With all this talk of ‘homeland defense,’ I’m beginning to wonder how long I’ll have the liberty of free expression on places such as Xanga’s system.

(Believe me, I understand that Xanga itself offers no guarantees, but the concern remains.)

This Just In

From http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/39627_phallic20ww.shtml, unfortunately without photo:

“LACEY — A 7-foot phallic carving made from a tree stump is drawing plenty of complaints, but authorities say there’s nothing they can do about it.

Two American flags fly from the top of the carving in the driveway at the home rented by Jean Paul “J.P.” Parshall on Union Mills road about five miles east of the state Capitol in Olympia and 45 miles south of Seattle.

[...]

Parshall has more plans in store for the phallus, too. When the rainy season begins, he said, he plans to cover the top with an oversized condom to promote safe sex.

Later in the year he plans to move it onto his porch and adorn it with Christmas lights.”

Speaking of the media, I’d like to say that Roger Waters’ ‘Amused To Death‘ CD is good listenin’ right about now, particularly if you’re feeling pissed off about the whole damn proceedings.

It’s mainly a commentary on the Gulf War, but there’s a lot of overlap with current events and loads of delightful cynicism. And it has the only song I’ve ever heard about Tiennenman Square.

Tonight, I watched a lot of TV, and saw a promo for a newscast. What could we expect the crack news reporters to report on? “New list of possible terrorist attack sites. Tune in at ten!”

Great. Local newscasters are terrorists.

My previous ‘blog seemed to generate a bit of misunderstanding, since I erred on the side of subtlety. So I’ll take another tack:

The words ‘crusade’ and ‘jihad’ are synonyms. When you hear politicians say ‘crusade,’ know full well that they are actually saying ‘holy war,’ though they might not even be aware of it.

That they might not be aware of it just goes to show you how much our culture values meaning over the illusion of communication, which is to say not at all.

And You’ll Know We Are Christians By Our…

I just heard on the radio that someone from the administration says they don’t want to send a message that the US is declaring war on Muslims.

I say: It’s a little too late for that, when you recite from the book of Psalms and declare a ‘crusade’ against evildoers. (Hint: There was no such thing as a ‘crusade’ before the Christians decided to wage war with Muslims over the holy land.)

Perhaps liberally-applied duct tape over Shrub’s mouth would help us through these trying times.

Cold War Two, We Hardly Knew Ye

When the current Presidential administration snubbed the world community by breaking nuclear non-proliferation treaties, some, myself included, noted that Cold War Two had begun.

We also noted that during World War One (the alleged ‘War To End All Wars’), no one thought that the war they were fighting would be referred to as the first of two. Likewise, during the first Cold War, no one thought there’d be a second.

The first Cold War lasted from shortly after World War Two (the sequel), until about the time East Germany tore down the Berlin Wall, a considerable length of time. And now that Cold War Two is over, we can say that at this point it’ll never be older than the current Presidential administration.

In a way, it would have been nice if Cold War Two could have gone on longer, but we were working on borrowed time as it was.

A friend pointed me to this: http://artcontext.org/crit/essays/www/, which is a very well made criticism of the jingoistic attitude surrounding the ‘War On Terrorism.’

The Chariot

Lots of folks believe that in tarot, Trump VII, The Chariot, represents doing battle, going off to war, fighting for what you believe in. That sort of thing. It’s a fairly easy meaning to find in the picture; there’s a guy in a chariot, and what do we know about guys in chariots?

My favorite tarot deck is the Thoth Tarot, designed by Aleister Crowley and actually painted by Lady Freida Harris. Now, Crowley is, without question, about as well understood by the popular masses as the tarot itself, and has a similar reputation. Please try and set that reputation aside for a moment. What Crowley has to say about the card I’m holding in my picture includes this: “The visor of his helmet is lowered, for no man may look upon his face and live. For the same reason, no part of his body is exposed.”

I take this to mean that the armor is for *our* protection, not that of the Charioteer. An unknown figure of power, seated motionless under the canopy of the universe, drawn forward by angels, brings to us the cup of truth. The armor looks threatening, so naturally, we decide to be on our defensive. We don’t see a sword or any other weapon, but we see blood. Do we drink? Will the Charioteer allow us a sip if we want it?

And because I don’t like talking about tarot cards, but about what’s really going on in the world, consider: We’re not capable of seeing the whole truth, only the tiny bit we get to sip from the chalice, if we’re both humble and courageous enough to take that risk. The big scary violence in the world today? It’s armor, covering a truth.

I changed my picture. Maybe I’ll talk about why I did later, but for the moment you can just come to some conclusion on your own.