with a conscience are definitely not blue-dogs. That's why everyone hates the Klan-way too goddamned honest. One thing all corruption and corruptees have learned over the last 50 years; if your heart is on your sleeve, burn your sleeve...

Just a heard a woman in Wal-mart talking about her relatives down in Arkansas-how they just missed the Tornadoes. I'm always amazed these days how small the death tolls are relative to the level of destruction; obviously much better warning systems have greatly improved survivability. Prediction is the key to mitigating all violence.

Looks like mother nature is a simpleton compared to humanity: we are nowhere near being able to predict violence in human beings; the rash of recent rage shootings have caught everyone off guard, and though we know economic downturns have a hand in pushing some over the edge, what final crossed-line morphs us into people hunters is anybody's guess.
If only we had a national weather service for stormy minds...

I am starting to run into some old friends, and per usual, they are always displaced from the path I assumed they would travel. Its hard for anyone with any type of spark to follow a purely linear path to some idealized goal of self-fulfillment. I know a math-major from a major university, who straight-out of school decided to become a ski instructor in California; an art major who is now in real estate. The crappy economy is somewhat to blame, and the fact that enjoyable livings are still not all that common; neither are intellectually stimulating jobs. To sling the muck of modern life means many menial jobs with shitty benefits and global competition for those jobs; sellers of their labor are desperate and buyers of that labor are paranoid, and frequently antagonistic too, the idea of the low-lifes banding together like the abused hookers they are for strength and solidarity. Perhaps international unions are in order; why should only transnational corporations be allowed free travel across borders. How about the working man, however vague that concept is right now!



I go into this heated discussion, wondering how long liberal arts educations will continue to produce bright people with degrees that can't be employed in the economy? Obviously not every program can have the liquidity of an Engineering degree; education that prepares you to be a citizen, must first of all prepare you to be able to make a living. Who gives a shit about Art in a bread line?(probably more than we know).



I just turned 50; my time to start reevaluating all of my priorities, short and long-term, that still exist in my media fragmented, addiction addled mind. Times relentless nocturne has lulled my libido into hibernation; my willpower is looking toward death with a hope for positive anguish-maybe fear is a way to rekindle passion; why not pursue what I always wanted to do-be an artist?



I've turned that way, but like my friends above, I doubt straight passage-our lives follow the convolutions of our brains...

Everything that claims too, or actually does, control or seriously mitigate pain is addictive; and this includes the ugly formulas of rationalization used to suppress a guilty conscience, or to deny one has an addiction.

Pain killer addiction is commonplace; because on top of the pain blocking factors, the drugs deliver euphoric feelings, which require ever higher doses to maintain, leading eventually to with drawl symptoms (pain reliever-caused pain) unless proper dosages are maintained. Not too surprising that a creature with built in pain-reduction chemicals(endorphins) would be susceptible to opiate abuse, or any other drug that temporarily suspends either endogenous, or extraneous negative stressors.

The "experts" are now talking about video game addictions (ten percent of players) and sexual addictions (masturbation leading to rotator cuff injury). There are even pain addicts, getting their fix with needles / piercings and the cane of former cheerleaders turned dark mistresses
with cat-o-nine pom-pons. Perhaps anyone who has a lifetime vocation or hobby is indeed addicted to their fascination; perhaps addiction, like the money that attracts people like shit seduces flies, is necessary for civilization?

Ive been in an active forum about gun control; many right-wing fantasies of government utilizing bans on assault weapons as a stepping stone to a police state. God knows I share their paranoia about the government to some extent, but I don't think any gun ban is immanent, and there are good reasons not to ban weapons from the governments perspective. It would simply bankrupt the country to a point of no return to have a war on guns-we have way too many wars to handle as it is....



Besides, given the Obama stimulus bill, does it make any sense to go about banning a tool that provides so many people jobs. Without armed robberies, shootings, and home invasions, much less police might be needed, furthering the unemployment situation. They might all go into the military; then we could afford to send soldiers everywhere including Pakistan if necessary.



No, we need guns to stay sober...

Looks like the liberal mandate is pretty much been sabotaged by "moderate" Democrats led by Evan Bayh. His fathers legacy of helping those nasty Blue Collar workers has been dumped in favor of populist rhetoric masking conservative inclinations toward public services. The Democrats won in name only; seems like the Senate is populated with ideological transvestites, who would be Republicans in a more transparent milieu, and rather rightward Republicans at that, given the seismic shift to the right in ideology over the last 30 years...

Looks like were stuck with a banking bailout incapable of even considering temporary nationalization; instead we get a deal where the public assumes 90 percent of the risk in buying mortgage garbage, which the people who fucked us can later sell for hefty returns. At any rate, its reported by Krugman and others, that the strategy they are pursuing is shadowing-to a frightening degree-what the Japanese did prior to their "lost decade." Unfortuantely, Barack has put into place a barrage of Clintonian bureaucrats, some of the same involved in the original laissez-faire financial orgies deregulating the markets and repealing Glass-Stengal.

Those who do not remember the past, are usually Americans...

All media outlets are blaring in stentorian tones about the latest Obamination:Socialism! You hear the cry from the pages of Time, and from such iconical Right-Wing luminaries as Rush "Vicodin" Limbaugh,
and the ever effervescent Newt "Contract with Bank of America" Gingrich, who went even further, stating the Obama administration is the closest attempt yet at "European" socialism (a very distinct variety, not akin to African socialism).


Since the people who helped wreck America, might indeed have some insight into who is now wrecking America, let us sequester our more rational faculties temporarily, and against better judgement, take these reactionary economic hooligans seriously. Is "Obama administration" just another way of saying Eugene Debs or the Socialist Workers Party?

What are Socialists normally concerned with? Socialized Medicine would be high on the Agenda; no plans for that, unless you believe Medicare is socialized medicine, which it isn't. The actual running of Medicare is contracted out; and the Medicare program is being cut, not strengthened.

How about Socialists well known opposition to all wars? Eugene Debs being jailed for sedition during WWI seems a fair place to start. Have you ever known a pacifist American government-ever? Sending 17,000 additional troops to that infamous tribal-wasteland in hopes of turning Islamic/tribal guerillas into Blue Dog Democrats, won't land Obama an Op-ed in In These Times. All American power these days seems predisposed to intervention, for imperial as well as diversionary reasons.

Anybody heard of Obama's cabinet pushing for international trade unions?

The right will continue-its not very subtle but highly effective-tactic of calling the slightly-moderate the dangerously left-wing, in hopes of preventing a long overdue correction by the progressive sector of our country. You know what: I'd trust gay, immigrant dope-smokers over AIG oligarchs anyday. So would most Americans if they had the guts to listen to their inner reason, instead of the stoned ventriliqest dummy of the popular press that passes for opposition in this country...

Viva the socialistic specter!

Weathers been strangely unlike March: mid-60s, clear skies and gentle breezes. usually, its spitting cold rain with gusty winds and a flurry or two until April; like the last gasp of a worn-out fighter, we get an eclectic combination of winter punches until that season resigns itself to the corner. Right now I hear the classic trill of the cardinal outside my window; buds are blossoming quicker than acne.


Which reminds me of this economy: Sure, I've jostled with the- increasing- masses in the aisles of Wal-Mart; yes my neighbor is still unemployed, and my other neighbors kid made several rounds through the fast-food strips without landing anything, but it sure seems to be remarkably benevolent around here, considering the financial atrocities executed from on high. There have not been a plethora of foreclosures in this working-class neighborhood, and though this is partly attributable to financial eyes not exceeding stomach assets, you do wonder if this is the calm before the real financial March hits the stage.