Additions to th' War™ Playlist Player include a whole pack of cute Iraqui kids and the Special Opz guys they tag around with, footage of a Predator straffing insurgents, and the usual fresh-baked rapes and IEDs.
In our ever-expanding practical DIY playlist one may now find How-To's on pen guns, potato guns, ascetylene bombs, suppository delivery of DMT, mushroom picking, and proper play of the resurgent pre-teen parlour game "Choke Each Other Into Unconsciousness" in P0st-911 USofA.
I was told it was one of your officers that i was watching pepper spray a child with whom he was toying in a video on YouTube. Before i make any untoward remarks, i would like to make sure that on the night of October the 14th 2007 a member of your command was involved in the detention/child abuse of Shelwanda Riley, 15.
Dissenting Amerikkka's tax-evading Nor'Easterners, the Browns, finnally get caught with no bloodshed after months of fire-bombless cat and mouse with US Marshalls sent by the Treasury on behalf of the IRS. See, it's good to be rich.
Guess what would happen to you and i should we be so brash?
Probably the same thing. We're all White here, right?
Rev. Dr. Ahmadinejad is an obnoxiously hard to defend Executive Branche-Man, so this past week i must admit of a certain knee-jerk urge to give props of some sort to the public face of my beloved (pre'hap betrothed, anon) Shi'ia Persia.
Whatever. I don't know if that's what he said. Rev Stuttery McRamblesome there is perfectly in keeping with a contemporary speaker. This ain't the Gilded Age. Dubya's verbal tragedies are encoded at DARPA and filtered through Cheney before he mangles them into "speaches"; Ahmadinejad has to decode whatever the Khomeniacracy flips him to compliment his sportswear ouvre.
Tomorrow is Grandfalloonerry Day. What are you going to tell yourself to asuage your soul while you sit where They™ want you to, doing Thier™ bidding rather than hitting the streets?
In honor of the Anti-MOVE Mumia Haterz Society™, here's the brand-neue Mumia Abu Jamal Viewer. Updated with 5 fresh vids, layered on top for easy consumption. Check the Pam Africa vids at the end of this 40+ episode playlist, where there's an update on Mumia's case as well.
Mum(ia)'s The Word
Sri Doktor Mumia Abu Jamal's words from death row come via PrisonRadio.Org and are video mixed by Suryu, aKa ThierSpacer Ismael. /Props!
New York continues as the role model for the Quieter, Gentrier American Century, leading us into a bold new world where only traffic lights and buildings can run cameras. Well, i guess you can still buy a liscense from the City if you have a good reason and a wheelbarrow fulla money. Kinda like the way the FCC doles out liscenses for the use of radio wavelengths; these are liscenses for lightwave capture.
We Are Change gets some last rays caught, recieving a few good elbows to their (_blank_)s as keepsakes.
Bloomberg's Wild Ride code:
Could be worse. Could be investigating drugs-for-arms deals. (You can click through to this one; but yes you may want to proxy-up prior to doing so. I don't know who flagged it, or what could possibly be "mature viewing" in a Dateline clip w/ an Alex Jones outro, but here we are. This is why some people avoid me. Pussies.)
Some US reporters have already run into the new active-denial system of media suppression, like NOLA's own FluxRostrum.
FluxRostrum - TWIF code:
Pretty soon people in the Occupied Territories are going to have a hard time getting images of US citizens being complacent as thier Neue LiberCon overlords repave the highways with oil and skin.
From Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweater, Civilly Disobediant, a rare repost of Colbert by yours truly.
That thing he's doing at the end is a mock-up implying the international signal of a Masonic Brother in need, a type of Parlez/Sanctuary hand sign recognized by all sects in Freemasonry. Upon seeing this, a Mason is to approach, exchange sign/countersign, and ask what is needed, doing all reasonable to aid. I'm not going to tell you the specific difference(s) he's made, but i'll tell ya this: the man has once again done his homework, and there's some Brothers ROLFing right now.
