"Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of the colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, (s)he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." -- Robert F. Kennedy


I've used the analogy of the Roman Empire to describe the United States, and truly that analogy becomes more and more prescient with each passing week.

Bush is now Nero, on the weekend his chief consul, Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting companion in the face, spraying him with shotgun pellets. Noone bothered to tell the Imperial President until nearly 24 hours later.

It's been said that the worst thing about evil is it's banality, it's easy to sneak up on you. We can all spot the villain with the twirling moustache and sinister laugh, it's harder to spot the villain who comes to us with good intentions.

The nature of politics in the western world has been dictated by a history of civil discourse, we've had politicians who have disagreed with each other, some have indeed been corrupt and out for personal gain. We've had others who have manipulated the process in order to serve a personal agenda.

However, up until 2000, I don't think we've seen in the western world a leader who was truly evil.

I'm so tired lately, and I think it's because the battle against evil is being lost. Preparations for war are being made on a daily basis, and it barely registers on the news. The political pundits are discussing it during the graveyard hours, but it's not part of the normal conversation. Not that long ago, preparations for war would have dominated the news, but we've become so numb to war, to the idea of invading another country that we don't even talk about it, the murder of a con man's wife and child is much more important.

This is not a matter of a disagreement over intentions, this is true world domination. The man who sits in the White House has surrounded himself with a praetorian guard bent on bending the world to it's will. Countries that differ with the intentions of the white house are to be toppled and their governments replaced.

It's not just countries that have come under scrutiny either, it's individuals. The NSA spying scandal has shown that not even citizenship in the republic guarantees freedom from suspicion.

These are strange times, embassies are burning in the middle east and cartoonists are fearing for their lives.

I'm listening to the stax/volt collection from 1958, trying to get my feet hopping again, all the while, apparently Aretha Franklin is singing the American National Anthem at the orgy bowl taking place this afternoon in Detroit.

Weird times are upon us my friends, 2006 is going to be a watershed year, a year that determines the course of the next 100 years. We can either roll over and accept being sodomized by the government or we can stand up and say enough is enough. At least with the tax cuts being dispersed willy nilly, at least proving we're only whores, and not just easy.

As long as we get our 95 dollar per quarter tax rebate, we're willing to accept a totalitarian government, free to collect information on us at will, as long as we're not "doing anything" we've got nothing to worry about right?

I'm so very tired.

You can't put your arms around a memory

Thursday started out with a bang: a gunshot to the chest on a drug deal gone bad. Heat, humidity, moonlight--all the elements in place for a long weekend. I was good at my job: there were periods when my hands moved with a speed and skill beyond me and my mind worked with a cool authority I had never known. But in the last year I had started to lose that control. Things had turned bad. I hadn't saved anyone for months. I just needed a few slow nights, a week without tragedy followed by a couple of days off.Paul Schrader "Bringing out the dead"

I'm haunted by a lot of ghosts lately. That's why I haven't written, I'm spiritually, intellectually, and physically tired. Tired of the fight, I just want to lay in a forest and sleep.

I'm tired of swinging punches for an audience that doesn't see the swinging. An audience with a ringside seat unaware of the fight going on for their benefit.

I'm tired of the sacrifices I've made in my life for people unaware of it, I'm tired of the stress I've put my body and heart through. I look into my eyes in the mirror and I see the ghosts of lives that could have been.

I sit in my chair and I see the ghosts of friends past walking by, friends who no longer shuffle to and fro on this globe.

"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." -- John Philpot Curran: Speech upon the Right of Election, 1790

A rare sight, a big glowing disc in the sky that seems to be generating warmth, some people are calling this object a "sun" a homonym of "son". This glowy bright disc seems to warming the land as it rises in the sky.

I came home from work last night, popped some popcorn and sat down to watch a taped copy of the State Of The Union last night. As I sat back, my gag reflex kicked in every once in awhile causing popcorn kernels to fly across the room.

An improvement over other years should be noted, he only invoked 9/11 twice during his speech. However, his words about protecting liberties around the world, made me practically scream in despair, the hypocricy of this man in particular talking about defending liberty is beyond the pale.

An interesting quote,

The Palestinian people have voted in elections. And now the leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism and work for lasting peace.

This is everything Hamas has stood for, I'm not defending Hamas, but this is their platform. Essentially, what Bush is saying, "we're all for democratically elections as long as the results please us".