Shoes Over Guns

IraqiGunman
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

I guess in Iraq you have to throw shoes to get people's attention... it's hard to believe that Dubya got threatened by the one thing that Richard Reid also thought was a WMD... only in the case of the Iraqi reporter who basically shit in Dubya's pillowcase and put it back on the bed, he's being championed by his people as a HERO.

I'd imagine that if something similar happened in the US, the ShoeThrower would get Tasered and be the suggest of a viral internet laughing stock campaign.

It makes no sense to me what the Iraqis find disrespectful... also what makes no sense is, where was secret Service? Jay Leno posited this self-same question, and honestly does anybody have an answer? Also, is that team of Treasury Agents getting the Pink Slip during these Harsh Economic Times? You tell me? And are they able to get Unemployment Insurance if they did get axed?

-- Ras The Exhorter signing off...

Coming Soon to Detroit Three Months Only

Road Warrior
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

It's pretty outrageous that the WBN-GOP Senators were talking about giving the Big 3 until March to get their act together.

This type of idiotic thinking begs me to bring up the point of ELITE BUREAUCRATS... a concept that is completely foreign in the United States, but is a mainstay in Western European and Japanese governments. This is not to say that the bureaucrats of the other Western democracies all know how to run things with ease and smoothness, but more to the point that the "best and brightest" can and are attracted to civil servant roles. Whereas in the US the majority of civil servants are questionable types, with good intentions -- usually. Just ask Rowdy Roddy in Springfield, IL about good intentions for the public good or for himself.

No, Elite Bureaucrats are those men and woman who work for their governments with the kind of leadership and managerial skills one would expect in the most successful of private companies.

Think about what the US would be like if government service wasn't the bastion of those will limited knowledge or limited ambition? Our government would be different, wouldn't it?

And the concept of nationalization would stink like the worst fresh dog shit that you can think of.

I'm Rich, and You're NOT!

I'm Rich, and You're NOT!
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Now that's an internal quote from the WBN-GOP...

The GOP is fighting tooth and nail to be permanently known for the next generation or two as the Party of Herbert Hoover and Dubya Bush -- as they'll be synonymous with trashed and devastating economic policies and the Party of Low Wages!

Even Tricky Dick Cheney was begging and pleading with the WBN-GOP Senators to pass the Auto Industry Rescue Package. Hopefully Dubya and the Treasury Department swoop in and allocate some of the TARP money to the Auto Industry (which IS applicable to GM via GMAC).

Why just this morning as I was driving to my storage locker I saw two 2009 SUVs! I almost shit myself, because I could understand for the life of me why someone actually recently bought one of the environmental disasters/energy hods.

Just because gas is going to hit $1.15/gal by the spring and the Big 3 won't have the same kind of external pressures to get them to make more fuel-efficient cars doesn't mean that the Oil Crisis has disappeared. It's still in full affect.

The WBN-GOP don't know how to connect with the American People anymore -- they are, by in large, clinging to the

REJOICE, REJOICE THE GOP IS DEAD

fuck Bush
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

That is not a far off statement, although it’s not completely true… yet. The past election has effectively demonstrated that the GOP is the Party of the Confederate States, of Old White Men and Country Bumpkins -- essentially an antiquated group of constituents that are seriously looking for a reason to continue to exist.

I can't find a reason, can you?

Additional Voices

Malcolm X - Ya Been Had, You Been Led Astray
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Greeting THE NIG IN ME readers, this is Ras The Exhorter here, a new blogger on Ramses’s site. He’s been tied up on many a projects and getting his life together, and he graciously asked me to contribute to this blog.
 
My first entry will be about the Transportation Safety Authority or TSA; they announced recently that by next fall the fluid ban will be lifted such that passengers will be able to once again carry liquid, gel or aerosols greater that 3 oz on planes.
 
Ras to the TSA (and the American Public) the Terrorist won! They’ve forced us to change our way of life. And that’s all the really want, so yeah, they won! Thanks a lot George Bush and Dick Cheney for pushing the fear of radical Islam off the scale. It is hard to believe that Richard Reid (aka The Shoe Bomber) and the theoretical musing of a group in Germany regarding making
 
The one crucial fact about the terrorists (where ever they are from and whatever dogma they subscribe to) is that they can wrong and defeated 99.9% of the time, but when they have to be right and get through that 01% all hell breaks loose, and the over-reactionary U.S. Government (under the jingoistic regime of G.W. Bush thankfully with less than 90 days left in the Presidency) curtails its citizens civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. The one document that almost no other country has, and is the basis for the freedom all American citizens enjoy above and beyond the rest of the populace in the Global Village.

I Mean Really?!?!?!

Monpoly spoof
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

POLITICS – OLD SKOOL CHI-TOWN STYLE
 
So the Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich showed the pink of his ass as he was forced to do the perp walk from the Governor’s Mansion early yesterday morning – Law Enforcement got his ass on some pretty wild, near cinematic, corruption charges. As this muthafucka was looking to sell President-Elect Barak Obama's vacated Senate seat -- wtf??

Here’s some quote from Blagojevich’s shit-filled mouth via the Fed's wire tap:
“I want to make money… the seat is a fucking valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”
“I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fucking nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it.”
Rowdy Roddy even called up the Tribune Company looking to axe reporters who have a tendency to call him on his shit, “our recommendation is fire all those fucking people, get ‘em the fuck out of there and get us some editorial support.”
 
Far be it from me to laugh a dumb-ass politicians (well, that’s not true) – but U.S Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald rancorously stated that that Roddy Blag had “taken the state to a new low!”

What’s even more fucked in the head is, Roddy Blagojevich was daring the Authorities to wire tap him! Daring them! In my experience when a muthafucka does that, it’s time to check with the FBI ‘cause you best believe they is already recording all that muthafuckas convos! And such was the case with Blagojevich… I’m mean, I don’t know who is worse Orenthal James Simpson, disaffectionately called “The Juice” or Rowdy Roddy Blageojevich! Each demonstrated a level of pigheaded boolshit, that I’m just cackling and cackling as I write this.
 
What kills me is that Blagojevich had been under investigation for FIVE FUCKING YEARS because of his extra dubious fund-raising and influence-peddling schemes – and apparently he was oblivious to the Feds on his ass or, or once Obama had solidified his DC power-base and knew that he needed a Senator to help him keep the dead GOP from coming back to life, Obama pressure the US Attorney to drop a hammer on Rowdy Roddy. Word on the street is that Rahm Emmanuel had a hand in this, 'cause Rowdy Roddy could have caused problems in the future by putting the wrong sumbitch in the Senate seat.
 
I guess we won’t know the truth about that, only can guess.

Racism Took A Day Off Yesterday

Nigger! Take that! And that!
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

While I'm sure a LOT of muthafuckas is mad that a Brutha will now be occupying The White House, it doesn't deter from the Fact that Racism took a day off yesterday. It saw no point of coming to work.

It's Never Over

I contemplated taking down this blog after Obama's Victory... but the ethos behind this site still remains poignant regardless of the fact that Black Children will be living in the White House for the Next Four Years!!!!

However, I will be bringing on a new contributor as I take a more contemplative stance.

America perhaps will change, or at least the perception of the Country to the World will change.

Now go out and buy some stocks and bonds 'cause the prices is CHEAP!!!

Powell backing The One

Wanted - Colin Powell
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Sure it happened about a week ago, but I’m just now finishing up my thoughts on the subject. What’s irked me is Gary Bauer’s comments (that shameful Washington lobbyist) in that he dismissed Powell’s endorsing of Barak as an irrational act of racial solidarity. He's backing Barak 'cause they're both light skinned niggas? Please! McCain showed the pink of his ass by selecting Sarah Palin, that in itself should disqualify him from assuming power... should he win the election.

Bauer's comments smack of old skool bigotry, because most Black people in the Street have NEVER dapped up Colin Powell. In fact his name is routinely mispronounced as Colon, not Colin… it indicate that shit just passes through him.

Obviously he needs to make amends for being the Voice of the Bush Doctrine at the UN to convince people across the globe that the WMDs did in fact exist. A man has he been smarting since then.

So suck a left nutt Bauer, and keep your check book open as you write more checks to keep your self in the mix inside the Beltway, as your failed ideology continues to wreak havoc with the country at large.

