Well Said H.L. Mencken

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." 
-H.L. Mencken

Extortion of Humanity

Stepping back and taking a look at the symphony of shit that is the existence of humanity really gets you thinking.

Exhortation in Red Ring - Veer Munshi

Seriously - we've based our entire existence - every second of our limited time here - on an intrinsically meaningless piece of paper? Spoken like some who's broke - I know. But what the fuck?

Oh - it's backed by gold though. Or maybe even oil. Or maybe the good intentions of a nuclear arsenal.

So we have a meaningless piece of paper, backed by an aesthetically pleasing, but ultimately meaningless mineral, backed by perhaps the bane of human existence, backed by probably the destroyer of humanity.

Yes - technology is great. And without decomposed bio-material we'd be so much less than human - right? Where would we be without our iPhones? Maybe having a real conversation with someone? Hunting for dinner? Tending our crops? Slaughtering our enemies like savages? I don't know.

But I do know that technology keeps us civil. Without technology there would be mass famine, war, disease, corruption, oppression, and slavery. OK - so maybe we still have all that shit. But money and technology sure help me avoid it.

Bill Hicks - It's Just a Ride

Gingrich-Cain 2012

If the Mayan prophecy is accurate, then the GOP ticket will likely be Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain.

With Perry's campaign implosion and the unlikelihood of Romney garnering weary swing voters and evangelicals who find Mormonism out of the mainstream coupled with each being GOP establishment outsiders - winning the nomination seems increasingly unlikely for them.

This brings me to the conclusion - albeit a horrifying one - that good ole' boy and  resilient GOP veteran - who has thus far sustained little damage from Perry and Romney's squabbles - will snatch the nomination and take a token African American running mate with him to contest Obama for the presidency.

Newt is already gambling on a controversial immigration stance - perhaps courting the increasingly important Latino swing voters in the process - while his campaign is also stealing valuable media coverage from Perry and co.

So, the question now is will the economy tank President Obama's chances of re-election or will killing Osama Bin Laden and pulling out of Iraq be enough to save his aspirations?

My Goldfish Died

He was a good fish, though at times gluttonous. He was strong too, outlasting his shoal mates by a good four months.

In the end Bangkok's fetid tap water probably killed him (yes - I dechlorinated the water and let it sit for a few days - and yes I should have used bottled water but with the recent shortage it seemed too valuable of a commodity).

I was saddened by the realization that perhaps my selfishness caused his death. I saw his death as a dark omen.

But then I realized - he was not really gone - he simply went back to the place from where he came from.

Although his corporeal form is no longer - his life force will be passed on. Maybe a street cat will consume his corpse (it was too big to be flushed) and gain enough energy to survive the night. In time that cat too will perish - but maybe its body will be composted and come back as some flowers - or even some grass that a cow will eat.

And one day that cow too will die - and perhaps some starving child will consume its flesh - thus keeping him alive for just one more night. And maybe that child will go on to change the world - all because of the life force passed on from my goldfish.

The Terrifying 2012 Presidential Election

There is roughly a year before the next U.S. Presidential Election - and things are starting to look scary. Very scary.

With much of President Obama's liberal base disfranchised by what has been perceived as a lackluster performance - reelection seems less and less likely.

First - civil discontent is growing by leaps and bounds everywhere in the United States. Protesters have taken to the streets in almost every major city demanding financial equality. Unfortunately for Mr. Obama much of the discontentment lies within a key demographic - young voters. Many of these young voters are pissed. Many will not vote for Obama or any candidate for that matter.

Second - the Electoral College has been quietly altered as have some important election laws in key states.

"Eight States (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington) gained votes, due to reapportionment based on the 2010 Census. Similarly ten States (Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania) lost votes."

"In 2011, several states enacted new laws that the Democratic Party attacked as attempts to improve the Republican Party's presidential prospects. Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia made their early voting periods shorter. Florida and Iowa barred all ex-felons from voting. Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin began requiring voters to identify themselves with government-issued IDs before they could cast their ballots." Source.

