HARBINGER OF DOOM

The Joys Of Inflation

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 08:18:00 +0000

My buddy Sid turned me on to this fun little fact...

Look at this pleasant little house in Zimbabwe...

Ent hall, lounge, dining room, 4 bed, 2 bath & guest loo. Kitchen is ordinary. DSQ, DLUG & storeroom. Seasonal garden with Chiptile pool. Property is walled on 3 sides with fence on one side and manual gates.

It lists at $220,000 (USD)...

But what if you were to attempt to purchase this humble abode in the native currency?

With the conversion rate of $500,000,000,000 ZBD to $1 USD, the house would cost a mere $11,000,000,000,000,000... or... $11 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars...

WTF?

Well kids, its called inflation and its what happens when you monetize debt.

By the way, in case you were wondering... we Americans are about to monetize our debt.

Big time.

Will the US dollar take the extreme southbound route of Zimbabwean dollar?

Doubtful...

But isn't it fun to ponder on how much of our collective buying power will vanish into thin air...

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Re-Booting You Too

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:41:00 +0000

Disclaimer: I was a rabid U2 fan until around 1995... since then I've just been somewhat mildly obsessed.

The new U2 album "No Line On The Horizon" seems to have cause quite a kerfuffle among the band's most fervent followers...

Is it as terrible as many have lamented? Or is it a veteran band's brave attempt at experimentation and relevance?

In my opinion, it is both... While I find the album to be sonically pleasing and sometimes daring, it is woefully short on memorable songs... you know, the type of U2 songs that used to reach down into your chest and force an emotional response...

That said, one cannot hope that the work of a 30-year-old band will have the same impact upon you as it did when you were young and first enthralled with them... First of all… not only was the band different at that initial stage...

but...

so

were

YOU.

It is an impossible and unrealistic expectation... Things change, we grow older... often most ungracefully... Perhaps we should realize that things are not, nor will they ever be like they once were... nor will our emotional attachments, our desires, our dysfunctions, our addictions...

The quest to reclaim our youthful exuberance is not only impossible, but embarrassingly silly...

U2 has gotten older... and so have we...

go figure...

I just spent some time in the studio with the respected leader of a 30-year-old band who was dealing with these same issues... Does he make the album he wants to? Or does he rewrite old hits desperately seeking another? What position does commerce have in the equation? Do you tread the familiar and plod safely along, or do you risk the possibility of alienating the old fans in search of new territory? This is a quandary for just about every artist lucky enough to have a career that lasts a decade or so...

The Stones, Who, Doors, Led Zeppelin and Neil Young have released their share of turkeys... given the overall quality of their work, I think we can forgive those infrequent artistic transgressions...

To their credit, U2 have never played it safe... Some of the music they released in the mid-90’s had me beyond puzzled... I did not care for much of it... however, I respected them for making the attempt.

This new album is merely an honest photograph of the band in its present state... love them or hate them, this is a band that still tries new things, and for that alone they should be commended... Had they wanted to, they could have re-written “The Joshua Tree” 10 times over and done quite well indeed...

Last year I had the pleasure of seeing “U23D”… the phenomenal live three dimensional Mexico City/Buenos Aires concert film presented by National Geographic...

U23D

I was astounded at how well their newer material fit firmly within the soul of the old… there was no letup in conviction or passion, from the audience or the band…

There is a reason that this is still the biggest band in the world, and its not just clever marketing... It is the fact that they inspire... they emote... as Lou Reed once said, “A U2 show is like going to church”.

I have found that my favorite U2 albums were always the ones that were hard to embrace at first... Perhaps if you give it a chance to grow on you and you will find that there is some magic there... maybe not the magic you wanted or were expecting, but some magic nonetheless...

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Surely A Sign Of The Apocalypse....

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Quite frankly, I don't know whether to laugh or be creeped out...

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In Layman's Terms

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:55:00 +0000

In case you've always wondered, but never really took the time to figure out why you are about to be jobless, homeless and penniless, here is why...

Enjoy.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

My only issue with this presentation is how it doesn't do enough to explain the devious acts of the Federal Reserve Bank, which printed the blizzard of paper money that directly led to the crisis...

Thanks to Captain Patrick Pitt for turning me on to this...

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Tom Saw This Coming

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:22:00 +0000

There is a certain cruel irony in Thomas Jefferson's image being placed upon the $2 bill... He must have been rolling in his grave when that happened...

Here's why...

"Everything predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper. It is cruel that such revolutions in private fortunes should be at the mercy of avaricious adventurers, who, instead of employing their capital, if any they have, in manufactures, commerce, and other useful pursuits, make it an instrument to burden all the interchanges of property with their swindling profits, profits which are the price of no useful industry of theirs." - Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1814.

"I sincerely believe... that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale." - Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1816.

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Look Up, The Sky Is Falling

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Take a gander at the above chart... During the 1982-2007 bull market, the Dow went from 775 to nearly 15,000... Today the Dow closed at 7,365... below the halfway mark of the ENTIRE 25 YEAR RUN...

"Thud"

Think anyone else noticed that HALF the gains accrued in the previous 25 years have been wiped out in a mere nine months?

Think anyone in the mainstream media would mention this fact?

Think anyone out there in the mainstream media is being straight with you regarding how bad things really are?

Think again.

Thanks to Richard Russell

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The Ugly American Visits The UN

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:30:00 +0000

To be fair, he was just doing his job... just going through a script that was no doubt fully vetted and written for him...

To be unfair, he was perpetuating a myth... a pack of lies... presenting the UN as an unyielding champion of human rights... as this great organization that only exists to do good in the world...

The "he" I am speaking of was the poor Italian chap who had the utter misfortune of being my tour guide around the UN in Vienna this morning... he was handsome, fluent in several languages, and engaging... I looked forward to his presentation...

My assault began quickly... he took us into a large circular room that contained all of the flags of the 192 member states of the UN... he pointed out the various flags of the other members in my group and they smiled and took pictures... I, of course, had to be the sand in the Vaseline... I asked where the Kurdish flag was... and the Palestinian one... and the Tamil one... and the Tibetan one...

I watched as the color left his face (oh no, a troublemaker...) and he correctly informed me that these were not actual "countries" and therefore not represented... So I asked him about the UN charter of human rights, in which the preamble states: "The recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”

His cheeks were now getting rosy...

I asked, are people not represented by an official country undeserving of basic human rights? Who speaks for them? Do Turkey, Iraq and Iran represent the interests of the Kurds? Do the Israelis look out for the Palestinians? China for Tibet? You see, this is where the UN fails... I explained my fierce opinion that ethnic groups with grievances towards their captors deserve a seat at the table... His response was a weak attempt at placating me with some party line nonsense that I don't even care to remember... Instead of really being interested in the basic human rights of the unrepresented, the UN is about as inclusive as an all-white golf cub in Georgia.

Next we waddled over to the UN peacekeepers display... where we were informed about the great success of their mission... having been a UN peacekeeper, this subject was close to my heart...

I asked him about the Srebrenica massacre, where Dutch UN peacekeepers stood idly by while a bunch of blood thirsty Serbs led by war criminal Ratko Mladić slaughtered 8,300 men and boys... I asked if he had read "Shake Hands with the Devil", in which General Romeo Dallaire recounted how the UN left him (due to pressure from the Clinton White House, who were scared of a repeat of Somalia, and France, who supported the Hutus cause, fearing a loss of French influence in Rwanda) and his peacekeepers swinging in the wind as Hutu militia slaughtered nearly 800,000 Tutsis... and what of the continuing failure to prevent genocide or provide assistance in Darfur? And what of the situation in Gaza?

At this point the others in my group were getting a little scared as I may have been foaming at the mouth... but I felt a point had to made... you can't just run around and say the UN is a powerful force for good when it fails miserably at the ONE THING its supposed to do more than anything else... which is protect the lives of the innocent... not to say there haven't been successes... at least they aren't butchering each other in the Balkans... for now...

We took a jaunt over to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) where he told of the UN's aims to stop the spread of nuclear weapons via the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. There are currently 189 countries party to the treaty, five of which have nuclear weapons: United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China (the permanent members of the UN Security Council)... all well and good... but when four major nuclear powers, India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea refuse to sign the treaty then what good is it?

Four out of nine give the UN the finger? Those aren't real good odds when you are talking about the atomic bomb.

On a side note, at least India, Pakistan and North Korea openly admit to having the bomb... while Israel chooses the time honored strategy of "don't ask, don't tell". Even Iran played along and signed the damn thing, not that they'll actually have to abide by it... because the UN is all smoke and no fire...

We took a look at Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei's Nobel Peace medal... you know... the one he was awarded for stopping the US from pre-emptively invading Iraq because they had "nucular" weapons... oops... wrong again...

It went on and on... over to the IMF (International Monetary Fund) where we were told how they manage the global economy and lend money to the poor... at this point my ears were bleeding profusely...

Really? Manage the global economy? Ask Argentina how that worked out in 2001... Or ask the Icelanders how that is working out for them right about now... Ask the rest of us the same question a year from now... If by "managing" you mean "stealing, grifting and manipulating" well then, you are correct sir...

