Safety Quest

 Oh, hell. I don't feel like explaining this.

 Quest Carefully

Often when on a Quest
You'll create an unholy mess
And cause great distress to others:
Such as horses, goats and your mother.
So it is best,
Outside the nest,
To Quest -- carefully.

When you see a dragon at the break of day,
Run away.
Run away.
Do not believe what the soothsayers say.
Require proof
From the sooth.
If an old man on a bridge offers his advice,
Treat him nice.
Treat him nice.

Quest Carefully.

Use care as you stare
At Buxom, bawdy, barmaids.
Do not imbibe the potions you get
From cute redheads, and brunettes.
Blonds, too,
If it's true,
They've had more fun --
Meaning more flings flung.
And when climbing a ladder
To rescue her from "what's the matter?"
Don't stand on the top rung.

Quest Carefully.

As you pursue your Quest
Never rest, never rest --
Recklessly.
Do not be reckless in your rest!

Sleep with care.

Beware! The woods have bears
And the forest is where
The wolves have their lairs.
And never eat meat
unless it's been cooked to an internal temperature
Of 160 degrees Fahrenheit and you should immediately refrigerate --
Yes, refrigerate!
The unused portions.
This is also the case
When you reheat -- and eat --
the meat you think safe.
Why not be a Vegan?

Quest Carefully. Quest Carefully.
And as you quest, never rest -- recklessly.

I left some hair colors out (space considerations).

Slap them with a Tax

I wrote some lyrics! They are lyrical! They can be sung to the tune of every Radiohead song I’ve ever heard (I haven’t heard them all).

 Big G and the D.C.’s

When I see you eating Big Macs,
With your happy-meal deal kids
I feel your weight upon my shoulders.
I want to…
Slap, slap, slap.

I see you in your big car,
On a commute that is too far;
I feel my temperature rising.
I want to…
Slap, slap, slap.

At the movies when you eat popcorn
So full of salt and fat
I feel forlorn.
and want to…
Slap, slap, slap.

Slap, slap, slap!
Slap them with a tax!
Slap. Slap!
Slap them with a tax!

I don’t want to be your lover,
I just want to control
what’s in your cupboard.

Slap, slap!
Slap them with a tax!

I don’t want to be your doctor
I just want to decide
What's proper.

Slap, slap!
Slap them with a tax!

I don’t want to be your banker,
Just the confiscator of your
Stash, stash, stash!
I don’t want to be your savior,
Just your reg-you-lay-tor, 

Until you meet your Undertaker.

Now, no more lip as I count the bullets in your clips.
Peace.

 15 Steps then a Shear Drop!

It's Powerful Stuff

Some years ago I started doing commentary on current events through the use of musical comedy. Unfortunately, it led to uncontrolled weeping so I stopped. Still, I like putting my thoughts in song (yes, song!), and here is my latest attempt. Think Punk Rock. Starts sweet, ends loud.

Clerk Power

I know you think I'm heaven sent

The greatest hope your world presents.

Your situation's critical

But to me you're typical.

Bad vibrations,

In creation.

Alienation

fills the nation.

Check the box, don't pout!

Just fill -- your forms out.

We must know you. Or we'll no you.
Yes, we know you. And will no you.
Don't break the mold. It fits you.
That moldy mold? Is for you.
Clerk Power. Clerk Power.

I got you feeling desperate

The needs you have are barely met.

But leave no blanks upon the form,

Always behave within the norm.

I'll estrange you.

Rearrange you.

Bad vibrations

Fill creation.

Alienation,

throughout the nation.

I will serve you,

On a platter.

Does it matter? Do you matter?

Clerk Power! Clerk Power!

Clerk Power! Clerk Power!

I know you think I'm heaven sent

The greatest chance your world presents.

But before solutions are devised
All interviews must be reprized.

I'll estrange you!

Rearrange you!

Take your measure?

At my pleasure!

Fill the forms out.

Does it fit now?

Have a cow, now?

Don't act crazy!

Take a nap now.

Don't be lazy!

Or outrageous

It's contagious!

Here to serve you,

On a platter.

Does it matter? Does it matter?
Don't you matter? Do you matter?

Clerk Power! Clerk Power! Clerk Power!

Whew. I was shouting a bit much at the end there. Calm. Down. When did the slogan All Power to the People become All Power to the Clerks?  When the people shouting "All Power to the People" became clerks.

