Hobbes's "Brutish" Life Scenario Just Keeps On Ticking -- Must We Let It?

When the mother of philosopher Thomas Hobbes was pregnant with her son in the late 16th Century, she got some frightening news.

In early 1588, Mrs. Hobbes received word that a ferocious monster called the Spanish Armada was on its way to destroy her home, England.  So traumatized by the impending storm--and not knowing that her country's famed fleet would annihilate the Spanish--she gave premature birth to Thomas on April 5th.

"My mother," reflected Hobbes,  "gave birth to twins: myself and fear."

It's easy to get overwhelmed with pessimism, watching humanity's never-ending production of war, conflict, and unspeakable suffering.

Start with the Lagash-Umma War of 2525 B.C., where the victor erected "Stele of Vultures,"  a charming stone monument featuring carvings of the birds feeding on enemy corpses.  Pass through the next several thousand years of countless bloodbaths, working all the way up to today's spotlighted killing fest in Afghanistan.

No wonder the prematurely born Hobbes came up with his famous line about life's "nasty" and "brutish" nature.

Another powerful Hobbesian insight was this:  "I put for the general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death."


On war, his view was unequivocal:

"To this war of every man against every man, this also in consequent; that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice have there no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law, where no law, no injustice. Force, and fraud, are in war the cardinal virtues."

Force and fraud.  Or rather, first the powers-that-be provide fraud an irresistible ad campaign and then unleash all the merciless force to their hearts' content.  Moreover, lots of victims pile up not just from "hot wars," but "cold" ones, terrorism of all stripes, economic oppression and enslavement, on and on and on.

Borrowing a title phrase from Led Zepplin's classic (visions of WW I bombing, naturally), almost invariably "the song remains the same." 

Many thanks to my Facebook friend, peace activist Sue Thompson, for sharing this outstanding short video graphically capturing the syndrome.

Painful as it is, keep in mind the obvious first step out of the Hobbesian Horror Shop is this "if you know" part.  Tragically too many people don't.

Or don't want to.  These kinds of things "will never happen to them."
                                                                                                        

Taking Flight With A Guitar God

“Music," remarked Beethoven, "is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.”

For many, it comes in one, two, maybe more assorted flavors that will fit that mood. You might just toe tap and nod your head for a while. Maybe harmonize softly. Or if the tune is just right, caterwaul like hell.

You know exactly what I'm talking about cause you do it in the car and sometimes a cappella in the shower, blessed by the sweet resonance of magic ceramic tiles.

Classical, country, rock, hip hop, blues, folk, or blue grass. Grab the right genre that'll work.

I'm eclectic, like probably most. But no question, it's that electric guitar rock that really mesmerizes. This instrument in the hands of a certified guitar god always gets me to the promised land.

True, Beethoven never saw one. But I'm pretty sure he would've called it a mediator, if not just for the same kind of raw power it packs as his Ninth Symphony.

That's right. So let the classic music buffs go into a double tizzy. It's absolutely true.

There are so many guitar gods, past and present. The one I'm reveling in is thankfully very much alive today and kicking arse.

Virtuoso is one way to describe Joe Satriani. Rated one of the top ten greatest guitarists on earth, he's part of that noble breed called the "shred guitarist." Guitar One magazine describes "shredding's" evolution:

"....This fast playing style, speed or blind speed guitaring with it's many influences, combined with the heavily distorted tone of heavy metal music resulted in a new nickname, 'shred'....Guitar shredding techniques played usually on a 'super strat' include: Alternate picking, Economy picking, Hammer-ons, Hybrid picking, Legato, Pull-offs, String skipping, Sweep picking, Tapping, Tremolo picking, and Wide intervals...."

Okay, whatever, "Hammer-on" or "Tremolo pick" that thing. Just gimme a sound that blasts me out of my seat.

One of "Satch" Satriani's most spectacular works is the rightfully titled masterpiece, "Flying In A Blue Dream." A title song from one of his many albums, it's beautifully captured in a filmed live performance.

You tell me. Can this man make a guitar sing....like a dream?


Truly a "dream" indeed. Hearing him and the rest of the other "gods" produce such melodies elevates the spiritual side of me.

One guitar technophile remarked how this magnum opus "revolves around lydian mode."

Huh?

"Lydian mode"?? Our Wikipedia friends describe it--brace yourselves, please--this way:

"The Lydian mode is named after the ancient kingdom of Lydia in Anatolia. In Greek music theory, there was a scale or "octave species" based on the Lydian tetrachord, extending from parhypate hypaton to trite diezeugmenon, equivalent in the diatonic genus to the modern major scale: C D E F | G A B C. (In the chromatic and enharmonic genera, the Lydian scale was equivalent to C D♯ E F | G A♯ B C and C E E↑ F | G B B↑ C, respectively, where "↑" signifies raising the pitch by approximately a quarter tone.) [Does it maybe resemble something like THIS???]

Placing the two tetrachords together, and the single tone at bottom of the scale produces the Hypolydian mode (below Lydian): F | G A B C | (C) D E F. Placing the two tetrachords together, and the single tone at the top of the scale produces the Hyperlydian mode (above Lydian), which is effectively the same as the Hypophrygian mode: G A B C | (C) D E F | G."

