I know you are not in good health, and in that concern I wish you all the best, for I am forever indebted to you for your works on Orwell. But I must make exception when it comes to your essay “Simply Evil”
For that I must say “Fuck You Sideways”, “Fuck You with a red-hot poker”, “Fuck You and the horse you rode in on”, and/or simply, “Fuck You”.
To characterize Al Quaeda and it’s actions on 11Sept2001 as “simply evil”, is accurate only in it’s most limited context and has the effect of dismissing the destruction of cultures, subjugation of peoples, and outright murder and theft in the many centuries that preceded that day (often accompanied by the most coarse and extreme prejudice cloaked in false notions of racial and ideological superiority) perpetrated by your mother empire, Great Britain, and it’s bastard child, your adopted home, the United States of America.
To do such is the diametric opposite of the proper function of a ‘public intellectual’, especially one of your caliber. Yet I suppose that we all have the right to be, and math requires sooner or later, completely wrong sometime. Dammit Son, I wish you hadn’t chosen now, on this subject, to diminish your ratios.
After centuries of murder and pillage by global empires versus a few decades of kicks in the shins and a bloody punch in the nose back, the events of that day did not provoke as much as they revealed, as the subsequent decade has shown.
i never got to meet stephen, but i’m sure i knew him well. the first time i heard this song i cussed verily, because someone besides me had written it before i could
now when they’re rattlin’ the sabre
and they’re wearin a frown
at that high-stakes poker table
when the deal goes down
and buy an ally
that they treat ’em like a whore
and they’re shaking out the suckers
like they ain’t makin any more
cuz it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war but it’s a poor man’s fight
well they talk in facts and figures
but just the ones you’re s’posed to know
and they’re leavin out the details
that happened long ago
and they buy a hungry mouthpiece
with a whiny little voice
he says ‘yer with us or against us’
so much for freedom of choice
cuz it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war but it’s a poor man’s fight
behind their dreams of madness
and beneath my own contempt
it’s not a thing about right or wrong
it just makes good business sense
and the only thing for certain
makes any sense at all
it costs a bucket of blood
to buy a barrel of oil
cuz it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war but it’s a poor man’s fight
well in the not so distant future
they got another excuse
to stage another battleground
between the lies and truth
so get yer job down at the pipeline
get yer food down at the company store
scared people will buy any form of bullshit
like they ain’t makin anymore
it’s just the lines they drawn
just a few get to see the big picture
the poor folks live from hand to mouth
the rich folks just keep gettin richer
cuz it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war
it’s a rich man’s war but it’s a poor man’s fight
Show from Dec 30, 2007. Saxon Pub, Austin Texas.
Stephen Bruton (RIP), Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Bruce Hughes,
Jon Dee Graham, John Chipman. Best Bar Band in America.
some commit themselves to the discipline
their diligent effort to be applied every day
they think it the most effective strategy
to make life turn out more their way
some do it so well they escape the noise
that serves to distract and dismay
society’s relentless in encouraging them
and ‘rewards’ them with hard-earned pay
some have a sense of what they’re missing
some never even suspect it’s okay
to balance the grind with impulses
and make both a habit each day
they can be crushed upon later reflection
robbed, not knowing what to say
when they get the bill for imbalance
there’s nothing else they can do but pray
they cannot go back and re-live their lives
and choose to go some other way
some have not time to look far forward
hence the pressure to make it today
there is shame in only playing the percentage
and no percentage when you only play
’cause life is ultimately a losing gamble
when you deny where your true interests lay
for the best of what living has to offer
becomes memories that always will stay
found in stolen moments in the shadows
when the gods turn their heads the other way
Spring is in the air… along with missiles, bombs, lies, radioactive fallout, volcanic ash, and… pollen.
Two things are all but certain now:
1: this will not end well for 99% of the world’s people
2: a rather large number of future terrorists were created today (as if Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib, Spooks & Predators in Pakistan, and U.S. support for Israel’s theft and destruction policies weren’t enough ? how many of the 100 million unemployed and under-employed, Arab, Persian, and Asian men under the age of 30 just became much more persuadable to Jihad ? A Thousand ? Ten Thousand ? 100 Thousand ? A Million ?)
What is even worse is the idea that both 1 and 2 are by design, and that the Western “Democracies” are intent upon igniting a Holy War (or two) as well as setting a precedent for future operations against Iran, with today’s actions in Libya.