As good a time as any to put down the Illuminati hoax for me. For those who don't know, my father and uncle were both Masons. I grew up going to Scottish Rite banquets, and was inducted into DeMolay at 13. I was my chapter's Almoner, electing not to climb chairs, and consider my contribution to the Temple fulfilled excellciae in my offered pledge, who rose quickly through the ranks and inducted a cadre of his own to renew the chapter's blood. Good kids, really. I don't know if he went on to Masonry. I haven't asked him, and the folks i still know from childhood are too morassed in thier lives and children to bother right now with wacked out inquiries, with the exception of my ex-partner-in-delinquency Officer "B", who can take it since he's a fucking cop now. (I plan on haunting the rest when thier nests are empty; it'll be much scarier then.)
The Freemasons are a lodge, meaning that they are organised in a hierarchy that transcends other social roles across national borders and bonds members together above them as a result. They are also Deists, technically Monodeists, since you have to acknowledge one (1) Supreme Creator, no atheists or Hindus allowed (except KRSN, since they hold unity of godhead). Freemasonry was a development of the Protestant opposition to the Vatican, and it wasn't until the mid 20th century that Freemasonry accepted Catholics into the fold. It's still rare; we had one Catholic in our chapter, initiated at the same ceremony i was. Our Masonic advisor pointed out how this made us a cutting-edge chapter, and we all became aware of a difference that we hadn't noticed until then. In other parts of the world, this tension between Protestant and Catholic sects of Judeochrislam are still very palpable, and Rome still doesn't like Masons.
I was lying about my faith AND lack of police record. I'm like that some. The Catholic was just lying about his record, which was nothing compared to my close shave with felony arson. We snuck out for a smoke with the chapter's lead trouble-kid wrangler, who laid out the underground rules for us to keep out of trouble with the Masons. Good times.
During college, i went to a couple of dances hosted by the Moose Lodge, a much freindlier bunch of folks. Their whole purpose is to leave religious and sexual identity at the door, and hang out with neighbors from the communitee they live in like civilized people. They had better gnoshings, but i gotta tell you: Eastern Star (the women's ancillary for all Freemasonry Temples) mold the Job's Daughters and Rainbow Girls in thier care into perfect little hostess debutantes. This is part of the Lodge's power to persevere, and a reflection of it's aristocratic roots and backbone. It was a network grown to resist and roll back Vatican influence across Europe, and the folks most interested in affecting this were the landed gentry and nobility (who would garner more control of land and taxes) and the international moneychangers (who were tied down by usury provisions). Its functions as an old-boys' club are not its purpose; indeed, it has no real purpose anymore. This is why you see Shriners at parades and billboards advertising the Masons as a communitee resource. The Knights are ceremonial now. They are NOT the Templars, a lodge from whom the Freemasons idealogically descend. They are NOT the Illuminati, who are a fictitious creation of Thomas Pynchon and the late great Sri Robert Anton Wilson. Yes, ok; there may have been the alleged historical Enlightenment lodge of the Barvarian Illuminati, but from the end of the Inquisition to present there has been a non-stop perculation of lodges and Orders throughout the Protestant zones, since they have no unified central social organisation to discourage such secularist or mystical groups. One doesn't consider the OTO to be a member of the Grand Conspiracy; yet Aliester Crowly and the 'Dawn have done more to impact your psyche than you know.
Saying that, there is Skull and Bones. A classic example of an organization who get painted as a possible seat of evil power. This is just a bassackwards way to view the situation, really. Fucking think about it. What is Yale? Is that a public school, is it a state university like my alma mater SJSU or even the rich kid's choice university at state like UCLA or UW? No. It's an ivy league law school, founded by the aristocratic colonial-era charter-holders. It is one of three (3) in the US. Yeah yeah, W/E Cornell, Georgetown, Hofstra, Brown...STFU. Harvard, Yale, Princeton son todos. Stanford's West Coast and too young, but was built in accordance with the same ethos: class.
