The Embedded Revolution

2006-09-11T01:09:00.000-04:00

Metric

2006-08-26T11:19:00.000-04:00

A friend asked me to make a little music video for the band... i threw it together in a couple of days... enjoy.

A Day Without TV

2006-07-22T01:02:00.000-04:00

Watching the events unfold in the Middle East harkens terrifying thoughts of Armageddon or worse. To sit by, immersed in a theatre festival, and not have the opportunity to really impact difference is challenging, so I return to the blog as my only outlet to cry a bit.

The United States' inaction in stopping the conflict will surely enliven a whole new sect of violence that could have been quelled by the snail-paced relations of political negotiation. The doctrine of Destruction before Diplomacy is one that I'm sure I will never understand, but to see the violence escalate daily and destroy even more of a shaky region is incredibly unnerving.

In my discussions, I am constantly amazed at how little people know of the regions in question. Some hardly recognize the difference between Lebanon and Palestine-- neither of which get along terribly well, and both of which are about as different as night and day. Unfortunately, they are galvanized together in their desire for the destruction of Israel/US because of our blatant disregard for human life and peaceful ambition. Sectritarian violence seems unlikely to unfold as we are stoking the fires of an entire region, and pushing those whose deep hatreds for one another is pushed aside in order to stop the true terrorists-- namely the United States and Israel. It is baffling that in our Doctrine of Destruction, we do not understand the idea of an occupying force (while Iraq turns worse and worse), and even as Israel prepares to enter Lebanon again (after having just left). The US/Israel do not understand they will never be able to "destroy" Hezbollah, but will rather be forever seen as occupiers who in their own right must be destroyed. The cycle of violence is doomed to be never-ending under this doctrine, and I worry for the inclusion of others in the region (Syria, Iran) into an already unstable situation. World War III truly does look like it is starting (which is to say, new battles are beginning in Somallia, let alone continued strggles with India/China/N. Korea, as well as the issues of Tibet and continued problems through the Balkans and Central Asia).

I wonder what would happen if all of the media in the world were to stop for one day. A day without TV. A day without the Internet. A day without papers. Could the giant of war be quelled if it wasn't reported on? It seems that the violence that escalates on a daily basis is fueled by our fears inlayed by media and the ignorance fed to us through "sources." A day without reporting would be a day where all fighting was not amplified through the music-video stylings of CNN, the NY Times or worse.

Returning from our dark day, what would happen if our media chose to focus on the incredible intellect of the Palestinian people, or the troubles of electricity and running water in Iraq? What if it talked on social structures and history, rather than shocking and wowing us with musical montages of buildings being destroyed? What if it discussed the true nature of the Palestinians or Lebanese, who are both highly educated? What if it discussed the governments, elected democratically, in a way that showed us why the people elected them, rather than continuing to dwell on their own military ambitions? Or if they spoke of the true human stories, on both sides of the conflict, rather than focusing on the 25,000 Americans who are in Lebanon? The merchants of death, however, would rather you be scared for a distant family member of a guy from Texas than to understand the daily battles those in this region face, on both sides of the border.

In a day without any news, the world would be caught fighting itself blindly. Of course violence wouldn't stop, but with no one to witness it (on large scale), would its impact be as great? Can the giant be destroyed by ignoring it? I know this might sound a bit like a play out of the Bush Book, but I'm not suggesting we stop talking about the "bad" that's happening, but rather that we stop for a time talking about it at all. Let us look around, with our own eyes, and our own thoughts, and for once have to make a decision for ourselves. If we didn't have that grand collective conscious of media thinking for us, what would our own united conscious discover? Would we perhaps find a way to see each other as we are rather than Good v. Evil? Would we be able to for once see the fighting as a means that will never get us to an end? Would it perhaps force us to sit back down at the bargaining table and work out a solution for this conflict through words, rather than bombs? Maybe it's too naive, but something must be done before this escalates any further.

Before I close, I wish to say that I do still have hope that this can be stopped before truly evolving into armageddon. Unfortunately, it seems, that our own fundamentalists (i.e. Evangelicals with Bush at the helm) are excited by the prospects of the end of the world, and are perhaps welcoming this new wave of fighting as just one more step in the path to the "savior."

This war affects us and all other nations in unimaginable ways. It's time we pull together our own coalition above our government to affect change (revolution anyone?), and work together with the international community to find that ever elusive peace. If Bush can't do it, why not enact Bush Sr. and Clinton as we did during the Tsunami to come to the aid of the world community, and perhaps once again try to hold our heads high as the "moral compass" of the world. Power is a strange and disorienting thing, but it is high time we find our use of it working towards good again, lest history judge us as the fascists we have become.

Slo-long Slobo

2006-03-14T11:37:00.000-05:00

Hello all. Sorry I have been distant again in the past month. I'm not sure who still checks in here, but I see every now and again people do pop by. I've been wonderfully busy with lots of shows and potential projects, and unfortunately have been far too depressed about the world situation to even come up with anything to say about it. But, this week new info has come out, and I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts...

Slobodan Milosovic died in prison the other day, and it has spawned relentless inquiry into the cause of that seemingly too-perfect death. The brutal dictator and genocidal maniac was originally thought to have died peacefully in his sleep of a heart attack, although autopsy reports are now showing that it looks like he might have been poisoned, likely by his own volition in tampering with his prescriptions to achieve his desired effect.

One way or another, though, it has made me think long and hard about what it must be like to be a truly evil person on this planet. His death, whether natural or chemical, is far too easy for a man who to his dying day believed that the monstrosities that committed were justified as defense of his country. It echoes eerily similar to our own dictator, whom I believe will go to his death bed forever believing that his actions were justified, beneficial, and in the pursuit of freedom.

So, what does this mean for history and the world? While his passing is a blow to the legal defense of his slaughter of millions of innocents, I think deeper than that it should bring to the forefront of debate the true philosophical meanings of what it is to be evil, to be free, and to be alive. Milosovic was by every definition the essence of evil. He was brutal, genocidal, cared little or nothing for human life, and was galavant in his ideology of ethnic cleansing. He was also weak-- as soon as the UN began bombing Serbia in the early 90s, he quickly retreated into diplomatic talks which lead to the break down of the balkan states into more or less what exists now.

And through it all, it has made me so uneasy. I do not know if the public debate is enlightened enough to begin to question what it means to be evil. We removed Sadam because the American public believed him to be an "evil" dictator-- hell, it was even in our language-- the "axis of evil." But, what is "evil?" What is the demonstrative effect that the word is trying to have on public opinion, and greater, what is the effect that it has on our own psyche? We have all probably done "evil" things at one time or another in our lives (I only have to think momentarily to horrible choices on the playgrounds of my youth to think of other's evil choices on me, and likely, me on them...) But "evil" must be a variable that can change with the person. Certainly none of us have enacted racial genocide, but are we all not in some way responsible for the war in Iraq? Should we not have raised our voices up louder, protested harder, fought more diligently against what some knew inherently was "right" for the world?

These are questions that cannot be answered, save for the beauty of hindsight. We live in an age where "evil," it seems , is destined to be lived out for a while longer. The public discourse is slowly beginning to come around, and ultimately I have to believe that we will gather our senses again to begin to share actual debate and discussion over the issues that are going to hinder our country for another generation or more.

It is a scary time, one wrought with uncertainties and political debauchery. But with the passing of one of the world's great dictators, I think that it is also time that we begin to question our own fascist tendencies, and bring back Nichzche's thinking to the forefront. What, indeed, makes "good and evil." Now is the time for the discussion to rise again.

"Peppered Pretty Good"

2006-02-14T01:59:00.000-05:00

Don't fuck with the dark lord. He'll shoot you in the face...

Tiny Baby Pictures

2006-01-19T15:53:00.003-05:00

Hey all-

Here are the pics from "Tiny Baby", which was recently produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville. The cast is as follows:

Susan- Eva Gil
Vanessa- Melissa Dowty
Alec- Ben Friesen

I directed it...

sorry for the big page-- this is the easiest way I found to share all these pics. And for those of you who are looking for my usual rants... just scroll through all this!

PEACE!

An Ode to a King

2006-01-16T02:41:00.000-05:00

California will have its first execution of the year Wednesday morning at 12:01am. The inmate led into the lethal injection chamber will be a 76 year old man, plagued with a fatal heart condition, who is blind and can hardly walk. It is abhorent, dishonorable, and speaks demonically to what the values of our country really are.

And, it will come only one day after our national holiday in which we honor Rev. Martin Luther King. His words, which once vibrated so resonantly over a disenfranchised people, will hardly be heard amongst the cacophony of media drivel we find ourselves lost in today. The words echoing are those men he ardently fought against. These Abramoff's and Alito's, who's own roots are based in racism and biggotry and in the drive for for segregation. They are the men Dr. King argued against so beautifully, and who now lead us in a death march towards isolation and radicalism. They are the men who condone the killing of senile old men to satiate their thirst for blood.

The Reverend's words are so meaningful today as we face yet another moment of absolute disenfranchisement. While we cannot change the unfortunate outcome of Alito, we certainly can begin to hold accountability for all of our actions (my next blog is all about this).

Dr. King once gave a speech to a group of revelers, telling them of the means by which non-violent resistance would lead not only those who were oppressed through hardships, but also those who were the oppressors. In order to right the underlying racism that was tearing this country apart, Dr. King united everyone in the understanding of peace, unity and forgiveness. It changed a country, and made us stronger in the eyes of the world and ourselves.

But unfortunately, those who opposed the Reverend, making do or die proclomations so fervently in the past, are back today. These are the Alito's, the Frists, the Delay's and Roberts'. These are the men who opposed the Reverend, who's words today seem lost in the verbal swordplay that is our punditry and government.

It is a sad day when the voice of a past revolution is drowned out by the present march to war (and excecution). May we only hope, on this evening of remembering a King, that as the decades of this war go on, that we remember the Reverend's words, and face each other and ourselves as a country. We can regain our dignity, our honor, and our values. But first we must listen to ourselves, and stop allowing the droan of groupthink to drown our our own ideals of equality, justice, and liberty for all. If there were a god, I would want it to be as open and elequant as the Reverend made him sound. Never listing against another's view, and always honoring the true nature of the human soul with compassion, goodness, and peace (and not "bombing people back to the stone age.")

And with that, I wish you all a peaceful day of rememberance, and hope that next year we may meet in the land of peace for all of man.

Accountability

2006-01-16T02:38:00.000-05:00

So, I've been lost in Northern California for a couple weeks now, and I must say it's quite lovely here. Not that I've had much time to explore (I'm directing a play called "Wit"), but certainly the lifestyle can treat you right. But some things have got me thinking. I wrote in the blog right above this ("An Ode to a King") about our need to heed the reverend's words and begin to look into ourselves as a country in order to survive the current fascist drawl. And, of course, I have a few more thoughts...

The Abramoff scandal is unfortunate, but very necessary for the country as a whole I think. While it's uncertain who's name he will name directly, we can only imagine how bad it could be for the republicans. Not that anyone will notice (our punditry has a nice choke hold on that now), but at least it will bring some accountability to the table.

But, are the democrats seizing on the moment? Don't be absurd! Harry Reid (the minority leader) said today that no democrats got bribes. Doesn't he know that we can all do checks and balances these days? WHY IS HE LYING?!?! The truth is, and it's plain to see, that they did. This is clearly not the issue, and he shouldn't be lying his way out of it. If they did take bribes, they need to be held accountable too. We need to hold accountability for all members of society who are caught in theft of anything. end of story.

Embedded deeply in all branches of government, we are facing an historic moment where we could really seize power and hold accountability for all the corporate scandal and corruption that is destroying our nation. Sure, a couple democrats might have to go to jail too, but can't these White Men who stole from all of our mouths, know that it is their civic responsibility to own up to their misgivings, and help to bring us back to the decent, honorable and truthful society that we once were? I know they can, and it will help us out for generations to come.

Unfortunately the democrats are too spineless to own up to this and really press the republican thieves who are clearly crippling our trust, our security and our reputation. I only hope that as the years go on, and more and more people are sent to jail, that the money they stole gets redistributed amongst the proletariat and stops simply being funneled back into the top 1% of these rich, white men. It's a long road ahead of us, but I look again tonight to Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandella, and Ghandi, knowing that one day, justice will be brought to those who do not strive for truth, justice, and democracy for all. And I pray tonight for our future as a country, a people, and a world.

Blue Writing from a Red State

2005-12-23T16:42:00.000-05:00

Hello all... I am so sorry for having neglected you this past month. I find myself currently in Louisville, Kentucky where I am directing a new play at the Actors' Theatre of Louisville. It has been wonderful, and I'm getting ready to leave tomorrow for San Francisco where I'll be directing another play ("Wit") through January.

But, of course, while I live in the world of make-believe and tell stories in a darkened box, the world has continued to spin faster and faster, and life continues to be divided by hatreds and greed.

I could write about the "war on christmas," which already seems passe and moot. I could write about the sham elections in Iraq, and Iran's new found power there. I could write about Iran, in general, and the Ayatollah's hubris in desecrating the Jewish faith by outlandishly crying that the holocaust never happened. I could write about George Bush's bubble, tyrannical spying and ever faltering regime.

All of these would be fine topics for my first blog back, but I thought I'd give you a little taste of Louisville instead.

This town, nestled in the heart of a VERY red state, has grown far more divided since I was here last year. I've seen bumper stickers that read "Evolution is Dumb" and "Straight Pride", and then gone to pick up their version of the Village Voice to find a picture of Dick Cheney on the cover being tortured on a cross. These are divided times, and clearly this town is in the midst of real soul searching. How it is playing out I'm not completely sure, but it is definitely interesting to see such a divided city in the midst of such a republican strong hold.

Today, I was at lunch in a small middle-eastern restaurant, and eavesdropped in on the most interesting conversation. Sitting across from me was an unbelievably beautiful blonde-- the perfect image of the southern belle, dimples and all. With her was a scraggly bohemian looking fellow, and I quickly became interested in their conversation when I heard them talking about great works of philosophy and she pulled a copy of "The Profit" out of her bag. Hmm.. well, read, I thought, worth listening in on.

But soon the conversation turned to "the Lord." She was clearly a well educated woman (in her mid to late twenties I'd assume) and was proud of a recent published article she had that dealt with bringing the "Lord Jesus Christ into schools and work". She started pressing her friend for what his relationship was with "the lord." He evaded. She pressed harder. He evaded some more. Soon, it became a true division between their ideologies. she couldn't seem to understand why he said "I don't hear the lord, which doesn't mean I don't believe". In her mind, one had to be in direct conversation with him at every moment.

She retold a story that she had heard at church. There, the preacher had told her that Jesus is like an Eagle-- soaring high and alone. He flies through the storm and makes it through to the other side. She said, she knew Jesus talked to her when she saw an Eagle when she drove her car.

Ok, I thought, that's a nice little allegory, but certainly she can't really believe that he's speaking to her whenever she sees a bit of nature. That's just crazy. Eagles fly everywhere, and while seeing one can be a fulfilling experience (especially for American's, I guess), surely it is a bit insane to think of this as a larger sign.

She went on. Every time the clouds part, she believes Jesus is answering her prayers. Every time she sees the sun, this is Jesus telling her what to do. The more she pressed him for equal responses about how Jesus talks to him, he rebutted with analytical thought brought about by a clear understanding of Nitzche, Hegel and Plato. He even recounted to her the Myth of the Cave-- a very astute defense, I thought, showing that we are indeed mere reflections of life, but at the same time in control of our destinies if we choose to look at the light. Her thought, he argued, was likely to be met by an analyst as delusional. She was manifesting her own anxieties into everyday occurrences, which did not signify god talking to her.

It was an amazing conversation to listen in on. Not because I simply agree with the bohemian looking fellow that we are more in control of our own problems and life than any god may be, but simply because of the way in which the conversation arose. We talk these days about Evolution, God, Politics, Schooling, and Life as if they have always been one. We fight about whether or not we should say "Merry Christmas" or "happy holidays" (trust me, down here, EVERYONE says 'merry christmas.') But these discussions are personal and should NEVER be brought into public life. Our democracy was founded so that we can all believe in whatever we want. We can worship rubber bands if that's what makes us happy. But we should never, NEVER be forced to believe in hair-brain examples of clouds parting as a means by which to act.

Surely, as we approach Hannukah and Christmas, we can all take a moment to look into our own lives, recognize what fuels us as humans, and try to forget for a while that while we are all different in mindsets, we should all be coming together in hopes for Peace, Prosperity, and everlasting freedom. These are the morals that all of our Gods teach us.

I wish you all peace and prosperity this season, and hope that whatever your celebrations may follow this week, you remember that beyond the commerce, the craziness and the false idolatry, at the heart of the human creature lies compassion and forgiveness. This is what all of our holidays are about, and I wish for the world to remember these things this week. And stop bombing people if they don't agree.

Peace on you all, Ham'd'allah, and Shalom.

"Cry 'havoc,' and let slip the dogs of War!"

2005-11-19T12:33:00.000-05:00

Julius Caesar, III.i

The moment of truth has arisen for our country, and it has been met with slander, deceit, mud-slinging, and downright juvenile school yard bullying. Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania called a motion to order yesterday that states that our troops be withdrawn in DUE COURSE, not, as the Republicans twisted it to be, "immediately." The motion was met with disgusting disdain, deceit, and ultimately, partisan politics that denied the essence of the motion-- that the time for discussing the real issue of the day was truly upon us. That issue: WAR and PEACE. This is not playing politics. This is playing god. And the results are disgusting.

I took the time to watch the entire hour-long session of congress last evening, and never before have I seen such a horrifying display of bullying, slander and ultimately, denial. The media (and republicans) would have you believe that Murtha (a decorated Vietnam vet) wants to "retreat" and "surrender," and that his plan was an attack on the president and our troops. This could not be farther from the truth. Murtha read the statement he had originally put forward, and in it, the language echoes not slanderous epithets, but rather real situations needing real solutions.

We have an army that is being slowly depleted and not supplied with the resources it needs. IEDs are an everyday occurrence, and recruitment is down to impossibly low levels. One Marine Sergeant told Murtha on a recent visit to Iraq that he would need at least 30,000 more troops in order to secure the border with Syria, and that most of his troops arrived unprepared and under equipped to deal with the situations that they faced on a day to day basis. Of those he received, most were C4-- the lowest standing deployment level our army can have. These are troops that are not trained, are not prepared, and are dying for an unjust war.

John Murtha is not calling for retreat. He is calling for the protection of our soldiers, and our country. He cited a poll that nearly 45% of Iraqi's believe that it is OK to attack American soldiers. Think about that for a second. Even those who are "on our side" (i.e. didn't like Sadaam and want to see some form of democracy blossom), nearly HALF of them believe that our death and destruction is ok. This is not good.

In Mr. Murtha's passionate speech (which was met with childish booing), he did not call for an immediate withdrawal (as the Republican majority forced into issue), rather for a plan of handing power over in this upcoming election. December 15 will be upon us very shortly, and with it (and I agree with him), what better thing to say to the newly formed Iraqi government than "Now it's your turn to try to solve your problems. We're leaving." Not that we'll be gone completely, but rather, you have to take an active interest in the survival of your country.

Civil war is already upon the Iraqis. Just yesterday suicide bombers attacked mosques, killing some 100 of their own worshipers. We are dealing with a nihilistic community so intent on its own destruction, that we had best get out before the arrow gets pointed deeper at us (i.e. on our own shores).

But this is not the discussion that went on in congress last night. The Republicans manipulate these truths to make it sound like everything is going well, and that our discussion of possible withdrawal is slanderous to the troops, and, god forbid, the president himself. It's not that we're not supporting the president. It's that we're supporting an actual PLAN. It's not that complicated.

The republicans continually draw up allusion to 9/11 and Osama bin Ladan. They applaud themselves with almost farcical fluency-- delaying any real discussions and usurping any gentlemanly argument that can be made.

In one of the most disturbing pieces of last night's vote, Murtha called to mind the actions of the same congress some 15 years ago. Back then, as we were looking to go into Iraq again, each of the 435 senators were given FIVE minutes to give their view on why or why not go to war. Last night, they were each given less than 8 seconds.

The national discussion MUST be brought away from slander and mudslinging. As Murtha said-- this is now a discussion of WAR and PEACE.

And everyday, as more Americans die (and Iraqi's are killed by their own countrymen), it is time to own up to our mistakes, and begin to make real strides in finding a way out of the decade without completely destroying ourselves and the world.

Please go out and talk about this with everyone you see on the streets. I know that politics is a touchy subject these days, and we're all disenfranchised. But the reality is that WE, as a country, NEED to discuss the real issues, without getting clouded by rhetoric, hubris, or simple denial. The time for action is upon us, so as Henry V might have said, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more." Our hour of judgment is upon us, and we are failing with dizzying reticence. I weep at the country that once stood so strong, and now won't even face the reality that it has created.

The time is truly come for the discussion of WAR and PEACE. Let us hope that we do not decide WAR will be the reality of the rest of our days on earth. Patriotism comes with planning, and now is the time to discuss. Not boo and jeer and deny like some schoolyard bully. We are more mature than that-- let us hope our government can be too.

