Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Revenge of the Jedi Bag Lady
Woke up today and all I could think about was making DW feeling more welcome here… So Welcome to the Expendable Jungle, DW-- wake up, time to…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e6KU-8IfxU
And here’s that Patience you were asking for yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ktrrMKhQM&NRDon Henley on drums, how odd. The 80s were awesome! But seriously, Expendables, I’m considering having yet another vegan potluck thing here in a couple of weeks, who’s up for it? Say, Saturday the 21st? Because man, this autumn sure can use a shot in the arm-- haven’t you felt like we’ve been spinning out wheels a bit much:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Fg6KFcOsU&NR
Too bad for those on dial-up; that one’s a good one. Details to follow, and I’ll try to invite Ms. Jedi.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 10/05 at 04:36 AMHaven’t heard anything about this Jedi woman yet over here Mickey. This terror war shit is just piling up to high to keep up with. . . How many airplanes have been grounded or delayed after people spoke in their native languages? How many people have been wrongfully accused, kidnapped by the US or its proxies, tortured, and finally left to write a book about it? I can’t keep track of how many soldiers have been jailed for refusing to fight in a war of aggression, how many countries have enacted (how many) xenophobic new laws because foreigners = terrorists, how many missed opportunities we’ve all had to take down oppressive institutions caught red-handed in their crimes. . .
Here’s Carl Sagan from his last book Billions and Billions. . .
[We were asked] to imagine our species as a village of a hundred families. Then, sixty-five families in our village are illiterate and ninety do not speak English, seventy have no drinking water at home, eighty have no members who have ever flowin in an airplane. Seven families own sixty percent of the land and consume eighty percent of all the available energy. They have all the luxuries. Sixty families are crowded onto ten percent of the land. Only one family has any member with a university education. And the air and the water, the climate and the blistering sunlight, are all getting worse. What is our common responsibility.
This was from a big environmental forum in 1990. The gaps have surely widened since then.Posted by Keir on from The Hague (Jackowski election hdqts) 10/05 at 06:26 AMTHE WORLD CAN’T WAIT!
TODAY!
http://www.worldcantwait.org/
Are any Americans here participating in any way?
To those who are, I thank you.Posted by Youngfox on from NeoCanada 10/05 at 07:40 AMGood morning James, Keir, and Mickey. That is quite a shocking story you tell us today, Mickey, but then again maybe nothing is shocking these days. The plight of the homeless has been on my mind, especially this week. I know that many here do not watch TV, but on Sunday, 60 Minutes did a segment that I cannot get out of my mind. It was about the torture and murder of the homeless man in Florida. That case DID make the news when it happened a couple of years ago. 2 or 3 boys did the killing just for fun. The big problem is that this is NOT an uncommon occurrence in the usa. It has become acceptable to “look down” on the homeless. It is the homeless who are on the bottom of the pecking order. Killing for sport or fun is taught by our culture. We have created a “perfect storm” against the homeless. Homeless children are especially vulnerable and are bullied in school. This culture is getting sicker by the minute. And if anyone thinks that the homeless woman on today’s front page will get justice in the usa legal system, I have a bridge, a river, and a whole mountain range to sell them.
http://www.bonesofthehomeless.com/Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/05 at 07:51 AMHi Youngfox...as soon as I drop some papers off at the Court, I will go to the conference about Guantanamo etc. I think that interactive tv will be broadcasting it at many sites all over the country. The local site is at Southern Vermont College.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/05 at 07:56 AMSome Torontonians are talking about a need to ‘clean up the streets’; and they’re not talking about litter. It seems to me that for every step forward in affordable housing, there’s at least one step back...forcefully moving homeless makeshift shanty’s or eviction and demolition of proper shanty-towns. Homeless are doomed to be perceived as villains by and large, although not so many are the subject of such public delusions of grandeur as this unfortunate woman. (delusions are a sign of mental illness...)