Yes, Virginia, the oligopsony aristocrats speak of class, too. It's not just for us fire-starters to yell during a bar fight. Class war is real and ongoing; you've just beleived them for the last 100 years as they've told you how America, Land of Opportunity™ has no class lines, just levels of return on investment due to individual effort. They released this information from the research labs at Harvard's Dept of Economics, Statistics, and Social Science Engineering. This the New Yorker carried, or New Rebublic, or maybe Harper's, who knows? The voice of an authorative is all you wanted. So there's no class, except maybe the working class, right? Or was that just a Rick Springfield thing?
Aristocrats send thier kids to Yale. Not us, dear. Not even those snooty third generation gentry brats from the Magnolia family whose patriarch i worked for went to an Ivy. Hal owned half of old Ballard, and his factory mixed paint and coatings for the Pacific Fleet and half the West Coast instalations from the time he walked onto base during Korea until the mid-seventees, maybe eighties. He wore a blue Square and Compass [G] ring, like my father's. (Also an Okie, like my father. If either Masons or Oklahomans really do run the show, my dad sure got left out of the gravy train.) Hal had enough to retire early, which he didn't, and buy a second home on the 1st tee of the Meadowbrook Estates Country Club, and the lot next to it upon which to live while he built the ACTUAL summer home, and you get the idea. Noveu riche, west-coast industrialists do NOT have the creds or cash to do an Ivy, which is why Leland Stanford (whose advances my great aunt spurned, thanks for keeping it real Nan!) built his University in the hills he owned. This is also why certain folks make the pilgramage to Oxford or Cambridge, where they can make connections to trump the parochial clique at home in the States.
Get it now? It's called shmoozing, people. Yes, there are conspiracies. When two or more people of like intent agree to pool thier talents and influences to accomplish a goal without alerting the general public and disclosing thier plans, they are conspiring. If there are laws broken, it becomes criminal conspiracy, a phenominom which is all too common in US history, and is a way of life for the group of knuckle-dragging, life-sucking ebola-douches that currently populate the entire center of Washington DC, many of whom met each other at school. Why don't we wreck thier little game, and institute a direct vote for Chief Executive? That way, see, we could pick a candidate from outside the cluster-throating that comprises the One-Two Party Syndicate, and have our OWN idiot king instead of some bunch of rich frat boys' pick.
The following is standard Propaganda, created to promote the Constitutionalist Party. I would like to say i've updated it somehow, or that it's 50% whiter or some such, but... well, frankly, i just don't care enough to lie.
Common Sense: Toward a More Perfect Union
Two hundred and ten years ago, our first Chief Executive declined the call to serve a 3rd term. The living embodiment of Enlightenment leadership offered the following caveats about political parties in his farewell speech:
"This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. "The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. "Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. "It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. "There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume."
The interceding centuries have provided well for Washington's foresight, with the landscape of our nation's political machinations springing forth new parties to reinvigorate the process of government at regular intervals. Now, it falls upon citizens of our great republic to once again reshape the corpus politic with an organic body of renewed vitality, a forumn free from reactionary positionalism borne by decades of contention. It is our duty to our history, our sacred heritage of democratic spirit, to enjoin our peers in the monumental effort to set higher standards of administrative trust. Whatever your current affiliation, allegience or obligation, it is your personal civic duty to help build this new organ of political power. Your voice will help shape the chorus we are striving to tune. Your dreams will guide our intent. Your concerns will sharpen our resolve. You don't have to join this new party to make it work for you, but your duty as an American citizen behooves you to help shape its' reality. Our primary cause is one of universal necessity: the establishment of direct democratic process in the selection of our President by the removal of the electoral system. We stand now at a technological vantage point hitherto unknown to humankind, one that easily facilitates the requirements for true democracy. The brass ring so long sought after, fought for, paid for in blood and toil by untold generations of men and women is finally effectively in our grasp. Reach out with us and take it. We owe it to our fallen, we owe it to our children. It is a matter of common sense. Join the Campaign to Elect Citizen j today, and join the dialogue that will shape the future of democracy in America.
