Walmart and the DHS are teaming up - Do you feel safer?

Digital Internment Camps

Imagine if the Nazis had Facebook - the power of such a tool for nefarious activities is terrifying.

Fortunately the modern day world lives in peaceful harmony with one another and governments are altruistic. Therefore Facebook and the entire social web - where everything is public knowledge - could never be a tool of oppression - right?

It's inconceivable to imagine that the Information Awareness Office would use personal Facebook profiles to predict national security threats - isn't it? 

And our personal information would never be shared with credit card, pharmaceutical, and defense companies - correct?  

Why would they possibly want to know where we are, what we're doing, who we're with, what we ate, our deepest fears, our loves, our hates, our employment history, our martial status, and our favorite ice cream flavor?

How could any of this information be useful if there's a massive energy shortage? Or terrorist attack? Or environmental meltdown? It's not like they would need to control large swaths of the population or anything. 

The Terrorists Have Won

Democracy has died, liberty has perished, and the American dream has become a nightmare. Islands of oil soaked avian corpses have replaced amber waves of grain and the Tea Party now bears the Gadsden flag.

It truly is the end of fucking days - corporate fascism has become our creed and killing brown people in oil laden countries our deed.  

We have a brown President - but even he makes Uncle Tom  look like Malcolm X.

Just how far has our union fallen?

The very tenant of our society - Freedom - is being shat upon by those that claim to be the most patriotic.

Let them build a fucking Mosque next to the Gorund Zero. Hell, let them build a god damn Mosque on Ground Zero.

Why? It will prove to the world - and those who hate our foreign policy and government (no one hates our freedom) - that we are directed by our ideals about liberty and personal freedom, that we are not reactionary xenophobes, that the rights of everyone no matter race or religion are sacred.

But of course this is kool-aid drinking bullshit liberal fluff - ban Islamic teachings and begin construction of internment camps for 'rehabilitation', elect Sarah Palin President, Rush Limbaugh Minister of Propaganda, and Glenn Beck Secretary of State. Let's get this shit over with.

iGenocide

I agree with Ted Kaczynski's views on industrialized civilization. I don't agree with his whole killing people letter campaign, but the dude had a point. 

Ted on giving up modern conveniences that rely on petroleum:

"I don't think it can be done. In part because of the human tendency, for most people, there are exceptions, to take the path of least resistance. They'll take the easy way out, and giving up your car, your television set, your electricity, is not the path of least resistance for most people."  —Ted Kaczynski

While he was insane - as most geniuses are - his manifesto foreshadowed much of what society is going through now. 

We are faced with a stark decision; continue our lives of convenience or take drastic steps to change. The choice is obvious and we in fact don't really have a choice. 

Wars will continue to be fought for 'liberty' and 'freedom'. 

Oil companies will continue to commit heinous acts in the name of our addiction, as demonstrated here, here, and here. 

The iPhone and other gadgets will continue to require Coltan, which is mined by slaves in Congo and assembled by suicidal sweat shop workers in China. 

And BP will keep on being BP. 

Yes indeed, I agree with Ted, in that I don't think it can be done - an oil free modern society. But only to a degree. Where he was wrong - suggesting that violent provocation might hasten collapse. It will come naturally, and be great entertainment - what's better than watching unmanned drones rain missiles upon concrete grottoes, tarred sea-life clamor for oxygen, and indigenous people shed native garb for hazmat suits?     

The BP Oil Spill is a Blessing

Few things make me as ill as the desecration of wildlife.

However, this catastrophe may be a blessing, in that it will illuminate the innate corruption of our representatives.

The US Government is to blame for this disaster – BP is simply a parasitic twin with a black card (pun indented).

Our representatives essentially rapine pillaged the fuck out of the Gulf of Mexico and disguised their transgressions with ‘executive privilege’ as they covered up the inner workings of the secret energy task force.

The Bobby Jindal and the Minerals Management Service were for sale, scumbag senators sold the drilling rights, and Halliburton poured the concrete.

