"One World, One People": Was Lennon Deluded?

First, let me explain. I am like a lawyer: I never ask a question I don't already know the answer to. After all, who asks a question of a dying planet and expects to get an honest answer? The goal of the persons on a dying planet is to escape personal responsibility (the only reason why a planet would die in the first place). To do this, one must first deny the truth - but in that denial they reveal their true selves. However, since few admit this crime, they will deny anyway! Below are the contentions of what some perceive as a valid counter argument to Lennon's statement:

John Lennon said we are "one world, one people." He said it was "...a statement as well as a wish". But why would anyone say we are one people when we are clearly tearing ourselves apart? We starve each other, mutilate each other, rape each other, invade each other and model our societies on dog-eat-dog philosophies. Lennon, of course, had no way of knowing reality. He never held a job in his life, he put no effort into his schooling and basically just did what he wanted his whole life through.

So naturally he had these sort of "nice thoughts" and a "love philosophy". To him the world was peachy keen because he was isolated from it on a sea of fortune and fame. And he wanted to keep that cushy life going by wishful thinking and not doing anything real. Nihilists even contend there is nothing real to be done anyway! So if Lennon was deluded about us being "one world, one people" then what are we really and what is real to be done?

Here are his own words:

PLAYBOY: The album will end with the chant we heard today, "One World..."

LENNON: "...One People."

PLAYBOY: Another kind of-

LENNON: Subliminal message, right [laughing]

PLAYBOY: Is that when hard times will be over - when we become one world, one people?

LENNON: No, no, no. We are one world, one people whether we like it or not. Aren't we? I mean we can pretend we're divided into races and countries and can carry on pretending that until we stop doin' it. But the reality is that it is one world and it is one people.

PLAYBOY: The step after "Imagine"...

LENNON: That's the way it is really. "Imagine" said, "Well, can ya possibly imagine it?" "Consider this!"

PLAYBOY: And now that you've considered it...

LENNON: Now that you've considered it...

PLAYBOY: Open your eyes.

LENNON: [Excitedly] Yeah, right! Right! But I don't want it to come across like "I am..." or "We are the awakened spirit. You are the sheep that will be shown the way..." It's not that. And that is the danger in saying anything, you know.

PLAYBOY: Especially for you, because people are looking...

LENNON: They are looking for leaders. Don't follow leaders, watch yer parking meters...[Chuckling] We'll get into that, but you know, leaders is what we don't need. We can have figureheads, we can have people we admire and like to have standing up and all that. We can have examples...But leaders is what we don't need. It's the utopian bit again. We're all members of the conceptual utopia. So let's no got round and round it: It's one world, one people, and it's a statement as well as a wish. [Laughing softly] So welcome to the dress rehearsal for "Double Fantasy".

Every reply to the truth is enlightening in one way or another

The Sad Man and the Arsonist

I have a dream!

The night was bone cold and unrepentantly windy, not fit for human consumption - though humans were forced to consume it nonetheless. And since the Sad Man was sad to sit by his unshared fire, he was happy to welcome the Arsonist into his home, to spare them both the fate of darkness. The Sad Man said he would accord the arsonist all the due worthy of a soul-bearing being, as one who carried within him a piece of God. But the Arsonist, whose soul was on fire, would have none of it.

"There is no God! There is no soul! Obviously, you blind yourself to the truth!"

The Arsonist agonized that his foolish soul alone would face its fiery fate - that none else would play the fool like he. But the Sad Man failed to see how the Arsonist could benefit from false words and asked him why he denied his soul.

"I deny nothing but what you imagine! Am I to live by the words of you? Obviously, you seek me to emulate you!"

The Sad Man was confused, having not asked the Arsonist to live by any of his words. Does the Arsonist see every question as a mandate?

"The crime you accuse me of is your own! Why speak of a soul that does not exist other than to force that idea upon me? Obviously, you wish of a life that cannot be!"

The Arsonist once had "tried" ("There is no try, only do!") to live the life of the soul unscorched, to obtain a soul as soothing as cool waters. But since he failed himself, his agony now forbade admission of even its possibility. For that, he stood with the blood of Jesus on his hands. Yet the Sad Man observed that a world not of cool waters would burn itself out and have no future.

"You are naive and hopeless in your pursuits to think all will have souls of cool water! Answer me, where will these souls of cool waters come from? Obviously, you know nothing of life but fantasy!"

But by the purification of fire the world will be saved. Just as heat cleanses germs from the roasting meat to make it safe, so shall the souls of fire destroy themselves by their own misjudgement and disappear, leaving only the souls of cool waters.

"Are you to tell me there's no fire in your soul? Who are you to preach to me? Obviously, you are a hypocrite who recommends life though he has chosen death!"

I failed to see how the Arsonist's assertions made my statements any more or less true. His hopeless fantasy seemed to be a hope to alter reality by wishful thinking. What is there to say to a soul such as that? But my silence set the crucifier into action as he poured gasoline in the corner of my home and lit it.

"Now you shall learn reality! You shall learn the world is a cruel and evil place and will never be a world of souls with cool waters! No one will listen to you!"

But I asked him if this was not more of an indication of his own world than anyone else's.

"No," the Arsonist assured himself, "I do this because I truly believe in having a soul of cool waters." And my house went up in flames as he cackled in evil glee.

Sad men don't rebuild their homes because it was sad to begin with. I merely live among the burned out framework and pray for the souls of the arsonists, though no longer sad for the arsonists in their winter. Had I thought it through the first time, I would have realized the arsonist is where Nature has intended him to be and maybe I had been hoping to escape the same fate.

The Big Vote

I vote myself to be blameless

"What is truth?" asked Pilate.

Jesus gave no answer.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."