Nuclear Niceties

2005-11-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

Bush met with President Putin yesterday to discuss Iran getting its nuclear fuel source from Russia, instead of making it on its own. While the White House wouldn't give any specific information from that meeting (said Steven Hadely, "Sometimes there are issues that can be more productively discussed out of public view") we do know that Putin has probably accepted part of the offer, and will supply Iran with enough nuclear material to support a civilian energy program. Not that it'll do us any good. With the relations between the US and Russia at an all time post-cold war low, it's unlikely that Putin wouldn't supply Iran with chemical grade plutonium, if paid the right price.

But perhaps the Iranians won't even need to go that far to make the bomb they so desperately desire. There are several stories right here in the good US of A that will get your heart pounding.

Several weeks ago, we all learned that a small nuclear device had gone missing at JFK. It has yet to be found. Now, although over hyped by the local media, the minitron holds very little nuclear material, but could be enough to create a very small reactor. It's scary, but not over the top.

But then, last night, an even more horrifying story broke.

A local post-man found a misplaced 200 pound canister filled with Cesium 137 that had been lost on its way from Germany to a private company in Boston. It had arrived at JFK (via Iceland on a COMMERCIAL airline), was packed into a regular mail truck, traveled across local highways and city streets, and finally arrived in Jersey City, where it was eventually found. The canister, which was clearly marked and radioactive enough to pollute upwards of 6 city blocks, was never checked in, and arrived "in error from JFK".

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) faulted the Homeland Security and Nuclear Regulatory Commission for this horrific oversight. Their response? You guessed it. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent a letter back to Schumer saying "It is not our job to police radioactive material at JFK." Homeland Security followed in kind by responding that it is the TSA's responsibility, and not their fault.

They both finally responded that there was in fact "no error" as the package had been recovered and no one had been hurt.

You can't make this up! They have their heads shoved so far up their asses that even when a REAL situation arises with REAL nuclear material, they won't take it seriously.

It's a good day when, even before a catastrophic event, the fingers are already warmed up and pointing at everyone except for ourselves. I remember when American values included self-retrospection, and owning up to the facts. Too bad we've devolved so greatly as a country that even when real situations arise, we don't have the conjones to try to fix our mistakes before they become permanent.

I applaud Senator Schumer for continuing to press this issue. He remains one of the last bastions of hope that we have in this ever more tumultuous world we live in.

No Deliverables

2005-11-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

The President is in Asia. Yippee. Our cowboy is making his once a year visit to our soon to be suppressors to give them the same talking points he gives us. And the white house council blatantly shouts out that "there will be no deliverables from these meetings. It is just a time for the world leaders to sit down face to face."

This is a major problem, and one that I can't even believe will have to go on for another three years (can we please talk Impeachment folks?). America's job has always been one of world leadership-- whether right or wrong, we have been the ones to guide people from one point to another. And in today's burgeoning economic times for China and India, it is no time for us to sit by the wayside trying to tell them about "democracy" and lambast them on following Taiwan's example. Surely someone in the Bush household could have told him that talking to the Chinese about the Taiwanese is like talking to Americans about the French. There's just nothing you're going to do to let these two get along.

But in all seriousness, things are going from bad to worse. I mean, how is it possible that a president can actually go half way around the world and NOT expect to accomplish a single thing! It's ludicrous. He might have been able to sneak through at Yale by not showing up and doing his papers on his way to class, but as the president of the United States, I would hope that five years in someone would at least help him CHEAT through the final exam. China is going to overpower us, probably by the end of his term, and things are not looking good for the 'ol US of A.

Back on the home front, things are getting awfully sticky too. And with a mere 1051 days before election day, our news media has already started spinning the story of who will be the next president. This is going to be very bad for our country for a couple of reasons.

The first rests solely in the fact that WE HAVE THREE MORE YEARS with this fool and his group of cronies, and things can escalate to even more apocalyptic proportions in that time. The war is going horribly, civil war has already erupted, our credibility is in the torture chambers (literally), and economically we'll be lucky to live out the fiscal year before becoming indentured servants to our far-east masters.

So while, yes, I am excited to get on with who is going to lead the country in THREE years, politicians will never answer the questions that we are being faced with today. There are real problems that need real leadership, and it needs to be faced NOW, not three years from now. If we sit around debating who will "lead" us then, we are only forgetting that things will get worse and worse, and then the new "leader" will be in just as bad a situation as the current moron.

We need to force people to really face the facts. Democrats tried in vain the other day to pass a motion in the senate that would set a timetable for troop withdrawl. It was shot down, but even Republicans passed a motion that would at least force a "report" on the state of the war every quarter. This seems like something that probably SHOULD have been happening anyway, but it is a small step in our tyranny in showing that there is growing dissent at home in the quagmire we face today. The cabal of cronies is being called out, and it's time to face reality. British troops are planning to be completely gone by MAY (6 months from now), and it is high time that we start thinking seriously as well.

It bothers me when I see Tim Russert and George Stephanopholous falling into the trap of false futurism, along with Fox and CNN. These guys (especially George) should know better than to lead us down that road. We cannot ask anyone what they would do to lead, only how they are going to help our leaders now. It is indeed not time for partisan politics, but a time for everyone to say "this is how I would do it" and then figure out how we can implement it now.

There may not be any IED's on the road we're heading down, but there's sure to be a few explosions if we keep our heads buried in the sand and place false hope in a leader three years from now, as our current one trots around the world smearing our name.

Let's impeach the shrub.

The Horror

2005-11-11T11:49:00.000-05:00

WARNING: The following article contains VERY graphic photographs. Do NOT scroll down this page unless you are ready to truly face reality...

photos courtesy of RAI News-- an Italian News Source.

I'm sorry to have had to show you those, but they cannot be ignored. It is now fact that America has used Chemical Weapons, in the form of White Phosphorous Bombs, which were originally designed as an alternative to napalm (which had the pesky side effect of being able to be washed off.) White Phosphorous, however, needs only to come in minor contact with any piece of your skin for its effects to become clear. And it's irreversible. Once the phosphorous touches you, it cannot be taken off, and burns literally down to the bone through anything you're wearing. It can go through clothes, gas masks, and even plastics-- and the fact is that the US used it in major supply in the assault on Fallujah one year ago.

Now, President Bush was met with incredibly vocal dissent this week when he travelled down to South America to fuck-up any hopes of a free trade agreement that we might have made. Even his host president made time to show up at a major rally against the United States (when in history has that happened before? Oh yeah... when Germany tried to take over France... hmm... striking any warning bells?!)

But even with his approval ratings hovering somewhere between abysmal and apocalyptic, President Bush continues on his hegemonic crusade to rule the world. And with new evidence (and lots of wonderful interviews with OUR OWN SOLDIERS), it is now proof that we are hosting an internationally defunct war-on-terror that borders on genocide. These weapons are disgusting, dangerous, and with this insight into their use, truly revolting in understanding how far we are willing to go to get the oil we need.

On top of these new revelations, this week also brought with it new evidence that we are setting up "black camps" in Thailand, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia to take terror suspects unbeknownst to their countries. This also calls to mind a certain historical fact that people overlooked until nearly 6 million Jews were dead. FOLKS, WE'RE OPENLY COMMITTING TORTURE, and opening up PRISON CAMPS. You know that I don't like the Hitler references that people make, but we're getting a little too close to the fire to not be calling up these images anymore.

I don't know what to do about this. A vote went to the Senate last week to try to change the language of torture, and was voted on 90-9. Yes, that's right folks, NINE people openly said that we should be able to torture in order to get information. NINE!! And who's leading the pack? That's right... none other than our Vice-President, Dick Cheney. It's almost too hard to believe, but it's true. And it's time we all start shouting about it. I lie awake at night knowing that my country is turning into a tyrannous state, a gulag that will rival any insane dictatorship in history. I know that economically and politically we'll be lucky to survive this decade, and the rest of our lives are certainly going to be tumultuous thanks to these morons.

But I do not want to have to live out the realities of a President who openly commits torture, uses chemical weapons on innocent civilians, and then denies it to the entire world.

This is not making us safer. I don't want to wake up one morning looking like these poor souls, simply because we needed to get some more oil and someone decided we should have to pay for our government's hubris. New York is only 8 miles long-- these bombs have a radius of nearly 1000 feet. That means that with only 5 of them, the area from Battery Park to Washington Square Park could be destroyed. There's probably a half-million people that live in this area (and another million who are there on a daily basis: including the financial district, tourists, students, and artists, workers and civilians). It will be a far worse day than 9/11 if they use something like this to make their point. We need to stop giving them ideas.

As Arthur Miller once said: "Attention must be paid." Now is the time to pay it.

The Language of God

2005-11-06T23:02:00.000-05:00

What's in a word?

Today I found myself watching two movies-- quite on accident. The first was a Palestinian film called "Paradise Now". It's a story about two friends in the West Bank who are called upon to become martyrs, and their struggle of deciding whether or not to fulfill their duty. I believe this to be one of the most important stories of our day, and I am always happy to see people tackling the difficult issues it brings up ("Sixteen Wounded" dealt deeply with this subject). What it takes for these real humans, who have led real lives of desperation, to complete their task is destructive not only for society, but also very much for their inner circles of families and livelihoods. While one cannot condone terrorism, one certainly can understand that having lived an entire life under occupation, watching your friends and family get killed, maimed and slaughtered is enough to lead any one of us to acts of ultimate desperation.

It was a poignant film that I would strongly recommend to anyone who believes that in order for society to survive, we have to understand that oppression and occupation will never lead to freedom and peace. And no matter how hard you try to make one symptomatic of the other, death exists on both sides of the battlefield--whether that battlefield is in the middle of a desert, on a crowded bus, or in the streets of your city.

After the film was over, I walked out, and started to go downstairs (it was at Sunshine on the LES), when I noticed that "Ushpizin" had just begun. This is an Israeli film about a Hassidic couple on the eve of Succott-- the Jewish holiday that directly follows Yom Kippur. Ushpizin refers to the guests that you are supposed to have on this festive week-long holiday. As a film, it was fairly bland-- the hassidic couple has nothing to give (not even one of those huts you're supposed to sit in) and not a single penny to their name. They both pray very hard, and their "miracle" is answered by some omnipresent good luck. Soon, two escaped convicts (who the husband knew from a past life), show up and crash with them in Jerusalem. As one quote goes:

"It's the holiest city in the world"
"No, it's just a great big pile of old rocks."

Soon the Hassidic couple believe that God will forgive them for all their sins, and they run through the streets singing "absolution, absolution, absolution" until they are granted with a baby boy. It's drippy and gooey and was sort of a Jewish answer to "The Passion of the Christ," with lemons and date branches instead of blood (in my opinion).

These two films are as different as night and day. They are from the same exact region of the world (Israel, is after all, Palestine), but spring from two totally disperate reatlities. "Paradise Now" offered a nihilistic view, where nothing could save you except for a false hope for heaven. "Ushpizin" gave the same language new meaning in some sort of forged optimism where 'god' will save you from your own degrading history (the male protagonist had been a criminal before he "found god" and became a Hassidim)

But, what struck me the deepest, was the way that the language was almost identical between the two films. My hebrew is good enough to be able to follow conversation, and can pick up enough words to generally get the true tone of the film. The Arabic in "Paradise Now" is more difficult to follow, but the poetry and repetition of the language can certainly tell you the story, even if it can't all be translated into English.

But the ideological expression of each language seems to be almost identical. Both speak of "God" in this way which comes through in every other sentence, as freely as we might use the word "like" in casual conversation. The God in these descriptions is not some sort of thunder and lighting bolt thing that they speak of... but rather this powerful linguistic creation that completely takes the place of responsibility for every individual's actions. Even in language, his "will" leads everyone to their supposed destinies, but then is used then as a greating, a curse, a prayer and an ideal. I'm not sure if we do this in English (I don't think we do), although we certainly are doing it more and more in our group-think. But that's another story, from a conversation earlier at brunch with Ale...

Anyway, whether it is a Palestinian who feels that his life is meaningless and therefore can only be destructive, or a Jew who feels desperately sad and lies to everyone he loves, both place false idolatry on words that have no meaning other than avoiding personal responsibility for the problems they are faced with. The Jew may be more optimistic -- but at what cost? There is no appreciation for human life in either case, only for the acquisition of more power (capital). The Jew does not care to save anyone, only to get some free money to worship his god (he gets $1000 in ten crisp one hundred-DOLLAR bills).

I won't give away the ending of "Paradise Now" but it is not entirely as you would think. I do believe that there is a growing understanding in much of the burgeoning Middle Eastern Region--a comprehension that its nihilistic ways cannot be sustained forever, and it's being reflected in not only its cinema and art, but also in politics and action. The Palestinians have changed their system already since this film was made last year, and we'll see how the Iraqi Civil War and the probable war with Syria will turn out for stabilizing the region several generations from now. Of course, this futuristic outcome is not for us as Americans (who are royally fucked from the whole thing), but truly for those natives who cannot escape their own hot-bed of historic feuds.

I don't know what the answers are to these questions. And I don't know if either side is more right than the other. All I do know is that this "God" that everyone speaks of so similarly, had best put his best face on that we can ALL come to love pretty soon, or all that language of "heaven" is going to start looking a lot more "hellish."

Wipe That Smirk Off

2005-10-30T13:20:00.000-05:00

This past week has found Democrats with a huge, ear-to-ear grin on. I mean, who wouldn't be ecstatic at the demise of these lecherous liars as they crash and burn into the ground, as people slowly begin to realize that we were sold a false war, tarnished with lies and a pre-meditated madness that would make OJ Simpson blush?

But wait, this isn't something to be excited about, is it? I mean, partisan ideals aside, it *is* our country too (although they'd like to have you believe it's not)... but we all live here, and these lies have cost us generations worth of power and respect in the world. These are not things to be happy about.

This past week I was in San Francisco, another city stuck in the Blue Bell Jar, and equally as dismayed at the realities of the world around us. But it suddenly struck me-- we are in the midst of the most historic fuck-up of American History (this makes Watergate look like a high-school prank), and yet the Democrats seem to be doing nothing but standing on the sidelines waiting for the imminent demise of the presidency.

This is the wrong tactic to take for several reasons.

First of all-- the government is not going to self-implode as some of us would like to see. Fitzgerald was right in not doling out an immediate indictment of Rove and Cheney, even though the facts are there of their CRIMINAL acts. I do believe these indictments will come, although we have to be patient and let the country catch up with how serious this matter really is.

But the time for simply standing on the sidelines smirking is over. Now is the time for us to jump in, suggest new ways of doing business, and win back the real ideology of this country-- one that rests on the ideals of freedom, truth, justice and peace. This is what is going to push us forward deeper into the 21st century, keep our cities secure, and slowly dissuade the radical fundamentalists (both Christian and Islamic) from pushing forward to armageddon.

I am disgusted at the Democrats' reticence in catching up here. It is an uphill battle-- Republicans, still in control of house and senate, do not want the public to believe that their boy-king president could do any wrong. But we cannot wait to start our work. There will not be any full investigations until at least next year (when we win back the House and Senate). But in the mean time, it is time to stop waiting for our chance, and really start to get people to understand the realities of what is happening in their own world.

So, where do we begin?

First-- use the Republican tactic of direct mailings. It works really well for them, and will for us as well. Religion is something that has grown so entrenched in our world today that we can no longer fight it (unfortunately), so I think we had best just join up and start preaching to the newly converted. Any true Catholic/Christian is going to slowly begin to see that the LIES that have been sold to us for the past five years were not based in Faith and Morals, but rather in conniving, mischievous ways that do NOT reflect the morals of the country. We have to preach this to EVERY choir-- it IS the truth, and slowly people will come back around to that.

Second-- we cannot simply wait for the republicans to fail, thinking that it's a two party system, so we have to be next up to bat. This is the fundamental problem with our Republic (remembering that it is NOT a democracy). The problem with the democrats believing that we are next up is something that is going to be very difficult to overcome. The country has moved very far to the right since Regan, and it's simply something we'll have to come to accept for our lifetimes. But, people believe that their ideas of creationism and pro-life bull is what defines them as a conservative or democrat. This can no longer be the case. While we certainly cannot do away with science and fact, we have to get people to understand that these topics are not only what defines you as "right" or "left." Rather, we must begin to teach people that inside of these arguments, the real arguments about truth and power must emerge.

This is what the Democrats must now stand for. Truth. Power.

We are no longer the weaklings on security that Republicans have painted us as for so many years. We are going to be in Iraq for decades, if not lifetimes... perhaps we will eventually be able to pull troops out, but for the time being, we have major infrastructure to rebuild.

And this will require an economic prowess that does not benefit only the rich, leaving the rest of us to scrounge like sewer-rats. Our economy is in such a dire situation, that we have to begin to teach people ways to overcome it. This will start with taxing (god-forbid!) and developing new technologies for alternative energy.

And it will end with a reassessment of fund-distribution in this country. I mean, when Exxon posted a 75% increase in profit (to $9.9 BILLION), it's time to stop giving our money to the uber-rich and begin to distribute it to the proletariat. And that's not communism-- that's 21st century democracy.

Rebuilding will come from truth, honesty, and integrity. Everything the Republicans would like to have you believe they stand for. Funny how we'll end up taking their words and simply making them true.

Victory will be ours again, but the time for standing on the sidelines is over. Wipe that Delay-like smirk off your smarmy faces, and start going to the church. We have a lot of voters to get onto our side-- and the time to get them is now. Don't waste this opportunity like Bush wasted his on Katrina. We must regain power through truth.

Maybe it's just Halloween...

2005-10-24T12:53:00.000-04:00

The world is so scary that everywhere you turn there seem to be more and more goblins lurking in the corners. Things seem to be unravelling so quickly these days that I feel like we're all walking around in a constant state of fear wondering, "What is the next disaster that this crowd [Bush and team] will be unprepared to cope with? Or the next lunatic idea that will spring from its ideological bag of tricks?" That quote, unfortunately, is not mine, but rather Lawrence Wilkerson's-- a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. His words seem to echo our fears, but somehow coming from him make them all the more real. Our world, in fact, is crumbling and we seem to be doing nothing to stop it. We, as a country, have stuck our heads so deep into the sand that we're suffocating, and there seems to be no end in sight to our ignoring the facts.

As the investigations of Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Bill Frist et al come to a close, what we have found is what we have assumed all along. A cabal between the highest insiders in government, acting in devious and ultimately destructive ways. Mr. Wilkerson went so far as to say that if, god forbid, anything major were to happen, like say a nuclear attack or major pandemic, "you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that will take you back to the Declaration of Independence." And folks, this is an ARMY man who is not supposed to question authority.

So, perhaps it's just Halloween and we're all supposed to be scared right now. Certainly the media is doing a good job at it-- bird flu, Katie Holmes is pregnant... you know, the important stuff. I do not believe that Bird Flu is anything to be worried about-- it clearly is a ploy to take our eyes off of the real issues, such as the fact that Civil War has now completely broken out in Iraq (this comes from many different sources that I've heard or read on everything from Democracy Now to Baghdad Burning and several others.)

While we certainly will be incapable of coping with Bird Flu IF it were to ever happen, it seems unlikely that it will become the pandemic that they'd like to have you believe. A friend of mine who's father is a very high up at the CDC basically said that while, no, we don't have enough antibiotics to fight the virus, we probably are capable of containing it to one or two locations. Unfortunately, the head of the CDC is also a Bush crony and while there are lots of men like Jocelyn's father who have been with the CDC for 20 years or more, few of them are in positions of power. As she said, hopefully there will be a coup if the need should ever arise and we can control our own situation. Couldn't agree with her more...

So, while we all tremble waiting for the ticking clock of the administration to go off, we have to keep looking at other things that are happening in our world to keep us occupied.

Such as this lovely little little anecdote:

Last week two American soldiers in Afghanistan BURNED two prisoners ALIVE on video (come on folks, stop video taping yourselves committing these atrocities for GODS SAKE!)... but the story gets worse. After burning them alive (clearly torture that would rival Saddam or Mao or Stalin or Pinochet or, dare I say, Hitler..) But after burning them we THEN went on to call out to a town that was filled with Afghani revolutionaries, screaming "Come out and fight like the dogs you are. You girly men are so cowardly that you let your men die facing West."

This is the reality of our troops. This is the reality of our world. And this is certainly not coming through on our media stations.

Bird flu is the smallest thing we have to worry about right now. And while Halloween may be scary, everything else seems to be far more frightening.

Smarmy Bastard

2005-10-21T12:04:00.000-04:00

Soundscapes

2005-10-14T23:21:00.000-04:00

Tonight is the first time it's stopped raining in exactly eight days. And I don't mean "raining" as in that thing where it's grey and then spits on you every once in a while. No, this has been treacherous to apocalyptic back to treacherous all week long. And tonight, as I was riding back in from Flushing, Queens (where Shea Stadium and the old World's Fair are), I listened for a moment at what was around me.

Something that always fascinates me about this city is the way in which sound and lights will play off each other, and the way that we in turn respond to these stimulants. For the past several months I have noticed a dramatic shift in my stimulus perception, simply because of the different (or lack of) sounds. In Manhattan, the world is a full symphony. In the boroughs, it is a finely tuned string quartet. Granted, different boroughs beat to different drums (and this one is definitely mellower and more abstract) but the basic drumbeats are the same. And I listened a bit closer than usual this evening.

As the rain stopped, for the first time things became really quiet. A quiet like I remember in Colorado, after a freshly fallen snow. But this one still rumbled with the sounds of sparking rail cars, languages flying, and car's whizzing around. Not to mention a soggy city dripping its way back to reality. And yet, in some way, the silence was the same.

