QQ : NUMBER THIRTY SIX - MARCH 29, 2013

                                                          ETHICS, SCHMETHICS


Are ethics merely a survival mechanism? Or is there an underlying, morality- based distinction between right and wrong? Is the concept of "Universal Values" a mere myth? Is there a celestial Supreme Court? For that matter, does a heavenly Clarence Thomas sit on the right hand, the extreme right hand of God?

It certainly helps the survival of the species if we organize our behavior and sublimate our reptilian tendencies. But, is survival the only motivation to be "good"?

Are primates "good" within their social structure. They seem to bond with each other; protect their young; engage in grooming and congregate in groups. They acknowledge leaders and construct social hierarchies.

IT'S JUST A SIMIAN THING

The original "Planet of the Apes" movie posed an interesting quandary within its naive Hollywood portrayal. What is the real basis of ethics as we perceive them?

We are so horrified by the Sandy Hook massacre that the news is spattered with reports of Sandy Hook denial and conspiracy theorists who absolutely believe that it never happened. Some even suggest that it did happen, but was orchestrated by the Muslim Socialist in the White House.

Ironically the horrific climate extremes that have struck Australia, and  more recently New York and New Jersey are regarded as normal, cyclic events by the same deniers. These beliefs are held despite the fact that those events are off-the -scale according to any known historical record.

MONKEY BUSINESS

In business, we naively believe that value, commerce, quality and exchange are based on some quantifiable value.

It turns out that the eyeglass frame retail industry is, and has been for some time, firmly based on hype, deception and hoax. That $400 name-brand frame cost about $5 to make.  At 8000% profit, perhaps there is an ethical culture, education and dare I say it, "ethics" in favor of the new ephemeral construct. That is the "financial services" industry. We now talk about "financial instruments". Banks sell "products" we "put", "call", "short" , "long" and spectacularly we "hedge." Beyond hedge trimming we are witness to the mind-boggling ethically challenged concept of “derivatives”

Insurance has to be up there amongst the biggest scams of all. The very concept of raising premium rates based on an individual policy claim, defies the entire concept. One takes out insurance to share the burden of risk. Raising an individual's rates based on a claim is the very essence of deceit and deception.

Social Security insurance and Medicare insurance are labeled as "entitlements", despite the fact that we paid for them.

IF I HAD A HAMMER

Perhaps we have something to learn from the primates. Perhaps, in fact, we ARE simply primates. We forage around for food and shelter; appoint bullies to lead us; engage in devastating, territorial, decimating wars; subjugate our weaker brethren and we pray to mythical creations to bring us good fortune.

As humans, perhaps our only small step beyond the reptile is our creation of idols and symbols that personify an awareness of our vulnerability and in particular, of our mortality.

It is thought that animals do not know that they will ultimately cease to be.
We are likely the only species that is aware of our our mortality. With that insane conceptional awareness, we create mythologies that give us a story to hang on to, a foundation upon which to base our existence and a cross upon which to nail ourselves when things get out of hand.

I have read suggestions that a true awareness of mortality would make the maintenance of a rational life experience impossible for a thinking human. Therefore, we create irrational myths in order to survive.

These myths contain survival mechanisms that we naively believe to be ethics and morality. But are they really? Was Billy Graham a good man? Did the latest Fatwah from the Ayatollah come to him via a conduit directly from the Prophet who sits on high? The Pope resigns. And then there were two.

The Sunday morning, bible-thumpers suggest that there is a truth they have to share. They convey their truth while they present themselves to us with makeup, perfectly coifed hair, tailored suits and diamond studs. They heal the infirm with their hands. They sell their truth with calls to the faithful to touch the television. They appeal to their congregants to send in their prayer requests along with dollars. Dollars end up in hedge funds and a host of other wondrous financial “instruments.” 

I thought the violin was an instrument. Does a financial derivative make a melody?

Apes don't seem to have a need for a higher power. They do seem to appreciate a banana, a handful of peanuts and a good scratch.

Hallelujah!

THE GIFT OF LIFE

Perhaps it would be worthy of study to better understand the factors that hold fundamentalist beliefs in place. Believers in absolutism and fundamentalism have held and continue to wield power far out of proportion to their numbers. Some even have tea parties.

The earth was flat for the better part of human history and it was the center of the universe. Saudi women get closer to God when they do not operate a motor vehicle. Jews made a deal or "covenant" as they call it, where the sacrifice of a slice of penis brought them a closer relationship with the divine in a “seal the deal” contract. Women were thankfully freed from this burden in that culture. Contemporary Egypt practices a different ritual involving around 90% of all its women. Good God!

Some are now cleansing themselves further in Beit Shemesh Israel, by making certain cell phones kosher only for women. These ethically blessed devices then become a direct line to the holy. I wonder if a text to heaven is like a letter to Santa c/o The North Pole? No sexting for Sarah.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Barry Obama was a law professor and then a community organizer. He seems like a decent chap. Three days into office at the beginning of his first term as Commander-in-Chief, he ordered drone strikes in Pakistan that killed innocent human beings.

I have never begun to understand how, after a period of three days, a seemingly compassionate, educated, intellectual fellow could undergo the emotional transition that permitted these directed assassinations and the potential collateral damage to take place with his order and direction. Prior to the day he took office, I don't believe that Barry killed anyone. Then in an instant, he within his own psyche found a way to undergo a mystical transition.

These actions continue to this day. How does he sleep? In what ethical construct does a teacher and welfare worker take on such an awesome responsibility?

My mother was a community organizer and city councilor. I don’t believe that she ordered hits on any of her constituency.

POLLY PUT THE KETTLE ON AND WE ALL HAD TEA

Within my ethical dilemma, I have done my best to fathom the right wing's fascination with women's reproductive functions, automatic rifles and the restriction of health care to only those who can pay for it.

I have tried my best to understand the connective tissue that places these issues at the forefront of a political agenda that currently controls the purse strings of the US congress and indirectly, the economy of the entire world.

I have often thought that a fun movie plot would be to construct a believable scenario that tells a story based on the premiss that O.J. Simpson didn't do it. Similarly, I wonder what kind of world would be created if the entire "tea baggers" agenda were to be embraced, become the law of the land, and the manner in which American society functioned.

We could mandate the arming of all primary school teachers, demand that all pregnancies come to term and let nature take its course when illness strikes.

The right to bear arms could include missiles and atomic weapons. Access to emergency medical facilities could be restricted to only those with good credit. We could drive a tank to work, deploy mines around our homes and freely hunt for Bamby in our suburbs. Bridges and highways would be privately tolled and armies would be privatized. Rape could be re-defined as to its quality. Women's bodies would be mandated to shut down based on congressional mandate.

Would that be a more ethical brew?

Milk and sugar with that?

