Obama Sides With Critics

"They honor me with their lips

but their hearts are far from me."

Don't worry, I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid. And I certainly know lip service when I see it (those who claim not to are fellow practitioners!). But I did get a muffled chuckle today with our dear leader rhetorically chiding himself and speaking how "these deaths will haunt us as long as we live." Well, not me. Just those who executed them, supported them or failed to question them. Day will come when many look down on their blood soaked hands and say, "But I did nothing!" Yes, that is exactly how they got stained.

Bold and brave critics of the President's death squads have forced him out into the open to reveal his "haunted" soul - not that he intends to do anything about it. A true recognition of one's errant ways is by change in behavior. But change does not mean adding a fig leaf while still carrying out the same executions. It's sort of like saying we're not going to revoke the death penalty but we want to "codify" the process to say how really, really sorry we are we're offing you - guilty or innocent. The religious rituals attached simply have no meaning and the effective result is the same at the end of the day.

"Their worship of me

is made up only of rules taught by men."

I suppose until the end we will maintain the fantasy we can kill all the "terrorists" in the world and then we'll suddenly be safe to run free through the streets in paradise. The Utopian goals of our death squads are nonsensical and obviously impossible. Sensing his part in this debacle, our President has come out against "a perpetual war-time footing". Well, that's mighty white of him! But how can it ever end as long as he propagates that drone strikes "save lives"? Ah, the poor reluctant warrior, he "hates" pulling the trigger but his bullets are just as deadly.

Hey, quit your griping. We're haunted already! Meanies!

"For the record, I do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen -- with a drone or a shotgun -- without due process. Nor should any president deploy armed drones over U.S. soil." Sounds like a SNL skit with the President holding a joystick while he speaks. But since he is employing drone strikes without due process he obviously believes it's constitutional while revealing plans to one day bring this tactic to America. After all, had we drone striked the Boston bombers wouldn't we have saved lives?

It's a curious disconnect. A man spends money day and night because he believes he can never run out - and that's how he winds up bankrupt. We believe the constitution makes us free therefore we're safe signing away all our rights - and that's how we lose freedom. And these very extrajudicial killings we claim we make us safe are in fact what bring us into the line of fire: justifying, legalizing and extolling terroristic tactics. Deeming our downfall impossible is what enables it to happen (ram that iceberg!).

The guilt of Gitmo is also plaguing our President.

The facts speak for themselves:

•Detainees in Guantanamo now: 166
•Detainees facing active charges: 6
•Detainees cleared for immediate release, but stuck in the camp: 86
•Guantanamo inmates on hunger strike: 103
•Hunger strikers strapped down and force fed: 30
•Prisoners who have died in custody: 9
•Children the US has held at Guantanamo: 21
•Detainees tried in civilian court: 1
•"Unreleasable" detainees who can't be tried for lack of evidence or torture: 50
•Prisoners released by the Bush administration: 500+
•Prisoners released by the Obama administration: 72
•Current annual cost to US taxpayers: $150 million
•Days since Obama first pledged to close Gitmo: 1579
•Days since first prisoners arrived at Guantanamo: 11 years, 4 months, 11 days

Sometimes words come back to haunt us too:

In that May 21, 2009, address, the president argued U.S. national security interests needed to conform with the nation's commitment to human rights and the rule of law. "I believe with every fiber of my being that in the long run we cannot also keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values," he said at the National Archives and Records Administration.

At one point a Code Pink heckler interrupted the President and like a faux martyr he stands there taking his just desserts - as if that could make up for anything. Sort of like letting that black boy you're about to lynch mouth off at you - then you lynch him anyway. Such a moral killing! Maybe if a high powered lawyer issues a "directive" that can change wrong to right. Or maybe one simply needs to take a poll to determine what's right. All in favor of witch burning say "aye!"

"Nobody's perfect." - Charles Manson, banker apologist

Of course, the greatest threat to America is her banking system. On that, our fate is already sealed. Praising the economy now is as silly as doing it ten years ago. Nothing has been done to reel in the banksters or stop the gambling of public money. It's like partying on the rent money knowing it will be the next guy's problem when the rent comes due. The powers-that-be know what is going on is an illusion but it's rationalized by saying people need to "feel confident" even if it's by false hope. So whatever happened to actual hope? Guess it got drone striked.