A taciturn lecture offered as rejoinder in an ongoing dialogue i'm having with our BeltWay Insider. Our story thus far: i have posited that Capital runs the game, and that political movements are more wagging dog than they are bellwethers for change. Civil rights was proffered as an example of a popular movement that changed policy. I pointed out that the Civil War was fought to that end 100 years prior, and was rebuked by an intriguing rejoinder about the echoes of Abolitionism in the current abortion debate. We'll come back to that. Firstly:
So basically, you are refuting the notion that capital interests rule the policy making process from the top down. Now, this isn't just some hair-brained idea of mine, you know. This is, unfortunately, historical fact.
Let's consider the Abolitionists and the Civil War some more.
The Abolitionist movement (along with early versions of the Temperance and Suffrage movements) grew out of Quaker/Shaker and Baptist churches, and although they were vociferous they were in fact outlawed in the South and only given lip service in the North after the Dred Scott descision struck a chord with folks who otherwise didn't care.
Why did it strike a chord? Because it asserted property rights across state lines, a clear problem for states' rights no matter how you slice it.
This is why it was made an issue. Federalism was not quite codified, and all sorts of concessions were being handed to locality as far as right of way and self-determination were concerned. Although the Federal Government had carefully plotted out territories for slave and free states (indicating it's disregard for the issue) settlers had more than once "jumped claim" and lept upon the territory as if the bank wasn't due payment.
This is one of the real issues: homesteaders got an allotment for a stipend, no more, and the territories were already determined. But the settlers would change rules at whim, the ingrates, as if self-determination were the founding principle of the country. Add to this the Southern Aristocracy's marked difference of opinion on the matter of centrism/Federalism, and you have your issue. What drove the war ideologically was the need to resolve the power of the Federal Government as supreme, once and for all. What enabled it and caused the other shoe to drop was ENCLOSURE. Remember the Cotton Gin? This is a modification of the wool mill used in Britain. No big whoop, despite what you may have heard, and whitney went broke in the 1790's without it really doing much. It was one of the loci of Northern industrial concentration, a process very much like Britain's industrial "revolution." This process requires agrarian aristocracy to migrate off of the land, so the land can be repurposed both in utility and in titlage, allowing the leverage of parcel valuation as Capital. Capital Aristocracy is of course the successor; a class of gentry whose wealth is the dictate by which they rule, separate from the land and it's sullen marginless stasis. The Northern industrial elite already understood this, having direct capital ties to Europe, where the process had already spawned the Enclosures, with ensuing dislocation, famines, Dickensian factories, workhouses and mines and slums of the 17 - 1800's.
Capitaldoes make up the issues. Where else would anyone get the idea that "feeding Africa" is something that can be done from the outside, or indeed that Africa is starving in the first place? Is it famine or enclosure killing people in Darfur? In Ethiopia we hear of famine and draught; yet the largest lake in Africa sits at it's heart, and this is a nation so old it dates to dynastic Egypt. It has irrigation; indeed it has quite a few resources, and is able to invade Somalia regularly. So why can't the ethnic herders get water? Is it perhaps because they can't pay for it?
Westerners are uninformed, naive somehow? I am here to tell you this is not true. We know exactly how evil we are, and we justify it by saying "better them than US" before "accidently" allowing warlords to usurp UNICEF monies. Those Suzuki jeeps don't ship themselves over there from NYC impound lots, it's strickly COD.
/ lecturette.
Extra credit: compare and contrast the states' rights issues involved Slavery vs Abolitionism against those of Pro-Choice vs Pro-Life. Explain how the logical outcome of this wlll be determined by Capital.
INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! Earlier this week our legislators in WA STATE refused to put an impeachment bill to a vote because they didn't think that's what the people of WA state want! This decision was made for you despite an unprecedented amount of phone calls, emails, and snail mail the legislatures received from all of us supporting the impeachment bill!! Show the people of WA STATE and those whose job it is to REPRESENT us what a powerful presence we are and the thousands and thousands who support the IMPEACHMENT issue!!