But in that silence, I was struck with a couple very unique moments. At one point, two girls sat down next to me and their other friend (guy) sat down across from us all. They were speaking what sounded like Spanish, but I think they were probably Columbian or Ecuadorian, or something. In any case, they were rambling away, one girl on her cell phone, the other with her ipod still in her ears, and I began to pick up on a very interesting phenomenon. They spoke animatedly and quickly when they were speaking in their language. And the only time I would hear them switch into English was to talk about things like their cellphones, ipods, mp3 players and the likes.

What I find very interesting about this is how America (and therefore, English) has permeated so deeply into other cultures *ONLY* through our commerce and technology, but never in emotion (unless it's anger... then people are glad to curse us in our tongue!) But these people did not speak about their passions or their thoughts in English. It only became a means by which to show status (one girl had the IPod, another a cheap mp3 player that she bragged carried 34 songs). Their deepest form of communication came because of technology that was really pulling them apart. And all this on the day that Apple announced yet ANOTHER new ipod, this time capable of video and only the size of a stick of gum.

I wonder if in 100 years we'll all be speaking in Indian about the latest technological advances instead of the other way around.

On another note-- along with my newly found appreciation for sound, the train ride was also affected tonight by a much stronger presence. That of two Hell's Angels patrolling our car, I guess in support of the NYPD.

It's fascinating to me how this group of tough kids and, what we once might have called, Hoodlums, have banded together to help bridge our terrorist threats (and still carry some serious power with them when they all move around!) Something about these most recent "threats" (from *our* Media, I might add) has changed everyone's perception around here a little bit. Perhaps it is just because I am now on trains everyday of my life, sitting and looking around, whereas before the train was simply a less glamourous taxi that took me quickly to wherever I needed to be.

But there is something more present in everyone's new awareness of their surroundings. I find people looking at each other much more. And in this has also come a new found warmth. People who say hello on the subway. Everyone is much more aware, and therefore a bit more open.

I wonder if there is a similar feeling among people in much more dire countries feeling the same strains of terrorism (or mother nature's wrath for that matter!) I just saw the headline that there are now skirmishes along the Syrian-Iraqi border, which as elections are soon to get started (it's now 11pm in New York-- 6am in Baghdad. Which, by the way, just had a major blackout... more on this to come in the morning!)... but as the elections do get underway, I think deeply of those who are afflicted with pain and suffering beyond my wildest imaginings, and I wish them only peace and a way to find a way to live together without blowing us all up.

And I am happy that the rains have stopped here and brought back with them the sounds of life.

A Divorce Agreement

2005-10-09T13:07:00.000-04:00

October 15 will be the real turning point in Iraqi Democracy. It will be the day that we see that the country will begin the very long and tumultuous path towards becoming a series of independently governed city-states, each fighting in its own way for power, commerce, and loyalty from its people. It is going to be a lifetime of bloodshed, agression, terrorism, and ultimately, disintegration back into an iron fisted dictatorship, hopefully not completely controlled by Iran (or some sick combination of Iran, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon).

As it stands right now, the draft agreement basically says that Baghdad will remain as the capital of the country. But this does not unify a country. I mean, all you have to do is look at our fragile democracy to realize that one town cannot rule them all. The disparate ideologies between say New York and Houston are as substantial as night and day. But we all live with capitalism to bring us together.

The Iraqi's do not want this or have it. Counties in Iraq will never be ruled by a constitution. There are 2000 years of hatreds pulling these people apart, and only an iron fist can bring them together.

The other evening, I had a long, very animated conversation with a Bangladeshi cab driver, who began by lambasting the Jews (it was Rosh Hashanah) and saying that Muslims are all united in the destruction of the infidel (these were the most harsh words I had ever heard come out of a cab driver's mouth--they usually reserve those sort of isocentric comments for much later in a conversation, and are generally more aware of their surroundings than this man was. This was, however, before the new threat warnings were announced, and perhaps he has calmed his comments a bit as police scour our town looking in baby carriages and briefcases for bombs.) Nevertheless, it sparked a curious debate.

"Why," I asked, "are the Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds unable to draw any sort of conclusive power together?"

"It is not for them. They are all the same. There are no denominations in Islam," the cab driver replied.

"But, that's not true. That's like saying Evangelicals and Unitarians are the same, when in truth they couldn't be farther apart."

"Yes, but in Islam, we all worship Allah, and cannot commit harram."

"What is 'harram'," I asked unknowing.

"Harram is forbidden. Killing is forbidden. Allah doesn't protect those who kill."

"I understand it differently," I respond, a bit baffled by this man's defense of non-violent methods. "I don't hear the Ayatollahs professing peace. I don't hear them saying 'stop blow yourselves up.' I only look around and see a people who are disenfranchised, and who's lives have been thrown into disarray by a false war. I see a people who feel they have nothing left and who are promised a glorious afterlife if they become a martyr. And Sunni ideology certainly seem to dominate this line of thinking. They are different, than say *you* who grew up in Bangledsh and doesn't believe in killing, are they not?"

"You are very smart, habibi," the cab driver said. "Martyrdom is different than Harram. A martyr believes in his country."

"But what country is that?"

"One where each man rules the other."

"But that's a contradiction!" I scream. "Not all men can be rulers"

"You are right. But what America has done is say that you are all rulers. This is what democracy means. Right? It is our invention" (in truth, he was talking about the Mediterranean ideologies of the 5th c. BCE-- demos kratia, or "people's power"). "We all want kratia now. America says 'you can have power.' But Islam and power will never work together. Islam is the ultimate power. It cannot be ruled by a people."

"Are you saying that Democracy will never work in Iraq."

"That is exactly what I am saying. People are hurting. People want water, and electricity, and school for their children. People are afraid for their lives, have nothing left to lose. This is why they fight. No one gives them anything, so they have to defend what they have left. For my generations and yours, we will never see peace in Iraq. Only Allah can give us peace. We will never give it to ourselves."

"I hope you're wrong, but fear you're right." I am upset by the nihilism I constantly encounter in these conversations. I ended with something a Pakastaini cab driver had once said to me.

"It takes a very short time to take down a 10 story building. It takes a much longer time to put it back up." Nihilism, at its finest, but in a strange way, also perhaps the best way to pervade a mentality that stretches nearly two millenium. We are on the 1st story right now-- there are 9 stories to go. But when the building is rebuilt, I told the cab driver, I believe it will be the most beautiful and glorious building on earth. And we will all get to share it together.

I reached through the partition of the cab and we shook hands. "Sallam Allecham," I said, and he looked at me baffled that I would know such words in Arabic, and that I (a jew) would utter them to a muslim.

"Sallam Allecham, habibi. Allah hu'akbar. The world needs more of us," the cab driver said as I paid him.

"The world will have us. The Jews are celebrating New Years and the Iraqi's are figuring out democracy. Both of them are turnings of a new page. Soon we will all be able to come together and recognize that we are all powerful, and there is no need for these silly wars and struggles for that power. We will teach our children this, and in generations, ham'd'allah, we will have our peace."

The cab ride had ended eons ago. I realized by now we'd be talking for nearly 40 minutes. In the end, we had found a common ground for discussion, even though that label I put on myself caused a momentary distrust, as if I was going to try to usurp his cab like some Shylock informant. Our commonality came not because of these labels, but because we had found an open ground to talk on-- one where I understood his aggression against outside powers, and he understood a little more about all of us having a vested interest in living together-- Sunni, Shi'ite, Jew, Christian, Hindi-- all of us.

It was a powerful meeting. One that we all need to replicate, daily in every interaction of our lives.

In the end, the constitutional divorce papers that will be signed next week in Iraq must be usurped by more conversations like this at the highest levels of power. It can start in a cab ride, but it must be spread like wild-fire.

Please spread the power.

A Fool in Love (with power)

2005-10-03T11:12:00.000-04:00

Bush has fallen. Hard. He's gone so far into his own oblivion as to ignore ALL of the recent talk of cronyism and governmental hubris, and he's gone and done it! He's appointed a close friend (perhaps a bit *too* close, if you know what I mean... wink wink, nudge nudge) to the highest court in the union. Not that it means much anymore-- now that Anna Nicole is going to have her day there, perhaps it will become the circus that it became in Rome's dying day.

But seriously, Harriet Myers has NEVER SERVED ON A COURT BEFORE!! Cronyism cost lives in New Orleans. Hubris cost lives in Iraq. Close political ties and friendships have all but destroyed the GOP in its current incarnation. Now we CANNOT allow Harriet Myers to be elected into the Supreme Court.

Luckily, it seems, even Republicans are already calling foul at this horrifying turn of events.

It is still far too early to know what the repercussions of this are going to be. It was only announced one hour ago, but already I'm fuming. What a way to start the morning. Sheesh.

Moving away from our lackluster appointments, let us look at a moment at what's happening deeper inside the already seated government. Let's look, for a moment, at what no one wants to look at and you have to get to page A24 before it's even mentioned.

Yes, folks, I'm talking about the horrifying effects of the cleanup in New Orleans (the mess in Iraq is bad too-- but that's for another day). A story was released yesterday about almost 500,000 tons of ice that were driven and diverted almost 4200 miles around the epicenter of the storm, only to never be delivered. This ice, which would have been used to keep medicines cool and food from spoiling, cost US taxpayers nearly $1.5 million for something that NEVER arrived. Sure, we're fueling our economy by buying the gas for these trucks, and paying drivers as much as $4500 to NOT deliver their goods, but even the trucking companies are calling this an outright fiasco. And when asked by the government to help out with Rita, almost all said they couldn't waste their time again-- some of their trucks were tied up for nearly 17 days driving back and forth across the country with goods that would never be delivered. This is negligence and idiocy at all levels-- state and federal. How we'll change this for our next major disaster is anyone's guess, but I'm planning my escape route now. I'll paddle to France if I have to.

Then, today comes another story-- this time a far more depressing one, without that comic irony behind it. This one is about health care for the poor citizens of New Orleans. It turns out the government is doing everything in its power (short of outright denial of services) to not grant residents ANY sort of aid so that next time a disaster strikes, there is no precedent for help. I mean, seriously, they won't even allow a dying person a bit of medicine so that next time, no one will ask. And this is our "free" country!

On top of the medicare issue, they are also creating huge communities of mobile homes, instead of using past reforms such as housing vouchers that brought us out of much of the difficulties and crime of 1970/80s urban housing. Even Newt Gingrich (yes, the Grinch who stole America's heart in the 90s), has said that the actions being taken are "reprehensible" and are likely to lead to vast "mobile ghettos" for years to come. And he's one of THEM! How can they ignore even their own base for capital gains? It's really quite baffling.

Oh, the days are long and dark, and unfortunately, all of this still lurks deep in the recesses of the media. To the poor people we as an American people are killing daily, just know that even us liberal "elitists" are here worrying about you, and trust me, when we have our day again, the people will truly come first, and the crooks will all be put in jail.

And believe me, they won't be promoted to the most crucial swing vote in the United States Supreme Court.

The Message is Clear

2005-09-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

It's finally happened! Tom Delay, fugitive at large, has finally been brought down, and at least for a little while, to justice! This could be yet another turning point in our struggle to regain our democracy, and while Tommy is indicted, it is the Democrat's chance to really step up the power plays and pull out all the stops on what they want.

Wait, what do they want? This seems to be the big question these days, and watching clips from the protest in Washington last week, we can see how unbelievably ununified our party really is. Are we for "peace" or just "no war in Iraq?" "Bring the troops home" or "Stop Global Warming?" "Environmental protection" or "Balancing the Budget?" See, all of these are noble causes. All of them seem socially relevant and necessary. But there's no easy Three Word Slogan that we can toss at the People like "United We Stand" or "Support the Troops," or "God Bless America". We have to work much harder than our republican counterparts, but as they fall, we need to take the reigns, and we need to take them IMMEDIATELY!

Now, it's not going to be easy. Delay outlandishly said yesterday that he was indicted as "political retribution" and has tried to paint this as a smear campaign. Unbelievable. How is it possible than when Our president lied about getting a BJ, the entire country went berzerk, and yet when these guys lie outright about stealing BILLIONS of dollars, no one even bats an eye. Guess the BJ is just easier to understand, and far more glamourous. I mean, sex and women have sparked entire wars before, have they not? And while Monica was certainly no one who would "launch a thousand ships," the story was certainly more captivating than a complicated business embezzlement.

But wait, there's more! Bill Frist, our favorite doctor who can diagnose "vegetative states" from the comfort of his own home, is also under investigation for a shady stock dealing from a blind trust. We put Martha in prison for it! Why can't we put him there! THE WORLD NEED ONLY OPEN ITS EYES.

But I digress. The point of this is not to jump in jubilation that the GOP is falling apart, and even if the country isn't fully aware, we are watching it become its own Iraqi quagmire. No, the point is to try to figure out what our general focus is. What are those three words we can sell the people? How can we regain our lost country? It's certainly not going to be with Hilary.

So, think Jake. What is it? "No War." Too easy. Too obvious. We'll always fight wars--Clinton killed thousands in Grenada and allowed Bosnia to overrun an entire region before finally stepping up the military might. So, that's out.

"Stop Global warming?" The bible-freaks will always come back to the "lack of facts," and while we can see it plain as day happening all around us, they want more "proof" (as if Katrina was just God's way of saying "hello.") So, that's out.

I've got it! "NO NEW WARS". We'll take the Bush1 slogan, turn it around a bit, and make people know that we're NOT a warmongering country. We'll pull out of Iraq slowly but surely (if I was a betting man, I'd say we'd reduce troop size to about 50,000 by the end of the decade). I don't know that we're ever going to be able to get out of there fully-- the GOP has enough ties (no matter what happens) to keep building bases there, and without a little presence, Civil War will always loom just around the corner. That will be the permanent gift that we'll get for our hubris.

But "NO NEW WARS"... it works on so many levels. We'll stop the War over whether Global Warming is a reality. The Evolutionary War will stop-- it's a non-issue, and we'll take Science back and restore it as the rightful religion of our country. We'll stop the WAR on poverty, and actually do something about it. We'll have to raise taxes to pay the budget, and when people quip at us, we'll have to simply yell in their faces "NO NEW WARS." Don't fight us, it's not worth another war!! There's no need to fight over something that we ALL have to do. It's our obligation as good Americans. And you know who's going to pay the brunt of those new taxes? PEOPLE WHO MAKE MORE THAN ONE-MILLION A YEAR. So, don't worry folks. I'm not out to make us all have to pay. Only those who can afford it. And in doing so, we'll begin to level the field again and bring the Middle Class back into the picture!

And what will happen in 2006 when we regain the House and Senate? People like Tom Delay and Bill Frist and Karl Rove will no longer be able to say that these indictments are "political retributions" but will only be able to sit in their jail cells, wondering why they didn't have a better outlook for their own country.

The day is bright, gentlemen--let us seize it! "NO NEW WARS!"

The Motor Wars

2005-09-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

"Because underneath every Gook is an American waiting to get out."
-- Stanley Kubric, Full Metal Jacket

It seems that Kubric's biting commentary on an out of control drill sergeant was not terribly off the mark. Yesterday, White House spokeswoman (or, rather, spokes"puppet") Karen Hughes was sent to Iraq to talk to a room of women clothed from head to foot in black burkas. Her task? To get them to understand why they wanted to be more like Americans.

Unfortunately for Ms. Hughes, the woman were aghast when she suggested that they should all want to drive cars and vote. Most responded eloquently that while they did not, perhaps, have these rights, most did not really care to have them at all. Or when confronted about speaking to men in public, most replied that it is not that they are forbidden to speak with men on the street, it's simply that they don't see the need for it. Apparently someone forgot to tell Ms. Hughes that different cultures have different rituals, and unbeknownst to us, there are in fact happy people in the world who live differently than in our own gluttonous ways.

While all this may seem glib, what it demonstrates is the slow unravelling of our "control" over Iraq (if there ever was any), and the ever sinking demise into civil war that we have unjustly thrust upon an entire country. The Iraqi elections are coming up in the next several weeks, and while a constitution does say that most of the three regions will remain autonomous, it is our inability to learn more about the cultures that is really going to throw them into disarray.

Perhaps the Europeans were right--this region is just too backwards to ever try to update into the modern world, but on the deepest levels (and it may shock you to hear me say this), the intention could have been noble if we had understood our "enemy" and presented them with more options than standing in a room full of women convincing them that they wanted to drive.

But we did not understand our enemy. We did not try to learn anything about his culture, or true desires. And how could we? The Sunni's care for little other than carnage and control, and are the most vile nihilists. But if we had known that then--and I mean truly and deeply known that-- would we still have invaded?

I don't know that we'll ever be able to turn the Sunni mind around. Their ties with Iran are growing by the day--both commercially and ideologically. But in the end, they are still Iraqi's, and are very different people culturally. They have an interest in an Iraq that they have power and a voice in. Unfortunately it looks as if that voice will only come about through battles and blowing themselves up. It certainly isn't going to be gained in elections.

The Palestinian wars were fought for years because they wanted to regain a piece of history that had been lost to them. For forty years we have watched the bloodshed, the devastation and the pain. I can only see that now for forty more we are going to watch the Sunni's try to do the same.

What a tragic world we live in where one problem seems to be cleaning itself up, while we created an even more deadly and depressing one. The elections will only fuel the Sunni's hatred, and I think we had all brace (around the world) for a very tumultuous backlash from an angry and disenfranchised people.

And in the end, trust me, it won't be about women who can't drive cars.

Something is Rotten in the State of the States

2005-09-26T11:36:00.000-04:00

I just returned from the heartland (Kansas), were I noticed the headline in the local rag on Saturday (the day Rita was to hit) was "Rita no Katrina: Bush given Second Chance". Now, this seems to be an immediate antithesis to me. And yet, there it was, blaring like a siren singing her lustful and demurring song. Now it is true that Rita was no Katrina-- devastation seems at a minimum, loss of life almost nil, and life will return to normal fairly quickly for those along the Texas/Louisiana border. So, why is the heartland so quick to say this has given the Sun King a second chance? The sun hasn't shone on his aristocracy for some years now, and yet they keep seeming to think he's "doing a heck of a job."

I think it can only be because they are so afraid of the truth (and reporters there certainly wouldn't want to report on THAT), that they have to give him a second chance every time he makes a serious mistake. And those mistakes come quick and often.

Bushy wanted to be right in the thick of the storm, and yet his closest advisors finally dissuaded him to retreat to Norad in Colorado, urging him that he would only get in the way. From Norad, they said, he could watch his government do its thing. This was no time for him to be making one of his famous photo-ops in presidential windbreaker as waves crashed over the sea-wall. As much as he'd like to be the next Geraldo Rivera, it's just not going to work for him anymore. Even his advisors recognize that the time for landing on an aircraft carrier have past, and he has to get down to brass tacks.

And yet, those in the heartland still think he's doing a "heck of a job." Why is this? I am so unbelievably baffled it's making my head hurt. Cronyism and favoritism are running rampant, and the state of the American Empire seems to be unravelling all around us. Long gone are the days of the true American Dream--one where you could come from nothing and rise to something. Of the $1.5 billion awarded to Katrina recovery, almost 80% (or $1.2 billion) has been given to companies that are entrenched in local government or friends of the Bush family.

For example, there are over 15 contracts that exceed $100 million, including 5 of $500 million or more. And of these, most were signed by FEMA without bidding or with limited competition-- something that is HIGHLY frowned upon in our market economy. Mom and Pop just don't have a chance to survive a storm when only the big-boys get to play. And of those contracts, most have histories of obese spending and shoddy workmanship. One company, in charge of rebuilding pieces of Iraq, has been found to have $100-per-bag laundry service. And these are your tax dollars, which by the way, won't be raised to help pay for this!

Questions in the press-corps are being raise about the political connections of two major contractors-- the Shaw Group and Kellogg, Brown & Root (a SUBSIDIARY of HALLIBURTON!!) Both of those contracts are represented by the lobbyist Joe M. Allbaugh--Bushy's former campaign manager and a former leader of FEMA.

So, why is no one concerned about this? Why does the heartland still think he's doing so great? It's their money he's taking away. It's the small businesses he's hurting. It's the big government he's promoting (even though his lies say he's all for small government). And it's your tax money that's getting thrown away. I cannot understand a country that is so dumb as to not recognize that with a $200 billion war and another $200 billion clean-up effort, that they are not willing to spend an extra 5 cents on $100 to help pay for it all. Bush says that we're already paying for it by the exorbitant price of gas. But this isn't fueling OUR economy-- it's putting money into THEIR pockets, and THEY'RE moving it off-shore. For example, in the FIRST QUARTER of 2005 (3 months, mind you), Exxon made nearly SIX BILLION in PROFITS!!! Do you get that?!?! SIX BILLION IN PROFITS!!!! In the 20s we had gangsters to extort. Now we simply have our government. And we'll never raise taxes again-- we're staying the course once again, and this time, it will bring upon the end of the Empire.

Something is rotten indeed. Too bad the heartland is too afraid to see it.

It's Getting Hot in Here

2005-09-22T11:25:00.000-04:00

It's been three weeks since my last posting, and I think that I have been at a loss to write simply because of the catastrophic events that I see unfolding around me at every turn. The American death toll in Iraq passed 1900 two days ago, and is already at 1924 (by my best calculations), after two days of heavy fighting, including loosing yet another Iraqi Police controlled sector to the Insurgents. Then, there is another Hurricane bearing down on Texas (Texas certainly deserves this one... cool off I say)... but the financial burden could become too much to bear, and I certainly don't want anyone else to die (unless of course they were members of the administration standing at the water's edge yelling "WHY GOD? I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!!")