And the lending of money to poorer countries? Fucking hilarious... if by "lending" you mean "forcing" third world governments to take on loans they can never repay so that richer nations may rape their natural resources for pennies on the dollar... Its all in how you define things I guess...

As far as I am concerned the IMF is nothing more than the mafia in a bunny suit...

On to the outer-space display... making it safe for banking and marketing interests to follow our every move and buying habits via satellite... due to the RFID chips implanted in our passports, credit cards and driver's licenses... Gee... I loved being tracked like inventory... or livestock...

Over to the "War on Drugs" display... where he proudly told us of the UN's effort to rid Afghanistan of heroin production... I then proudly told him that the US Army made devil deals with poppy growing Afghan warlords... "You make nice, we leave you alone... see no, hear no..."

At this point I was seething... The poor Italian kid was rather flummoxed and worse yet, didn't seem to know what the hell I was roaring about... Surely this couldn't be true... he worked for the UN after all... he had the proper ID, the nice black suit; he was educated and spoke several languages...

And then it occurred to me... he was just another wheel in the machine... much in the same way I was when I was in the military... before I became an annoying, enlightened, wannabe "illuminati"... I shook his hand and gave him a tip... he was a good kid and did his best...

Let me finish by saying that I actually do believe the UN could be a force for good if it actually followed its charter and behaved in a ethical and moral fashion... I'd be in favor of a much stronger and more inclusive UN, not rigged towards Western banking interests... but then again, I'm naive...

Maybe I'll tour OPEC tomorrow... kick over a shithouse or two over there...

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Planes, Trains, Busses and 36 Hours Without Sleep

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:50:00 +0000

The following is an accounting of my 13 hour journey from Istanbul, Turkey to Graz, Austria on Tuesday, as best I could remember it...

1:00 a.m. Taksim Square, Istanbul: After an amazing last minute ride around town and some profoundly delicious Turkish ravioli, my new found pal Can (who manages the biggest rock band in Turkey, Mor Ve Otesi) kindly drops me off at the Havas bus station, where I catch a ride to Sabiha Gokcen airport well on the outskirts of town…

2:00 a.m. Sabiha Gokcen Airport: When I’m not sitting, waiting, tapping my toes and sucking down Turkish coffee in an attempt to stay awake, I am going through security (TWICE) as well as customs and passport control. I am met with disapproving scowls wherever I go… these people love their jobs… There's a bunch of great big heaving Danes in the Duty Free shop… soldiers… probably just finishing up a NATO exercise… they’ve been celebrating their departure from Turkey… they are wrestling on the floor while Turkish police look on disapprovingly... must steer clear of this potential international incident…

3:00 a.m. Checking in at Sabiha Gokcen Airport: A cute girl in line in front of me obviously has issues with reading comprehension… she seems to have a problem with the concept of carry-on baggage versus checked baggage… she has purchased some rather large cymbals in Istanbul and wishes to carry them home… along with about 3 other carry-on bags... a mono-browed grumpus behind the airline check-in counter drags his hairy knuckles over the keyboard and utters something unintelligible and informs the pretty girl that her cymbals will cost her another 100 Euros… I watch her face grow ashen with despair… since my checked baggage is underweight I offer to let her store some of her cymbals in my bag… she seems really pleased at my offer and the mono-browed grumpus drags his hairy knuckles across the keyboard once more and knocks her fee down to a more manageable 30 Euros… Cute girl doesn’t say one more word to me and avoids me like the plague until the moment she fetches her cymbals after the flight… perhaps I am so hideously grotesque that young pretty girls will no longer speak to me… perhaps they see me as some creepy skeeze, an older guy on the make… I pray that I don’t give off that vibe, but who knows… it looks as if my ship has left the “make idle conversation with pretty girls you help with their cymbals” dock for good… one more chink in the armor of my fading masculinity...

4:40 a.m. Wheels up to Bratislava: Yes… AT 4:40 A.M NO LESS!!! There are unusually cruel masochists living among us… some of them grow up to be dental surgeons, others decide on a career of scheduling flights for SkyEurope…

5:30 a.m. Somewhere several thousand feet over the snowy Slovakian countryside: As I hang on for dear life, I ask myself, is God himself wrapping his hands around the fuselage in an attempt to rattle us violently out of the plane onto the fields below? I feel as though I am inside a salt shaker held by someone afflicted with a severe case of sodium deficiency... Now I’m no avionics expert, but I’m pretty sure a flight on a Boeing 737 isn’t supposed feel like you’re a bouncing down a gravel road on a toboggan… on its side…

6:00 a.m. Landing in Bratislava: Considering the flight was one long mosh pit, the pilot brought her down pretty easy… you know its been a rough trip when you see the flight attendants marking the Holy Trinity upon arrival…

6:25 a.m. Bratislava airport: I (and others) watch as our bus to Vienna pulls away EMPTY… I guess it never occurred to the driver that… oh… the flight would be late and he should wait a little while longer? Nope… no time for adaptive reasoning… after all, he has an empty bus to get back to Vienna... on time... the next bus? Not until 8:25… LOVELY… even lovelier is being forced to stand in the sleet and freezing rain for 90 minutes because the fat Slovak cop with the football head decided he wanted to get some coffee and therefore kicked us all out of the arrivals section… I love the bovine expressions on the faces of the Slovak employees manning the airport… they all look at you as if they have a deep desire to cut off your head and make soup from it… and English speakers? Forget it… German speakers? Nope… never mind that this is an international airport just a few miles from Vienna… Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them couldn’t speak Slovakian either…

8:25 a.m. Bratislava airport: Cold and wet… I finally get on the bus… just start to settle in for a brief snooze when a large babushka plops down next to me with a mountain of bags that look as if they are made out of carpeting… I’m not entirely convinced that there isn’t some sort of livestock living in these carpeted bags… I find that my eyes are starting to burn, for she smells of feet… and stale French cheese… and feet… and faintly of manure… and feet… I try to retain my spirit of cultural relativity… I fail…

9:45 a.m. Vienna Westbahnoff: I slog through the subway, up and down stairs with all my luggage, then outside in the freezing rain for several hundred meters… only to realize I am so punch drunk that I've forgotten which train station I am supposed to be at… of course I chose the wrong one… I wonder if it is ok for a grown man to break down crying in public… I spot a junkie fixing himself in a doorway and realize at least I’m not a junkie fixing himself in a doorway…

10:30 a.m. Vienna Sudbahnhof: I arrive at the correct train station (and later realize I have no idea how I got there)... I eat a Leberkassezemmel (basically a hot Austrian bologna sandwich) it is a glimmer of gold in my sea of blackness… mmm… and why does orange Fanta taste so good here?

10:56 a.m. Train leaves the station… in a few minutes we are in the snowy and picturesque Austrian countryside… I proceed to entertain/terrify the other passengers by alternately grumbling like a mad man, bouncing my head off the window, snoring loudly and then acting completely freaked out upon awakening, as well as producing copious pools of drool… I have become Homer Simpson… it doesn’t take long for the other passengers to gently sneak out of my immediate vicinity… I pray that I’ve committed no prosecutable sleep crimes…

1:45 p.m. Graz Hauptbahnhof: I stagger out of the train disheveled... My uncle Pietro greets me with a wary glance… I am a sight for sore eyes… I’m exhausted, wet and dirty… I smell of babushka lady, garlic, raki, cigarettes and Russian whores… (ok… maybe not the latter, but allow me some creative license…) my uncle takes one look at me and 15 minutes later there is a large bowl of goulash before me alongside a cold beer…

And all is right in the world…

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Pittsburgh 31, Arizona 27

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:09:00 +0000

Seeing as I have a tradition of getting Super Bowl picks pretty much on the money (15 out of the last 17), I'll throw my two cents in from my Istanbul hotel room overlooking the mighty Bosphorus...

I see Pittsburgh capitalizing with a defensive touchdown to make it 21-7 at the half, and then jumping to a 28-7 lead with Arizona storming back to make it close at the end.

The key to the Steelers victory will be their ability to shut down Arizona's running game which will force Arizona to pass on most plays... Arizona's Kurt Warner is not mobile enough to avoid Pittsburgh's fierce pass rush...

As per usual, the team with the better defense wins... and that would be the Steelers..

Now if only I can find a place to watch the game at 1:30 a.m. Istanbul time...

Bummer...

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quod fabula revolvo...

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:40:00 +0000

Walking along these ancient streets I am enthralled and mystified… math, science, justice and law were discussed here at length… politics were argued… armies were raised… conspiracy, deceit, decadence and dogma were unwound and brought forth into reality… of these facts I am aware…

But what I was painfully unaware of is that nearly all the remnants of what we consider to be hallowed ancient Rome was either ransacked for building materials or used as dumping ground for scrap… I never would have guessed that the Home Depot and the Coliseum would have had so much in common… It wasn’t until the 18th century that the Romans actually sought to preserve some of their heritage… they kept accidentally excavating giant carved heads and columns until someone got religion and said “Hey, shouldn’t we preserve this instead of carving another marble bathtub?”