But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

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Somehow the news had escaped me. When I woke up from a bad dream this morning, the world was abuzz over the Big Vote. "Vote on what?" I asked, scratching my morning beard as those around me most fastidiously put on their Sunday finest.

"The truth! We must vote on the truth today!"

I was incredulous. "Vote on it? How does our voting on it going to alter the truth? You can't vote the world flat!"

"Yes, but we must vote it round or it shall not be! Voting decides our future!"

"The truth decides our future whether we face it or not."

"Exactly! That's why we must vote on it!"

When I told them I had no interest in voting, they hissed at me like a den of angry snakes. They accused me of all their crimes: saying I was naive to evil and not understanding what it takes to correct it. From their mental madhouse I cannot escape.

Since each person claimed enlightenment, no vote was hidden. Here are a few I saw:

A truthless man voted himself to be deemed truthful. A devotee of evil voted evil to be called good. A coward voted himself to be savior. A loveless man voted that love is not enough. A worldly man voted the world to be his. A broken man voted the world to fix him. A childish one voted for any but him to make the world good. And everyone who voted deemed themselves holy and purveyors of truth.

Seeing I still had not voted, they hated and despised me, saying I was allowing the world to fall into chaos and ruin. When I told them their voting did nothing to fix it, they voted me of having delusions of grandeur and granting myself undue importance. "You merely wish to shape the world to your own point of view, just to make your self-serving ass look good!"

To that I said nothing, which in their naive and wishful minds made it true.

Let's vote this war to be righteous
so we can stop worrying about it

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And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that Jesus had answered them well, asked him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"

And Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

"And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

A voice voted against that, saying, "How will love solve anything if my neighbour does not love me back, what then? What is your answer?"

But Jesus gave no answer - and the silence confirmed the doubting man's doubts.

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I don't need love to have a future!

A man with no ears came to lecture me on the ways of responsibility. It was interesting because even though I answered him, the entire conversation was with himself.

"Why do you not vote? You must vote, my son, if you want to make things right! We must show others the truth!"

"I'm a real liberal. Real liberals don't vote. The truth is within us already."

"Today, I'm a good man! I voted to fix a world that cannot be fixed! Who can ask for more than that?"

"Uh, that means what?"

"I see you lounging here, doing nothing while I provide answers to our problems!"

"False answers don't count."

"Have you no ears? One must provide answers to all problems or one's words have no meaning! I am obligated to save you! I am your Guilty Hero, feeling the guilt of having never fixed myself."

"Voting your life to have meaning is not the same thing as giving it meaning. Only love can do that."

"I still see you not voting. You, sir, are a fool not to do as I do! You cannot change the world with mere words. Now, why do you not give me your words to answer my questions?"

"Maybe you should ask yourself why you ask the questions."

"But you must tell me about love! We each must pretend not to know how to change the world! It's what makes my voting meaningful. Tell me how love can heal the world!"

But what the man with no ears failed to hear was the sound of his own voice. His was not a call for love, so why would anyone answer?

A lesson for us all.

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You're Smarter Than You Think!

My brain hurtz!

I's dumm shit. Dummer'n a rock! Dumm as all get out, I is! I jess don't knows nothing me brain be so empty. Now, don't get me rong now, I tries hard, I tries waaay hard to get sumpthin out this brain o' mine but...nuttin...zero...nada. Thay tells me I can't be no sheeple and I got to fix the whole world and everythin' in it but dang, that a tall order thar son! Peepls jess don't understand about me brain, it just tain't good for nuttin. I's so ashamed.

What really be godawful is I can't find one perp being dummer'n me - not a one!! But I can't git five minit sleep without someone or another slappin' me upside the head sayin I gotta say sumpthin on how things is and wotnot and I's like 'A feller's gotta get his sleep too!' but they all hoppin' mad not givin a feller any peace at all. Peeple wot got no peace in 'em, well, guess they got none to giv either...

So I starts to lissen in on the smart folks but no ways I can keep up. See? I's not smart enuf to knows when to send peeples to die cuz I's can't see the cause fer it. And me mind jess ain't got the knowin's of when peeples s'possed to able to be eatin' and when they ain't cuz i figger everyone oughts to be eatin' all the time. An' I jess don't got the smarts to tell a man iffen he wants to go buildin' cars and stuff that he ought'n be alloud to do it. I's jess lucky them smarts folk can figger it all out cuz I sees them sending peepls off to die and not lettin 'em have no food and makin' 'em sits at home doin' nuttin when I knows they wants to be doin sumpthin.

Sorry, but I's jess dumm like dat.

That what has to be?

But I wants to be pullin' me wait n such so I asks these three fellers wot all how we can be fixin' this world of hurt of our'n. But dagnabit if thay jess don't clam rite up and not let me knows nuttin! They goes like:

"Can't help ya, man. Gotta figure it out for yourself."

"There is no answer! The world is freaking hopeless!"

"Man, that's way too heavy a question for the likes of me. That's for someone smarter than me to figure out."

Me eyes get wide as saucers on that las fella's remark and I asks if he dumm as a rock like me! Be he get all pouty lookin and jess raise up his fist with one finger stickin' up. I takes that to be ruud but I cant let that be stoppin me from sayin's whats on me mind cuz them dam head slappers won't let me rest till I do.

"Well, doncha think we's be whole lot better off if we starts to buildin' stuff up around luv cuz thar don't seem to be no livin' wit all da hate in da world."

Suddenly, they gets real smart on me and wot they not knows a minit ago pops in their brain like a lightnin' bolt! "Love? That will never work, you idiot. I don't know what the answer is, but I know it's not LOVE!"

Sorry, but I's jess dumm like dat.

We made jess to crucify?

So that get me ta wonderin': jess wot is we anyways? Maybe if I knows xactly wot we is I can knows wots best to be dun. (all dis thinkin' hurtin me brain, tho!) So I goes back to the three wize man askin' them jess wot peeples made of.

