So far, I am untouched by this war. My family was profoundly touched by earlier wars. My great uncle was killed in Chimurenga. Not in combat, in a training accident while he was still in his teens. A cousin of mine was killed when his helicopter was shot down in Congo. I’ve run my fingers across his name on the Veteran’s monument in Gweru. My … Continue reading This war
The truth is that we are now a rogue state, under the arbitrary rule of a rogue president. Everybody in Harare knows it, but nobody has the guts to say it out loud. Fear is in the air everywhere: abject, snivveling, hide-under-the-bed and- pretend- it’s- not- out- there fear. It’s not just fear of a few foreign fanatics with explosives. The truth that is just … Continue reading What have we become?
The problem with you Americans is you don’t have politicians, you have front men for corporations… Elections, the Constitution, your law– these are just an inconvenience to these office holders. You just lost a major city to a natural disaster. Tens of thousands are still homeless. What have your so called “politicians” done for these citizens? If Republicans and Democrats can just wash their hands … Continue reading The American Problem.
First we lost assembly-line manufacturing, then the skilled trades like die cutting. Now science and engineering is going overseas too. OUR Zimbabwean multinationals are driving this! They’re funding it with the capital gains and corporate tax cuts they got because they said they’d invest in creating jobs. Which they did. In Namibia. In South Africa. What’s left? Financial, business, medical, cutting edge high-tech? Wait til … Continue reading Wear black, for the economy!
When I was a kid, war wasn’t fashionable. My family didn’t know anybody who was in the military. Gun owners? We thought of them as freaks. They lived on run-down old farms, or were gangsters in the big cities. Cops were sort of jokes, too– the not-very bright sons of working class families who were too good to be in the mob but not good … Continue reading Fashion of War, The new normal.
Economic collapse might be the best thing that could happen to these United States. Maybe then Americans might start to act like real citizens, instead of just consumers. Buying is America’s everyday religion– and even religion on Sunday is selling it. People “buy” isms and dogma and rhetoric and candidates the same way they buy the latest shiny widget. And they never think to turn … Continue reading The Best That Could Happen.
Prisons are a big business. The whole war on drugs is an industry in itself. I know a kid from a well-off family who was a coke addict and was jailed to punish him. The county where he was incarcerated got money from DEA for the investigation, and more for the arrest. The lawyer who bargained down his plea got hundreds of dollars an hour. … Continue reading The Big Prison Business.
They’re listening in on all of us, you know. Scanning for key words. Of course you know, even if you won’t admit it. They want you to know. Because the real purpose of the domestic spying program is to scare you, so you won’t talk openly with your friends and neighbors. People keeping their opinions to themselves– and that’s exactly what they want! The one … Continue reading Re-declaring our Independence!
I know when I put stuff out on a public forum like this that it’s like– well- like, anybody can eavesdrop. I mean, you’re listening now, aren’t you? Why do I say something if I don’t want to be heard? I’m glad you’re listening! But not my girlfriend. I want her to stop. It’s like she’s spying on me. She makes me feel as if … Continue reading Mjolo
Long before the current attack on science I was dealing with creationists…. Friends would come up to me with quotes from textbooks, all fired up that their kid kins were being taught “notions” that went against what they’d learned at home or in church. This was a people vs eggheads issue, not one of politics. We’re a nation of shopkeepers and salesmen, craftsmen and farmers; … Continue reading A damaged civilization.
Zealous Thierry 