I stood inside the Pantheon today… a building so perfect in architectural design that it has stood for nearly 2000 years… the circular 142 foot dome was made up of lime paste mixed with sandy volcanic ash, pumice, and some crushed rock… in other words… CONCRETE. By comparision, the foundation of my garage was poured 2 years ago and is already cracking like a stale sugar cookie… Makes we wonder what we’ll leave behind…

WalMarts and pick-a-part auto graveyards…

We don’t give favor to even our most revered examples of Americana… even something as culturally significant as Yankee Stadium will meet the wrecking ball later this year… we don’t care… out with the old, in with the new… (or even worse… in with the “faux old”… at least in Europe they employ the practice of restoring the old facades while designing spectacularly modern structures to sit alongside them… with mixed results…)

Rome, for all its lore and splendor, was just another throwaway, consumer based economy based on slave labor… their armies spread thin, far and wide... their banks lent too much and then debased the money supply in order to make up for their losses, and when the gold became scarce, the entertainment was ramped up in order to dull the masses to the fact that their bread was about to become scarce and their lives even scarcer…

quod fabula revolvo...

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8 Years, 8 Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:23:00 +0000

This just crossed my path and I thought it was something everyone should see... My only criticism lies in the belief that this overview is far too broad and leaves far too much by the wayside, but then again, Keith only had eight minutes to burn...

Trust me on this... there are a million other bomblets set to explode in the wake of this idiot's departure... the lives of children not yet born will be profoundly affected by what has transpired these past eight years...

I hope "Hope" has plenty of carbohydrates...

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S.P.Q.R.

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:50:00 +0000

So I find myself in the eternal city… Roma…

So much has changed since this city-state ruled the world… and yet… so much hasn’t…

Despite all of our “enlightenment”, all of our technological advances… the human condition remains painfully static…

Armies fighting costly wars of imperialism… a quarrelling senate, economic strife, rampant elitism, currency manipulation… along with pointless decadence… bread and circus…

This is where it all began… our modern civilization (if you can call it that)… of course the Greeks and Egyptians might have issues with that statement (and cultures before them) … but so much of our collective modern culture can be tied directly to what transpired under the Roman Empire… and to my amazement, we haven’t seemed to learn from their mistakes…

Are we merely hamsters on the wheel of perpetual failure..?

Hegel’s paradox tells us that “man has a history of failing to learn from history”

Let that rattle around in your noggin’ for a bit…

This place has me perplexed… I’ve been here before… a few times in fact… I want to love Rome, but I don’t get the impression that she wants to love me back… so here we are, at an impasse…

I am looking for her soul but so far I haven’t found it… maybe it’s because of where I am…

I am staying at a spectacular hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps… so spectacular that if I were to actually use the mini-bar I’d have to sell my car to pay the bill… The kind of place where internet cost 23E ($30) a day… where the only way to get a 7E ($10) cup of tea is to order it via room service, who slap another 10E onto the bill for their pleasure… (yes… the trip upstairs to your room costs more than the cup of tea itself…)

Oh how I wish I was a Saudi prince…

And what is it with European bathtubs… are they made for Lilliputians? And why must every shower entail a raging battle between me and the shower curtain… (the shower curtain is winning so far but I swear I’ll leave that clammy bastard bleeding and shivering on the cold marble floor before I check out…)

And the food… what the hell happened the food? So far it’s been watery pasta sauce and particle board pizza… and the cold minestrone at the Vatican had me doing the porcelain shuffle for a good 24 hours… (Damn Catholics… getting me back for a lifetime of blasphemy…)

Have Italians lost pride in their cuisine? (ok… I did have some pretty good risotto…) I lived in Italy for three years in the eighties and if memory serves me, the grub was nothing less than spectacular... I’m not one for fancy restaurants… I enjoy doing the Anthony Bourdain thing… eating where the locals eat… maybe it’s because I’m in a touristy area… maybe it’s because it’s the off season… maybe they think that I won’t know any better because I’m a dumb American… who knows… but I’ve had a couple meals here that make the Olive Garden seem like haute cuisine in comparison… as a corpulent foodie I must state that I am profoundly disappointed…

Back to the Vatican… extremely beautiful and impressive place… and yet… if you really pay attention… something horrifically sinister lies beneath… the extortion of souls… As I walked along the halls of the museum I could not help but think of all Catholic history not represented there… persecution, enslavement, unchecked power… guilt, fear, and punishment… ruinous crusades, perverse inquisitions, the slaughter and forced conversion of native peoples, the hoarding of treasure, collaborations with fascists, and last but not least rampant pedophilia…

No mention of any of these things from a church that prides itself on “la boca de verita” (the mouth of truth)

Ah well… I’ll be excommunicating myself to Vienna on Friday…

More to come…

Ciao.

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You're So Vain, You Probably Think This Blog Is About You...

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:46:00 +0000

I am making a vain attempt to rise from the ashes of my annual holiday depression... been quiet lately... perhaps even lazy... but at least this time my wallowing has led to some introspection (oh brother, here he goes again...) as to why I've not fulfilled the promise I made to myself that I'd write at least three times a week... but then again, why write when you've got nothing terribly original or interesting to say?

It's not that I don't have opinions about things... believe me, I have opinions tenfold... (ask anyone unfortunate enough to have to deal with me personally...) but my opinion doesn't move mountains much less ant hills... why should you credit any importance to anything I have to say, and furthermore, why should I continue to write if it doesn't?

Quite often (as is common within the blogosphere) my opinions are nothing more than me parroting something I've read/heard somewhere else... oh sure, I may tart it up a bit, put my spin on it, but let's be honest... why say something when someone else out there has already said it so much better? Someone far more learned, with gravitas and credibility...(Perhaps I should just provide a page linking to better writers...)

The beauty of the web is also its inherent failing... it has lowered great journalism, great writing, great art, and great music to a level where it is considered to be on par with the works of pretending amateurs... hacks... and fools...

"Anyone can do it" is the mantra...

I vehemently disagree... not everyone can be H. L. Mencken, Seymour Hersh or Hunter S. Thompson... they were/are special... extraordinarily talented...

This is a problem with our culture... too often we place the mantle of brilliance upon the shoulders of the merely average...

The average blogger? We're not special... nor is the greatest blogger on earth.

I champion the role of blogging as important journalistic tool... had the mainstream media actually done their job... had they been objective and truthful... had they not become a downsized, irrelevant, corporately controlled whorehouse beholden to shareholders there would be little need or desire for the news blogosphere... (but when was the last time I broke a story? Better yet, when was the last time I wanted to..?) And now, in a last ditch effort at relevance, realizing that they are neck deep in a sinkhole of shit reeking debt, newspapers are "blogging"... so much for that last shred of credibility...

I get the point of the "friends and family" blog as well... here are the baby pictures, we went to the Poconos, we bought a new car... etc... Those are not meant for public consumption... (Besides, I lead a stunningly flaccid life and no one cares about me, so why bother doing one of those..?)

My beef is with the blogger who has nothing particularly interesting to say, but yammers on anyway... and truth be told, I must put myself in this category, hence this screed of self-loathing you are currently no doubt enjoying... (no worries, I loathe you as well...)

I truly fear that I am part of the problem and not part of the solution... And so I ask myself... (and others guilty of verbal vanity...) What on earth makes you think that anyone is interested in anything you have to say? Who are you? What have you ever accomplished? Are you a noted artist? scholar? writer? scientist? Are you at least humorous?

No?

Then perhaps you might want to think about shutting the fuck up.

Some of you will correctly make the point that I can simply choose to not participate... Others will correctly point out that I'm an incredibly negative and grumpy asshole... No doubt you are correct on both counts...

But seriously folks... Do I really need to know who you went out for sushi with..? Or see the new boots you got on sale..? Or learn that you got really drunk and puked at the AC/DC concert..?

Do we really want our lives to be so lacking in mystery? Doesn't anyone value privacy anymore?

Do I really need to see your tits?

Do I really need to see your tits AGAIN!?

Blogging has led to an epidemic of self-absorption previously unseen upon this mortal coil... we have become a culture of whining narcissists who constantly post our every fart onto twitter, myspace, or facebook ad nauseum... just another virtual toilet for our self-obsessed reality TV shithead culture to vomit itself into.

Are we collectively so fucking empty and pointless and lonely that our only pathway towards love, acceptance and relevance is an avenue paved continuously with the shrill screams of "LOOK AT ME!" repeated every 15 minutes?

Apparently the answer to that question is YES.

So I guess I have a decision to make... do I continue flinging poo like a hopped up chimp or do I find something better to do...?

My money is on the chimp...

Send hate mail accordingly.

(The above was written while experiencing a severe migraine, therefore I cannot be held responsible for this rambling mess... and yes, I know... I'm mean...)

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Nothing Changes On New Year's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:50:00 +0000

Lemmy wishes you a Happy New Year!!!