We will be organizing for the April 28th Impeach Day on Sunday April 21st! We need your imput! Do something to make real change happen on this EARTH DAY!!
We would like people to 'adopt' overpasses and bring large IMPEACH! signs and be at their assigned overpasses between 1:00pm and 4:00pm on April 28th. World Can't Wait will be on the 45th and 50th St (in the University District) I-5 overpasses that day! Then at 5:00 pm we will be on the North and South side of SAFECO FIELD handing out IMPEACH! balloons! (Please note; the manufacturer states that these are BIODEGRADABLE 100% natural latex balloons)
We will happily advertise your involvement on our website; http://www.seattleworldcantwait.org/ and what overpass you'll be at this coming week and include a link to your group's website if you have one, or just list you and your friends if that's what you'd like. Please email us at seattle@worldcantwait.org or better yet;
Please come to our regularly scheduled Sunday meeting; Sunday, April 21st, 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM Trinity United Methodist Church 3rd Floor Fireside Room 6512 23rd Ave NW in Ballard
BE COURAGEOUS- invite everyone you know! Want some talking points to discuss with friends and family on this issue? Try these on;
Why should Bush and Cheney be driven out and IMPEACHED? Here are just a few of the high crimes and misdemeanors the Bush Adminstration has committed;
*Pre-emptive War based on lies in violation of Nuremburg Principles *Repeal of Habeas Corpus in violation of the constitution, common decency and civilized society *Codified and committed Torture through the Military Commissions Act in violation of the Geneva Conventions *Conducted kidnappings aka 'extraordinary rendition' and now detains over 16,000 people w/o charges and is currently setting up facilities to house 40,000 more in violation the Geneva Conventions *No-bid contacts given to cronies who over-charged, performed poorly, and have 'lost' millions of dollars of taxpayer money; pure corruption *Fraudulent elections in violation of the 15th ammendment *600% increase in terrorism worldwide; shameful incompetence *Created massive federal debt while giving tax cuts to the wealthy and cutting social services; shameful corruption *Worked in concert with fundamentalist religious groups to make policy changes and laws in violation of the 1st ammendment *Spying on American citizens without warrants in violation of the 4th ammendment *Created the John Warner Defense Act, a portion of which nullifies the Posse Comitatus Act and thereby allows the military to use force against American citizens
And so many more high crimes and misdemeanors that they cannot all be listed here, with no doubt as to the many more as yet unknown crimes that an intensive impeachment investigation would discover.
Our democracy is crumbling! It's time to get out and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT WHILE WE STILL CAN!!
ATTEND THESE EVENTS, and if you CANNOT ATTEND for whatever personal reasons then please DONATE GENEROUSLY! The Seattle World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime needs funds for the contant flyering we do, and the monthly maintainence of our office, website, and phone. To donate please send a check to; "WCW/AGJ" in subject line please include "Seattle WCW" and mail your generous check to; 2442 NW Market St PO Box #555 Seattle WA 98107.
Hope to see you tomorrow and on the 28th! World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime, Seattle Chapter
-end remission-
'K. First, tomorrow's the 22nd. They did send a correction email, so let's ignore that.
BUT WHAT THE FUCKEDY COCK IS UP WITH ALLCAPS AND EXCLAIMATIONS!!!
It's not as if this wasn't generated by a script; the "WA STATE" insertion in triplicate is a give away that this was templated. Which then makes the hyperbolic "unprecedented emails" claim glare with cynical offalism, a shiney turd bobbing nauseatingly adrift in the toddler's bedpan of that opening paragraph. So someone made a template, with the wrong date, formulated for failure, and decided the inflection of summertime chatroom was the stylistic element needed to motivate the masses.
Nice. I love activism. Makes me feel like i'm in the company of reasonable adults. Always has.
I guess i'll drop a sign off of Dravus overpass, maybe. Maybe show up at the Ballard meeting just to be counted as a potential 5th columnist. No worries, Big Bro; the other 4 are MIA.