Oh, and I really dislike Bruce Willis - bothers me tremendously other than his pulp fiction appearance.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 10/05 at 08:02 AMHello Expendables...from a much cooler NYC. Every time I look at that protest website and see “Drive out the Bush Regime,” I say to myself: And replace it with what? Hillary?
The world can’t wait? Well, neither can the laundry and that’s what I’m doing today.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/05 at 08:12 AMYo, MZ, the link to your article appears to be dead. That’s okay, I already read it. I saw it at Op-Ed News, here. I also happened across these two other great articles from the same site: here and here.
And a “ni hao” to James, Keir, Youngfox, RMJ, Amelopsis; also to DW and the others who’ve not happened to post yet!
Posted by Jeremy on from Taipei 10/05 at 08:35 AMThe link seems to work for me, Jeremy. Anyone else have a problem? Please let me know.
Happy to be sharing web space at Op Ed News with you, Jeremy.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/05 at 08:37 AMI agree. Bush bashing really irks me. I don’t like Bush, of course, but honestly I don’t have strong feelings about him either way--he is just a mouthpiece of something. How many Iraqis did Clinton kill in his 8 years? I think all the anti-Bush rhetoric is useless at best, but I really think it is actually counterproductive. That was my issue with Chavez when he was here in NYC. His UN speech was fine, but some of his other comments he made around town was the same old shit centered on who’s president and not on U.S. policy as a whole. What did Clinton do for Latin America? What would fucking Kerry have done?
We have to get away from thinking that who’s president, who has more seats in congress, who’s on the Supreme Court bench makes an iota of difference. Our “democratic” system foils people into believing that if they go vote every four years for the president, they are doing their job. If the man (of course its always a white dude) they voted for did not get in, they feel useless to do anything but sit on the couch and rant for four years, rather than roll up their sleeves and get some real work done. Not that I’m one to talk, I’m sitting in a cubicle ranting on someone’s blog comments.Posted by Brian on from Belly of the Beast 10/05 at 08:42 AMIt’s funny that you would dismiss such an effort outright.
I suppose the illogic of fixing a problem while offering no clear solution seems thick-headed on its face, definitely in the terms that particular website provides but because one website is ineloquent the idea of citizen empowerment should not be tossed out the window.Flip over the dirty sheets so the stains look better on the other side is no solution when really the whole bed stinks and needs to be burned.
We face the same problem here in Canada.
My perception of the value of events like the one today is more in networking with the greater public and making the statement that the current regime is wrong and people can safely consider this concept without looking over their shoulder for the “patriot patrol” (not of the big brother machine but their fellow citizens) checking loyalty levels and sharpening rhetorical knives to cut them down as “traitors”.Such gatherings tend to embolden the meek yet curious who feel it is better to shut up, sit back and trust the status quo - to do nothing at all and let the chips fall into their pre-determined positions.
What good is removing electronic vote rigging if no discernibly different candidates are coming forward to lead?
Well then let’s just leave it like it is and simmer in our own excrement being flipped like pancakes from one party to its differently branded counterpart.When the “intellectuals” abandon the change movements, I suppose we can assume none of them will ever step up to lead if change can be actually be achieved.
I know for a fact that there are anti-war democratic candidates who would oppose Hillary and her neo lib, neo con Zionist control crew.
It’s not always about the leaders.
People must be made aware and comfortable with the fact that they can oppose the current regime and their apocalyptic policies at a local level and not be “unpatriotic”.What are the third/forth/no party options there in Murka? I asking you Mickey Z.
Who are the individuals within and outside of the one party system who will stand up and declare that expending the life blood of a nation to “fix” the outside world while America rots from within is a deceitful and murderous policy?
Betty Meatloaf and Joe Sixpack need to see their fellow citizens clamouring for change in order to ever consider the train of thought and the utilization of their own personal power themselves.