Back when I was a "world renowned" club DJ, I used to play two records at midnight on New Year's Eve... a stripped down version of U2's "New Year's Day" followed by "Eighties" by Killing Joke... (I continued this well into the 90's, much to the puzzlement of the drunks on the dance floor below me...)

I guess those two songs kinda sum up how I feel about Jan. 1...

The lyrics "Nothing changes..." and "Push, push, struggle!!!" back to back...

And yes, later in the evening, when the loyal inebriated patrons would refuse to leave in an orderly manner, I would kindly make an announcement, stating that everyone (excluding those who were planning on sleeping with a member of the club's staff) must depart the premises asap. Then I would hit the ugly lights and play Motorhead's "The Ace of Spades" at full volume...

You should have seen them scurry... like roaches in the school cafeteria... Ah yes, nothing says romance like the dulcet tones of Lemmy's nicotine stained rasp...

A friend of mine mentioned not long ago that he saw me as a "glass half full" type of guy... I rebutted that he was quite mistaken... for I'm more in the neighborhood of a "glass smashed on the floor" type of guy...

Yep. It's going to be that kinda year... Can't wait 'til 2010...

I truly wish I had drunk more today... but hey, there is still plenty of time left, right?

adios.

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Tommy Tee... Goodbye My Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:08:00 +0000

I got a phone call yesterday... the kind of call no one ever wants to receive...

Tommy Tee, a father, a friend, and manager of New Model Army, left us suddenly, succumbing to a heart attack...

Upon learning the tragic news, the first thing out of my mouth was (after about 30 seconds of stunned silence), "Tommy doesn't die."

If only that were true...

Tommy had the energy of 100 men... He was the epitome of what a rock and roll manager should be... part salty sea captain, part cunning businessman, part travel agent, part disciplined headmaster, part long haul trucker... he could do it all... and did it with a fervor and love few can match...

For those of you who don't know, the business of rock and roll is very hard work... On a typical day Tommy would drive to the venue, help unload and set up, sit through sound check, handle meet and greet, handle press and photogs, handle business with the club promoter, set up and man the merch table, run the lights and/or put out any fires during the show, settle up with club and/or promoter, help break down and load up after the show... and then, after all that, sometimes he would drive late into the night towards the next venue... and yet, with that insane amount of work and responsibility, he'd still somehow find the time to enjoy a pint or two with you...

Up before everyone, to bed after everyone... and handling everything in between... booking, promo, merch, sales, licensing... the BUSINESS of music...

Tommy was legendary in music circles... Last year while touring Europe, everywhere I went I'd hear tales of Tommy... he was respected and loved... It seemed as if he had worked with just about every roadie on the continent... no one ever had anything but great things to say about him...

Another thing that impressed me about Tommy was his incredible memory... year after year, he would travel the world, meeting thousands of people and yet, at every gig, I would watch people would come up to him and he'd know them by name... New Model Army is not like other bands... their fans are a family, they share access and kinship with the band that is rare in this day and age... time and time again Tommy saw to it that friends and fans and travellers (some trekking in from thousands of miles away) were welcomed and made to feel special... he was the ringmaster...

Tommy could occasionally be prickly, he did not suffer fools... more than once he'd put me in my place when we'd have a slight disagreement on how things should be run... And when we differed he never did so with any disrespect... (the music industry is notorious for being populated by insufferable jerks... Tommy was miles above that sort of behavior...)

Tommy was my mentor in the music industry... He was a man with a giant warm heart... he made you want to walk through brick walls for him... I am going to miss his dry humor... his wide, beaming grin... his cheerful eyes... his strong handshake... his warm hugs...

Tommy leaves behind a wife and three children (whom he talked about all the time and loved very very much), along with a band of friends that depended upon him for just about everything...

Tommy, I lift a pint to you on this Christmas, in tribute to you...

You will be missed greatly, and never forgotten...

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Mauricio

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:42:00 +0000

Photo by P.S. Zollo... used without permission...

Mauricio Saravia was born in Uruguay in the early seventies... at the age of five he was diagnosed with McCune-Albright syndrome (polyostotic fibrous dysplasia)... multiple surgeries almost took his life on several occasions and he lost the sight in his left eye... Symptoms of the disease include bone fractures and deformity of the legs, arms and skull, varying degrees of skin pigmentation, and endocrine hyperfunction... He wasn't supposed to make it into adulthood... and yet he did... with a vengeance...

Saravia spent a life dodging genetic bullets... a life wracked with pain... a life trapped in a body that failed him miserably and consistently... and yet despite it all I'm told he described himself as "happy"...

Let that sink in for a moment... keep it in your heart for safekeeping... and pull it out the next time you think you've got it bad...

Mauricio Saravia was a great artist and fluid, meaningful poet, he was a man who refused to allow his grave disabilities to frame his artwork...

His work has the soulful depth of an alternate geography, one unfamiliar to our feet... it merges interplanetary nature with industrial humanism... it is intensely spiritual yet void of obvious mortal form... it is a dreamscape...

I believe we've all been given a set of wings at birth... some of us had them torn from us by the ills of poverty, violence or disease... many more of us grow our wings to maturity but are too frightened or lazy to fly...

And then there are those who have been given wings that are sickly, decrepit, beyond repair... wings that are destined to eventually fail them... and yet somehow they find a way to soar above us all... unencumbered and uninhibited...

That is why Mauricio Saravia flew so high... he knew that his time was limited... he had much to say and do and so little earthly time in which to get it done... he shattered our fear, and challenged us to look past our immediate ignorance and repulsion of his tortured physical being... to let us see the raging beauty beneath it...

Eclipse

Mauricio Saravia will be laid to rest tomorrow... his tortured body finally defeated the light that flickered within him... a victim of a collapsed lung... a victim of a health care system without common decency and empathy... a victim of being un-insurable... a victim of those who couldn't see past his disfiguring shell to view the beautiful core beneath...

It is their HUGE loss... and ours...

Kundalini Spirals

John Lennon once said "Love is all you need"... At first glance, it's a statement that is often dismissed as naive and childlike... yet if you let your mind float over it for a while, the wisdom soaks in...

For it's a busy world we live in... fast, furious, faceless, and often soulless... we stress over our vices... money, politics, sport and entertainment... and yet in the end what does it all mean? How much of it actually enriches us, or are we in effect enriching it?

It would not surprise me if his paintings suddenly became very desirable among collectors... Why does it take someone to die for us to realize the genius of their work? He was right there before us, for over thirty eight years... There are times in your life when you know you really missed out on something special... when you simply got there too late... he obviously meant a lot to many people, among them my friend Zoe, who has been having a rough time of it the past year...

Goodbye Mauricio...

I'm a lesser being for not having known you...

Mauricio's artwork can be seen here... mauriciosaravia.com

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It Is Good To Be King

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:47:00 +0000

I was always under the impression that in a democracy, government decisions are made in a democratic manner... as in, a bill is introduced... there is debate... (money and favors are exchanged) and then the bill is either passed or vetoed... It's all right here in this helpful video below in case you wish to brush up on your civics...

However it seems as though civics have changed somewhat since I attended grade school... apparently when you are the president, you also adopt the powers of an infallible monarch...

Who knew?

As you read this, Georgy Porgy's goon squad is racing through the slick brass and marble hallways of DC, greasing the palms of death minions, litigious stooges, gutter snipes, murdering military industrialists, corporate whores, death cronies, and grimy fisted lobbyists with every last shekel they could scrounge up...

Damned be the environment, damned be the economy, damned be democracy... What we've got here is the glorified back end of favoritism, nepotism, and cronyism in action... there are fat pimpled albino asses to be kissed... white elephants to be celebrated... Satan babies to be spawned... Yep... line right up at the George W. Bush kissin' booth for some right on right wing tongue twistin' action... (Special announcement: Would all bankers please report to the Hank Paulson sauna complex for your complimentary reach-around...)

By the time George relocates to his all white gated community in Texas on January 21st, a whole new and improved cornucopia of greed called "Midnight Regulations" will have hit the ledgers...

You see... There is a gaping loophole in US law which allows a sitting president to pass last-minute legislation into the Code of Federal Regulations, which for all practical purposes, makes them law... without ANY approval from Congress...

Let freedom ring!!!

To be fair, other presidents have used this loophole to extend their agenda past their sell-by date, but W. is taking to it with the vigor of a drunken frat-boy attached to the business end of a beer bong on his 21st birthday... This is, in all essence, George's final "fuck you" statement to us all... his middle finger extended... thumbing his nose... his tongue wagging... his naked ass mooning out the school bus window for all to admire...

While the media obsesses over sociopath governors, dead toddlers and auto bailouts... While most Americans are wondering if they'll have jobs or homes tomorrow... While most of America is in a perpetual state of carbohydrate induced bliss... W. is using brilliant sleight of hand to gift his partners in crime one last box of legislative confections... the introduction of weakened workplace safety measures, rollbacks on environmental and endangered species acts, legislation that inhibits a woman's right to choose, and NRA goodies that will make certain more of our unstable citizenry will be packing heat at your kid's soccer game...