PRESIDENT SARAH RON PAUL PALIN WOULD:

Nuke Iran and North Korea
Build a wall between America and Mexico.
Drill baby drill.
Make moose-hunting an Olympic event.
Legislate the word "gotcha" into the Webster's dictionary.
Eliminate Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unionism, government education and any and all entitlements.
Intern Muslims, see Russia across the bay and denote the reading of newspapers a liberal, propaganda device.
Introduce mandatory AK47 weapons in every home.
Eliminate the minimum wage thereby re-introducing feudalism.

Because big government is our enemy and we must be prepared to defend our rights.

BUT, MAYBE THEY HAVE A POINT:

Big government currently:

Assassinates without accountability.
Tortures without accountability.
Wiretaps and eavesdrops without accountability.
Declines to prosecute the institutions who deal in fraudulent financial instruments.
Legislates and enforces our enslavement to profit making corporate insurance institutions.

It's a long way from "community organizer" in Chicago to DC. And what the hell is Rahm Emmanuel doing in Chicago that is making any sense? There is civil strife going on with more killing than Syria and nobody gives a shit. There's some effective big government.
Is the South side of Chicago the land of the free, home of the brave?

THE KILLING FIELDS MEET W.C. FIELDS MEET ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS

Shakespeare made artistry out of murder and mayhem. Cain and Able went at it. Perhaps the life experience is simply a recurring Hollywood Western movie with Audie Murphy replacing Brutus, or Macbeth as O.J. Simpson or Hannibal Lechter.

Ethics seem to be a concept that is a flexible, expedient tool of manipulation for those who benefit from exploiting cartoonish mythologies for their own grasping of power and profit. Children are sent to the front lines in the name of the Prophet; women are raped in the pursuit of the greater good. The minimum wage for food service workers in America is held at below $3 per hour as an expression of unbridled, freewheeling capitalism and charter schools have re-introduced segregation. They have become a substitute for bussing.

There's no business like the god business. Scientology is said to have a billion dollars in reserve to support their thetan mythology through the courts while Chabad buildings, churches and Cathedrals stand deserted, idle, unoccupied and useless serving no purpose other than the realization of asset value and tax deductions. Put a box on your head, make the sign of the cross, face the East and genuflect. Ritual has overtaken meaning. The symbol has become bigger than the original intent.

THE SCOTUS

Tony Scalia is the living proof of ethical expediency. The constitution of the USA has become a demonic distortion in his mind and in his hands. Ethics be damned.











www.johncapek.com

Editing : Batsheva

QQ : NUMBER THIRTY FIVE - JANUARY 6, 2013

                                    HOPE AND SPARE CHANGE, ANYBODY?

Everything has changed, yet it all remains the same.
The saying goes that if we do not learn from history, then we are destined to repeat it.  And repeat it we do like clockwork with 223 caliber ammunition.

LET MY PEOPLE GO

There is a new Pharaoh in Egypt. He will likely build pyramids and re-enslave the Jews. This time the Persian alliance will be his facilitator. This is part of a continuum. A nuke or two could reinstate the great Persian empire across the Middle East and eventually all of Europe and then Africa.

Perhaps a new crusade is in order. Where is Lancelot when we need him?

ACCORDING TO SOCRATES

“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”

Contemporary solutions:

Eliminate government involvement in education.
Charter schools.
Demolish teachers unions.
Transfer all texts to the cloud.
Prioritize budgets and eliminate art, music, ethics, civics, physical education and literature from the curriculum.
And, by all means eliminate those expensive social work and mental health programs. Money is tight and we have our priorities.

TECHNOLOGY IS NEUTRAL

Drive a car... pollute the earth.
Create an irrigation dam using dynamite...kill with dynamite.
Robotics take over from manual labour...millions unemployed.
Invent Kindle...burn the books...destroy the historical record.

It's all relative.

So we live longer lives. Is that a good thing? Do we, the boomers have greater wisdom as a result of our longevity. Is the world a better place?

HEALTH CARE,  A RIGHT OR A PRIVILEGE?

It really doesn't matter. It is not an ethical dilemma. It is an economic nightmare. We are born and we die and we suffer our fragility and our flawed design.

When we pass through our life transitions, we incur financial repercussions.
If we use tobacco, it is not just about the individual, the family or society in general. It is about an industry. From the tobacco farmer to the cancer surgeon to the grave digger and all of the intervening steps. There are deep and extraordinary economic factors involved.

If we unintentionally inject a moldy steroid shot for back pain and suffer the repercussion, who is to blame? Who pays the piper?

If we fall asleep at the wheel and injure an uninsured child, who pays the shot? In fact what if an uninsured child gets shot?

If we acquire a hospital born infection or get a lyme tick bite in the park, what then?

Ban tobacco, ban the big gulp, ban trans fats, ban coal fired power plants, ban genetic seeds, ban ban ban.

And the ban plays on. Perhaps the "ban" thing doesn't work.

But while America considers the legalization of pot, Holland is reversing theirs.

Round and round we go. Coke is the real thing.


THE WAR TO END ALL WARS

That was the one in 1914. About twenty million people died.
There is a civil war right now on the streets of the cities of the USA. It remains a daily decimation, without comment, without concern and without press. That is of course unless a newsworthy event involves middle class white people. Then we might hear about it for a minute or two.

While about 150 people died during the recent eight day war in Gaza, how many people died on the streets of American cities? How many were wounded? Why don't we give a shit.

At least based on the annual average, 300 people were murdered on the streets of America in those eight days, double the number in Gaza. An uncountable number beyond that were wounded.
Why don't we care?
Why is Gaza more important?
Perhaps homeland security should start at home.

ANNEXATION

A recent tour of the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's plantation home in Tennessee, left me horrified. The man's legacy is akin to a Stalin or Hitler.
He was a murderous, megalomaniac, racist bastard responsible for unforgivable crimes against humanity.

Much of the nation-based structure of the world is founded on the annexation of territory. We claimed a hunk of Mexico not too long ago, and act surprised when the American-Hispanic vote displays an agenda with numbers and authority.

The West Bank and Jerusalem is a whole other thing. We hold the Jews to a higher standard.  America carried out ethnic cleansing against the entire Native American population. Andrew Jackson was an executive director of that final solution. The U.S. also annexed a huge slice of Mexico; Turkey can decimate the Kurds; Armenia once was; Tasmania even had a population of Native Australians at one time.

But that was then, and this is now.  We are more moral in the twenty first century. We have better ethics and we will start with the ‘Jewish problem’ by making an example of them. The effrontery that these people display in their claims of territory goes against all human, civilized behavior. They must be stopped and sent back to where they came from. Boycott that West Bank settlement humus immediately!

Somalia be damned; Congo be damned; Yemen be damned; the south side of Chicago be damned and the Mexican and Colombian drug -lords be damned.  Afghanistan and Iraq be damned. Syria is currently experiencing cosmic damnation.

Because, ultimately, it is all about those pesky Jews. Solve that Jewish problem and everything else will be okay. Let’s start with the humus.

SANDY?

Pompeii.

Regardless of Darwinism, Creationism, Global warming, Environmentalism or any other  “-ism”, the financial and economic repercussions that result from the earth doing its thing are monumental.

