MONDAY
hello world, that last post embarrassed me
sometime i get carried away and before you know it
im huffing and puffing and roaring like ec tell me to
that embarrass me, then i try to restrain myself and
lowprofile like im spose to
been slacking on my woodshed, last couple of days i
just been laying around, spent a day or so crunching
that last post, i thnk i burnt myself out maybe
looking back thru my last posts i see i been frothing
about living by the code,
that has potential, i might play with that some more
i got a lot to say about what it entail to be a great writer
hard to theorize about it though when you yourself considered 2nd string
let me see, some quick commentary and im outta here
lets start with the naked emperor:
hershe article in newyorkers on general taguba
the general did the abu graib report say he was fired because of it
says bush and rumsfield both knew about it before the photos made them fess up
said rumsfield lied on stand when he said he didnt
said he was ordered not to follow the leads any further than the enlisted men
said after he did real report instead of fake one brass told him it was time to retire
said it was wrong to only convict enlisted men and let the generals who conceived
the policy and ordered the behavior to slide
said the bush admin has violated the rules of warfare and civilization
made the us look bad and crippled in it international affairs
but that aint news is it, let me try again
gaza and the westbank:
let me see if i can lay the strategics out for you right quick
joining gaza and the westbank was a stretch in the 1st place
israel and the us will try to isolate hamas and gaza by supporting
abbas and fatah to show benefit of cooperation to westbank
but they wont stop settlements or fence or cantonization of the westbank, so forth
and so on, so that liittle policy will come to naught, w/israel is always too little too late
abbas will be encouraged by olmert, rice and bush to help starve gaza into submission
but he wont be able to do that and still call himself leader of the palestinians
but it will take him awhile to get over all those dead fatah, he will reject
hamas pious claim of wanting unity now that they have full control of gaza security
control theyve wanted since winning the election
but abbas will be under pressure from arab countries to cut a deal of some sort, then again
maybe not, secular egypt will like lock down borders of muslim brotherhood affiliated hamas
abbas will have trouble keeping westbank gunmen of both parties in check
and dont want to be too obviously the instrument of israeli/us policy
so clearly designed to maintain israeli dominance w/a thin candy shell of apparency
bush has made it hard for islamic moderates to be associated with us policies
who wants to be perceived as supporting bushs clumsy imperialism
big problem trying to support fatah and the westbank is that they
corrupt and incompetent, as you may have noticed in recent showdown
thats how they lost out to hamas in the 1st place
that and being perhaps a little too complacent with israeli/us moves
for being perhaps a little too thuggish
and if/when hamas sees they being squoze out expect them to attack israel
in order to stay in the equation
fatah lost that showdown also because their heart wasnt in it
defense dont get it
of course all this is just whats going on on the surface, the game
is always more complicated than it seems
some analysts claim fatah threw the fight because abbas wanted to be rid of fatah
but more likely both fatah and hamas were surprised at how easily fatah fell
its amazing how much islam has become a global competitor to the west in the last couple of years
my biggest problem with islam is its sometimes murderously coercive concept of dialogue
but wait you say, the west is equally murderous in its way - cant deny that
i can only call them both to account, try to get both of them to straighten up and fly right
the rightwing want to dump on islam and give the west a pass
the leftwing want to dump on the west and give islam a pass
i have to say that im envious that islam has made such a strong bid because
i consider african traditional and islam in major contention in the african world
and we arent competitve on any level whatsoever
islam walking all over us
christanity, folk have peeped christanity for the conqueror it is
and christanitys mode of conqueration is trickeration
i will go up with anybody trick to trick
tricking and countertricking, thats cool, may the best trick win
or to paraphrase ishmael, shake hands now and come out tricking,
but all this killing and assassinating and bombing and warring
and all that, i would like to take that out of the calculation
but thats probably very optimistic on my part, players been killing and coercing since day one
all you can do is try to establish a worldwide consensus about the rules of the game
in the same way that genocide is frowned upon even if it is committed (read darfur here)
got to keep insisting that killing folk by suicide belt or tomahawk missile is
not an appropriate way to make a political point
note salman rushdie of satanic verses fame recently nominated for british knighthood - pakistans religious affairs minister responds: 'if someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so'
well now, there is a certain satirical diminution for a writer of rushdies stature to be dubbed sir salman,
its a demotion, but suggesting a bomb be exploded on his body is taking critical disdain a bit far
mr i like to know whats going on didnt even realize that was still an issue
one of the big charges against bush is that he violated the rules of the global game
on torture, arbitrary wars, so forth and so on, thought the us was so strong we didnt need them
but those rules protect the strong as much as they protect the weak
now the whole world got a stake in turning the temperature down
a world of open societies versus a world of closed ones is at stake here
and the dynamic dont look good
the islamic folk got to take care of their renegades
we got to restrain ours
got to bring folks understanding into the 21st century
fundamentalists everywhere got to be put in check
a world with a lot of theological thou shalts and thou shalt nots
be it islamic, christian or jewish, is not a world i want to live in
the fundamental question here is one of open/closed societies
and it cross across borders
i consider african fundamentalism just as problematic
hoodoo fundamentalism dont move me either
what i would really like is a viable african world reality
a secular humanistic one
where folk can define themselves african without being forced
to choose between west/christian or east/islam reality modes
right now if you choose africa you still have to choose west/christanity or east/islam
because traditional africa is so weak its not in the game, we just barely holding on
and we cant offer our adherents the security they need
to grow and evolve
its like we been stuck in the past and made a virtue of it
calling it traditional africa is probably the giveaway
got to come up with a trick that modernizes and empowers the african way
makes it the 21st century force we need it to be
and its because we are so weak, so archaic, so desperately in need of redefinition
that we have a chance to forge a new way, an african way, one thats competent 1st and foremost
humanistic, evolved and illuminated - sound like an impossible dream right now
but i need you to have a little faith - we can do this
patience rick, when you this far behind you have to think in generations
anything else just fooling yourself
ever more tentative about obama, concerned he might be shallow
and not ready for primetime, might need some seasoning - i will keep an eye on him
my concern with hillary is that she so macho
got to prove how tough she is, might be as quick on
the trigger as bush
only reason she refraining now
is because the base has pushed her
im not excited about either of them truth be told
or edwards either, who is the most progressive of them all but doesnt feel
electable with that inane smile and that blowtop hair
boy dont feel real, feel like a clone or something
bummer about kid in georgia convicted of statutory rape for
consensual oral sex with 15 year old when he was 17
georgia authorities say he was unfairly convicted and want to let him out
but black attorney general refuse to let him go, aint that nothing
georgia authorities want to do right and a black elected official wont let them
im confused, the world has just gotten too complicated for me
im going back to the woodshed
im just going thru the motions here anyway
wandering around looking for a groove,
true words of power instead of just talking to be talking
some provocative insights maybe - but not really in it
cause i got to get back to novel, two days downtime
and starting to feel that desperation coming down on me
btw: listening to carmen mcrae today
in an oldschool state of mind i guess
in the name of the conqueror
im outta here
rdoc
(postscript; 11:02 & clocking pages - its all good)
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