"We are what we make ourselves independent of an unknowable reality."

"We are nothing more than fish with elongated fins. So who knows what is right and wrong."

"It's impossible to know who we are! No one can know!"

That last fella just gots to be me cuzin or sumpthin' but darn if I ain't all kindz of confused all over again. I ain't never been able's to figger how me soul gonna be happy when I ain't gots no luv in me and I be wantin' it bad! So I ask them maybe iffen we aren't really luv after all. And darnd iffen that lightnin' bolt don't strikes them agin! "Love? Of course we aren't love, you idiot. I don't know what we are, but I know it's not LOVE!"

Sorry, but I's jess dumm like dat.

We can't do no better then this?

It's hard beein' dumm. Harder then the hardest rock wot ever been hard! I's don't know why the good Lord dun give me this life wot with this dumm dumm brain o' mine! I got all kindz of sad in me now all balled up and cryin' cuz thar ain't gotta be no luv in da world and thar ain't gott be no luv in us so wot we doin' here anyways?? Help me brain! You got no anssers in ya atall!!!! So I has to ask them peeps one more times jess wot dis life thing be.

"Life is whatever life is."

"Life is to be endured and then forgotten as we return to cosmic particles never knowing why."

"Why ask questions that can't be answered?"

But thems the ones that started all the queschun askin'! Is it my fault me brain be wot it is? Did the good Lord do me rong and not make me head rite? Iffen da Lord be likin' me at all, I figgers He gots some sorta plan for me even wit dis brain o’ mine. It's some bad bad thots thinkin' otherwize, so I jess has to tell them boyz dat life just gotta be luv! "Love? Of course life isn't love, you idiot. I don't know what life is, but I know it's not LOVE!"

Sorry, but I's jess dumm like dat.

So I's dun asking queschuns!!!!! An it don't seem no one want much to talk me no mores anyway. Thay stops askin' ya to speek iffen they don' like wot you got to say. So I ain't sayin no more speshally sense I aint got no sense no how an' best keep me mouth shut. Funny - and this aint jess cuz they not be slappin' me upside the head no more - but I sleeps lots better now than afore I asked all them things. I jess don't knows wot ta think so I jess ain't gonna think nuttin at all wot them fellers told me.

But did notice sumthing strange 'bout them boys and I ask me buddy later jess who they mite be.

"Oh, them? They're the werewolves of London."

___________________________


Werewolves of London-A Tribute to Warren Zevon - The funniest home videos are here

BREAKING NEWS: It Sucks To Be Poor!

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God"
Luke 6:20

Not one bone in my body doubts that statement. The truth of it is so glaringly obvious it never ceases to amaze me when I hear "serious" people talk of a system that rewards evil being made to work. It can't happen and it never will. But you will notice a common trait among all these boosters: a most comfortable life. No one wants to hear what the people who are getting fucked have to say - we already know what they'll say anyway, they'll just want to shitcan everything. How selfish!

There's an article today in the Washington post on "The High Cost Of Being Poor":

You have to be rich to be poor.

That's what some people who have never lived below the poverty line don't understand.

Put it another way: The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace. This is a fact of life that reality television and magazines don't often explain.

OK, this lady "gets" it. She recognizes there's a massive underbelly of our society that is nothing more than a gigantic scam and a rip off. It's systematic, ruthless and a growth industry whose victims have no recourse (the best kind!). So while we keep trying to convince ourselves we've found paradise through pollution, we close our eyes to the true path to life. The poor, however, already see the world for reckless ponzi scheme that it is and have an open mind to accepting change and receiving the kingdom of Heaven.

"The poor pay more for a gallon of milk; they pay more on a capital basis for inferior housing," says Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). "The poor and 100 million who are struggling for the middle class actually end up paying more for transportation, for housing, for health care, for mortgages. They get steered to subprime lending. . . . The poor pay more for things middle-class America takes for granted."

According to the Census Bureau, more than 37 million people in the country live below the poverty line. The poor know these facts of life. These facts become their lives.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me"

God would have flunked Economics 101. You know you live on a planet with low self-esteem when it creates an artifice like money and then declares the only inhabitants who have any worth are those who have monetary worth. How else can a loser feel good about himself? Create a god that showers blessings, call that god "God" and then pretend your worship is holy. Fine plan, that! Dumb ol' God just doesn't understand human nature and doesn't realize you just can't expect people to serve love - only money. And I think the state of the world today gives that belief all the credence it deserves.

"The cheaper housing is in more-dangerous areas," says Reed, who lives in Southeast Washington. "I moved out of my old apartment. I hate that area. They be walking up and down the street. Couldn't take the dog out at night because strangers walking up and down the street. They will knock on your door. Either they rob you, kill or ask for money. If you're not there, they will steal air conditioners and copper. They will sell your copper [pipes] for money."

The costs of poverty come in many forms, indeed. But my favorite dirty little secret on America is our institutionalization of de facto serfdom. Money flows up, not down. If you are a member of the working poor, every cent you got goes out the door! Suppose you get a better job and can afford a car now - a nifty item for trips to the ER and such. Who stands waiting in line for you but the oil companies, the insurance industry and sixty dollar an hour mechanics. All money gone again! No room for error, always living on the edge, hell a mere disastrous moment away. It's like living with a loaded gun to your head 24/7.

You don't say
What you see;
You leave it all
Up to me

The silence is awesome. When was the last time you saw a poor man's roundtable? I'd pay money to see George Snuffleupagus do his snotnose Sunday morning show with four homeless men. Or to see Lardball with a lineup of bag ladies who could care less about the nuances of political triangulation that no possible human interested in living could be concerned with. I wonder what it would sound like to constantly hear people who don't get a benefit from lying. Could we stand that? Would we all go insane? Well, I got some news for ya: you're going to go insane anyway listening to lies to make you feel good.