Bill Clinton denounced it, saying, "There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today". He said the moves would effectively disenfranchise core voter blocs that trend liberal, college students, Blacks, and Latinos.

Finally - the Republican candidates are frightening. Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann. Need I say more?

A Few Hemingway Quotes

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." 

 

"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools." 

"Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth." 

"I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen." 

"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." 

"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason." 

The Amazing and Frightening 20th Century

Some random facts about the 20th Century:

• Life expectancy increased from 35 years to 65 years.
• The number of people killed by government actions could be as high as 400 million.
• It started with horses, but ended with the space shuttle.
• By the end of the 20th century, more technological advances had been made than in all of preceding history.
• World population increased from about 1.6 billion people in 1901 to 6.1 billion at the century's end.
• Nuclear weapons gave humankind the means to annihilate itself.

Do you think we'll make it to the next century?

Marketers Love Disasters

Disasters are great for certain businesses and corporations. Marketing folks love setting up photo ops displaying their logos prominently and crafting nifty CSR themed websites.They've done something good - and they want to make sure you damn well fucking know that they've done something good (or that they're really sorry for doing something really bad).

They are responsible - they are socially responsible - they ooze Corporate Social Responsibility (I'd like to shake the hand of the copywriter that coined that term).

Do these soulless multinational entities give a fuck about those affected by the hurricane/earthquake/flood/fire/oil spill? Probably not - but their PR/Marketing teams (internal or external) are expert at spinning catastrophes - either self-made (as in the case of Shell below) or naturally occurring - into a positive PR marketing message.

Sure - a nice big fat check does a lot to alleviate suffering.

Shell has paid out over $34.5 billion in taxes and royalties to the Nigerian federal government. That's good right? That money has probably helped the poorest and most impoverished people of the Nigerian delta, right? That money probably set up some really great environmental protections, right? That's enough cash to make all those human rights violations and crimes against the environment go away, right?

How Steve Jobs Affected My Life

It was late August 1998 when I watched Steve Jobs unveil the original iMac G3. Clad in a bondi blue shell - it was like nothing I had ever seen before. Instantly - I knew I had to have it despite the software limitations of owning a Mac at that time.

I begged my mom until she finally gave in and for the first time in my life I developed a friendship with a machine. Countless hours of my teenage years were spent playing one of the few online multi-player games, Myth II, available for Mac at that time. The Mac gaming community was a small tight knit crew - that despised our Windows using counterparts - and revered Steve Jobs.

Eventually - it was time to head off to college - and I brought with me my shiny new iMac G4 - an alien looking machine, beautifully designed like no other computer. Through college - it too was my companion - drawing onlookers from around my dorm to admire its revolutionary design - as Mac owners were far and few at the time.

Necessity dictated the need for a notebook - so without second though I snapped up a shimmering white iBook G3. Again - this ivory colored contraption brandished with an Apple logo never ceased to draw praise for its unique and beautiful design.

As software advanced - I craved something with more muscle - then Steve Jobs announced the burly Power Mac G5. I remember the excitement upon arrival of this beast of a machine - with its industrialized stainless steel case and futuristic design. It too was my companion as I wasted countless hours playing Tom Clancy games with friends all over the world.

Again - necessity dictated the need for a portable device - and when I saw the sleek MacBook Core 2 Duo - I once again knew that I had to have it. It was my last Apple computer purchase - I still use it to this day.

I guess I'm an Apple hipster in a way - as soon as everyone and their brother owned one - the novelty wore off a bit. But either way these delightful machines - oozing with the creative genius of Steve Jobs - played a big part in my coming of age.

I was choked up a bit when I heard about his passing - he was a father figure of sorts - and he was claimed by the same disease as my old man. Maybe the dude wasn't Gandhi or Jesus - but he touched a lot of lives and changed the way we think and interact with each other - perhaps for the better.