Easy Lover

Here we are negotiating, we're at that part of a relationship where the woman is feeling you out just before giving up the Aqua Door. "emotional abuse, that is a deal breaker.." She said listing things like lost of trust, that would end a boyfriend's career. Shouldn't this kind of negotiation be going on before we give up our votes and treasure?

What kind of deal breakers could we have? Any votes on government spending that prioritizes foreign aid or defense over domestic programs. Charity begins at home, Baby! Any legislation that reduces personal liberty in the name of security. Uncle Ben said "..They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Another deal breaker is the "company" a politician keeps. Opensecrets.org lists big financial donors of many candidates, which could be a predictor of the kinds of policies they'll support. For example, is the corporate donor paying their employees good wages, providing affordable healthcare? That could mean political support for a living wage and meaningful healthcare reform. Does this company has a good record on the environment? That could mean a stronger EPA. The idea here is to look for congruency. You can't tell me you support green energy and take money from BP; that is a deal breaker.

So, she didn't give me the ass until I promised not to be an ass-hole. We shouldn't give any party our support until we establish some political deal breakers. Also, checking out the company they keep will help us discern talking points from future policy.

Let's not give it up so easy this November. Remember Libya, remember Healthcare "Reform", remember Wisconsin, remember Citizens United v., remember Cash for Clunkers, remember extending Bush tax cuts, remember no bailouts for home owners.. then vote.

Photo: sketch of a girlfriend's torso from my 2003 journal taken with iPhone3Gs, Photoshop Express app (adjust contrast, exposure)

Libya, Obama and the 5 second Rule

Spring in Tripoli...

It takes alot of work growing a nation. Democracy just doesn't bloom on its own, it takes feet on the ground and wings in the air.

Workers, revolutionaries fly from city to city, spreading the ideas of open government, an end to secret police and economic reforms.

There are always dangers. The bee keepers who profit from your captivity, harvest your dreams and mix it in their tea. Whole industries are based on your servitude and they won't go away willingly. So the bees start to sting for their freedom.

Help arrives from abroad. But are these farmers assisting for bee-manitarian reasons or do they want to insure the reliable flow of honey? Time will tell.

Photo: Dogwood bloom (I think) taken with iPhone3Gs, Hipstamatic app (Tejas, Blanko Noir)

Confidence Game pt. 1

An old friend and I meet, swap stories with no females in them. It's like drinking tea with no sugar.

How pitiful are we, not because we don't have women; because we desire women and don't have them. We laugh at our self-imposed poverty. Dying of thirst by a river. Starving in a forest, bow in hand, too afraid to let arrows fly.

Feel like I've been in this twilight wood for years, waiting for Virgil. Guess I'm not ready.. the teacher hasn't come.

That of course is bullshit. My teachers are here: Mr. Trial and Ms. Error. I just don't want to study... (to be continued)

Photo: Ceylon tea taken w/ iPhone 3Gs, Lo-Mob app (Ho-Mob Reloaded filter) and exposure, contrast adjusted in PS Express app

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Spring in Bangazi

We perceive it in our minds - an idea, the fragrance of choices. Our generation is blooming, covering the sky. Our feet rooted, soaked in sweat and blood, our songs - the bark on our tree.

Winds from Gaddafi's fighter jets move our branches, but we remain resolute in this free Libyan soil. We desire Spring for our children, warm democratic rays.

Mercenaries see us as kindling, the West eye our sap, neighbors pray this regional storm won't make their forests dance. But the seasons are changing. It is our time.

Photo: Dogwood or Cherry tree taken w/ iPhone 3GS, Hipstamatic app (Chunky, Blanko Noir)

Social networks, social revolution

All Quiet on the Western Front

There's no war here. Not overtly, no soldiers in the streets, no tanks. But Sony corp wants your browsing information if you view any sites or videos about jailbreaking PS3s. American corporations want to drive our wages down until competitive with China and India. Companies are hiring less, making more profit and paying less for healthcare, but there's no war here.

No AK-47 pointed at me in the grocery store, but I pay more for food. No watchtower, no soldier at a checkpoint, but the RealID Act could prevent me from entering a government building or an airplane. There's less and less debate every election cycle: the GOP will send six battalions overseas, but the Democrats will only send a half dozen. Republicans will gut union rights, Dems say "we" must make sacrifices and then give tax cuts to rich.

That's why I take such joy in the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. People want what a responsible government is suppose to deliver. And the kicker is the way they are going about it is a form of direct democracy. I hope historians are watching Al Jazeera and taking notes. Kids in the West may need them one day.

Photo: The corner taken w/ iPhone 3GS, Hipstamatic app (Lucifer VI lens, Alfred Infrared film, Cadet Blue Gel flash)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Doha Debates: This House Believes The World is Better Off With WikiLeaks

The Tweet Who Sat by the Door

They closed the door in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya - in hopes that descent could be curtailed without Facebook or Twitter. But the Internet is just a tool, not the source of descent. If the human spirit is sicken by oppression, then it will heal itself using all matter of resistance.

You see, protests are just the human collective healing itself from the disease of bad governance. Oppression is a malignancy in human culture. The antibodies are the activists, the freedom fighters, the revolutionaries (sometimes even politicians). The more they are killed, the more they are produced. It's a reaction to the infection of intolerance, poverty, brutality. Lack of freedom is cancer.

While military intervention is the chemotherapy of Failed States, but it's far better for the body politic to heal itself through peaceful resistance. Since chemo can kill as many pro-democratic actors as it does provocateurs, it's a gamble some states like Egypt aren't willing to take.

Photo: Clear 4G Hotspot taken w/ iPhone 3GS, Hipstamatic app (Chunky, Blanko)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ghosts in the Machine

The machinery looks frightful. Blue steel gears all oiled up with corporate money. But teachers and fireman stood against the monster. The liberal media challenged its shrill narrative. Wisconsinites got dirty, pressing their bodies between the agenda and it's implementation, slowing down the oppressor's drill.

The cables are taut now. Straining under the weight of the Press. The masses, even genuine fiscal conservatives, see somethings wrong. The hard won protections of non-capitalists in a free-market are being threaten by the political machine. Squeezing people between scarcity and low wages, squishing folks under the high cost of health benefits.. Trapped - the would be victim finds the strength to face anti-labor agents like Governor Walker.

The slippery slope of capitalism claims as many souls as politicians can push. The GOP seems to have bigger hands this year. As my brothers and sisters slide into debt, think that I should really start a business. Because in capitalism, if you don't have capital, you don't have power. This is why real democracy is so important. One person, one vote.

Photo: Drill at construction site taken w/ iPhone 3GS, Hipstamatic app (Chunky, Blanko Noir)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad