Detail of peacock feather with extra eyes
*
A peacock has many eyes that cannot see.
They’re designed to be seen.
Like the media,
much communication, little information,
to control what we see
and think
and say
and do
and don’t do.
The Do deals with buying.
The Don’t Do is about obedience.
See?
*
*
Here’s Kidalli
He survives in the bowls of an ancient oak tree. He’s survived insects, fungus, bacteria, wind, rain, hard times, muddy rumors, slimy lies and sharp intentions. The wounds he’s suffered from the blows of stupidity have never healed.
Darkness surrounds him on three sides, but he knows the light. He knows the secrets of roots and the giggles of leaves. He has friends among the birds and shares the wisdom of the earth with other trees throughout the world.
He has but one regret. The taste of her lips are freshly moist in his memory despite the years.
He would cry if he could, but pride has left him dry.
He waits for the flames of justice so that he may leap into her arms and find salvation.
He waits.
*
“To be in love is to be immortal for a while.”
Dartwill Aquila
*
*
A 30 minute film about the biological warfare conducted against us.
Synthetic Forests
*
“You don’t have to worry about the future.
There’s not going to be one.”
Dartwill Aquila
*
*
Picture text by Dartwill Aquila
We have so much in common. We can interact with all people as equal members of humanity regardless of the ideological baggage they carry, whether it is their race, nationality, religion, culture or ethnic identity. That’s their choice. They are first and foremost humans. We can interact with anyone, ANYONE, as a human being, as another member of humanity.
Humans love truth and beauty and justice, honesty, personal security, friendship, family, dependability, good work, knowledge, health care, education, good housing, clean water, electricity, fairness, peace, generosity, kindness, helpfulness, humor, respect, politeness, talent and love. They love love.
More things tie us together, but this should be enough to realize how alike we are. Why do we always hear about the differences between us? They are superficial and have little significance. That which we have in common is fundamental. We have the basics together. Truth? Beauty? Justice? Love? And Peace! I’m all in.
*
*
Picture text by Dartwill Aquila
On this day in 1215 the British noblemen forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. Law, not personal power, would rule the land.
That was 800 years ago. If we still followed that ancient law Guantanamo would be closed down and the people responsible for that intolerable prison would themselves be put in prison. No one could be labled an enemy combatant and be deprived of their rights.
The Magna Carta tells us that people had more rights in ”The Middle Ages” than they have today.
—-
Also on this day, 600 years later, The Duchess of Richmond threw her famous ball. A glorious affair with most of the officiers of Wellington’s coalition army dancing merrily. During the ball news arrived that Napoleon’s troops were on the way. The advancing troops would be defeated at the Battle of Quatre Bras the next day. Many of the dancers would be dead. Napoleon decided to persue Wellington. The little emperor would catch up to him at a place called Waterloo.
Abba sang a song about it.
*
*
Campaigning for president Obama promised that he would
– close Guantanamo. He lied.
– pull out of Afghanistan. He lied.
– enforce general health care. He lied.
– deal with the banksters. He lied.
– make changes. He did. Things have gotten worse.
Now it’s Bernie’s turn. He also has lots of promises.
Has anything changed to make you believe that he isn’t lying?
—
“Give me a president who thanks the troops by downsizing our empire while fully funding benefits and health care for wounded veterans.” W.J. Astore
W.J. is another one of these liberal pundits.
“downsizing our empire”! How do you downsize an empire? Going to put the military on a diet perhaps? What’s this “our” stuff? An empire follows the commands of the most powerful people. They are not OUR people.
How do you downsize an empire? An empire is an enterprise of conquest. Should the empire return some of its stolen goods from other countries? I don’t think so. Should the empire loosen its grip on the countries it controls? Forget it. Should it pay retribution for the damage it has done? Hardly. So what does this downsizing imply? Is downsizing a euphemism for streamlining? A way to shape a more efficient empire?
Hurray, hurray, for WJ. He could make a typical president one day.
*
“Lies that smell like roses can taste like shit.”
Dartwill Aquila
*
*
We constantly hear that the (American) system is broken. It’s not. The system works the way it is supposed to work. It functions as it must, and eventually must lead to the present state of affairs.
The Roman Empire, the Geek Empire, the Persian Empire, the Ottoman, the Spanish, the British, the Dynasties of the East and the present American Empire are all the predictable outcomes of a system where might decides. It matters little if it’s military might, political might, religious might or our present system of economic might.
