Call it Heavy Metal

It no longer appears in your news although it should. Further proof that what you watch on television is a total load of crap designed to keep you passive and make you believe that everything is ok. It was there briefly many months ago, but now, if the media were to tell you what is really going on you might actually have something to say about it. A quarter of a century ago the world watched in horror as Chernobyl melted down and exploded, but now, with all the fun little distractions found on your phone and computer, people can’t take the time to care about the fact that they are being poisoned by radioactive elements so toxic, that modern science doesn’t really know how to handle them. People don’t care that the disaster at Fukushima is many orders of magnitude worse than anything we have ever seen. Only full-scale nuclear war could exceed it.

I could go on and quote figures and facts. I cold tell you that it is in your air, your food, your water, and on the surface of almost anything that you touch out of doors. It is in the rain and the snow as well. Right now, chances are, it is in your body. But what would be the point of telling people all of that? They still wouldn’t care. It is something that is out of sight, and thanks to the complicit media, out of mind. However, if you are interested, go take a look for yourself. Hit that internet and use it for something other than your own personal satisfaction. Use it, for once, to actually educate yourself.

Most people never stop to think that the cancer rate is somewhere around 50%. Guess what? It is going to go even higher. Next time you stop to talk to a friend, take a moment to realize that one of you, and perhaps even both of you, will die from cancer, unless you are lucky enough to get hit by a car. That is the reality that we face.

If you say that I am simply a fear mongering prick, feel free to ask yourself who put those words in your mouth. We have poisoned the planet and that is a fact that is inescapable. The impact will be devastating and far reaching. The children of our children’s grandchildren will still be feeling the effects of Fukushima. Anyone that tells you differently is selling you something. Birth defects, infertility, cancers of bone and blood - this is the future of the world, given to you by the miracle of nuclear energy.

As for Japan? I feel so deeply for them. Many of them do not know what hell has been unleashed upon their ancient and beautiful culture. All that history, culture, and technical innovation will soon be a thing of the past as many of them die from one wasting disease or another. There time has passed. We can only watch helplessly as their country slips away.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about all of this is the fact that despite all that has already transpired, it has a very good change of getting worse. The cores of those reactors are still the most dangerous thing on the planet right now. They are hot and slowly melting their way down into the ground. As if poisoning the air and the sea were not enough, now we have to worry that they will poison the very earth itself.

If they haven’t already.

What now hipsters?

I have been following the Occupy Wall Street movement since it began. I watched live on the internet when the police cleared out Boston, and then Seattle. I watched as protestors were locked in a bank and subsequently arrested. I watched the video of protestors being attacked in Oakland with tear gas, then it was on to Denver, with rubber bullets. I have read their list of demands, listened to them speak out in the media, and analyzed the media’s biased responses in turn.

The media portrayed them as hippies. It was a comical response, I thought, since it could not be true. Firstly, hippies do not exist. I live in Denver, a city next to a virtual Mecca for would-be hippies. The only thing that skulks around Boulder are credit-card hippies, stoners, and the occasional intellectual with too much facial hair. I have never seen an actual hippy in my entire life. Were it not for the Woodstock footage there would really be no proof that they ever existed.  Secondly, the media lies - constantly and purposefully - in case you didn’t know that. So obviously they were not hippies. I was a bit disappointed.

So I watched some interviews with “the man on the street.” I went to the internet and started watching various clips from movements around the country. I wanted to get the feel for the people in this movement. I wanted to know what they thought about the state of this country, and more importantly, what their ideas were to fix it. Of course, there was not a hippy among them. There were some pretend ones for sure, but for the most part the people I saw were the people I expected to see. The tragically uninformed and grossly dependant demanding more from their government.  Still no actual hippies.

Then I moved onto the organizers, or leaders if you want to call them that. I expected to see more of the same dependant fools but was instead greeted by the worst segment of the American population; hipsters.
Do not confuse hipsters with hippies. Hippies stink, hipsters do not. However, as annoying as hippies are, hipsters are even worse. Hipsters like to cry. They cry about everything. The more mundane and meaningless the offense, the more they cry. They cried when Michael Jackson died. They cried when Starbucks raised their prices. They cried when the iPhone 4 didn’t work right. They nearly rioted when Face book changed formats. The easiest way to spot a hipster is on Face book. They are the people posting about how rough their day was in an effort to get other hipsters to cry with them. Or they post pictures of every event they go to so other people will think they have an interesting life. Hipsters are like infants. They need constant attention or they will die.

Now, after all that time wasted, I have arrived at the only logical conclusion I could. It is not an answer to the problem, but rather a question for the entire movement. What now? The question is simple, and needs an answer, because from what I have seen so far the Occupy movement is impotent and blind. Every attempt they have made to get a foothold has been thwarted by the police and authorities. They are now routinely swept out of parks and city squares. The police violence is escalating and they can’t even go into a bank to close their accounts without being herded in and hauled away like the cattle the system knows that they are. Revolutions are nasty business. You are never going to talk a rich man into poverty, particularly when you are targeting the wrong rich man. Perhaps if someone posted that little fact on face book the hipsters would clue in to it. Maybe Starbucks can write it on the side of their cups. Either way, at some point, this is going to get nasty if they keep on pushing. At some point one of these cities is going to pop and from what I have seen, most of these people are ill prepared for any confrontation of that magnitude.