And then yesterday it all came crashing down. Camp Casey (set up by a lovely man called "Zool" at Union Square) has become a small refuge for those of us who are still interested enough to protest the insanity that we are fighting. It may only be a couple hundred people on any given day, certainly doesn't look like Union Square did in the 60s during Vietnam, but it's a start. But yesterday, Cindy Sheehan (the mother who was camped out with Bush) was there speaking, and our very own NYPD fascist pigs decided to pull the plug on her, arrest Zool (for not having the proper permit... generally only cause for a summons), and break up the crowd. It was an incredibly disheartening moment in the revolution, because so many of the fragile, ambivalent people who show up at these things will never return for fear of getting arrested. How can our cause grow when we can't even listen to our own Rosa Parks, as the media has dubbed her? And, what point does the NYPD make by breaking up a crowd of only 150 in Union Square where on any given night there are far more there watching a street performer or Capoera dance, or just buying drugs from the dealers set up on the perimeter? Sheesh.

On a different note, several weeks ago I had the privilege of being invited (as a stagehand) to work for the Clinton Global Initiative, which was being held in succession with the UN summit. The security was unbelievable (the technology they have is incredible! Walking through what looks like a doorway, you see a computer screen that traces your entire body makeup, and will circle on your picture, where you have anything dangerous (it found my sharpee and a knife). This is all after the magnetic name-tag that when scanned has ALL of your information stored in it that shows up on the tablet PC. It was nothing short of Big Brother.)

Anyway, on the first panel was Clinton, Blair, Condi Rice (feckin' moron!) and King Abdulah of Jordan. The topic covered four points: Religion, Climate, Governance and Poverty. On Climate, Clinton said "We are on a global supertanker that is headed for destruction." Condi replied that we have to give China and India Nuclear power to deter our energy uses to which Clinton responded that the Middle East should patent and sell other fuel sources (Wind, Solar etc.). She has no foresight, and was so bold to basically call Clinton an idiot for thinking of anything other than oil or nuclear power for global needs. She is right in thinking that solar and wind power is not going to change the energy needs of China and India, which are growing at a rate of almost 11% a year. They will indeed eventually have to turn to nuclear, which then prompts issues of proliferation, but that seems to be a debate to be had a decade or more from now. But Clinton is right in honoring our need to change our ways now, so that in a decade there are at least more options for the world, other than these two very devastating energy sources that man has come up with.

But what it all showed me was that like the Cindy Sheehan incident, even our global leaders can't find it in their hearts to at least agree on one major issue: The world is getting hotter, both physically and emotionally, and these are leading us on a crash course with destiny. We can turn around the emotional state of the world by once again listening to each other. The physical world is going to be harder to change, but Clinton is right-- America makes up 4% of the world's population and 25% of the world's energy consumption. Why can't we once again be the leaders of the free world and envision a cleaner environment by the 22nd century? Too far in the future for you to think about? Well, throw this into your mind-- we are OUT OF OIL in 50 years. That's my lifetime. It could be yours.

I think the only thing it can mean is that we are all in such a loss of control with our lives that we are feeling the need to take it out on everyone around us without ever looking inward and trying to direct those emotions towards a better good (the end of oil could be our generation's Moon Shot). This hurricane season is devastating. The price tag for New Orleans alone could rise to $200 billion, which, in one of those perfect ironic moments, is exactly what the war in Iraq has cost us so far. And now with another one bearing down, and certainly a great deal of damage to be inflicted by that, the price tag will keep growing and growing and growing. But, will these staunch idiots do anything to subsidize? Of course not. NO NEW TAXES... just like Daddy. Although, Daddy eventually had the sense to realize that when you're hemorrhaging money, there comes a time when you simply have to try to balance the checkbook. Too bad son never took an economics lesson in his life. And we are going to be paying for this for the rest of our lives.

The American Empire, history will say, was finally brought down by two hurricanes. What a sad pity it all is.

The Wheels are Turning

2005-09-05T12:39:00.000-04:00

Finally, it seems, the wheels of change may finally be upon us. This could be good, or this could be devastatingly bad. Chief Justice Rehnquist died last evening, Roberts was appointed this morning, Iraq continues to fall into civil war, and people in New Orleans continue to die, loot, be ravaged, and generally dismissed as "refugees" while the rich continue to get richer.

Anarchy never looked so sweet.

My friend Brian often talks about Global Energy-- the idea that the energy created by humans actually causes events such as this hurricane and earthquakes to happen. While I don't fully buy his theories (there were, after all, earthquakes and hurricanes before humans), there is something in his idea that could be correct. Last week, while we all watched the destruction of the Big Easy, nearly 1000 Shiites plummeted like lemmings to their deaths off a bridge while they mourned a local Imam who had been killed. It is a tragedy as large as the War itself, and has gotten very little attention. It has also spawned what is likely to become the full-out Civil War that we've all been waiting to explode. Could this reaction be fueled by a global shift in negative energy? It's a far fetched idea, but somehow it's beginning to make more sense.

And what are we doing in the midst of all of this horror, all of this destruction, all of this death? We are pointing fingers, blaming everyone except for ourselves for the world in which we live. This administration has always taken this tactic when something has gone awry ("It's the Iraqi's problem/an Iraqi process" is the first example that comes to mind), but suddenly when it's put onto our own people, they can't seem to figure out who to point a finger at.

Sure, the local government should have been more prepared. But how can you be prepared when there's no money? Sure, the federal government should have been in control of the situation, but how can you do so when all your National Guards are fighting a war 7,000 miles away? We can point fingers until they turn blue, but the time for this has ended. Impeachment is drawing nigh, and a reorganisation of government must be upon us!

First of all (and I commend Hillary Clinton for taking the reigns on this), FEMA must be taken out of "Homeland Security" and placed back as a Cabinet-Level individual branch. It scares me to death to realize that as the conservatives have always disliked "government" (it should be private in their eyes), they have systematically made us all so unsafe from events that are out of our control that we now realize that in the wake of *any* disaster (natural or otherwise), we are probably far less safe than we were before 9/11.

Living in New York we have all come to recognize certain realities about the world we live in. We see the troops, and the guns, and the chemical suits. We have our bags searched and keep eyes out for "suspicious looking packages." But this all seems very inconsequential if during the actual event, we have no troops or people to help us out of our situations. We, as mere plebeians, really have little to do with our own safety in these situations, as we are seeing clearly in New Orleans. And if Conservatives want to do completely away with government, I say we overthrow and regain what we now see is a necessary piece of our DEMOCRACY to survive.

Oh the irony is overwhelming.

But whatever the case, now is the time for rebuilding, not only New Orleans, but our government as well. It scares me that the Supreme Court is now going to get two new additions while our news corps over-focus on the tragedy, but perhaps it will also wake people up to the realities of the world we've been living in since 9/11-- action speaks louder than words, and truth always wins over lies.

Waterloo

2005-09-03T13:24:00.000-04:00

The Government has failed us. Completely and ultimately. It cannot be understated enough.

Watching the devastation that has struck New Orleans and the surrounding areas has been a lesson in civility. As we watch a people fall into anarchism, it becomes ever more apparent the theocracy that we find ourselves living in today. The utter disregard that our politicians took in preparedness for this disaster highlights our crumbling democracy, and its inability to pull itself back together in the wake of natural disaster.

President Bush, finally arriving in New Orleans FIVE DAYS after the initial devastation, declared that we would have "steadfastness" and that this was not a time for politicking, but for coming together. Same bullshit, different disaster.

He declared that the situation was worse than 9/11, and then with a smirk, declared that we would "smoke Mother Nature out of her hole, and bring her back Dead or Alive" (ok, that didn't happen!) But unlike 9/11, we SAW this one coming, and there is undeniable proof that our government doesn't heed the warnings of Meteorologists, the same as they don't heed the realities of Political Analysts who predicted Civil War in Iraq.

Just because these freaks don't believe in Global Warming, doesn't mean they can ignore WEATHER REPORTS! I mean, seriously, how DUMB CAN THEY BE?! Anyone who's taken 8th grade Earth Science knows that Hurricanes are formed from hot water and cold air. And anyone who recognizes that the earth has gotten one-degree warmer in the last century is going to realize that these hurricanes are only going to get worse and worse and worse. But does the administration take this into consideration? Do they try to protect us? To open up a dialogue on how to reverse this trend? To save ourselves? No, they throw us into a ludicrous debate over if Global Warming happens, leading us away from the fact that believe it or not, this hurricane is the worst we've seen in years.

This emphasizes a real problem in the administration. Bush has filled the government with his cronies, who have no experience in the places they've been put. This goes without saying (Bolton at the UN, Wolfowitz at the World Bank), and goes from the highest level of our government here and imposed one's abroad. Every politician allows friends to be a part of the system-- but generally they're made ambassador to Luxembourg, not head of FEMA when they have no prior experience in disaster management. Michael Brown, is just such a man, but has he been fired? Of course not, he's been declared a hero who's "doing a great job."

But Bush is right. This isn't a time for politics. It's a time to finally hold the administration's feet to the fire and ask the tough questions as to why they didn't do more to protect, instead of react as if they had no idea it was going to come. Bush said yesterday that it's the "responsibility of those in power" to protect. Couldn't say it better. But words only go so far, and this time, action should have been taken, and now words cannot go back over the death and devastation that are being wrought.

It's a time to get real answers, from real men in power. This isn't Iraq. It isn't distant in American's eyes--something where "stuff happens" and the consequences have no meaning. We've all been affected by this, the same as we were on 9/11. But somehow the Bush administration wants us to believe that we were blind-sided by this, and those who are dying now are just inconsequential poor black people who should have had the wherewithal to get out while they still could. The systematic destruction of wealth over poverty is overwhelming.

While I don't mean to try to diminish the plight of the Southern refugees, perhaps this will finally be the turning point in the American dialogue that we've been hoping for since 9/11. After that day, we were whitewashed into going along with everything that was said, and it has ultimately lead us into a false-war, who's ramifications will last well into this century. But it was an unexpected battle (9/11)--and the American populace wasn't ready to question anything.

But now, four years later, it's time that we finally demand answers. The anger and frustration that those who are looting and killing does not come because they are bad people. It comes out of a primal urge for answers, and frustration in what seems like laconic reluctance in helping. The want answers that they're not receiving--the same as we have said all along about the War, but couldn't hold up to because or press-corps wouldn't hold the administration to the fire. Bush can say that 30,000 troops are on the way, but this time his lies cannot hold up. The truth is, there are NO troops left, because they're all fighting a $200 billion war with no end in sight. He can say that precautions were taken, but then why are people *still* dying everyday as the National Guard rescues people one-by-one?

This could be Bush's Waterloo.

I don't mean for that to sound callous, and I find it ironic that when presented with a chance to really lead, Bush fell exactly to the same demise that Napoleon faced in his battle with the British. His hegemonic hubris finally caught up with him, and it destroyed him.

If any white lining can come out of this tragedy, hopefully it will destroy our tyrants the same as Napoleon was. And the fact that it came from Mother Nature only shows our own fragile existence on this tumultuous rock.

But before Bush can finally fall, the national dialogue must be turned back around, and those who are disenfranchised must finally shout out to the politicians who clearly care nothing for those of the lower-classes, but want only for themselves.

Next week when the Estate Tax is dropped, nearly $1.5 billion will be given to the 20 richest people in the country. What could $1.5 billion in taxes generate in a depraved and desperate part of our country that clearly needs the money.

It's time for us to destroy our autocracy, and when they proclaim from their towers, "let them eat cake" let us respond with a resounding "TRUTH IS STRONGER THAN FORCE!"

The Institutional Love Child of Ayn Rand and Jerry Falwell

2005-08-21T13:18:00.000-04:00

The metaphysic debate over how we've come to pass is gaining more momentum as leaders in "Intelligent Design" press forward to engulf the scientific facts of Darwinism and natural selection. The 1999 manifesto by the Discovery group, known as the Wedge Document sought "nothing less than the overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies" in favor of a "broadly theistic understanding of nature." This was followed up by President Bush's signature education law (No Child Left Behind) which mandated that schools begin to "teach the controversy," therefore getting around the fact that the lines between Church and State were being blurred to unrecognizable proportions.

It is time to stand up and shout STOP to these fundamentalists who wish to indoctrinate their religious beliefs upon the vast cultural swath that makes up America today. The mysteries of our universe will no doubt baffle our species until our dying days on this planet, but it must not be cause to deny certain realities of the world we live in. While we may never be able to define what existed in the universe before the Big Bang, we can no longer attempt to deny certain inalienable truths about what happened after.

Now, being the good Atheist that I am, I will not deny the miniscule chance that there was some larger creator who helped put the wheels in motion. But moving from that ideal into the intricate workings of String Theory and now the "bread loaf theory" (a theory that postulates that our universe sits on a plane similar to a slice of bread. There are then multiple universes that align in this "loaf" of cosmic mater, and where they meet might be explained by black holes and the likes...) one can only assume that even if there were some creator, he would certainly have had to move on for the infinitesimal universes that exist parallel to ours--thus "setting and forgetting" our universe long before we ever came into being. We therefore had to do it on our own, over the course of billions of years, leading us to our now very tumultuous place in history.

Those who wish to deny our students the chance to think about these mind-blowing ideals are inhibiting our species from doing what it does best--to think and create things unimaginable to generations before it. Western religion, for as long as it has existed, has always tried to quell the Human Imagination (one only has to think to the Spanish Inquisition to get a sense of what I'm talking about). It seems to be on the same path today as we force our children to learn outright falsehoods, rather than theories based on scientific fact. One does not necessarily have to believe in Darwinism, but you do have to believe that we will continue to grow and evolve of our own intuitions, rather than by some Uber-Marionette Puppeteer who controls all of our actions. If that is the world we really live in, count me out and cut my strings--I want no part of it.

As we American's become lazier and more lethargic, it seems high time that we stop inhibiting our thinkers by teaching them theocratic nonsense that is best left for the inside of a church, not for the inside of an academic institution. If we are to survive the next century or longer in the globalized world that we live in, it is going to behoove us all to act like we're in the 21st century rather than the 13th. Those that we're fighting in the Middle East live in this sort of stilted environment, and we see the results of their communities. Would that we could teach them by our own examples of creativity and expressionism, rather than false truths based on "faith."

Let's Make the French Proud

2005-08-17T23:18:00.000-04:00

It's been nearly a week since my last chime in here, and I apologize for the lengthy break--I've been absolutely inundated with shows, rehearsals, writings and meetings... but I haven't been ignoring the world we live in. Which is more than some people can say.

President Bush is the first one ignoring life that jumps to my mind.

While most of us work during these waning days of summer, the supreme leader has taken a "well deserved" break from reality--five WEEKS of break-- to clear bush, work on his tan, and "live his life," as he says. Now, I am all for vacations in life--it is something we American's should learn to do better. There is an absolute necessity for relaxation, otherwise we become so fried that we can never get anything truly accomplished.

However, I do not, and CAN not, believe that Mr. Bush has decided to take so grand a break during some of the most crucial times of his forced "war on terror." While Civil War looms on the Iraqi home front, he has chosen a new chef. While terrorists toy with regrouping, he has cleared some brush. While the global economic picture gets more dismal each day, he watches his corporate assets rise. All the while ignoring a grieving mother's wishes, and believing deeply that his plans are still going according to how people tell them they are.

We clearly live in the aristocracy of Louis XIV.

And yet, it seems to have no consequence to the man who has singlehandedly wrought more terror on the world than anyone in recent memory. The arbitrary date that was missed in the Iraqi constitutional drafting yesterday is so inconsequential to the fact that ultimate Civil War looms, that it becomes almost farcical.

The situation in Iraq should be bolstering our knowledge of cultures and peoples--rather the American populace can't seem to get enough of baby stories from Ben and Angelina to Brittney and what's-his-face.

So, here's the deal. The Iraqi's want to divide their country into three distinct countries (what should have been done in the 50s, but wasn't). The Kurds in the north deserve their land, and the Shiite's in the south should be allowed to have their own cultural heritage restored after Saddam's rule, and the Persian's want the middle. Unfortunately, the southern realignment means a distinct correspondence with Iran, and ultimately it seems the outcome will only be decided by a "Fight for Baghdad" to see who can control the mid-section of the country and win the actual country.

Of course, we will never allow "democracy" to work in Iraq--it wouldn't suit our interests. Oil would be controlled by those we deem "unfit," and the Iranian/Saudi realignments would be so preposterous as to possibly spark armageddon. Yes folks, it's that serious. Civil War this time around is going to make the Tet Offensive look tame.

These dates that we set and missed for the constitution are absurd, and this is a good thing. The media can spin it however they want, but we cannot expect to right 2000 years of social hatred in one week. We can hope that the dialogue will be opened, and slowly intelligent people will begin to speak out about what they want. But ultimately it seems that we are only setting ourselves up for another situation like Israel/Palestine, only with much more dire concequences. If we don't allow the country to break up and situate itself as *it* wants to, I can only imagine 30 years from now an even more serious battle to once again try to give people the world that they want.

So, perhaps we should all just learn something from our Commander in Chief. Instead of getting bogged down in the gritty details of reality, let's do like the French do--take five weeks off and hope that it all just blows over.

Notably Unhelpful

2005-08-10T11:58:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since my last chime in here--it's been a long couple weeks getting situated in my new life in Queens. Life out here certainly moves slower than in the fast-paced, hyper-aggressive world of Manhattan, but I'll adjust, I'm sure.

But it doesn't change the fact that there's still a lot going on in the world surrounding us, and with today's announcement of Iran's nuclear ambitions, I continue my tirades.

Almost two weeks ago we saw an unprecedented abuse of power by Bush in the shifty appointment of John Bolton to the UN--an organisation that he has outlandishly criticized and lambasted in his gruff and tumble sort of way. With his appointment, Bush single-handedly fouled our already putrid state in the Global Village, and Bolton goes to the council with little acceptance from home or abroad. The 'radical change' that the White House is seeking in reforming the UN will likely be unobtainable, simply because the whole world knows that Bolton comes without the support of his own Senate. But luckily, Bush is happy--he's the only "real" American who counts these days, that's for sure!

However, this puts us in a very prickly situation with yesterday's announcement that Iran will likely resume its nuclear programs, despite a strong presence of the EU in the past months trying to dissuade the resumption of the program. Iran has been supplying Iraqi's with weapons now for an reasonable amount of time, and if they are to resume nuclear ambitions, it only becomes so long before they smuggle them across the border, or worse yet, across many borders to Europe or America.

The real conundrum here is that the American force in charge of our occupation seem to take no real note of these issues, with Rumsfeld commenting that Iran's supply of weapons is "Notably Unhelpful" which strikes me as so absurd as to be almost out of a Pinter play. This comes after last week's tape of an Al Qaeda cleric basically stating in plain language "Get of of Iraq NOW, or we WILL attack you again." Bush's comments following that video sounded so perfectly in tune with those who oppose him: "These are fundamentalists who want to impose their religious views on your life and kill people in the process." Hmm... sounds oddly familiar. But of course, our version is "heroic" and theirs "demonic"... it's clearly all in the semantics. And it was tough for him to break from cutting down trees on his ranch to come up with those deep words of encouragement to his ambivalent nation of fighters.

So, as the dog-days of summer languidly saunter on, the temperatures continuing to rise (with Global Warming) and our president taking his requisite FIVE WEEKS off, we can only sit and wait for the coming storm of lethargy from the American populace as our situation in the world continues to crumble all around us. Would that we would do something to stop it... it seems we are just as "notably unhelpful" in sparking change as the Iranian's are at fueling civil war.

Bill Frist: Man of Morals?

2005-07-30T14:51:00.000-04:00

Can it be possible that Mr. Christ himself is taking a vow of scientific exploration, breaking with party ideals of stone-age absolutes and anti-scientific method ideologies? Could Dr. Frist, who presumably doesn't know "persistent vegetative state" from dancing the funky chicken, have broken with his own party's line to advance human understanding? I know it sounds far-fetched, but perhaps we're finally coming back around to some common sense about our need to explore and discover in this world. And although he's causing a rift in his own party, I commend Billy for taking a step towards allowing disease to be cured, new life to be had, and science to resume its place as a rightful religion in our world. It's the first step back towards some sense that we've taken in a very long time.

It is not to say that Frist will get his way. The president and his base have the power and "morals" to ban our research, therefore holding us back from actual advancement with the rest of the world, as others discover the new things about the human body and how to regenerate it. Of course, it really translates as many more deaths of REAL people, but thank god the embryo (that's not even FERTILIZED) will be saved.

It all leads me to the question of what it means to explore and discover for us in our world today. This week has brought the space program back into the front lines of the press, but to what end? We have been going into outer space for nearly four decades now, and with the exception of the Hubble Telescope and moon landings, we have done little more than glorified High School science experiments. We should be looking further towards Mars and beyond, but we seem to be so hung up on discovering the little things about ourselves in space that we forget to look out past ourselves, which is where real exploration and discovery will come. How the space program became so selfish, vain and bogged down in bureaucracy is really a baffling phenomenon.

