Tatoo You

   I'm going to talk about tatoos.
   My uncles had tatoos when they came back from the service after WWII. My Uncle Matt, who owned a bar, had a couple of good ones. One was a big old American Eagle, wrapped in a flag. Another was some kind of gun. Nothing special, I guess, but they were well done. A lot of ex-servicemen had tatoos. It seemed kind of natural. You fight in a war, you get a tatoo.

   Nowadays, I see a lot of tatoos, but they don't seem as natural to me. Mostly when I see them on women. A tatoo is a kind of 'branding' or 'marking'. Why would a girl or a woman want to get branded? Or, a guy either, unless maybe you were in the service (or jail)?

   There's a woman in my neighborhood; she owns a coffeshop. The first time I went in there, she was working behind the counter. She's on the thin side, long dark hair, and intense. Kind of reminded me of my second wife. Her coffeshop is a bohemian grunge sort of joint. But they make good coffee and have fresh bagels and muffins, and breakfast is hard to come by in my neighborhood, so I'm there. So I order my bagel from her: the coffee is 'fix-it-yourself'. When I look at her, I'm mostly focusing on her face, which is pretty, but stressed out. She has a kind of build I like, too. But then I notice something else. She's got tatoos. Let me describe the main tatoo, it's all on her arm, I mean shoulder to forearm. It's a concentration camp. There's a tatoo of an ugly barbed wire fence, all around the arm, and behind that there's some kind of 'barracks', and looming over all of it is a guard tower, with a water tank on top. This is all one one rather skinny arm. I'm stunned. I stare at it, but she's busy fussing, doing this and that, so she doesn't notice me.

   When she fixes my bagel, I go to pay her. But I gotta ask. I say, 'Miss, can I ask you a question?' 'Sure' she says. 'Why do you have a concentration camp tatooed on your arm?' 'Whadda you mean' she says. 'Your arm. Why do you have a tatoo of a concentration camp on your arm?' She laughs nervously and looks at her arm. 'Oh, that! that's not a concentration camp. That's just a picture of an old factory that I saw when I lived in Kansas.' 'Oh, well, it had me fooled, what with the barbed-wire and the guard tower and all. I was just curious.' 'Oh, I don't even think about it.' 'Well, it certainly stands out!' She strarts to get fidgety, so I pay her for the bagel and coffee and go sit down and eat. A pretty woman running her own business with a concentration camp tatooed on her arm.

   Now, this coffeshop, they get a lot of the neighborhood 'alternative' crowd in there. Actually, our neighborhood has a tradition of having a lot of communal living and even squatters back in the day. So I started going in there on a semi-regular basis, just because it's hard to get a decent breakfast sandwich and coffee in the neighborhood. And I start looking at the girls who go in there. Women, actually, since a lot are at least 25-30 years of age. And all these women have tatoos. Not just a little butterfly or something like that. But big snakes tatooed on their backs, or their arms. A lot of different occult symbols. Pyramids. Wicca stuff. Some of the tatoos are well done. But they are ugly. They do nothing to enhance the woman's natural beauty. In fact, they are the most non-feminine markings I have ever seen. Tatoos all over their legs, too. And these women have all kinds of piercings, too. Pierced noses, multiple piercings on their ears, pierced lips. I haven't seen their genitals. Also, a lot of them don't like to shave their underarms. And some of them have body odor. Not all. Some wear natural oils and appear to take a bath.

   Now the men. Almost uniformly skinny, like preying mantises. Bald heads, or real short hair. I guess it's called the 'metrosexual look' where then men seem to want to look like fags. And they have tatoos, too. The same ugly occult shit, but mostly just on their arms and legs. The girls seem to go for the big tatoos on the back. They have piercings, too.