Judge and Jury are forced to confront each other

To there was a groundbreaking case before the Supreme Court about discrimination during jury trials. The issue at stake is that prosecuting attornies were using their pre-emptory strikes (where they can just say, "you, you're off the jury" no questionsed asked) to systematically remove Blacks (and probably other minorities, too) from jury pools.

The Supreme Court, in a 7 - 2 Ruling, overturned a 1996 case in which the DA took five niggas off the jury, and sealed this ex-G.I. Joe's fate and sent him to death row by packing the jury with white folks. The details of the jury selection revolve around thsi one Black 26-year old student, who offered up some potential excuses that the trial might force him to miss a few days of class, and he was concerned about that. Even though the dean of his school said it would be okay, the DA kicked old boy off... so he could keep this one white dude on the jury, who was a contractor with two houses under construction and a wife coming home from the hospital after a major surgery, and he had no help at home. Now, who really needs to be removed?

The prevailing justices stated that it was egregious for the prosecutors to behave this way, and now they were on blast -- you kick niggas off the jury, then your conviction is apt to be overturned.

And the issues raised by Rev. Jerry Wright are labeled outrageous?

THE BITCH HAD WARDROBE MALFUNCTION?

Apparently the GOP dropped in excess of $150K on new, luxury Wardrobe (see Momist) for Sarah Palin and her ENTIRE family. I guess if you’re the head of government of the wanna-be breakaway state like Alaska, you can get away with dressing like Joe Six-pack’s moll and still be respected. I think it’s shameful and smacks of caddish behavior

What kills me about the walking spoof is that she keeps claiming that Obama’s tax proposals are socialist in nature, when the fact that Alaskan citizens get hand-out of petro-dollars that filters into the state’s coffers from the sale of that crude. Now if that isn’t socialist, then I don’t know what is? When the government hands out education grants and loans, which she no doubt used to attend the four different colleges that she attended, is that also considered the pinnacle of capitalism or is it more socialist in its slant?

This is the chumpess (ya like that?) who thinks that the Veep actually “runs things” in the Senate! She’s unfit for command, not because she’s a contemporary of Obama or inexperienced, but because she’s god-damn ignorant! And a hate monger to the extreme; not to mention her husband was/is a member of a seditious group (akin to the Southern Rebels during the Civil War); I’m surprised he has been arrested on charges and executed (which is the penalty for sedition!). I bet she didn’t know that, too.

When The World In Running Down...

Fuck, why did I get so many credit cards!?!!
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

You make the best of what’s still around… a favorite line from a great Sting song called, “Another Day”; steal the mp3 from somewhere (like gomusic.ru) if you haven’t heard it. It was written in the early 80s, so it’s most poignant today… as we’re re-living those harsh economic times… although our times might be harsher than the ear of Stagflation.

People are scared these days, really scared because under the last three GOP administrations the country has scurrilously outsourced too many jobs. People are looking for scapegoats, best be sure; point in fact (this isn’t funny, but it’s hilarious) Lehman Brothers C.E.O., Richard Fuld, got punched in the company gym after it was announced that the firm was going under.

Allan Greenspan, the so-called maestro, admitted today, “I made a mistake in trusting that free markets could regulate themselves without government oversight.” First of all, the free market NEEDS to be regulated, it always has been – just think about the early days of the industrial revolution in England when kids were put to work in factories, because they were cheap labor. And the “Free market” demands the cheapest possible inputs.

FUCK THAT!

The Free Market is so rapacious and insatiable with its desire for continued growth at the expense of damn near everybody. And the sick joke is, American Culture still inculcates its citizens with the antiquated concept of “fair play.”

Greenspan expressed the real problem with this statement, “I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms.” The financial markets have been run since the mid 80s by a bunch of modern day robber barons – but this time they aren’t being so magnanimous with their wealth when it’s time to die. It was pretty much writ in stone and writ large the members of the corporatocracy (see Secret History Of the American Empire) would rape and pillage – even at the expense of shareholder value and the integrity of the firm – with impunity ever since Enron was found out to be molesting its stockholders and the public at large. All so those “smart guys” could have these multiple multimillion dollar houses all over the US.

People are actually scaling back on medications – which is why we need to have an overhauled healthcare system. One in which the Insurance companies are cut the fuck out of the picture. Why is that if you get sick that you have to ask the insurance company if you can get treatment? You don’t ask the doctor what kind of treatment you require, you ask the claims adjuster if you can even have treatment that isn’t just a Johnson’s & Johnson’s band-aid, a slap on the back and a plastic smile!?!?

Obama and Money

$20 Stacks
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

You know the oddest thing about Obama’s campaign on a socio-political viewpoint is that he’s raised huge sums of money (the GOP would say sickening sums, but fuck them). And this is interesting, because after raising $150 million in September, he’s only got a few weeks left to spend that money, and he’s probably still raising more.

He obviously needed these huge sums of money for his 30 minutes of triple network primetime airtime that he’s buying next week to put the ultimate pimp-slapping on McCain (and the GOP in general) next week. What he’s doing is completely unprecedented in American Politics! He’s basically arranging to have his own State of the Union before he’s even president (that is if he becomes president of this teetering republic), and he’ll break it down to the real (and false) Americans on that day – less than a week before the election – and expose the fraud and backstabbing and pocket-pilfering and general fuck-all-y’all mindstate that the GOP have been propagating since Newt Gingrich got his blasphemous Contract With America issued in the early 90s.

If I was an FBI agent, a crooked one that is, I would be tapping the houses and phones of many of the so-called power brokers in the country on Election Night, just to hear what this chumps have to say! How they react, how they scowl (as if I can hear scowling, but it’s possible!).

The money that this Black Man is commanding is more money than any black could hope to even dream about amassing for a political campaign. And I’m sure all the Old Guard Negroes are swing bats at their favorite effigy and cursing up a storm that they could never raise even a fraction of Barry’s monopoly-esque money boon!

I wonder if he’ll dole it out to other politicians in need?

100 Days Left

You'll Learn To Like The Foot On Your Neck
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Dubya's only get 100 days left in office, and then the International Criminal Court needs to indict him and his entire war cabinet during the entire length of the Iraq War for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.

The ICC refuses to mount those charges, then it needs to stop indicted ANYBODY with those charges, and people who are up for trial on those charges now need to have them dismissed.

The New Economy

kertesz_wandering_violinist
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Is that a fascinating job? yeah, i'm talking about the photo!!

We'll be seeing those types of families again soon, only people won't be documenting it with B&W images -- but HD video on widescreen TVs.

Do Votes Count?

So the Democratic Rules Committee gave Michigan and Florida half voting rights... not the best of circumstances, but not a terrible adventure in Presidential politics. Honestly, those two states shouldn't have any delegates sitting in the national committee because they broke the rules. But this is Presidential politics and Florida is involved so some shit was expected to come out of the process.

Most people predicted that each state would get half, and that's what happened.

What's interesting is that Puerto Rico is having a primary, because those people -- while I believe are US Citizens -- don't get to vote in the November General Election. So it's kind of stupid to have them vote in the primary, but I don't make the rules.

Did you see the HBO TV Moive "RECOUNT"? It was an interesting look at the debacle that was the 2000 Election... you would think that a movie about voting discrenpancies would be less entertaining than it was, not to say it didn't take me two viewings to get through it (as I nodded off the first time near the end). What it did do was shed some light on that main event that eventually led to the posting Prescott Bush's Grandson into the Oval Office and enabled him to take on the moniker of "The Nero of the Pax Americana" -- yeah, that's how he's going to be seen in the history books, the out of touch leader who not only led the country into a war that he knew never had a remote change of being completely under his watch or as easily or cheapily as he was told. Yes, as he was told, but didn't listen to effectively to those people.

I had an opportunity to read the new Oliver Stone movie called "W", a semi-trenchant look at George W. Bush's years in the White House and how that idiot got there in the first place. It's not going to be what you expect from Stone, because it's not a scathing lashing out attack of the worst president ever... no, it paints the man as a woefully incompetant manager, who could never live up to his parents' expectations.

Smear & Fear

I gotta give it to The GOP… as much as I hate their whole style, they are good at bushwacking the psyche of the American people and getting them to react on negative emotions, namely fear and anxiety. The Smear & Fear Election-Stealing Tactics that Karl Rove perfected for the GOP (they’ve been running this game to perfection since Willie Horton provided them with the means to take the 1988 election) has enabled John McCain to gain ground in this most important national election (not just for president but for Congress as well).

