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Friday, April 22, 2016

Dance with them that brung ya



“We are marching in a compact group along a precipitous and difficult path, firmly holding
each other by the hand. We are surrounded on all sides by enemies, and we have to
advance almost constantly under their fire. We have combined, by a freely adopted decision,
for the purpose of fighting the enemy, and not of retreating into the neighbouring
marsh, the inhabitants of which, from the very outset, have reproached us with having separated
ourselves into an exclusive group and with having chosen the path of struggle instead
of the path of conciliation. And now some among us begin to cry out: Let us go into the
marsh! And when we begin to shame them, they retort: What backward people you are!
Are you not ashamed to deny us the liberty to invite you to take a better road! Oh, yes,
gentlemen! You are free not only to invite us, but to go yourselves wherever you will, even
into the marsh. In fact, we think that the marsh is your proper place, and we are prepared
to render you every assistance to get there. Only let go of our hands, don’t clutch at us
and don’t besmirch the grand word freedom, for we too are “free” to go where we please,
free to fight not only against the marsh, but also against those who are turning towards the
marsh!”
Vladmir Lenin
“what is to be done”,1902

“Omg, he quoted Lenin”
“You mean the Beatle?”
“No, the Supercommunist, Russian Revolutionary, who embodies the only possible form of that Great Evil, Communism.”
“Is the quote any good?”
“Of course not,it's frikkin Communism, man!... and him using it, at all, means that he agrees, jot and tittle, with everything that Bad Person ever said, did, thought, or considered.
He should therefore be cast out of the Club and shot...or at least ridiculed then ignored.”
“Seems a little extreme, doesn't it? I mean, we pride ourselves on our Tolerance, for one....and on our absolute Love of Free Speech, for another. Perhaps he saw value in the quote, but doesn't agree with the author on every issue...or even on any issue. Perhaps we are missing something.”
“Our Benevolent and Magnanimous Toleration is only for the Right Wing....we only tolerate them, which makes us pretty. Those Commies, though....They'll ruin everything.
How are we supposed to make money, if we rail against those who have it?
Without money, how will we continue to lay down on the floor of the two chambers, and in the Oval Office, and grovel to Power?
The Commies....and the damned Socialists, too(they're all the same anyway)...they just don't understand where the Power is...otherwise, they'd be right here beside us, on our knees. Everyone knows that if you want Power, you must go to the Source...and beg to join it...to become a Part of it...so that we can fight effectively.
We need to become a lesser enemy, so we can fight the greater...somehow....when the time is right.
In the mean time...
We should join them, Gandalf....we should join the Dark Side....
It would be wise, my friend...”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/04/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-dnc-primary-moderates/

again, I give you my political philosophy, in image form:



The Comments Sections are rife with odious and undemocratic apologists for Power, for Paradigm Defense.
Even for Incrementalism...which has failed repeatedly to stem the tide of GOP destruction.
“But...but...the young'uns don't vote!!!”...So saith Bill Clinton, himself, in the latest installment of his ongoing “Get Off My Lawn” Tour.
Never is it even considered that Democrats and Democrat-Leaning folks, are less than Enthused for a very good reason.
Namely, Incrementalism and a 40-year swing to the Right.
The Party Establishment gives us uninspiring candidates, and then laments that we are uninspired.
I am no Leninist...but it says something when somebody like him said things a hundred years ago that are perfectly instructive and apt for today's political situation.
Similarly to this, from our own sordid history:

“Of course, Socialism is violently denounced by the capitalist press and by all the brood of subsidized contributors to magazine literature, but this only confirms the view that the advance of Socialism is very properly recognized by the capitalist class as the one cloud upon the horizon which portends an end to the system in which they have waxed fat, insolent and despotic through the exploitation of their countless wage-working slaves. “-Eugene V. Debs