We can accommodate the earth's ego, or we can ignore it to our loss and at our peril. When subways flood, the power-grid fails, the nuclear facility leaks and the bridge collapses, we all lose.

Do we need regulation? If we have children, the answer is hell yes.

The problem is that the American constitution is sixteen pages long. Obamacare is 906 pages long.

I would like my steroid shot to be clean. I would like San Onofre to survive the big one. I would like Monsanto to stop re-designing my seeds and poisoning the essential molecular composition of my food.

But it is a mystery to me how any of this can be regulated without destroying the essence of freedom. That is why "Citizens United" sailed through SCOTUS. The New York Times is a corporation. They are permitted to influence millions of people as a direct result of "Citizens United".

How are we to regulate the New York Times corporation and their voice differently from the Monsanto corporation and their voice?

Would a PAC survive scrutiny in any other industrialized civilized democratic nation on earth? Perhaps only in Sweden, the bastion of feudal legislation.

A totally free-market economy becomes feudalism. An overly-regulated economy becomes Communism. Where is the middle?

CULTURE

"Gaming" is a term, a culture and an industry that defies my comprehension.
It began with pong and is now a 100 billion dollar industry occupying time, energy and emotion.

Backgammon is a game. Chess is a game and table tennis is a game.

Chasing down and destroying evil -do-ers through animated environments on a screen accompanied by dramatic soundscapes is not a game. The principal concept is flawed on multiple levels. We play against people that we never see beyond the virtual world. We learn virtual skills. We experience adrenaline rushes as a result of virtual experiences and we experience loss and gain in solitude. The adrenaline is not virtual.

100 billion dollars per year could perhaps be put to better use on the south side of Chicago. That is where some real killing and real adrenaline is happening. Forget the virtual stuff, that's for pussies.

INNOVATION

My house has vinyl siding. I would prefer brick or anything with better fidelity.

I type text on a QWERTY keyboard. I prefer the older technology of voice to voice communication. But telephones are so eighteen eighties. (((:::  WTF , LOL.

Grass-fed beef. Now there's an innovative concept. Free- range chicken. heirloom tomatoes mercury-free seafood would also be a nice novel concept.

But plumbing made of lead is said to have destroyed the Roman empire. Their only excuse was that they were not aware of cause and effect. Contemporary Mad Cow disease has been attributed to turning cattle into carnivores. We should know better. Let them eat grass
There are references to the use of coal for energy in Greek texts dating back thousands of years.
 Coal is still the world’s largest energy source for the production of electricity.

Perhaps another two or three thousand years of development will discover a less damaging source of energy. Coal is cheap to source. Yet, coal creates extraordinary damage that seems never to be considered in the larger economic paradigm.
It is not about politics. It is not about religion and it is not about ethics. It is about the money.

Here’s my short list of economic black holes:

The free-enterprise  health-care system is wasteful, unsound and inefficient.

Coal is dirty. It creates economic damage.

Forty-eight characters are not an efficient means of communication.

Monsanto and the NRA should not be permitted to buy my government.

One hundred thousand surveillance cameras over Manhattan invade my privacy.

Nintendo and Playstation are the Colosseum, gladiator distractions for the masses.

We are dancing on the deck and the ship isn’t sinking........yet.

What happened to hope and change? It expressed itself in a dogmatic fundamentalist insane interpretation of the second amendment of the American constitution. There is intention, and there is interpretation.

Misinterpretation... “from my cold dead hands” to Sandy Hook.

Watch out! The drones are coming, the drones are coming.

QQ : NUMBER THIRTY FOUR - OCTOBER 10, 2012

                                                         The Wholly Threesome:


 - the father, son and holy spiggot
 - the Masonic triangle
 - three primary colours
 - three bears,
 - three blind mice
 - three little pigs


The number “three” permeates our consciousness on many levels. In fact, the triangle is the strongest of all geometric shapes.


QQ: 1   A TRIPLE THREAT

Perhaps there are three “divinities” that we can harness to help us navigate our existence.

1. The infinite mystery of One; the unexplainable, the spiritual centre-point of all that is forever beyond understanding.

2. The Environment that with which we interact. I use the word "environment" in a broad sense. The environment includes the earth, the oceans and the heavens. The environment also includes the social structures that man creates and the physical structures that he makes. Within this concept, an earthquake is an environmental phenomenon. Stalin and Hitler created social environments. The internet is an environment as is the space shuttle and the martian Rover SUV.

3. The third divinity is Mankind. What is man but a being in conflict with the other two existential divinities? He must deal with the ultimate mystery which governs his mortality and he must also navigate the environment that is either imposed upon him or the one that he creates.


QQ: 2   AN APPLE A DAY

In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve symbolized the triangle of divinities where they faced both the Eternal and the Environmental divinities.

As all humans do, these symbolic characters of our mythology adapted to their environment. They covered their modesty with leaves... triangular leaves.


QQ: 3   THE SANITY CLAUS

What are the tools with which man has been endowed to undertake this perilous journey?

We are mortal, we are vulnerable, we are subject to forces beyond our control... and we are blissfully ignorant. We maintain an unconsciousness of elements about which we know nothing. We make up myths and fairy tales to compensate for these gaps. Perhaps that response should be called “Sanity”.  Socrates expressed this concept in a another way.  He said: "I know nothing but the fact of my own ignorance".

Perhaps the only tool we have been given with which to grapple with the great existential questions... is the ability to make shapes.


QQ: 4   A ROSE IS A ROSE

To suggest that "all we have is shapes" could well be considered outrageous and a pretty narrow way of looking at the universe. Watching a 757 traverse the horizon in the sky, I see a shape made up of other shapes. Most of them are triangles. I sit in my dining room in my house of shapes. I see my table, chairs, windows and blinds as a series of shapes. Man has taken iron from the earth and created the steel knife and fork that sit in front of me. They are shaped for a purpose. The silicon sand that forms most of our earth has been formed into the plate that holds my meal and the chip that runs my iPad.

The mystery, the central divine however, is ever-present. It stands in the vase at the centre of the table. The vase contains carnations of a shape, hue and colour that man cannot and never will be able to create.

In the end...our shape making abilities are limited.


QQ: 5   WHAT IS THE SHAPE OF WATER?

When we adapt to the forces of the environment, we are able to create buildings and bridges that can withstand earthquakes and hurricanes. These structures are made up of shapes. When we navigate the oceans and the skies, we do so in objects of shapes that we create.

The concept delves into the abstract when we consider art, theatre and music. Picasso revolutionized the depiction of life itself when he considered the deconstruction of our pre - conceived notions of shape. He invented a new one.

Bach took the shape of tonal noise, weaved it and out of itself, turned it upside down, inside out, and created musical shapes unheard of before or since.

Frank Lloyd Wright accosted the environment. In a spiritual epiphany, he sent a waterfall through a house in Minnesota and created Falling Water.


QQ: 6   THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

Shapes symbolize the center-points of our spirituality. We have a cross, a star and a crescent. Shapes mark the center-points of our territorial claims. We have stars and stripes, the union jack and a swastika.

Heaven forbid that we should deface or burn these shapes. In some cultures, would condemn us to execution.

Shapes have been given astronomical value. Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch's painting, "The Scream" recently sold for120 million dollars. That's a lot of zeroes for what amounts to a two - dimensional cartoon. A painting by Mark Rothko commands close to that for three rectangles.


QQ: 7   EM CEE SQUARED

Einstein suggested that Space and Time have a shape. Perhaps it was this deeper concept that has propelled me along this winding road. Beyond "shape", what else is there to work with?


QQ: 8   SOMEONE LEFT THE CAKE OUT IN THE RAIN

If we were to acknowledge that we have “Three Divinities” to deal with:
1. The Ultimate Mystery
2. The Environment
3. The Human Condition which battles the other two - perhaps we can better understand our place in eternity. Except for one thing.

What is that one thing that is the exception to our limited ability to make shapes?

Food preparation..


QQ: 9   THE SEDER

Food preparation? Is that it? Humans can make shapes and make toast? How outrageous a concept is that?

Try eating a raw olive. Chew on a stalk of wheat or a grain of uncooked rice.  Bread - how did it get here? Who decided to force feed a goose to make foie gras? Tofu, wine, vinegar and beer.......how did we get there and why?

We embrace aesthetics as they related to shapes. We look at the Mona Lisa and the Pyramids in wonder and awe. Shapes. Wonderful, awesome shapes.

There is an aesthetic and spirituality in the preparation of food that inspires a similar response. We bless bread and pray over wine. Wine symbolizes the blood of Jesus and bread is his body.

We spiritualize food across all cultures and religions with deep, ceremonial significance. The manner in which it is prepared and presented carries deep significance. The sharing of food at symbolic occasions sustains our most important social milestones.

Lets do lunch.


QQ: 10   THE BOOK OF MITT-MAN

Perhaps Anthony Bourdain is the new Messiah. Perhaps God is talking to my wife when she concocts a mixture of almond four, olive oil and lemon zest and creates heaven. There are wines, cheeses and baguettes in Bordeaux that transcend the limits of our culinary imagination. I know places in Los Angeles where there is time-bending Sushi.

Here we find ourselves with a triangle and a pastry watching the presidential debates in abject awe and mystery. Who are these people and why do they not understand?

The “Mitt-ster” has sent us to the emergency room for medical help while he invades Syria, nukes Iran and threatens China. Three strikes and we're out, dude. Your prophet tells us there are three heavens or three levels of glory. I vote that you go to this one:

THE TELESTIAL GLORY. "Those who on earth are liars, sorcerers, whoremongers, and adulterers, go to the Telestial Kingdom", according to your book of fantasy and myth.

On the other hand :The Gospel According to John (Capek- not that other John)
If it doesn't have a universal aesthetic, then ultimately I don't give a shit.

My search for the perfect balance of Cabernet, Camembert and Croissant continues.

I wonder what Mitt ate for lunch today. No Starbucks for the Mitt, though. Starbucks comes from Telestia.




Editing : Batsheva

Etched on my stone tablet.

QQ : NUMBER THIRTY THREE - SEPT 21, 2012

                                                           DRILL BABY DRILL

It has been some time since my last QQ.

Life has a way of imposing priorities. There is a saying attributed to an anonymous French sage that goes something like this: “Mentchen tracht un Gott lacht”.
Roughly translated - “People plan and God laughs”.  This describes my condition to a tee.

QQ: 1 WWIII

Nation building through recorded history has generally been a result of plundering, pillaging, rape and the ultimate conquering tool of all-out war.

War is an economic and technological decision requiring management, decision-making planning and arming.

Arming requires technological invention, innovation and industrial infra-structure.

As we sound the battle cries, rattle the sabres and rally to war, yet again, against the evil, expanding Persian empire, we must question the tools; the management and the economy of war.

It's the technology stupid. It is all about the drill.

QQ: 2  VAGINA DIALOGUES

The drill? What does that really mean?

I cannot deny my training and education as an engineer with regard to my point of view on this subject.

As it turns out, just about all contemporary weaponry has become irrelevant, outmoded, outdated and useless. This includes the most sophisticated of nuclear weapons. Why? Because the retaliatory response weaponry stockpiled by our great friends in North Korea, by Russia and by Iran is buried in deep caverns inside mountains. The inside of these mountains is sheathed in yards of concrete and steel. Said steel, concrete and granite is impenetrable by even the most powerful weapons that have ever been conceived of or produced.

So, you need a drill. One helluva drill. How practical and how realistic is that? How real is this dilemma?

QQ: 3.  IT'S A PHALLIC THING

The technology of drilling requires the simplest solution to the simplest problem. As you drill, how do you get rid of the the material that is generated by the hole that you make? A missile dropped from a plane will penetrate the earth by a few feet, create something of an impact crater and make a lot of noise. A North Korean war room 250 feet below the surface or inside a mountain will feel zero... nothing. An Iranian atomic missile silo buried deep inside a mountain will remain totally viable and intact. There is no weapon currently developed that can counter this deeply-buried inventory.

Here we enter the drill race. Which nation will develop the Ultimate Drilling Weapon that will give them Drilling Superiority?

Who has ultimate penetration?

QQ :4   THE AXIS OF EVIL

Ironically, drilling for energy runs on a parallel trajectory. Whoever can frack the most wins. I frack, you frack, Mobil fracks, Shell fracks and whomever drills the biggest, deepest hole to get those pesky hydrocarbons that run the Military-Industrial -Complex, wins.

How can we develop the big, drilling missiles to drill into Iranian mountains unless we drill-frack the energy required to run the infrastructure needed to develop the weapons? Hence, it is all about the Drill.

The technological dilemma is simple. When the drill screw penetrates the target, it creates the waste material that must be disposed of. As the hole gets deeper, the waste gets bigger and heavier and is more difficult to eliminate. Drilling missiles are under development that carry cannon on their skins that is supposed to explosively eject the material generated by the drill. Whether or not this primitive concept would actually work is somewhat suspect. It seems that our technological revolution should be capable of something a little more sophisticated than that.

QQ: 5.  THE INVENTION OF THE WHEEL

The race to drill has now superseded the arms race, the energy race, the sexual race and the human race.

We face enormous challenges confronting rogue regimes who bury their poison inside mountains; rogue energy hoarders who keep our resources buried deep somewhere in North Dakota; and rogue cultures who deny our human, sexual identities which they bury under face masks and cover in burkahs.

Effective drilling is necessary and required.

QQ: 6.  THE BRONZE AGE REVISITED

As the technological age and revolution continues, it turns out that there are two major geographical locations that have given birth to the greatest contemporary leaps in invention and innovation.

Those two places are Silicon Valley in California, and the tiny State of Israel. Based on this fact, it would seem likely that Israel has put some deep thought into the depth that a drilling missile can penetrate. Maybe they have even developed a weapon that can do the job. If that is the case, we should all be afraid, very afraid. We should be afraid because we exist, not in the Technological Age, or the Age of the Internet, or the Age of Aquarius. We are witnessing the dawn of the Age of the Drill.  Whoever has the biggest drill - wins.

QQ :7  FOX VERSUS CNN

It occurs to me that if my hypothesis is correct:  Israel has likely developed a drill that can penetrate Mount Sinai. If that is the case, the threat of an attack on Iran becomes very real.

Further, it occurs to me that the well-publicized cat fight between Obama and Netanyahu is pure theatre for the masses. They each know exactly what is going on.

It is possible that Israel has, in fact, made a drill that can penetrate mountains. With this tool in place, they can and possibly will attack Iran's nuclear arsenal.

In my opinion, American participation in this battle would not be tolerated by the American populace. They have lost too much in Afghanistan and Iraq. Therefore, if Israel does attack, it must be perceived to be doing it alone.  Ergo - the theatre of the Obama-Netanyahu feud. It makes for drama of near-Biblical proportion.

QQ : 8.  A DEEPLY WOVEN RUG

Why is Iran developing nuclear weapons and should we be afraid?

Regardless of the dogmatic, messianic megalo-maniacs who have voted themselves into their repressive, deified potentate status, it is a fact that the Persian people are a proud and strong group. There is a historical background of empire, of civilization and of nationhood that resonates deeply within its borders. It doesn't matter who is in charge. The Persian population will not appreciate anyone messing up their mountains. It seems to me that perhaps they are the ones to fear.

QQ: 9.  KOCH VERSUS KOCH

In the context of the Jewish, mega-drill missile, does it matter if it is Obama or Romney?

I believe not at all. It is completely irrelevant. America is unlikely to dive in to another war under current economic conditions and any support to Israel will happen under the table. Demonizing Obama is a naive response completely unrelated to well - reality.  Portraying Barack Obama as an ‘enemy of Israel’ and a ‘Muslim sympathizer’ has all the sophistication of realpolitic as interpreted by a 6 year-old.

The real world is one of layer-upon-layer of conspiracy on top of conspiracy; on intrigue and infinite twists and turns of policy and strategy. Romney is a naive fool who believes that the messiah is about to return... to Missouri.

I think it would be best that he is not the one with his finger on the Mega-drill.

QQ: 10. WYNN WYNN

Follow the money.

There’s no business like the Armament Business. War economies are good economies, especially if it is a proxy war. We develop and sell the stuff-and you fight the war. It is win-win.





Etched on my Stone Tablet

Edited by Batsheva

QQ : NUMBER THIRTY TWO - JULY 8, 2012

                                                          TRUTH OR FRICTION

QAPEK's PRINCIPAL OF KNOWLEDGE:
The more information we have access to, the less we know.

Common wisdom says that there are two absolutes in the universe. They are Death and Taxes. What else do we really know?

QQ :1.  KINDLING

Recently, the print edition of Encyclopedia Britannica was laid to rest. Long live Britannica! Since information is now free via Wikipedia, we no longer need to deal with those pesky door to door salesmen. We no longer have to commit to purchasing expensive, update volumes despite their gilded leather binding and hefty substance.

Burn those books! They make great kindling. Is that how they came up with the name "Kindle"?

Want to know the Capital of Suriname? Google will supply that information within seconds. Here's the rub. We still pay. Google is not free. Wikipedia is not consistently accurate and also, our searches are surreptitiously monitored and recorded.

The question that I ask at this point is; "What is the real value of my access to these questionable information sources"?

Britannica was sourced, edited, verified and written by academic experts who were paid for their time and their expertise. Wikipedia is a free, 'democratic' encyclopedia; un-sourced, un-edited, un-verified and mostly, badly written by amateurs or those with vested interests. 

Where does the truth lie? In Paramaribo.

QQ: 2.  PIN THE TAIL ON THE DONKEY

Can we quantify information as to its degree of quality? How can we do that?

Perhaps the answer lies in the degree to which a particular piece of information is true or not. Wikipedia has duly informed me that the Capital City of Suriname is, in fact, Paramaribo. That is true. Perhaps I will go there some day. Beyond that truth, however, lies mostly an endless, bottomless, infinite litany of dubious opinion, blog and prejudice.

Where would I stay when I visit Paramaribo? Simply consult tripadvisor.com, hotels.com. expedia or any number of travel sites that will readily and speedily supply me with a multitude of options. Most of those options must fit a form and structure not of my choosing. They must fit the algorithmic template.

I used to have a travel agent. My travel agent was someone I could chastise and yell at if he pointed me in the wrong direction. I could change travel agents or recommend them to a friend if they were good. I shouldn't yell at Expedia although I do, frequently.  I can't remember my fucking password for a start. Leave the page to answer the call of nature, your time expires and you must start over.

Paramaribo will have to wait.

QQ: 3.  THE CULTURE OF NUMBERS

There are trivial truths and there are truths that affect life and death. The internet does not indicate the scale. The name of a capital city of an obscure country is a truth and fact that rarely affects our fate. In a game of Trivial Pursuit, it is, of course, life changing.

However, when we consult Dr. Google regarding a choice of medical intervention for disease, we enter dangerous territory. When we look at trending topics on Twitter, or top rating videos on YouTube, we similarly engage with a form of information that is not qualified.

Unverified testimonials regarding the success of spinal decompression contain a quality of truthiness that aligns itself with a half a billion YouTube hits of the song, "Friday". The millions of women tweating that they would willingly allow Chris Brown to rape them is also a statistical truth.

Numbers do not speak volumes. In fact in most cases they reflect a lack of volume and a surfeit of vacuum. These statistical 'facts" can form dangerous concepts. They are dangerous to our health, to our well being, to society and to culture.

QQ: 4.  I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE - UNDER MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN

As we burn the books, demolish the album, wipe out the TV networks, bankrupt Kodak, eliminate the Times Picayune and lose the storefront, we lose much more. As we embrace the shorthand of 140 characters; the postcard of Instagram; the recorded, single song; the compressed mp3; and the kindled book, we lose an experience.

We also lose a truth. The truth is complicated. It is not to be found in 140 characters. The truth is not illustrated in an Instagram postcard or in an mp3.

Perhaps the entire body of work by Bill Shakespeare might scrape the surface of some truths. Perhaps J.S. Bach reveals a semblance of truth in his solo cello pieces. Maybe a perfect ride down a freshly groomed piste on Mammoth Mountain in early spring might reveal the outer hints of some truths.

QQ: 5.  AND YOU SHOULD TELL IT TO YOUR CHILDREN AND TEACH THEM SO

When it comes to the concept of "truth", we are compelled to question the basis of education. The most fundamental structural basis of a civilized society tells us to teach our children. What truths should we teach them? The answer to this enormous question may perhaps have the potential of solving some of the most important dilemmas that face humankind.

The successful outcome of an educated society could potentially solve the most important issues that challenge us. They are hunger, disease, sanitation, shelter, violence and societal equity.

What is the statistical proportion of university graduates who are in jail, who are starving, who are homeless, who are unemployed and who are on welfare? I suggest it is proportionately minimal.

The fundamentals of education are unquestioned. In primitive times, we taught our children to hunt and to gather. Then, as we stopped wandering, we taught our children to fear the Old Man in the sky and his representatives on earth, be they animate or potentate.

Today we teach the tools of communication, commerce and day to day survival. These tools are language, expression, reading and writing; basic arithmetic, human interaction within a structure and personal hygiene.

The fact that the teaching of these most basic tools is called into question within religious, racial and economic parameters is destructive on a multitude of levels. When we do not effectively educate the poor and disadvantaged, we create more poor and disadvantaged. The cost to society is astronomical. The economic equation does not add up.

The greatest and most productive investment that a society can make is the investment in educating our children. Arithmetic is arithmetic in Beverly Hills, in the Catholic church, in Harlem and in the Ozarks.

When we choose a book of misogynist fairy tales transmitted by God or his agent, be it 5,000, 2,000 or 1,000 years old, to dictate dogmatic, universal 'truths', we fail at arithmetic. More than that, we fail at biology, we fail at women's rights and we fail at human compassion. The argument over whose 'truth' predominates has superceded all other considerations throughout human history. My god is bigger than your god. I win.

QQ: 6.  THE SQUARE ROOT

Beyond the most basic fundamentals relating to survival, what then is it that we should teach our children? What are the truths that they should know? Why are we so divided as to how to impart information to young minds?

Here is one:
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
  Socrates

When we teach our children that "truth" is an infinite concept, then and only then can we begin to scrape the surface of a real education. All the rest is a bunch of skills.

Therefore, if we argue with each other on political, racial, economic and religious grounds as to how we are going to impart a bunch of basic skills to our youth, we are wasting our time and energy. Arithmetic is arithmetic and grammar is grammar. Read, write, add subtract and there you have the fundamentals. Next.

QQ: 7.  AND LEE HARVEY OSWALD WAS THE LONE ASSASIN

"Next" then forms the bigger quandary. When we study history, we must question truth. There is no single, fact-based history. One can only get a glimpse of history through multiple sources. Try figuring out the basis for World War One. The myth says that Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated and then about 20 million people died in the aftermath. It would be neat and simple to presume that the assassination of one aristocrat was the cause of this holocaust, but that concept is nonsense. The reality is multi-layered, incredibly complex and mired in a generation or more of historical precedent that led to that event.

Is there any value then in teaching history as a compulsory subject? If so, how do we compress this voluminous body of information into a form that is useful and that can be absorbed? Can we prevent future holocausts if we convey a better understanding of the multi-layered truths that lead mankind to engage in his own self-destruction?

There is the rub. Perhaps that is one of the greatest possibilities of real education. Real education asks questions.

QQ: 8.  A CLASSICAL EDUCATION

Innovation, quality and culture are misunderstood, mis-used terms.

We innovate when we move forward in a positive fashion. Culture involves growth. The derivation comes from the context of agriculture. When we teach our children, the basic objective needs to be re-examined.

If we have any interest in moving forward, in improving our lot in life, in making the world a better place for our children, then the ingredients of forward movement should perhaps be the chief ingredient of education. These ingredients are innovation and culture. But, innovation cannot exist without quality. The very term implies forward positive movement.

How do we teach innovation? How do we impart culture?

These amorphous qualities are not to be found in fundamental arithmetic or in the conjugation of verbs. Memorizing the table of elements or singing the multiplication tables is rudimentary, fundamental skill-based learning. There is no culture or innovation involved.

The problem is that our objective in imparting these most basic skills is mired in racial, economic and political turmoil. Schools fail because families fail because societies fail because government fails. One cannot teach the most rudimentary necessities to a child who has not had sufficient food or sleep to function in a receptive manner. You cannot teach the most fundamental necessities to a child who has a broken home, who is subjected to violence, and who is disconnected from any social model of behaviour.

America is number 25 in the world for math scores. This is not the fault of the teachers or of the schools. This is a dark and foreboding indication of a social breakdown where we as a society have given up on our children, on our future, on growth on innovation and on culture.

QQ: 9.  A STAMP FOR A TWINKIE

We flail around blaming "the system". It's the scoring system; it's the teachers unions; it's the school boards;  it's government interference and any number of systemic issues.

These things that we blame do not even scratch the surface of the problem or even begin to address the multi-layered truths that exist.

Over 34% of Nashville TN children under the age of five live below the poverty line.

If this is an acceptable circumstance, then we willingly engage ourselves in the prison industrial complex, in the imposition of higher taxes to support the welfare system, in the food stamp marketplace and in any and every expensive support system that deals with this issue.

Forget the human cost. Consider the economic cost.

QQ: 10.  AND GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH IN SIX DAYS

Georgetown University is now charging about $55,000 a year per student in their undergraduate program. Charter schools are draining government funds to run for-profit businesses, regardless of academic outcome.

Economically strapped government schools have dropped art, music, P.E. and other humanities to save money. They survive on conjugating verbs and singing multiplication tables imparted to hungry un-engaged children who have no chance of ever innovating or growing.

We are feeding the status quo and starving the future.

Feed the kid, give her an after school activity, give her a keyboard or a paint brush, and make physical education compulsory. Involve parents, abandon the charter school industry and stop subsidizing the church.....any church.

I propose a new mythology. That is an acceptance of the mystery of the unknown.  Celebrate that. Then the concept of new discovery unfolds and reveals itself to us as we uncover layer upon layer of multiple truths. Then we may have the hint of a new beginning. Higgs Boson is just another layer.

Intelligent design, my ass.


Etched on my Stone tablet

Editing : Batsheva

QQ : NUMBER THIRTY ONE - MAY 28, 2012

                      Qapek-onomics

A propensity to austerity brings catastrophe.


QQ:1   FUNNY, YOU DON'T LOOK KEYNESIAN

I challenge an economic historian to come up with a single example of a nation that has succeeded in resurrecting a collapsed economy by imposing austerity measures similar to the Merkel-Romney vision of Utopia. 

Here we eviscerate medical care, basic nutrition, emergency shelter, child labor laws and organized labor. Under the Merkel-Romney vision we hand these fundamental necessities of a civilized society over to the church and the plantation owner. Pick a bale of cotton.

Forty percent unemployment is an austerity measure that can only lead in one direction. That direction is the model designed and implemented by our European and Russian friends, the ethnic cleansers of 1933. Let's break a few windows. That will give the unemployed something to do.

QQ:2   EAST GERMANY’S BAILOUT COST TWO TRILLION EURO  

The ultimate irony is that Germany now finds itself in the position of power, just like Dr. Mengele, to give Greece a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Greece has an economy about the size of New York.
It's not that big a deal. Think of it like Europe's Mississippi or Louisiana. We can't all be Massachusetts. Build some roads, fix the plumbing, patch the roof and harvest the olives.

