Decisive Action

What then has mankind decided to do with all of the knowledge we have? We BURN things. We're the only ones who can.

And damn proud of it.

If this is the difference between US and the animals, I'm with THEM.

We kill each other for reasons other than for food. Every reason under the sun: glut, greed, sloth, vanity, lust, envy, and wrath -- all sins. For food? No way, you must be crazy. At least, if I'm being killed for food, at least I know why I'm dead. If there's legitimate competition, I was probably weakest in the pack, barring the admission of firearms or projectile weapons.

Doesn't make it pleasent, just honest. Besides, you must be crazy. People can eat without having to resort to eating each other. That is, unless, with kill off the planet. 'Cause, then, its all bugs and people left.

No grass, no cows, no beef.
No seed, no chicken, no.. er.. chicken.
No trees, no giraffes, no token replacement for beef.
No plants, no vegan diets.

If we do kill off our own food supply. Then, we'd probably become a food supply, either to each other - cannibalism planet - or to some E.T.(B.E.). It'd be a perfect time for aliens to come and kill us off, or enslave us. The apes might make it happen.

As for my death.. I simply hope it is 100% honorable.

Visible Minorities

... will always look more like a terrorist than a middle-aged white male.

Until the world accepts that people are people, regardless of appearances, we will always have a dichotomy and judgements based on appearances. The eyes are often the most deceptive of the senses, information is processed at the speed of light. Yet, when it come to what we believe, we are most often inclined to believe what it is that our eyes tell us. There is always more to the story.

As a visible minority myself, I must admit that I fit the same profile that Jean Mixhel de Menzes did when he was shot five times in the head by London Police of Friday. There is no certainty to the stories being disseminated in the aftermath of this tragic case of mistaken identity. The heightened state of fear has driven events in this direction.

This battle against terror is insidious. Its victims and perpetrators virtually indistinguishable from one another. Until middle-aged white men are conducting suicide strikes, the balance of power and authority remains with them. The old discriminations - now incriminations - will remain.

Wavefront

... And now Egypt?

I haven't read much about the bombings in Egypt of Saturday night. It's times like this that I know why I don't watch the news on TV. 'Cause they'd get it wrong. Reading the news, finding people closely associated with the events IN the news is difficult, but better. I sit behind four walls all day, and four walls all night.

Damn it. I AM in prison. At least, everybody's here with me.

To find out about the outside world, there are three ways. You can talk to people, you can see it yourself, or, you can read the paper and watch the news. Reading the internet gets a little hairier. Regardless, the world is a place that one can understand only by experience.

Among all these things, experiences both actual and by proxy, you develop an impression. A belief in the way that things are going. A sense of the ebb and flow of all things -- how they interact and lace together what is to come.

Well...

There have been two bombings in London, one failed, fourteen days apart and within seven days past. No-one should dispute the term fortnight at this point in history. London is a city fortified against terror as a second fortnight lapses.

The weekend Egyptian bombing looms in the background to these events. It is as though, with the intensity of investigation and the nature of this warlike act continuously to be sown in the minds of Americans and Europeans, the Eastern world faces yet another strike. And the Western world remains unresolved to turn and notice.

***
A character flaw exists in the world. Self-centredness of the West is at odds with the interconnectedness and social nature of the East. So much so that the two Western powers, as though father and son, face an eternal struggle between them. Meanwhile the Elightened East -- a Holy spirit -- cries "Infidel!" The East pitches every form of distraction in an attempt to shift the attention of the world; to present a different prespective. Ever the paternalist, the West turns away, preferring to draw only the lifeblood of its existence, oil, from the belly of the East at a rate of a billion barrels per day.

And so the stage is set for a forever war. The War on Terror already presents a constant state of emergency. Everyone and anyone could be a terrorist. The question is, what is the Government going to do about it? We know what is happening in the West, or do we? Big Brother is conducting all the work in the London Bombing. There are only two potential perpetrators: Islamic fundmentalist terrorists associated with al Qaeda, or someone else. As President Bush says, "either you're with US, or you're with the terrorists." If the bombing is proven to have no connection to al Qaeda, the threat is within US.

It's 1984, baby, YEAH!

There has always existed tension between these great powers. Since the gripings of De Gaulle in letters he wrote during the second War. Between Churchill and Roosevelt, De Gaulle was considered to be "our bitter foe." It was De Gaulle who wrote that the war of the future would be fought between a Brittanic Europe and Resplendent America.

Something wicked this way comes.

If it is true that Europe is willing to stand united against US, as they did against the Axis in 1939, which way will the world tumble? EU is the only world body robust enough to stand against the might of US. The conflict in Iraq, staged by/for US interests, and currently the wedge in a global definition of justice, may unleash a new shift in world policy.