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Hypogastruridae

Mom calls all breathless..."There's some kind of purple bug in the puddle in the garden!""
I hobble over there, with a magnifying glass(made in Occupied Japan), and the new Iphone.
There they lie, in a quivering mat floating in a puddle...teeming...
and so small that even with my glasses, I cannot distinguish an individual.
Under the glass, it's still difficult to single out just one....they are clumped together in the manner of fire ants in a flood.
More seem to be emerging from the soil at the margins of the puddle...but so fast that I cannot be sure.
Worried that this may be the vanguard of some alien invasion {see:(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness_Falls_%28The_X-Files%29) etc} , I take a picture and a video, and send it to Texas A&M's Entomology Department.
They are Springtails....and are one of the most ancient of insects.
So ancient in fact, that they are no longer considered insectivora, at all.
These apparently eat the hyphae of soil fungi, and break down organic detritus...so they're good guys.
Most of the time, they live out their lives deep in the soil profile. The recent Monsoon-like rains have brought them out.
They were in every puddle that I passed on my way back.
They also are an indicator species, like frogs and such...being particularly intolerant of herbicides.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Texdems

howdy.
I just read this, on Huffpo:
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-state-democrats_us_5716957ce4b06f35cb70ff8a)

...and wanted to throw my two (metaphorical) cents into the "debate".(I'm done sending y'all money)
Those two cents are as follows:
1. The Democratic Party has brought whatever disillusion and disenchantment that it's Base is feeling and expressing upon itself.
It ain't "bernie bros" or "Hippies" or "unrealistic expectations".
It's the Party, itself, that has moved so steadily to the Right, lo these past 4 decades, that it resembles more closely the erstwhile Moderate Wing of the GOP.
Neoliberalism, the constant fellation of giant Corporations and Wall Street, the utter cowardice in the face of the Right Wing Mindfuck, and now, with this election, the systemic corruption and unfairness...all of this has led to this impasse. The Party has abandoned FDR and all things Liberal...even going so far as to hide from that word, when our opponents flung it at us.
For shame!
2. Here in the States...which is what this particular kerfuffel is about...well...where are you?
I realise that I live way out in the boonies, in a Red State,and all...but still.
I've had to make my own campaign signs for the last ten plus years. Our local party is a wine tasting club,hiding in their hillforts, lest Uncle Billy Bob learns that they're "pinko's"...and unwilling to do anything to grow the Base, or rile up what base there is, or even let us know that we're not alone.
No campaign headquarters here, or in the surrounding four counties, for the last 2 elections(at least that I could locate....the one phone number was disconnected, the rest never return messages).
Why is it, again, that I should send you money?
That's all I hear from the Democratic Party, state and National:"send a check"...even engaging in bullying, intimidating tactics when I plead poverty...and begin to list the above grievances.
3(ok...3 cents): this go around, I am angered by WasermanSchultze(sp-2), and the rest of the Third Way "New Democrat" nonsense, attempting to smear the first actual Liberal to run for the WH in my lifetime...I have been labeled a misogynist and a trump supporter, and even been told to "love it or leave it"...that "we don't need any socialists/communist/dreamers in 'our' party"...this by apparent apparatchiks of the DNC.
The rhetoric and tactics of many of the so called "hillbots" is fucking disgusting and looks strangely familiar...it is almost identical to that of the Teabillies and Randian Trolls that I've been fighting all these years.
...and not a word from the Party Big Wigs about this abuse and ugliness....just a look down the nose at us little people who don't understand the need to go hat in hand to them that stole my country.
I was under the impression that the Democratic Primary was intended to be Democratic...but it turns out it was to be a Coronation.
I'll write in Bernie, come the General...and if he loses, I'll go to the Greens.
This is NOT Bernie's doing, but yours'.
When you all cast about for someone to blame when the Democrats go the way of the GOP, the Whigs, etc, look no further than your mirror.
thanks for all the fish.
Josef.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Bitch



did you know that “bitch” is often used as a verb?
As in “ I called my congresscritter/weasel to bitch him out for further heights of rank hypocrisy...”?
I said this in a post on a Liberal Webforum...and the post was held back...no explanation, at all.
I figgered that it was due to later mentioning the likely future necessity of eating the Rich...after all, cannibalism is not very polite...but no.
when the post finally appeared, the word “bitch” was replaced with “*****”.
This is why I abandoned facebook:
Hysterical people, with very large and angry toes...so large that one can't help but trample upon them.