Government here in America is the best money can buy, that’s why so many will spend so much money for positions that on paper pay so little. Republicans understandably never tire of feathering their own nest. But the data are irrefutable: their policies damage the economy, grievously. Another eight years of such policies and we will be a full fledged colony of the Middle Kingdom… China that is for all you less-read readers..

My big issue with McCain and the GOP is that they tend to scare the shit out people who ARE NOT rich into thinking that Democrats are going to tax & spend – they’ll tax the uber-rich, yes, – and mount all these deficits. McCain and the GOP claim that taxing the rich flunks the economy, because taxing the poor and the middle-class over the last eight years (both directly and indirectly - through skyrocketing education, medical and energy expenses) has done so much good for the American economy!! Before it's too late, the GOP need to get ushered off stage.

Now let’s get this straight though… There's nothing wrong with being rich. But there's a LOT wrong with being greedy and hypocritical. And that pretty much sums up the Republican Party, remember what Bush memorably said? "This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores."

Conservatives whine, whine, whine about entitlements. Social Security is probably one of the most successful programs ever put in place - or would have been had Congress kept their hands out of the cookie jar. Medicare could have probably been fixed except Bush put in the Trojan Horse of prescription drug benefits, and to smear dog-shit in our face, disallowed Medicare to bargain with the drug companies. I always hear the NeoCons ranting about destroying FDRs legacy of entitlement programs and they almost have gutted them all, now what?

But the thing about the GOP is, it took the reins of power after Newt Gingrich’s sadistically oxymoronic “Contract with America” (more like Contract to Rape & Pillage America) and has served up a culture of arrogance, corruption and scandal! Remember that one congressman who was looking to suck the dick of the young Congressional pages? The fool who was actually championing a protection of minors bill in Congress?

The biggest trick the GOP have pulled off is making a huge swath of its base believing that McCain’s long-ago reputation as a maverick or by Ms. Palin’s appealing persona are okay: the Republican Party, now more than ever, is firmly in the hands of the angry Right, which has always been much bigger, much more influential and much angrier than its counterpart on the other side.

Where does all this asinine anger come from, I wonder? To a degree a substantial portion of it is cultivated by the confounding cultural and religious conflicts that rage within this country (for no good reason): fundamentalist Christians are actively outraged by Roe v. Wade and evolution in the schools. However, careful observation of the GOP stand-in for a cross burning in St. Paul over the past week will uncover that a health percentage of the Right’s “I Won’t Stand for This” attitude is based not on the claim that Democrats have done evil deeds (leave that to the GOP), but on the perception — with no credible or even semi-credible evidence to speak of — that Democrats look down their noses at regular people.

Like that is EVER the case… the GOP have sold to the proudly ignorant chumps that populate the Americana that we lament over that you’re supposed to vote Republican to stick it to an elite that thinks it’s better than you. The GOP has established a cultural cult since the era of Nixon, a cult foisted Dubya Bush up in the White House, a cult that celebrated his anti-intellectualism and made much of the supposed fact that the “misunderestimated” C-average student had proved himself smarter than all the fancy-pants experts (and what the FUCK is wrong with fancy pants?). If your measuring stick for being proved smart is letting the people that you pledge to protect go it alone, then Dubya should be a card-carrying member of Mensa.

Is it outlandish as fuck that the “party that has controlled the White House, Congress or both for 26 of the past 28 years, a party that, Borg-like, assimilated much of the D.C. lobbying industry into itself — until Congress changed hands, high-paying lobbying jobs were reserved for loyal Republicans — really portray itself as running against the “Washington elite”?

Yeah, that’s what McCain and the GOP are trying to do… and unless people get up off their asses and get Black registered to vote and make them vote in Florida, Michigan and Ohio on Election Day, then we’re in for SOME SHIT!

The Man Doesn't Care About You

This is the NEWFace of the All-Time Moneygrab... just because he isn't a public stooge for Haliburton and the economy of the rich south, doesn't mean he ain't out to bilk you for all you is worth.

Mark my words... the country don't need a war monger, don't need anybody from that WHOLE generation runnin' shit no mo'! They done fucked-up the future for the foreseeable future, and I can't see why a lot of muthafuckas, muthafuckas that need to be voting, don't see that GOP translates into: FUCK YOU! I GOT MINES!

The one thing about Barak Obama is that he is an incarnation of what is best about the (false) spirit of this country, in that you can be born with little prospects and rise to the pinnacle of public life. McCain came from a history of wealth (which is why he should be a shoe in, if the wealth mongers didn't rape the country with no vaseline!)

Gustav Smacks Around The GOP

Looters of New Orleans
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So New Orleans evacuated itself over the weekend... smart move in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Mayor Ray Nagan wasn't about to get faded a second time without the proper precautions.

The funny thing about Hurricane Gustav is that it's taken the wind from the sails of the GOPs convention in St. Paul.

Truth be told this is actually the best thing that could happen to McCain and the GOP... they have NO platform to speak of, and what can they really run on? The dynamics of GOP politics over the last 8 years has been so shameful on a moral level, economic level, social level.

All the tough talk since the End of the VietNam Conflict about how the GOP are down with patriotism, fiscal conservatism, national defense and uplifting society through "trickle down economics" has turned out to be the biggest bag of horseshit that anyone is selling.

During Dubya's time on the throne, the economy has gone to shit -- except for the core uber-rich constituency of the GOP, the national defense is nearly crippled, we couldn't defend the country in another war if it meant the security of the nation -- unless a draft was put into effect.

I just don't see how McCain can make a case for his candidacy? Can someone tell me?

I mean if Anderson Cooper is more inclined to have rain whipped at him at 100 mph instead of putting a mic in the face of the GOP faithful (a term that translates into complete idiots who are out for the money-grab and play the "I got mine, so fuck you" brand of American politics and socio-economic behavior), then the entire country has to question the efficacy of the GOP in this election.

The only reason why Barak Obama is the ahead by 20 points IN THE NATIONAL POLLS is the because those 20 to 30% of people are bigots, racists, dumbfucks.

Throw of the Yoke of the Economic Rapists

mussolini strung up
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Every SINGLE Red State that enabled Barak Obama to take the Democrat nomination has to be IN PLAY on November 3rd.

NO EXCUSES! The Red States MUST BE in play... otherwise, the GOP will steal another election and the Economic Hit Men who pillaged the planet will continue to work, only this time they'll extend their victims to the American people... except for those who fund their heinous activities as it is.

Every RED STATE MUST BE IN PLAY -- Missouri, Louisiana, South Carolina... y'all on blast, y'all is in Play!

End the Racism and End the Corporatocracy!

Democrats... Nay, I say thee IDIOTS! Democrats... Nay, I say thee IDIOTS!

...I thought Capital One was my friend...
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

What the fuck?!? Just what the fuck is going on in Denver right now?!?!

Why haven’t Hillary and Bill gotten on national TV and told people, “vote for Barak or let your country, your dreams, your children’s dreams and your parents’ retirement get shit on as we go through the biggest depression imaginable!”

Oh, and believe me – the Great Depression that we have ALL forgotten about (see the above and below photos) – will be considered halcyon days if Amerikkka slips into 3rd World Territory… and believe me it easily can, and perhaps will regardless of whether or not Obama becomes president.

And when empires collapse there’s like decades, yes DECADES, of turmoil, upheaval, violence, wide-spread poverty and panic… think about what happened when Rome fell, the closest thing to America’s current position of power with all the excesses and abuses that we’ve come to enjoy. But more importantly look at what happened when the USSR fell (they’re STILL fucking up and having people like John McCain claim that the Cold War is coming back… how? How? There is no ideological difference anymore, and that was the basis for the entire post-WW2 bruh-hah-hah… is McCain that much of an idiot, he’s not a Democrat, so it’s hard to believe that he is) or Mexico (yeah, Mexico, it took like 70 years for there to be a true democratic election that put Vicente Fox in power and that wasn’t even a strong empire!!!!)

The next 70 Days – culminating in that one day in November – hold too much at stake for Bill and Hillary to allow their egos to fuck shit up. I bet is Chelsea was pregnant or had a kid by now, the Clintons would be acting just a little differently… just maybe, hard to say with Bill Clinton’s Krell-sized ego (for all you Forbidden Planet fans out there) and the fact that he wants to go off-book when he talks during the convention on Wednesday night.

Be ready for anything! Even assassination attempts!

The Dream Team

Senator Barak Obama picked Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate... it was predicted by many at least a month ago.
But let's think about this choice... it appears to be great on the surface. Smooth Barry and Joltin' Joe!