What The Abuser Says

How is it the insane move among us so easily? How are they not spotted and removed for help? Is it because we're all insane? The abusers slither in the day using everyday words and phrases twisted to their own ends; deceiving, always deceiving, serving the holy lie. In Heaven their deeds are seen but in the darkness of the earth they prowl, tipping their hat in polite decorum as they spy their next meal. And what do they whisper in their victim's ear but the words of every vampire, criminals of life.

Hush little boy, do not be a complainer!

Hush little boy, be grateful for what you have!

Hush little boy, do not question authority!

Hush little boy, remember how much I love you!

Hush little boy, do not think of your rights!

Hush little boy, God will take care of you!

Hush little boy, do not resent your pain!

Hush little boy, pleasing others is best!

Hush little boy, don't worry, be happy!

Translated:

Hush little boy, do not be a complainer! (I don't want to hear the pain I cause)

Hush little boy, be grateful for what you have! (Don't think of what I take)

Hush little boy, do not question authority! (Obey me at all costs)

Hush little boy, remember how much I love you! (I don't love you at all)

Hush little boy, do not think of your rights! (You are nothing)

Hush little boy, God will take care of you! (I take care of no one)

Hush little boy, do not resent your pain! (Let me keep hurting you)

Hush little boy, pleasing others is best! (You are only an object)

Hush little boy, don't worry, be happy! (Deny, deny, deny)

But there are those who are not blind: the abused. They can always spot you abusers. You the miserable sots claiming to be happy, hiding behind words of reason not meant, wearing your angel mask to hide your devil face. Better come clean now, the mask suffocates, choking your breath, leaving only death. But on the other hand, good riddance.

21st Century Russia: A Tsar is Born

I pity the children of the CGI generation. They will never know true fear in film. Never has a moment so chilling and horrifying been replicated as watching the witch's soldiers marching into the heart of darkness in the Wizard Of Oz. It put me in a place of utter soullessness, a place with no hope, thought of hope or human comprehension of life. I can only imagine what I felt was just a taste of the terror of the millions wrongly sentenced to prison and slow death in the gulags of Soviet Russia.

I still carry a bit of that fear in me today.

But I've learned to put that fear aside and delve into Russia and embrace her. I wish to see her as a thriving democracy, tapping into her natural resources and live up to her long unrealized potential. It's a dream that's shared by chess champion Gary Kasparov, avant-garde band Pussy Riot, and authors Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan in The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB. And if you don't think what happens in Russia matters here in America then ask a Boston marathoner the price of such ignorance.

The book is not an easy read but coming from a closed state such as Russia the amount of information uncovered and printable (i.e. verifiable to publishing standards) is amazing. And although Americans may not like hearing it, Russia and America have been on parallel paths with each country receding into the worst of its history in the 21st century. America has returned to the days of the robber barons and Russia to the days of an all powerful tsar. But as many who wallow in the negative rail against the so-called "impracticality" of ideals, fewer are those who mention the impossible impracticality of losing them - a reality currently lost on both countries.

When Russia sifted through the ashes of her collapse in the early 90's she found herself floundering, trying capitalism and democracy partly as a reaction to newfound freedom and partly in deference of not knowing what else to do. Regardless, the times were lacking in conviction of those untested waters, seeking shelter at first signs of a storm. Perfect circumstances for a man of Putin's amoral character, a "man" who - like GWB - was not lacking in desire for giving direction to his country. And that direction was and is wholesale destruction.

As Bush led America into unprecedented levels of greed and oligarchy, Putin has pulled Russia back into darkness, raising the level of his former employer the KGB to new heights, no longer a servant of state and party, but as its ruler. Putin knows he's screwing his country as the worst form of traitor like Stalin of old, this time it's in the name of a "dictatorship of law." In old Russia the excuse was a "dictatorship of the workers." The words change but the actions are the same. Of course, if one can read between the lines you know that whatever is given as the goal of said treachery is in fact that which the Russian leadership most wishes to undermine.

Russia took a stab at a new constitution and mandating new laws of fairness but as we've seen here in America, a document is only as good as the populace willing to stand behind it, otherwise it's just a piece of paper. If any American is confused or confounded by the rolling back of Russian freedoms he need only look at the lack of outrage at the suspension of habeas corpus and other civil rights in America. And just as Americans were (willingly) lied to and drawn into a false war Putin too has used the tools of fear to gain power and prestige for both himself and the FSB (what the KGB remnants has morphed into present day).