When Magellan and DeGama and Cousteau and all the rest were exploring this world, there wasn't a sense of what it meant just for them. It was about pushing our boundaries and discovering something for the greater good. Stem-Cells are our generation's "moon-shot." We should be building it up as such. To excite in the populace a sense of the unknown, and show that with a collaborative-communion, we can ultimately conquer some of the greatest feats of mankind--that of our own mortality.

When JFK spoke to a terrified nation in the midst of the cold war, he vowed that by the end of the decade we would make it to the moon. At the time it seemed like science fiction, something that was unobtainable. But he sparked in a generation a group of thinkers, of revolutionaries, and ultimately with their collective-conscious all working towards the same goal, we advanced to become the most progressive and idealistic nation on the planet.

Forty years changes a lot in the mentality of a country. Perhaps our collective conscious has become clouded with too much information, ambivalent in its over-consumption, and lackadaisical in its desire for more knowledge, but the real advancements of this century will surely rest in our ability to cure disease and find new forms of renewable resources. Frist may not have made this into a platform for national advancement--our "moon shot"--but he's made a good first step to restoring some dignity to our quickly faltering nation.

A Transformative Evening

2005-07-24T00:35:00.000-04:00

It has been maintained in many countries that no citizen has a right to quit that in which he was born. The meaning of such a law must evidently be: "This country is so wretched and ill-governed we prohibit every man from quitting it, under an apprehension that otherwise all would leave it." Do better; excite in all your subjects a desire to stay with you, and in foreigners a desire to come and settle among you."

-- Voltaire, A Philosophical Dictionary, "Equality" 1764.

What an evening it's been! First of all, the apartment search is over! After over 4 years downtown, I'm moving to Queens (much to my dismay), but I'll save a massive sum of money, which is good, and it'll offer a little break from my very fast paced life downtown--filled with days debating our place in the world, writing, being inspired by the constant surroundings of art, theatre, film and music. I'll deeply miss my bookseller, who sets up on the corner of Ave A/3rd, who I've been known to get into long conversations about Sontag's "Styles of Radical Will" and Bunraku theatre. I'll miss my dumpling house, and Pho (Vietnamese) shop, which between the two I frequent almost 6 days a week. I'll miss my days in Washington Square Park, or playing hacky sack in Union Square. I'll miss the Strand and Angelika. And most of all, I'll miss being able to walk *everywhere.* But, as my friend Brian put it, "Inspiration doesn't come in location. It comes from within." Well said.

But the more transformative part of the day came about because of a whim. After seeing my final apartment (the floors literally looked like a sea, rising and falling well over ONE FOOT from front to back (and all sorts of up and down in the middle), I decided that I'd run up to Lincoln Center to see if there were any possible student tickets to Ariane Mnouchkine's "Le Dernier Caravanserail". Well, I arrived shortly before the 7pm curtain, to find only $100 tickets available. Having run all the way uptown from Greenpoint, I decided to walk by the tent that is set up behind the Met to house the production, and as the house was closing, I asked the guy standing there if they ever had student tickets. Without so much as missing a beat, he handed me a comp, and I snuck my way into the theatre.

Upon entering the large space (set up similarly to the Cartoucherie in Paris), you are greeted with the back of the risers the audience sits on. Underneath, all of the actors are preparing for their adventure, and the immediate presence that you are in is astounding. There, hidden in the crossbars, are costumes and props, small makeup stations, and the nearly 50 actors all milling around. Although I didn't recognize it until curtain call (and then reading the program on the train ride home), there are nearly 30 countries represented in the company, and 22 languages spoken. This is the theatre that I want to do.

Knowing really nothing about what I was about to embark upon, I sat quietly as the house lights dimmed. I knew that I was seeing the second part of a two part show, so I just hoped that I would be able to catch on.

The play, a nearly 8 hour (I didn't quite realize how long it was either) retelling of the Odyssey from the point of view of Refugees, opens with a long letter spoken in French and Arabic about their lost voyage to Australia. Soon the entire stage is engulfed in a sea of blue fabric, with a small ship hoisted into its masses and floundering desperately against a turbulent and angry sea. It's an image I won't soon forget.

For the next four hours I sat there, following 23 different scenes of true refugee stories, discovering perhaps a bit about the psychology that affects those who are forced onto an unknown voyage, with the only hope being that of survival. The images of the play were stunning, the multitude of language and sound was staggering, and its use of Asian stage pictures has only put one more nail into my now absolutely necessary voyage to China next year. It will fuel me, and hopefully be able to one day make theatre even 1/10th as wonderful as Mnouchkine was capable of.

Now only to find a group of artists willing and able to take that voyage with me.

Of all the images and stories that were told, in smattering of sound, lights, and movement (massive amounts of movement... no one once walked across the huge stage--they were always ferried on a rolling cart from one place to another... an interesting choice, worthy of theft!), several stick strongly out in my mind.

Besides the aforementioned opening scene, there was one entitled "Reminiscences-- The Right Hand and the Left Hand (Afghanistan)", which showed a man in love with film. Being under Taliban rule, film is obviously completely forbidden, but he and his wife watch a Charlie Chaplain movie on a small projector in their house. Soon, a man arrives at his door with the only copy of an old 1955 print of some Shelly Winters film, and he and his wife sit down to watch it. Before they have time to stash the film, the Taliban is at the door, storming in, tearing posters off the walls, and soon executing the man in a moment of harsh reality. They burn the house, which then floats off stage (it's very Brechtian-- you ALWAYS see the movement and scene changes. They carry a certain frenetic energy that I don't think I've ever witnessed before. It's almost like a Mabou Mines production mixed with Cirque du Soleil-- on crack).

In any case, the scene following then takes us to Australia in 2003 where a Kuwaiti refugee is seeking asylum after fleeing from Iran. It used a TV to show the interviewee (who must have been offstage recording it), and a small room above holding the interrogator and translator. All of the supertitles were on the bottom of the set piece. It was brilliant. Time was truncated and played with, and the dialogue and language use is exactly what I have been dreaming about with the Embedded Theatre. It's nice to see that my ideas are not unfounded, although a bit disheartening to see that they've already been done.

A night like tonight is one that convinces me of why it is that we do theatre. There is no money in it. There is little fame or glamour. We are nomads, forced to a life of unknowns and waiting for the right people to chance into our lives. It is scary and frustrating, and at times, seems impossible. But when an audience sits riveted to a story, and leave feeling (I'm sure) much the same way I do now, it all becomes worth it. Mnouchkine certainly knows how to move things forward, and although I don't really like her use of music (it's not my type), and at times the 4 hours dragged on a bit, all in all, it was a wonderful evening.

I definitely recommend it.

And thanks for reading my little journal entry here. I'll get back to the politics tomorrow. There are bag's being searched and people being blown up to attend to. Let alone the fact that our Supreme Court is taking one more step towards the right, leaving us in prime playing conditions for fascism to really rear its ugly head.

Perhaps we soon will be refugees as well. I know that I'll be one out in Queens. But there's more on the horizon--a play like this proves it to me.

The Un-Containment Policy

2005-07-19T11:02:00.000-04:00

The United States, as with the rest of the world, is in a prickly nuclear situation right now. After a war sold on false pretenses of WMD, another conventional terrorist attack in London, and literally 10s of thousands of innocent people killed in the past two years, we stand at the crux of a terrifying moment of history--a globalized world of nuclear powers, with a lot of angry and disenfranchised people wanting to strike back at those who have caused all their unrest--namely, US.

President Bush met yesterday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India to discuss helping India secure international help for its "civilian nuclear reactors," all the while allowing it to retain its nuclear arms. Georgie's intentions are thinly veiled as an attempt to dissuade China from obtaining more nukes, while at the same time disenfranchising Pakistan, which is now believed to have been where 3 of the London bombers hailed from. His policy of containment is one of friends and enemy--it's almost like a bad game of capture the flag where he thinks if he has all the biggest guys on his team, his flag will forever be safe. But as we all know, the game never was that simple--it was the squirmy little guy who was always able to pierce through the fortress and capture the flag--and this is exactly what Pakistan and North Korea are going to do in this situation, unfortunately with dire circumstances.

With our endorsement of one nuclear power over another, we are systematically allowing for more proliferation and less policy of containment. Which is just so unbelievably backwards that it makes my head hurt.

Kristof, one of my favs from the Times, has been lucky enough to obtain a reporter's visa to North Korea, and has put together this wonderful interactive feature that I hope you'll check out. In it, he describes a North Korea that is deeply nationalistic (he describes them as the French cubed), no where near failing (as our Administration would like to believe), and day by day obtaining more nuclear power.

And this is where it gets really frightening.

Our policy towards North Korea has been one of disenfranchisement. In hoping that it will collapse, we have pulled out all economic aid (I saw Clinton speak on this issue shortly after 9/11 at Cooper Union... he told us that the US policy has always been to give money to N. Korea so that they wouldn't use their only other cash-crop to feed their people. That cash crop? You guessed it--rockets and arms!) But this current administration is lagging behind in containing the North Korean inanities, and according to one Three-Star general Kristof spoke with, the nuclear power could be producing as many as 50 weapons a year by the end of next year. He calmly explained that North Korea would never sell their arms, but this of course is ludicrous.

And it's where our real troubles begin. While 6-party talks could, in the end, lead to a stable region where China, Japan, India, Pakistan and South Korea all live with nuclear arms in a peaceful situation, the current prospect of this happening seems far from reality. Especially with the meeting yesterday between Bush and Singh. We are only prolonging the ability to STOP North Korea from obtaining these weapons, by twiddling our thumbs and hoping that they collapse before they're able to finish the job. Well, this isn't going to happen--and it's time that the US took its place as the "leader of the free world" (as Bush would like everyone to know), and actually do something to stop them. And yes, this means actual interaction, not just veiled guises to get six men in a room together to talk about their differences. It's time we led, not lied, and made the world safer not only for their region, but for ours as well.

While we continue to disenfranchise our enemies by making *their* enemies closer to our hearts, we are endangering all the civilians of the world, who wait nervously for that first nuclear weapon to be sold, fired, and Armageddon to finally be upon us all. Never since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 have we been so close to a nuclear disaster, and the public so disinterested in forcing real containment from its government.

Roving Madness

2005-07-15T10:49:00.000-04:00

Oh what a long strange week it's been since I last chimed in here. Besides putting up a show Off-Broadway, and searching desperately for a new apartment, the political world surrounding us is coming apart at the hinges. Or at least, it should be, but unfortunately, is just being spun into a story too complicated for the average joe to follow. But here's what needs to happen.

Karl Rove is undoubtedly one of the smartest politicians to ever grace the insular world of DC. His views are far reaching and his tactics border on mad-scientist brilliant. I can see him sitting at home at night, in his dark, dank mansion, his tufts of flesh-colored hair sticking straight up as he laughs maniacally knowing that he is single-handedly destroying the fabric of America and recasting it in his own sordid image. He surely gets of on it.

But the deeper issue here is that we now have FUNDAMENTAL PROOF that Rove leaked information about a CIA operative, the Bush administration covered up the leak, and then said they'd fire anyone found to have had a hand. Surely they knew Rove's involvement, but like everything else they've sold us, they figured the people were not smart enough to figure it out. But we have figured it out, and finally our press-corps is holding the administration to their words, and they're floundering trying to figure out how to spin their way out of this one.

Rove needs to be put in prison. It's that simple. Whether or not he used Valerie Willson's name (Novak, in his article, used her maiden name, Valerie Plame), he undeniably knew who she was and what she was doing. This, legally, puts Rove in the position of TREASON. Yes, that's right folks, good old-fashioned TREASON. And if it were a democrat, talks of impeachment would already be ringing.

The American democracy is one that has been floundering in the past five years. From the early campaign speeches in 2000, when Rove began putting in his talk of social security reform and tax breaks for the wealthy, our democracy began turning into an aristocracy. Republican's should have called them out on it right then, knowing that the fiscal irresponsibility of these men would ultimately harm America for the future. These fiscal republicans, however, did nothing of the sort and the lines began to become clear about the left v. right world we would soon inhabit.

Then came 9/11. Rove used the smoldering bodies as political fuel before the buildings had even come down, and smeared democrats saying they wanted to give the terrorists "therapy." But the fact that he acted in treasonous ways to advance his cause is enough to yell "STOP," and allow the already TWO YEAR OLD federal inquiry to follow through its legal procedures and put KARL ROVE IN PRISON FOR TREASON.

Of course, words like treason and impeachment and lying aren't being spun out of the press-corps, and the partisan lines have been dug in once again. Which is the real tragedy for America. But in the end, this story needs to be told, understood and ultimately acted upon, or else our democracy will never recover from its own ignorance. A little lesson can go a long way in saving the country for our children. And really, haven't the republican's always been the one's for using the "children" for their political gain? Perhaps it's time we do the same.

Al Qaeda, Inc.

2005-07-09T11:26:00.000-04:00

The bombings in London last week were terrible, but I don't think we should continue to harp about "what went wrong," so much as to look at "what went right." And unfortunately that means looking a little deeper at our "enemy" and not taking sides.

Al Qaeda has metastasized and become franchised. There's no clear cut way we can fight them... in the past, when they would bomb, say, the USS Cole, we could send a few strategically placed cruise missiles into Afghanistan and blow up a training camp. Or maybe even a few into Iraq. But, we've done that now with such "shock and awe" that we have shaken them into all the little nooks and crannies of the world. Think of Al Qaeda like oil, and the rest of the world like water. Before they were in big globs, gently scattered across the surface, trying to come together into one big glob. Now, because we went and tried to blend them all up, there's millions of little oil puddles all over the water, and it's absolutely impossible to control all of them. And even more impossible to clean them up.

This is what went right for Al Qaeda.

No matter how many billions of dollars we sink into our transportation systems, it only takes one person amongst the millions of riders to be a dissident. You can't stop him. It's just that simple. We've all seen this week the amount of cops and military on our subways, but to what end? I watch them talking and laughing together, as if they were just any other casual subway riders going to their homes, or work, or dinner at Nobu. Sure, they're doing the same thing I am--observing all those people on the trains, but this is what ALL New Yorkers do--we are voyeurs. Deep and proud voyeurs. And the police presence is not going to stop an attack. When that one guy walks on with his backpack full of explosives, no matter how many cops are around, he probably doesn't look any different than you, or I, or any number of cab drivers in the city. And you know what, I'm certainly not going to think anything different of him because he's wearing a turban.

This is where the fundamental ideology of the entire world must change. Friedman wrote an article the day after the bombings lambasting Europe for allowing its culture to alienate Muslim's even more by not allowing them their freedoms (i.e. France and the head scarves). And he called on the Muslim's all over the world to come together and call out their jihadist's to stop the violence. But this is a ridiculous assessment.

The jihadist's do have the support of their community. It's that same community that's being alienated. And yes, while racism needs to be stopped, it's just not as simple as telling the Muslim world to deny their fighters support. Think of it as the Muslim answer to those asinine yellow stickers saying "support our troops." Even people who don't agree with the war are forced to "support our troops" (for the record, I do not... while I don't want my friends who are over there to die, I cannot honestly say I support them). And the Muslim community feels much the same way, except for that they're segregated and diminutive in the eyes of our societies. This is what needs to change.

Think of the black population in the 50s/60s. They were alienated until someone stood up to change the face of the world. Well, the jihadist's are doing that same exact thing. Friedman says it "takes a village" to stop terrorism--well, I'm saying it takes a WORLD, one where we're not scared of seeing someone in a turban, and we allow their daughter to wear it to school, even though it imposes on our "Catholic Values."

Friedman continued that "the greatest restraint on human behavior is never a policeman or border guard. The greatest restrain on human behavior is what a culture and a religion deem shameful." With this he is right--but instead of diverting all of the blame onto the Muslim population, I propose that we stop allowing them to invade our psyche so much--allow them the freedoms that they want by not imposing our globalized market on them, and allow them to exist simply as they want to exist in their world--a hierarchical tyranny rulled by tribes. I know it's not that simple, and because of their location with Oil it becomes all the more tricky, but I think we need to start thinking about real solutions, and it may just be one in which we begin to separate and live our own lives, instead of trying to impose our values into their minds. Let the oil and water coexist in their own separate ways. The Israeli solution may not be the best one, but by pulling out and making two very distinct worlds, it's at least quelled the violence in the past several months. At a certain point, people get tired of loosing friends and family to absurd feuds and suicide missions. If we pull out of our fights with Al Qaeda, Inc, it seems we could probably stop some of these attacks, simply because they would then only be fighting themselves--and that's when their society will deem the missions "shameful."

And finally, we should follow Tony Blair's example. Instead of harping on the fact that his country should "move on" for months and months (as is sure to be the case in the US media), he did exactly that by simply, well, moving on. He refused to discuss it any further, and quickly began talking about the work at the G8--real issues of the day: poverty, global warming, the AIDS epidemic, etc. He forced his country to move quickly past last week's tragedy, and not give Al Qaeda, Inc, any more free publicity.

Would that our politicians and news corps could do the same.

And the Rocket's Red Glare

2005-07-03T11:40:00.000-04:00

There's an empty seat to fill, and it's going to become one of the the most fought over seats in history. With Sandra Day O'Connor's sudden resignation from the Supreme Court, get ready for a battle to the death of our country. Bush will undoubtedly want his legacy to be fulfilled by ridding the country of Roe v. Wade, continuing to redefine words like "torture", and putting god straight into state, as if they had been made for each other like milk and cookies.

And who would he like to see as her successor? None other than Alberto Gonzoles, our current Attorney General, who's work you're sure to recognize as all those men and women in black hoods being hooked up to electrical nodes, or being tied together naked to get the "truth" out of them. This is exactly the type of man I want making major decisions for my country.

In the end, the battle will go far deeper than this, and it is unlikely that Gonzoles will receive the nomination--already there are conservative groups rallying against his appointment, claiming he's "too liberal. " However, it seems that we should look at where the country is going, and assess how we can come to some terms of agreement on a predecessor to the most crucial swing voter in the Court.

So, who is going to be best, and someone that we can all "slightly" agree upon? Bush has vowed that he will appoint someone who "faithfully upholds the constitution," but this can be swayed in a multitude of ways. There's a "pragmatic conservative," who might see Roe v. Wade as something that he disagrees with, but that the country has accepted. Then there's an "original intent" conservative is going to argue "where does it say that in the constitution" and work at upending all the work the high court has done for the past sixty years--including Brown v. Board of Education among many others. This one could be a serious woe for Roe.

What we need (and I use the word lightly here) is a pragmatic conservative. These are the justices that believe in reaching practical decisions that will help the institutions of government function smoothly. They aren't so concerned with the text or history of the constitution, but more interested in empirical evidence about the effects of their decisions in everyday life. This is where O'Connor fell towards the end of her career, and it is going to be in our best interest to uphold her legacy with a suitable suitor. She was, after all, the most crucial swing voter in the court in the past ten years.

In the end, one thing is going to become more and more clear. God has entered our lives as American's in full force in the past five years, and I want to quickly return to a point I made several weeks ago about the national religion of America. This creation is clearly playing deeper into our national psyche these days, of this we can all be sure. So, in these times of uncertainty, when religion is going to play ever deeper into the national debate on "freedom," I ask you all to remember what the true religion of America has been for the past sixty years--no, it's not Christianity or some subset of it--instead, it's Capitalism. Good, sweet money coming into our filthy pockets. This has been America's religion, and it's no time to forget that now. Church and State may never have been closer together, but State and Commerce seem to be falling by the wayside as our economic prowess in the new "flattened" world becomes antiquated and obsolete. It is no time for us to stack our courts with "God" in mind--if anything, we should be thinking towards the future and how we can retain our place at the "top" of the global economic food chain.

Now, this is not to insinuate that we should put a Tom DeLay figure or Jeff Skilling like thief in the court. No. We need honesty and someone who's willing to look over to Ireland and notice their economic fortitude and ask our country, "why can't we do that?" We need someone who can see China and India for what they are--competitors in the global "battle" and find new ways to promote free trade and commerce. We need someone who will stand up to the corporate scandals of our day, and call them out for what they are--thieves and liars who deserve harsh punishments. And we need a justice who will not push us down into the sand, forcing us to debate truths like evolution, or how we can legally commit torture. We need a justice who recognizes the plights of today and can systematically flush out the proper solution--in a way that is best for ALL of us in the country, not just the red half.

A completely conservative court is not far off. Next year it will be Rehnquist. But on this day before our day of independence, I ask you to all remember that we are a free country, and the voices of the people are going to be the most persuasive acts in making sure that our high courts don't turn into a god-infested, sweltering den of iniquity, intent on turning back the hands of time on our very young country.

And if you do go to church today, remember that tomorrow as all those bombs and mortars go off, we ALL go to the same church together--the church of ATM. And that's what those fireworks will really be about.

The Rebel Without a Cause

2005-06-29T12:48:00.000-04:00

Setting an artificial timetable would send the wrong message to the Iraqis, who need to know that America will not leave before the job is done. It would send the wrong signal to our troops, who need to know that we are serious about completing the mission they are risking their lives to achieve. And it would send the wrong message to the enemy, who would know that all they have to do is to wait us out. We will stay in Iraq as long as we are needed - and not a day longer.
--Excerpt from Bush's speech last night

“The Americans won’t be out in less than ten years.” Is how the argument often begins with the friend who has entered the Green Republic. “How can you say that?” Is usually my answer- and I begin to throw around numbers- 2007, 2008 maximum… Could they possibly want to be here longer? Can they afford to be here longer? At this, T. shakes his head- if you could see the bases they are planning to build- if you could see what already has been built- you’d know that they are going to be here for quite a while.
-- Excerpt from Baghdad Burning

I could not bring myself to watch the speech last night, although I tortured myself this morning by reading all 9 pages of its rhetoric. While nothing new was really said, it was in essence a repeat of a speech that Bush gave 13 months ago, it seems high time that the rhetoric needs to be truncated, and facts need to be pushed forward.