George's gift basket of ill-repute also includes the time-honored Republican standard of "self-regulation"... because lord knows that you can trust bankers, oilmen, accountants, brokerages, and insurance companies to regulate themselves much in the same way you could trust that Nero's starving lions wouldn't treat the Christians as delicious, meaty cat toys...

Obama's team will have their work cut out for them if they wish to roll back any of these new laws... you see, undoing a law puts it into the open, where a long and expensive litigious process has to take place before it can finally be rescinded. It's not like the Obama administration will have anything better to do other than clean up one more in a long list of unsolvable clusterfucks left in the wake of the USS Incompetence...

Let's take a gander at some of the pain Bush is about to bring:

The introduction of legislation which allows coal companies to dump waste from strip-mining into valleys and streams. (Nothing better than chopping off the top of a mountain and then filling in a valley... call it "landscaping" or "Oklahoma-ization")

The introduction of legislation that will allow the building of coal-fired power stations near national parks. (Because nothing says family vacation better than a case of black lung...)

The introduction of legislation allowing people to carry loaded and concealed weapons in national parks. (Because nothing says family vacation better than a sucking chest wound...)

The introduction of legislation allowing health care workers to opt out of giving treatment for religious or moral reasons, thereby putting a woman's right to choose at risk, among other things... (hmmm... just who I want treating me in the ER trauma center as I'm bleeding to death... a Jehovah's Witness who doesn't believe in blood transfusions...)

The introduction of legislation that will allow truck drivers to continue driving for 11 consecutive hours. (Ah yes... what could be better than a completely tweaked out of his mind long hauler with anger management issues listening to a Toby Keith cd locked on repeat... Hey folks, here is some unsolicited investment advice... purchase some shares of Red Bull and crystal meth...)

The introduction of legislation surrendering government control of rerouting the rail transport of hazardous materials around densely populated areas... (Remember to breathe deeply when that misty cyanide cloud hits your humble abode... you'll go quicker that way...)

The introduction of legislation that will allow millions of acres to be mined for oil shale... (Hmmmm... maybe this last one we can do something about...)

Wanna be a tiny thorn in their side?

The NDRC (led by such luminaries as Robert Redford, Leo DiCaprio, Billy Joe Armstrong, among others...) is launching an emergency campaign to stop Bush from awarding over 160,000 acres of pristine Utah canyonlands to oil and gas speculators on December 19th. These remote canyons have been unspoiled for thousands of years... and if Bush has his way, they will be destroyed beyond repair...

You can sign the petition here:

Stop Bush's Giveaway of America's Redrock Wilderness

My god, at long last, is there nothing these people will not destroy in order to obtain gooey black muck? Never mind that oil prices will have to be at least $200 a barrel (that should tell you where the price of gas is headed...) for such an exercise to be profitable, because this oil is deep and literally within the sediment... it has to be cooked out, a long and poisonous process that is costly in more ways than one can imagine...

So yeah... let's keep looking for pristine areas to destroy, let's keep looking for that last fix to get us through the long dark night that the end of oil has planned for us... let's raze the whole fucking planet looking for anything combustible until all that is left is carbon dust, and then let's burn that as well...

On a completely unrelated note, the Fed just dropped rates to ZERO... so there you have it folks... free money... everything is going to be JUST FINE...

Have a peachy day...

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The Great Carpocalypse

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:47:00 +0000

One can't help but notice the difference in how Washington treats Wall Street in comparison to Main Street. The Fed and the Treasury donate great gobs of money in order to rescue failed financial institutions with no strings attached... while the auto industry (you know... people who make things instead of steal things...) has to make concessions and put on a dog and pony show just to borrow a paltry $14 billion... is it me or does something seem out of order here?

In September Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary (and Goldman-Sachs shill) Hank Paulson went boogedy-boo and spooked Congress into approving somewhere in the ballpark of $8.5 trillion in virtual money for their pals in the "banking" industry... To get this bailout they relied on the tried and true All-American traditions of extortion, threats, and bald-faced lies...

Benny and Hank pulled off this heist (let's call it what it is...) while cunningly shunning any possibility of oversight, claiming immunity from any future prosecution, and illegally altering tax law without anyone's knowledge or approval... Most of the money, about $5.5 trillion, comes from the Federal Reserve, which as an independent entity does not need congressional approval to lend money to banks or, in "unusual and exigent circumstances," to other financial institutions. In other words since they get to print it, they also get to decide where it goes, who gets it and who (which would be you and me...) pays for it in the end...

And now we have the Big 3 auto makers... GM, Chrysler (and to a lesser extent Ford), all banging their gold plated tin cups on the table, begging for a measly $14 billion bailout (in relative terms) so they can stay in the business of building cars no one wants...

Last Friday, Republican senators were successful in making sure the Big 3 were denied their auto bailout legislation, on the basis that it didn't provide enough oversight of the ailing companies and could end up being a huge waste of taxpayer money.

Oh really?

So it was the lack of oversight that got them religion... and concern over wasted money?

Where the hell were Republican Senators McConnell, Shelby and Corker during the $8.5 trillion bank bailout? Am I supposed to assume that the OTC derivative disaster is all cleaned up and that the banks have a plan for solvency? Absolute bullshit. (And isn't it interesting that Senators McConnell, Shelby and Corker all come from states which subsidize foreign auto makers... hmmm... and yet, they refuse to assist the domestic auto makers... who are their direct competition... surely that has nothing to do with their militant stance on this... surely not...)

It smacks of vicious irony that Congress appropriates hundreds of billions of dollars with lightning speed and no questions asked to banks whose greed and criminality destroyed the global economy while holding a carrot and stick over the heads of a major industry brought to its knees by this financial armageddon.

Understand this brilliant logic... they are deeply concerned over $14 billion, but not at all worried about $8.5 trillion... Well kids, that gives a whole new meaning to that tired old phrase "penny wise and dollar foolish"...

I am against bailouts in principle... in a free market economy, businesses should be allowed to prosper or fail based upon their ability to compete... but we don't have (nor have we ever had) a free market economy... we have a rigged ponzi scheme and in the spirit of fairness (HA!) if the ruling classes are going to get bailed out, then the same should apply to people who actually work for a living...

Hell, what do they care? Its all just pixel money anyhow... it came from nowhere and that is exactly where it is going... just numbers that are transferred from bank to bank, akin to a swirling death matrix bent on devouring itself...

C'mon... why not let us all go down in blaze of diabetic coma induced glory... give every man, woman and child a million dollars and let the chaos of mass consumption savagely reign upon every culturally devoid hellhole of a shopping mall across this great busted land...

You got a better idea? Yeah? I didn't think so...

Ok... back to reality...

Let us take a look at the numbers to get a better perspective of what is actually on the table... First of all, $14 billion is a mere 2% of the $700 bailout TARP fund we've given to banks... but wait, it gets worse... that $700 billion is less than one tenth of the $8.5 TRILLION already committed to financial rescue initiatives...

So... Just how much money is $8.5 trillion? Well, its damn near 60 percent of the estimated gross domestic product of the United States of America.

Current Score: Wall Street $8.5 trillion, Detroit $0
(Looks as if the Lions aren't the only losers in the Motor City...)

It is important to note that as with anything involving governments and spending, the true cost to taxpayers will likely be far greater than what appears on the current ledger. Given the unprecedented size and complexity of these programs and the fact that many have never been tried before, it's impossible to predict how much they will cost taxpayers. The final tally won't be known until most of us are pushing up daisies... but our great grandkids will know, that is for damn sure... and they'll be cursing our names...

Jim Rogers (one of the world's most brilliant investors) says that US banks are flat busted. Jim Rogers knows his shit. This is nothing more than don't ask, don't tell economics, as the balance sheets of these troubled banks are nothing but pure fantasy. Where is the oversight when it comes to the banks, who are the ones responsible for this entire mess? And let's not forget that it was the Republicans' lack of oversight in the financial sector that led to the disastrous economic conditions beyond the control of the automakers... As credit and jobs vanished, so did car sales.

Not that I mind conditions for loaning money... One can't deny that the Big 3 have been severely derelict in modernizing their designs and business practices. You could demand that Detroit design and sell vehicles that reduce our dependency on foreign oil. You could demand that the management be given a pink slip. You could demand that they design and build light rail and other green friendly modes of mass transit...

But nooooooooooo... According to the Republican senators, the failure of the entire auto industry was due to organized labor... Their sole demand was a $20 an hour cut in union wages, pension and health care.

Might I ask what concessions they demanded from the Wall Street bankers? Or did the Republican wing of the senate force concessions from low level bank tellers before approving the wholesale giveaway of our economic future? I presume when the airlines come for their handouts (trust me, it's coming) the flight attendants will take the fall for that industry's failure...

Using that logic, the failure of the Iraq war should be blamed on the lower enlisted troops and not the idiots at the Pentagon... perhaps the Republicans would like the soldiers to take a pay cut as well...

Hey, shit rolls downhill, right?

This should be seen for what it is... as nothing more than a concerted effort by the Republicans to destroy the UAW, one of he last bastions of organized labor in this country... so incensed are they with the working middle class that they have chosen to throw them out into the street...