So THAT is how "Satch" does it.

Glad we could get a clearer understanding.

Carry on, rockers....

Perception

"Our five senses are like openings through which we receive all the perceptions that are then transformed into concepts and ideas....."

-- February 27 Affirmation
From the Tibetan Buddhist book, "Offerings."

Speakin' With Most Forked, Stupid Tongues: Those Promoting Snow Storms As Official End Of Global Warming

Don't let 'em sucker ya, people. Just listen carefully.

Beneath the blather of those "compassionate conservative voices" (funded by utility interests and other polluters) is another sound. Call it a wake up call, if you will.

The right-wing global warming deniers currently dancing for joy over heavy winter snow are credible only in their skill at ignoring select elephants rampaging in our room. These are the same folks--likely stockholders in Eli Lilly and Aetna--that sing the loudest praises over America's insufferably corrupt health care racket.

It's easy to hang onto a distorted context. Latch oneself onto simplistic visions that ignore the bigger picture, if that makes you feel better about a dire reality.

Moreover, from the blog "Climate Progress," is this:

Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book.

Only one problem: It’s not true, according to an analysis of the numbers done by several independent statisticians for The Associated Press.

The debunking will be no surprise to CP readers...First, the AP talked to NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]:

The recent Internet chatter about cooling led NOAA’s climate data center to re-examine its temperature data. It found no cooling trend.

“The last 10 years are the warmest 10-year period of the modern record,” said NOAA climate monitoring chief Deke Arndt. “Even if you analyze the trend during that 10 years, the trend is actually positive, which means warming.”

Second, “In a blind test, the AP gave temperature data to four independent statisticians and asked them to look for trends, without telling them what the numbers represented”:

“If you look at the data and sort of cherry-pick a micro-trend within a bigger trend, that technique is particularly suspect,” said John Grego, a professor of statistics at the University of South Carolina.


It's easy enough to pretend this weekend's two-foot snow dump in D.C. is good reason to just kick back and have a cold one. Cause everybody knows in their heart that global warming is a hoax.

Riiiiiiiight.

So just do like the previous "presidential administration" did for eight critical years. Continue "studying" it. Hang loose. Go build a snowman.

Ignore the sound of that elephant.....and gushing of melting glaciers.



"....The polar ice-caps are melting, the mountain glaciers
Drip into rivers; all feed the ocean ;
Tides ebb and flow, but every year a little bit higher...."
-- Robinson Jeffers, poet
1960

A Perfectly Suited New Title: "The Supreme Corp"

Sad and miserable beyond words.

More than enough to make a grand lady weep.

If things weren't already bad enough, now the Supreme Court has just slam-dunked its approval for an even more thorough corporate whoring of our political process.

"The most radical and destructive campaign-finance decision in the history of the Supreme Court," said Fred Worthheimer, president of Democracy 21, about the court's decision last Thursday striking down a major portion of a campaign finance reform law.

"It returns us to the days of the robber barons," said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause.

As if we weren't there already, Bob, with the scandalous plundering of our strained treasury by Wall Street's crooked, insatiably greedy oligarchy.

President Obama said it best, commenting this was a “major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”

And just wouldn't you know it--that House of Sleaze called the Republican Party just looooved it!

But why not? All five gowned cretins that made the majority vote were, that's right, exclusive gifts of that democracy-nurishing GOP:

* Justice Kennedy: Appointed by Ronald Reagan.
* Justice Roberts: Appointed by George W. Bush.
* Justice Alito: Appointed by George W. Bush.
* Justice Scalia: Appointed by Ronald Reagan.
* Justice Thomas: Appointed by George H. W. Bush.

Thanks so much, fellahs.

Scalia, it must be said, appears much better suited to run the Gambino Family, considering his gangsterish opinions on civil liberties.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was ecstatic, calling this “monumental,” while Texas Sen. John Cornyn crowed, “These are the bedrock principles that underpin our system of governance and strengthen our democracy.”

Oh, yes of course, Johnny. I imagine you're salivating all over yourself at the thought of how much more corporate largesse will be flowing into your deep pockets.

All in the cause of "strengthening our democracy," along with all those bulging CEO stock porfolios.

Run along now to the Crawford ranch, Cronyn, and pound down a few beers with your Texas crony, Dubya, who's guilty (among other things) of installing some of those lame brain justices on the High Court. The two of you can reminisce about the good ol' days when the Oval Office phone had a forest of corporate speed dials.

As always, the Daily Show's Jon Stewart had a stupendous take on this sorry spectacle, which at the minimum blesses us with laughs to dry away the tears.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Supreme Corp
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Say it loud: "We Will Survive." Many times.

GOP Waterboards Massachusetts and The Rest Of The Nation This Week

Yep, America, those adorable Faux Trolls continue to radiate and bloviate!

As the new red stain begins oozing all over Ted Kennedy's perenially blue senate seat, they've gotten almost as giddy as the night their Official GOP Network christened a Texas village idiot's installation in the White House a decade ago.