The Cold War postponed this conflict for many years. Perhaps the lines along which such a conflict rested were too blurry for the Americans to resolve immediately. Their belligerent self-righeousness was stayed by the failures of the Nazi War Machine, the resolute compusure of Stalin, and the lack of knowledge surrounding this Soviet Motherland.

The spectre of nuclear holocaust between incidental enemies, capitalists and socialists, prevented the conflict from being triggered. Much mork was conducted by "spies" and "agents." In the end, Capitalism outlasted Socialism by creating a global market that the socialists could not resourcefully compete in. Socialists themselves began to desire free market economies to satisfy their desires. Corruption spread and, finally the wall fell. It fell Westward.

The West now battles within itself.

"After you get the money, then you get the power. After the power comes the respect."
'Lil Kim, "Money, Power, and Respect."
(currently serving a prison sentance, one year plus a day)

The words of a true Capitalist.

***

Now that a bigger conflict is brewing, another fortnight inches past. An innocent man was killed today - Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian native. A case of mistaken identity, the London Police shot and killed him under a staunchly defended "shoot-to-kill" policy. No chances are being taken as the next bombing could be much more devestating.

Did the police forces of New York act in this manner in the wake of 9|11? Did any "suspect" die as a result of mistaken identity during investigation? The difference, I believe, between the coverage of 7|7 and that of 9|11 is that London Police are taking responsibility for their actions in the public sphere. To this extent, the death of Jean Charles de Menezes will be investigated to the satisfaction of the Brazilian Foreign Minister. Any deaths in association to 9|11 investigations fell easily within the scope of the flashy new USA PATRIOT act.

Perhaps its just my perspective, but, the nature of warfare has changed. If these bombings were taking place in Colombia or Sri Lanka or Cambodia it would be called guerilla warfare. Now that US is facing a global network owning alleigance to no flag, and now that attacks are in city centres against civilians, it is terrorism.

The most terrifying thing is, it may never end.

PATRIOT Act Extension

... means that I'll probably not feel "safe" in the US for the next 10 years. Not that I've got anything to hide, but, because I'm no longer considered a "neighbour" when I go to the US, I'm a "foreigner."

Permitting the US government to pry -- at will -- into personal afffairs, to interpret individual actions via involuntary and incidental record keeping methods, and, then, to make value judgements based upon these records is unreasonable. It is another step toward the status as Police State that the US should simply own up to.

The USA PATRIOT act seeks to redefine "patriotism." In supporting the scrutiny of tiny facets of everyday life, personal interest, and freedom, this act is anti-democratic on its face. It is a reactionary piece of legislation and, now that it has been extended, exemplifies the nature of the current administration. This legislation could not have been enacted during peacetime, the national interest would not permit the limitation of liberty without the presence of a threat. However, because the legislation was pushed -- unread -- through Congress and the Senate in the traumatized days of post-9|11 Washington, the interest laid on the side of its ratification. Now the same tactic is being employed. Hypersensitivity in a post-7|7 phase is, again, siding national interest with the tenets of this act. A clear and present danger, er... a muddied phantom menace of freqent reference, is here. Thus, the Act stays.

A non-patriot is one who would work against the ideals of America and, in the eyes of authority, would seek to destroy America by a "terrorist" attack of one form or another. Terrorists are, as defined by President Bush himself, "evil doers" and followers of "ideologies of hate." The President ought to take a good long look in the mirror. Under these broad terms, he would surely include Hip Hop artists, homosexuals, and most free-thinking individuals. Any who oppose the status quo and are suspect of inducing change will be treated as a threat. Soon enough, graffiti, anti-War songs, protest marches, and -- gasp -- overt sexuality will be the acts of terror that embroil the nation.

The PATRIOT act as a standard of patriotism, under the understanding that liberty is sacrificed in favor of security, is the most anti-patriotic act that could be instituted by the current or any administration. They seek to redefine the conduct of 'Americans' to fall in-line with the concerns of "national security" -- a neo-McCarthyistic attitude. Whether or not the police forces of the US will utilize this freedom in the interests of the people, or in the interests of the State has yet to be seen. However, the state has ensured that the power for these organizations to act in the interests of the state is present.

The 7|7 Bombing of London is still a recent event and, probably, the overshadowing rationale for the ratification of the PATRIOT Act extension in the House. As previously stated, the attacks in London proved very beneficial to the efforts of the Bush Administration and the War on Terror. It couldn't have worked better if they'd planned it themselves. The intense scrutiny of Gulf War II has, temporarily waned in the wake of great interest in the 7|7 Attacks. In terms of a distraction, it came right on cue.