When it comes to who will fill the void I find it funny that you are asking me when I look to intellectuals like you for answers to such questions.
If you are willing to take the status quo toboggan ride throw up your hands and wait for it all to collapse, I ask you what or who do you propose as the rebuilder after the collapse and why can’t you support him/her now?
That fact is I do not believe it will collapse. The meek and ignorant will be culled and the powerful deviant defenders of the status quo will solidify their grasp on power.The very fact that a regime can be “driven out” is the point of the exercise in my opinion.
As to the bravado and sloganeering of that particular website, you are correct.
It sets itself up for glib dismissal.
That does not mean that citizens should not awaken to their personal power before it is taken away forever.The knowledge that the masses of citizens can reject a government that does not serve them seems to be the point of the exercise.
As to finding somebody that might suggest or insist who the “figurehead” of any new agenda or what kind of system that agenda would be forwarded within might be, I suppose I shall have to look elsewhere.
Posted by Youngfox on from Adanac 10/05 at 09:28 AMI agree with Brian that only “Bush Bashing” is pointless.
As the figure head of the current regime people tend to focus on the head of the beast and not the many tendrils and their complacent defeatist counterparts whose actions/inactions prop the beast up.Anybody who pays attention knows that Bush is just a finger puppet.
Yelling Bush this and Bush that does not crack the shell of the monster.Kill the body and the head will die.
I do tire of Americans constantly referring to the shitty reign of Clinton when it comes to reasons for ignoring what the Cheney/Bush cartel is doing in the present.
Clinton was no hero, he was a globalist Rhoades scholar prick.But really what the #### does that have to do with what is happening now?
If you have a time machine I will go back with you and try to people to awaken to the power and responsibility of citizenship.A lot of clever people like to point out the Cerberus control system but if regular “consumers” do not feel empowered they won’t bother to learn about anything.
Meh, what can you do, let’s go watch baseball, eat nachos and wait for martial law.
Posted by Youngfox on from Disenchantment 10/05 at 09:47 AMAre you referring to me as an “intellectual,” Youngfox? If so, I reject the title outright.
Also, sure, if one were to look at my comment above in a vacuum, it might appear as a “glib dismissal,” but I have written volumes on such topics. Brevity, in this case, is the soul of blogging.
Finally, as to the “protests” themselves. For chrissake, the organizers ask permission to march and confer in advance with the police as to how many “radicals” will agree to be arrested. This isn’t dissent, it’s satire. It’s a Saturday Night Live skit.
I do not pretend to have the answer or any answers but I feel sure that ANSWER isn’t the answer.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/05 at 09:57 AMGood day, everyone. I did not get a chance to stop by yesterday, but I wanted to say that the dot article was very good. Although, I figured that the concept was relatively similiar, I did not realize government agencies LITERALLY put a dollar figure on the cost of a human life. Little things like this amuse me in a way, because if you were to tell the average person in American this, they either wouldn’t believe you or wouldn’t take it to its logical conclusion.
I guess I missed the Hillary Clinton nude pictures, but that’s just as well, since I value my eyesight. Good old Hillary and Bill were at the Buffalo Bills game this weekend… when the Bills scored a touchdown, Hillary thrust her arms into the air, to indicate it was good, as if she had an intense rooting interest. Disingenuous to the end, even in matters of no importance. The good thing is, I don’t think any Western New Yorkers will buy her little show (but, they’ll rush to the polls to vote for a series of Republicans in the next election). It really is only a two party show, and you pick whatever act pisses you off the least.
Lastly, Mickey said: “This isn’t dissent, it’s satire. It’s a Saturday Night Live skit.”
Agreed completely. Protests might do some good, but very few protests I’ve seen of late refuse to even play outside of the lines, WHICH IS THE ENTIRE POINT. Frankly, and maybe I’m only saying this because I’m feeling a bit irked today, but we’re so far past the point of peaceful demostrations mattering that it’s not even funny. But, by all means, try, because maybe I’m wrong.