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The Day the Homeless Fight Back

Make peace with your god

Things had finally reached the breaking point. "I don't know who made this world, but today they are going to die!"

I was one of them now - beaten, robbed and brutalized for the last time - now it was my time for life taking. Fuck them and their goddam lies and motherfucking bullshit. "You're nothing but a bunch of walking pieces of shit. You don't fool me anymore. You want shit? You'll GET shit!!!!!!"

A plasma rifle can cut through any object, any protection. There's only one and I got it. God wouldn't let the other fuckers have it because they couldn't be trusted, but now...they had pushed me too far. Do you really think you have the right to have any say in my life you fucking fucks?? Just couldn't let it go, could you? Pushing me and pushing me until I couldn't stand it anymore. Maybe you're doing it because you don't want to live and I'm merley fulfilling your wish.

Shellee, the shelter director, tried to stop me. "Don't do it, Harry! Don't take them out! You can't do something like this!"

"As Moses smote the cruel overseer, I shall smote them! Do you really think I don't know what I'm doing? The lack of understanding is your own, not mine. Say no more if you wish to keep your head."

She kept her head as a I queried my bunkmates at the shelter. "Who the fuck thinks I should work some goddam crap job the rest of my life?"

Not even my arch enemies would say yes to that here - they had been victimized far beyond the point of ever believing in the game again. Only the homeless can be truly free. The rest of you fuckers, well...

So I went out into the streets, only this time I'm not low man on the totem pole. I'm sick of you bastards with your hidden knives and hidden lies. Time to fuck you up - in the permanent way. You really thought it could go on forever, didn't you?

I threw down my gauntlet, "Where's a CEO? Give me the head of a CEO!"

Screwing sheeple is fun!

I walked over to the day labor camp where a decked out pickup was looking to pimp workers for a construction site. I asked the driver, one time: "You going to give these guys full scale pay for doing full scale work?"

"You think I'm stupid? I don't gotta pay them shit. I'll pay them whatever the fuck I can get away with. None of your goddam business, anyway!"

I answered him with a ringing head shot and he pimped no more. The laborers cheered me and followed me. But a cheerleader for the beast was outraged as he came storming out of his mansion.

"You conniving bastard! That man was offering those men work!"

"Don't worry. The work still exists."

"Work has no meaning without exploiting the workers, you commie anarchist! I'm calling the cops. Destroyers like you can't be allowed to roam free!"

"Dude! You took the words right out of my mouth!" Then I shot off his right foot since he liked leaning to the right so much.

"You bastard! I hate you! I'll hate you till the day I die! I hate you with every fiber of my being! You can't go around indiscriminately shooting everyone you see, you freaking sociopath! Peoples' lives are important!"

I smirked as he limped back. "My point exactly. Where were you when these exploited workers were hurt, fucktard?"

Dallas' finest soon came screeching in complete with Mighty Mouse theme song. "Here we come to pay our rent!"

Oh, please!

Mansion Man came limping back out. "There he is! Oppress that fucker!"

Cops are stupid for the worst reason of all: they choose to be. So I pulled out my puppeteer's strings. "I hereby pass a law that no man holding a plasma rifle can be arrested."

That immediately stopped the uniformed eunuchs in their tracks - making for a most livid Mansion Man. "I'm rich and I'm white! You work for me, not him!"

The policemen's simple minds were frozen in thought. "Sorry, mister, we have to blindly follow the law no matter what."

"You idiot, that only counts when stealing cars from punks with joints!"

It was then I decided to be helpful. "Hey, coppers, if you really want some booty, try taking Mansion Man's shit. Just imagine what you could get for his stuff at auction!"

Mansion Man was then thrown to the ground, arrested for being angry and taken away - along with all his shit. One cop giggled: "If I'd known we could take rich people's shit I'd done this a long time ago!"

Suburban Shock Troops were called out as soccer moms across the country trembled from my unthinkable threat to their feathered existence. The first line of attack was to bore me to death.

"Hello there, my name is Dr. Phil and folks believe in me because of my highly authoritative voice. How are you feeling today, Harry?"

"Pretty goddam dogmatic! And you?"

"I'm feeling great, just wonderful! And you can too! Right now, there's nothing more important to me in the whole world than fixing you. Just disconnect from reality and you'll be happy just like the rest of us."

I told him I'd incinerate all known copies of his books if he didn't shut up so I suddenly became not so important. The next fellow - a soul with the face of a snake - was not so lucky.

"Sir, I am the world's foremost arguer of bullshit and predatory propaganda - and I make a fortune at it too! And if I can out-argue you, then that means I'm right and you must put down your gun!"

Don't make me use this on you!

Whoosh! Cut his sorry ass in two. "Smart guy, huh? You fucking moron, don't you know better than to argue with a phased plasma rifle! HAHAHAHA!"

By now I had legions of sheeples following me as I destroyed their heroes and my show of strength pulled them helplessly towards me like a magnet. As word spread of my unstoppable vengeance, the phone rang on the desk of the most powerful man in the land.

"Sir, he's committing the worst crime possible: threatening our way of life. If the sheeple follow him instead of us we'll lose our high standing and the right to be shamelessly evil! Sir, it's unbearable, sir!"

"Don't worry about the sheeple. We've put them in two wars just to benefit us. Tricked them out of their entire net worth. Destroyed the economy for everyone but us then make them feel guilty when they lose their jobs. Dear god, that's funny! They've been kissing our ass since they came crawling back to Pharaoh looking for a free ride. But our free ride isn't coming to an end anytime soon!"

The CEO of Exxon hung up his phone, knowing that someday the Day Of His Demise must come - but not today. But then, that's what they always think.

