I love extremism and so do you! Centrist philosophy and moderation is probably the key to stability and sustainability but once most humans achieve this cozy nook they tend to test the boundaries, then leap over them, and then snort whatever it is they find on the other side. Extremism is where the adventure begins, where humans discover their flaws and where the all the great dramas come to a crashing, fiery end.
Though parenting has rendered me for the most part dormant my appetite for extremism, my deep-seated belief in hedonism as a viable and worthwhile lifestyle is well-documented but of a garden-variety sort. There is a whole other domain of extremism that I dare not go lest the light of dawn find me before I’ve dragged my weary ass back over the aforementioned line. I know I'm missing something even if it's only diminishing returns. For this reason retirement is going to be something special with me for all the six or so months that I'm liable to last. Anything that gives me the fear now is going to be what my Freedom 55 is all about. My children aren't likely to receive much inheritance what with the high cost of infant pituitary glands. They'll have to find their own way like I did which is fine by me, it builds character.
I often ponder if its common sense or cowardice that causes me to pull the rip-cord with the ground still a full mile away. Whether it’s the party life or politics or insane ideologies there are levels of extremism that creates impact craters out of people’s lives and I’ll admit to being honoured when I get to bear witness. I find this kind of extreme consequence for extreme belief fascinating if only for the pendulum’s arc; the predictable path of what some have called karma. Mostly the inevitable outcome, the hammer strike of reckoning is merely the reinforcement of long-established rules but I still walk away humbled and strangely illuminated. Imagining Elvis straining on the toilet will always be my Rodin’s Thinker; it just tells me the stories that I'm always willing to hear.
The Power of Nightmares: perfect Halloween viewing!
If you’ve never watched The Power of Nightmares I highly recommend hitting the torrents. You may not agree with everything this three-part BBC documentary says but it attempts to provide the cause to many of the modern effects we feel today. I recall it now because it describes life in Afghanistan after the Soviet Union retreated; how the various mujahideen cells were prone to turn on each other and then eventually, themselves. Their extreme view of Islam would brook no variation with the end results being that groups of hardened religious warriors would annihilate their own brothers-in-arms upon the aftermath of their victory against the communist superpower.
Al Qaeda here, Al Qaeda there, Al Qaeda - Al Qaeda everywhere!
Meanwhile Pakistan is enjoying the poisonous fruits of their own brand of extremism. Whatever you think the threat of radical Islam is to western nations it pales to the blight they have become where they have been given shelter. Al Qaeda isn’t just in the remote Peshwar region of Pakistan anymore, they’ve insinuated themselves into city and suburb while they raise resources to mount increasingly larger attacks. Something like a thousand Pakistani soldiers have lost their lives fighting this menace since this War on Terror started and they have been left demoralized because a portion of the officers in power seem to condone their supposed enemies. They do so because they go way back, back to when they were allies against the Soviets. They fought the same enemy in their youth and those bonds do not easily break. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Pervez Musharraf has allowed Benazir Bhutto to return; to rally the seculars and repel the rising jihadist tide.
Guess who's coming to my big, fat gay dinner?
An extreme point of view should always be held in suspect because black and white views have through the course of history mobilized those who easily submit to authority. Is the extremist a true-believer or are they manipulating the masses for personal gain? I've always suspected that Republican mouthpiece Ann Coulter was more of a clown than a true neo-conservative. She rarely fails to vilify the purveyors of opposing views as closeted homosexuals. Imagine her embarrassment when she got caught on camera enjoying the viands at a hip gay restaurant in the heart of the West Hollywood village? Busted you might say, much like the ostrich carcass her bigoted soul is bound to. I shouldn't make fun, it must be tough having a body where the part with the widest circumference is your asshole.
Sure the ammenities suck but think about all that free intolerance!
The extremism present in Iraq’s current sectarian fault-lines is an easy example to present when running with this theme. This article goes over the transformation of a declining Baghdad burg over a period of time and the bitterness it engendered among the American troops stationed there. The picture painted is bleak indeed.
When I can afford to wire my mud hut with Alarm Force I promise to lose the rifle.