This begs the question, if al Qaeda had succeeded in swinging popular opinion against the hegemonic efforts of the Bush Administration, particularly with respect to US occupation of the Middle East, and the scrutiny of the war was at an all time high, why would they have bombed London? Seems counterproductive to me; the search for al Qaeda has since intensified and spread thicker across the globe. Bush has gained more support for the War on Terror.

For each action there is an equal and opposite reaction. A little terror there promotes interest in security over here. Being naturally balanced, no one is any the wiser.

One furhter note: NYPD engaged in random bag checking at subway stations across the city, presumably a product "High" probability of a terrorist attack today, the 7|7 bombing 15 days ago, and the passage of the PATRIOT Act Extension through the House. If you've got the power, why not exercise it? Besides, it is in the interest of public safety, no matter what the Fourth Amendment states.

Gotta wonder how long it took the German proletariat to get used to Facism/Totalitarianism.

Grinning Planet

... much to our shagrin.

This article regarding overpopulation is an elegant presentation of the problem at hand. Couldn't ahve put it more succinctly myself.

A quick breakdown:

"...we can expect 54 million [net] additional people per year to occupy the planet. That large a number still seems pretty hard to relate to, though, so if we take it down to a per-day figure—which would be 149,000 net additional people per day... remember how shocked we were when we were told about the death toll from the December 2004 Asian tsunami—several hundred thousand people died. Yet today we're adding that many new people to the planet's population every two days."

This is not to devalue the lives of those dead of such natural disaster, nor any death caused by natural or unnatural causes. "One of our top goals as a society should be to reduce and eliminate suffering wherever and whenever possible." The problem is that there are too many people being added to the planet. If, in fact, we were to control the death rate against all possible causes, effectively immortalizing the human race, the problem would increase exponentially.

Death is the necessary control mechanism for life. In so saying, death must not be wielded by humans as a tool to this, or any, end. Humanity must realize, however, that the natural world struggles to maintain an equilibrium established across eons. Thus, nature devises means to reduce populations. Bacteria and viruses, food shortages, changes in weather patterns; all responses to an environment co-opted by humanity. Such "humane" action is met with our just dessert; robust and tenacious plagues, food shortage, and biospheric collapse.

"The earth is a "closed system," meaning that we have to recycle or store all of the wastes we produce, and... we only have one planet's worth of land and water to provide resources for agriculture, energy, and other needs."

Keep this in mind. There is only one planet. Once it's resources are spent, burnt off, or turned into plastic -- there's no place else to go. There is nothing else alive, that we know of, within the observable universe. Thus, we only have one chance to keep it going.

Think of it another way. Would you tear your house apart, sell it off, and burn it to the ground if there was no other place in which to seek refuge? Would you do these things and cast out your children and their children onto the street to die?

The rampant expanse of human life remains at the expense of the planet. How much do we currently owe the planet?

"The total impact we have on the planet, therefore, is roughly the total number of people times the average standard of living. (This basic concept is sometimes called "ecological footprint.")"

The ecological footprint of several regions of Ontario was reported recently by the Toronto Star. At 10.4 hectares per person, the ecological footprint of the average inhabitant of my region was on par with that of the average American. The surface of the earth is roughly 14.8 billion hectares -- enough to support 1.42 billion people, with an exceptional standard of living, for a single lifetime. Since there are 6.8 billion people in the world, "inside of each them... an American trying to get out" (Full Metal Jacket), the planet can support all of these dreams for a little under 12 years. Then, well, who knows?

Personally, I have tried to take strides toward reducing my ecological footprint. I ride the bus instead of driving my car, which has a 3.0 L engine, or my parents cars, 4.0 L engines each. The sad part is, the buses are virtually empty. So, I ride a bus, having a 9.0 L engine, alone. The buses would run anyway... at least I participate. I walk where I can, I will buy a bike this summer, I don't have an air conditioner, and I've reduced the amount of time I spend with the TV on. A great start, but there's no way to get others to follow suit. I cannot force belief in the growing problem at hand.

Population control must work in conjunction with resource amnagement to alleviate the stress being put on the system. To continue, as we undoubtedly will -- for a time, is bold, shining fallacy. Even with more conservative estimates of global consumption, the rate of population increase in connection with the universal desire for a higher standard of living creates the same undesirable end, a dead planet.

In this life, or the next, a change must come.

London Today

I don't like coincidences.

Nor do I support any form of terrorism; whether it is warfare or isolate attacks. There must be another answer than to kill.