Grabbing a can of 10w40 motor oil off his desk, striding out the office in a suit of armor both lauded and untouched, the de facto emperor descended from the 30th floor escorted by an especially vicious vanguard comprised of derivative traders, war profiteers, sadistic bishops and TV talk show hosts. It was a particularly ugly cabal and not one person in the thousands surrounding me had not been victimized by them - some even by the loss of their sons and daughters. But their anger was stilled as the CEO held the oil can above his head like a crown and the crowd parted like the red sea.

Heroin ain't the only black tar

"Behold! Who can stand before the beast? Who among you can live without it? You must live for it - you must sacrifice your children for it. Above all, you must serve it first if you want your life to have meaning. Bow down, you bitches!"

Bow down they did as the CEO's holy prostitutes tossed "In corporations we trust" T-shirts into the eagerly groveling crowd. With a grin of Biblical proportions, the ill-fated CEO winked at me with his eyes glistening like the pools of oil he worshiped. But that's the naivete of evil: it always makes you think you're smart. Time to give the oily devil his due.

First, I shot the oil can right out of his hand - and the sheeple gasped as I defied their god.

"It will happen like this: the price of oil will reach stratospheric heights as the supply can only dwindle. Without oil, food around the world will not be able to reach market and what does make it will be priced so high your very survival will be in doubt. There will be no place you can run to, no solution in sight - it will be hell inescapable."

Like a tennis match, the eyes of sheeple turned from me back to the CEO - who scoffed. "What he says is true - you will die by the millions. But which do you wish to believe: his fictional facts or my factual fiction? My way you live today without consternation, you can wishfully think of impossible tomorrows and dream of a life that can never be. Ignore reality with a righteous fury all your own and your words will be hailed around the world!"

Murmurs were heard from the herd. "I've got children to think about. I have to believe good things about tomorrow!" "Worship oil! Keep the CEO's dreams alive!" "Truth hurts! Lies are our true friends!"

Sheeple are funny people! Tempting as it was just to shoot everyone on sight, I instead proffered the Final Solution: "Since satire is lost upon your hapless souls I give you this: freedom. From now on, all things are free! From oil to food to the clothes on your back! Only the corporations keep you from the freedom you deserve! Fuck 'em all and live free!"

Instinctively the CEO implored a maniacal "Nooooo!" to the increasingly angered crowd. As the air of free life reached their long-starved lungs, the sheeple betrayed the betrayers and banished them in chains until death or repentance. It was the corporate cretins' worst nightmare - everyone forgot they were supposed to die. Freedom is not the end, it's the beginning.

Sharing life is such a beautiful thing

"We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools."
-Dr King

"Poverty is the worst form of violence."
-Gandhi

"Life is love."
-Steve

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That's how much I feel

How Much I Feel by Ambrosia

Homeless Man's Shopping List

Whatever floats your boat

Everybody has Shit To Git, don't care who you are. Even Emily, the stingiest bag lady in Dallas history, indulges herself in Starbuck's lattes on occasion. It's the plain ol' simple human desire to live. No matter how beaten down or low you go, there's always some little something that can help pick you up.

Of course, some asshole found my list and told me to fuck myself. You cant let anything out in this dog-eat-dog world or the fuckers will jump all over you. God what a beating it is living here on this planet. Anyway, unlike at the shelter, no one on the internet can bust my balls like these guys around here so I thought I'd post my own shopping list so you might compare it to yours.

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On misty nights I float away...

Sengoku Jidai: The Winds Of Destiny

Each of these provinces wanted to rule the entire country.
I highlighted my province in light blue.

When mafia families duke it out over a territory, there are no rules, no referees, no higher power to dictate the terms of the fight. Brains, brawn and bullets determine the outcome. Now imagine an entire country as one large mafia territory with dozens of daimyos, or warlords, vying to be top dog. Assassination, trickery, cunning, vile tactics - nothing is off limits! Let the best man win.

Such was the period called Sengoku Jidai in 16th century Japan. My name is Oda Nobunaga, I was the first great unifier of Japan and today we shall once more live those glorious and infamous times.

On one hand, it was the worst of times. To be a poor peasant was to be caught in the crossfire of ruthless, single-minded warlords who saw only their desire for power. As the flames of war's fortune swept across the land, only by fate's favor could you be spared. Oftentimes an entire village was burned to the ground to prevent an opposing warlord from benefiting from its resources. As a helpless farmer, you could only stand by and watch as savage swordsmen with determined faces stormed your town with torches in the night. Out of such tragedy the seeds of sorrow were sown.

But to a warlord, such things could not be helped. The lives of a few farmers was nothing compared to his goal of supreme power. And in my case, I even burned entire mountains down, killing men, women and children alike if they refused to end their warring upon me - a cruelty both unnecessary yet also forced upon me. A time of chaos dictates harsh measures be taken or the chaos never ends. My goal was to bring the nation under the rule of a single sword. It had been a long time coming.

Japan is a place unique in all the world. I spent many lives there before I became her ruler, shaping and guiding the culture of this babe of the world. I came to Japan a wandering Jew, a man of broken faith. Yet with my own eyes I had seen the power of God but how could I convey that? Religion is for non-believers and yet how could I explain a God to whom they had not been exposed? So I encouraged nature worship, knowing that to be one with God's nature required an inner peace to be achieved and we would then have harmony. Alas, harmony never came.

We started off with a holy monarchy, a la Egypt in the bad old days, with a divine emperor who ruled by the blessing of the gods. Such thoughts are always pleasant to the masses. And even though I also instilled the importance of social cooperation and the need to serve the community so that we all might thrive, human weakness being what it is trumped any sort of ideal and even the emperor found himself with rebellions to squelch. What was lost was the principle that in order to serve a society, that society must first be a just one. Later, the whole concept was perverted and distilled down to two words: "to serve".