Check it out, something somewhat related to Canada! Much to no one’s shock it has been discovered that Afghans in the north are stockpiling weapons in case the Taliban return. What isn’t said is that Afghanistan has been a wild frontier for hundreds if not thousands of years and who can begrudge these people their home defence? This is where the illusions of the west collide with the realities of life over there. Any gain made by NATO forces is overshadowed by a restless enemy in the south. There are officially not enough troops to stabilize many significant regions of Afghanistan and so the Taliban operate in this area with impunity. The mission is grinding to a stall of irregular movement and sweet opium still flows from that nation unabated. This situation has all the makings of bad news waiting to happen.
Said with a Tony Montana accent: My queen bee's hive is so fucking polluted she can't have any larva.
Did the extremist trends in our society have an effect on bee population? How’s that for a half-assed tie-in? Anyway a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder is sweeping our continent and killing the bees off in droves. This might potentially have devastating effects on our agriculture. I’m not a big science fan most of the time but this article has sufficient doomy-gloomy goodness to satisfy. Plus this article made me come up with Scarbee, and he's staying. Any last words Scarbee? "Chu got a fucking problem with bee man?" HA! Good one Scarbee!
Newsflash! Religion is still a joke, believers last to get punchline.
This dense article warms my hell-bound heart. The Religious Right movement has run aground due to a marvellously failing President, the disillusionment of their flock, and the death of certain brimstone-farting blowhards. The politically-charged holy trinity of same-sex marriage, abortion, and teaching creationism as a legitimate science has begun to lose its lustre as a form of national debate and none of the current crop of Republican vote-panderers passes muster anymore. Certain heads of the American secular state are calling for the formation of a new party; a traditionalist organisation which focuses on the religious roots of America’s colonial infancy. From a strategic point of view I think the timing is certainly right. The secular big-business libertarians of the G.O.P have always been uneasy partners with the holy rollers. What with the reputation of the former being in the toilet and the latter now voting in record numbers a timely schism may change the face of American politics. This is a long-shot but if you follow these things you can see how Republican candidates have had to embrace religion and change their stance on their core issues. The likes of Guiliani and Romney are running scared and changing tack, you can see it. Who knows, maybe they’ve done the math and are trying to divert a disaster?
A full-on religious party within the U.S. would be like mana from heaven to me. A dynasty of Reverend Presidents is just what the history books need to make this epoch even crazier than it already is. A boy can dream.
Though parenting has rendered me for the most part dormant my appetite for extremism, my deep-seated belief in hedonism as a viable and worthwhile lifestyle is well-documented but of a garden-variety sort. There is a whole other domain of extremism that I dare not go lest the light of dawn find me before I’ve dragged my weary ass back over the aforementioned line. I know I'm missing something even if it's only diminishing returns. For this reason retirement is going to be something special with me for all the six or so months that I'm liable to last. Anything that gives me the fear now is going to be what my Freedom 55 is all about. My children aren't likely to receive much inheritance what with the high cost of infant pituitary glands. They'll have to find their own way like I did which is fine by me, it builds character.
I often ponder if its common sense or cowardice that causes me to pull the rip-cord with the ground still a full mile away. Whether it’s the party life or politics or insane ideologies there are levels of extremism that creates impact craters out of people’s lives and I’ll admit to being honoured when I get to bear witness. I find this kind of extreme consequence for extreme belief fascinating if only for the pendulum’s arc; the predictable path of what some have called karma. Mostly the inevitable outcome, the hammer strike of reckoning is merely the reinforcement of long-established rules but I still walk away humbled and strangely illuminated. Imagining Elvis straining on the toilet will always be my Rodin’s Thinker; it just tells me the stories that I'm always willing to hear.
The Power of Nightmares: perfect Halloween viewing!
If you’ve never watched The Power of Nightmares I highly recommend hitting the torrents. You may not agree with everything this three-part BBC documentary says but it attempts to provide the cause to many of the modern effects we feel today. I recall it now because it describes life in Afghanistan after the Soviet Union retreated; how the various mujahideen cells were prone to turn on each other and then eventually, themselves. Their extreme view of Islam would brook no variation with the end results being that groups of hardened religious warriors would annihilate their own brothers-in-arms upon the aftermath of their victory against the communist superpower.
Al Qaeda here, Al Qaeda there, Al Qaeda - Al Qaeda everywhere!