Posted by Banta on from Inner Circle of Hell 10/05 at 11:09 AMI don’t think that protests ‘don’t matter’.
Will they effectively succeed in changing the system? Certainly not; but I don’t think that’s the objective of a public protest.
In my opinion, their purpose is to embolden those who are still asleep, or feeling groggy. Those who might have begun to consider the issues in a light other than that presented to them and actually THINK for themselves might just take heart in SEEING others who find the cause worthy enough to take personal time to get out and meet with others. It’s education and motivation.
Yes, it’s sadly within the context of this handbasket in the fast lane to Hades, but no matter WHAT sort of change is desired, we need more people to want A change and attempt to make their opinions known out loud - in public. How will solidarity to any cause be achieved if we give up on it because we don’t have THE answer before we get started?I don’t see the protests as solutions, but as an outlet, a motivator, and an excercise in public dissent - even if they serve nothing other than to have a few people stop and think of something in a light they hadn’t considered before being stuck in traffic while the protesters pass them by.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 10/05 at 11:22 AMBanta could you please give me a clear example of what you mean by “playing outside the lines”, I mean lay it out man, I honestly want to know.
Posted by Youngfox on from 10/05 at 11:26 AMHey, my book is here. So I’m mailing you a copy.
Seriously, this time. Seriously.
Posted by Christine Hamm on from not in my backyard 10/05 at 11:34 AM#13 Mick
Upon review, I suppose I did refer to you as an “intellectual” and that term is pure poison.
Sorry man. Perhaps I could use more considerate terms such as observant and wise individual.I really do not see large numbers of people publicly representing discontentment as an “answer” but more of an affirming enabler to those who do not realize they should be questioning.
Some people need to know there is a mass of citizens who share their discontent before they will consider expressing it and perhaps formulating solutions.
It is as the point Keir made yesterday.
Educating people, soldiers etc. to the fact that they are not alone in wanting a better way of living and relating to the greater world.
It’s taking the strength in numbers manipulated by the control system and shifting it back onto itself.The protest is not an end or “answer” it is a means by which more and more people can awaken to the concept that there could be an alternative to living in a creeping malaise.
It is a device to cultivate and percolate the sort of mass support for the sort of solutions I think you might be alluding to.
In my mind a mass protest is not a an open and closed action it is an open ended beginning of the building of momentum.If people feel they did their part just by shouting and carrying a sign - then more fool them.
Yet, in that moment, being a part of a spectacle filling a street they might just awaken a kernel of rebellious apathy-killing anger in the mind of one or many who will strive to take it to the next level.
Seeing a grandmother with her grandchildren carrying a sign that says “stop the lying and killing” might make somebody, somewhere have the epiphany that we are being led by liars and killers.Your point about the structure of a protest in an urban environment is taken.
Playing by the rules made by disingenuous control freaks and murderous psychopaths is always demeaning but a necessary step to network and relate the fact that the people are behind the concept of change on a large scale.The control system has already made quite certain that all else is considered “terrorism” and the slumbering herd will applaud the jackboot crushing of all who fit within the purposeful widening definition of that descriptive.
The fear generated is palpable.
Mass demonstrating is about purging the ogre of fear so constantly trotted out by the craven parasites who are driving us all into the mouth of oblivion on this burning global hell wagon.I am really sorry Mick, I do not come here to insult you and you must forgive me if I have.
I do enjoy having observant and wise individuals pointing out the underpinnings of a failed system but when the time eventually comes to offer a viable and universal solution it would be nice to have as many lit up and curious citizens willing to try as there are consumer drones who will see rebellion as evil and beg the state to send in the troops.I know it is too late to merely flip the one party pancake.
The purge must be a fiery affair and I for one want as many awakened, curious and diverse sections of society as possible to be ready to back a new way.When I go to such events I meet people who at the same time the previous year would not have imagined themselves attending such an event and calling for change.