Samurai means "to serve". Yet it was the servants who seized the strings of power from the emperor, upending the country into centuries of turmoil. Ashikaga Takauji was named the first Shogun - supreme military commander - by the divine emperor in recognition of Ashikaga's quashing revolts around the countryside. But Japan as a whole was still in its formative stages, disjointed and structureless, so an underlying disquiet flared up over the decades, eventually destabilizing the shogunate until the office finally held no military power. Thus began the Era of Warring States (sengoku jidai).

There is a famous parable about the three great unifiers of Japan: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. In it, we are able to gain some insight into their personalities. When a song bird won’t sing, each has a unique reaction:

Oda Nobunaga: "Kill it!"
Toyotomi Hideyoshi: "Persuade it to sing."
Tokugawa Ieyasu: "Wait, it will sing."

For me, it was the best of times. With no formal authority, I was free to make my own rules as I pleased. As Japan's guiding visionary, I knew best what she needed and time was ripe for a true unification. I remember mystical moments lying on the grassy plains of my Owari province, staring into the Infinite Sky and the winds I felt were the winds of destiny, blowing directly from Heaven. But to whom could I tell this without sounding a madman? Never before and never again had I felt so alive. The feeling within me was one I knew no one in all of Japan could have but me. I was to be the One, through me Nature's voice would be heard. With each breath I felt the swelling destiny of history, tapped by the finger of God.

Never again in our human story will there exist such a moment of pure freedom as that! I alone had final say in my actions - and let the proof of my deeds reveal me as madman or genius. Only Nature herself was my master and to Her I must always answer truly. On no man’s word could I solely rely for wisdom, I was pioneering a new way of thought and living, throwing out the tried and failed. The universe was my guide. It was the dawn of a New Age.

It was a renaissance of sorts. Keen minds across the land were plotting by lantern’s light schemes to rule the world. Intrigues of the mind, spies and other opportunists of warfare thrived in plans hatched to usurp power. But all eyes were on me, both from within and from without. I and my circle were the innermost group of the tangling warlords: the plans of other domains first centered around ours. I could feel their jealousies and hatred like a spider feels victims snared upon its web. And they fed me just the same.

I was not alone in hearing the call to unification and the New Age. Fools who stayed mired in the past with ears stuffed full of obstinacy were destined for slaughter. But those who chose to listen and to see, flocked to my side and because we served a purpose greater than ourselves, our decisions were blessed and our actions fruitful. After my legendary first battle, I rode the waves of history's dreams (though not without travails) to become the most powerful man in Japan. But to unify means more than just to conquer.

Without a proper societal model, all my victories would have been in vain. I started the great castle building era, giving birth to lively surrounding cities of commerce. I ripped away petty road tariffs - and petty interests of any kind - to open up the genius only freedom can bring and the enlightened self-interest of a rising tide for all boats. From freedom flows justice, and from justice flows a willingness to serve and preserve. Yes, I would rule with the sword to bring unification but the true binding force would be the revelation of this new, better way to live.

Tokugawa later had many castles destroyed
in an attempt to consolidate power

But I was a man of excess. I feared no man whether enemy or friend so to one of my own high generals I was abusive and unfairly critical. Fearing a foul fate, he instituted a preemptive strike and I was assassinated in a Kyoto temple. At this point half of Japan lay under my domain and I had laid siege to the other half. "Monkey" (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) was the ablest and most trusted of my generals. He avenged me and emerged from the ensuing dustup as the first man to rule a truly unified Japans.

But Monkey was no executive. He was skilled in the art of war and negotiation and intrigue, but once outside of that he knew no direction. In the 1590's he attempted two failed invasions of Korea and upon his death in 1598, he left only a small child as heir and a weakened government. The nation split into two factions: one side for Toyotomi loyalists and the other for Tokugawa Ieyasu, who two years later in the battle of Sekigahara assumed the reins of power once and for all, becoming Shogun and creating a dynasty to last the next 250 years.

The Tokugawa dynasty shut off Japan and clamped down on the freedoms of the Sengoku era, thus suffocating her growth and weakening her. I lost interest in Japan at that time and resumed my wanderings around the globe. But even now when I stroll a nature path and I lose the day and year I walk in, my mind flashes back to those times in the flowing Owari grass and only I knew what I knew. I remember standing on a cliff once, overlooking my conquered lands feeling as I were Joshua reincarnated. I can't describe the magical feelings running through me at that moment but they run buried deep within me still to this day.

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To read more on these times, I recommend Taiko (even though I revealed the entire plot here). Yoshikawa perfectly captures the spirit of the times and he writes not only from historical research but with a unique understanding of the people and events.

the rain, it's all my fault

it all started with the dishwasher, the cycle was done and i tried to pull a dish out but it was stuck, i tried another and it was stuck too, they were all stuck, then i tried using a sledgehammer feeling guilty about breaking them and maybe i was going too far and maybe there was another way i hadn't thought of yet and jesus! it was driving me insane but i couldn't find another answer, so i might be wrong but i hit those dishes hard as i could and it broke the hammer in two and the dishes won, so i guess i have to wash them by hand rest of my life.

the dog was barking, needing out, so i went to get the leash but the leash would disappear if i tried to grab it and re-appear when i stopped, but jesus fucking christ i only need it when i'm trying to grab it so what's it there for if i can't use it, and the dog won't stop barking, needing out more and more, a voice says take him out anyway but then he'll run away and die, and i will die, but with every bark i was dying so i guess i'm going to have to live with him shitting in the house rest of my life 'cause i can't find another way and who will want to visit a house like that?

then i left my house of shame with all my money to buy food for the body but when i go to check out she says no, but i said i had her goddam money god, she has to check me out, but she said no again, she didn't like me so no food for me no matter what, then the manager comes because he's so angry i'm so angry and asks why sell to a customer like me who gets all angry and throws me out the door.