I ripped all of anti-tenure patriarch Nels' vids and stuck 'em into the media blender that is Brightcove. This is one for you fellow media propagationistaz to keep an eye on, being as it's true Web 2.0. Flash feeds with syndication controls and ad-space hooks to make the medium massage the media into mass-media message space. Ideally. No offers yet, but i tweaked the tags a bit tonight so...we'll see.
This is why i'll be doing some form of public pro-impeachment prostitution tomorrow. Concerned Citizens are duty-bound to carry the news of the day until the newspapers do.
Those of us who care too much go the extra mile to tell you what we make you think. Close your eyes and count to 100, please.
If you aren't in Olympia right now with the crowd on the Capital steps demanding a vote on the proposal to impeach Cheney and Dubya, you should send a nice reminder mail to your "representatives", e.g.:
To: brown.lisa@leg.wa.gov, eide.tracey@leg.wa.gov, chopp.frank@leg.wa.gov, murray.edward@leg.wa.gov, spanel.harriet@leg.wa.gov, regala.debbie@leg.wa.gov, rockefeller.phil@leg.wa.gov
Legislators of the 110th:
Provide leadership by moving SJM 8016 to the floor for a vote. Either take a real stand now for the Republic and the People you serve, or be counted as colaborationists by coddling the criminals in the Administration.
The first rule of the Selective Source-Openning Process is that it is a stone-cold groove.
Uzumaki
Naruto Shippuuden code:
The second rule of the Selective Source-Openning Process is do not use an acronym for the Selective Source-Openning Process when talking about the Selective Source-Openning Process.
متنزهة جنوبيّة code:
There are no other rules about the Selective Source-Openning Process.
Secrets are stupid. The selfish motive behind the idea of secrecy itself is anti-productive. Not merely aproductive, but aggresivly anti-devlopement. It serves no one's interest but criminals of the lowest order. I do many illegal things, i don't keep them a secret; because they really ARE victimless, no-one complains or even notices.
I steal, but i'm not a thief like Dick Cheney.
Or Sony-BMG. The idea that one can own an idea is stupid, like many of the accepted canonnical incongruencies which form the lexicon of oligopsony capitalism. Intellectual property corporations leverage thier market control against artists and consumers, forcing both to accept copyright laws written to benifit thier interests, not the artists. Piracy is liberation; it's not a game. It's not a free lunch. It's the Selective Source-Openning Process.
I'm still awaiting footage of IRI's weekend space-shot, which evidently saw The Islamic Republic of Iran put a payload into orbit on it's own rocket. Russia had popped last year's satellite into orbit, and a mere turn around the sun later they've done it for themselves.
Mesbah:
A Satellite Named "Pool"
Give It Up For The Newest SpacePower Nation, The Islamic Republic of Iran!
POLL:Should Iran face further sanctions over its nuclear programme?
Yes : 35.2 %
No : 54.7 %
I don't know : 10.1 %
Number of pollers:16529
This goes hand in hand with comments on the subject in the BBC. I imagine the British press will be a little more even-handed on issues of Middle Eastern concern for a while, since they're leaving Occupation: Enduring Our Operations along with my Danish cousins. I'm sure the aebleskivers will be missed.
Those of us who are vehomently pro-geometry have long touted the superiority of Middle Eastern tiling. Those of you who use Arabic numerals are probably dimmly aware that these are indicative of a culture fluent in math. So, i'm comfortable going out on a limb and answering the question poised in the above linked article: Yes, the designers of the tile pattern knew about it's non-recursive math. One has to do the math to design tiling patterns based on math.
Shake it off with me, America. Let's focus on some good things.
In appreciation of his ding-ach-sich, here's the Hero of Our age, the Hon. George Galloway. (Not to be confused with fellow WordPresser and Lenny Bruce Strike Force memeber, Galloway)
He's Got A Way, He's Got His Gall code:
I love these men, but especially George, because he's so damn resilient. He's been taking the slings and arrows for the entire Western Empire throughout this past 7 years of cleptocratic imperial boondogerry, and he's thrived on it. Now he's leading the charge to topple Blair, and all we can do is wish we had someone like him.