Do the Republican Senators understand that if they deny assistance to Detroit, millions more jobs will be lost? The short answer is yes... and you want to know why?

Because the sinking of the domestic auto industry will saddle Obama with an even more catastrophic economy, one that will tank his administration the minute he takes his oath (Sorry to be a bummer, but he's pretty much screwed as it is...) Understand that we are in the midst of a class war here... there will be no grace period, no honeymoon, no spirit of bipartisanship with the Obama presidency. The Republican wing of the senate are doing everything in their power to make certain that Obama starts his presidency in reverse, with four flat tires, a blown engine and a Denver boot on each wheel.

Even Dick Cheney emerged from his undisclosed tomb to state that if the auto bailout doesn't get done it's Herbert Hoover time for the Republican party... the Bush Administration does not want this whole thing to go to shit on their watch... It is quite obvious that the Republican Congress has cut themselves off from their "great" Oxford ducking leader and gone rogue... These idiots are so full of loathing that they are blinded to the consequences of their actions. If the Republican senators hang the northern industrial states out to dry they can say goodbye to any support for at least a generation... or two...

These guys hate unions with a passion... they hate everything unions stand for... fair wages, health care, workplace safety, pensions, affirmative action and the fact that the unions overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president.

Here is an idea... Do you really want to get rid of unions? Then fucking pay people a decent living wage in a safe environment... treat them with respect... had management initially done that, no one would have ever had a reason to start a union in the first place...

If it wasn't for unions we'd still have 12-year-olds working 70-hour weeks in filthy and dangerous dirt floor factories for a dollar a day... like in Pakistan...

But then again, perhaps that is the right wing establishment's goal...

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Duck!

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:57:00 +0000

Wouldn't it have been a great coincidence if they had been Nunn Bush loafers?

Nothing frames a successful presidency better than a beginning marred by a stolen election and an ending spent ducking a journalist's fashionable footwear...

By the way, if the symbolism of this act is lost on westerners, getting loafers chucked at your melon is a great insult in the Arab world... The shoe tosser, Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, will no doubt be hailed as a hero...

enjoy...

As for me, I laughed so hard I cried...

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Worst President Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:55:00 +0000

The LA Times recently revealed two pages of White House correspondence entitled "Speech Topper on the Bush Record." The feel good memo essentially lends "a few helpful suggestions" to Bush cabinet members and high-level staffers in order to summarize how the Bushy one would prefer his two term choo-choo crash to be remembered... as an "unalloyed success" no less... perhaps "colossal fuckup" would have been more accurate...

Among the memo's bullet points are these whoppers:

* He "kept the American people safe" after 9/11... (I think the operative word here is AFTER...)

* He upheld "the honor and the dignity of his office" (Politspeak for "He didn't get blown in the Oval Office.")

* He "responded with bold measures to prevent an economic meltdown" (Bold Measures?!?!? Prevent?!?!? Excuse me for a moment, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit... all that monkey did was hand our entire economy over to that henchman Hank Paulson so that he could steal the future earnings of our great, great, great grandchildren...)

* "He promised to raise standards and accountability in public schools and delivered the No Child Left Behind Act" (Yeah, he delivered it all right... unfortunately he forgot to fund it... as for the raised standards, can someone please tell why India has more engineers than we have people?!)

* "He lifted the economy through tax cuts" (Actually he briefly "lifted" the economy by deregulating the hell out of it which therefore allowed banking institutions to go hog wild, which in turn brought us the lovely market conditions we enjoy today... along with 533,000 lost jobs in the month of November... but hey, at least they got their taxes cut... permanently)

See folks, it's not so bad... a frown is a smile, only upside down...

Apparently big blue meanies such as yours truly have gotten it all wrong these past eight years... How typical of me to accentuate the negative... Little insignificant things like the epic collapse of the housing market and major banks going tits up... a spiraling stock market and a devalued currency... but hey, I've always wondered what horse meat tastes like... guess I'll soon find out... and I love being served by 80-year-olds working double shifts at IHOP... nothing like hard work and perseverance... until you drop dead... that's the American way!

And will you look over here... flawed intelligence in the flawed run-up to a flawed war, along with over 4,000 dead soldiers and countless civilian casualties... but hey, democracy is messy, you are gonna need to break some eggs to make an omelet... ever try to make an omelet with the barrel of an M16..? Apparently the eggs fight back and even worse, they taste icky...

Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? Hey... what's wrong with a little frat-house hazing...? so it gotta a little out of hand... stop being such pussies... and besides, everyone knows they are guilty... of having non-western names and brown complexions...

Katrina? Clearly an act of God... and besides, that is all just water over the levees now anyways...

Think your 401K looks bad now? Just imagine if president dunderhead had been able to privatize social security...

And who can forget the Harriet Myers debacle, where he nominated his babysitter to the Supreme Court...

Torture, illegal wiretapping, voter fraud, incompetence, indifference, ideological warfare, secrecy and contempt... and on and on... please stop me before I hurt myself...

We as a nation ask, expect, and deserve competence from our elected officials... What we got from the Bush administration was eight years of theft, lies, and apathy from which it will take at least two generations to recover... if ever... Republicans commonly complain that the Federal Government is incapable of running things... I find that I agree with them, but with the following modification... the Federal Government is incapable of running things when Republicans are in charge... (not that Democrats are that much better, to be honest...)

The Center for Public Integrity undertook a web project of herculean proportions in an attempt to study, document and determine the scope of failure during the Bush era. Thirteen reporters deconstructed hundreds government documents, investigations, budget reports.. they interviewed dozens of experts and government workers... they sent out 5,000 solicitation emails to federal employees... the results overwhelmed the reporters to such degree that they had to pare the list down to 125 from 250 suggested failures...

Below is a short list of forty ways in which the federal government failed to perform under the administration of George W. Bush from 2001-2008:

• 45 million Americans without health care
• 60 percent of EPA scientists report political interference with their work
• 1,273 whistleblower complaints filed from 2002-2008; 1,256 were dismissed
• 190,000 U.S.-supplied weapons missing in Iraq
• $212.3 million in overcharges by Halliburton for Iraq oil reconstruction work
• $455 billion deficit for fiscal year 2008; estimated to reach up to $1 trillion in 2009
• $9.91 billion for government secrecy in 2007 — a record
• 809 government laptops with sensitive information lost by FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• 30 million pounds of beef recalled in 2007
• $300 billion over budget for Department of Defense weapons acquisitions
• Less than 3 percent of U.S. electricity needs met by alternative energy
• 2,145 troops killed and 21,000 injured in Iraq from March 2003 through November 1, 2008, by IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and other explosives — many while awaiting body armor. Additionally, tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in the conflict
• 34.8 percent of oil used in America imported during Nixon administration; 42.2 percent during first Gulf War; 59.9 percent in 2006
• $100 million for failed FBI computer network
• $100 billion in federal tax revenues lost annually to corporations using off-shore tax shelters
• 163 million airline passengers delayed 320 million hours; cost to U.S. economy: more than $41 billion in 2007
• $60 billion stolen in Medicare fraud each year
• 2.5 million toxic toys recalled in summer of 2007
• $12.5 billion for defective National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System
• $4 billion to upgrade National Security Agency computers that often crash, have trouble talking to each other, and lose key intelligence
• 60,000 flights made by 46 Southwest Airline jets in violation of FAA safety directives due to lax FAA enforcement
• 12.8 percent job turnover at Department of Homeland Security in 2006 — double that of any other cabinet-level agency
• 730,000 backlogged patent applications
• 148,000 troops not enough to secure Iraq, enabling insurgency to take root
• $1 billion, six-year “Reading First” program called ineffective by Department of Education Inspector General
• 20,000 U.S. deaths annually from lack of pollution controls on diesel vehicles and power plants
• 60,000 newborns a year at risk for neurological problems due to mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants
• Two-thirds fewer clean ups of EPA Superfund toxic waste sites during 2001-2006 than in previous six years
• 935 demonstrably false statements in lead-up to Iraq war by President Bush and seven members of his administration
• At least $500 million for FEMA trailers contaminated by formaldehyde occupied by thousands displaced after Hurricane Katrina
• 558 detainees at Guantanamo detention facility reduced to 255 after court-ordered case reviews
• 26 percent of corporations holding at least $250 million in assets audited in 2006; percent audited in 1990: more than 70 percent. IRS audit staff slashed by 30 percent
• $431.5 billion spent on Medicare in 2007, double amount in 2001
• 47 dead in mining accidents in 2006 blamed on lax oversight
• $9 billion in federal oil and gas royalties mismanaged by agency linked to drug-and-sex scandal
• 275 largest U.S. corporations pay, on average, about 17 percent in taxes in 2007, half the standard corporate tax rate
• $45 trillion in credit-default swaps, without federal oversight, in 2007
• 760,800 disability claims backlogged, awaiting hearings at Social Security Administration as of October 2008
• 806,000 Veterans Affairs disability claims in 2006, up 39 percent since 2000; backlog reached 400,000 claims by February 2007
• 2,640 days Osama bin Laden at large since September 11, 2001 (as of December 10, 2008)

Remember folks... this is the list that was edited DOWN...

