Monday, November 29, 2010

The Joy That Descends on You When All the Trees Are Cut Down and All the Fountains Polluted and You Are Still Alive Waiting for an Absent Savior

Did you know Washington DC has a professional soccer team?


It's true! and they just hired the right guy at the wrong time for the wrong reasons:
Financial factors were also apparently in play in United's search. Onalfo was just eight months into a three-year guaranteed contract valued at an estimated $300,000 annually. Some observers believe that, with him on the payroll through 2012 and owner Will Chang actively searching for secondary investors, United does not have the budget to attract an experienced international coach.
and
Team source @ DC United tells me Richie Williams turns down head coach job due to club's instability. Source says Williams wasn't sure of direction of the club or future prospects of being in DC...once again per club source.
We don't have a right to a soccer team much less a good soccer team, and Will Chang can actively search for secondary investors until his balls turn blue, this franchise is dying even if Saint Benny of Olsen pulls a trophy out of next season's ass. I bet you a pint he does just so I can buy you a pint of beer.

Speaking of obvious:
  • Putin and Berlusconi are corrupt mafia muppets.
  • The U.S. spies on 'allies' as much as it does 'enemies'.
  • The U.S. government thinks David Cameron is a lame duck.
  • The Chinese Politburo censors/hacks its critics.
  • Col. Qadaffi prefers the company of attractive young ladies.
  • The British Army operates like headless chickens in Afghanistan.
  • The Saudi monarchy sponsor international terrorism and are scared of Iran.
  • The Afghan government is corrupt and weak.
  • Nelson Mandela wasn't a big fan of Margaret Thatcher.
  • Pakistan is a volatile nuclear state.
  • The British monarchy behave "inappropriately".
  • Transporting high-grade toxic materials is dangerous to the environment.
  • Robert Mugabe is considered economically incompetent.
  • The world is run by greedy, paranoid murderers who don't actually know shit from shinola.

Am I so detached from reality that nothing in these leaks would surprise or shock me? There's nothing in these leaks that would surprise or shock you, not policies or the incompetence implementing them, is there?


Here's what Wikileaks has accomplished: the revelations rebound to the benefit of those whom the Wikileaks meant to embarrass. Sure, anybody who's anybody at State is working as I type this. I imagine anybody who's anybody at any country's Foreign Office is working as I type this. I imagine nobody at State and nobody in any Foreign Office would be shocked or surprised at what the leaks reveal. They're not shocked or surprised at what's been revealed, they're working for advantage in Corporate's private poker game in light of this new dealt hand.

It won't be fascinating watching Corporate's marketing department take advantage of the leaks to turn whispered taboos into not only acceptable but honorable behavior. This is a golden opportunity to destigmatize whole ranges of SOPs, a prime opportunity to routinize even nastier levels of Corporate shittiness. If Corporate wasn't so clumsy and incompetent, I'd think they released the documents themselves.


  • UPDATE! I don't think we were played. I don't think State wanted this stuff out, but now that it is out, now we're gonna be played. 
  • UPDATE! Holyfuck, what I said, just more.
  • UPDATE! Even if Wikileaks is a ratfucking operation, they still serve a good: WikiLeaks' primary purpose is to make information available to everyone. Each one of us can make our own judgments as to what should be done with that information, if anything, and what course of action might be indicated or not. But the kind of complaint conveyed by this Corrente post is precisely the issue I previously addressed: the complaint is that providing vast amounts of information freely to everyone isn't a good idea and might even be a very bad idea -- unless a particular outcome can be assured.
  • UPDATE! Affecting the glowerful.
  • Yup. That's how lame.
  • Exposition (Corporate).
  • Aggravated bitchery for the hell of it.
  • Don't look up
  • I'm glad Planet didn't choose early admission anywhere.
  • Prince Georges.
  • Superficial readings.
  • From the inside.
  • UPDATE! Talk about the passion.
  • Presentation is a metaphor.
  • Classical music and dumbed-down ears.
  • UPDATE! Meanwhile, Rick James...
  • Hey, someone else listens to Richard Thompson.
  • Darkblack's Sunday Overnight.


FIFTEEN FALSE PROPOSITIONS AGAINST GOD - SECTION VIII

Jack Spicer

Hush now baby don't say a word
Mama's going to buy you a mocking bird
The third
Joyful mystery.
The joy that descends on you when all the trees are cut down
and all the fountains polluted and you are still alive waiting
for an absent savior. The third
Joyful mystery.
If the mocking bird don't sing
Mama's going to buy you a diamond ring
The diamond ring is God, the mocking bird the Holy Ghost.
The third
Joyful mystery.
The joy that descends on you when all the trees are cut down
and all the fountains polluted and you are still alive waiting
for an absent savior.


9 comments:

  1. Julian Assange is an enemy of the State and should be dealt with accordingly and swiftly.

    Anyone who willingly releases State secrets should be prosecuted, and either jailed or executed accordingly.

    "Legitimate" newspapers that publish these releases should be censured and fined.

    Those of you who think that there is a "Corporate" conspiracy and that you have some God-given right to see classified documents should really try to find a life.

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  2. E7 -- How does one "censure" a newspaper? Corollary: Is the first amendment still there or have they eliminated that too?

    ReplyDelete
  3. noun
    1. strong or vehement expression of disapproval.

    2. an official reprimand, as by a legislative body of one of its members.

    verb (used with object)
    3. to criticize or reproach in a harsh or vehement manner

    IMO - Illegally obtained classified information should not be published, it is not a first amendment issue. The fuckhead who released the documents is in hiding, the newspaper publishers are not. They should know better and practice good judgment.

    Soon enough, Wikileaks - or a copycat - will start publishing people's personal info (SSNs, credit ratings, criminal records...). I will have a good laugh then watching all of you squirm.

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  4. I understand the perspective you bring re: those whose careers and/or safety have been compromised. It's a valid concern.

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  5. Right. Retroactive death to Ellsberg, then. Carry on.

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  6. Yup, Elric, defending the Terran Empire, asking Assange for his agonizer, is surreal. I propose your empire is illogical, Mr Elric. Now return me to my universe that doesn't exist.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's always the little guy who gets hurt. The government can roll with the punches.

    The real villains here are the people in the government/military who expose information that they have sworn to protect, for whatever reason. That is inexcusable, and should be prosecuted. It is also career suicide.

    Nothing that has been exposed comes as a surprise. It is easy enough to just assume what is going on in the government and military, nothing has changed in thousands of years when it comes to warfare or diplomacy. Humans have always been and will always be assholes (not just Americans).

    But what most people do not *get* is that a precedent is being established. If this continues, in the not-too-distant future nothing will be secret - government or personal. It's not about a single America-hating Aussie prick, soon everyone will be doing it.

    I always question authority and I want transparency too, but I sincerely believe that some data needs to be protected if we want our country to remain on top of the shitheap. The first Amendment does not apply here, we do not have birthright to this information.

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  8. Well, that top of the shitheap as priority is the crux of my complicity, yes?

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  9. I'm still too startled to engage, but I think the assumption that anything personal is secret is fatally flawed. Beyond that, I'm left with gasping puzzlement here. Which I can recognize as potentially a purely me problem.

    As for shitheaps and complicity...whatever. Startling, once again, but not nearly prejudicial.

    ReplyDelete