There is something that seems odd to me--in a country that so readily jumps on liars, thieves and sexual offenders (Clinton, Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson), why is it that we are letting the greatest gaffs in history lay by the wayside? The 2002 Downing Street Memo lays fact on what we all assumed was a falsely sold war under the auspices that Bush recounted again last night. But it has not permeated the social dialogue, simply because it was deemed as "old news."

It is, however, not old news. It is in fact the most prevalent news that we have! Addressing the reality of the world we live in is going to be the first step towards finding a real plan to get out, and it begins at the very start of the war. Things in Iraq are only getting worse. People are dying of starvation and disease. Torture is being committed. Few have running water and electricity. The state is close to collapse and civil-war. If we are to move forward as a nation, we are going to HAVE to accept at some point the reality of the world we've been living in for the past four years, and address how we are going to take responsibility for that and move forward. And it seems, since the facts are there, we should hold our president's feet to the fire, and demand explanation for thse lies, which I think would begin to unravel a real dialouge between both sides on what the plan of attack should be for the next decade. The American people are finally starting to show some sense again in showing their dissent for the war, and many Republican's are just as angry at the way things are going as we all have been for lo these past three years. This is the chance to seize the moment and begin a real dialogue that has real facts and plans--not just simple whitewashing the situation with talks of freedom and democracy. It won't make anyone less patriotic to face the facts, only to address that we really do have a rebel without a cause in our midst!

Now, I am not trying to indicate we need to live in the past. Far from it. Clearly, we are going to be in Iraq for a very long time. And we do need to find some sort of strategy for getting out. This is what was lacking from his 9 pages of baby-talk last night. To bring up 9/11 over and over again, and simply tell us that we'll be safer when Iraq is "free" can NO LONGER be acceptable! It demeans us as a country, and insights hatred of us all around the world.

So what should our strategy be? If I were in government, this is what I'd say.

Firstly, the infrastructure of the state is in absolute ruin. This is the first and largest thing that we have to fix. People living without water and electricity are not happy people--with it, I'm sure they'd be much more accepting of us. Surely Haliburton can work a little quicker for a little less money in restoring basic human necessities.

Secondly: a reduced presence in the face of the "enemy." My friend over at Baghdad Burning has this to say about the "Green Zone"--the "safe area" we've created in the heart of Baghdad:

"The walls surrounding restricted areas housing Americans and Puppets have gotten higher- as if vying with the tallest of date palms for height...The Green Zone is a source of consternation and aggravation for the typical Iraqi. It makes us anxious because it symbolises the heart of the occupation and if fortifications and barricades are any indicator- the occupation is going to be here for a long time. It is a provocation because no matter how anyone tries to explain or justify it, it is like a slap in the face. It tells us that while we are citizens in our own country, our comings and goings are restricted because portions of the country no longer belong to its people. They belong to the people living in the Green Republic."

Anyone living under occupation knows how devestating it can be to see the presence of your enemy everyday. Psychologically, it seems that if we had a less visable pressence, perhaps the insurgency would quell, simply becuase it wasn't daunted by the images it hated so fiercly. Protection is one thing--arrogance is another.

Third: Stop torturing people. It just doesn't make friends.

Fourth: Reform the school system before bombing people again. Clearly I'm not endorsing hegemony, but in the wake of our oppression, it seems we are going to be better off by indoctrinating children to like America, rather than take their father into custody to torture him even though he has nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism or the "bad guys." Teaching little Ali about the real benefits of democracy (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) is going to be far more beneficial than anything else.

Fifth: Get a goddamn army to stop the insurgency. It probably means more American troops on the ground in the short run (say the next 3-5 years), but trust me, it's going to be worth it.

Six: DO set some sort of timetable for what we'd like to accomplish in the next one year, five years, and ultimately 10 years. It doesn't show weakness as Mr. Bush eluded last night, but rather true prowess and leadership.

Seven: DON'T build bases! I'm not sure how we've done it in Nicaragua, Argentina, Croatia, Russia etc., but surely it's not necessary to build huge, American bases as a slap in the face for people. Surely there's a more discreet way for the American's to get what they want (i.e. a foothold in the Middle East), without making Iraq a new Germany.

Eight: Stop having Chenny go on Fox News telling people we're in the "last throes" of the insurgency, only to have Rummy go on MSNBC the next day saying it could go on 12 years. At least get the story straight, and admit that we're going to be there a long time. It'll enhance your image for everyone! And stop contradicting each other... it makes you look weak and idiotic.

Nine: Tell the truth and face the facts. This will help with #8!

These seem like just a few baby steps to quelling some of our hatred. And it might even put us into the real "last throes of the insurgency."

Summer in the City

2005-06-27T23:43:00.000-04:00

(Marco Polo, 2005)

So, in keeping the spirit of the long, hot days of summer, I'm breaking with the normal tone of the blog for a quick photo break.

Sunday brought one of those perfect summer days that was completely random, and worked out quite wonderfully. After waking up late, I managed to get out of the house by around 1pm, stumbling towards some semblance of food that was certain to be just around the corner. Well, it most certainly was. My original intent was to head towards Mooncake Cafe, all the way over by the Holland Tunnel (it was a nice day, I figured I could use the walk!), but I was waylaid by the smell of a grill and some great music wafting my way.

I turned onto Bowery to catch my first glimpse of it. There, tucked by my favorite building on the corner of Bowery and Spring (the grey one with all the urban art on it), was a full out, old fashioned block party. Music, artists, people hanging out of their windows, insane amounts of food, cold beer, a few joints, and lots of beautiful and interesting people around. What more can you ask for on a hot, sticky Sunday? This being the day of the pride parade, I had figured I was going to be swarmed with drag queens all day, but luckily for me this caught me first!

The day progressed from there, and I won't bore you with the details, but we ended up later that evening up in Union Square, where we caught a full on impromptu Capoeira dance performance. Capoeira is a brazilian dance that the slaves used to do to get out frustrations (and practice their fighting skills), and is one of the most beautiful dances in the world. I became acquainted with it several years back when I was working for a dance company from San Francisco that had an incredible Capoeira dancer with them (Capacitor... performance art dance theatre... check it out!). Rachel and Francesco left the impromptu performance to go make dinner, and I stumbled home from my long day out in the sun!

So, without further ado... here's a few random pictures from the day!

Peace to all!

Rachel, Francesco and her little brother John grabbing a beer at the party.

Everyone came out to enjoy the festivities!

Some great music!

This was the best shot I was able to get of the Capoeira dances. I watched them for almost an hour, and it's non-stop! Drum beats, and dancing, and fighting and they NEVER HIT EACH OTHER! Incredible feats of understanding space, body, and mind. It's beautiful!

There's something to be learned from a day of openess and accepting the utter randomness of things to come.

Propaganda: Coming Soon to a Wal-Mart Near You!

2005-06-26T13:49:00.000-04:00

PBS and NPR have become the worst words you can hear in the US Government these days. While conservative law-makers have long tried to rid our country of the "evils" of public radio and television, it looks like they may be getting closer to having their way. Oh, they're not just going to pull the plug on it (Nixon tried that, and failed miserably). Instead, they're just going to bleed the sleeping giant to death. They're looking to take a nearly $100 million cut of its almost $400 million annual operating budget, and that's only for this year. Next year, certainly more to come.

But why are they so afraid of this very tame beast? "It's the liberal media" is their claim, and they lambast it for reporting on facts that are happening in our country. But, as we know, truth to this government borders on treason, so they figure they had best stop it before someone really learns something.

Here's where it gets more sticky. Several weeks ago, Stephen Labaton of the NY Times, reported on a $14,170 expense paid off to a Fred Mann of Indiana. As it turns out, Mann is an insider working for none other than Kenneth Tomlinson, the Karl Rove pal who is chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He was clandestinely paid to monitor PBS' "Bill Moyers' Now," making notes on guests such as L (for Liberal) and C (for Conservative). Anyone who had anything even remotely negative to say against the government (i.e. we went to war with too few troops), was branded with an "L", even though many of those speaking were in fact from the rigth side of the isle. The fear of truth has been trumped by the "reality of propaganda," and with insight from the inside like they've gotten from Mr. Mann, things are going to get very dirty if we are to try to save Public Broadcasting.

In a sick twist of the story, Tomlinson kept the information about his hiring of the informant from his board, and has tried to cover up his own lies to indict his own company. Unlike Nixon's attempt at bringing down Public Broadcasting, now they have an insider all the way at the top who wants to bring it down. This is the incendiary weapon the republicans have been hoping to find for nearly 40 years.

It's not much news that this government is strongly connected to a propaganda machine. While every US president to some degree or another has paid for information to be fed to the media (Clinton made a several million dollar campaign that equated oral sex with some other asinine action, and it was then given to news-corps to be delivered as "news."), this administration hardly even covers up their buy-outs, and they don't really need to with Fox News coming in at #1. But with NPR and PBS looking to possibly go the way of the Dodo bird, the propaganda machine they've always been hoping for can now really heat up.

I'll Huff and I'll Puff and I'll Blow Your House Down!

2005-06-23T11:36:00.000-04:00

The Supreme Court ruled today in a 5-4 vote that backs the seizure of property for private economic development. Let me explain how grave a situation this truly is. Under the 5th amendment of the US Constitution, there is a clause which allows government to take private property through "eminent domain if the land is for 'public use.'" This justifies the demolition of homes for things like schools, hospitals, public parks and highways (think about Robert Moses in the 50s/60s in New York... he demolished half the town to build bridges and highways. If he had his way, he would have extended 5th Avenue all the way down through Washington Square Park straight on through to the sea port with a bridge to Staten Island. Thank god that didn't happen... but ultimatley it all was in the "public" interest.)

However, with this new ruling, the government can now take your house and give it to corporate power and use it for private gains. This is exactly what is happening to New London, Conn. A town of nearly 26,000, it was once a great whaling community that has since fallen into ruin and poverty. Most of the town will be razed to make way for a riverfront hotel, health club and offices, including a new Pfizer research center. This is corporate take over of the most base and evil kind.

When I was doing research for Sixteen Wounded last year, I had the privilege of talking to a young Palestinian woman who works on education as a means to stop the occupation. She told me this devastating story about her home in the Gaza Strip:

"When I was about 15 years old, during the first intifada [1992], I was living in our two bedroom house with my mother, father, three brothers and sisters, as well as my grandmother and grandfather, who was dying of pancreatic cancer. One night, around 3 am there was a loud knocking at our door. The IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] were outside demanding that my Grandfather come out and paint over some pro-palestinian graffiti that someone had sprayed on the house. This man, humiliated and in pain, was forced to paint the entire house by himself while we all watched. Then, at the end, the IDF bulldozed our house, claiming that we were harboring terrorists. Our home was destroyed."

She went on to look me right in the eyes and declare, "My father didn't teach me to hate the Israeli's. The Israeli's taught me to hate Israeli's."

While we're not quite at that level of debasement yet, I think of it deeply today knowing that now our government has the constitutional right to take your home and build for its own corporate greed. They may not come to your house in the middle of the night with bulldozers here, but they'll come one way or another to humiliate and destroy you. The people, it seems, have no power against this--the corporation is just too strong and deeply embedded into the US Government.

They say they'll compensate you "justly" for your home, but at what cost does someone's home truly have monetary value? In the housing bubble of today, most of these people would likely become homeless or have to go back to renting--a devastating economic blow to the already crumbling middle-class, and all the more evidence of our growing corporate autocracy.

A Stagnant Debate

2005-06-20T23:44:00.000-04:00

An important filibuster was continued today in the blockade of John Bolton's nomination the UN. Bolton, a long time dissident of the United Nations as an organization, has been bolstered by our president and his cronies to become our ambassador to an organization he is noted as saying "could still function without the top ten floors of the building." Why he wants to work there is anyone's guess, but it is clear that the Democrats need to continue their filibuster in keeping him out. (although in a late day addtion: it looks like Bush might actually appoint him without the consent of the Senate in a weird loophole of politik. The appointment would last a year, until 2007, and would certainly undermine its purpose as Bolton would go to the UN with the world knowing that he did not have the approval of his Senate... more on this to come... tyranny, anyone?)

And yet, the mudslinging continues. But unlike aggressions of the past, the American debate has been regulated to defaming name calling, and using the ultimate Weapon of Mass-Deception--The HITLER debate. Everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE, is using this debate and it MUST end here! Hitler worked too hard, for too many years, to be demeaned in this way by our tossing his legacy around over everything from stem-cell research and the Teri Shiavo case, to the torture at Guantanamo. He was terrible tyrant, and I'm not undermining the tragedy of the holocaust, but let's face it, NO ONE ELSE IS HITLER! Mussolini wasn't Hitler. Mao wasn't Hitler. The Pol Pot wasn't Hitler. Even Stalin wasn't Hitler. And you know what, George Bush isn't Hitler either. All these men and events may share great similarities in the way they work for world domination, but to end the debate with Hitler just isn't going to advance our society or cultural debate any further.

Now it seems to me that since both sides keep calling up the Hitler reference, we had best look at *why* they're calling it up. Clearly, to bring up the holocaust summons great emotion in the devastating nature of the human creature. But it also speaks volumes about the real and devastating conditions we live in today. When Durbin likened our actions to that of the Gestapo, the Pol Pot, and ultimately, Hitler on the Senate floor last week, it was the first time the debate on *our* actions have fully been taken to reality. Now, he did probably step over the line, and should not have likened us to Hitler, but I think he had a good point--the actions that the United States is taking at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Grahib and all the rest are reprehensible, and needs be stopped. President Carter has called for the outright closure of the base, and Clinton today said either "clean it or close it." These are strong statements from past presidents, and the country must stand up and take action to make sure our name is not being disgraced by our own current fascist forces.

The difference between America and Hitler's Germany is great indeed. We do not have a semblance of a Jackboot Club (what ultimately turned into the Nazi party), and although our children are reared on violent video games, which now the army conveniently uses to train soldiers and could be argued similar mind persuasion as the Jackboots, we are stronger than the German populace of the 1930s. The Germans were suffering under decades of economic woes (from WWI) and a brilliantly infiltrated propaganda machine. We seem to be suffering from ambivalence and misunderstanding. Coupled with our lackadaisical attitude to actually *LEARN* anything about the world, its peoples and its cultures. But we can overcome this, if we make sure that our name is not slandered under the auspices of the "war on terror," and we begin to take the time to teach and see other cultures for what they are--different from us! Torture is torture is torture, and seeing as we ARE committing these acts, it is time we make sure they end NOW before it really hurts us all.

And in the end, and whatever views you may take on the issues of the day, remember this: we are likening ourselves to Hitler. If anything, we need to ask ourselves, why? If we can come up with an answer to that, it seems, many of our problems would probably come to a true head, and progress could be made.

Action can be taken. We must DEMAND THE CLOSURE OF GUANTANAMO! It is in our interest. It is in the world's interest. And it is the interest of ALL of us to *not* have to be likened to Hitler anymore.

QUESTION

2005-06-20T23:43:00.000-04:00

Ok, late day addition to the Bolton story. Just looked at the role-call for who voted today. There are FOUR Democrats who DID NOT VOTE (Feingold, Wis.; Johnson, S.D.; Kerry, Mass.; Kohl, Wis.; Levin, Mich.)

Can someone PLEASE explain to me why they're not voting? Not really knowing anything about politics, I don't understand why everyone isn't voting on *everything*, especially when it seems kind of important like the nomination of John Bolton to the UNITED NATIONS?

To truth, or not to truth...

2005-06-15T11:19:00.000-04:00

There is one thing that still stands true about our lives on this earth that I think it's high time we consider again. You are responsible for your creating own opinions. You are NOT responsible for creating your own FACTS.

And yet, this is exactly where we stand as a country. Over the past decades, as American's have become lazier and lazier in their interest in discovering "truths," we have now stooped to an all time low. The LA Times has begun what they are calling "Interactive opinions," an op-ed website intended for viewers to update and select what they want to hear, and how they want to hear it. No more will we be forced to analyze another's opinions and indoctrinate them in with our own world view... no, now you'll simply be able to hear what you want to hear, when you want to hear it.

We live in a country where truth holds no meaning anymore, and somehow it doesn't upset people to know that they're being lied to. One only has to look to the past five years of Bush speeches to follow my meaning, or see the deeply entrenched web of lies we've been fed. People lie outright (this is on both sides of the isle, no doubt), and are rarely called out to address the real truths of the day (i.e. evolution, petroleum depletion, the myth of god, social security etc.). This all adds to a country in distress, where 1 in 3 people STILL believe there were WMD found in Iraq, and nearly 76% of American's don't believe in evolution.

But where does this end? Blogs certainly don't aid the problem, but rather incite news corps to stoop lower, as the LA Times has. Certainly, if you're reading this, you know that I'm just a person, and have not embedded myself (as of yet) deeper into the system. But I want you to know that I do try very hard to make sure the facts I use are true and correct--or at least, correct as can be seeing as most of them come from the media itself... although I still read books, which I have deep faith in. But what happens when even the media begins to lie consistently, and allow its readers to update its pages? It sounds very much like intellectual anarchy to me, and the social ambivalence that is ensuing is terrifying.

What will it take for people to demand the truth again? We certainly know that it does not, and will not, ever come from this administration. They have proved time and time again that whenever they want, they'll simply change the facts and the story to match what they believe the "consumer" to want. It's the corporate way. But certainly, at some point, society must again demand that truth be told. But then what happens to a decade in which we've stagnated in our own ambivalences and learned nothing?

It has struck me in the past week (in reading all this about China and such) that the 60s and early 70s were witness to cultural revolutions all over the world. It was a global movement in ideological thinking that spawned protest, angst, aggression and power from the people. It was a tumultuous, deadly decade, which ultimately lead to depressions in most of the world for the latter 70s and 80s. It seems high time that we begin the protests again and DEMAND TRUTHS in our lives!

The first decade of the 21st century will certainly be remembered by history as one of social ambivalence, greed and corruption. Let us not also let it be remembered as the decade that we gave up the hope and curiosity of finding truths in our daily lives. There are five years left. We still have time.

The Chinese Rocket

2005-06-14T12:24:00.000-04:00

"When Western artists were producing masterpieces like the Mona Lisa or The Night Watch, Chinese artists were painting magnificent scrolls in which the humans were just specks, like a tiny monk observing a huge waterfall. How will China accommodate the monk's aspirations and ambitions today?" (excerpt "What Kind of Chinese Are You?" Sheryl WuDunn)

The Chinese question is one that has been inspiring me for several weeks now, and has begun what I believe will be a long exploration into culture and power struggles that will arise deep into the 21st century. Nearly 4000 years of civilized power comes from China, and yet, in its own backwards way, it has yet to really industrialize into even the 20th century. There is a feudal system of peasantry that runs deeply through much of the country, and social climbing is something that is all but unknown to the vast majority of Chinese workers. The political system created by Mao Zedong is unique in the Communist era, simply because unlike the Bolshevik's, who in 1917/18 staged a coup that then had to be enforced by military might, Mao would most likely have won in a democratic election. His power was often regarded as forthright, and although he was no doubt a brutal dictator (he is reported to have executed nearly 4 million people between 1948 and 1955, and that was his BENEVOLENT period! And he later is said to have murdered nearly 5% of his servicemen, or roughly the equivalent number of people as are in the state of California!). Even with this, Mao's legacy is one that will bring the world to its knees in the 21st century.

Yet there is a conundrum of epic proportions here. China exists in a state of absolute shelter. It is not a classed society, and yet, with the economic situations of today, that is rapidly changing, much to the chagrin of the government. Spying is still a very real and legitimate part of life in China, and with the explosion of the Internet, the Chinese people are getting their first taste of what a free press really feels like. Today it is estimated that there are nearly 1.4 million blogs, or roughly 1% of the population. Yet, there are nearly 600,000 Chinese Government spies intent on shutting down and stopping all of these blogs. Yes, that's right, nearly ONE government spy for every TWO bloggers. It's that entrenched. And yet, of course, you cannot patrol the internet, or stop its musings. These revolutionaries in China move from town to town, uninterrupted in their social awareness, and slip away before they can be found out. It is a true cultural revolution, the likes which would make Mao turn over in his grave.

The history of China's fear of outside impressions goes back long before Mao ever came into the social consciousness. In 1793, one of China's great emperors, Qianlong, personally directed secret efforts to keep a delegation of British visitors from talking to any local people. Their fear of outside perspective is as deeply rooted as American's love of fatty foods or big, gas guzzling autos.