Chechnya has been a boon to Putin and the FSB, sort of like Saddam Hussein for Bush. The more acts of terrorism perpetrated, the more horrible the outcome the more the populace turns towards a "strong" leader. But even that is not enough. Putin needed spectacular headlines to convince people his glorious FSB is on the job and hero to the world. To do this false charges were concocted of spurious spies and traitors lurking around every corner bravely and ingeniously ferreted out by the FSB! Oftentimes charges were later dropped after the sensational headlines had served their purpose, sometimes not.

Like the Bush administration, Putin rightly figured even if the truth comes out later the general populace would have little interest. If the lead up to the Iraq war was found to be based on a knowing pack of lies, who cares? If false allegations are later proven to be political ploys, so what? As long as words are spoken with conviction is all an uncaring populace wants to hear. But even the harshest dictator cannot survive without mass consent. Yet no man can escape his conscience and the inner fear that cannot be silenced nor stopped in any way. This is what makes the ruler of a country live in dire fear of a 90 second protest from a girl band.

So the bad old days have returned, as detailed by the Moscow-based Helsinki Group: "There is a sense of deja vu: the practice of surveillance of dissidents is back, taking people off trains, preventing conversations. The practice not only returned, but is enriched with new means of pressure on the people." 'New means' meaning of course the many technological tools at the disposal of governments nowadays. It's the Kremlin who knows best what should be seen, read and watched. From propaganda shows on TV, to encouraging state sympathetic hackers, to filtering websites and information, bad habits are back in form to once again destabilize Russia's credibility and respect around the world.

Just as America has mired herself in Afghanistan, Russian warfare against the breakaway state of Chechnya has proved troublesome, revealing a still sinister side to the Russian character (just as America's "war on terror" has). To combat the Chechen's use of guerrilla warfare, Russia countered with her own death squads to enact extrajudicial killings (same as America's drone program). Another favorite tactic was taking entire families of rebel leaders hostage in order to force capitulation. But although admitted by few, the fact remains terrorism cannot be stopped by attempting to kill everyone thought a terrorist.

Our deaths squads use a joystick. Yeehaw!

One cool idea stolen from the Americans was the act of rendition. Let others do your dirty work for you! Since 2004 an apparatus called the Regional Antiterrorist Structure (RATS) has been in place to allow its participants to kidnap at will so-called extremists, terrorist and presumably ex-wives from other participating countries while giving the perpetrators full immunity. This disallows dissidents from fleeing their host country for safety in another or to achieve refugee status. Yes indeed, once a state institutionalizes terror it all becomes a matter of "national security".

The Russian democracy movements remain too weak to make a difference, not standing much more a chance than America's Occupy movement. Doesn't matter how right you are if no one else stands up for their rights (just ask Jesus). American and Russian paths are running a parallel course in their disdain for social and economic justice. Citizens of both countries share a certain defeatism and resignation proclaiming no choice of paths but the one they are on. Until that foul dialog changes neither will the foul choice of leaders. All one can do is be a voice of freedom and know that one day each of will be asked where we stood in times of trial.

The authors' website can be found here, continuing to update on the latest about Russian secret services.

Hey, Who Put Their Cigs Out In My Carpet?

The world is a frat house I shall not want.

How easy it is to forget what we know! Six guys, one house and no owner present. It's like a mirror to the sun, a lord of the flies, this feeling of carelessness when it's somebody else's shit. Ringleaders of the dead need to own your head. Then they take your bed.

"Why not put my cigs out in the carpet, smart guy? What you gonna do about it, huh?"

"We should lock you in the closet! You'll burn the house down, you frickin' nut!"

"Oh, yeah? Tell me which part is burnin', Chicken Little. I don't see nothin' burnin' anywhere."

"Need I remind you two we don't own this house and it's not ours to do as we wish?"

"Oh, another smart guy! You gonna give us dat "owner theory" of yours? There ain't no owner nowhere. I ain't changin' just cuz of some fantasy in your head."

"Everyone needs to shut the fuck up. No point talking about anything. Won't change a thing."

"There's always a point to speaking the truth, you freaking moron! Besides, you wouldn't have said anything if it weren't getting to you."

"It's too late! There's already a ton of burns in the carpet. Why stop now?"

"That's right. No point bitchin' about nothin'. What are you going to do? Lock up the whole world."

"All I know is I don't want to die because your dumb asses can't even put a cigarette out right. Assholes!"

"Oh, listen to mister holier than thou. Like you know what's right and nobody else does."

"These people are nuts! Nuts, I tell ya! They deny everything!"

"All you people putting your cigs out in the carpet are going to be mighty sorry when the owner comes back and sees what you've done."

"You let us worry about that. You worry about your own shit."