Is everything on this list George's fault? Of course not... that would be a gross oversimplification. However, I don't think I am editorializing when I say that when all is said and done, George W. Bush will be considered the worst chief executive in this nation's history.

At least he's number one at something...

Barack Obama has a tough act to follow...

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Arrested Development

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:07:00 +0000

It has been said that timing is everything, so it is only fitting that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich got himself arrested for corruption on... drumroll please... UN Anti-Corruption Day!!!

The FBI phoned Blagojevich at 6 a.m. Tuesday, telling him of a warrant for his arrest and informing him that there were two FBI agents at his door. Blagojevich's first comment was, "Is this a joke?" (Interesting side note... when Blagojevich was "interviewed" by Jason Jones of the Daily Show two years ago, he didn't comprehend that the interview was a joke... oh the irony...)

Blagojevich, who was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and solicitation to commit bribery, let friendly union officials and fundraisers know that for the right price, Barack Obama's vacant Illinois Senate seat could be had. Blagojevich was also in the midst of an attempt to raise $2.5 million by the end of the year, before a state anti-corruption law he tried to veto (Obama got the state senate to override it) took effect. This led the Feds to wiretap his phones and the rest is history...

The House of Blagojevich was a “pay to play” operation and the governor had a price... $250,000 to $300,000 a year, and an influential job with a nonprofit foundation or union... and a plum board of directors gig for Mrs. Blagojevich. He even had fantasies of being Obama's Secretary of Health and Human services or an ambassador...

The desire to ingratiate himself into the Obama Administration may well have led to his eventual undoing... Rumor has it the Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel may have tipped off the FBI to Blagojevich's hair brained scheme... Note to self: Rahm Emanuel is not to be crossed... that G is a straight up gangsta IDF mofo...

Not only was this genius caught on FBI wiretaps conniving to sell in exchange for bribes, the dimwit was fully aware that he was being investigated for fraud and MUST HAVE KNOWN he was under surveillance... Just Monday he challenged reporters stating, "I don't care whether you tape me privately or publicly. I can tell you that whatever I say is always lawful."

Ummmmm... ok... perhaps his definition of lawful is just "different" than ours...

Among some of the "lawful" things he said were these whoppers:

"I've got this thing (the Illinois Senate seat) and it's fucking golden, and I'm just not giving it up for fucking nothing. I'm not gonna do it."

"They're (the Obama Administration) not going to offer me anything of value, I might as well take it, They're not going to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them."

"Consultants are telling me that I have to suck it up for two years and do nothing and give this motherfucker (the President-elect) his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.”

Sounds like someone saw a few too many episodes of the Sopranos...

The level of Blago's chutzpah even got the typically staid U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (yes, the prosecutor behind Plamegate) seeing red... "The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering. They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale' sign on the naming of a United States senator. The Senate seat, as recently as days ago, seemed to be on the verge of being auctioned off. The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave," said Fitzgerald.

Apparently the typical, run of the mill fall from grace didn't pass muster for Blagojevich... you know, getting caught with heroin, or with a prostitute, or with a teenage boy, etc... that must have been deemed as too passe... And based on this assumption, we must at least give Blago points for creativity... Nicely done Rod... I spose if you are gonna go down, you might as well go down in flames...

This cat might well be one of the most brazen idiots in American political history... take a moment to let that rattle around inside your noggin for a minute... think of the competition... that is A LOT of brazen idiots... which leads me to ask the obvious question, how the hell does someone like this get to be a governor?

During his term in Springfield (The state capital of Illinois, where he refused to live in the governor's mansion and commuted from Chicago several times a week via private plane at the cost of $6,000 per round trip...), he has battled friends and foe alike, all the way down to a 4% approval rating (no, that wasn't a typo) according to one poll... Some of his fellow lawmakers have described him as "disengaged" and "dictatorial"... a "madman" and "insane"... a 10-year-old child and yes, a "cuckoo"...

The arrogant SOB even considered appointing himself to the Senate seat, thinking that it might help him avoid impeachment and help rebuild his image for a possible presidential run in 2016...

Yes, you read that correctly... this sociopath had designs on the Oval Office...

Blagojevich also sweated the Chicago Tribune, threatening to withhold state assistance to parent company Tribune Co. in an attempt to force the newspaper into firing editorial writers who had been critical. Supposedly Tribune CEO (and resident evil troll and slumlord) Sam Zell got the message and was very "sensitive" to the issue.

Ah yes, Illinois... where dead people vote early and often, governors go to the big house, and the Cubs have crushed hopes and dreams for 100 years and counting...

As for President-elect Obama... how is he wrapped in all of this?

So far he's not... Prosecutors backed up the president-elect's claim stating that he had no contact with the governor or his office, was not aware of what was happening. However, one can trust that his claim of ignorance won't stop political enemies from pegging this as his first scandal...

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All Dogs Go To Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:24:00 +0000

The below video is of a heroic dog dragging another severely injured dog to the side of a busy Chilean highway... It left me speechless and with a lump in my throat...

Warning: Understand that it is graphic and very difficult to watch, especially for animal lovers...

For those of you interested in the English translation, the narrator essentially comments that "This is a very common problem, dogs are hit in the street all the time. This will continue until the stray dog population is brought under control."

No word on whether the little guy pulled through, odds are he didn't...

Now I know what some of you may be thinking, that my posting of this video is just a cheap stunt meant to draw an emotional response... fine, I'll plead guilty to that... but it is also a testament to the kindness and selflessness of our canine brethren... it proves (to me anyway) that altruism, a trait normally attributed to ambulating primates, can be found throughout the animal world...

You could argue that this dog shows more humanity than many of us... just last weekend crazed Christmas shoppers trampled a poor Wal-Mart greeter to death and then continued right on shopping... And last June in Hartford, Connecticut, a 78-year-old man was hit by a car and lay bleeding in the street while onlooking pedestrians and motorists did nothing to assist him.

Could I be guilty of anthropomorphising?

Sure... we tend to attach human emotion to things because that is our only way of relating a common experience... However, I don't think that makes what occurs in this video any less touching or heroic...

Dogs assist blind people in living normal lives... They sniff bombs and contraband and contribute to our safety... They help bring joy to the sick and dying in hospices... There are countless stories of them waking families and saving them from fires and other natural disasters... They rescue people in the wild... I could go on and on...

I own two wonderful dogs (or if you were to ask them, they own me) and seven delightfully loopy cats, each with their own distinct dispositions and quirks... they have enriched my life beyond explanation and I cannot imagine living without them...

Sadly I cannot rescue more... so in the spirit of the holidays, might I suggest making a donation to your local SPCA, or better yet, go down to your local shelter and find yourself a loyal friend for life... you won't be sorry...

And please spay or neuter your pets... so that millions more don't end up dead, astray, or in shelters...

"Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." - Mark Twain

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Sideshow Sean

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:32:00 +0000

There is an enlightening site on the internet that goes by the clever moniker of "Dickipedia"... dedicated to some of the more prominent "dicks" among us... With his latest antics, Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery has certainly earned himself a welcome place there...

Tuesday morning, surrounded by assembled media and cameras, Avery found it reasonably necessary to make the following prepared statement, "I'm really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada, I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight." He then walked out of the locker room.

Please understand that I abhor sexual exploitation such as this and include it only in the pursuit of proper journalistic ethics.

The coupling of athletes and actress/models is nothing new, as Avery was referring to Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf, who is now dating Avery's ex-girlfriend "24" actress Elisha Cuthbert, as well as Jarret Stoll of the Los Angeles Kings, who is dating Rachel Hunter (another Avery conquest).

Immediately after delivering his "press briefing" Avery was suspended indefinitely by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for "inappropriate public comments, not pertaining to the game."

Avery has earned himself quite the reputation throughout the league... In a 2007 poll of 283 NHL players, 66% said that Avery was the most hated guy in the game... Last spring during the Stanley Cup playoffs the NHL had to pass an emergency rule to prevent Avery from waving his hands and stick in front of New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur in an attempt to distract him and block his view. Though not illegal at the time, it most certainly wasn't very sportsmanlike.

Sean Avery getting intimate with Martin Brodeur...

He has been penalized and fined for illegally diving in vain attempts at drawing penalties, he's been accused of making racist remarks pertaining to blacks and French Canadian players, and he once challenged Anaheim Ducks announcer Brian Hayward to a fight...

While on the ice, Avery has directed some pretty disgusting insults towards his opponents, their girlfriends, daughters or mothers... but that sort of trash talk usually results in dismissive laughter or at worst, the parties involved drop the gloves and settle things like men... But for the life of me, I can not recall an occasion where a professional athlete gave a prepared statement to the press implying that his ex-girlfriends were slutty...

Perhaps Avery was trying to get under Phaneuf's skin, get him off his game...
But holding a media briefing in order to refer to your ex-girlfriend as "sloppy seconds"... well that is just plain crass...