Yet the government today operates in a state of what the Chinese call renzhi , or "government by whim." It is brutal in its power, and unrelenting in its control of its people. People have to live very regimented lives inside of what is called the "iron triangle"-- hukou, a residence permit is required for all movements about the country; dangan, a secret personnel file, or something akin to what we often see depicted in movies where someone is brought into the police station and everything they've ever done in their lives is known; and finally, danwei, or the work unit, which provides the government with an endless supply of information about your life, your friends, your whereabouts and your interests. For the average Chinese, this is simply the way things are. But for the intellectual classes, it is something to constantly be avoided and coerced into working for you, rather than against you. Many scholars are imprisoned if they get too close to the government fire, and one always has to be aware of speaking too loudly in public about their thoughts, and phone lines are often tapped to control what could become another Tiananmen Square.

But this triangle is being corroded by social stature and economic prowess. And this is the real lynchpin for 21st century China. With the demise of these structures, peasants that once were not able to even move to the town next to theirs, will suddenly be given freedoms which generations before them could not have dreamed about. Foreigners will be allowed to visit these villages, which often are entrenched in great poverty, and slowly the corporate giants will begin to seize upon this newly found freedom and social change is inevitable.

Is this a good thing? Corporation, as you may have guessed by reading previous entries, is something that I find horribly disgusting and evil. And yet, for China is seems to be paving the way for its rise into the next century and beyond. Wal-Mart already has holdings in China (no surprise there), and Starbucks and McDonnalds are on many streets from Beijing to Shanghai. But these are not going to be solely responsible for changing the face of global economic structures during this century. No, instead it is going to be that Communist mentality of control and capitulation that will change even the way that we Westerners perceive commerce. Once the people recognize that they are worth more than they currently are receiving, they will radically alter the ways in which corporation is able to control its people. If I were a betting man, I'd guess that the people of China are going to win over the corporation; as opposed to our lazy asses who simply let the wave of corporate greed go unmentioned and unchecked. But that is our downfall, and worthy of an entirely different entry.

So, for the 21st century, all I can say is, hold on tight, the rickshaw is turning into a rocket, and it's going to be a bumpy ride!

The Politics of Greed

2005-06-11T12:57:00.000-04:00

(I went and saw the documentary "ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room" the other day, and if you have the chance, SEE IT! It's well worth your $10.75)

I also want to make an addendum to my last entry on "The United States of Europe." I realized how incredibly disenfranchising it is, and that was not my intent. I do believe that this country can pull itself together, and hopefully will sooner than later. I was speaking solely of political fortitude, and how if we had to do it all over again, we probably wouldn't have the courage (or the ability) to find enough in common to unite us. But we are united, and we ALL have to stand strong and together in order to overcome some of the evils that we face in our everyday lives. I'm not calling for a full out civil war (yet), but rather hope that we can all begin to bridge some of our fundamental dissonance and continue to evolve as a race.

Now, on with the show...

--------

The Enron scandal is one that still makes headlines, such as the one yesterday noting that Citigroup will pay off nearly $2 BILLION in settlements to shareholders who were systematically fucked by the evil greed of a few very bad men. But it is rarely front-page news, and certainly not in any of the dailies (i.e. Post/Daily News etc.) Those sell much better with a picture of a crazy woman who ran away from her soon-to-be husband, or by denying the Geneva Conventions by showing Saddam in his undies. But these scandals (Enron, World-Com, Tyco etc.) were no small crimes that were committed by treacherous corporations, and it seems time we all stop and seriously look around at what is happening to those in charge.

Politics aside, stealing is wrong. Even the bible says that, and for that, American's should really perk up their ears. But in our mass hypocrisy, we fail to make a public issue out of this, preferring instead to crucify the likes of Michael Jackson. He's a much easier target, one we've all grown to know and love over the past 40 years, and certainly a much more "evil" man than Andy Fastow, Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay. And yet, whatever the truth in the Michael Jackson case may be, the former men are getting away scott free from undermining the entire economic structure of our country.

And they are not alone. Clearly this hypocrisy and theft goes all the way to the White House. So why then are not more American's angry about this? Why do we chose to go about our daily lives wandering the toothpaste isle worrying about which whitening toothpaste will work better, when we should really be concerned with the fact that certain men (and it is mostly men) are stealing literally BILLIONS of dollars from us, without the least bit of remorse or action taken against them (it is not to say they won't go to trial, but you can rest assured they will deny, lie, manipulate and coerce the jury and find their freedom in one way or another... this is the joy of a Capitalistic Judiciary).

At one point in the film, Jeff Skilling, the blue-eyed, blond haired Aryan devil looks a Congressional Hearing directly in the eyes, declaring that he does not know if he had liquified almost $66 million dollars in stocks and options at one point. He smirks, "It wouldn't surprise me to find out that's true." SIXTY-SIX MILLION DOLLARS PEOPLE!! This is all from your pensions, your economy, and in the end, OUR OWN FUTURE as an American race. The theft of our money undermines the entire system on which this country is built, and if it continues to spiral as it is now, it's sure to be a dark future.

It's time we call out all of these traitors, and treat them like the "terrorists" at Guantanamo as opposed to social heros who are awarded medals of honor... then perhaps 'justice would be served.'

The United States of Europe?

2005-06-08T11:52:00.000-04:00

In the next 10 days, Europe stands to make one of its most important decision in nearly 50 years. During that time, France and Germany have long fought for a unified and stronger economic Europe, and with last weeks overwhelming "NON" vote on ratifying the EU Constitution, the entire continent stands at the abyss of a very uncertain and tumultuous time. No matter the outcome of the next few days though, one thing is certain--unifying a country is harder than it looks.

And this lead me to thinking-- if America had to do it all over again today, would its 50 states become 50 states, or would we break apart into smaller, more individual countries? Is the nature of our place such an historic amalgam that it can never be duplicated in history again? And last week's vote seems to push he answer to be resoundingly, "yes."

France and Germany's purpose in wanting all those years to unify Europe was largely economic, although in today's world, it was also to try to hold more political clout in the global world (and with its failure, lays a perfect pathway for the 21st century belonging to Asia). What they will end up with is a free-trade market that has small monopolies of a larger sum (unlike America who has larger monopolies of a smaller sum). But it doesn't solve the problem of more economic prowess, or political fortitude. For this, France will remain in France's interest, Denmark in Denmark et cetera. The continent of Europe will remain divided socially, politically and economically. And my guess is that in the long run, this is going to benefit it more than anyone can even begin to guess right now. In my opinion, as oil runs out and our age changes, these countries in Europe are going to survive it better because of their *individuality* as opposed to their collection.

America, on the other hand, might not be so lucky.

Our country is, simply, huge. Just ask any foreign traveler, and certainly one of the first comments you're likely to get is just how large it really is, and how difficult it is to get around (no public transportation... another downfall at the end of the petroleum age.)

But if we had to put ourselves together all over again, would we? In 1860 we began fighting a civil war that would rip the nation apart, and never really heal itself. We were mended for nationalist reasons, and they were proper and good. The Emancipation and Reconstruction that followed was one of the most devastating times in our nation's history, but also made us very strong for the next century. However, the South has been longing to 'rise again' for nearly 140 years, and I think it's safe to say, it probably has. NO president will ever carry the White House again without the South (hence, its political power), and the North gets stuck in its vacillating back and forth constantly on the issues of the day, while the South controls the deeply rooted religious ideologies of this schizophrenic country. The South and North have remained two divided ideologies united under the roof of "freedom," and it seems like its time to change the winds again.

Socially, physically, and economically the regions of this country are about as distinct as any numerous countries in Europe. Texas takes the cake as simply IT'S OWN DAMN COUNTRY (and its the size of France to boot), and we should have been smart enough to give that one back to the Mexican's when they wanted it. Florida could make an equally strong case for being its own country. And these two states control more of the political ideology than the vast majority of the rest of the country.

Then the west could be divided up into several locations, the plains, mountains, Nevada, and then California, which probably should be several small countries of its own.

As you can see, the divisions would lead us to perhaps a dozen or so individual states, each with its own government, its own lifestyles, its own histories, and ultimately, its own fight for survival in the end. There could be "national" debate between these places, but by and large they would stand on their own and look out for themselves. The free-trade system would be very interesting (we need produce from Iowa, and they need industry from the North etc.).

In the end though, I think it's safe to say, we would all probably be a lot better off being on our own, than put together in a place where none of us agree.

Eat, Drink and be Merry

2005-06-07T11:49:00.000-04:00

Sunday night began simply enough--a dinner party at my friend's Rachel and Francesco's house out in Brooklyn. They live in this fantastic house out in Crown Heights (for those of you keeping track--not the best or safest neighborhood in the world!) But somehow this house has stood strong for well over 100 years. It is a true amalgam of this area of Brooklyn--a completely freestanding house with large front and back yards, and drives on either side. It is meticulously up-kept with some of the original wood floor inlays and large, salon like drawing rooms. It would make a fantastic set for an Ibsen play! Francesco, who's Italian roots lead him to make vast amounts of succulent, mouth-watering food, did so with aplomb. And his recent job working at Murray's Cheese Shop, the famous fromage palace in the West Village, began our introduction to vast sums of cheese from all over the world, much of it imported, dare I say, under the wire. And from creamy to moldy, there were some incredible feats of peat.

But, nothing too out of the ordinary, right? Just a dinner party with some friends, right? Well, 26 hours after arriving, I finally waddled my way home. And in those 26 hours, through many conversations, numerous bottles of wine (and a nicely enjoyed hookah, recently arrived from our friend Peter who is in Egypt), I've come to realize something that I think is very important.

Of our many conversations, there was one truth that seemed to resurface itself on several ocassions. Technology is an absolute and now completely interwoven piece of our society. The interesting thing about man's creation of the computer is that it, like us, evolves without contemplation--every year since 1970 computer chips have gotten half as small and twice as fast. Look at the I-Pod in your pocket. It is bigger than your first computer, by a LOT, and well, it's in your pocket. And while much of this technology is wonderful (I don't know where I'd be without that white savior), it is also clouding us so greatly that we have forgotten to look around at those who share our world with us--namely, other human beings!

In the frenetic and connected world that we live in, it is so necessary to be able to take time to luxuriate in what is truly needed in life--good food, conversation and drink. And I do mean that these are *needed* in life. Not as in 'if we don't eat, we'll die,' but rather, 'if we don't share and explore, we as a civilization will die.' The dinner table has long stood as one of history's cornerstones (I only have to harken to the LAST SUPPER for most American's to get the picture), and its slow death is something that is terribly frightening for the history of our world. Even in France and Italy we're beginning to see people move towards a more fast-paced and connected life, and although the gastric traditions there are going to be far more difficult (and dare I say, impossible) to destroy, everyone has too much to do, and too little time to share with other people around them. And it is impeding all of our advancements as societies, simply because we are too caught up in its uses, rather than the functions we actually chose to do with them. Never before in history have we been so "productive" and "connected" and yet so incredibly isolated from one another. It is the devestating paradox of our age.

Having grown up in a restaurant, many of the qualities of life around a table have been instilled from birth, but we often forget how important they truly are. And unfortunately our culture as American's has never been one located around the dinner table. Yet, it seems that these are some of the most productive and interesting conversations one is ever likely to get in. Something about the sharing of substance brings us together as human creatures, and with it, we are able to open and share, explore and divulge without any negative fallout (or, at least when it's not a large family gathering!)

There is probably nothing else in the world so binding and culturally active as that of sharing a meal. Everyone does it, and its traditions go back as long as recorded history. And today, to be able to turn off the cell phones, unplug the internet, and not have a daily paper in front of you (I hate to say it, I didn't even know who won the Tony's until well into the evening hours... and I'm very sad for two friend's who didn't win--Amy Ryan turned a spectacular Stella for us at the Kennedy Center and was most certainly deserving playing opposite her teddy-bear like Stanley. And Jan Maxwell, certainly deserved something after being upstaged by a FLYING CAR) can lead to some true revelations. The dismissals of these "things" (ie. cell phone, internet etc.) that we have in our lives is an incredibly important part of growing as a person, rather than as a machine. It is not to say they are bad, but rather that the clutter they create in our lives is disillusioning us so greatly as to forget who we really are, or what our purpose is. And I think to remember that at the end of the day, our job on this planet is simply to continue to explore and create (this is the true gift of the human creature), while at the same time protecting it for the future generations of humans who will want to explore and create as well.

Anyway, to break from all this connectivity is an incredible break from the 'realities' (and I use that world loosely here) of life, and it makes you appreciate those little things far more. We were far from unproductive in our 26 hours of feasting. We logged two tapes from their nearly 60 hours of footage in India, had countless discussions and conversations, read books and talked about life and the true meaning of liberty (and ate and drank enough to kill a small animal!). These are the ways to spend Sundays (and well, Monday's too, I guess!)

In the end, no one says it better than Shakespeare himself: "Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow, we die." Words that may never be closer to the truth.

The Hyper-Rich

2005-06-05T18:40:00.000-04:00

I've been on a real Joseph Campbell kick the past week, and want to spend some time on him. For those of you unfamiliar, he's the guy who wrote the saying, "Follow Your Bliss" and sort of defined the ideology of the late 40s through early 60s. Anyway, "Baksheesh and Brahman - Asian Journals" is an incredible look into the year he spent (when he was 50) in India. It would eventually spawn his "Creative Mythologies/Myth of God" series, which is the culmination of his life of comparative mythologies.

And while reading this, besides getting an interesting look into how the Indian's viewed America in the 50s, it led me to start thinking about religion and capitalism in our world today and how they're interacting.

I wrote last week about how the vast sum of the nation's money rests in fewer and fewer hands (the NY Times actually printed the story TODAY...), and Campbell's glimpse into true poverty in an undeveloped country of 1954 has led me to these thoughts...

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Under the Bush Tax Plan, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. This is a statement that we have heard time and time again in the past five years, and yet, no one seems to be thinking on what the true implications of such a dire statement truly are. Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve Chairman, warned in a Congressional testimony more than a year ago: "For the democratic society, that is not a very desirable thing to allow to happen." It seems our meritocracy is turning ever more towards an aristocracy and ultimately stifling all hope for our own prosper in the Flattened World.

In Joseph Campbell's journals on his time in India, he reflects often on the state of poverty in this underdeveloped nation. Its paupers constantly harass him for rupees, and while he expresses his disgust at their attempts, it helps to outline the point of innovation and struggle through the caste system. India, he comments, works something like this: "The rich in India tend to be miserly to a criminal degree, and the poor in India do not exert themselves even to clean the dirt out of the alleys of their own neighborhoods." He also comments "The people on top, whether in India or the USA, regard the life needs of the worker as greatly less than their own."

With these two statements in mind, I ask that we look in our own culture to find the realities he was speaking of in 1954.

In the Time's article today, we see that of the 145,000 people (1.5%) in this country whose starting salary is $1.6 million or more (often, much more), the tax breaks have led them to increase their wealth exponentially. Those making under $40,000, by comparison, are saving less and paying much, much more. A true aristocratic state is in action here, the likes which the world hasn't seen since Louis XIV ruled (and to a much greater extent, his son...)

But we are not a caste system like India. The American Dream has always been founded on the expectation that you can come to this country with nothing, and become the next Ted Turner or George Soros or Bill Gates. But today, this is far from true. Short of absolute innovation (think of the technology boom of the 90s), this dream has become next to impossible to achieve. And while we idle in our own ambivalence, the India of yesterday is growing to become the America of tomorrow--a country exhilarated by creating new technologies and creating a generation of computer scientists, engineers, artists and intellectuals. And its competition with China only makes its desire for regional control all the more tangible (this is not taking into account its politics with Pakistan or Indonesia either).

So what then are we as American's to do in order to stave off ultimate recession (the graphics of today's wealth holders looks startlingly similar to the robber-barons of the 1920s), and continue our dominance in a global market? It seems the answer lies solely in religion.

What is the National religion of America? Is it Episcopalian of Evangelical? Christian or Catholic? Jew. Ha. Muslim. Don't even think about it. No, it's CAPITALISM. And our High Priests are the rats in the catacombs of the temple. Without even beginning to get into Enron, World-Com, or any other corrupt corporation who have squandered its assets so a few at the top can lavish in palaces and enjoy $70,000 golf trips to Scotland (that one came from the corporation we call "The White House"), we must question how the People can stand up and take back our rightful place in a Capitalistic Democracy. Those left bereft after corporations stole their money must finally stand together in order to take down this regime of corporation, and lynch those at the top. It's time we pull our "spiritual leaders" out and really question where we stand in relation to the rest of the world. And it begins at the White House and moves all the way down the hierarchy of American Capitalism.

So what then, is American Capitalism as religion? First, let us look at what religion is, as seen in through Campbell's eyes.
"All religions teach love, peace, and the road to heaven. Also, it is like a circle with a central point: some stress the central point, some the radii to the center, others, with many gods, the circumference; but all recognize the central point. And so all religions agree. But the priests of the religions teach prejudice and the supremacy of their own religion--and this is to their personal interest. Religion is all right, it is only what we make of it that is wrong" (Campbell, 1954).

Where are we in this circle? If Hindi and Buddhists rest on the circumference, and let's say Christians and Muslims (of all denominations) rest comfortably at the middle, where is American Capitalism? Our Priests of Finance have actually turned the circle into a square, whereby they can stand on all corners and push us into whichever corner they see fit. And we, like sheep, have no hope but to follow. But also like sheep, who when scared into a corner will trample each other to death, we are doing the same to ourselves.

Under the current plan, we can no longer control our economic destiny, but are rather forced to live within the confines of the square of Capitalistic Religion. And the incredible thing is that they've masked it so greatly with talks of 'God' and 'morality' that we've forgotten that these myths are no longer sustainable in modern society. We must move past these linguistic hang-ups in order to fight the higher powers.

Religion, by standard definition is: "n 1: a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; 2: institution to express belief in a divine power". Therefore, Capitalism definitely fits the bill. It governs every waking aspect of our lives, even in controlled environments such as Communism (think China). And as Campbell points out, religion is not the enemy, but rather the "priests who teach prejudice and supremacy" are. And our Nationalistic (Capitalistic?) hubris is only just fully coming into effect. The plans of these tax cuts will not really be felt until at least 2010, when the rich will get even richer and the rest of us will be dealt the devastating blow of having to begin to pay some of our debts (mostly to China and India, it should be noted).

Alan Greenspan, a constant in this country for decades, has sent numerous warnings out in the past several years at the deadly ways our government is controlling its finances. It seems high time that we actually listen to him and think about our past and future in a very serious way. Religion is fine, but when the priests are only looking out for their own interests, it seems high time to nail a new proclamation to the Church's doors.

Fight or Flight

2005-05-31T23:52:00.000-04:00

An interesting thing happened to me the other day in the subway tunnel between the F and 7 trains under Bryant Park. For those of you who know, this is a long, recently completed tunnel that is tiled with "inspirational" quotes ranging from Goethe and Ovid to Mother Goose (although I should note the irony of the last quote heading BACK towards the F train, which reads "Nature Shall Not Win"... a fitting thought I think for our attitude about the planet). Anyway, they all make the couple minute walk through the long tunnel a little more bearable.

So, there I was, walking peacefully towards the 7, when from behind me I hear a series of loud explosions. POP. POP POP POP. At first it sounded like gun-shots, then as they continued, more like little trash-cans exploding. The echo in the tunnel was deafening.

And my animal instinct kicked in. I covered my head with my bag, and after seeing the people in front of me begin to run, ran forward myself. Of course, I didn't know where I was going to go, or what I was going to do... I just ran. It's innate.

As it turned out, it was just a bunch of kids with some loud firecrackers having a little laugh at all of our underlying fears. But it was enough for me to stop and think about how our instincts in this very strange world are being impacted very deeply by the moment we all live in.

Twice in the past several weeks, Washington workers have fled their buildings with the fear that a small plane had entered restricted airspace. As funny as any comedian could ever hope, there were literally people running into each other as they didn't know which way to go! It was quite a scene. And their running was NOT an innate instinct, rather, a mass terror leading to aimless and unproductive running away. Have we devolved so greatly as a species, to only be impacted by mass fear? As pointed out to me, it's no different than rioters at a football match in England or looters after a huricaine in Florida. And we had best shape up our efforts to be strong against this, or the time when it's really real, it's going to be bloody and terrible.

Supposing it's not nuclear, just chemical or conventional explosion near-by, we have to wonder what the right course of action will be. Do we just run away, as our instinct would tell us? Where do we run to? How far do we go? Individually we seem to be able to figure this out, but as a mass, our brain power gets decreased exponentially, and that's where real terror begins.

The thing that has really been enlightened to me by this experience, is not that our Fight or Flight instincts are bad (they've evolved over millions of years and have kept us successfully at the top of the food chain), but when a MASS is scared, these instincts can become just as deadly the blast itself. In my subway tunnel there were only 15 of us. In Washington there were hundreds more, each individual looking out for himself, and at the same time endangering all those around him. But what if it had been rush hour in that subway, and you were shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other people? They hear the same sounds, but some (walking towards you), think the echo is coming from behind so begin to run towards you. You, also knowing the sound to come from behind, run towards them. Now instead of protecting yourself from the terror (as fight or flight dictates), you're faced with hundreds of scared individuals all seemingly protecting themselves, and yet, hindering all of your chances for survival.

It seems that if we as a species are to truly survive the next century of this "war on terror", we had best get our game plan together for what to do exactly when the time comes. On 9/11 it was obvious... just run away from the crumbling buildings. What do we do if it's a biological attack over a large swath of area, or numerous chemical exlosions throuhgout the city? Running aimlessly could get us all killed.