Think of the game monopoly. As long as we play by the rules, one person ends up with all the money. That’s basically the rules the present system plays by. The rules of buy and sell, money’s rule. Money’s rule differs in time, style and customs from the systems of power exemplified by the Empires mentioned above, but it’s a difference of form, not substance. Power rules. That’s the name of the game. Always has been. Always will be. We have almost 10 thousand years of experience with these systems of domination. We should know them by now.
Claiming that the present system is broken implies that it can be fixed.
We rarely hear anyone suggesting that broken system should be discarded. We need to fix it = repair it. In other words, let’s make the empire work.
Have you heard a progressive (populist) government official or any candidate for election demand that the USA dismantle the empire and close down the foreign bases? Of course not. Should any country have bases on foreign land? Of course not… unless it is an exceptional country. Should any one country have special rights and privileges? Of course not… unless it has the economic and military might to crown itself an exceptional country.
The system is not broken. A system of domination does what a system of domination has to do. All empires end with vast destruction throughout the extent of the empire. Now, with global reach and digital power, humanity itself may be the victim.
People’s power is the only hope for salvation.
*
“Some humans grow at the expense of others
in the body of humanity.
This is cancer.”
Dartwill Aquila
*
*
Picture text by Dartwill Aquila
The presidential election is 1 year and 4 months away. We will be bombarded with anemic information about the candidates every minute of the way. It means nothing. Nada. Zero.
We are all expected to get involved with this nonsense. This same old and tired Democracy Vaudeville gets less and less interesting. The producers triple the promotional budget and spend billions to inject an illusion of importance. To no avail. Less and less people get involved. Eventually the slowest thinker will understand that the whole show has nothing to do with reality.
It’s corporatism. The highest officers on the boards of the international corporate empire decide what happens when and where. They command the strategy and tactics of the empire. To assume that the government will do anything in opposition to the officers, borders between being naive and being insane.
*
*
“The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the second-highest* per-capita incarceration rate with 707 persons incarcerated per 100,000 population.” Wikipedia
Many private prisons run on profit where the inmates are worked as slaves. Ain’t no pretty word for it. Slavery! Work-or-get-beaten slavery. As the prisons make a profit from the products produced by the prisoner slaves, they are constantly in need of new prisoners. The prison board regards the bribes to the police, judges and lawmakers to get more prisoners, as the price of slaves. Since the start of the private (corporate) prisons the prison population has exploded as has the growth of prison facilities. And jobs. Those who lack sadistic tendencies need not apply.
“there are more African American men incarcerated in the U.S. than the total prison populations in India, Argentina, Canada, Lebanon, Japan, Germany, Finland, Israel and England combined. There are only 19 million African American males in the United States, collectively these countries represent over 1.6 billion people.”[80] Antonio Moore
*Seychelles is first with 786 prisoners out of a population of 90,024.
*
“Don’t ask expensive questions if you can’t afford the answers.”
Dartwill Aquila
*
*
Grandma and granddaughter. If Mona-Lisa had a mysterious smile, this grandma is no mystery at all. No one can deny her happiness. This is a universal picture. Change the race, change the culture, change the religion, change the circumstances, the love and happiness between grandma and grandchild is known to every grandma on the planet.
If you harm anyone of these people, you are harming love and happiness. Should they be killed, love and happiness will die. Who is responsible for killing love and happiness and trying to wash the blood stains away with “collateral damage”? Hundreds of thousands carriers of love and happiness have been killed. 100s of 1000s at the least. Is this what collateral damage does? Mass murder love and happiness?
The collateral damagers decided that grandmas and such are expendable to get at suspected terrorists. With what right do they get to choose who to kill, along with anyone nearby? International laws and treaties do not allow it. Who told them that it’s OK to kill 6 innocent people to kill one person they label a bad guy. He’s had no trial, no defense, no rights, nothing to say in the matter.
We don’t need laws, rules and standards to know what is right and wrong.
Suicide bombers and drones do the same thing. Suicide bombers use themselves whereas drones use hellfire missiles. Is the slaughter of love and happiness tolerable if done by state-of-the-art weaponry?
In the world I come from love and happiness cannot be trumped. You can’t kill them because … because there is no because. You can’t kill them. Do you need help understanding that? Thou shall not kill grandmas, grandchildren, love and happiness! Do I need to write that in stone?
*
“What’s it called when poor young people kill and die for rich corporate captains?
Business as usual.”
Dartwill Aquila
*
*
System Humanity 