   The people I've been talking about here are white, primarily. There are a few black lesbians who come in who are tatooed. To see the tatooed blacks, you just have to walk down the street. Seems that every homeboy and home girl has a tatoo, but the tatoos the blacks have are generally less elaborate, and look more like jail tatoos. Just black lines with some simple image or simple message on black skin. Nothing artistic here, just some self-mutilation with a personal message. And not just the young blacks. The older home-girls (in their 20's) have them, too, and if you can read them, a lot of time ther's a 'sexy' message inscribed. Like 'Booty-licious' or some other nonesense. Some of the black guys go for martila arts or 'kung-fu' type tatoos. One guy I saw today had a very elaborate one on his whole bicept. It looked like three curved blades or swords intelocking.Have you ever seen the logo of the famous Rockefeller led Trilateral Commission? It looked something like that. Most revolting, and you will see it a lot in the hot weather, is to see a fat 'sister' with her stomach hanging out, her tits popping out, and her ass hanging out, with a mess of 'jail tatoos' on her arm. Baby, what's up with that shit?!!!

   I wrote about the retardation problem in America in my last essay. This is really just a continuation. Why do Americans want make themselves so ugly? What is the reasoning here? Everyone has a mirror. Maybe some of these people own faulty mirrors, that don't reflect. They certainly don't reflect on themselves. My neighborhood is also home to a lot of African immigrants. I have never seen one with a tatoo, certainly never on the women, and they would be horrified to degrade their bodies this way. But what is the mental sate of Americans, when we feel the need for this gross display of bad taste and self-mutilation? Well, as the song says, 'I guess I just don't know.' I am 'tatoo-free', FYI.

A Retarded Amerika

Definition of 'retarded':

Function: adjective Date: 1895 sometimes offensive : slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress From: http://www.merriam-webster.com/       

  Before I go any farther, let me mention that what I am going to talk about here is not the condition referred to when a person is handicapped by a physical or chemical disorder and, consequently, has difficulty in functioning in school, at work or in everyday life. This is something that is beyond the individual's control, and calls for compassion and assistance. What I mean to get to is the widespread lack of reasoning power, ability to focus and concentrate, and general apathy that is prevalent in today's Amerika, Some call this the 'dumbing down of America'. I call it retardation.      There is also a spiritual and moral component here. Let me give an example. Video games. Anyone who is familiar with this kultural form probably has heard of the video game called 'Grand Theft Auto'., It has been very popular for years now. I believe we are at version 4 or 5. For anyone who still reads, and especially one who reads literature written before, say, 1990, you will notice that most novels or stories have a moral. That is, a series of events take place, either with one person or a group of people, and these events usually have a cause and effect relationship, you reap what you sow, karma, etc. There is usually a lesson to be learned from these stories, and both the writer and the reader can draw some conclusions. There is a moral to the story.      Now, with this 'Grand Theft Auto', there is no moral, and there is no story. The entire 'content' of the game is theft and murder with some rape thrown in. That's it. Just a constant series of images of killing, stealing. Is this not a form of retardation? What kind of 'training' is this providing for the viewer, especially an impressionable teenager? Does viewing this video not have the effect of 'slowing or limiting the intellectual process' or 'emotional development'? This game is heavily advertised on mass transit in the city of Philadelphia, and a poster for it is on the front door of every Radio Shack store in the city. 

   Let's move on. When was the last time you had a conversation, in a social setting, that involved, say, literature, art, culture or even politics thathad any depth to it. You know, like 'what do you get out of this drawing or piece of music' or 'why does George Bush seem to go against the interests of the American people in everything he does'? Or just a free-wheeling discussion about anything or everything, but with some real questions being asked? Hasn't happened lately?

    Now, people will talk about money. Americans are obsessed by money. Oil prices. Food prices. Mortgage prices. But the conversations usually revolve around individual money problems, and people's helplessness to solve them. But somebody creates the money, right? Ever hear the average American ask 'Well, who set up this money system, and why does it always seem to fuck us up? Let's see if we can find some answers'. Ever hear anybody ask this question and try to find an answer? No. And why is that? Because Americans have become retarded and have lost or never aquired the ability to think and reason for themselves, or to gain access to the information that will help them aquire some wisdom.