Observe. British PM Tony Blair is in Scotland to attend the G8 summit. As the host of the G8 summit, he is in a position to strongly represent the environmental concerns of the much of the G8. He is furthermore in position to leverage the U.S. into a Kyoto-type plan for environmental concerns, having followed their lead into a messy war in Iraq.

Observe. The UK strongly supports the position of the U.S. in a war fought on false pretenses supplied officially by both great nations. Not only does the engagement continue in Iraq, but, dissent within both nations grows as each nation has recently re-elected their wartime leader. Is this democracy at work?

Observe. The city of London is announced, yesterday, as the host of the 2012 Summer Olympiad. This announcement brings with it the promise of massive investment in, and financial boon to London, widespread security concerns, and the stigma of corrupt influences
concerning the IOC.

Now: early reports link al-Qaeda to a bombing that has claimed 37 lives and hundreds of casualties. Those who were not killed experienced a range of injuries from smoke inhalation to lacerations to fractured and shattered bones to amputations. Certainly, there are those who cannot forget the 7|7 bombing. With wisdom, the veracity of a claim made by "an al-Qaeda linked website" must bee investigated. Motives to bomb London abound.

And now, for a slice of paranoia.

The one who stands the most to gain from this interruption, this diversion, is President Bush. He is certainly disinterested in the concerns of the G8 at this juncture, escpecially where it concerns "the environment" and "African aid." What he needs from going to Europe is EU and further UK support for his war. The diversion created by an attack on the UK, possibly the work of disavowed CIA operatives, is perfect. Besides, the Olympic win and the G8 conference provide exceptional cover and excellently contrast the implied reason for Bush's presence in UK, African aid.

End paranoid rant.

The American president hosted a summit meeting on June 20th which sought to clearly establish postitions held on trade, economics, and global affairs ahead of the Gleneagles G8 summit. Though the clear directives of investment opportunity and future relations between the US and the EU were discussed, the underlying factors of global affairs management muddied the discussion. EU Luxembourg President Juncker offered the following:

"We made clear in our frank and open and friendly talks with the President that the European is not at its knees, but that the European Union is playing the role it has on the international scene; that we feel strongly committed to the relations we have established with partners throughout the world[.]"

Remarks by President Bush in the press conference sought to demonstrate the importance of America's policies in continued relations with the rest of the world. Specifically, Bush remarked that only a portion of the EU body has contributed troops to the frontal engagements of the war on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. There yet exists division within the EU about bending to the will of America, specifically on the engagement in Iraq, and any implications therein. As reported by FOX News (a reliable source of info if I've ever seen one),

"Bush made a bury-the-hatchet visit to Europe in February to close the book on intense divisions over the U.S. decision to go to war in Iraq."

It seems that the hatchet remains unburied. US foreign policy upsets some EU members because the wish to remain distinguishable (read: foreign) from the US. As a result, it is impossible for these EU members to discern when such foreign policy will be used against them. Without the support of WMD justifying the incursion into Iraq; or a concrete link between Iraq, al Qaeda, and 9|11; worldwide support for the campaign against Islamic extremism has waned and other concerns -- the environment and African strife have risen.

Support for the war on Terrorism has instantly elevated across the Europe as the impact has been felt immediately. The lessons of past attacks, in the eye of the public, have not been learned as another successful attack has been carried off. Innocent people, pedestrians in the machinery of warfare and international politics, are dead again. If the richest and most powerful governments of the world cannot protect their people, who can?

Diversion (definition):

3. A maneuver that draws the attention of an opponent away from a planned point of action, especially as part of military strategy.

Make a big mess over here so that no one realizes what is going on over there. The greatest diversive acts, terrorist acts, cause great confusion. The opportunity presented by diversive acts -- such as an act of terrorism -- is too clear to squander. If, then, these recent "acts of terrorism" are not truly perpetuated by terrorists, who is the beneficiary of the act? No human action takes place for no reason at all, there is something to be gained action, specifically in the imposition of such fear. Furthermore, it takes a terrorist act to avert the eyes of a nation; from intelligensia to the common man.

It is wise that the British government has stated that their investigation into the London attacks will not presume the claim of responsibility by an "al Qaeda-linked website." The culpability of another party, other than al Qaeda, could help to increase the awareness that the fight against terrorism need not focus on the conflict between the interests of capitalist western democracies and Arab interests. The implications of the G8 conference in combination with the award of the olympic games prove suitable targets for the rage of "terrorists" more "domestic" to the British isles.

Domestic terrorism still exists.