Bully for Senator-elect Scott Brown in following his corporate insurance masters' commands. He's ready to run to Washington to help put the coup de grace to the last hope of humane health care for tens of millions of Americans, while the medical-industrial complex CEO's continue popping their champagne corks like profit margins.

But wait, our Scotty has still more to offer. This devout Christian Reformed Churchman is mighty enthused with that thing called "enhanced interrogation" for anyone getting nabbed by bounty-hungry Middle Eastern warlords & drug traffickers.

There are numerous first-hand accounts of the victims of this "enhanced interrogation." The following passage is taken from a story in the Independent, a British newspaper:

Henri Alleg, a journalist, was tortured in 1957 by French forces in Algeria. He described the ordeal of water torture in his book "The Question." Soldiers strapped him over a plank, wrapped his head in cloth and positioned it beneath a running tap. He recalled: "The rag was soaked rapidly. Water flowed everywhere: in my mouth, in my nose, all over my face. But for a while I could still breathe in some small gulps of air.

I tried, by contracting my throat, to take in as little water as possible and to resist suffocation by keeping air in my lungs for as long as I could. But I couldn't hold on for more than a few moments.

I had the impression of drowning, and a terrible agony, that of death itself, took possession of me. In spite of myself, all the muscles of my body struggled uselessly to save me from suffocation. In spite of myself, the fingers of both my hands shook uncontrollably. 'That's it! He's going to talk,' said a voice.

The water stopped running and they took away the rag. I was able to breathe. In the gloom, I saw the lieutenants and the captain, who, with a cigarette between his lips, was hitting my stomach with his fist to make me throw out the water I had swallowed."

And beyond this is the appalling realization that too often many victims will make up anything to stop the torture. That means, of course, too often all that "high value intel" is little more than hogwash, produced by stupid, sadistic zealots.

Despite the Obama Administration's torture ban, it's still critical keeping the heat on any and all deluded policy makers who justify going medieval and inflicting a relentless wave of destruction on the world. The closest and loudest example of another torture fan is Scott Brown's fellow cover boy that THANK GOD ALMIGHTY followed the Texas village idiot out of power.

The highly malignant Dickie Cheney can now only take to the airwaves to caterwaul his evil ways, arm-in-arm in the ranks of right-wing stooges at Faux News and elsewhere.

At the same time, never, ever assume life could not return to the Dark Ages we experienced in the eight long years after America's rigged 2000 election.

Think it couldn't happen here?

Again??

Just imagine the wonderland of fresh, enlightened leadership.....

Secretary of Defense -- Ann Coulter

Secretary of State -- Rush Limbaugh.

Secretary of Education -- Pat Robertson.

U.N. Ambassador? But of course: Bill O'Reilly.

And swimming somewhere in all this nourishing soup would be none other than "Cosmo Scott" Brown. After all, he surely would be deserving of some of the spoils in the Palin/Beck Empire.

Meantime, I'll sit back and watch a cathartic "Hitler Finds Out...." episode concerning the more immediate problem of another wretched Republican stealing the thunder.

Tragedy Is Clear--It Was That "Swore A Pact With The Devil" Syndrome

One of the most horrific things in the aftermath of unspeakable carnage, whether man-made or natural, is the sight of animals slowly devouring the corpses.

Usually they're vultures, sometimes wild dogs. Of course they are nature's scavengers. They don't know any better. They need a meal.

At other times, though, beasts of a different breed show up at the scene. They roar, flash their own powerful jaws, and start feeding on the victims with the same ferocity as their fellow predators.

But the meal they're after is an altogether different kind of sustenance.

For this species, it's simply a matter of generating enough shock and awe over the airwaves. All they need is a devoted audience of assorted cretins, reactionaries, and bigots to lap up their toxic drivel, day after day after day.

And make no mistake--bottom feeders such as Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson can sniff out a juicy ratings feed in virtually any manner of people & places. They engorge themselves on actors stricken with Parkinson's Disease. Or, when especially voracious, a monumental terrorist attack. Like 9/11.


Sometimes they can't resist even the most unlikely targets. Take for instance last Wednesday's heart-breaking calamity in Haiti, one of the most tragic places on earth.

It didn't take more than moments for the ravenous Komodo Dragon from within each to start salivating joyfully.

The corporate media continues keeping right-wing reptiles on display for the just the same reason for the endless parade of stomach-churning reality shows.

The bottom line, folks. Ethics, schmethics.....whatever you can get away with, just do it.

Thank God for the few precious antidotes counteracting the poison (also brought to us by our fearless corporate media.) Like John Stewart's "Daily Show." Keith Olbermann is another welcome relief. He doesn't ever pull punches--a critical skill when dealing with the broadcast troglodytes.

Fired-up Keith's take on the matter:



Bravo, Mister O! May your tenure on air be long and vigorous.

Meanwhile, we'll pray for these tortured people of Haiti. Considering these current scenes from Haiti, let our thoughts be light years away from the utterly deplorable vein as "pundits" Rush & Pat.