    I believe this retardation has been part and parcel of Americans accepting and adopting the 'Konsumer Kulture' which, driven by advertising, TV, video and the Internet, has reduced us to a society of retards. This is the society of instant gratification, which is a false paradigm. Anyone ever hear the saying 'Good things come to those who wait'? Well, waiting for something in Amerika is unacceptable; we have to have it now. And the power of the media has turned us into mind-controlled 'simulacrums', that is, we appear to be people with a living soul, but, in many cases we have become 'replicants'. Here's a little thing I posted on another Forum about the effect of video stimulus on the human (and American) brain:

THE INTERNET

I'Virtual Reality', the Internet, and the over-saturation of society by video imagery is dangerous in many forms....the human brain and optical system is not designed to be bombarded by streaming video images...this creates a 'systems overload' for the human brain/consciousness...all of these media I mentioned are tools for mind-control, as they bombard us with a quantity of information that only another computer or robot can deal with succesfully...and, again, the method of the transmission is too intense...if I may draw an analogy, it is like the difference between a South American farmer chewing Coca leaves to give him an energy boost, and an urban dwelling sentient American smoking crack...also, the sheer quantity of information available overwhelms quality...what has happened in the music business is a prime example: you now have literally millions of groups making music, but the sheer quantity and supposedly 'democratic' nature of this music making creates a blurring effect, and makes for an undifferentiated mass of shit...better to slow down...smaller is better...less is more...ever hear of minimalism?...that being said, the Internaet is still a valuable tool for communication and info-sharing...but, IMHO, there is no better way to get information than through the printed word...you have time to digest, and to contemplate the info you have received.

    Well, people don't like reading anymore, because they no longer have the patience to digest information, and have lost the skill to meditate over and examine the meaning of things. This is retardation. a slowing or limiting of our ability for intellectual advancement.

   And you can bet that those boys who print our money, the political criminals who rule us, and the media synchophants and moguls who program us love it this way. It makes life so much easier for them. They love compliance and apathy. All 'authority' loves compliance. 'You, be here at such and such a time and do this, but don't do that. Understand me?' 'Yeah, sure. Allright'.

   And just as a physically or mentally handicapped individual has problems fully enjoying the gift of life, the compliant retarded American will never fully appreciate what it is to be a living human being. The handicapped person, in many cases will strive to overcome his disability so that he/she can enjoy life more fully. But the retarded American is a willing zombie, and has given up God's gift to follow the false idol of Konsumerism and will follow it into the pit of Hell.

   Turn off the TV, turn off the Internet, turn off the static. The 'designer static'. It has you in the beam of it's death ray which 'penetrates lead and brick, however thick'. Create something, whether it be a good meal, a good deed for your neighbor, a little tune on your guitar or piano, a drawing or even a story or a good conversation. Life is not 'virtual' although you can be sure that certain demons want to make it that way. Life is for those who are alive, and who can savor the joy of life. Be creative with your friends, your family, your neighbors. Reach out and touch someone! Then, after you have savored some real living, maybe you can turn your computer back on and write a story or send an email to someone. But, for God's sake, stop staring at that God damned video terminal for awhile. The 'eyes are the window of the soul', but when you open a window, strange things can fly in. Give your eyes a rest; give your soul some rest & relaxation. Don't be retarded.



 

The Ekonomy in a Nutshell

 

Status Report on the Collapse of the U.S. Economy
by Richard C. Cook
Global Research, July 16, 2008
   
With the economic news of the week of July 14—the continuing crisis among mortgage lenders, the onset of bank failures, the announced downsizing of General Motors, the slide of the Dow-Jones below 11,000—we are seeing the ongoing collapse of the U.S. economy.

Even the super-rich are becoming nervous as cries for an emergency suspension of short selling ring out.

What is really taking place, however, is that the producing economy of working men and women is being crushed by the overall debt burden on households, businesses, and governments that could reach $70 trillion by 2010. The financial system, including mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is bankrupt, as the debts it is based on cannot be repaid.