The Cary Grant Syndrome

2005-05-29T23:50:00.000-04:00

In 1940, Cary Grant was at the height of his career. He had just finished "The Philadelphia Story" with Katherine Hepburn, and was moving towards the beginning of his career with Hitchcock. Things were only going up for Mr. Grant.

But life in the world was tumultuous, to say the least. World War II was in its 2nd year, and things were moving trudgingly and awkwardly forward. America was just getting over the worst Depression in its history, Hitler and Mussolini were working at world domination, and Americans were burying their heads in the sand and escaping to the cinema as often as possible.

Destroying despots is indeed chivalrous, and a necessary part of global dynamics. And although America didn't get into the literal fight quite late, all of our support was deeply needed and given long before we had the wherewithal to enter the war.

And Cary Grant did a marvelous thing. Along with many of his colleges, he donated his entire salary ($150,000) from "The Philadelphia Story" to the British War Treasury. It was an important thing to be able to support the war that was raging, and remember, in 1940, $150,000 was a vastly large sum. Cary knew this, and in his own chivalrous way, was helping to destroy a tyrant's evil ways.

It then struck me that in the Film industry today, actors are walking away with $20mil or more per picture, and pictures are sometimes *singly* grossing in the BILLIONS of dollars (after DVD sales, games, licensing etc.).
We don't support this war. It's essence was created out of fraud and deceit, and these are horrible atrocities that need to be dealt with in their own war tribunals in the future. But there is a necessity to "win" it (or at least find a graceful way out), and to mend *some* of our image in the world. Ultimately, it's never going to be the same, and we've desecrated ourselves so much that we know it'll never be truly forgiven (which could be deadly), but it is still in our interest to try to mend some of our damage, and this can start to be accomplished monetarily.

It seems that we should urge our community of deep pockets (there are just as many rich Democrats as there are Republicans), that we DO need to support our cause. For anyone who benefited under the new tax codes (all those of you who made more than $100,000 last year)... I'm asking that if you can, donate your money to an Iraqi Fund. You're not funding the war, you're supporting its peple. Think what $150,000 could buy today in Iraq for the people who need it most. Power generators. Water. Flashlights. The necessities that a person living in post-war Iraq really need! (read: http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ - probably the most comprehensive look into life in Bagdad as it really is, from an incredibly intelligent woman who's documented her life there since 2003.) Our troops don't have armor or relief, but that's their own damn problem. I'm not going to try to solve that one. But I am going to say that we owe it to the people who's lives we've destroyed to help them rebuild their infrastructure, and the money is around to be able to do so! And just think what a family in Iraq would think of Americans if we gave them a 6 month supply of fresh water! Surely some of our sins would be mended.

The treasury of America rests in fewer and fewer hands at the top, and while sometimes money can make you feel better in the short term (for those of us who don't have it, it'd certainly be nice to know that feeling!), protecting the future of your homeland for future generations can be just as important. DONATE TO IRAQ.

Paging Dr. Phil

2005-05-29T14:49:00.000-04:00

With all the drama last week over the filibuster, it's amazing that our government doesn't simply self-destruct. In these polarizing times, even moments that seem like they might slowly begin to bridge the gap between parties, bring with them new mudslinging (from both sides), and an inability to get anything actually accomplished. What we need, it seems, is a good sit down with our friend Dr. Phil.

His tough love approach is exactly what American Democracy could use. Someone to slap us around a bit, make us recognize our hypocrisy, and tell both sides that if they don't cool it, the real issues of the day (health care, education, social security etc.) will be plundered for the special interests intent on keeping them out of the social eye. Both sides are so entrenched in the corporate and media-oligopolies that they've forgotten all the rules and ideals set forth by our forefathers who founded this great bastard of a child. With talks of a "nuclear option" and halting all work on the Senate floor, we find ourselves lost in a world dictated not by "right and wrong," but simply by corporate greed (and I include in this the religious right).

Adam Smith, whose 18th century ideals carry great resonance today, worried that our autocratic structures of modern industrial capitalism (the shared stock ideal... i.e. CORPORATION), would ultimately become personified and "made permanent" (which of course, did happen). But what he failed to recognize, was that as those "individuals" grew in strength, they would powerhouse the government to such despotic force that it would forget its real purpose--THE PEOPLE. And this is a fundamental undermining of the very premise of Democracy! Even the words mean people. Demos (people) - Kratia (power)... "people power." Not "person power." PEOPLE POWER.

Smith understood the power that an "individual" corporation would wield, and what we're witness to today is its absolute corruption (look at Enron and all the rest). But outside of their social control, what is terrifying is their insider control over the entrenched oligarchy of the House and Senate. Powerhouses like Pat Robertson, Bill Frist, and Karl Rove are able to manipulate and dictate what is given to the American people, and it is *their* control over the Corporate Government that is leading us to demise.

You see-- "we the people" hold no power anymore. Only the "individuals" that Adam Smith wrote so ardently about can have impact.

Luckily some tentative agreements were made in regard the to Supreme Court and the filibuster wasn't enacted. Although as we've seen, they really were doing nothing more than a little lip-service, and a small stall in the bending over of the American ideal. This House will stack the supreme court, the Senate will not be able to stop it, and the fate of our country just took another step towards the tyrannical.

Values Voters

2005-05-23T14:27:00.000-04:00

There's something that's been gnawing at me for a couple of weeks now, and given that it's another rainy day, and I'm still feeling a bit peckish, I thought I'd write another installment.

Several weeks ago I learned that Saudi Arabia had recently held its elections, and by a vast majority, the fundamentalist regimes there had retained control. Now we all know that 17 of the 21 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi, as well as the fact that their government is probably the most brutal of any of the Middle Eastern bloc. We know that an alarming rate of suicide bombes are making their way into Iraq from Saudi Arabia daily, in order to "destroy the infidels." We also know that America and Saudi are in bed together (just look at Bush holding the premiere's hand as they walked through the flower garden in Texas!) because of our dependance on their heroin... umm... I mean, black gold.

But what I didn't realize was all in the language barrier.

The Saudi election is much like ours, save for the absolute monarchy part. It is an over the top zeitgeist of media control and social brainwashing. It is long and drawn out, and although there are more than two parties (why couldn't our Republic have figured this one out?!), they share a great deal of democratic similarites. But what has really struck me is what the conservative right is fighting on there. They are calling out their VALUES VOTERS. Yes, that's right folks, VALUES VOTERS. All those lovely fundamentailists in Saudi Arabia who want us absolutely annihilated! Those are the coservative religious fundamentalists winning elections in other wonderful parts of the world! Oh, those wonderful VALUES VOTERS!!
Apparently the only thing one needs to do to direct a social mass is to scare them into believing that if they don't listen to their "faith", they will be doomed to live a life of burning pain. Or as we showed it, be eaten by a pack of rabid wolves. Truly, what kind of state are we falling into? If our closest political body is Saudi Arabia, we are certainly in for the long haul.
It is not to say that we are quite as bad as the Saudi regime. We don't cut off people's hands when they steal (well, at least we export that duty to other countries, like Syria). We don't hold public executions (or at least, not on TV...often...unless you count public cruxifications, like Michael Jackson.). We don't send off suicide bombers off to destroy other's governments.

Wait... I'm trying to find differences right?

I guess what I'm saying is: don't be fooled by the values of a society. In a world dictated by minute differences in language, this word carries far too deadly a punch.

An addendum

2005-05-23T02:47:00.000-04:00

It's been a day of contemplation, and after reading Kristoff's essay on China's past and future, I feel the need to write a little more about our place in the world today.

(I should also preface this by saying that I have taken the afternoon to nurse myself back to health by watching "Team America"... and it was wonderful to be able to laugh for a moment at our own imperialistic hubris acted out by puppets! If you have yet to see it, DO SO!)

In the scope of history, we often forget how quickly empires rise and fall. Those of us who reside in New York live the privileged life of being present in the capital of the world. But with it also comes our own machismo in thinking that we're indestructible, and that we will always remain at the forefront of this empire, no matter its driving. It has been the downfall of every major civilization in history.

Although we still excel in technology, economy, and intellectual curiosity (arguably the three things that have always driven the empires of the world), we are slipping far behind our competition at an alarming rate. I call to mind our social fears of teaching evolution, studying new scientific ways to cure diseases (stem cells), and our ever growing dependancy on petroleum (not to mention or lackadaisical attitude towards developing new technology for industry and motor vehicles). The dark days we are ensuing, seem to be endemic of our own fears of evolving as social creatures. We have placed our faith in demagogues, and failed to substantiate them with realities (cf. religion). And New York, like past cities of greatness, will too eventually fall.

As was the fate of Kaifeng, the New York of 1000C.E. China.

Kaifeng was a city that, much like New York, was the center of its world. It had a population of nearly 1 million people, at a time when London had about 15,000. It was an economic and learning center, and built along the Yellow River, in a perfect location for its dominance. But the fate of Kaifeng today is something all together different. An impovershed slum in the middle of the Hunan Province, it is poised to take over the 21st century in its lust (along with the rest of China) for the true democratic ideals--life, liberty, and the pursuit of freedom. People are slowly awakening from their dormant slumber of communist oppression to recognize these innate qualities of human existence (and I do believe they are innate. This is something the Bush team did get right). It is slowly beginning to happen, with the internet and free press, and soon the vast numbers of young minds will begin asking the real questions, and creating the next generation of innovation. All this as we sit idly by, as who will be the next American Idol becomes the biggest social question on our minds.

And, as we all know... our economy is in shambles and that by even CONSERVATIVE projections, China will be ahead of the economic game in less than 15 years, controlling nearly two-thirds of our national debt in treasury bills. What must we do then to begin to grow as a human RACE, not dependent on countries borders, but rather on our shared experiences as people? If American's do not shape up and begin to recognize their place in the increasingly flattened world, we have a long, dark road ahead.

This forces me to the conclusion that we must live in this moment and continue to challenge each other with questions and stimulus in order to create new and vastly interesting creations (be it scientific, social, artistic... whatever). To sit in lethargy is to play russian roulette... we have no idea when the bullet will take us away. As I said earlier, watching corporation tear down cultural institutions, seems to be the very real way of watching our world crumble around us. Let us not let it squash our creativity and curiosity, but rather compel us to remain the capital of the 21st century as well.

Perhaps the sun will come out, tomorrow.

(if you want more info on the Kaifeng story, check out the whole kristoff china section at the nytimes.com ... some of it is pretty amazing!)

The Wrecking Ball

2005-05-23T01:46:00.000-04:00

Class, Religion and warfare:

Hello again. I write this on a drab Sunday with a cold dripping from my nose, but it's a day off... so I'm very happy.
There are several things that have been a big part of my life in the past week. Schmoozing and watching fundamentalists slowly destroy more of the work this country has done to bring itself to the forefront of the world.

Let's start personally and expand globally.

Last night was the wrecking ball party for the John Houseman theatre, a place where I spent nearly two years of life working in various capacities and developing what I see now as a large, beautiful family. It's being torn down for million dollar condos (as is the whole block between Dyer and 10th ave... 42nd st). I know that the richest corporations in the world own that single street, but to destroy so many beautiful cultural institutions is devastating and makes me worried for the future of our art. As four more theatre spaces are devoured by the ever looming real-estate giant, we must run for shelter and, like the good gypsies we are, find a new home. We band together as theatre-artists for what we need in our blood, but the uncaring corporate-ogolopoly has taken one more blow to our cultural lives. How can we stop them? I'm seriously asking, because I don't have an answer... if you have any ideas, let's please put them together!

We will prevail. Art can never be destroyed. Only relocated.

This is not true, however, of the people who were killed in Afghanistan this week in riots incited by our MEDIA. After a misprinted Newsweek article (I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the information was actually true), 17 Afghanis were killed in riots started by their own fundamentalists angry at our fundamentalists. As Thomas Friedman pointed out in both of his columns this week, the real sadness in this situation is not that we are simply acting the fool (which we are), but rather that our vast misunderstanding of the Muslim world runs so deep as to not even try to understand WHAT they are protesting.
If you've been reading the papers (which obviously are not to be fully trusted), you would have seen that in Iraq nearly 400 Muslims have been killed in this past month in murders by Baathists at markets and shopping centers. These are Muslims killing Muslims--innocent Shiite and Kurdish civilians who are being destroyed by fundamentalists, and we stand aside only hoping that civil war doesn't break out in fuller measure. This is what we need be concerned about. And if we want to do anything, it is best that we begin an understanding of why they are so willing to kill each other before allowing the other to be a victor.

In their fledgeling puppet government, the Shiite have granted Sunni power to be handled in a little better way, after a surprise visit from our own puppet, Condi Rice. This is all fine and dandy, but we cannot ignore the Baathists just because we didn't like them in the first place. They may be fundamentalists, but they have held power for nearly 35 years, and there are many of them who are obviously very angry at not having that power anymore. If elections were held fairly, and a true social-democracy is to emerge, we must listen to ALL sides of the coin, and not simply allow them to murder more and more
innocents without any ramifications from us.

If we want a serious end to this very serious time in history, it seems that we had best all begin to educate ourselves on the Muslim world, understanding their feuds that date back nearly 1500 years, and decide how we're going to step in and redirect the future. Flushing Koran's is not going to be the answer.

Yet, it seems, we are not going to educate ourselves on this. As it turns out, we're pulling back the hands of time even further, as the fundamentalists in our country have finally figured out that our influence comes from places like Princeton, Harvard, and Yale. Therefore, they've begun setting up what they're calling "sweeping religious reforms" across the board at these schools, and surprisingly, they're having a great deal of success. What happens when the intellectual base is indoctrinated by a church that wants nothing to do with learning?! We are only entering a period of more miseducation (i.e. evolution), and brainwashing techniques developed over the centuries to debunk science and favor fundamentalist ideology. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that all Evangelicals are bad people, merely misguided souls that will be judged by history rather than a fiery end.

It's not exactly broad daylight with a brass band. More like midnight in the sewer.

Age and Mobility

2005-05-15T13:44:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday, and time I thought to write my next entry in the cyber-world.

Age has long been something that has distressed me. Having succeeded in some respects in what I love (theatre) at a young age has made me painfully aware of the traumas we 20-somethings face in a world ever more dictated by a group of aging baby-boomers who are afraid of handing over power.

Why is this?

As a generation we seem to have an ambivalence towards life that seems to have come from very little strife in our lives. Until 9/11, we faced no major wars and lived in a country that was upwardly mobile. Life, it seemed, held no barriers for any of us. The Times began a three week study today discussing the implications of social mobility that I urge you all to read (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/national/class/OVERVIEW-FINAL.html), and while it seems that the American Dream is still alive and kicking, as we watch more of our industry shipped overseas for a $2 a day price-tag, many (almost 49 percent) still believe they can achieve this "dream" within their lifetimes.

So, why, I wonder, is our generation not doing more kicking and screaming at not being allowed to move up in our own ways? While only just beginning our lives in the "real world," we seem to face the ever growing challenges to find good jobs that promote growth, while stagnating in our own state of ambivalence. Is this simply a product of our times? In 2000, almost 60% of people under the age of 25 held jobs. Today, that number is down to only 39%. And they say our economy is growing and jobs are being created.

Unless we begin to grab what is rightfully ours, and ask the "ruling class" of men in their late 50s and early 60s to kindly step aside so we can begin working on our own social structures, we are in deep peril to sink ever deeper into our "best week ever" mentality. We must begin to come together ideologically to make our own ways, dictate our own thoughts, and present them as challenges to the norms set up by the current ruling generation. We have the skills and ideas to challenge these norms, but are currently stuck in a holding pattern and not really presenting them as alternatives to the current lifestyles.
I know that amongst my friends there is a deep and growing sense of resentment at not being allowed the opportunities to move ahead. In my life I can see age as a hindrance, and while I know that with each passing day we get closer to bridging this gap, as I move forward another year, I can only think that now is the time to seize the reins and begin the revolution.

Are you ready to join?

Crossroads of History

2005-05-07T23:41:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my new blog! How 21st century huh?! Now you don't all need to receive my rants via e-mail, but can choose to look over them if you're so bored that you can't think of anything else to do.
I actually chose to make this today because I've been writting this little ditty for a week or so, and thought that instead of innundating you all with the e-mail, I'd just put my thoughts here. So, read on if you chose, and if not, I won't be offended. You're a sentient being. You can make your own damn decisions.

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We stand at the crux of an incredibly interesting period of history. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, which Turkey has never confessed to, even though close to 1.8 million people were killed in the horrible atrocities enacted by its tyrannical dictatorship. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the dawn of the nuclear age, and 30 years since the end of the Vietnam War. Through all of this history, it seems that we have learned nothing, because today we are watching our own genocide unfold in Sudan, while at the same time getting caught in our own quagmire in Iraq, and finding ourselves on a threshold of a new nuclear cold-war.

I write this because we are present in the fulcrum of all these histories colliding. This week began the summit for the nuclear arms proliferation acts at the UN. Dignitaries from all over the world are here in New York for the next month discussing the ramifications of this terrifying creation. We stand at this abyss, simply because there are more of these objects out in the world, and less control than ever before. During the cold war, there were only two powers controlling these. Neither had the balls to do anything about it. If one acted, quite simply it meant the end of civilization. Neither side wanted that.
Today, it is a different story. If one is launched (either by us or by 'them'), it does not mean the end of civilization, but rather a serious paradigm shift in the inner workings of our world. For sixty years, humans have lived with this power that is far greater than any single one of our minds can comprehend. And those who witnessed its horror 60 years ago are no longer influencing government and reminding people of its own horrifying consequences should it come to light again, no pun intended.

With the dawn of the nuclear age, it began an age of technological dreams. Dozens of nations developed the technology. It powered them. Some, such as France, ran almost solely on it. It became an age of power breeding power, onwards spiraling out of control. Some developed it as a means by which to show who had larger cajones (India/Pakistan), and some like North Korea continue to develop it as a cash crop, not necessarily interested in using it itself, but using it to feed its people through proliferation for trade. Today, that spiral is nearing its fulcrum, and we have to do something about it. And it begins with a simple dialogue amongst all of us on its control.

This month also brings with it the 30th anniversary of the ending of the Vietnam War. Through ten long years of war and murder, we determined that our hegemony was nothing more than imperialistic hubris, and like wounded puppy dogs, we went home with our tails between our legs, and millions dead. What America did was a crime, and we have never confessed to the judge.

Cynically one could argue that this is our 'god given' right as Americans, right? We've been in no short demand around the world for changing things to match our own imperialistic desires. It's been the door prize of being the 'leaders' of the free world. And it should be noted that not too many have had the chutzpah to stand up to us. We had Granada and Venezuela; Argentina, and let's not forget our blinding eyes towards South African apartheid (our own relationship with slavery and freedom brings to mind other horrifying periods of history, but that's for another e-mail). Then of course there were the eastern block countries, more recently Somalia, Bosnia and Croatia. We've had hands in all of these, killed countless amounts of innocent civilians, and implemented puppet regimes for decades. It's just what America has been about.

And now, after all of these countless horrors, we are watching a genocide unfold before our very own eyes, while doing absolutely NOTHING to stop it. We, as a society, continually have said over the past 90 years that we would never let it happen again. And still, we are letting it happen. All of these things that we have learned over the past 90 years have become null and void because we don't want to stand up to a cutthroat government with deep ties to Egypt and Syria. Our own entrenchment in Middle East politics aside, we cannot stand idly by and let innocent people die by these cutthroats. We must do something about it, and yet we stand by watching it unfold day by day. By some estimates over 2 million men, women and children have died since 2003, and up to 500 are dying EACH DAY, as we continue to turn our backs.

And we're no longer just turning our backs. We're making it LAW that we keep our backs turned. President Bush signed a bill into congress to make it an "Africa for Africans" campaign. Meaning, 'it's your genocide, we want nothing to do with it.' We won't send the appropriate aid, or arms to fight against this most horrible tyranny, because we're too deeply entrenched in our own version of Vietnam. And all because of our fear of a nuclear arm that didn't really exist.
So, I ask you all, if you've gotten this far, PLEASE GO OUT AND TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT THIS ATROCITY! I don't know what else to do anymore. We cannot fight our tyrannical government by dissent alone. It's moved past that, coming closer and closer to our own version of a fascist regime. With Bill Frist, Tom Delay, John Bolton, Wolfowitz and gang, and Bush at the helm, nothing is going to get accomplished without a GREAT DEAL OF SOCIAL REVOLT. If you disagree with them, you're not allowed at the table. We have to bring them to OUR table, and make them recognize their own ignorance and arrogance to stop the killing. And the only way to do this is if WE ALL GO OUT AND TALK TO EACH OTHER. With the media as it is, we have to make this on our own! Talk to one another about it! Let's educate the populace so that we can enact real change.
I'm not asking that you write to a congressman. I'm not asking that you do anything other than bring it up with your friends. Just once. Talk about it. Discuss it. Tell them about the horrors that are happening in Darfur. Spread the word. We can make a difference. It just has to start with all of us! The only way our government is going to stand up to this is if people are educated about its atrocity, and have an honest emotion and desire to stop it. A dialogue is the beginning of this movement. Let's make it our own!

I wish all of you peace and prosperity. Let's stop the genocide through dialogue. It can happen. But we have to face our own fears in order to push forward and continue our leadership of the world. It's our destiny as a generation, as a country, and as humans. Let us not have to take blame for a million more deaths on our watch.

Peace and goodwill to all.