Towards the end of my FB career, I put up a Youtube of Miles Davis, from Kind of Blue....and a woman lit into me ,bigtime—screeching, “don't you know that he hated women?!!>>??”
I replied, “well, his music is quite profound, nevertheless...”
This was, apparently, a terrible crime...and she didn't hesitate to launch into a vile and petty diatribe against all men, everywhere...and me and Mr Davis, especially...for hating on women.
I was quite taken aback by this display....but I couldn't inquire as to the reasoning behind it, because she “unfriended” me.
I went and lurked on her page, because that's what I do(people fascinate me), and found that she was holding forth, eviscerating me in absentia for the sins of all men...I was “probably a rapist”...and “obviously only wants to keep women in their place...on their backs and in the kitchen...”
on and on and on.
All of this, for posting the quintessential Jazz music of the 20th Century, and not hating Miles Davis because he was, in addition to being a Genius, an asshole and a misogynist.
I suspect that the ban on the word “bitch” is of the same genus.
Even when used as a verb...in reference to actual misogynists and actual assholes(my Critters).

To be honest, I was offended, because I am currently the most Feminist person I know, and have been militantly Feminist for my whole life.

Now, in the latest national example of this phenomenon...we have this:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/04/14/_corporate_democratic_whores_is_a_sexist_slur_that_demeans_women.html

I've been calling Congress...in toto, federal and state...”Whores” for 20 years.
I call Cspan the “Whores and Weasels Channel”.
I've called one of my US Senators(Cornyn) a “Whore” and a “Prostitute” to his virtual face since he arrived in office.
The Texas Capitol, in my language, is “The Big Pink Whorehouse in Austin”....and will continue as such until there is some obvious change in practice.
This usage has nothing whatever to do with Womyn.
It has to do with taking money from giant corporations and then doing their will, to the detriment of the real, actual human beings that these creatures are supposed to represent.

I will continue to use this word, in this way.

The Democratic Party is infested(“oooh...he said “infested...just like Hitler!!!!”) with Corporate Whores...they are even organised, as the “New Democrats”, and formerly the “Democratic Leadership Council”.
I think they still identify as “Third Way”.
Their habit of going on their knees to Corporate America, and taking what amounts to Bribes, all while calling themselves “Democrats”, is a large part of what is wrong with our nation.
Is it not obvious that the Clinton Duo fits this bill perfectly?

But the folks who would have this practice continue indefinitely, until America is an unrecognisable sewer of Neoliberal perfidy, have the largest toes of all.
Since Hillary began her first run at the White House in her own right, her defenders have been painting everyone who disagrees with her policies and philosophy as Misogynist Assholes who hate all women and are probably rapists.
No parsing, no attempt to look into the problems we identify, no taking us seriously...in spite of reams of evidence, and our shared history of the last 25 or so years....nope.
Just an immediate resort to throwing the Misogynist label at anyone who wants the Democratic Party to actually Be Democratic, and Gender Blind.
Trump....as stupid as he is...has a salient point about “Political correctness”.
It's a Democratic Thing, mostly(although the Right have their own sacred cows(and don't like being called Corporate Whores, either))....and serves to demonise anyone who would oppose the Party Line of Neoliberalism and Corporate Rule.
Keep removing words from circulation, and we'll be left with little to work with, aside from “Approved Speech”...kept in Pens(“Free Speech Zones”)...and unable to challenge the evisceration of Democratic Republicanism.

Fuck That.
I will continue to say what I mean, especially if it “offends” the Powers That Be.
That's what Americans do...or are supposed to do.
If a great number of Politicians...who pretend to work for the People....dislike being labeled “Whores”, they should cease the behaviour that engenders such labels.
They should go into Gucci Gulch, just outside Our Capitol Building, with brooms, and run off the Lobbyists(“Johns”) who lurk there.
They should expose the Bribery and attempted Bribery that is so rampant in all of the People's Houses.
Instead of complaining about being called ugly names, perhaps they should try to do something about the Corruption and downright Evil that passes for “campaign finance”.
If they would only stand up to the Corporate Overthrow of OUR Government, then I would be happy to label them “Statesmen(and Stateswomyn)” and Champions of the People.
Until these things come to pass, they are Whores and Weasels....and undeserving of any Respect.







Friday, April 1, 2016

House




It is
accomplished
(τετέλεσται )
I've done it.

I've built a house.

Sturdy.
Dry.
Warm....and Cool...
Genius.
Whole thing's a Heat Engine.
And Immune from the crazy West Wind we get out here.
(touch wood)
Morning Light, Maximised.
Hot Afternoon Sun, I'm in the Shade.

No Blueprints.
Not even drawings.
All in my Head.
Now, made Manifest.
Right there, before me.

I have done it.
Invincit!


I have caused this Edifice to rise up from the Earth.
I....a Cripple!....have done this Deed.

I am Mighty!, thereby.