This is because the producing economy of people who work for a living simply can no longer generate enough purchasing power for people either to pay their debts or allow them to purchase what is being sold in the marketplace. In turn it is the debt burden and the loss of societal purchasing power that are crashing the stock market. Thus the collapse of the financial economy has started to destroy the producing economy as well.

It’s a “perfect storm,” the result of a 200-year-old financial system where money is largely created by bank lending and where since 1980 our industry and jobs have been increasingly outsourced abroad to cheap labor markets. Thus domestic incomes have stagnated while the nation’s GDP has not been able to keep up with the exponential growth of debt.

While the mainstream media are blind, deaf, and dumb as to the causes, the victims within the middle and working classes are seeing their livelihoods ruined, jobs taken away, pensions eroded, homes foreclosed on, and are being saddled with ever-increasing debt and forced to work under more and more stress due to rising burdens of taxation, gas and food price inflation, and bureaucratic rules and regulations. The only places a more-or-less normal life may still be possible will be the wealthiest imperial centers like Washington, New York, Houston, Chicago, or San Francisco.

All that the current bailouts being engineered by the Federal Reserve are doing is to create more debt to shore up failing financial institutions. No new wealth is being created. It’s band-aids on band-aids.

The problem politically is that control of the U.S. long ago was turned over to the bankers and the financiers of the Western world. It was called financial “deregulation,” accelerated under President Ronald Reagan, and has run amok since then. From a longer historical view, it’s the same phenomenon that first created and then ruined the British Empire , and it’s what created and is now ruining the American Empire today.

A side-effect of control by the bankers and financiers is that they are also Zionists, so we have the added multi-trillion dollar burden of trying to conquer the Middle East on behalf of the international oil interests and the state of Israel .

The situation has deteriorated sharply since the 1970s as U.S. affairs have been managed on behalf of the financial interests by what you might call the “Three Amigos”—Henry Kissinger, Paul Volcker, and Alan Greenspan. Kissinger, while Nixon’s secretary of state, made the U.S. dependent on the Middle East for oil, lavished billions on Israel ’s war machine, and created the petrodollar to support our trade and fiscal deficits. Volcker, while chairman of the Federal Reserve, crashed the U.S. producing economy in the recession of 1979-1983, leading to the rise of the “service economy.” Greenspan, during his own Federal Reserve chairmanship, presided over the bubble economy which was created through massive official fraud in home mortgage lending and is now sinking like the Titanic.

The politicians have enabled these financial crimes. Above all it’s been the Bush family which has served as a political Trojan Horse for the financiers for three generations, with affairs having become much worse since George H.W. Bush invaded Iraq for the first time in 1991. The enablers have included a majority of the members of the U.S. Congress. (See the conclusion of Patrick Buchanan’s new book, Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War for an account of how the U.S. since the Bush I presidency has replicated the catastrophic errors of failed British imperialism.)

The American people are not entirely innocent. We have been so lulled to sleep by the financier-owned media that we have allowed these disasters to take place and are now reaping the consequences. We have been the fodder for their wars and the signers of their loans. We have tried to carve out our own piece of the pie which is now crumbling.

What is taking place is not just the collapse of the U.S. , but more than likely the final crash of Western civilization, since we are the last of the world empires to go down the drain. World War I saw the end of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires. World War II saw the disappearance of the French, British, Japanese, and Italian empires, along with Nazi Germany. The Soviet empire collapsed in 1991. The American is next. The danger is that we may lash out and start a nuclear World War III out of frustration and to appease the elitists of the world who see war and famine as their pathway to world control. Such a war would also mean a military takeover domestically to manage the pathetically weak nation that we are becoming.

The bankers and financiers do not care if nations and empires destroy themselves and each other, because they are internationalists. In fact, the more war and mass starvation there is the better off they feel. All they need is a base from which to operate. London has been their main base of operations since the Bank of England was founded in 1694, though they have a strong presence in other nations. They have been especially influential in northwest Europe , where elitism in the form of Freemasonry endeavored since the time of the French Revolution to destroy the authority of the Catholic Church.