I wager it's the best possible choice, but the question is will Barak let Joe do all the shitting on McCain?

I was just skimming through this week's TIME magazine, the one with Barak's face on the cover with the "Special: The Democrats" emblazoned across the top, and Joe Klein -- ever the nay-sayer (with good reason, though) -- makes a specific point about Obama needing to actualize his feelings to actionable items that will enable white people to get with the program.

See the way I see it, it didn't matter who Obama chose for his Veep (except for Hillary, still too much of a lightning rod; plus Bill didn't want her to win anyway... on that in a second), because what the race ultimately comes down to is:
Will the non-Black Americans -- whites, latinos, East Asians, and South Asians -- pull the arm in the ballot box for a Black man? The most vilified personage on the planet for the past 400 years? Think about it 400 years Black people have been demonized by whites, and most violently in the mass media age of the past 50 to 75 years (glossy photographs and film strips really know how to make a nigga seem to be the Public Enemy No. 1 for all God fearing Americans... and anyone who aspires for the American Dream (the piece of propaganda that the entire world had bought, until Dubya Bush assumed the reigns and stuck his limp dick into everyone's ass).

Of course a good percentage of whites have voted for Barak, but will they do so when it counts? The true believers are all the under 25 year olds, and shit even the under 21 years olds -- these people, this section of the population can make history on such a proportion that it'll be, it'll be Historical!!! Shit, if I know another word that summarizes what's going to happen better, do you?

Joe Biden has been someone I thought could have been a President in various other election cycles, and perhaps he might get his chance to run for the big office in eight years, but we'll have to see what the next few weeks tell us... it's Obama's election to lose and he needs to stay on message -- the GOP, led by Dubya Bush, fucked this country's economy and allowed the uber-class to make more money than they should have at the expense of those who toil and break their backs to make these rich peeps their cash -- wage slavery is a term I throw around quiet a bit, but think about it... working hard under the Bush regime... has done nothing to get you ahead. Working with a hand in the cookie jar and plastic ranch-flavored smile on your face is how you get your cash... can anyone say Jack Abramhoff?

On to my statement about Bill Clinton, this is the man who made us think twice when he claimed that getting his dick slobbed on in the Oval Office WAS NOT CONSIDERED SEX!!! Now a man that smart, that shrewd with his words didn't loose his ability to stay on message when he dropped all these bombs during the Primary that made him fall out of favor with the preponderance of Blacks, the Blacks who loved him like they ain't supposed to love no white man!

So we want to see Biden be the attack dog for Obama, but Barak needs to do the jugular slices himself. It's a perfect way to tag-team the so-called Maverick, and send the GOP rule.

It's nothing short of state-sanctioned revolt that we as a people get the GOP out of the cone of power IN ALL FEDERAL BRANCHES... especially the Supreme Court. Perhaps that John Grisham novel, I believe it's called The Pelican Brief, should be dusted off the shelf.

IOC - Why No China Smackdown?

I've been watching the Olympics pretty much every day since they started up, and outside of the fact that Michael Phelps' achievement was about as anti-climatic as The Dark Knight taking the top box office slot for close to month, the one thing that had me extremely curious was the whole thing with the Chinese living up to their agreements with the IOC.

What agreements am I talking about? Well, if memory serves the International Olympic Committee (aka the IOC) can’t be considered a smart international body (which is probably an oxymoron in any event) with any kind of true or respected power; because they made a colossal blunder when they awarded China the 2008 Games way back in 2000 (I think it was).

Not only has a country with such human rights abuses ever hosted the games, outside of Nazi Germany (and even Hitler at the time wasn’t executing 10,000 dissident prisoners a year in 1936), but China also threatens the environment with it’s wanton unchecked industrial machine. Shit, U.S. Cyclists are up here wearing masks as they travel around Beijing, hoping to avoid as much pollution as possible – as it will surely fuck up their lungs and respiratory system. I wonder how the marathon participants are going to respond during the actual event?

There’s been lots of talk about some concessions that China was SUPPOSED to do in order to gain the official sanction of IOC, and apparently China hasn’t done or even attempted to do most of these. Surprise, surprise, the Middle Kingdom didn’t answer to anyone.

So the question is, what can the IOC do to enforce its rules and regulations – on a national level – and not be looked at as some lame duck bunch of yahoos. Even that fiasco with the Iraqi national team smacked of, “they don’t know what the fuck they are doing.”

The IOC needs to strip China of its participation in the 2012 Games outright – just not let their athletes compete in the 2010 or 2012 games.

POP CULTURE REVIEW: The Return of NEXUS

A couple of weeks ago I was down at the annual San Diego Comic Con, something I've been going to for the plast 15 years and I've seen it grow and grow and grow, and maybe not for the better. It's gotten away from comics and that subcultre, and absorbed video games (stealing some of the thunder from E3) and most recently becoming a launching pad for Hollywood's TV and movies that aren't the prestige films vying for Oscar potential in the fall of any given year.

This year I was pleasantly surprised, nay shocked, to stroll by artist extraordinaire Steve Rude's booth to find that he was peddling yet-to-be published issues of NEXUS, the highly entertaining and intellectualy stimulating comic book that he and scribe Mike Baron had started back in the early 80s. These were the first new Nexus stories in 10 years! I had to buy what was being sold. And that was pretty all the comics I bought at ComicCon this year (incredibly). Why? Because Nexus holds a special place in heart as fabulous science fiction that never goes out of style.

I first became a fan of Nexus about 10 years ago when the last four issues of NEXUS were published by Dark Horse Comics. I read this mini-series where the fans got to chose who NEXUS killed. Which I thought was as strange gimmick at the time, but as I read the first issue I was hooked. NEXUS is the story of Horatio Hellpop, not your average or even above average super-hero... in fact, he's not even a superhero as one would typically define the term. Nexus is an intergalatic executioner of mass murderers... yeah, that's pretty trippy, but it makes for gripping sci-fi grist to mill into a fantastic comic series. Between the release of the first issue of "Nightmare in Blue" and the final issue (which would turn out to be the last one for a decade), I went crazy and hunted down the 93 previous issues that had been published off and on over the last decade (intially through Capital Comics, then First Comics, and then at Dark Horse) -- that wasn't an easy feat, but I completed the task (which probably would be quiet difficult today, because I didn't use eBay; I actually hunted down the issues from various comic stores in and around the LA area (and probably some at the 1997 San Diego Comic Con).

As I read the back issues, Nexus -- as Baron and Rude wove the tales -- was one of the most complex characters I've read in comics, as he was compelled to be an executioner, forced to be the conscience of humanity against his own will, but he carried the weight of that dark duty with an amazing amount of eventual clarity and understanding. Yeah, he struggled with the concept of being a murderer for whom murder isn't a crime... as that would psychically scare almost everybody.

Anyway, after buying issues 99 & 100 of NEXUS, the new issues that is, I sat down to re-read the entire Dark Horse run of the series to refresh myself with where the character is -- after a decade hiatus -- and it felt like revisiting old friends, who I hadn't seen in years. Funny that I felt that way from a comic character that isn't even a mainstream comic, but Baron's characters are that compelling, unique and enjoyable.

I'm just about to crack the cover the first new NEXUS published under Steve Rude's own publication imprint, and I'm giddy with excitement to see where these characters are after such I long time. I'm anticipating it to be great, but wonder if it's not going to live up to the internal hype that I've been creating for the last three weeks.

Dark Horse Comics has reprinted and republished the entire series as hardback books, that are extremely nice in their design and reproductive quality. I highly suggest anyone interested in cool sci-fi -- books or comics -- to go and pick-up the back issues that have been made readily available and immerse yourself in some of the best sci-fi, well, best fiction in the last twenty years (whether that's graphic novel or not).

Sludge Throwing

Hey – so I’m posting again, after an absence. I’m obviously not posting enough, and there’s so much shit and people to rake over the coals. Lamentably, I’m getting no feedback via email – obfusc8@hotmail.com (if you have anything at all to say) as we’re less than 100 Days Away from the potentially most historical election in the history of democracy; not just the history of AmeriKKKA, but the whole damn world since the Greeks thought up the concept of the common plebs voting for the their leaders.

