Reel Terror

I was watching the BBC channel on a television in a restaurant I eat at a few times a week.  They played a spectacular reel of suicide bombers (primarily car bombs) and attacks on US personnel which had been caught on film.  There were at least twenty different examples on the reel.

 I thought it was awesome, devastating and terrible.

Then it occurred to me…”Wow, these camera people are pretty lucky to have their cameras rolling and focused on just the right spot at just the right time.”  Luck to this degree is possible but not probable.

Someone has to be informing videographers about impending attacks.  I don’t think a terrorist group would call any media and give the exact location and time of a suicide or other attack on US Occupation Forces.  That would kind of reduce the ‘terror’ element.

Who then?  Who benefits from ‘terror’?  The aggressor.

In this ‘War on Terror’ – Who has created more victims?  Who has received more money?  Who has more at stake?  Who’s political agenda has made the most progress?

I think the answer to these questions is the same as the answer to who would inform the media about ‘terror attacks’.  How do they have advance knowledge of ‘terror attacks’?  Well, probably because they are the people responsible for planning the attacks.

Why?

Nobody likes a bully.  David kicked Goliath’s ass and the people rejoiced. 

But what if Goliath had prevailed?  Surely David would have been cast as villain.  Surely David would have thrown the first stone.  Surely David would have gotten what he deserved – a healthy thrashing.

Today, ‘Goliath’ is poised to destroy ‘David’ and it’s an unfair fight, so ‘David’ is being painted as the antagonist, the aggressor, the terrorist.

There needs to be the perception of a struggle, of a fight and a retaliation.  If ‘David’ does not fight, then there’s no fight & that won’t do.  So we’re told that ‘Dave’ is pretty resilient and we’re shown a whole reel of explosions as evidence.

The pictures of the ‘Highway of Death’ from the Kuwait conflict took a considerable amount of steam out the US war machine.  It was an obvious and absolute rout. Therefore, the US pursuit had to be called off at the Kuwait-Iraq border.  This mistake will not be made twice.

Ask yourself one simple question – when was the last time the US actually won a war (conflict)?

They cannot claim sole victory in WWI or WWII (Europe or Pacific), for too many Allies participated in the effort.  As a matter of fact, the US was the last to join either of these wars.  Things went well in Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Herzegovena.

The War of 1812 resulted in a return to the pre-conflict status quo, meaning the US regained losses suffered during the conflict.  The Spanish-American war worked out, until Castro took Cuba back.

I think the only war the US may have actually won is the American Revolution, which they probably would’ve lost had their not been an ocean between them and the British leadership. 

I should actually research this claim about the US never really being ‘victorious’ in a conflict.  I am pretty well-read in history, particularly the history of war/warfare.

Prove me wrong.

The Silent Revolution (vote but don’t vote)

Ontario elections are coming up.  All right!  I love elections.  I find the shit-chucking very sophisticated, intelligent and classy.  Everyone demeans themselves in their efforts to demean everyone else.  Funny no one seems to stop and think about that. 

I think I finally understand why you can’t take the shit out of elections.  Essentially, the country does not undergo any dramatic change when power changes hands.  It’s always the same crap.  We learn about the previous government’s wrong-doings when the new one takes over & it becomes the built-in excuse for the new government to reneg on all of it’s grandiose campaign promises.  The faces may change, but the stink is always the same. 

Politicians assume we understand this process and make an effort to convince us that their competition will be much worse than themselves.  So when their eventual scandal is revealed, it won’t be as bad as it otherwise could’ve been.  Vote for me!

Screw it.  Waste of time.

I am a firm believer in voting.  I like voting.  Here’s my quandary: what if I don’t like any of the people I am supposed to vote for?  Am I supposed to settle of the least nefarious of the horde?  Do I leave it blank?  Do I destroy the ballot in an act of indignance?  I wonder.  What would happen if I experienced an uncharacteristic sense of generosity and voted for everyone?

In the Canada Elections Act, Paragraph 167(2)(a) says, “No person shall wilfully alter, deface or destroy a ballot.”  Okay.

Paragraph 489(3)(e) states “Every person is guilty of an offence who contravenes any of paragraphs 167(1)(a) to (d) (prohibited acts re ballots) or 167(2)(a) to (d) (prohibited acts re ballots or ballot box with intent to influence vote).  Uh oh!

Paragraph 500(5) contains the punishment – for summary conviction, a fine of not more than $2000 and/or a prison term of not more than a year.  Yikes!  And for a conviction on indictment, a fine of not more than $5000 and/or a prison term of not more than five years.

So…my guess is that it’s a punishable offence for me to vote for everyone, to write ‘Screw You’ or draw a happy face somewhere in the margin, or anything.  Thank goodness for paragraph 163 which plainly states “The vote is secret.”  Direct quote, no paraphrasing!