In fact, World War I was a project of the Freemasons in dismembering Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, both largely Catholic. This destruction allowed the masters of usury to flourish within the atheistic and materialistic culture that Freemasonry fostered across Europe . World War I also resulted in the virus of Communism, largely egged on by the internationalists and Freemasons, though it had such a tragic impact on Russia and Central Europe before spreading to China and East Asia .

It is theoretically possible that the US as a nation could still save itself through an internal revolution, while playing a much reduced role in the world. After all, England , France , and Italy still exist as shadows of their past greatness. But, realistically, all ordinary people can do today is try to survive, perhaps by working with friends and neighbors in planting food and living within the underground economy. At least people might not then have to starve to death, because hard as it is to believe that “it could happen here,” widespread famine in the U.S. seems a real possibility over the next several years. Nations take such risks when they allow capitalist agribusiness to destroy local agriculture.

On a national level, it is likely that as a response to the economic crisis some attempt will be made by desperate politicians to try to replicate the New Deal, but to do this effectively would require political control by a nationalistic reform party. Even then, additional reform measures such as control of credit as a public utility, a basic income guarantee, and a national dividend would be needed for real economic security to replace the current madness that could soon make the U.S. a relic of history.

Richard C. Cook is a former U.S. federal government analyst, whose career included service with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Carter White House, NASA, and the U.S. Treasury Department. His articles on economics, politics, and space policy have appeared on numerous websites and in Eurasia Critic magazine. His book on monetary reform, entitled We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform, will be published soon by Tendril Press. He is also the author of Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age, called by one reviewer, “the most important spaceflight book of the last twenty years.” His website is at www.richardccook.com.

For Education and Discussion Only.  Not for Commercial Use.

President Frank Dialogue Meets the Press: Part 4; Conclusion

continued...

CBS: Mr.President, this is Tom Merkel from CBS. My question regards your announcement that the border between the United States and Mexico and the US will be closed for 30 days. What are the ramifications of this for business between the US and Mexico? And what threats are you so concerned about that you have taken this drastic step?

President Dialogue: Thanks for your question, Tom, and it's a good one. Let me try to put it in a nutshell for you. Over the past 8 years, our southern border has been wide open for all intents and purposes. In the past 5 years or so, there has been a dramatic increase in violence on our southern border, even some instances of Mexican troops or federales crossing into the US and attacking our border police. I don't know if you are familiar with these incidentA, Tom, as the mainstream media has refused to cover this issue realistically. Anyway, these incursions that I have mentioned are completely intolerable to me as President, and are a threat to American citizens living in border areas. Now, most of these incursions and violence are related to drug trafficking; and to some extent we have seen a drug war being fought in northern Mexico between various criminal drug cartels and the Mexican Federal government. And, as I view it, this war is not about preventing the export of drugs, but about which parties will cut up the profits, or control the movement of drugs. Now, Tom,  I'm not talking about a few kilos of marijuana here: I'm talking huge amounts of weed, cocaine and heroin, coming from Mexico, and also Columbia, Central and South America. And, as I said, the war for the profits from these drugs is being fought by heavily armed and utterly ruthless narco-gangs, and heavily armed, corrupt and ruthless Mexican officials. This is going to stop. Now. Right away. As soon as humanly possible. This is why, as of today, National Guard units from the border states are being stationed on the Mexican border. Now, Tom, this mess has been building up for a long time. There are criminals on both sides of the border killing and profiteering from this. So, being realistic, we are not going to reverse this whole trend immediately; but we are getting started on it as we speak to each other. I have ordered the governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana to instruct their state Guard commanders to deploy. My staff and myself have had discussions with the various state National Guard commanders about this and they have been working on a number of workable plans for this deployment. I won't go into a lot of detail about this; the governors from the states I have mentioned and the Guard commanders will all be giving briefings in the next week about the finer details of this planning, and the effect it will have. I consider this narco-violence not only terroristic activity, but also a direct attack on the United States of America. Later today, or tomorrow at the latest, I will be talking with Mexican President Calderon about this matter. I expect that he will co-operate with us in this matter. As I said, I consider this activity to be an attack against the US.