Meanwhile Pakistan is enjoying the poisonous fruits of their own brand of extremism. Whatever you think the threat of radical Islam is to western nations it pales to the blight they have become where they have been given shelter. Al Qaeda isn’t just in the remote Peshwar region of Pakistan anymore, they’ve insinuated themselves into city and suburb while they raise resources to mount increasingly larger attacks. Something like a thousand Pakistani soldiers have lost their lives fighting this menace since this War on Terror started and they have been left demoralized because a portion of the officers in power seem to condone their supposed enemies. They do so because they go way back, back to when they were allies against the Soviets. They fought the same enemy in their youth and those bonds do not easily break. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Pervez Musharraf has allowed Benazir Bhutto to return; to rally the seculars and repel the rising jihadist tide.
Guess who's coming to my big, fat gay dinner?
An extreme point of view should always be held in suspect because black and white views have through the course of history mobilized those who easily submit to authority. Is the extremist a true-believer or are they manipulating the masses for personal gain? I've always suspected that Republican mouthpiece Ann Coulter was more of a clown than a true neo-conservative. She rarely fails to vilify the purveyors of opposing views as closeted homosexuals. Imagine her embarrassment when she got caught on camera enjoying the viands at a hip gay restaurant in the heart of the West Hollywood village? Busted you might say, much like the ostrich carcass her bigoted soul is bound to. I shouldn't make fun, it must be tough having a body where the part with the widest circumference is your asshole.
Sure the ammenities suck but think about all that free intolerance!
The extremism present in Iraq’s current sectarian fault-lines is an easy example to present when running with this theme. This article goes over the transformation of a declining Baghdad burg over a period of time and the bitterness it engendered among the American troops stationed there. The picture painted is bleak indeed.
When I can afford to wire my mud hut with Alarm Force I promise to lose the rifle.
Check it out, something somewhat related to Canada! Much to no one’s shock it has been discovered that Afghans in the north are stockpiling weapons in case the Taliban return. What isn’t said is that Afghanistan has been a wild frontier for hundreds if not thousands of years and who can begrudge these people their home defence? This is where the illusions of the west collide with the realities of life over there. Any gain made by NATO forces is overshadowed by a restless enemy in the south. There are officially not enough troops to stabilize many significant regions of Afghanistan and so the Taliban operate in this area with impunity. The mission is grinding to a stall of irregular movement and sweet opium still flows from that nation unabated. This situation has all the makings of bad news waiting to happen.
Said with a Tony Montana accent: My queen bee's hive is so fucking polluted she can't have any larva.
Did the extremist trends in our society have an effect on bee population? How’s that for a half-assed tie-in? Anyway a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder is sweeping our continent and killing the bees off in droves. This might potentially have devastating effects on our agriculture. I’m not a big science fan most of the time but this article has sufficient doomy-gloomy goodness to satisfy. Plus this article made me come up with Scarbee, and he's staying. Any last words Scarbee? "Chu got a fucking problem with bee man?" HA! Good one Scarbee!
Newsflash! Religion is still a joke, believers last to get punchline.
This dense article warms my hell-bound heart. The Religious Right movement has run aground due to a marvellously failing President, the disillusionment of their flock, and the death of certain brimstone-farting blowhards. The politically-charged holy trinity of same-sex marriage, abortion, and teaching creationism as a legitimate science has begun to lose its lustre as a form of national debate and none of the current crop of Republican vote-panderers passes muster anymore. Certain heads of the American secular state are calling for the formation of a new party; a traditionalist organisation which focuses on the religious roots of America’s colonial infancy. From a strategic point of view I think the timing is certainly right. The secular big-business libertarians of the G.O.P have always been uneasy partners with the holy rollers. What with the reputation of the former being in the toilet and the latter now voting in record numbers a timely schism may change the face of American politics. This is a long-shot but if you follow these things you can see how Republican candidates have had to embrace religion and change their stance on their core issues. The likes of Guiliani and Romney are running scared and changing tack, you can see it. Who knows, maybe they’ve done the math and are trying to divert a disaster?
A full-on religious party within the U.S. would be like mana from heaven to me. A dynasty of Reverend Presidents is just what the history books need to make this epoch even crazier than it already is. A boy can dream.