Who is going to have the last laugh when they discover rare earth deposits in the rocks, or shale gas or oil in the Aegean sea.

Isn't it wonderful that other nations can be so 'holier than thou' because they have valuable shit in the ground or black gold in their waters? It makes them the moral, ethical and economic wizards.

Alberta, Canada is like that. It is an entire province with a sneer on its face, epitomized by the dear leader Harper's complete bypass of democratic process. The environment, what environment? We have oil. Fuck the environment.

QQ:3   DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLES

Can you imagine that Germany's intransigence could once more collapse Europe and possibly the economic structure of the world? Maybe Truman should not have stopped at Hiroshima. And the French are not much better.

QQ;4   A CONTEMPORARY ODYSSEY     

Shovel ready was an unfortunate turn of phrase. But the concept was correct.
How can an economy be turned around. There are no jobs because there is no work to do. The only way to create jobs is to educate, innovate, cultivate, beautify, renovate, germinate and originate.

Who will pay for these idealistic ventures? The state is the only body that can. The investment is far too long for private capital. Education can take 25 years to begin its payback. Private investment may run a school as a business, but they cannot sponsor a nuclear physicist from birth to age 30 when she might begin to be productive.

Who will pay for Greece's yet unborn Einstein? Who will build a desalination plant on a remote island when you could fill a suitcase with a worthless drachma?
But all is not lost. We have Facebook. Greek protestors can tweet and we can watch the entire adventure on YouTube. It's a reality show. In fact, it's a Greek tragedy.

QQ:5   HAM AND EGGS AND BAIN CAPITAL

The PIGS; Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain share a common destiny. If austerity measures continue without any injection of mechanisms that stimulate growth, then we will revisit the 1930s and chaos will reign.

Chaos is expensive. In fact, the organized, planned imposition of chaos in Greece is based on the Merkel-Romney economic theory of austerity. This policy is sheer madness not only in human terms, but more so in financial terms.

The formula is simple:

Austerity = unemployment = social unrest = chaos = PIGS in shit producing a global economic downturn in the trillions of dollars.

On the other hand:

Education = innovation = culture = beauty = growth = employment = prosperity with PIGS in heaven and a global uptick in social and economic equity.

QQ:6   SOCIAL ENGINEERING

And who are the unemployed?
They are black, they are Turkish, they are Arabic and they are Muslim. They are women, they are elderly, they are children and they are infirm. They are uneducated, they are immigrants, they are mentally ill and they are the homeless.

Minimum wage in the USA is $7.25 per hour. In what way should this exchange not be labelled for what it is. It is slavery. Basic nutrition, shelter, health and hygiene expenses, energy costs and transportation to work all for $7.25 per hour? Maybe on another planet.

What we do not acknowledge in this flawed equation is the immense cost to the taxpayer, to civil order, to larger health concerns and to culture.

When we exchange labor for $7.25 per hour, I suggest that the resulting cost to society is at least double that amount in the short term, and through geometric expansion, when families and communities are affected, the cost to society is probably multiple times that amount.

I postulate that the dollar saving to an entire economic system in the long term would be significant if the minimum wage were to truly reflect the reality of a 'living' wage, in which fundamental human needs would actually be addressed. There would be spending on goods and services. There would be a viable economy.

Corporations that profit to the tune of billions of dollars should not be permitted to pay their workers anything but a living wage. To suggest that their shareholders demand profit at any cost does not reflect the reality of the actual, long-term cost to the larger society, the cost of food stamps as socialized nutrition and ultimately to civil order.

How many gated communities can we build?
Can you trust your minimum-wage security guard? Don't wear a hoodie.

QQ: 7   YOUR CALL IS IMPORTANT TO US

When technology does our work for us:
Press one for assisted suicide
Press two for sexual abstinence
Press three for heavenly guidance
Press four for manna from heaven
Press five for the Red Sea to part
Press six for insider information on the Facebook ipo
Press seven for the Ayn Rand, personal debt-consolidation formula
Press eight for the return of the Messiah
Press nine for a private lap-dance from Lady Gaga
Press ten for your soul to be saved by Mitt Romney via Joseph Smith.

QQ: 8   A FINAL SOLUTION 

And if technology does not solve the problem, then what will?

There is a problem. We are revisiting the 1930s and we have not learned from history.

The French hate the Germans; the Croats hate the Serbs; the Protestants hate the Catholics; the Shia hate the Sunni; the Pakistanis hate the Indians and everybody hates the Jews.

I know, let's start with he easiest target. Blame the Jews. Once we get rid of of them, everything will be OK. Oh I forgot. We tried that. It didn't help.

God, please choose someone else next time.

QQ: 9   THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PHIL

History, if we have one, will look back at this last one hundred years in shock and with awe. We had the Stone Age, the Iron Age and the Bronze Age.

This has been the Oil Age.

It is an almost Monty Python-esque 'silly' concept. We crawl around in vehicles powered by technology that is more than one hundred years old. It explodes gasoline in iron cylinders to make wheels turn. That gasoline is something we found in the ground. We did not create it. It was just there. It happened to accumulate in regions of the world that would otherwise be barren and destitute.

The economics that governs what is found in the ground under a controlled territory is perhaps a primitive and flawed concept. This is my land, my territory and I have marked it with my urine. Whatever lies under it is mine, mine, mine. The fact that this resource has value to the larger society is not my problem. Let the market rule.

Based on this concept, I believe that mankind has remained static since ‘Phil’ created our current humanoid. Perhaps the creationists have it right. We are exactly the same as when we were created. There has  been absolutely, no evolution no development and no advancement. We are primitive beings leading primitive existences leading desperate lives of subsistence based on what we find when we dig into the shit in the ground of our marked territory.

My shit is more valuable than your shit.

I win.


QQ : 10   MICHELANGELO, DUDE....PAINT ME A CEILING

Bill Gates - buy a painting.
Zuckerface - sponsor some music.
Buffett - build an art school.
Saudi rich guys - put your money into real innovation. Liberate your women.
Chinese rich guys - cure cancer.

What ever happened to physical education and music in schools?
We lose on every level. Our agenda is economically unsound. The numbers do not add up.

This is the Oil Age.




etched on my stone tablet


editing : Batsheva

QQ : NUMBER THIRTY - MAY 1, 2012

                                                 PRIORITIES, WHAT PRIORITIES?

QQ:  1.  LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

The social media phenom continues to mystify me. Instagram, at a billion dollars, sets a new level of a surrealistic commentary on what is considered to be valuable and important.

Instagram - I can't wait to see that next image of what you had for breakfast. Your cute kitties make me swoon. Your sunset is more sunset than the sun has ever set before, especially at 300 dpi in a one-inch square image on a cracked, faded screen. You have changed my life.

QQ:  2.   STAND YOUR GROUND

One hundred innocent people were shot to death in America today as they are, on the average, every day.

One hundred innocent people were shot to death in Syria today as they have been every day for the past several months.