So you can thank the hipsters ahead of time. You can thank them for the impending police state that these protests will create. You can thank them for second world socialism, or worse, complete global fascism. Pat them on the back and tell them what a wonderful job they have done in aiding the powers-that-be with their plans to destroy America. Pet them gently and whisper in their ear that they were right to never actually take a stand. Tell them to tweet all about it.

I can say one thing for the hipsters, though. I guarantee that their efforts will be rewarded. They will have plenty to cry about when all of this is over.

Arise dummies!

Dumb people take to the streets! The movement is calling you. Get your tents and sleeping bags out, dust them off, and polish them up with all your disenfranchised vigor. Tell all your neighbors that you are going to protest corporate America and all the evils that it has committed. Tell them that you are sick and tired of the lies, the thievery, and the greed. When they look at you like you are stupid, just ignore them. They are not your people. Your people can be found at the local protest, practicing yoga and trying to convince the world that capitalism is to blame. After all, Michael Moore has said so. How could he be wrong?

Make sure that when you go down to the protests you bring plenty of tools necessary for a successful protest. Make large signs with clever sayings espousing your views. Bring food, water, and warm clothes. Of course, don’t forget your camera. You’ll need it to record your arrest.

When you get down there set up your little enclave and make it nice and cozy. You are going to be there for at least a day or two. Get your laptop powered up and your camera at the ready so you can make videos and live broadcasts of the ongoing events. Make sure you prove to the world that you were there and that you tried to make a difference.

Bring good pants too. You will need them. They will pad your backside as you sit and repeat whatever rhetoric your fellow hipster is spouting. They will also help when the police are kicking you in the ass.

A good protestor also knows what items to leave at home. This is actually the most important part of the Occupy movement, so don’t bring a gun to defend yourself, any form of education, or a free-thinking mind. These are not welcome and will only lead to positive results.

It’s Halloween time!

This is my favorite time of the year by far. At Halloween time I become the neighborhood nut and I am proud of it. Everyone has one thing they are crazy about and for me it’s Halloween. If Halloween was a place I would write the tourist brochure and everyone would want to come. My fog machines will billow and my scary music will play. The neighborhood kids will approach my door with caution. And well they should, because I will have a surprise or two waiting for them. I give out the good candy, but you have to pay the price to get it. One day I will reach my goal. One day, out of sheer terror at the sight of my mighty Halloween display, a child will wet himself. For his suffering he will receive all the candy in my dish, and I shall retire from Halloween forever, for I will have reached its highest peak.

You have to admit that it has more flair than the other holidays. Christmas is nice because you get presents, but Christmas is like a having a mine field right in the family room. Eventually, you are going to step and on a bouncing betty and blow your foot right into your mouth. If you’re lucky some random coat-tail relation will do it first and you can just watch and giggle. Either way though, dinner is going to be awkward and someone will give you socks. Enjoy the return line at Walmart. Sorry Jesus.

The Fourth of July comes in a close second to Halloween. After all, it is the only holiday to feature explosives. It does have that indeed. However, recently it has lost its luster . I seem to spend more time worrying about getting caught than enjoying the explosions. When I was a kid you could just blow stuff up. You could shoot pop-bottle rockets at each other and lawsuits weren’t involved. Now I have to sneak around just to light a sparkler. It’s easier to just take the kids to the park to watch the big displays. It was way more fun when there was a risk of bodily harm. Screw you, Fourth of July!

New Years Eve has to be mentioned here, but it really has nothing on Halloween. Seriously, do you really want to spend an evening with increasingly drunk people waiting around to see who they are going to slobber on at midnight? And of course don’t forget the life of the party - the pudgy middle-aged man dressed as the baby new-year accosting all the ladies for even the slightest grope. Congratulations New Year! You’re a winner! There’s puke on your shoes and you’re still celibate. Was it worth it? Probably not.

Last, but certainly not least, is Thanksgiving - the holiday where we celebrate the subjugation of native peoples by stuffing ourselves silly with foods harvested from their former lands. When cooked properly, irony tastes a bit like the white meat. Need I say more? Yes I do, because thanksgiving has so much to offer. I particularly enjoy the many classic thanksgiving conversations such as, “No, the turkey is not too dry.”, “Detroit always plays on Thanksgiving.”, and the age-old classic “Shhh! Grandma doesn’t know he is gay”. If Thanksgiving were a person I would punch that person in the face. Hard.

So we arrive at Halloween. Never mind its ties to ancient pagan celebrations or the gratuitous gore. It is a wholesome, family holiday celebrating a multi-cultural world where humans and zombies can live together in harmony. It is the one day that  Indiana Jones can share a drink with a giant Snickers bar , every woman can free her inner slut, and ritual pumpkin mutilation is the norm.. It is a time when kids are allowed to roam the streets in small gangs after dark and take candy from strangers. The good people of Detroit even burn part of their city down every year to mark the occasion. No other holiday can boast of grassroots urban renewal projects. It is a magical time when we put on masks and try to scare the crap out of each other and nobody thinks they are being mugged. Halloween is glorious.

