Man - been a while...and its not because i haven't had anything to say, i think its more accurate to say I've had too much to say (way too much) and perhaps couldn't calm my mind enough to decide on one. Of course, its also a matter of getting things off my chest to certain specific people - and if that's the case, myspace, while oft used as a public forum for personal craziness, is not my preferred space to spill angst ridden personal attacks or project fucking emo-ness to the 4 corners of my 'extended network'.
Although i sometimes feel the odd man out cause there seems to be a majority who now prefer to have a myspace-catharsis over actually being physically present and using voices and glances to communicate personally. Oh whoa is me - where has the intimacy gone when it comes to dramatic bullshit?
Not why i was writing though, i wanted to round the year out with a couple socio-political tidbits that got into my head this morning as i tried to distract myself from the other shit that's been dominating my landscape of late. I know most people must just move to the next blog when they hear 'politics', but fuck y'all. The sheer stupidity and patheticness (is that a word?) of it all is mad funny!
OK first off, Somalia/Ethiopia: Anyone following this cluster fuck? In a nutshell, when Prez Big Willy sent our boys into Somalia over a decade ago to oust the warlord Adid from power, the place was total anarchy - and not even the cool kind you wanted when you were 16, a screaming fucking bloody mess. Over the last several years, an organization called the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (or SICC - sounds like evil to me!) moved in and started to pacify the warlords and militias and gained huge popular support among the people.
Problem is the 'I' in SICC.
Just like theres no I in TEAM, theres no I in FREEDOM either. Now even though people weren't starving or dying in the streets anymore, and that was good, they had all welcomed the idea of imposing Sharia law and creating an Islamic state in the horn of Africa - which was bad. Western civ just wasn't gonna have that, and I'm sure a few phonecalls were made, envelopes were delivered, threats made. Needless to say, there was gonna be a big throw down in Mogadishu, SICC vs the unpopular Somali govt - It never happened, partly because of their neighbor, Ethiopia - contributed large amounts of TANKS and WARPLANES to the Somali govt. The SICC forces melted away in the face of opposition and it was over before it happened. OK, theres the boring primer in a nutshell, if you want to find out more, google that shit up. To the point.
1 - Ethiopia has Tanks and Warplanes? What the fuck? I have to sit through hours of guilt heavy infomercials with fat Sally fucking Struthers surrounded by poor starving little kids in Ethiopia, cause they have no fucking food or water or medicine, enduring a pandemic - and Ethiopia has the budget for some F-16s and Tanks - even more than the Somalians! I mean that's sheer craziness, i thought the USA had the brand identity of screwing its poor while spending trillions on wars we don't even belong in, but congrats Ethiopia, way to go! Just pennies a day from me to adopt a kid? Liquidate a few smart bombs dude, or harpoon Sally Struthers, just feed those damn kids, their lives are fucked!
2 - The SICC just gave up and walked away in the face of opposition? I've seen this movie before. Perhaps the generals on the ground haven't. Its widely speculated that the majority of the SICC military forces are made up of foreign fighters, but Its a mixed bag, lots of normal folks trying to defend their homeland, but you also have extremist elements like the Shabaab who might be a direct arm of Al Queda. Everyone over there and in the news is throwing a party over the SICC retreat and victory of the Somali govt. But the movie goes like this:
Somali Regular 1: "DUDE! that was so easy! I thought we were totally gonna get our asses kicked."
Somali Regular 2: "I know man, i was totally stoked to shoot some motherfuckers with this sweet Ethiopian tank! Bummer!"
Somali Regular 1: "Whew. Well i guess i can go home to my starving kids now, you think i have to give back the assault rifle?"
Somali Regular 2: "Nah. Hey...you think maybe that was, like, a little too easy?"
Somali Regular 1: "Dude you're crazy - you see me up here on this tank, i look like a baaaad ass! Those SICC guys saw my ass coming and they said, yo, fuck all this allah islamic fundamentalist shit and they bounced! Scared shitless! "
Somali Regular 2: "Yeah, i guess you're right. Hey is that Sally Struthers over there?"
End scene, anyone else see the problem here? Crazy islamist fundamentalists never retreat on the run. Avoiding conventional warfare in the face of overwhelming opposition is like the golden rule in guerrilla warfare. They wanted the Somali govt to take Mogadishu just like we took Baghdad. They have no interest in dealing with crowd control, feeding angry people, rebuilding an infrastructure or forming a new government. Instead of losing a sizable portion of their forces in combat, they melt away and live to fight another day. While everyone over there is doing a little victory dance, the guys in Shabaab are prepping suicide bomb belts and wondering how long it will be till the Americans get there so they can kill them too.
Its a conundrum, you keep the SICC in power, and you have relative peace, but only because everyone is united under strict Sharia law, and you have an Islamic state, which has the potential to get real ugly like Taliban-Afghanistan or a relatively stable, fair republic like you have in Iran. You remove the SICC, and the power vacuum gets filled by warlords like Farah Adid, and the anarchy you have in that is just as bad as extremist-Islamic states.
Expect severe ugliness in Somalia in the near future kids, bound to happen. Fortunately for us, i don't think theres any oil in Somalia (Just like Darfur), so i doubt we give much of a shit how many Africans are dying over there.
Next in the news, some really idiocy:
"In order to comply with EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations, and at a cost of about $5.2 million per ICBM, the rocket motors on 500 Minuteman III missiles will be replaced or refurbished (with new fuel). The rocket fuel will emit less toxic chemicals when used ... Thus, if the Minuteman III ICBMs have to be used in some future nuclear war, their rocket motors will not pollute the atmosphere."
Yeah that's right, if the trillions of tax dollars going to Iraq wasn't quite enough of a waste, tag on another 2.6 billion to retrofit our nuclear missiles with FUCKING ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE LOW EMISSIONS MOTORS. What the fuck is this, our nukes have to pass friggen inspection laws? And what if the check engine light is on?? I can see it now, we lose (as if you could win?) global thermonuclear conflict because the EPA wouldn't let us launch because of the emissions of our rockets, brilliant. You know, I'm all for Greenpeace and the EPA and regulating corporations - the fuckers are all snakes and cant be trusted so its good we have these organizations in place - but EPA, c'mon dudes, that is some silly silly shit. If you guys are so bored, my kitchen could probably use a little environmental cleanup, message me bitches!
That's all kids, theres no way 2007 could possibly be any worse than 2006. I figure its all about making moves this year, makin shit happen, 06 was a stalemate. I'll be happy to see the last few days dissolve away into history, peace y'all.
Yep. You found me. I started this thing as part of a portfolio site - however, as you can see, no portfolio! Wrangling together like 15 years of photography, art, and design is a bitch, if you don't want to wait, hit me up. I usually don't write unless I have a lot to say - If you're looking for regular activity, you'll have better luck over at my Tumblr!