However, the ever-pernicious American Right Wing is at it again with their attempts to derail the Democratic nominee, Illinois Senator Barak “Barry” Obama. Extreme idiot and supreme bigot Jerome “Jerry” R. Cori has published a new book through a devious Simon & Schuster imprint caustically and provocatively entitled, “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality.” Jerry Corsi came to national fame in 2004 by publishing that treatise of boolshit that attack John Kerry’s Swift Boat actions during the VietNam conflict.

Kerry, an emasculated fob if there ever was one, didn’t know how to smack back at Karl Rove and the infernal machine that he was running… and Corsi’s book and the subsequent “swift boating” (as it became a nou/verb in the popular press) turned Kerry’s greatest triumph – a white-bred rich kid who volunteered for the stupid-ass VietNam Conflict and made good IN COMBAT – into his greatest Achilles’ heel. Talk about supreme political strategy!!! My one hand is still clapping for Rove et al.

At this point though, the gloves need to be taken off by the Obama camp. They need to sanction some diabolic attacks themselves, stuff that’s not affiliated with the campaign, but does all it can to stick a bramble bush up McCain’s bunghole!

Sure the Obama Faithful fired off a retort called “Unfit for Publication” (which isn’t a master title the way Obama Nation is… shame on you, Democrats) that refutes and negates the out-n-out lies that are in Jerry Corsi’s book.

I can’t figure out why Obama and his people can’t seal the deal and regulate McCain to the footnotes in the history books, unless I factor in race. And considering the masthead of this blog, I have to chime in on this fact.

THE RACE QUESTION IS THE REASON

People in America don’t want to admit PUBLICLY ON THE NEWS OUTLETS it that we’re still a nation of an overwhelming majority of supreme bigots, and that the whites throughout the land still have a hard time accepting that a Black man can have something intelligent to say WITHOUT a tone of a “you owe us” agenda. Obama doesn’t just speak intelligently, he does so without the hint of bitterness and the aftertaste of being dick-smacked by racism his entire life (which he no doubt has, but obviously has been able to compartmentalize those experiences).

I wonder what news outlets like el-Jazeera have to say about racism in the American Election campaign?

I would wager that they point to the hairy, hidden hand of “true-blooded” Americans who let their dicks swing when they enter any foreign country or get rowdy on our national holidays, you know the ones that muster up ye olde jingoistic spirit.

Obama and the Role of Government

bolt
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

In Barak Obama’s recent speech today he touched upon the role that government needs to play in the 21st century economy… I’m sure too god damn many Adam Smith Acolytes and Milton Freeman dick-polishers hate this fact, and probably a large swath of uninformed Americans fit this bill, too. But let’s be real, China is the ultimate fascist state – I’m not talking about the bullshit mistaken identity that fascism has become known where people think it is analogous to National Socialism (i.e Nazism, which is fascism with a heavy, heavy religious component) but what the term actually means – corporatized government. China has many state-sanctioned entrepreneurs who are mega-billionaires, outstripping the wealth of many on the Forbes 400, and probably aren’t even considered because of propagandistic fears.

We face some unprecedented fucking changes in the way we live in the next 5 to 15 years… and the governments of other nations are moving forward with the speed of business AS BUSINESSES! You know all these sovereign wealth funds that having been popping up and buying huge chunks of American business? Why the hell doesn’t the US Government have some sovereign wealth funds that do that to foreign companies? I figure that countries that have barriers for foreigners to own companies (public or private) shouldn’t be allowed to purchase controlling interest in any Occidental stock markets.

In other news that parents of that sad little bitch who was killed name JonBenet Ramsey were cleared of any wrongdoing by DNA testing… now that story can go to rest, ‘cause I’m about tired of hearing about little bitch-ass kids like that getting hemmed up and murdered… it happens every day in this twisted country, that’s why they have Amber Alters, because a buncha sick mofo’s are kickin’ in the streets with a high sense of impunity.

CASTRATION COMMENTS CALL INTO QUESTION COMMENTARTOR’S COMPATIBILITY IN CURRENT CLIMATE

Birth of Fade Nigga Nation
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

That old hang-over from the bygone Civil Rights Era, the Rev. Jesse Jackson dropped a vicious bomb on Democratic Presidential hopeful Barak Obama last Sunday on that right-wing bastion of shitpot stirring “Fox & Friends” (First off, you have to ask yourself why the fuck is Jesse kickin’ up on FNC in the first place? Is he demonstrating that he’s got Rove’s hand up his ass, he’s just a puppet?)

Have you ever heard of “Lonesome Rose”? You haven’t? Shame on you! So you’re gonna have to peep out Elia Kazan’s obscure masterpiece A FACE IN THE CROWD and see why life is imitating art with this Jesse Jackson dog-stained-shoe-deep-in-the-throat fiasco. Said “hot mic” fiasco has exposed Jesse Jackson as a jealous sour-grapes swillin’ fool! The most fucked-up thing about Jackson’s remarks – a desire to cut Obama’s nutsack from his person – is that a lot of white people think Black political figures like Jackson are spokesmen for the entire populace (which is just such a damn fool assumption)! The Black Voting Monolith has been something that Democrats have courted and taken for granted for decades. But this slip of the tongue blunder just makes those cronies from the Civil Rights era appear to be upset that no one of them and their ilk got this far in the race to the presidency.

Jesse’s been on the scene since before MLK fell into the gunsights of our Assassination Democracy, and for some reason he’s avoided getting shot at. I guess it’s because the Assassination Guild that is part of the Intelligence Community knows all of the skeletons in Jesse’s closet and most likely can wiggle the wrist of the hand that’s up his black ass and get him to operate the way that THEY see fit.

Honestly, you have to do too much dirt and be witness to too much dirt to have survived the minefield known as politics for as long as Jesse has, and not be completely scandalized (although Jesse did have his requisite sex scandal in the past decade)

The Dumbing Down of America, Part 2 in a Series

Prescott's Great-granddaughters
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

What’s funny about all the advances of personal computing, ergo the availability of wider and wider swaths of knowledge, is the cultural and technological forces are vying to create a level of public ignorance that is so high, so preposterous, so gianormous, that the foundation of our democracy is perhaps threatened.

It’s no secret that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal tarnished Golden Boy Barak Obama’s bid at the US Presidency, nearly derailed it and certainly put up a huge obstacle for him to overcome in the Fall.. And you have to ask yourself why? It’s because the trend is that more and more people form their opinions about society from carefully constructed soundbites and juxtaposed images with specifically chosen music cues to shape YOUR opinion... as opposed to you making up your own opinion.

Pollsters know that people lie about race (still!); votes rarely come out and say they will not vote for someone because he’s black (‘cause most people are cowards and afraid to state what’s really on their minds). Instead, they say things like what was heard in West Virginia and Kentucky – that “race is a factor.” Which anybody with half a brain would call an understatement considering the populace of those two states and their history with KND (Keeping Niggas Down). In Kentucky, over 25 percent of Clinton supporters said race was a factor in their vote – about FIVE TIMES the national average for such a question. Clinton, if she really wanted to do something lasting, could and would ask her supporters why the color of a fellow Democrat’s skin is so important to their vote. That would leave these closet-bigots stumbling for words… as they yanked the dog-shit stained shoe out of their mouths…

The Republican cabal — composed of the religious fundamentalist extremists on social issues, the radical tax cutters or “supply-siders” on fiscal issues, and the saber-rattling NeoCons on foreign policy — has produced only superficial religiosity with a nasty bend to it, a woefully failed war that is bankrupting the present and the future of the country and record deficits that look to cripple the next generation (should the current recession not humble America to an economy that is filled with a bunch of “remember whens”)…

Barak Obama has an opportunity to usher in a new age in American politics that must re-define the Post-Cold War, Post-9/11 National Security Questions, figure out a way to make the US a producing economy instead of a consumer/service economy (the collapse of the dollar should led to that, if America still has the skilled workers to command the return of manufacturing jobs) and, lastly, have the moral obligation and attitude to tackle the issues afflicting our planetary environments. Otherwise, we look to have a dismal future, where the American Dream becomes the American Nightmare as the Pax Americanaa is radically and violently eclipsed by the Pax Sino.

Two Men Enter... One Man Leaves

Road Warrior
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

As Exxon Mobil gets out of the retail gas business as it's no longer profitable for a company that made $404 Billion in revenue (that's like how much money was spent on the Iraq War in the same time frame). What is really going on?

So now that the presidential primary is down to the final two men, we're entering the Thunderdome stage of Electoral Politics in the United States. One could hazard to guess that the predicted President -- Barak Obama -- goes after the oil companies ON THE RETAIL LEVEL ONLY. So that it looks like he's doing something to combat the never-lowering-again price of oil.