Never forget the notion of domestic terrorism. In the current political climate the basis of all terrorist action is the Islamic jihad; which contesting the political and moral authority of Western democracies. This is especially true in a world driven by a right-wing American administration pushing a foreign policy that, itself, seeks to supercede any external authority. These contests of self-determination always terminate in conflict; and, on an international level, armed conflict and warfare. The tactics of terrorism, the tools and techniques therein, are constantly within reach of the individual. This is the reason that a battle against terrorism is, in fact, a battle against ideas.

Domestic terrorists in the U.S. are not difficult to remember. The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, managed a reign of terror that lasted 17 years from within the contiguous 48 states of the USA. Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1996 is another example. The acts of Eric Harris and Dylan Kiebold at Columbine High School in 1999, if they had transpired in a post 9|11 world, would have ranked as acts of domestic terrorism.

Charles Bishop, a 15 year-old novice pilot crashed a single engine Cessna into the Bank of America building in Tampa, FL. Though he was pursued by a Coast guard helicopter, and although he violated MacDill AFB airspace -- prompting the scrambling of 2 F-15 fighters, which arrived too late -- Bishop managed to duplicate the acts of 9|11 hijackers. Bin Laden sponsored terrorists or a 9th grade student, it doesn't matter which, the acts are the same. Less than four months after 9|11, the response capability of the US military could not respond to this type of act.

(In)security

Now, four years after 9|11, with massive changes to security and identification standards, the world is no "safer." The mad dash to increase security, as demonstrated by the massive sucess of security-related businesses, has led to no change in absolute general security. Armed security details and bomb-sniffing dogs in every public place may reduce the incidence of such activity, but, there will always be a loophole available to exploit. A shift into chemical or biological weapons would suffice. Absolute security is not even found in the Orwellian world predicted by 1984. That world is becoming more symmetrical with the contemporary, but, as examined in the book, it is undesirable to achieve as its freedom from insecurity denies freedom to act.

Terror is not rooted in "ideologies of hate," it is rooted in acknowledging that with freedom comes insecurity. Almost all adult human beings have the physical capacity to kill, but, without motive -- emotive, ideological, or otherwise -- the act does not occur. Terror resides with the terrible; such terrible acts are suppressed in all but the psychotic. Induced psychosis, often the result of constant stress -- such as interminable warfare -- leads individuals to commit to terrible acts only because to bear the stress is more painful. What will become of humanity and humane action if the world succumbs to the constant warfare state promised by the war on Terrorism?

America seeks to secure itself absolutely against all threats. America seeks to rebrand and export democracy, presenting it as total freedom. These two directives clash in that total freedom implies a threat to security. Thus, the brand of freedom that American foreign policy seeks to export carries great reservations in the interest of security. This constitutes the spectre of all the same problems that affect millions of low-income Americans daily -- the actions of a police state that may injoin against any "free" action that violates "legal precedent" in the interest of national security. Thus, an American ideology of "freedom and democracy" omits the caveat of constant investigation.

Imagine a daily anal probe, for security's sake.

Freedom is NOT on the march. The spread of democracy will not save the world. Not in this campaign. Forcing the belief in democracy from without cannot attain the same balance that fighting for it from within has achieved in the past. Imposing democracy as a prerequisite for existence is an undemocratic process in and of itself. How is this invisible?

This crusade in pursuit of global homogenity has claimed many lives already. To those survivors of the London bombing, my support and empathy. Since I believe that there is no certainty to security, at any time, such an attack can be carried out here as well.

It has already been stated that Canada is the sole remaining "Crusader nation" that has not been attacked. The only guarantee in following the lead of the Bush administration is more bloodshed. The promise that the war on Terror "will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated" makes certain.

As a Canadian, peacekeeping is the high ideal to which our militarized engagement in international relations searches. Where there is not peace, we seek to uncover it. To maintain peace, it must first be found. This war is no path to peace.

Trillion Dollar Man

Time is not money. Money buys time form others. Money, as long as it is accepted, buys all.

Was Ted DiBiasi right? Does everyone have their price? In this world, no. Not anymore. For, beyond the monetary, there is the issue of security. Even if one is paid, there is no guarantee that hee/she will live to spend it. Death, too, is within the control of the dollar; and, life is a cheap commodity.

If a $30K/yr lifestyle is truly considered bourgeiose, then the $1T economy can certainly afford to kill us all off. And, for those who fall beneath that middle class line, life is simply not worth living.

Money buys time. Advertising time, for example, is the ability to broadcast, project and inform the population. What message then? Any message, really, as long as it has been paid for. The message is always valid. Success in advertising is the promotion of memorability. Repetition often works, but there needs to be memorability to it as well.

[Those who are not remembered, the forgotten, downtrodden, and disappeared, need better agents.]