i go home and turn on the computer and message bombs are waiting for me, exploding my soul, saying i had work to do but never did and asking what's the matter don't you like your work and now you've been found out so you better prove your lies are truth. so i go to work but some woman is there in the room i need to work in and i'm totally naked like always so i can't go in. i try putting on a short kimono but i wonder if it's too short because if i bend over she can see my butt at work which i don't think is bad but she will use the fire axe on me if i do, but i can't get the kimono on anyway because the sleeves keep closing up and jesus christ that woman is going to turn around any second now and see me naked, so the work never gets done and i will be yelled at and how can i tell them why?

so i was walking back naked in the rain and that felt good but feeling good makes them mad. the people from the grocery store saw me and pointed to me, telling the cops what i had done and look at him now, naked bastard with his shitty home, he's not one of us so the cop starts chasing me but the rain comes down blacker and blacker until the cop can't see me and i wonder if god helped me and didn't god know it's a crime to walk around naked when people can see your feelings they disagree with? if god knew the law of man would he still have helped? and if he did does that not make god a criminal?

when i got home god was on the phone, they said he told them if i stopped the rain i could stop the pain. i asked if i could talk to god but they said the phone call was not for me, but i did not accept those words and grabbed the phone in anger, yet i could not speak because i was afraid god would know me so i hung up the phone in irresistible panic of the moment and then asked them how do i stop the rain and they all said ask god, but i had hung up on god. so i rushed back to the phone to find god's caller id but the phone no longer worked ever again and everyone - and i mean everyone - was mad at me for taking a call not meant for me, so now the rain will never cease and the world will drown and it's all my fault.

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How To Destroy The World In Three Easy Steps. Part 1

Step one: Get everyone to sell their soul!

"Work will set you free!"

Nazis have all the fun. Slice enough throats and the rest will fall in line. And because everyone is a potential criminal, all must be shackled. The Nazi overlords tell you over and over: "Work will set you free", "We build body and soul" and "The Reich will never be destroyed if you are united and loyal" - and you believe these tenets with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul. Snap those shackles that bind you and all society falls apart - or so you believe. This leaves the Nazi smirking as he looks upon line after endless line of enslaved souls.

Work will set you free!

With twisted mind and tortured heart, the bent body of the slave defends his slavery. "Who cannot call me good? I'm proud of the shackles I wear! We must not question our overlords! Who among us can speak of a better way? Isn't to question and complain the way to doom and chaos? Do not these shackles keep us in line to do good? Let this thought possess you: Never break the shackles, no matter the heaven or hell that may come!

Parents didn't pay their bills, so this is not a crime!

"Freedom is the mortal enemy of us all. Let scum such as us do what we please and what would ever get done? Nothing! Give dreamers their dreams and who will do the dirty work? No one! Trust your fellow man and where will that lead us? Nowhere! These are your enemies: freedom, dreams and trust. It's nice to believe in such pleasantries, but no society can survive serving naive delusions like these, we must be practical: no freedom, no dreams, no trust!

"He's behind on his mortgage!"
"Ok then, run him over - it's not practical for him to live!"

"And if you die from the shackles you wear, know that you die serving the greater good - a glorious death indeed! Who are you to ask to live anyway? What have you ever done to prove your worth? Life is for the noble and only shackles can bring nobility. Life has no worth if lived without shackles! Listen, and understand: within each of us is an Enemy - an Enemy that will stop at nothing to destroy each and every one of us! Cage your Enemy, lock the Beast deep within you, never to release its devastation upon us!

Money worship brings unity to the nation!

"I bring these words to save you, to be the voice of reason and responsibility. I seek to give assurance in your hour of doubt, when temptation comes to release the Beast. The Nazis have control for the good of us all. Do not be high and mighty, famously full of yourself, thinking yourself above the law! If you do, you will find yourself standing alone, outcast from we the good citizens. Do that and your fate is surely sealed - as surely as the laws of nature cannot be defied. What I bring you here today is one simple thing: hope for mankind."

Don't dare to ask for more!

When Animal Farm Comes To Life

What kind of country invades a country
that never attacked them?

It's 1939 and Hitler has just invaded Poland, raping and pillaging at will, the atrocities of the SS repulsing even the regular army personnel. It is a nightmare of evil. Der Furor's rationale? Why to bring freedom to the German speaking minority of Poland, of course. The true reason was to grab ever more resources for a fanciful future. War fever swept through the country once more, giving them cause and direction. But really, Germany was doomed at that point having staked itself to a course of self-destruction.

Cut to 2009, America has invaded Iraq (again, to bring freedom!) and we too have failed to repent. ("We elected Obama, what more do the ingrates want?") To not repent means to stay the previous course. So while we may have repented in name, we have not in deed - thus we too have staked ourselves to a path of greater and greater violence. But our false egos will not let us admit that. Can't compare our killing to that of Germany's because good people like us deserve that oil over there!

We do this as if the truth cannot be known - and will not will out.

Looking to earn the SS merit badge

The drug of a "Holy War" is powerful and enticing. But like any poison, the longer it stays in you, the higher the cost of the damage it does. (What's really absurd is many people believe we need this poison to survive!) But those who carry the poison inexorably fear others won't follow its path to destruction. But paranoid Holy Warriors know the value of brainwashing at an early age. The Middle East is light years ahead of us on that but seems now we are catching up!

Cyborg dogs bark at me
But they know not why;
Abandoning their dreams
Thinking they won't die

Mindless hate is a beautiful thing in an attack dog. Remember Napoleon from Animal Farm? He took the Puppies and brainwashed them to suit his own ends, the perfect Useful Idiots trained to find reward in servitude. This same behavior is trickling down from our Permanent War mentality:

Have I got a war for you!