In the 2nd installment of the Max Mad series -- the Road Warrior to some, just Mad Max 2 to others -- gasoline is THE source of all power in a destroyed economically-obliterated new world, where man is still reliant on gas and the infernal internal combustion engine -- even though the ones who could radically alter what is used for transportation and power creation, don't seem to have a clue on how to fix the problem.

We might see a scenario like Mad Max in certain areas of this country, but not wide-spread panic and civilization metal down, because the interior of the country -- probably where you'd expect this to happen, actually supplies food for the not just the US, but the world.

It's the cities on the Eastern and Western seaboard that will become real-life inspirations of such classics of the post apocalyptic canon -- shit like Cyborg and Space Hunter or even Ice Pirates (which is another posting all by itself -- the search for fresh water, perhaps it needs to come from Mars, hence that's why we're there?).

Society is contracting now, and widespread death is going to happen, but covens and gangs and cabals are going to form in the urban areas...

The last of the SuperCarriers is going to be something like the last of Hummers... imagine in a new variant of Mad Max that the Hummer, or just the SUV in general is like some holy grail piece of transportation. It might become that, it just might.

But back to Barry and Johnny-Boy, the world wants Obama to be running the US, because he represents a new form of governing the Great Satan (as Khomeni dubbed us, but as as John Perkins of Confessions of an Economic Hitman confirmed) and enabling the country to gracefully deal with the economic consequences that will continue to wreak havoc with the world's economy.

Thee Club of Rome (that group that mets and decides X) published a polemic in the 1972 called THE LIMITS OF GROWTH, which predicted another 100 years of growth at the current rate, before radical shifts would inevitably take place. They updated the thesis statement in 1992 and again more recently, revising their estimates DOWNWARD. The rapid growth of the 3rd World wasn't accounted for and the estimates is that we're looking at 40 to 60 years of growth before we as a planet hit the wall -- and people have to start dying.

BOONDOCKS -- Prognosticator of Black Culture

Unkle Ruckus
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

In a bizarre (but not really) case of life imitating art, R&B super-star singer R. Kelly was acquitted of all criminal counts of child porn… just Aaron McGruder predicted in his satire maybe about 3 years ago now. Hard to believe R. didn’t get convicted on at least one charge… but Dave Chappelle was mocking this piece of attempted justice on his brilliant social satire short-lived variety show. I find it hilarious the Kelly and the bitch he peed on both vigorous claimed that they weren’t the ones on that tape.

In other nigger-as-court-jester/entertainer news, apparently a group of investors is hoping to get Michael Jackson to appear in some Vegas shows… to raise money to combat his enormous debt load, and to rehabilitate the maligned and talent-forlorn once-dubbed King of Pop’s image. But why do that in the first place? That man-child has lost his luster almost ten years ago.

Oh yes, I forgot, America loves the comeback story almost as much as it loves the underdog story. And we love to see those who we built up (only to tear down) revive themselves in a way doesn’t convert them into complete jokes… although Jackson missed his chance to start the road to recovery by bowing of the 25th Anniversary of THRILLER performances at this year’s Grammy Awards. He could have just done a quick maybe 5 minute version of Billy Jean and then taken a helicopter and gone back to where ever he’s been hiding since the alleged child fucking acquittal (the man should never have gone to trial in the first place, but that’s another story).

It’s no longer shocking that these celebrities transgress society’s moral compass and then walk like the most innocent person possible; Average Joe gets gang-raped forever (or until he commits suicide) for a child molestation charge… because you usually go down for that, and that’s not a sign you want hung on you when you go to the state pen.

BMW... Some bitches?!?!?

Oil Derrick
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So I’m watching some old shows on the DVR last night, and I come across an ad from BMW… it’s of water (well, CG water) forming the outline for an unannounced hydrogen-powered 7 Series… and the tag line is some bullshit like, “when the world is ready, a BMW 7 Series is ready for the world.”

Now here’s the REALLY fucked-up thing about this ad, in particularly this car… back in 1988 when I was in high school, there was a blurb in BusinessWeek (I saved the article for years) in which BMW was doing track testing of a 7 Series that ran on hydrogen… twenty years ago! Fucking two generations and maybe 6 model updates… and we still haven’t seen this car get close to becoming a production car… they’ve obviously worked out the kinks to a hydrogen fueled car (with water as the “waste exhaust”) since then, and they’ve probably road-tested the hell out of this car.

It just tells you how much of a stranglehold the oil companies have on the automotive consumer market… and that GM and Ford probably can’t master the technology, so they can’t enter into collusion talks with ExxonMobil, ConnocoPhillips and the rest of the robber barons who have been making profits the likes the planet has never previously seen (perhaps even conceived).

Oil and its byproducts are one of the few products on the market that buck most economic laws of supply & demand…

But I think that BMW is a bunch of bitches, because they could be leading the way with this technology, they could be partnering with companies like Chevron (which claim to be an “energy” company) or Shell or even new Green companies in rolling out the infrastructure to support autos like this.

Although… who am I kidding thinking that corporations would do anything for the public good – that’s one of the reasons why there are corporations, so people can act like complete assholes in the name of money and decadence and not really be held accountable for such behavior.

I mean, when I was in junior high my history professor was telling the class how his brother worked on a research unit at one of the big three (at the time big four) auto makers and they created a carburetor component add-on that they junky late 70s to early 80s averaging 70 mpg. Once they presented the research study to the board, the researchers were given a pat on the back, asked to sign all sorts of non-disclosure documents (in lieu of HEFTY sums of money) and then lab work was stuffed in box – much like the Box in the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Even though I am a conspiracy theorist, because my teacher related this story on a tangent (and I’ve heard about all sorts of other tech breakthroughs that have been silenced and squelched throughout the decades) I’m most inclined to believe it and ever since then I’ve been waiting for Detroit to unveil this decades-old technology.

The Internal Combustion Engine ranks up there near the top as one of the most malignant engineering creations known to man. And the oil companies make a shitload of their profits from just refining oil into gasoline…

People in the country are loosing their ability to stay afloat financially by using credit cards to pay for shit like gas, gas in the cars!!! At like 14+% APR.

There’s a movie I’ve been catching pieces of on cable the last month called MAXED OUT… and it’s about the problems with Debt in America and the scurrilous tactics of the Credit Card Companies and the Banks that hand out subprime loans. It’s all a spiral that takes us all down the shitdrain…

Do Votes Count?

Well... only in the right circumstances, otherwise they're liable to get thrown out. As if it needs to be said again that Florida is having trouble getting properly represented in US Presidential politics. After yesterday's DNC Rules Committee ruling Florida and Michigan will receive half votes for their entire delegations to the Democratic National Party Convention in Denver in August (which is really right around the corner if you think about it).

After watching the HBO TV Movie "RECOUNT", I have to really wonder what goes in Florida? Why are the people who run the show on the ground, and in the official corridors of power, unable to get the democracy right? If what we saw, and is accurately documented, about how the actual people ignored the from the top rules on how to execute a recount -- if necessary -- goes a long way to show why the Florida Democrats fucked themselves by breaking the national rules as to when they were going to hold their primary this year... which resulted in the current debacle.

I don't think the Michigan and Florida delegation should be seated, or get their votes... what should have happened it a new primary should have been held. Yeah, that would have cost a lot of fucking money, but the candidates didn't get to canvas the area, roll out their get of the vote machinery and get a true accounting of what the people wanted.

Since that was never really on the table, providing a split of the delegates is perhaps not the best thing to do, but it certainly isn't the worst... at least for Barak Obama. Now for Hillary Clinton it's a kick in the buck-teeth. But what her supporters have failed to realize, especially the feminists, is that while it IS TIME for a viable woman presidential candidate, Bill's spouse with all the baggage of the final Clinton White House years, is DECIDEDLY NOT THAT CANDIDATE.

One could make the argument that the reason Dubya was elected was because the GOP did such a fantastic job at demonizing Clinton and his wife, that the desire to get ANYONE in the office who was the opposite of Clinton was necessary for the good of the country. Interestingly how the man that was installed has engendered the same kind of "get that son of a bitch out" hatred and vilification by the general public.

What's at stake now and what the Voting Block of 18 to 35 year olds need to consider is -- the time is NOW to make a change, not just in the politics of Washington, but a change in the direction that the country is heading down...

