Transit Eyes

Rain beats on the glass.
Trees wave in the wind.
Eyes forward children,
No distractions please.

One day you notice the eyes,
Dull, defeated, tired, dry
From years of misuse;
You see yourself.

But the bus stops and starts,
Down the road. To where?
You know. Get off now.
Smash the glass.

There’s always a weak point.

To Hamilton with Love

All the grown ups and kids and call center attendants
catch a look to see whats going on
saturday afternoon
in a place they didn't know was there
its a ballet with sticks without any music
but that ballet looks like its danced
with yellow and green clown shoes
and everyone deserves a chance to shoot
theres a game we have saved from the man
we ain't skilled but we do what we can
theres a game we have saved from the man
we ain't skilled buy we don't give a damn
the kids play a game you could call hockey
its doesn't look like the hockey you see on t.v.
they're having too much fun
what else would you do when your growing up
there is a lot you can learn by being really awkward
you can concentrate on whats important
or how we use our words
or how we can help a friend
all the grown ups and kids and call center attendants
are all welcomed to join tie up their shoes and get out there
on saturday afternoon
in a place they're about to renew
theres a game we have saved from the man
we ain't skilled but we do what we can
theres a game we have saved from the man
we ain't skilled but we don't give a damn

A poem/song by Tom Dusome. Check out his myspace.

Leak On

Blessed are the leakers, for they fuck with the powerful.

Wikileaks is certainly inspiring a wealth of knowledge entering the public domain. And that's a good thing. States (including corporations which should always be counted as part of the state) should have no secrets.

Last week a former employee of a secretive Swiss bank released a wealth of information on the rich and powerful (and corrupt of course, how do you think they got so rich and powerful) to Julian Assange of Wikileaks. Ever wondered where all your government's development money ended up, ask a corrupt dictator? Or check out these files.

Yesterday Al-Jazeera and the Guardian released secret Israel-Palestine-US 'negotiating' records and documents. As usual the Palestinians as the weakest party are expected to give up the most in any settlement. Makes sense in our hierarchical culture. And the thing is that they did and still it wasn't enough. Check out this story outlining the unenviable position of the Palestinian Authority and hailing (finally) the end of the two-state solution. Good riddance!

And just moments ago a secret NATO document was released outlining Kosovo PM Hashim Thaci's deep ties to organized crime. Apparently Thaci profits from the smuggling of weapons and drugs and occasionally he'll slip in a few human organs for a few extra bucks. But he's one of the good guys, right? I'm confused, isn't that evil? Not when you're making money baby!

Bless you leakers. I'd love to join if only I knew anything of import.

Bizarro World

Welcome to the bizarro world. Today the UK's top scientist declared in typical insane fashion that genetically modified crops had to permitted in order to ensure that humans survive the next century. One wonders how invested this fucker is in Monsanto or Bayer?

It's so great. If you have any sense of sanity left your only option is really to laugh. Or book yourself a few months in an asylum. Civilized humans screw everything up and the only choice we can think of is to embrace more of the same behaviour. The earth is trying to teach us a lesson, if we only still had the ability to hear.

The worst is that the voices that would speak out against all these loony moves are starting to shut up. Climate change (scary as it is don't get me wrong) trumps everything, especially sanity.

At work the other day we were discussing pushing for a ban on hydraulic fracturing a technique for extracting methane trapped (forever) in underground shale deposits. Now if you were a sane species you would recognize that leaving these gases where they are, effectively sequestered, would be a good ideal since this was yet another of the hottest years on record. And it's not like hydraulic fracturing is benign. The technique poisons groundwater with a cocktail of chemicals and methane of course.

But a colleague said, methane is touted as a bridge between oil and coal and the imaginary future of clean energy and a thriving economy. So we can move away from oil and coal by relying on natural gas (methane) for the short-term and build our happy little wind turbines and solar panels for the long-term. The thing is, I don't hear this plan coming down from Stephen Harper or Barack Obama. Their plan and this has always been their plan, is to grow the economy. This means no slowdown on coal or oil and opening up new energy sources to feed the dreadful economy. But because someone said that methane could be a bridge energy source we can't take a strong stand against dangerous hydraulic fracturing, let alone the death economy and our overpopulation of the planet.

