is a miserable failure & i'm not sure if everyone's noticed yet.
sure these things do keep getting higher tech, but the reality they're fronting gets less and less convincing. the arguments for this illusion of culture are flimsier and the self-serving actions of those in charge of it are not even kept off camera. i've already cancelled my subscription on principal, ate the obligatory contract penalties, and started using my plain old eyeballs for input. crazy i know, but real reality is spelling something out for me: the little people are no longer subjects of any real concern, while large entrenched [businesses let's call them] write all the rules and absorb the remaining wealth.
for instance:
these real facts about the US economy crash & subsequent banks bailout are a really good whack in the skull for anyone with their heads in the ideological clouds. print this one up & read it all. banks spent more this year on lobbying congress than anything else. anything else.
Obama's Big Sell Out
then take a look at the following news segment-
another entrenched industry in washington: there's 4 insurance lobbyists for every member of congress. the revolving door between congressperson, congressional aids, and lobbyists has been spotted plainly- and as you might have guessed there'll be no affordable healthcare: americans have been shown that door too.
the climate talks in copenhagen derailed thanks to dealings from the US- who played the liberal card in speech and the entrenched interests card in action. this apparently results in catastrophe:
Copenhagen As Seen By The Numbers
Beyond Ecological Imperialism
drinking water in the US is full of unregulated contaminants. plus this bonus: the bottled water industry is positioning itself to be the next expensive commodity monopoly [re: oil & gas].
What's in Your Water?
Shell Oil is slated to start drilling in alaska-
Environmentalists & Natives Protest Drilling Offshore
blackwater now runs special ops in pakistan [in our name?] with no congressional oversight. they have a huge training base & a fleet of jetfighters etc- some of which are rented to the military.
and oh yeah, we're fighting alongside an afghan president that we handpicked from the Unocal board of directors. [who built that nice gas pipeline during our last escalation there]. and Karsai's brother is heading up the opium crops according to a few reports.
Blackwater Private Army
peaceful protests against the WTO, G20, & Cop 15 are relabeled as terrorist threats and treated to pepper sprays, beating, pre-emptive incarceration. similar tactics [using harsher measures] were used in the past against palistinians who mounted organized civil protests to gaza & west bank invasion so long ago. now you can start to see what my argument is stretching for- we're starting not to matter to 'the greater mechanisms of the world' in the same way palistinians haven't mattered for decades now.
Breaking Palestine's Intellectual Backbone & Organized Dissent
guantanimo is estimated to be open & running till 2011.
patriot act civil liberties power grab still in effect.
new coal fired power plants are online being built.
DOW jones back up to 10000's
state education, social services & highway budgets are being slashed. no money is going to 'green research or green jobs'.
mortgage forclosures are on the rise. empty houses are all over the place. jobs blue collar & white alike are dwindling.
-and in the midst of all this we are encouraged to celebrate the yearly miracle of christmas retail bump. ho ho ho. well party on i say! with your cultural sensory field organizer- in super HD with widescreen-
let's celebrate ourselves- The US Citizenry! -and don't change a thing!! praise for our empirial political policies, our expensive health care, our secure homeland with diminished liberties, and our myopic disconnected worldview propelled by our narrow media monopoly. don't worry about the disconnect between what you vote for and what happens in your name. let's really try to stay distracted through this next year, and keep those catalogs coming! [printed on trees!]
Machiavelli, Bernays, Luntz- you saucy old sluts, i can't believe they still let you in this place. no wait a minute, yes i can..
happy precarious new year everybody. please remember to spend you fortune on custom furniture this year- and as always- support your troubled artist friends!