Dubya is the Nero of the Pax Americana; his fucking inability to govern, to manage his own affairs, to lead his underlings and to devise a clear vision for the country in the 21st Century has effective set fire to the country, its financial markets, its economy, its stature internationally, and its future.

He trade integrity for access (for his father's ilk), which is never a good bargain in life.

Reputation

mussolini strung up
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation!
-- Othello, Act 2 scene 3

On the front page of Tuesday or Wednesday's Wall Street Journal was about Alan Greenspan and the besmirching of his reputation in the wake of the credit crisis that took roots during his sixteen year tenure as the most powerful banker on the planet.

I’m quite neutral on Alan (except I don’t think he should have orchestrated the bail-out of the Asian Contagion in 1997), but I don’t recall the overall (or even majority) Conventional Wisdom or Consensus being that Greenspan was butt-fucking the economy during the Clinton boom years or the years directly after 9/11 with lax controls financial institution controls and allowing damn near free money (for those with good credit). It seems to me, as it always seems in these situations, that the Wall Street Black Ops units and their Satan-spawned cousins in the mortgage banking industry concocted up some devilish ass shit to peddle to the consumers on Main Street (and in the rest of the world) – which as always made the rich more rich, and arranged for the future (i.e. now!) castration of the middle classes and the working poor; those who are fucking dirt poor probably don’t see much difference to what’s going – they’re used to the struggle, so…

I would say that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Republican controlled Congress over the past sixteen years should be held responsible. Scapegoat those bitches, if you need to scapegoat somebody for fuck’s sake.

You honestly think mutahfuckas like Jack Ambramoff and others of his politically-bribing ilk didn’t make hella cash off of all the houses and condos that we sold to bitches wanting a piece of the AmeriKKKan dream? Regardless if they could afford said Dream; in fact, in spite of the fact that these living-beyond-their-means muthafuckas just wanted more and more … to look good in expensive ass shit that they don’t need, courtesy of Madison Ave. without thinking about how shit can’t go gangbusters forever.

Greenspan needs to worry about the value of his fortune, as it’s just going to get depleted and depleted as the America he presided over swings into a protracted recession, nay, depression the likes we haven’t seen in 80 years…

Speaking of Reptuation… I don’t think all these airlines that are getting grounded is for “maintenance issues”, I think there is some terrorism shit underfoot and this is the smokescreen. They’re all taking too much of a financial ass-beating for it to be just FAA potential violations (American grounded 1000 flights!)

In the Politics of Hate…

Gagged and Hogtied... For Opening Ya Mouf
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

The Democratic nomination process is going to sour the general electorate on politics in general, but for Democrats specifically. Maureen Dowd of the NYTimes dropped this bomb on Hillary Clinton in her most recent column - Hillary is going for “the Tonya Harding option” — if she can’t get the gold, kneecap her rival. And even Clinton supporters know that Bill does not want to be replaced as the first "black" president, especially by a REAL black president with enough ju-ju to possibly eclipse him in the history books.

Mr. Obama said: “What I’m certain about is that people are disenchanted with a highly ideological GOP that believes tax cuts are the answer to every problem, and lack of regulation and oversight is always going to generate economic growth, and unilateral intervention around the world is the best approach to foreign policy. So there’s no doubt the pendulum is swinging.”

The policy debates between the two have been long exhausted, so the only way to get the public really engaged is by poking some raw national wound.

Parrallels... the Housing Bubble a Do-Over?

Song of the Slave South
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Ah… The 1980s… the Days of the Me Generation were in full swing and the Japanese with their super strong Yen were buying up so much property in the native Nippon (and therefore driving up prices) that they went on real estate buying sprees in the United States as well, snapping up such lauded properties as Rockerfeller Center! The Japanese speculators and the Average Akria drove up prices to record levels that are still shocking (in today’s dollars and yen), and real estate leveraged money reached out an bought up companies like Universal Studios and Columbia/Tri-Star and out of real estate . Go-Go Days like that don’t last very long,After the 1987 Stock Market Crash the Japanese Housing bubble took a pinprick that popped the bubble in record time… and when it collapsed the crash was back-breaking to not only an entire generation, but to the proletariat culture of Japan!

Many of us don’t recall or care to recall what happened in Japan throughout the 90s, as we were living high on the hog during the BILL Clinton years and during the makings of the first internet bubble (yes, there will be a second one… don’t you worry). But Japan, after being viewed as the country (and therefore culture) that was going to own the world – what they couldn’t do by military force in the 1930s they were doing by economic force in the 1980s – and this vaunted economic success had a lot of people learning Japanese and studying Japanese management techniques. However, Japan waded through at least 6 to 8 years of recessions, where they would have 3 down quarters to 1 up quarter or other anemic combinations of sputtering economic growth… there was even stagflation and then there was even a deflationary period (where consumers where afraid to spend, because they knew prices would be cheaper the following month). One truly remarkable aspect of the Japanese economic seesaw was that at certain points the Bank of Japan established negative interest rates… yeah, you pay the bank back less than what you borrow!

It was a decidedly difficult time, that was only exacerbated by Alan Greenspan saving the Asian Tigers from collapse in the late 90s (remember that?) and while Japan has emerged from the storm, it’s place in the Global Economy was demoted. Sure they’re still a powerhouse (by sheer numbers), but we don’t look to them as a challenge any more – they’ve been replaced by China and India.

Why talk about Japan? Well, the housing bubble that burst in Japan could be analogous to the future of the housing marketing in the United States; only it might be more dire, as far too many people took out HELOC and used the money to extend their lifestyle (cheaper money than using a credit card) or bought up too much house than they could afford or never should have been in the market for a home in the first place (able to make the mortgage payments, but not the insurance and property taxes).

Are we poised to deal with a housing market, i.e. general economy that oscillates up two quarters, down the next three? What happens when the Baby Boomers retire and dump all their investments? The stock market, at least in the US, is poised for a perpetual zigzagging for the next 5 to 15 years. Sure it’ll go up, but the economy is going to have difficult time sustaining overall growth, except for maybe in the medical sector.

Although optimists will say our economy can withstand just about anything… I wonder if Nero’s advisers thought the same thing, before he torched the place.

Three Cheers for the War that Ends the Country

It's either today or this is the five year anniversary of the War in Iraq -- thus surpassing World War Two, and bringing us to a Vietnam War timeframe.

And, as always, there is no end in sight. Why?

Because Donald Rumsfeld and the rest of the Pentagon brass that was ineptly running shit when the war started really had no plan other than to take out Saddam Hussein. Think about it, nothing else but do that and it's costing half a trillion dollars at this point, if not more.

One of the biggest goddamn mistakes was dismantling the Iraqi army -- with its 350,000 troop strength -- and not replacing that figure with American and other "Coalition of the Willing" soldiers. It is expected as invaders -- throughout the history of civilization -- that the purpose of the state, the reason why bands of people form larger groups that then turn into nations and the prime directive of the state is to protect its citizens... with an army. So when W, Shrub and Tricky Dick Cheney approved the policy of dismantling the Iraqi army they obviously inadvertently pushed the country into a style of chaos perhaps unprecedented.

Armies keep the public in check, hence the advent of martial law. When shit gets bad, the army goes in to quell the public outcry. It happened in the US during the 60s Civil Rights combustions, it happened in the aftermath of Katrina, because civilization broke down and the duty of the State is to maintain order. And if you think about, the people don't cry foul when the army comes in WHEN CHAOS RULES THE DAY. Now, how long has Chaos Ruled The Day in Iraq?

Also, when Prescott's Grandson put 350,000 men out of work, those people immediately became enemies of the state, because the US became the de facto state -- even though that kind of Nation Building was objected to by Shrub and his ilk. Uh... you dump a country's army with your army it is now your responsibility to be the new army or raise a new one. And the US did neither, hence the sad sad sad state of affairs in Iraq.

Of course Shrub and his duplicitous so-called managers weren't thinking about the history of geopolitics when they said, "let's go get this sucker. He tried to kill my Dad, so he's gotta pay!"

So raise your glasses to the War, because it'll continue well into the next president's second term. Get used to the fact that money that could be used to fix almost any social ailment that you can think of is being spent refusing to acknowledge that G.I. Joe and crew are the new Iraqi army, yet behaving as if that's the fact with a supremely undermanned force.


Don't think the 350K uneumployed disgruntled sand niggers are responsible for more than 2/3 of all the deaths in Iraq. Of course there's no way to verify this fact, and the Pentagon would deny it anyway.

