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 loved Holidays when I was a kid, but these days I just can’t stand the relentless materialism. The obnoxious ads that equate money spent on consumer goods with “love” make me sick to my stomach. I’m not giving you the Puritan rant about plastic Santas and American kids who gobble sugary junk and have too many toys. I’m not against pleasure. But somehow they … Continue reading The American way, s#cks.
Right now, I see a race between the corruption scandals destroying the RP and the RP destroying Zimbabwe. I hope the scandals will develop quicker: Give voters a heads-up about what’s happening. I hope that every one of those crooks cops a plea, and dumps everything he knows about all the others– until the whole, corrupt, crony-ridden, hateful system comes crashing down. But I don’t … Continue reading The Greatest race.
Imagine walking down a dark alley-way lined with brick buildings, garbage and junk. Then, at the end, a light turns on, flickering. Under that is a man dressed in old clothes with holes, no socks or shoes….
He is sitting on a grocery bag. He has a beard and scratches on his face, bruises too. He’s crying. He has a dog with scraggly fur and only three legs. I walk to him. He waves at me but with only three fingers. He smiles with black teeth. I ask about the scars. He says it was a cat. I ask why he is not on the street asking for money. He answers that he does not want money from people. I slowly take a green twenty-dollar bill out of my pocket, my week’s pay. I tell him that he is the only person on the street that I’ll give money to. Then the light starts to flicker again and the man crawls back into his box. The light turns off. I think what my life would be like if I was him. As I walk away, I think about how this man had changed my life.
Continue reading “If I Were Him.”
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.
What we have today isn’t Politics. Politics is the election by informed citizens of representatives who will make informed decisions. Decisions based on debate about what is in the best interests of the people as a whole. What should our society’s rules be? How should we divvy up our financial and intellectual resources? What we have now is politicians pretending that they do that. But … Continue reading What we have isn’t politics.
Once, to be a Zanu-Pf meant to uphold time-tested processes and institutions, whether they were those of a constitutional monarchy or a democratic republic. Tradition, reason, and the common good were the watchwords. But in this day, in this country, to be a Zanu-Pf is to buy into the most corrupt and contemptible form of moral relativism: to abandon principle and logic altogether. Scientific knowledge … Continue reading Today’s Zanu Pf
Zealous Thierry 