Seeing their curiosity as they begin to taste the potential for empowerment and ask the right questions is what keeps me coming back and offering what I think are the right answers.
Networking is vital.
I cannot allow myself to become jaded by the fact that people awakening to the obvious as though everything was just peachy up until the very moment they discovered their newfound ability to question the system is tiresome and grinding.
All movements are vectored by invisible hands and but as long as I draw air I will invite Betty Housefrau and Joe Nascar to stand and talk about doing more than just standing and talking and perhaps even biting the hand that misleads them.We have all watched history march forward but then loop back and start over.
I choose to continue to resist and network to rally as many people to the cause of change for the next push at the continuum.
It’s all about the networking and sending up a flare so when the mass finally gathers to hit the unmovable object it might just be large enough to crack the façade.Yes, I do dream vividly…
Posted by Youngfox on from Hope 10/05 at 11:39 AMAbsolutely no offense taken here, Youngfox.
Hello Empress and Banta.
Looking forward to your book, Christine.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/05 at 11:48 AMThe link works fine now, MZ, just to let you know.
Posted by Jeremy on from Taipei 10/05 at 11:55 AM“Banta could you please give me a clear example of what you mean by “playing outside the lines”, I mean lay it out man, I honestly want to know.”
How about next protest we march right into City Hall and take over a city? I don’t know what we would do after that but it would sure as hell shake shit up a bit.
I hear points from both Youngfox and Mickey that I agree with. But the main point I have to repeat is that what we are currently doing is not enough. There are certain forms of violence that are justified as pure self-defense. More later…
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 10/05 at 11:55 AMYou’re being “overly sensitive” Youngfox.
Posted by dw on from ohio 10/05 at 12:07 PMJOS said: “How about next protest we march right into City Hall and take over a city? I don’t know what we would do after that but it would sure as hell shake shit up a bit.”
Yes, this is along the lines of what I’m talking about, but really, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
I’ll get back to that point in a moment, but the larger problem is, even if a mass demonstration gets more people to follow a certain cause, is that really helping anything? Are the people going along because they truly believe in what you’re saying or are they following because they don’t like what’s going on and they’re picking a new god to worship? Of course, does that difference even matter at this point? There are many people who might say and even do the right thing, but if they didn’t arrive at that place through critical thinking, then nothing has even been accomplished. We need generals, not soldiers.
Of course, everything I just said might be too idealistic to even be considered now, the fact is time is running out and controlling the masses might be the only solution.
All that being said, it seems that we all are just sitting, waiting for a solution to present itself and we’re willing to do anything but fire the first shot. The time for peaceful debate and demostration is over. As hopeless and controlled things might seem, I really believe that if someone really made a critical strike, the masses would follow (if only out of their desire for a “good fight”, but once again, the time for idealism is over as well). The majority of people respect action and protests and demostrations fall a step short of that.
Obviously, I’m not advocating a revolution, because only someone who wants to get thrown in the brig would say such a thing…
Posted by Banta on from Inner Circle of Hell 10/05 at 12:40 PMMaybe my point would be better received if I didn’t misspell “demonstration” twice. Gah!
Posted by Banta on from Inner Circle of Hell 10/05 at 12:44 PMSomething else I failed to mention in there (I got too worked up), is that in a world where the counterpoint to any point we could make is made louder, flashier, and constantly (all avenues of the media), there’s simply no way for something civil to get the attention that it deserves. However many people are being turned to your cause is probably dwarfed by the ones being converted hourly to the religion of consumerism and faux patriotism. That’s why something needs to be done on such a level that the media cannot ignore it. Oh, they’ll demonize it, but that’s some progress.
I know I’m not presenting any answers either, but I really think that any answer needs to keep these points in mind or else its basically just pissing into the wind.
Once again, this isn’t to put down anything that anyone here might be doing. You have to do what you think is right and will help.