The worst part of all this is that when I challenged my colleagues they all admitted that this was a dream, a fantasy hope against climate change. There is no plan. It's not going to work but instead of speaking out we are going to go along with it. Maybe the elites will take this seriously and won't do what they've always done and cash in on the killing of the planet.

Our hearts are broken. Our souls are shattered. We are as impotent as, well, ourselves (I know it sounds funny coming from me). This will be my last tour with an environmental organization. This will not get results. I know that there are some principled groups out there but they are few and far between. Thankfully it's not going to take a lot of people to get us where we need to go. We just have to get away from all the poison hope infecting the world. Let's get busy.

The Kids are Alright

How's this for fashionable protesters? Looking good Tunisia. Perhaps the Black Bloc could take some lessons from you. All in black but only if it's Armani. But I guess it comes down to tactics. Our state/economy has yet to collapse and the elites can pillage and still leave some scraps for the rest of us. So fashionable young people aren't out on the street in numbers. Yet.

Have you heard what started this business in Tunisia? A young man with no job and no prospects for a job lit himself on fire in protest and died from his burns. It seems that years of corruption have made a minority disgustingly wealthy and the majority trudge along (though you wouldn't know it from their outfits). Does this sound familiar?

And it seems his compatriots have gotten results and kicked out their decrepit, sleazy, violent, abusive, 23 year dictator. Way to go young Tunisia! Though I wonder who will replace him. I'm sure he will be just as decrepit etc. That's the problem. There's no solution to this one.

Stay on the streets boys. Just make sure that the fashionable stores are protected.

Fight the Future

I just read this story about six Russian boys who were attacked by a mob of nationalists, fascists and drunken football fans in Moscow. Four of the boys didn't look Russian enough so they were singled out and kicked, beaten and even stabbed. One was knocked unconscious. Thankfully four unarmed police officers tried their best to come between them and the mob and likely saved their lives.

The Russian kids are tough though, one was ready to fight one on one. But it's hard to reason with a mob.

It's a harrowing story which you can read here.

The most shocking thing is that someone with a camera caught the attack on video.

Money, then God

Gotta love this message coming from Mike Huckabee, potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012. I use this word a lot but this man is clearly insane to make this comparison. And I wouldn't mind if he obviously hated people and dumped pollution for a living and killed babies in his spare time. That I could understand.

But before he was in politics he was a man of God. He was a minister, probably at some evangelical church, but a follower of Jesus of Nazareth nonetheless. I wonder, since we are told he is just itching to return if, after this talk by one of his homeys, Jesus has decided to give up. Repent Huckabee, your end is nigh.

But don't forget the polar bears Jesus, or the plankton or the sequoias. They still believe and need your help. They need our help too.

Rank Swell

Rejoice comrades! Another country has declared that the War on the Motorist is over. Now the War on Sanity can begin!

Central to our new War on Sanity will be the electric car without which humans would die long and painful deaths. You don't want people to die painful deaths do you?

Our Dear Minister wisely declared: "This government recognises that cars are a lifeline for many people - and that by supporting the next generation of electric and ultra-low emission vehicles, it can enable sustainable green motoring to be a long-term part of Britain's future transport planning."

So buy a new car and support the War on Sanity! Don't worry if you don't have a job. There's always credit!

Britain now stands with the City of Toronto in the vanguard of the War on Sanity. Won't you join the dance?

Library Happiness

Jane and I had a lovely afternoon at the public library today. Just reading books and discovering new books in the shelving cart and meeting friends.

I found a really interesting graphic novel called DMZ. It's set in New York City in the future where the US has experienced a second civil war. New York is the fault line between the sides and it's the story of a reporter there. Can't see the Tea Party taking over but perhaps this book was ahead of its time. Hard and gritty just like Battlestar Galactica.

So anyway the library. What a place! So many people, like me, must really love it and cherish it. My friend Drew once remarked to me that in all the state's efforts to destroy the welfare state, the one untouchable is the public library. We never really understood why that would be. I think perhaps it's because the library predates the welfare state. But still you'd think that the economy would much prefer we all bought our own private libraries and never shared much like private cell phones replaced public pay phones.

As I was leaving I wanted to make a stencil that said: "If you're ever feeling sad think of the public library".