Segues nicely into this playlist. Cow and Chicken: A Model Of American Bipartisanship.
Potential Analogue Model Viewer code:
Cow is of course the Dems; eager to play the nice guy, apparently compassionate but with a deadly secret. Chicken as the GOP; virulent self-interested hothead with little-man syndrome, quick to flare at assumed transgressions, overprotective. Together they navigate the American dreamscape of devils and morons to thier mutual betterment.
Maybe you'd prefer a degreed opinion?
Parenti Guidance code:
There's no analogy or reason to give a reason for posting Dexter's Lab.
in response to CJ's comment on "Cheney as Lepidus"
It seems that there were three freedmen, and one senator that Claudius employed to manage the most important aspects of his reign, of these only Pallas, his finance minister was recorded as a confidant of Nero through his alignment with Agrappina (mother of Nero), and according to some sources was directly involved in the supposed poisoning of Claudius and rumored to be having an affair with emporor's wife, and so would have been a sort of unofficial regent at at the beginning of Nero's reign, helping significantly with his transition to power.
Not only did he have an intimate familiarity with the institutions, procedures, and players of Claudius' administration, Pallas happened to be finance minister. That fact alone brings Cheney to mind as both maintain(ed) close ties to government and the private sector using each to suppliment the other's benefits. His rumored association with Nero's mother and the murder of Claudius (if true) would have helped to insure his safety through the changing of the guard. His death most probably coincided with the execution of Agrappina, or arranged for by Agrappina herself once Nero was effectively placed on the throne.
Polybius is also a good candidate as he was rather benign pollitically despite his imperative to arrange administrative appointments. He would have also had a good working knowledge of Claudius' government in a practical sense and a great deal of influence by the very nature of his work, mingling with the powerful and arranging their appointments to government positions. That certainly makes him comparible to Cheney by way of being well connected, valuable as a governement "insider", and most likely extremely wealthy through the patronage of his appointees.
I think, though I can not verify it, that Narccisus was killed shortly after Claudius' death, by order of Nero. He had been Claudius' minister of letters, and thus knowing all of the emporor's secrets would have been a great danger to Nero so his death makes sense. Having been a great ally of Claudius, most notably in putting down the coup of Messalina in 48BC this is probably not who you mean.
There is also the older Vitallus, father of the future Emporor and a notable Senator. There are no references to him that I can find during Nero's reign. He also makes an unlikely imperial insider given his position in the senate which had become ever more removed from the palace's machinations of power, not to mention that his very appointment to the senate had been arranged by Claudius.
Anyone else appearing as important to both Nero and Claudius was eventually killed or exiled by the end of Nero's reign.
I'm not going to pretend that I pay enough attention to anything that's going on in Washington to make a serious claim as to the figure driving the Cheney Vice Presidency or his business practices. That said, I am not oblivious to the practices of government and warfare, or to the lessons of history.
So, my assessment would be that Cheney is no more than a modern "safe pair of hands", the third Triumvir without the love of the people, or the ambition to be a real threat to the powers that be. Assuming as we only can these days, that there must be a third entity pulling the strings of administration, because it has become increasingly evident that Bush has neither the skills, nor the intelligence to stand alongside Caesar, or even Mark Antony (as has been suggested). And as has been pointed out, Cheney could have made more money so perhaps he doesn't have the brains he has been credited with either. In all likelihood both he and Bush will be lucky to hold rank next to Russia's Nicholas III when the history books are finally written.
On the other hand, that third entity if it does exist, is probably not very smart either.
Unless of course the whole point is to destabilize the Middle East (among other regions) in the hopes of killing off 2 to 4 billion people, and in doing so solving the problems of over population, global warming, and our dependency on foreign oil all in one fell swoop. Then of course, with our republic in it's final death throws, Bush and Cheney would make convenient scapegoats for explaining to the nearly comatose populace why democracy failed, and hegemony will usher in a new golden age fulfilling the west's manifest destiny to rule the planet.
