Saintperle

1/27/08

How the mighty fall...

or -- hey don't make me smell your rank feet -- they're made of clay.

Deng Xiaoping would have been remembered as the true deliverer of China, bringing it back from Mao's increasingly psychotic warlord rule (Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, etc) into a semi-market economy in which people could reap the rewards of their work... but then there was the incident at Tiananmen Square and he blew it all -- and will always be remembered for his thuggish response to students wanting the government to deliver on their promise (that they could choose where they would go to work) and eliminate the corruption and payoffs, the most egregious offender being Deng's son.

It's like that old joke about all the achievements, how he built bridges, developed miracle medicines, etc... "but you fuck just ONE sheep..."


Similarly, we had a great deal of affection for Bill Clinton, and despite the ambushes and attacks on him, he did a lot of good. One example -- my job went to Bangalore, India, but I was able to maintain health insurance benefits for 18 months under Cobra.

And then he got really Low Rent Trailer Trash Ugly on Barack Obama, perhaps for as stupid and simple a reason as being overly proud of his own stupid tag as American's First Black President and overly sensitive of losing that place in history. Or ... whatever the reason ... acting like a strutting pompous asshole, resembling nothing so much as cornpone Mussolini, flipping out the same way as Il Duce did to see his time in history passing away to the next wave.

And instead of adding value to his wife's campaign, he devalued himself and her along with him, and even us, when we tried to think of whatever it had been that made us like him so much, making us feel that we had been suckers and schmucks to have bought his act and cheered him when he was the prez.

That feeling of warmth is used up and for all that the pundits talked about how wonderful and sly and effective a political fellow he was being, the fact is that Barack Obama made HIM crazy, saying that it was Ronald Reagan who actually changed the course of American history, not Bill or Nixon or Bush-pere ... calling Clinton on his fabrications and hyperboles, and generally making himself the one who was going to rise above the slime of the gutter.

Whether or not Hillary wins the nomination and/or the presidency, she's already as devalued as Monkey Boy -- she's already to the place where we don't believe anything she says ... and the cold comfort that "well any of them would be better than Bush," is just that, cold comfort. And a lot of that fall from grace can be directly attributed to the way her hubby stepped in to the fray making us all think "This is a feminist? This is a tough lady? Well I thought she was, but now she's got her Old Man fighting her battles for her.

Who woulkd I vote for, I was asked today. Obama or Edwards. He cost Senator Clinton my vote.

|

1/22/08

The problem -- Democratic Slugfest


Bill is to Hillary

as

Roger Clinton was to Bill



Doesn't help her -- it diminishes him

Just makes her look like she can't handle it by herself.

|

1/21/08


"Where in the waste is the wisdom?"

James Joyce, Finnegans Wake

|



"Well it's hi, ho hey... I am the Bold marauder

And hi, ho, hey ... I am the White Destroyer

For I will take you out by the hand and lead you to the hunter,

And I will show you thunder and steel and I will be your teacher.

And we will dress in helmet and sword and dip our tongues in slaughter.

And we will sing a warrior's song and lift the praise of murder.

And Christ will be our darling ... and fear will be our name."

(Richard Farina, Bold Marauder, 1965)

|



"And what if, just imagine,

what if we have this war with Iraq,

go in with guns blazing,

and we don't win?

What then, America?"

Fr. Patabromista 2003

|

Shouldn't the Tyger get her turn at bat?

Christmas night, when I heard the news of the SF Zoo tiger, Tatiana, out of her enclosure, attacking three young men and killing one, I knew two things for certain and had one conviction of what should be/have been done.

This based on nearly 10 years experience as a docent at the SF Zoo.

1. They had been taunting and throwing things at the tiger and climbing over the protective fence. Anyone who has ever worked at, volunteered at, spent time at a zoo knows that young males facing primates or carnivores, get all brave and tough (since the thing that scares them is locked up).

There was no question in my mind. During 10 years as a docent there, I stopped many many many young (and middle-aged) men from throwing things at the animals or trying to climb over the fence to go in with Kodiak Bears, lions, etc.

I once stopped a grown man from throwing a wadded-up wet piece of cloth at Cobby, the alpha male chimp.
When I said "Hey, don't do that," this man, well-dressed and apparently in his 30's, pushed out his lip and pointed to Cobby and said "HE started it."
Unbelievable.
I said "He's a fucking ape and he's trapped in there. What the fuck are you?"
A few more seconds of pugnacious posturing and suddenly he remembered his human form and relaxed and said, "Oh, yeah, right." And dropped the wet cloth ball and walked away.

People get very very strange when viewing primates or carnivores.

I have MANY TIMES seen fathers hold a small child out over the moat at a tiger or lion enclosure saying something like "I'm gonna throw you in there. What do you think about that?" And I have noticed the expression on the face of the 1 or 2 or 3 - year old to whom it's being done and what it looks like, what the kid thinks about that, judging from his expression, is
"As soon as I'm big enough, I will kill you while you sleep."


2. As I said, anyone who has been around a zoo for any period of time knowns that this happens and SHOULD make certain the poor tormented animal can't get out and give the smug little pricks what they so clearly are asking for, i.e., a head-to-head.

Those two things I KNOW absolutely, regardless of what the lawyers have done to prevent anyone from getting the straight story.

And the thing that I absolutely believe should be done in that situation?
What can be done to convince people not to torutre captive animals?
Throw the little fucks in with the animal they're taunting and let them see what natural law is all about

("This is the way of natural law / Sharp of tooth and red of claw")



The terrible thing about this particular incident is that the one kid who WASN'T taunting the tiger was killed.

It's too late to throw the worthless little shits in with the tiger, she having died for their fun, but they should be prosecuted for manslaughter, for having recklessly endangered their friend and caused his death.
And throw them in with the beasts serving time at the Gladiator School in Chino, let them see and feel what the law of jungle they find so amusing is really like.


************************************

There are more people concerned with Animal Rights than most people think.

And concern for the rights of animals is not just the joke so many self-absorbed assholes try to make of it.

And let us not forget the danger sign of a budding sociopath is his or her willingness and enjoyment of inflicting pain on animals.

*********************************

The San Francisco Zoo has long regarded itself as an Ark -- a DNA repository to keep animals from becoming extinct, even if they're wiped out in the wild. It's a noble goal. But letting assholes come in for their amusement isn't.

A baby Harp seal waddles into a bar, and the bartender says,
"What'll ya have?"
And the seal says,
"Anything but a Canadian Club."


***************************************

|

1/3/08

‘Have you ever seen the film Blade Runner?’

’I don't care for the cinema,' he replied stiffly.

'I respect your right not to like it
but I see no reason to be so proud of it.
Only mediocrities take pride in their dislikes.'


Bernardo Atxaga in Obabakoak

|

 
eXTReMe Tracker