So say we all!

Oil Barons Rape Us... and we like It!!

The World's Lifeblood - SUCKED DRY, BITCHES!
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So Oil has breached $110 a muthafuckin’ barrel!!! God damn! And to think, I was tripping out when it was inching near $80… in SoCal that means over $4/gal EASILY come April 15th. Especially if you happen to be on the Westside of Los Angeles, where they rape you even more… part of the price of living in the so-called “nice part of town.”

On LA’s premiere radio station KCRW they run these ads for something called Flex Your Power, which is basically a website listing ways and means to cut your overall energy consumption, stuff like getting motion sensors on your lights and using CF light bulbs, because lighting is about 25% of your monthly bill, and you can cut it by 50% by using this little tips. There are video ads on the site as well about what’s up with our kids and their future; it’s interesting.

I see know reason why all this power stuff is intriguing because we have to do something about getting away from oil as our primary means of powering our go-go economies. Business will solve the problems of transpo and power with different technology, business has to because the potential money to be made is outrageous – the power boom will be like the early 80s tech boom, in terms of creating lots and lots of wealth, and even creating manufacturing jobs here in the US.

However, it doesn’t solve the issue that we use fossil fuel, i.e. petroleum/black gold, in manufacturing of all sorts of shit in the global economy. The true scientific technological break-thru will be on how to reclaim and cycle plastics, Styrofoam and other chemical products that once junked have a half-life of like a few hundred thousand years. Imagine a company with the ability to reclaim and recycle expending plastics? Said company can roll up to any landfill on the planet (and there are too fucking many, so that’s a big market) and start unearthing and sifting around to reclaim the junked plastic for future use.

Of course no one really knows what kind of toxic soup is in a landfill and even the most impregnable hazardous materials suits might not be able to protect these new workers from culling what they need from those zones.

Will companies like Applied Materials, BP and Shell (with their GTL technology, see the film on their website shell.com) be able to create the kinds of technology necessary to get us away for oil for energy needs? All the big ass muthafuckin’ bank that these companies have been making since the War in Iraq started, and they aren’t dumping huge swaths in the R&D for alternative fuels and green technology? Sure, they’re being asked to fuel the potential competition, but… BUT what’s the alternative? Don’t think oil can’t reach $150/barrel this year (as some have predicted). ‘cause it will by the time the election rolls around – and Barak, Hillary and Johnny POW won’t be able to do shit about it.

NASA and the Military have been fucking up by not doing the hard science research required to lick this problem (that’s a W-ism, BTW).

The Brink of Collapse...

$20 Stacks
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So the Fed offers up to Wall Street US Treasuries to open up the credit markets? Is Bernanke insane? How can he and the rest of the Fed Governors even entertain that the Big Banks can use their troubled mortgage-backed securities as collateral? How does this make sense? When:


a) the whole mess with the credit markets is rooted in the mortgage-backed securities market?


b) no one YET knows how to value the mortgage-backed securities, and since the default rate is climbing by the hour, there’s no way to measure the risk of these investments?


c) you know damn well that they are going to use their most difficult, sub-prime securities as collateral, so effectively this is a bail out at the general welfare of the country’s expense;


d) this type of extreme horsetrading the reason why the credit markets are in freefall in the first place.


e) the Fed traditionally refused to accept private label securities for collateral – and with good reason, if the Wall Street Warriors can trick even their shrewdest competitors be sure they can trick the Fed and the SEC long enough for their to be cataclysmic damage committed.



Look at the Credit Derivatives market, it’s predicting that Citibank has a 17% of defaulting on its obligations in the next 5 years!!! That’s a whopping, if not astronomical number. And since no Sovereign Wealth Fund has bought into Citi (and I suspect none will), they might be in some trouble. So that 17% might not be as outrageous as it seems…



And what’s up with Carlyle Group? They’re just about to go under and smash the industry again. They’re about to lose their Triple A-rated mortgage-backed securities to cover their massive debt; this will no doubt flood the market with AAA securities, therefore driving the price down on this top grade shit and just think what it’s going to do to the value of the bottom-of-the-barrel crapola that’s the root cause of the market meltdown?

Treasury Secretary Paulson was issuing edicts to have more supervision and greater controls so this type of bursting of the bubble doesn’t happen again… well at least anytime soon, because those sons of bitches on Wall Street make the big bucks because they figure out ways to jook the system, and they sidestep any kind of serious fallout – no one goes to jail or is seriously fined. Secretary Paulson’s biggest hurdle is going to be getting the Ratings Companies (i.e. Moody’s and Standard & Poor) to act in the best interest of shareholders and the general market – not the investment banks who had the game rigged, whereby they would demand a rating from say Moody’s (usually a high one) and pay for their rating of an investment issue AFTER that’s right I said, after the investment bank sold the security to bamboozled investors!

The thing is no matter what Bernanke or Paulson do, there is no Silver Bullet for the killing the GREED PRINCIPLE, which fuels all the excesses in capital markets that we’ve seen since the 1987 Crash – and their have been a few: internet, real estate, financials, commodities (oh wait that crash hasn’t happened again yet), Asian Tigers, etc from recurring – again and again and again. All those Wall Street and Fed Economic Gurus never foresee the raping of the system until the System has been ransacked much like Rome when the Germanic Barbarians where invading, and it’s too late to save it as the Centurions scratch their heads wondering why didn’t we stop this when we saw it coming?

Taking It Up The Ass and other musing…

Bush with Clean Hands
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

This post is part one of a series tentatively called - The Aftermath of The Great Decider’s Time In The Oval Office

The one moment in Dubya’s time in office that is a precursor to what’s really happening in our future as country is the devastating natural disaster known as Hurricane Katrina, and how the US government dealt with it or rather failed to. New Orleans’ African-Americans were stand-ins for the world’s billions of people of color living hand-to-mouth, while the top 1% owns 50% of all the world’s wealth. The pitiful response of the government controlled by a GOP administration – i.e. one run by corporate lobbyist, er friendly fascists, -- so caught up in its phony way in Iraq that it could not handle the war-like devastation in New Orleans.

The belief that additional national GOP leadership is the answer to renewed stewardship of the country and the country’s image and influence around the globe is absolute nonsense, if not utterly ridiculous.

John McCain is a good man, a good Senator, in fact one of the better Senators we’ve had in recent memory, but he’ll be beholden the greed mongering cutthroat bandits that –- in the end -- run his party. Not to mention that he’d fill the corridors of power with more of the odious political cronies, who have a great affinity to the same old Fuck Shit that Dubya Bush has been force-feeding us than a Democratic Commander-in-Chief would.

Adaptation

You'll Learn To Like The Foot On Your Neck
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

I just finished reading Leon Wynter's fascinating book, AMERICAN SKIN, and he made a curiously interesting observation -- that white men are the very template for the Borg of Star Trek: Next Generation fame; they will adapt to what they cannot assimilate by force. As whiteness continues to lose its overall premium in commercial culture, more and more whites are forced to take stock of their investment in whiteness.

He ponders if whether whiteness will eventually redefine itself out of existence in America, taking blackness along with it. Logically it could happen when social and economic whiteness has entirely outlived its usefulness. Never forget: the underlying motivation for the institution of political whiteness has always been economic first and social second. Hence no economic return, no more whiteness.

Fidel Steps Down

So the big news in geopolitics this week is the Fidel Castro - the penultimate revolutionary -- has relinquished power in Havana. After nearly 50 years of rule, perhaps the longest run of any ruler in history (I don't have all the numbers, but it's pretty long time), Castro has to release his grip on power, and he did it on his own terms without "losing the revolution." Typically, we'd see some rioting in the streets or the opposition party was geared up for the transition and they seize power, but that's not the case here.

I'm curious to see if Barak Obama meets with Raul Castro -- without pre-conditions -- about normalizing relations.

Apparently, the last true efforts to normalize relations occurred during the Carter Administration, but Fidel's support of revolutionary causes in Angola and Ethiopia scuttled the attempts.

The biggest black eye during the Cold War for the US has a chance to heal, before a revolution takes place. Obviously, Cuba could go the way of China and still be a Communist country, but fully embrace capitalist ideas and increase its economy. As the largest island in the Caribbean and natural trading partner/vacation spot for the US, it's been a pissed awsay half-century for both countries.

Will Obama, should he be elected president, actually bring Change to Central America?