One of the most important ecosystems on Earth was irreparably damaged, thousands have lost their livelihoods, and millions of gallons of some shit called Corexit was dumped into the ocean without fully understanding its effects on wildlife and humans. Yeah, with a name like Corexit, it must be environmentally friendly.

While this is a great tragedy that is bound to get worse, I take solace in knowing that perhaps this will light a fire under the asses of the goaded masses, forcing them to realize that they have been on the receiving end of arcane capitalist rape for the past hundred years. But, it probably won’t. 

Pink sky at night is a sailor's delight.

Sent via BlackBerry® from AIS

The Delusion of Democracy

Impoverished people around the world have killed, died, and sacrificed everything for democracy. Another clever word for what is essentially mob rule – democracy is a means of keeping the herded masses content. The plebs think they have a say in what ‘their’ government is doing when in reality there is a class – commonly referred to in academia as the elites (the monied few) – that are the real deciders.

But what forms the impecunious masses’ perspective of this ambiguous ideology? 

Perhaps, it is that ‘shining city upon a hill’ the illuminated symbol of democracy – the United States of America. But is there a more perfect example of why democracy is a fallacy, a cleverly crafted means of plebian appeasement? Endless corruption, an ultra-violent foreign policy, class division – the key ingredients of the American brand of democracy. Is this really what people want when they seek democracy? 

Democracy – in the case of America – is fascism or the perfect merger of corporation and state. The military industrial complex profits from a belligerent foreign policy, pharmaceutical companies profit from lax regulation, and the energy industry profits from a combination of the aforementioned – all at the expense of the common folk.

Fascism is disguised in the shroud of democracy – why die for an ideological false prophet in the fight between two factions of aristocracy? Accept your place in the social order and be thankful for what you have – then unite society as one, roast the bones of the elites in the ashes of the proverbial senate house, and repeat every century or so. 

The Revolution – American Style

This musing is in no way calling for and or supporting the use of violence.

As an American, I have been brainwashed since birth to be ultra-nationalistic with a penchant for psychotic violence. Born in the heat of the Reagan years, I grew up amid the tension of the Cold War, Oliver North, and the first invasion of Iraq. Only 26-years on, and I’ve lived through three formal wars, numerous clandestine incursions, and a plethora of aerial bombardments, all brought to me live via the journalistic expertise of CNN.

During my younger and more naïve years, I was appalled by war and everything related to it. Now, as a seasoned adult that has been thoroughly soaked in the modern media’s collage of death, I’ve come to appreciate the capabilities of violence. Violence gets shit done – from the provocation of the US Empire to the cowering of entire populations.

Today, I find myself in a country racked by political upheaval and can’t help but to scratch my head at the tactics of the proletariat. They honestly believe a smattering of donated blood will push mass political change that causes the bourgeoisie to retreat from the halls of power? No, this isn’t Gandhi’s peaceful rebellion that eroded British rule; this is an attempt to topple a caste system that has been in place for centuries.

Yet, we find the proletariat rallying behind a despicable bourgeoisie figurehead. Reds, I’m sorry, but the revolution is doomed to fail, lest you dump your shallow notions of democracy and pick up both the pen and the sword.          

It's another beautiful day in BKK.

Sent via BlackBerry® from AIS

Facebook, Twitter, and the Fall of Thought

Modern technology truly is a blessing. We can communicate with loved ones from halfway around the world, look up any factoid at will, and accomplish a multitude of other mind numbing feats.

However, one has to wonder what has been lost. The great thinkers, prior to modern marketing techniques, must have been so much more focused. Imagine no internet, mobile phones, television. Not such a bad thought.

If Tolstoy was twittering would War and Peace ever have been written? What if Dostoyevsky was too busy updating his Facebook status to pen Crime and Punishment?

Are we living in the era of anti-thought? It seems as though there are so many stimuli in the digital world that we don’t have to think anymore. We chew and swallow. Consume and digest.