All that glitters is not gold, Or an uninformed Ranty McRantRant

It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores. The hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta. The hope of a mill worker's son who dares to defy the odds. The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. Hope! Hope in the face of difficulty! Hope in the face of uncertainty! The audacity of hope! - Barack Obama 2004

Great, cool. We at least get someone who won't be a part of the problem. But then:

During his first week in office he sanctioned two missile attacks in Pakistan, killing 22 people, including women and children.

Yayyyyy more killing of innocent poor people that can't defend themselves! The reason for the attack was possible al-Qaeda activity in that area. Anti-terrorism, then. A noble attempt to defeat some evil terrorists that want to destroy us all. Okay. Let's have a quick look at the consequences of that action though, those missile attacks that blew up those women and children, and see what we think the consequences are for global terrorism. The problem, I guess most people would agree, is that 'the west' and particularly the USA is held as a symbol of oppression and imperialism; responsible for all their myriad woes - this drives some people to think that it's legitimate to blow themselves and other people up in resistance. So the solution, surely, is to try to heal those myriad woes of the middle east (economic instability, wars, loss of land etc.) and to make sure that 'the west' is not seen to be the villain of the piece. It is these factors that have led to terrorism, through the conduit of fundamentalist Islam, only to eager to fuel that anger and hate with its old and poisonous ideas. Bearing that in mind, did Obama's missile attacks help stop terrorism?

Or did they, in fact, amount to chucking petrol on an already massive fire? If you saw your family, your neighbours, or fuck it anyone really get blown up in front of you, or even if you heard about it second hand, how is that likely to make you feel about the people who launched those missiles or dropped those bombs? Could it be hatred so powerful it drives you to insanity? yeah I reckon so.

If killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists.
-Osama Bin Laden

Benjamin Zephaniah.

Here I stand, court-jestering on infinity.

I feel pretty Zen lately. Kinda unaffected and immune. Right now, I feel like art and creativity are very important things and that they are what rises out of the water and transcends and matters. Everything else is whipped around by the slings and arrows of time (yay for quick and obvious shakespeare references) paled by context, the meaning muddled and confused in a pool of subjectivity. But, Omar Khayaam will have always said this:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

Jazz/Funk Social Commentary. I like it,.

A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)
The man jus' upped my rent las' night.
('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's uppi' me?
('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
I wuz already payin' 'im fifty a week.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
An' as if all that shit wuzn't enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face an' arm began to swell.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Was all that money I made las' year
(for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here?
(Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)
Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll sen' these doctor bills,
Airmail special
(to Whitey on the moon)

Yes. Yes.

You know what

The world couldn't really do much more short of chaining me down to stop me seeing my girlfriend. Seriously.

Circumstance? fuck off! This is more important than you alright. Know your place.

I am a bit span out by frustration.

I still love you all though obviously.

Camping friday.

Yeah.

Peace. x

Hmmm, not sure about this one but here it is.

To friends I know and have yet to meet.

Hail to all you friends of beauty!
Seekers of truth and shirkers of duty!
Hail to the unsung defeaters of lies!
Hail to the romantic; who fails, but tries!
To those who howl in injustice's face!!
To those who don't buckle in the wind but brace!
To those for whom repression is commonplace!
To those who have decided that their mind is not for sale!
To those for whom sobriety is an exotic, foreign tale!
And yet retain their character, their honesty and mirth!
I salute you and you are my friends!
For what it's worth.

NOM NOM NOM

Smile and tell the truth.

We do hereby declare reality unkept by the changing standards of dialogue. Statements such as "Keep it real" especially when punctuating or anticipating modes of ultra violence inflicted psychologically or physically; or depicting an unchanging rule of events; will henceforth be seen as retroactive, and not representative of the individually determined IS.

Well, to be honest

Despite the slightly ridiculous situation we found ourselves in, I had a bloody good night.

It was fun at the fair. (Lots. Coming up on pills in a gravity cage is fucking, ACE.)
It was fun seeing Rowan. (Lots.)
It was fun walking and talking with jacob and mel. (Lots)
It was briefly funny hearing that comedian that was on at Abbie's house.
Abbie's sister was just... wow. Haha. Funny. Girl needs a hug and a joint. Badly.
The walk home was funny and lovely. (Lots)
The splodge on the road that was nearly a perfect heart was nice.
The fact that in a way, one side of the heart looked like the head of an alien sheep was just excellent.

And erm... I miss Jess. :) That's all, folks. Massive love. Still high. Massive love though.

Now I'm imagining 'Massive Love' as a porn film for fat people.

TAKE. ME. TO. THE. HOSPITAL.

Bill Hicks.

You know that guy, in the traffic queue, who takes about half a minute to see that the light has gone green? GOOOOOOOOO! Yeah, before he finally putters through yellow... And I'm thinking ohhh... ohhh god, I hope he dies on his way home... I hope he gets cut in two by a train in front of his kids... I hope they have to watch both halves of their moron daddy wiggle like worms on a hot pavement...

I like Lewis Carroll. He was a good man.

Old School Chumbawamba fucking wins.

I'm the Boss of the company
And I've got hunger working for me
Listen and you'll begin to understand
I built my profits on stolen land
It's the economics of supply and demand
And I make the demands around here
Product sells, people die
Same manipulation wrapped in lies
Give a little money and play your rock and roll
The biggest prizes to the biggest fools
Good evening ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to the show where you the audience participate
On our show tonight we got lost of surprises in store for you at home
In keeping with the fashion for charity, not change
Here's out contribution--we've called it Slag Aid
For every pop star that we slag off today
A million pounds will be given away
Paul McCartney - come on down
With crocodile tears to irrigate this ground
Make of Ethiopia a fertile paradise
Where everyone sings Beatles songs and buys shares in EMI
Charity, starvation, and rock and roll
Let it be, eh Paulie?
Freddie Mercury, this is your life
Thank the Lord that you were born white
And thank apartheid for this wonderful opportunity
To peddle your hypocrisy in Sun City
A bit of a hot potato in a moment, eh Fred, in South Africa?
Well I'm sure there's a video in there somewhere
David Bowie, the price is right
A suitful of compassion and a gobful of shite
Still the voices of those who doubt
Coca-Cola for the peasants to end this drought
David the world can only take so much
And with you around, we're in for a really hard time
Jagger and Richards, game for a laugh
Dancing us down the garden path
To a place where money grows on trees
Where cocaine habits are financed by hunger and disease
There's only one mountain in the rock and roll business
Ladies and Gentlemen, and it's Mick Jagger
Ask the puppet-masters who pull the strings
Who makes the money when the puppets sing
Ask the corporations where does the money go
Ask the empty-bellied children what are we singing for
And Cliff Richard, three, two, one
The God who remains when the religion's gone
Cliff, we've got a special surprise for you today
So come up closer, step this way
Cliff, you're such an example of moral worth
Such a purist saint come to bless our earth
That on behalf of our viewers watching on telly
And on behalf of the millions with empty bellies
We're donating something special that we're all going to like
Cliff Richard, we're going to nail you up to a cross tonight!!!!!

And then the singer screams this:

Ladies and gentlemen, just imagine it, someone comes along, takes everything you own, your space, your house, separates you from your family and then hits you in the face if you say anything different. Well, that's what we've been doing to the third world for the past four hundred years. That's you and me. You the viewers at home, me in the studio, the pop stars, everyone. That's how we make the third world, every day, today and every day. If you want any correspondence with the program, just send your answers, letter bombs only, to BP House, Victoria Street, London, SW1
Thank you and good night
Feed the world
Starve the rich
Goodnight