The vote is secret.  I can’t be caught.  I can do whatever I want, so long as I keep it to myself.  I can vote for everyone if I feel like it.  I’ll (maybe) start the revolution, but will (probably) be silent.  Vote for everyone, drop the ballot in the box and smile.

Don’t tell anyone about this!

A Simple (Sn)Observation

If we’re stupid, how can we expect to teach our children?  If we’re ignorant, how could we expect our children to know anything else?  If we’re wrong, how can we expect our children to get it right?

We are the example.  A poor example are we.

Children want to watch and help.  If you do nothing, you can’t expect anything more from your child.  If you hate your job, your child will never understand anything more than the pleasure of signing out.  If you degrade people, your child will grow up with a false sense of superiority.

We are in trouble.  Our collective state of mind is not well.

Our kids are worse.

Is this what you want?

Cows, sheep and lamb are led as easily to water as to slaughter.  Force-fed food for your fattened son and daughter.

How Can Nothing Be Something?

789-456=333     456-789=-333

456-123=333     123-456=-333

123-789=-666     789-123=666

The sums of these equations are equal to 0 (nothing).

The two measures we use for time & space are sexigesimal (base-60) systems.

60minutes = 60x60seconds = 1hour

6x60=360degrees

A full cycle on the clock and compass is a complete circle, or the sign for zero.  We understand days and years in terms of cycles (or circles), but we consider time as a line.  When travelling on a the line of a circle (circumference), the sense is that you are moving straight ahead and not on a constant curve.  So, it’s easy to loose sight of this on the cosmic scale of time (existence).

All time and space is a cycle (circle, sign for zero).  Everywhere one looks, one can find cycles.  These are all signs for zero (nothing, nil).  Zero is infinite nothingness.  Zero adds meaning by destroying it.  It has a dramatic impact on mathematic equations, yet none at all.

 It is meaningless or meaning less.  I don’t know.

A July Rainbow Doesn’t Always Mean Peace!

Both sides of the same rainbow.  Actually, there were two rainbows, a lighter one is barely visible in the picture on the right.

And then this…storm!  I should mention – these were taken at about 5pm on July 12, 2007.

Rhyme or Reason?

I can’t really do either, but I try.  Oh, I try.

Trust Me (I’m Lying)

We live in a world where we can’t trust anyone or anything.  Everything is like an ad for a downtown rental apartment or a picture of a Big Mac.  Nothing is delivered as promised.  I give a dollar and get fifty cents of shit in return, usually served with a frown.  It’s a post-modern nightmare.

Post-moderism, from what I can remember, is a marked by a break in the link between symbol and meaning.  For instance, examine the disparity between the picture and the reality of the Big Mac (or any fast food!).  The word ‘quaint’ in a rental ad usually means ‘closet-sized’.  The politician promises impossibilities.  The salesman has the greatest product on the market.  If you want to see the sights of the world, go to Las Vegas.

The instant ‘genuine’ is tainted with ‘artificial’, it is fake.  However, if ‘artifical’ is infused with ‘genuine’ it is not considered genuine.  Once ‘genuine’ is gone, it’s gone.  There’s no retrieval or resuscitation.  If words are meaningless, reality is meaningless.  If I can’t believe anything, then there is no truth for me.  This is frightening.

Mattel (sky is falling)

So Mattel got caught…end of story.  Mattel is not unlike the sales rep who pads expenses as a means of increasing their salary.  Someone cut corners to increase margin and got pinched.  I suspect Mattel decided not to keep up with inflation when it came to contracts with various suppliers.  They wouldn’t be alone in the corporate drive to make more money. 

Here’s how it works in a nutshell.  Mattel spends a lot of money on paint each year.  So when a paint contract opens up, vendors scramble to jump on the proverbial gravy train.  The competition is stiff and the best vendor doesn’t always win.  The cheapest vendor wins.  Then the squeeze begins.  Mattel wants value for their almighty dollar and the obsequious vendor, wanting to prolong the relationship, gives in.  From here, one of two things will happen – relations either sour or risks are taken to reduce cost (such as putting lead into the paint).  These decisions are a matter of numbers, not humanity.

The dollar is in charge and someone has to pay so the shareholders can earn a few extras.  I can guarantee you it is not the corporation who pays.  It’s the consumer and the subcontractor (vendor/supplier), both paying from their respective ends of the production line.

Nice enough for the Chairman and CEO of Mattel, Bob Eckert, to apologize to the consumer for running a cheap business.  But…

Included in his statement, “I can’t change what is happened in the past, but I can change how we work in the future.”  Whoa!  If he can change ‘how we work in the future’ and has been working at Mattel since 2000, then isn’t this recall a part of his past future?  Meaning - isn’t he directly responsible for the present circumstances as a result of his historic influence on ‘how we work’?