Posted by Banta on from Inner Circle of Hell 10/05 at 12:57 PMHello again, Expendables. It’s warmed up quite a bit in Astoria.
Thanks for the great comments and conversation above. As Banta touches upon, it’s not safe to even hint at tactics more radical than marching in circles. However, I must add: There is a crucial need for far humbler efforts that can alleviate suffering in the here and now. From my experience, this project and this event were time better spent than inventing clever Bush/Dick chants for the next protest.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/05 at 02:33 PMEnjoying it here today, and appreciating Youngfox’s defense of mass action. We have discussed here, many times, and often at the instigation of those perturbed by the implications of the writings of Churchill and Jensen, the fact that we cannot address “tactics other than marching in a circle” (with the permission of “disingenuous control freaks and murderous psychopaths") here on the internet.
Well then. Where are the commons? Where can we whisper our plans? With whom can we discuss our real contempt? Where can we truly plan threats to authority when that authority poses grave danger to us and everything else for generations to come?
We have to meet each other in physical space. We need to be real for each other. This can happen in many ways, and mass demos are one of those ways. Just because some (or most) or the protesters are there for the party doesn’t mean we have to be. Just because someone else asked permission to march doesn’t mean we did. Just because someone else shows up to bash Bush doesn’t mean we have to stop short when some dumb#### democrat slob lands their corporate ass in the White House.
I have had reason after reason in the lazy Netherlands to be disillusioned by mass demos (wrote about it here), but (we) Americans (’cause we’re all Americans now, ain’t that right Canaduh and Yurp?) have no excuse to go to work and do business as usual while our quiet cooperation signals passive acceptance of someone else’s perverse and nihilistic project to ruin Everything.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague (Jackowski election hdqts) 10/05 at 05:12 PMA certain Mr. Orwell once wrote: “But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no reason to conspire. They needed only to rise up and shake themselves, like a horse shaking off flies. If they chose, they could blow the party to pieces tomorrow morning. Surely, sooner or later, it must occur to them to do it? And yet...”
Captcha sez: future
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/05 at 06:01 PMOf “course”....but only if we move in unison, otherwise the flies’ll just migrate to another part of the body.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 10/05 at 07:13 PMSpeaking of flies:
Restaurant patron: “Waiter, what is this fly doing in my soup?”
Water: “Looks like the backstroke.”Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/05 at 07:23 PMI went to work at Michael Steve today (or something else with those initials) instead of protesting because to paraphrase-- the rent just won’t wait. Maybe I’ll save the world some other time.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 10/05 at 07:46 PMI’m really late at the Cool Observer, but I’m late at almost everything today - got up late and things have not got any better since ..
Now you have me scared, Mickey, but almost all the news one hears these days is scary - unfortunately!
And ‘hi’ to all my fellow expendables - have a good night/morning/afternoon, seeing you live all over the world. In Daylesford it is 2:11 pm on a Friday afternoon.
All best!Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/05 at 11:11 PMSomething MZ wrote brings a thought to mind: Wouldn’t it be nice if people took all the money they spend on Christmas each year and instead used it to help those in need? Surely, that would be a more accetable form of worship? (I seem to recall Yahweh telling his people, “thou shalt not worship the Lord thy God in the manner in which the pagans worship their gods!” Funny that most Christians suffer selective amnesia when it comes the Good Book.)
I’d mention the notion with my family, but I might be condemend for heresy. Oh well, maybe I’ll drop the hint anyway....
Posted by Jeremy on from Taipei 10/05 at 11:12 PMOh, and I’ll proceed to do some ironing now, Mickey! Did the laundry a few hours ago ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/05 at 11:13 PMShaking off flies that will just seek to reland means you always have to shake. I put this another way the other day when I brought up Sisyphus.
A wonderful book on the subject of waking off and shaking off flies is Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague (Jackowski election hdqts) 10/06 at 02:53 AM
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