"That's exactly what I'm doing. Any shit you do in this house affects me. That makes your shit my shit, bright boy."

Then a war broke out, three to each side. After a while they forgot why they were fighting or what they hoped to accomplish and stopped.

"The problem here are the extremists. Compromise is the only solution!"

"Wrong!" rejected both extremists of the groups.

"One cigarette is too many. Takes only one to burn us down."

"All you whiners are nuts. We livin' just fine doing what were doing. Why do you always have to stir shit up with your version of reality?"

"And what's your version? Keep risking fire until it happens?"

"There is no risk - except in your stupid mind."

"Listen guys, if most of us are doing it, it must be OK. All I know is I'm not going to stop until everyone else does. What's the point? Go ahead and give up."

"You defeatists suck. Always thinking you're going to save the world. Doesn't matter how many people do it, that doesn't give you the right to do it."

"Gives me the right to put my foot up your ass!"

Then final war broke out, gagging the two complainers and crucifying the extremist who refused to put any cigarettes out in the carpet. With critics silenced and the warning sent by the crucifixion all problems would be solved forevermore! Except for one tiny detail: the owner returned as the house burned down.

"Hey, who put their cigs out in my carpet?"

The crucifiers blamed the dead and voiceless but it was too late. "You assholes fucked up my house? I don't want to hear your damn excuses! Only person I'm letting live in my house is the one person who took care of my place. Rest of you are out forever. No one will ever trust you ever again. I don't give a damn what your politics are, I just care what you did!"

The innocent one on the cross was taken down and put in a new home. When the smoking ringleader attacked the owner he was put on the cross for the safety of everyone. The rest wandered in homeless misery. The end.

There Are No Miracles In The Bible

Freaking you bitches out, aren't I?

"Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified."

One thing's for sure: the people being terrified part hasn't changed. But first let me say one thing. I agree with Anjin-san when he says, "God curse all priests." But when I hear of a priest molesting a child I don't think it reflects poorly on God but rather on anyone dumb enough to believe someone who says he represents God. Religion comes from man, man comes from God. I don't appreciate those who confuse the two.

One thing I have noticed is the fear and terror induced by the mentioning of miracles. "Fairy tales to awe the masses," they hope. Pseudo-insight like that makes the rest of us laugh! But the most ignorant man in the world is the man who does not know he's ignorant. Most of us think we "know" a man cannot walk on water. What mankind does not know could fill a universe.

The real answer is a matter of perspective. When we see a plane fly overhead or watch TV of a man speaking a thousand miles away or call on a phone to speak to someone a thousand miles away we do not think of those things as unbelievable miracles even though most of us cannot explain how they work. Yet, if we were to go back a few hundred years and describe these things to a scientist he would declare them scientifically impossible. How can something heavier than air fly? Impossible dreamer!

Poor Chauncey didn't know he's not
supposed to be able to walk on water.

And that's the problem, one man's miracle is another man's normalcy. If I were to ask Jesus how many miracles he performed he'd say zero. He'd done nothing of the sort but merely acted in accordance with nature. After all, who nowadays thinks of watching a TV as a miracle? It's all about what we think we know. What is science anyway but a subset of understanding nature? When you have a greater understanding than another then you too can perform "miracles."

No, the real reason the idea of "miracles" is so threatening is because it challenges our point-of-view, that we have not begun to scratch the surface of what we can do. (I'm not concentrating on the healings because energy healing has been around for millenniums in the East and is a peculiarly Western prejudice.) And finding out that which we have truly denied ourselves makes us so much more culpable for the miseries of the world. Not an easy thing to face, so I understand the deep, deep animosity it can cause.

Still, who wants to be a loser? What's to be gained by the false morality of a closed mind? It's those who know what they know who are the lights of the world. Nature is as Nature does. So before you go giggling at the "stupidity" of ancient man just remember that's how you look in the eyes of Jesus. It's just a matter of being open to accepting what's possible - and in this case, inevitable.

Zen Films Presents: Heron Finale (With trig Bonus Video)

Here's the third and final installment of my heron trilogy. I named it this because everywhere I went I saw a heron. Finally, I figured out there were two herons there, something I had not come across before. With precious little peace in my own life it seemed almost imperative I capture the serenity of the garden, to make it safe from the ravages of time and human despair. Now I can make secret forays into the garden anytime and be thankful such a place exists. Many are the fools who consider art to be optional in this world, but without it we'd still be living in caves.

