Maybe I’m complicated
Don’t know how to stop and live
Always looking for something
Poor little singer with a plastic pick
Always making it harder
Poor little singer with the steel strings wound
‘Lights’ – a Marie Menken film:
News
Condolences to London
My heartfelt condolences to the British people, especially to those affected by yesterday’s horrible bomb attacks in London. There is absolutely no justification for this kind of cold-blooded violence done to innocent men, women and children.
Unfortunately, this is surely not the last time we will see this, the way the world is today. Still, the people of London seem intent on getting on with their lives despite the terror:
What the fuck do you think you’re doing?
This is London. We’ve dealt with your sort before. You don’t try and pull this on us. Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not going to work.
(quoted from A Letter To The Terrorists, From London.)
ANZAC Day
Today ANZAC Day is celebrated in Australia and New Zealand, in honor of the soliders who have served in the countries’ wars. The day’s origin was as remembrance of the ANZAC corps’ ill-fated landings at Gallipoli in Turkey, on April 25, 1915.
In 1972, folk singer Eric Bogle wrote a touching song about a solider’s experience at Gallipoli, and of the madness and futility of war, called And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. The song has in turn been covered by Irish folkrock band The Pogues, from whom I first heard the tune. This is a sad and moving song which brings a tear to my eyes whenever I hear it.
But the band plays “Waltzing Matilda,”
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.
- Eric Bogle – And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (live, with short introduction – low quality)
- The Pogues’ version of the song (from the album ‘Rum, Sodomy and the Lash’)
Money and Terror
Cheney isn’t clapping, he’s rubbing his hands with glee…
What good is money if you can’t inspire terror in your fellow man?
— C. Montgomery Burns
Baghdad Year Zero
Baghdad Year Zero by Naomi Klein (author of No Logo). This is the story of how the US government in alliance with multinational corporations and neoconservatives are pillaging Iraq under the false pretenses of Operation “Iraqi Freedom”. A long article, well researched and definitely worth the read…
A country of 25 million would not be rebuilt as it was before the war; it would be erased, disappeared. In its place would spring forth a gleaming showroom for laissez-faire economics, a utopia such as the world had never seen. Every policy that liberates multinational corporations to pursue their quest for profit would be put into place: a shrunken state, a flexible workforce, open borders, minimal taxes, no tariffs, no ownership restrictions.