Now why would “they” want to do that ?
I suspect the answer is somewhere amidst the words: Interest Rates, Quantitative Easing, Deficits, Bailouts, Currency Exchange Rates, Credit Ratings, and most especially Derivatives.
Think of the coming destruction as a sort of ‘Jubilee’ for Central Bankers and their enabling ‘market makers’ and politicians. Or if you are familiar (pardon the pun) with the ‘Godfather’ movies, think of it as a classic Mafia ‘bustout’ (take over a business, max out it’s credit, steal it’s assets, then burn it to the ground and collect the insurance)
The Central Bankers have fiat printing presses, universal media, data-mining computers, intelligence-collecting satellites, armies, police, mercenaries, and nuclear weapons. They will win. They are playing with a double-headed Shekel.
stephenhsmith 19Mar2011
always keep in mind that “they” want you to live in fear (it impairs judgment and prompts impulsive purchasing) to beat ’em, don’t be afraid, be aware. and for those who have learned the hard way that best things in life are not derived from disciplined diligence, but from stolen moments in the shadows when the gods turn their heads, and who believe artists are capable of seeing things more clearly and would like some accompaniment to lament by, there is none better than Mark Knopfler’s masterpiece… (lyrics below)
I’m just an ageing drummer boy
And in the wars I used to play
And I’ve called the tune
To many a torture session
Now they say I am a war criminal
And I’m fading away
Father please hear my confession
I have legalized robbery
Called it “Belief”
I have run with the money
And hid like a thief
Re-written history
With my armies and my crooks
Invented memories
I did burn all the books
And I can still hear his laughter
And I can still hear his song
The man’s too big
The man’s too strong
Well I have tried to be meek
And I have tried to be mild
But I spat like a woman
Sulked like a child
I have lived behind walls
That have made me alone Striven for peace
Which I have never known
And I can still hear his laughter
And I can still hear his song
The man’s too big
The man’s too strong
Well the sun rose on the courtyard
And they all did hear him say
‘You always were a Judas
But I got you anyway
You may have got your silver
But I swear upon my life
Your sister gave me diamonds
And I gave them to your wife’
Oh Father please help me
For I have done wrong
The man’s too big
The man’s too strong
there is an old saying in banking, perhaps originating in hebrew, though the amounts have changed over the millenia, whose current iteration would go something like this:
“if you owe the bank a million dollars, and cannot pay, you have a problem. if you owe the bank a hundred million dollars and cannot pay, the bank has a problem.”
at this moment, the people of ireland have a power they have never known, and may never have or know again. they, courtesy of their temporary economic boom, housing bust, and government’s policies, owe foreign banks more than $1000 Billion dollars worth of debts that they cannot pay. much of which is owed to english banks, some more to german banks. because of interconnected debts, swaps, creative financing, etc. the irish find themselves in the unique position of being able to destroy the english pound sterling and the euro in one stroke of strategic default.
thus the pressure from the eu and the imf to force ireland’s leaders to accept the ‘need’ for a bailout. the english have even offered several billion dollars worth of ‘help’, though they cannot afford to, but then it is but a circular function of helping themselves. (ala aig and goldman sachs)
but the irish people are beginning to realize the power of their position and have already begun to turn on their leaders and to withdraw their money from the banks. if they are successful in bringing down their government and provoking a snap election before the budget/bailout provisions can be made into law, the dominoes begin to fall. good-bye royal bank of scotland, good-bye lloyd’s of london, adios barclays etc. and the pound sinks to international insignificance on par with the peso, and the euro currency shatters into dozens of pieces.
what a conundrum for the us fed? it’s unsuccessful efforts this year to destroy the euro can quickly be fully realized, if only it will agree to also destroy the english pound. i say “fuck ’em”, the us fed will get what’s coming to them later.
the time is now for ireland to ‘just say NO’ (and ‘sic semper tyrannus’) the irish have long known how to survive being poor and can do so again, whereas the english do not and cannot. (which also means the likelihood that the english banks will retaliate by killing a few of their own, via bullets or bombs, with civilian casualties included, then blame the irish for the attacks in order to garner sympathy for their self-made plight and to cover their misdeeds)
’tis going to be the chinese century anyway, might as well kickstart it now. c’mon ireland, you can make it alone, many americans will help you start over without the chains of international finance.
WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
surely the NYTimes nor ‘senior American government officials’ would not have any reason to lie about such a thing, would they ?
and then 1 day we were shootin at mahmoud… and up from the ground came… a trillion dollars $$$$$ … or archie campbell goes to kabul (oh that’s good, no that’s bad)
james risen’s frontpage nytimes story last night/today… very curious indeed… you can really map/find mineral deposits in depth from an airplane ??? (how bout oil in the gulf of mexico?)
imo, this story, or more specifically, the publishing of this story (at this particular time) … changes everything
a short list of what this story will do, may do, and/or was intended to do….
to entice euro nations to commit troops to us effort in afghanistan
to preempt any euro nations from withdrawing their current troops (especially the uk and germany)
to thwart/diminish any us public and congressional support for us withdrawal
it will embolden the taliban and their supporters in pakistan to escalate the fight to overthrow karzai and drive us troops out
it will enhance chinese support for us effort (or enable chinese playing pak/tal against us effort, longer term)
it will further add to iran govt’s weariness of us/israeli attack
it will diminish brazil’s importance to future commerce (as bolivia will no longer be sole large source of lithium)
it will encourage russian destabilization efforts in the border regions to afghanistan’s north
it will further the ‘need’ for us troops in pakistan as their internal situation deteriorates (look for kashmir to return to the headlines as a consequence of india’s discontent, as well as another upcoming ‘mumbai-style’ attack within india)
longer term, the pakistani port city of karachi could well become indispensable
it will pressure karzai to reform/conform to us direction (unless he can find a way to play taliban against the us in order to solicit chinese help… afghanistan has a 50 mile border with china)
remember, the ‘story’ could well be a lie (and/or a gross exaggeration) intended to effect one particular policy initiative
‘twould seem that the time has come to add another name to the lexicon of human hubris. Deepwater Horizon takes it’s place alongside Titanic and Hindenburg.
And while many focus on the possible repercussions of the environmental and economic impact of the ongoing spill, i look toward the possible fallout (pardon the term) in US foreign policy.
If domestic oil and gas sources are to be significantly diminished for a lengthy period of time due to public demand to retrofit safety measures, how much pressure will the interim period place on the US securing foreign sources of energy?
Will the State Dept and the Pentagon (and the Oval Office) view this as an “opportunity” ?
How high will oil prices go in the meantime?
Watch closely the rhetoric and quantity of news stories concerning Iran in the next 90 days. (You can be certain the Israelis will)
the slow pace works it’s magic with the ending. the jedi jokes become a bit repetitious, until the ending. the depiction of psychodelic use creates it’s own narcotic. a thoroughly delightful morality play that is so very subtle one could easily miss the point. the more you reflect upon it, the better it gets.
the holiday season of 2001 was so very long ago in some ways and not so in others. the big US airlines received billions of dollars in taxpayer’s money, and ironically, in this googleable age, i can find no record of them ever having paid it back. bad precedent either way.
seems like the season for it, even though i consider myself unreconstructable
ok, break’s over…
“howinthehell did this happen ? i can’t even go to a strip club now for fear that someone will see me go in and think that i am a Republican” – shs 5apr2010
“next week when Tiger hits a shot and someone in the gallery yells “get in the hole”, howinthehell will the rest of the crowd keep from giggling?” – shs 3apr2010
“you will find a great treasure, though it be not the one you seek” (rough paraphrase from O’ Brother, Where Art Thou)
“and there will come a day, many years hence, when upon reflection, you will wonder and then realize, that the treasures you have known sought you as much as you had thought you had chosen them. and you will be humbled, yet comforted in the knowledge of your limitations in self-determination” – stephenhsmith 3Jul2009
no matter the reason/circumstance, lose 99% of something and the remainder must be increased by a multiple of one hundred times (10,000 %) just to return to it’s original condition.
in the immediate aftermath (pardon the pun) of an era in which 20% annual gains were regarded as minimal performance by far too many people, the argument for “slow” is once again being reconsidered. but this moment’s shadow will vanish with the first rays of light. and as always, such calculations are not limited to only those things that can be quantified with numbers. (which ironically, adds a whole new dimension to the word “accountability”)
see header pic above...
everyone on the planet is now but a spectator to a massive fight to the death to determine which kind of tyrannical statism will rule over them. “liberty” having become as much an antiquity as the buggy-whip. with hope quickly devolving to that of mere survival.
muleboy303@gmail
Posted by stephenhsmith 
stephenhsmith 