Happy Halloween!

The Word

It is the word we dare not speak. In this country that prides itself on freedom that statement is a bit ironic. We dance around it. We flirt with the danger of whispering it. Who will come if we say it? Did anyone hear? Who will take us if we try? Is it even possible? It’s like a dirty word uttered at a first-grade lunch table. Murmurs fill the air after it escapes some careless set of lips. Some remain silent, approving of it only in their most private thoughts. Others pretend not to hear it for fear of being tainted by it. Terror fills the hearts of those that contemplate it.

But not me.

I no longer have fear of the word or the concept or the reality. I have no fear that walls of my life will come crashing down because I already know that they will eventually and I am prepared for it. I know what I will have to do and when. I am not eager to see it come to fruition. It will be a time of the greatest sadness and it must be contemplated.

The word is not like The Word of the bible. God has nothing to do with this word. This word comes from the people and is far more powerful. In hands of the right people, and fueled by their righteous anger, it is far more dangerous than any weapon ever devised. It can blow back the very fires of hell if necessary.

And it just might have to this time.

In the past when it was so proudly spoken by so many visionaries, rapid change followed. Sometimes it was for the better and sometimes for the worse. Either way, something happened. Perhaps this time, if we should finally stand up and say it, we will have the wisdom of the past to draw on. We will listen to our elders. We will follow through properly this time though. You see, we can’t just dust the house for visiting guests on this occasion. No, this time it appears that the walls of our house are infested with the rot of greedy psychopaths.

We must gut the house.

We must say the word.

What are you going to do?

It is right out there in plain sight for anyone to see; anyone willing to take a look anyway. The collapse of the American Empire in in progress and it will drag the rest of the world with it. We will see more bank failures followed by more bailout-plans which will also fail. Every move that is made on the world economic stage will only dig this massive hole deeper. Americans will see even higher taxes, increasing unemployment, austerity measures, and finally the collapse of the country entirely. It will bring hunger, poverty, depression and eventually full blown riots leading to civil war, revolution, or both.

But why am I stating the obvious? Because it’s obvious, that’s why. Because you should already be aware of it. It should just be a friendly reminder of the things that you have watched evolve in this country for over half a century now. It should not come as news to you. However, if it is news to your ears, you are in trouble.

Many people have buried their heads in the sand. It has not yet arrived on their front door so it cannot be of any concern to them. Nothing has changed. The T.V. still comes on, the Starbucks still serves coffee, and Dancing with the Stars is still filling with intrigue. As long as these people never peek out from beneath the security of their blankets of lies, they will never see the boogy man standing in the room.

But he is there nonetheless.

So what are you going to do? What are your plans? How are you going to survive the overwhelming changes that are coming to our globe? Even if you are aware, have you thought about your role in the post-empire America? When they cut your welfare, your health care, your disability and social security what will you do? How will you make money to eat and cloth and house yourself? What skills do you have? What goods can you produce? What natural talents do you have that can be of use to you and others so as to make you a needed member of society as opposed to a begging street urchin looking for someone to take care of them?

You better get on that with some thinking if you already don’t know the answers to those questions. Regardless of what you think about how we got here, we are here and you better prepare yourself and those around you deal with the future. It will be a future of need as opposed to abundance. It will feature millions, if not billions, of human beings realizing that they are ill-prepared to survive in a system that no longer supports their every whim.

So what are you going to do?

Choo Choo!

Isn’t it funny how now, months after these protests began, we are finally seeing people come to the realization of what the protests really are? It’s as if every person has a natural bias towards seeing the good in things. They always look for a silver lining. That is a good thing in many instances but in this particular case it is not. The world of politics and international money men is a system that functions outside that very bias. It cares not for your suffering or needs. It does not aim to take care of you, love you, nurture you, or help you in any way. It is a system that is designed to bleed you, slowly and systematically, of all your hope, dreams, prosperity, and money. It is a system that is designed to steal your soul. Your subjugation is the only silver lining that system will ever produce.

So how could you not see that these protests were not a part of that same system and that they would function, as the system does, to eventually rob you of something? Look at these people and hear their words. They are products of that same system and they depend on it for their very existence. They need someone to provide them with a job. They need the grocery store and the school system. It is all they know. It is all you know.

How can you expect them to know what the right path for our country is? They don’t know their own history. All they know is what the television has told them. The television has told them that corporations and capitalism are evil. So that is what they protest.

You have to put that bias into check if you are ever to see the train coming right at you. You need to read that system and figure out what their next move will be. It’s not really that hard actually. Just think of the most evil shit you can and you should be on the right track. Once you can do that with some degree of accuracy you should be able to realize that these protests in the streets only lead in one direction. You can call it socialism or communism. You can label it any term that the television has put in your mouth. I prefer to call it what it is; the collapse of the United States of America.

And you can bet your life that despite the chaos that will reign in this nation for quite some time to come, that system will remain because you couldn’t see the train coming.

Good Luck!