And does he honestly think this will help him get future dates? As a woman, would you be concerned that if you dated Avery, someday you'd be referred to as "sloppy seconds?"

Pleasant... what a prince...

Apparently Avery never got past the idiot high school jock stage of emotional development... Avery revels in the fact that he is hated throughout the league... When he was with the Kings, he was particularly skilled at talking mucho shit in the locker room, and scuffling with his teammates during morning skates, all while driving his coaches batshit crazy by refusing to practice certain drills... While popular with the fans, he drove his teammates nuts... On more than one occasion I'd hear a public statement of support from one of the Kings' veterans, only to be told off the record that they were sick of his "Sideshow Bob" antics...

How do Avery's Dallas teammates feel about his latest foot in mouth incident? Team leader Mike Modano stated that Avery's remarks were "unacceptable" and added that it had been "a bit of work" to deal with Avery over the season. Goalie Marty Turco echoed Modano's sentiments by saying "the show continues"...

I've personally interviewed Avery on several occasions and always found him to be entertaining and quotable... more so than most NHL players, who tend to be either painfully polite (Canadian upbringing), linguistically challenged (Fins, Swedes, Czechs, and Slovaks) or just plain grumpy (the Russians)... Avery likes to think of himself as the sport's mouthpiece, and since there isn't another prominent player in the spotlight who is nearly as quotable, non-observers and casual fans get the impression that the entire NHL is populated by rude and violent goons.

This is hardly the reality however, as ice hockey is a sport where individualistic chest pounding is abhorred and vehemently discouraged... the likes of Terrell Owens or Barry Bonds would never be tolerated in the NHL... this isn't to say that hockey players are parish priests... but the game has always had a certain gentlemen's ethic that is missing from other major team sports...

I have to admit I enjoy watching Avery play... he is a feisty, diminutive player, who holds his own against players much larger and stronger... an interesting combination of skill and grit, and if used in the right situation, he could be a key member of a successful team... but the fact that he is a knucklehead and alienates everyone everywhere he plays can't be denied. He needs to grow up and understand that the key to his team's success is chemistry, not the cult of personality known as Sean Avery...

In closing, I must state that there is a little bit of irony in suspending Avery indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the league when on any given night there are gruesome incidents on the ice in which an opponent could be permanently maimed... Where is the shared outrage at watching someone bleed all over the ice, victimized by some cheap shot?

Or for another example, look to the NFL... Giants receiver Plaxico Burress shoots himself, a half-dozen player get busted for illegal steroids in one fell swoop and the NHL is upset about Avery's lashing out at an ex-girlfriend? Perhaps cooler heads should prevail... And perhaps Sean Avery finally needs to grow up and act like a man and stop being a dick.

My apologies to anyone who could care less about hockey and has yet read this all the way to the bottom...

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Ms. Shrill And Dr. Kill

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:14:00 +0000

Sometimes the jokes just write themselves...

According to various news sources, Ann Coulter has broken her jaw and it has been wired shut. The specific cause of her grievous injury has yet to be reported, and therefore I suspect something sinister is going on... To be honest, I think Satan wants his soul back and this is Annie's way of making sure he can't get to it.

But then again, I have also always suspected that Annie was actually of some reptilian order, perhaps of the Atractaspididae family... perhaps her retractable jaw became unhinged while she was facilitating the manipulation and ingestion of some large rodent.

The mind reels...

Her injury couldn't have come at a better time, unless of course you are her publisher or a loony right-wing zealot... You see, Coulter has a new book coming out, "Guilty: Liberal "Victims" And Their Assault On America." The book will supposedly illuminate us to the "liberal media's" torrid love affair with Obama.

Hmmmm... ok...

Is this the same liberal media that trotted out Reverend Wright ad nauseum, the same liberal media that portrayed Bill Ayers as Obama's secret sibling, the same liberal media that at various times speculated as to whether Barack Obama was a closeted Muslim, a "Manchurian Candidate", or worse, or an actual terrorist?

Is this the same liberal media that essentially gave John McCain a pass on his associations with the Keating Five? Is this the same liberal media that completely ignored McCain's betrayal of POWs still in Vietnam? Is this the same liberal media that found it perfectly OK that Sarah Palin's campaign was blessed by a snake oil priest who claimed the ability to purge witches? Is this the same liberal media who gave Sarah Palin a pass on her brutally obvious shortcomings until it suddenly became fashionable to ridicule her?

Apparently facts have a liberal bias as well.

You wanna know how Annie makes the New York Times bestseller list?

Right wing conservative Christian organizations purchase her books en masse and send them to contributors as "gifts." These organizations purchase her books at a greatly reduced cost, and because so many units are shipped, Annie comes across as a successful pundit and author... which then leads to continuous bookings on Fox News and at Klan rallies... which leads to more books...

It is a brilliant scam... I should look into it...

Now for something completely different... but not really...

Last week, Al-Qaeda's numero dos, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri greeted the election of Barack Obama by calling him a "House Negro", among other things...

You see, the fine folks of the Al-Qaeda public relations department can't have the rest of the world enraptured by the "Hope and Change" rhetoric made so undeniably popular by Obama's campaign. If the angry, hopeless, and dispossessed of the Islamic world see a possibility for an end to bloodshed, how will the likes of al-Zawahiri continue to to recruit soldiers for jihad? The last thing Dr. Ayman needs is for there to be any hope OR change... since his entire dogma is about the opposite of that... al-Zawahiri wants to bring the world back to the seventh century... except for the modern conveniences of laptops, cell phones and satellite television of course... which terrorists have great love for...

In his rant against Obama, al-Zawahiri has shown himself to have a dubious knowledge of history. In comparing Obama to Malcolm X, al-Zawahiri stated, "That's why it wasn't strange that Malik al-Shabazz (Malcolm X's Muslim name) was killed, while you have climbed the rungs of the presidency to take over the leadership of the greatest criminal force in the history of mankind and the leadership of the most violent crusade ever against the Muslims."

Apparently al-Zawahiri is painfully unaware that Malcom X was indeed murdered by members of the Nation of Islam...

oops...

Of course, Al-Qaeda supporters are predictably backing their man and are dismissive of any denigration of al-Zawahiri's screeching blather. But it doesn't stop there... in an irony of all ironies, Al-Qaeda supporters are now fiercely criticizing the media for its "unfair" pro-Obama bias and for deliberately "confusing" the meaning of al-Zawahiri's message.

Hold it... Ann Coulter AND Al-Qaeda BOTH think the "liberal media" is in the tank for Barack Obama...?

Bingo... Using the the same "guilt by association" logic Coulter often displays in her highly intellectualized writings, one could accurately assume that Ann Coulter is indeed a member of Al-Qaeda... a jihadi in a little black cocktail dress...

Here's an idea that would benefit us all...

Perhaps we can put Coulter and Al-Zawahiri on some island together, so they can lock themselves into an infinite 69 position and feast on each other's rotting entrails for perpetuity and leave the rest of us in peace...

This idea of mine is not without merit... British documentarian Adam Curtis put together an incredible three hour film called The Power of Nightmares based upon the fact that Christian right wing fundamentalism and Islamic terror are two sides of the very same coin...

And there you have it... Annie has finally met her love match... Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri...

May their marriage be blissful... I wonder if they've registered anywhere yet?

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Slumdogs, Western Guilt, And Executive Transvestites

noreply@blogger.com (Harbinger Of Doom) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:54:00 +0000

I saw Slumdog Millionaire a couple of nights ago, and it is the type of movie that does not leave you... yesterday's tragic events in Mumbai have only added to my new found macabre fascination with the place...

Directer Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) did the impossible, skillfully bridging the gap from east to west, making his film palatable to our western culture without stealing its Indian soul... This film was so visceral that I could practically smell the slums of Mumbai. Boyle made you laugh, cry, smile and identify with characters that lived in such stunning poverty that there simply aren't words to describe it...

There were scenes that made you want to recoil in horror, scenes of cruel injustice that made you furious, and scenes that made you believe in the corny improbability of true love... There were characters in this film who had literally nothing but their wits and the clothes on their backs...

And all of this made me think about the meaning of Thanksgiving Day (Ok, I realize I've just rolled the car, but work with me here...)

We in the west piss and moan about life's pitfalls and disappointments, and yet we are perhaps the luckiest people on earth. Understand that of the estimated 6.7 billion people on this planet, 2.7 billion live on less than $2 a day... add to that another 3 billion who aren't doing much better...

Since you are probably reading this at home, on your own computer, I can deduce that you are one of the 1 billion lucky ones...

How about this for some perspective?

At your lowest of lows, you are better off than 85% of the earth's population...

Tomorrow we will gorge ourselves on more food than most people on this earth will see in several months...

Enjoy...

So, now that I have you sufficiently depressed and guilt ridden, let me soothe your psyche...

Enjoy the effervescent executive transvestite comedic stylings of Eddie Izzard as he accurately describes what happened on that fateful day in October 1621...

Feeling better?

Alas, we all have much to be thankful for...
Happy Thanksgiving to all...

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