Neither of these holocausts seem to trouble us all that much. In fact, the American one troubles us not at all. The front page of a recent New York Times carries an image and article about new men's fashions designed for the concealment of carried weapons.

Stand your ground and stand proud. We are Americans. Just don't wear a hoodie.

In Syria, there is no need for concealment nor for a comparable fashion statement.
So far, I'm loving the Arab spring. I'm also looking forward to the frozen, Mitt Romney, American winter. I forecast frogs, boils, locusts, lice and all the rest. The NRA will own the White House. Perhaps it already does. Watch out for your first born sons.

QQ:   3.   SCREEN-WANKING

Continuing my despair and wonder regarding the explosive impact of social media
I find the impact of a wall with my forehead somewhat comforting, especially when it occurs rhythmically with some force.

Facebook now insists on sharing with me the viral videos of fat asses shopping at Wallmart. This continues to be at the top of my news page on a daily basis. Zuck, you are starting to lose me. In fact, it seems that you lost a few billion this quarter. I have a suggestion for you. Perhaps some 'users' (oh how I love that word), simply are not interested in the voyeurism of 'sharing' (there's another of my favorite words) the soft porn images to which my 2000 'friends' have been wanking.

Anthony Wiener was a prophet, a visionary and a seer before his time. Had Instagram been around in his day, he would be a hero.


QQ:   4.   1949 WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR


Something is rotten in the digi-verse.

Lionel Ritchie has the number-one album on the Billboard charts this week. He is sixty- two years old. Bonnie Raitt has the number-six album. She is sixty-two years old. Madonna has a top-twenty album. She is two thousand years old.

The monumental  failure of the recorded music industry to recognize, develop and nurture talent that speaks to the marketplace is a business, cultural and social calamity.

Where are the entrepreneurs who "get it" and can see beyond The Voice and Idol?
But, of course, this decay goes far beyond popular music. We live with the prospect of a cultural winter within the wasteland of a digi-verse Tower of Babel. Monetize that.


QQ:   5.   MISSING A LINK


The widow of a Nigerian diplomat keeps reminding me in her e-mails that she has nowhere to store her five-hundred million dollars. She apparently has  sought me out specifically and individually as the beneficiary of her good will. She does not spell very well and her sentence construction leaves something to be desired. Unfortunately, I find myself pre-occupied with more pressing needs requiring my attention. These needs include my unsuccessful attempts at trying to fathom what the hell LinkedIn is.

I seem to be missing a link despite the fact that I am linked to various and sundry peers and an ever-expanding assembly of complete strangers.

Perhaps they will send me a picture of a sunset or of their new puppy. I hate to be missing out on the Nigerian offer, but that puppy is so cute! LinkedIn apparently is "professional" as opposed to Facebook which is all about how you scrambled your eggs this morning. I have yet to discover the difference between the two. They tell me corporations hire through LinkedIn. I guess there's no soup for me. Just send me an Instagram of your cupcakes and I'll add that to my profile.


QQ:   6.   NOW THAT'S A CUTE FROG


The competition for our time and our attention is a powerful, economic force. The time that we devote to Facebook sunsets and puppies carries astronomic, monetary value. Could it be that our time and attention are misdirected? Could it be that there are more valuable areas upon which to focus our energy? Facebook was all about Zuck's libido. The Twit-verse keeps us up on Beliebers and their world-shattering agendas. The list of interactive sites competing for our trivia is mind-boggling. Vimeo, Deezer, Tumblr, Google plus and so it goes. Where is the redeeming value? It is said that we are connected. To what? A viral image of a seated frog?  Now that's what I call funny.


QQ:   7.   COMPROMISE THIS


Perhaps it is the "middle" that is the most negative and the most insidious. The extremes at least gave us a bar to which we may set our relative perspective. But now that Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman and Dick Santorum have fallen by the wayside, we revert to compromise. There should have been an Eleventh Commandment. Thou shalt not compromise. Perhaps compromise is the greatest evil. Neville Chamberlain's compromise with Hitler was the trigger that set off the Holocaust. Barry Obama's attempts at compromise have been a sad failure. Mitt Romney's compromise with the Tea Party requires him to deny his own beliefs and his own proven and successful policies.

American troops are now based in Australia within the policy a left of center government. There's a compromise for you. China is at once our bank and our nemesis.

In Canada, Albertan Liberals voted for the Conservatives in a recent election. This was a compromise to deny power to a racist, fascistic, far-right challenger. Progressive Liberals sold out.

Perhaps, if a natural cycle had been allowed to manifest itself, the left would be in a better position to react, reform and respond. But now they are a dead issue. The can go home and give up to the winner of their compromise decision. It is Big Oil. Keystone here we come!


QQ:   8.  AUSTERITY MEASURES


When the going gets tough, the tough say "you're fired".
Austerity as social and economic policy is an odd way to deal with the breakdown of an economy. How can it be in the best interest of a society and an economy to allow the poor, the disenfranchised, the unemployed and the hungry to fend for themselves?

History shows time and again that the slaves will ultimately revolt. They always do.

But first, austerity measures will be put in place to trim the herd. That's how we delay the inevitable.

Infrastructure be damned. In fact, if the dams do fail, perhaps the social experiment that was Katrina could be extended. Then the bridges, the highways, the water supply and the environment could be permitted to fail in order extend the 'final solution'.
That's what I call intelligent design. Ayn Rand would be proud.

Is Alan Greenspan not the personification of all that is evil in the universe?


QQ:   9.   BROWN POWER


Historically, enormous swaths of territory, now part of the USA, were originally Mexican territory. That being the case, there are millions of Americans who bear some of the physical characteristics of their Mexican heritage.

It's likely that people with that particular physical profile can now be mandated to present their 'papers' to the police in an interaction as mundane as a traffic violation.

It is, in fact, a Brave New World. The words 'Police State' now has a whole new meaning. I wonder how off-duty police of Mexican heritage in Arizona are going feel when confronted by their uniformed colleagues . They could arrest each other and deport themselves back to Acapulco. It's truly Catch 22 revisited.


QQ:   10.   COME BACK DR. MENGELE


When Adolph Hitler designed his agenda to create the Third Reich, much of his concept was based on social manipulation. The Aryan race was deemed to be superior and then various other strata of society were set up as levels of a caste or altogether undesirable. The 'undesirables' were gathered up and eliminated. The others were put to battle or to work for the greater cause.

In this next election cycle in America in 2012; poor, uneducated, unemployed, uninsured Caucasians will vote for Mitt Romney.

Their lot will most likely improve as the conservative social manipulation experiment develops. More Katrinas, more wars, more prisons and more failures of infrastructure will take care of the undesirables. Power will return to normal, law-abiding, church-going, God-fearing people who have the superior, Aryan, racial profile. They don't need or want entitlements, Social Security, medical insurance or even teeth. Because God and Smith and Wesson are on their side.

From Sea to shining Sea.


Etched on my Stone Tablet

Edit: Batsheva