War, Politics, and Life by Bruce Maulden
One thing is certain in history: Weapons of war have become more advanced as a civilization seemingly progresses, always and continually getting more bang for the buck, and in turn, becoming less humane, more indiscriminate in the killing. Modern war machines attempt to eliminate the human element altogether. (Illustration of a two-man Gaelic battle chariot…
Lists of top good and bad appear near or at the end of each year, and usually bear witness to how crappy things are, or how how even-more crappy things are. This week, The Buffalo Beast presented a list of the 50 most-loathsome people in America for 2008 — and it doesn’t leave out President…
Another nail in the coffin of the earth. Climate change offered by human-induced CO2 discharges are literally sucking the life out of our oceans. (Illustration found here). In a report issued today, the horror of man-made CO2 will quickly make the world’s oceans more acidic and therefore unable to bear life. From the New York…
If suddenly a world-wide hate for the arts: A lot of wealthy assholes would be out of work. The greed of spotlight and treasure extends to just about everyone. From the UK’s Telegraph on profits from the acclaimed “Slumdog Millionaire“: (h/t Think Progress) But the reality of life for Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail is…
“Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet…
Watching Jack Bauer is like watching real-time terrorism at work — is everybody a terrorist? Are those real-nasty and indiscriminate drone attacks into Pakistan last week, after apparently President Obama gave the thumbs up, be considered terrorism? What about that US Special Forces attack earlier this month in eastern Afghanistan — another heated disagreement between…
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, would any leader react like George Jr., coming forth with incoherent strategy and bluster, only to create a far more disastrous conditional aftermath? History does have a fond way of repeating itself, but would one guy view the situation the same as another, or does brains and cool overcome…
All day long President Obama played out across the airwaves — I listened to NPR at work, just about every aspect of the inauguration proceedings analyized, and little snippets caught between customers were dreary and boring. An odd, flat day. Read and see the whole shebang here and even see Decider George get booed here,…
This morning is historic — an end of nightmares and bad daydreams, an inauguration of optimism, or at the very least, minimizing the impact-reality of those true vapor visions. (Illustration of “Joy of New Beginnings” by Chidi Okoye found here). Watching the news coverage of the run up to Barack Obama’s inauguration ushers up memories…
In an uncertain age, President-Elect Obama’s inauguration Tuesday is a security nightmare — more than three million people expected to attend, creating an armed camp around the US capitol. (Illustration found here). A big, frightful pause in Obama’s security is the obnoxious, cadaverous head of the obnoxious Homeland Security apparatus, Michael Chertoff, who really could…