As a counterpoint to serenity is my blackmail video of trig acting silly in the garden. Trig bought a lottery ticket and I was going sting him for a million bucks but like a moron he refused to listen to me and bought a losing ticket! (My sage advice, of course, was to buy a winning one). Thus, unable to bribe me I posted the bottom video in a fit of pique. Hell, way things stand now I'd have taken ten dollars.

The soundtrack is "Volcanic Crater Lake" from "The Natural Sounds Of Japan".

Just Desserts

"What you doin' with that gun?"

"Going to shoot my girlfriend."

"What for??"

"Because I'm going out of my mind!"

"I thought you said she's the best thing since, like, ever."

"She is - but I'm a total fraud. I can't stand it. I have zero idea what she sees in me. I just can't take it anymore."

"But she's with you, isn't she? Doesn't that count for something?"

"I wish. She just doesn't know the truth of me."

"Maybe you aren't giving her enough credit."

"Maybe you aren't giving me enough credit."

"Maybe too much. Why don't you just leave her?"

"I can't. She's completely irresistible. I'm wholly dependent on her and can't pull away. I'm dying here!"

"So that's why you're going to kill her."

"I'm not going to kill her, just the relationship. I'll shoot her in the foot."

"Dude, she'll be one pissed off lady!"

"That's the plan. My crippled ass can't leave her but I can make her leave me. She has to know I don't deserve her."

"How are you so sure you don't deserve her?"

"We've grown apart. I can't hardly keep up with her or understand what she says. We've always been competitive. I've got to be someone she can respect! Oh, Lord get me out of this!!"

********

"Did you really shoot her?"

"Yes."

"Was she pissed?"

"Beyond pissed. She was shocked, horrified, stunned, incredulous, furious, outraged, livid, beside herself and hurt. You should have seen the look in her eyes. I'll be taking that look to my grave with me."

"So I take it she's gone."

"Like the wind, forever and ever."

"So it worked out as you hoped."

"Well, I don't have the guilt of having something I don't deserve but now I have the guilt of having shattered her foot for life."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"What can I do about it? Some things there's no way of fixing. This is sheer fucking agony!"

"So you're just going to do nothing?"

"Only thing I can think of is shooting my own foot off. I'm thinking she won't have so much burning rage against me that way."

"I don't know, man. Didn't work out last time you shot a foot off no matter what you say."

"I can't just do nothing! She has to know how I feel!"

"You just gonna shoot every foot you see?"

"Feels that way. Do one you gotta do them all. This is a nightmare!"

********

"Hey look! I shot my foot off! A sure sign of integrity, eh?"

"Stupidity is integrity?"

"Oh, piss off. She's gotta believe I'm sorry now."

"How would she even know? You said she cut off all communication."

"I left a note on her door."

"How you know she even read it? Maybe it fell off and blew away."

"God, I hope not! I don't have the nerve to do it twice. Shit, I better not have shot my foot off for nothing!"

"Sure looks that way. She doesn't want to hear from you no matter what you have to say."

"Maybe my plan was too good. It sucks being a cripple. No creature in the universe should have to need a woman! Goddam, I wanted to be her friend, to contribute to her life."

"You contributed alright. But I don't think you were very honest."

"Yes, I'm a very dishonest person. I couldn't let her know what I was going through. The hell I was living inside is now on the outside."

"Some plan!"

**********

"Shit, you won't believe what happened. I was rolling out of the van at the grocery store when I see this chick in a wheelchair looking just like my ex rolling into the store."

"Was it her? Did you go in?"

"Hell, no! You crazy? Most scared I ever been in my life. No, I rolled my ass back inside the van quick as I could, heart pounding away."

"You ran away again?"

"Can you blame me? If she'd seen me in there she'd have cut my throat, calling me a lousy piece of shit coward who couldn't ever hope of becoming a real man who can face his feelings."

"You mean the stuff you tell yourself every day?"

"Pretty much, yes. I make sure I constantly chant that to myself to make up for my deficiencies."

"How long do you plan on beating yourself up?"

"Long as I can, I suppose. I can't just stop or she'll hate me more."

"Dude, your plans really suck."

"Tell me about it..."

********

"Dude, I heard about your lady."

"She's not my lady anymore."

"You can say that again!"

"What do you mean?"

"She's getting married. She says she's gotten over being mad at you and moved on."

"Jesus, I feel really alone now. That hate was my last connection to her. I thought we'd always have that. I can't believe she overcame my betrayal like that."

"You always said she was a helluva woman!"

"Damn, yes... See? I told you I didn't deserve her."