CBS: Mr.President, you have also taken a hard line against immigration in your campaign. Can you tie your position on immigration in with this border closing and troop deployment?

President: Tom, let me make my position clear. On immigration: I am considering imposing a 2 year ban on new immigration to the United States of America. Why? Do I dislike immigrants? Tom, we are a country of immigrants, and I am not opposed to immigration, per se. Immigration offers a chance of a better life to many people, and also brings new blood, so to speak, into our great nation. BUT, and this is a big but, we are being overwhelmed with immigrants presently. Both legal and illegal. The Department of Immigration could use at least a year to catch up on existing immigration requests, more likely two years. As far as illegal immigration, we are going to bring this to a halt as far as humanly possible, mainly by penalizing employers who hire illegals. We are going to go after them at the local, state and federal level, with emphasis on the local as they are the grass roots affected most by this illegal immigration. Now, we intend to be as humane as possible; this is a big mess, and we are not going to engage in mass deportations. But we are going to move against any business or financial institutions that are providing money to illegals. And, in my discussions with President Calderon, I will make clear to him the critical nature of this issue to America. The problem basically is that America has become a dumping ground for other countries poverty, and this is going to end. We have very serious economic and structural problems in the United States, with regards to jobs and productive activity, and Americans, especially American men, need jobs. We have lost a large percentage of our productive/industrial base to foreign countries, and I intend to see it rebuilt, in a new and better fashion. And I don't want to hear this crap about 'jobs that Americans won't do'! I am offering a challenge to Americans,  also: the road back from near bankruptcy will be rough, and some of the work will be nasty. But, Americans themselves have to do it, whatever it takes. So, those 'jobs that Americans don't want to do', well, America, they will become available to you again. Because I believe that Americans want to work, but want a decent wage and to get treated fairly. We will be getting rid of these foreign work visas that allow companies to contract out for aliens to replace American workers at lower cost. We are going to put Americans back to work again. But, and let me be frank, Americans are going to have to get up off their asses and do some shit work if we are going to get this turned around. Forget the 'service economy'. We are going to become a modern hi-tech economy, and we are going to invent and build things here again, as we did in the past..........................(murmurs and laughter at the President for saying 'shit' and 'get off your asses')................

President: One last question. How about you, Miss?

CNN: Laura Adnali from CNN. Mr.President, you told us you have received threats on your life already. I have never heard a President say this openly. Are you afraid, and where are these threats coming from?

President: Well, Miss Adnali, first question: No, I am not afraid. A human being has a finite life span, so we will all stand before God sooner or later. Now, I hope it's later, for sure, because I have a job to do, and I want to make some headway with it. But, realistically, I think I have a 50-50 chance of finishing my term alive. I say this because from what I have observed, we have a cartel of gangsters and wannabe gangsters pulling a lot of strings that the average American doesn't see, and they have already tried pulling my strings. But, I am not a puppet, I am an American, and, in fact, the American President. I owe nothing to anyone except to God and to the American people. As to who these 'string-pullers' are, all I will say for now is what anyone with common sense can figure out for themselves. The 'string-pullers' are the ones who manipulate our money, and also try to manipulate our culture, media and everything else. Now, it takes a whole lot of different people to make a world, and that's a good thing, but some people, how should I put this, they never have enough. And it has even gone beyond individuals, They have been putting a 'machine' in place that is in opposition to what makes human beings human. I don't want to get too philosophical, but America is not a machine, nor are it's people 'human resources' like soybeans, oil, or minerals are 'natural resources'. Americans are human beings, made in the image of God, and we all have individual talents that, when we work together, can be used to create a wonderful society. What we fight against is called 'the Beast'. We are not beasts. We are humans. So..........and as a last word, on that fear thing?...You ever heard the songwriter Neil Young?...He said 'It's better to burn out than it is to rust'. Well, I am not intending to burn out, but we got a lot of rust to scrape off of America, and I intend to put everyone to work on that one. So.........Thank you all, and I will be in touch.

Loud commotion, shouts, more questions, general cacophony......