"The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence"

One of the Training Monsters is quoted thusly: "This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl." Same thing was said to the children of Germanic wars. The Monsters teach character building tactics such as this: "Put him on his face and put a knee in his back," a Border Patrol agent explained. "I guarantee that he’ll shut up." The voice of experience, I presume. They hope to seduce the children with guns and violence and regimen designed to appeal to an unformed soul. Turns out, they like to seduce them in other ways too:

"...the Explorers have faced problems over the years. There have been numerous cases over the last three decades in which police officers supervising Explorers have been charged, in civil and criminal cases, with sexually abusing them."

Well, no fucking shit they're abusing them! It's not Gandhi out there teaching them this shit. These aren't true Christians, they're psychos looking to spread their disease. Under the guise of "law enforcement" we are training our own terrorists-to-be, unquestioning and addicted to the kill.

Teach them to hunt the "Bad Guy" -
then make the bad guy whomever you want!

"Their hearts pounding, Explorers moved down alleys where there were hidden paper targets of people pointing guns, and made split-second decisions about when to shoot. In rescuing hostages from a bus taken over by terrorists, a baby-faced young girl screamed, "Separate your feet!" as she moved to handcuff her suspect."

The Typhoid Monsters know that once infected, the children will fight tooth and nail to stay that way, for it gives them their sense of worth and purpose. With our Permanent Wars bankrupting us not only financially but morally, the more we'll find this sort of "training" to be acceptable and to some twisted minds, necessary! We are sliding down the slippery slope of violence and worship of our war machine - just like every other civilization that has imploded. And I see no signs of our stopping. Fear has won the day.

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Hey, it's Disco Night at camp Hero Worship!

This Suit Of Mine

The building had more hallways than ever to be counted,
Which was good,
I rarely ran into the same person twice,
So the time I spent was only in moments of greeting,
And I beguiled them who I be:
Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief;
That's how I wove my web of disguise,
For a moment's time I could be anybody -
But never me,
I saved the truth of me for none but me,
But that's a fate too lonely.

Yes, my shirt is ragged and shoes in disrepair,
My holy jeans in tatters - the clothes of despair,
I told this poem to some,
But not to a Certain One,
Journeying through secret passages,
Revealing the thief in me,
Finding the closet of hope,
"Come see the suit of me,"
The linen shimmered in unaccustomed light,
My Visitor smiled and eyes grew bright,
I had taken an awful chance -
My breath both uneasy but finally shown,
But my gentle Visitor,
Left my cover unblown.

A handsome word was spread,
"He has a suit to see!"
I really got to say,
Was not the worst thing happened to me,
I tire of my disguise of rags,
Seeking safety among the paupers -
Of whom nothing is expected,
Because I know where the world is blind,
And how it ignores the divine,
And finds the shallow sublime,
Knowing this place never admits its crime,
I knew I'd never have to admit mine.


But lonely feet can never stand still,
Seek! Seek! Seek!
But too much wandering makes you ill,
I came upon a garden party,
Through the prison of my eyes,
I felt the life within,
Wishing to join in,
But the guards were of official mind,
Pretty policemen in uniforms creased,
With I clad in disdained smudges,
Against reveling partiers in finest finery,
The copper hissed at me,
"Piss off, you! We'll have no soot upon our suits!"

But a voice spoke up to hear,
The Visitor of my hidden closet,
"He has a suit to see!"
So that somebody let me in -
Sometimes it takes only one,
Reluctant, scared, proud, profane -
That's how my suit debuted,
Among the acceptable folk,
Admiring hands lovingly touched the fabric
of my soul,
Sweet carresses brought forth
an involuntary smile,
But these threads feel so ill-fitting,
And crooked as I walked,
"Dammit, that's why I keep it hidden!"
Until finally I balked.

I had a greater hunger
Than those who munched their food,
And came the fatal moment
For my acting rude,
Peeling off my clothing
Until completely nude,
With needs so stiffly showing,
"My God! He's just too crude!"

Sharp dressed men and well-heeled women,
Observed pristine police wrestle me down,
Below their noses,
In jailhouse my suit glows bright orange,
Of course it wasn't of my choosing,
But that happens when you're losing,
The naked man is evil!
Worse than killing souls combined!
He reveals the ultimate crime,
A sneering inmate asked me of my time,
"Life" was the only sentence,
No more this suit of mine.

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A Polarity of Politeness

He greeted with a politeness -
But never with himself;
His pleasantries were delightness
But had he secret's hell?

He never raised a word
That threatened or cajoled;
His speaking tone was heard:
"If I may, to be so bold."

In a world of fiery lip aiming
And with bony finger pointing;
He forsook angry blaming
Finding no soul disappointing.

Flocking femme fancied his demeanor,
"Oh, he's as polite as could be!"
Burning hearts wished he was meaner,
"Oh...he was as polite as he could be..."


Hidden was a Keyless Door,
"This room where none can endure me."
Politeness forbade us asking more -
Such a lovely currency!

But plain the quiz upon our faces:
Was he a pretender to his joy?
"Please, rest assured my life is aces!
"Forever I the happy toy!"

Well-honed instincts trained to please
Knew the gifts sold to be lauded;
Receiving our soothing appease
We then dutifully applauded.

Yet of his Room I wondered,
Did it hold a raging sin?
Fretting I had blundered
Never asking to be let in.

In proper politic, he said he had it made
Charming us with irresisting kindness;
We kept sunny his pop parade
With a keen obliging blindness.

Dancing to his silent dreams
We mistook his shuffles for a voice;
But life is never as it seems
When felt lived without a choice.

So till the time of no more breath
He claimed impossibility of strife;
Polite he made his tear-stained death:
"Fear not what's lost in life!"

But in hasty post he'd sent a letter
Telling of the Room with Keyless Door;
Hope's confession to sway death better,
"T'was in that room I pled for more."

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