Maybe what he meant to say was, “We won’t get caught again.”  They had to have known something was wrong.  For instance, how did Mattel design and implement better magnet retention so quickly if they didn’t know the existing magnet was faulty?  Things don’t often happen quickly in large corporations, especially things that represent higher costs.

This breach of trust with their consumer will take a long time to mend.  Or maybe all they need to do is launch the next ‘hot toy’ & all will be forgiven (forgotten).  Children don’t really have memories for this sort of event & parents are too busy paying taxes and working for the cheap-ass corporation (in one way or another) at the same time.

In the end, it’s not fair for me to single out Bob Eckert, who probably did not personally know about any of these transgressions.  (So, sorry to Bob for being CEO of the wrong company at the wrong time!)  But he represents and is compensated by a corporation which was aware at some level that something was amiss.  Again, Mattel is not alone in these transgressions.  Scratch beneath the surface of any large company and you will discover corruption and greed.  It’s called ‘good business’.

Choking on an Itch

Most of the time I don’t even want to think about it.  Yet there it is, lurking like a deformed child in the beauty pageant of my synapses, scarring the other children and ruining the show.  I want to smother it’s perfection, de-bone it’s erectitude and make a filet’o'flesh out of it.  I hate it’s hideous rightousness, it’s blasphemies against truth, it’s soft and foul voice.  It’s the thing I despise most in other people and it’s inside me.

It IS me.

You Tube (Strange)

I’m not sure I understand.  The post titled ‘Low Level Flight’ contains a video from You Tube.  I tried pasting the link in the traditional way , but it would not appear when I posted the entry. 

I had to create a You Tube account and send the link from the You Tube website, which now has my blog info (including my password!).  What the hell?!

Low Level Flight

To all my non-readers…

Low Level Flight – Change For Me

Here’s Low Level Flight.  Ryan Malcolm (vocals), Dave Carter (guitar), James Rooke (guitar & keyboard), Shaun Noronha (bass) & Brandon Merenick (drums).  ’Change For Me’ is the first single and video released from their debut album ‘Urgency’.

These guys are great.

P.S. My girlfriend is one of the dinner guests (best looking girl in the video, I might add).  She bites it in the end.  That’s all right…it’s only make-believe-TV.

What is God?

People talk and write about God as though he were living next door, a close personal friend.  Everyone is familiar with God, but if you ask what ‘God is’, everyone stumbles.  Turns out we don’t know our neighbor so well as we think.

What is God?  [I pulled the following definitions from the results of a google search -define:god]

“The supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions.”

“Any supernatural being worshipped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life or who is the personification of a force.”

“A man of such superior qualities that he seems like a deity to other people; ‘he was a god among men’”

“A material effigy that is worshipped; “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image”; “money was his god”

Of these four definitions, none are inappropriate for understanding our sense of God.  Humanity creates, then covets the power of God.  We conceive.  We worship.  We create gods among men.  We manufacture material effigies.

We are so utterly self-engrossed that we’ve defined God as an extension of ourselves.  Sure the Bible says we were created in the ‘likeness’ of God, but that was written by a man as a literary devise to describe God.  Image always matters, even thousands of years ago. 

It’s hard for us to comprehend the seemingly abstract matters of the Universe.  So it’s very natural for us to attribute the things we don’t understand to some omnipotent being.

The rules of religion have further obscured the identity of God, but worse than that, these rules have separated us from each other.  Religion arose from the rubble & rabble of Babel.  If we are to be pacified and controlled, we need to be frightened.  We are so afraid of dying that we blindly relent to any thing which offers a measure of salvation.  We have been and continue to be taken advantage of by proponents of organized religion.

What is the one thing all life has in common?

Reproduction, whether sexual or asexual.  Life conceives and perpetuates life.  Life creates.  We create.  Dandelions create.  We chase, catch and wish upon dandelion seeds.  Why?  For a second, you are holding God in the palm of your hand.  What better opportunity could there be to make a wish. 

And this is the thing which makes human special among life.  We can wish.  We can imagine.  We have ideas.  There is nothing quite so potent on this planet as a word.  We have words.  Words create.

God is the means of creation, not the ends of creation.

God IS creation.

Bleached to Extinction

Leach the bleach.  Teach, preach, beseech the leech.  This white isn’t right.  This white isn’t pure.  This white isn’t light.

S’paradigm?

What came first, the law or the sin?  Slip into someone else’s skin, then wonder where you’ve been.  Your sense of right and wrong will be worn thin like a political grin. 

Walk a mile before you decide not to smile.  Gratification isn’t always instant, the best of it takes a while.