With apologies to Kurt Cobain.

Phlegmatic Endtimer is...

Spengler! And who is Spengler? Spengler is not Uwe Parpart. Who is Uwe Parpart? Forget Uwe Parpart.

Asia Times Online :: Asian News, Business and Economy.

And Spengler is...

Is this an exaggeration?

Barack Obama: President Pantywaist - new surrender monkey on the block :: Gerald Warner

President Barack Obama has recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.

Our Collective Future

Belmont Club » Doppelganger

The Pew Research underscored to degree to which the middle political ground is vanishing rapidly. “For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades. The 61-point partisan gap in opinions about Obama’s job performance is the result of a combination of high Democratic ratings for the president — 88% job approval among Democrats — and relatively low approval ratings among Republicans (27%).”

I view the United States as close to being a one party state, and that Party is the DC Power Party. They seek to centralize more power, not just in Washington DC but in the hands of a Credentialed Aristocracy. This Aristocracy is not yet hereditary, but it is headed that way. You notice the groups that are the biggest boosters of “Affirmative Action” don’t mind nepotism (think Hollywood and Politics). Those who rant the most about “conflicts of interest” don’t think the concept applies to them and their close family members. Andrea Mitchel married to the Fed Chairman? What could be wrong with that? And what is wrong with a Senator bequeathing his seat to his daughter or his son? Even affirmative action, in practice, favored the daughters of this emerging order over the sons of sharecroppers.

When President Obama speaks of bipartisanship, he speaks of uniting this Aristocratic group into a permanent governing class. Of course Republicans cannot totally go along because they represent the “pockets of resistance.” These are folks who see themselves firmly on the other side of the divide and whose children will be out of favor in the credential hunt. They would not object to an aristocracy of merit and accomplishment — which is attacked as greed and selfishness by the Credentialed, since this would give upper middle class kids a leg up (especially if the parents instill drive and ambition in their kids). Interestingly, they would have a leg up on the poor and working class kids but be a threat to the Patrician class, who would like to flow into power the way the river flows to the sea.

As long as this Aristocracy could acquire more power as a class, it could grow and welcome new members (in fact, offering membership was a tool for acquiring power). But now they are reaching their “limits to growth” and they will need to cement their leadership in place and pull up the drawbridge behind them.  President Obama hopes to sponsor one last great push for centralizing power, but after that the class cannot grow by acquiring more power since the limits of centralization will be reached. A situation of low growth and controlled growth nationally, administered from the center, will help the new class keep control — so society itself must reach its “limits to growth.”

In the latest economic crisis we find the relationships among the various actors obscured and the causes portrayed as beyond our understanding. More and more we will find that the actors in the various dramas are in some sense related. And being a part of the same Aristocratic Class will not be a reason for recusal. Why be a member of a select class and give up the advantages?

In this Credentialed State, a lot of power accrues to the gate keepers of entry into the Aristocratic class — those who will grant “The Patents of Nobility.” Demanding that the novice display Fidelity to the emerging order by signing on to some rather bizarre ideas makes a lot of sense: it shows they are willing to suppress their individuality in the service of the new class (early in the process this looks like a “counter culture” of free thinkers and then emerges as the autocratic PC of the narrow minded). Of course, you are expected to do more than mouth these ideas; you are expected to believe them.

What infuriates liberals (read progressives) are arguments that make these ideas look as nonsensical as they sometimes are. Hence the new cliche, “Shut up, they explained.”

Of course this noble class has international dimensions.  And given the "Obama bow" to King Saud, one has to wonder if he is, perhaps, the granter of the "Patent of Nobility" to President Obama. Is it possible?  Nah.

I say to you King Saud, tear down this wall!

BBC NEWS | Europe | Obama pledges new US engagement

"We can't afford to talk past one another and focus only on our differences, or to let the walls of mistrust go up around us."

The president said part of that process involved giving people a better sense of the US and rejected the stereotype that his country was selfish and crass.

"I'm here to tell you that it's not the country I know and not the country I love," he added.

Now he tells us. But doesn't that sound a bit crass? In anycase, check the box marked "Islam."

Next stop in the Apology Tour is Latin America, where he will say: "We are not the Selfish and Crass imperialist I told you we are!"