Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

America is beautiful and broken, run aground on the shoals of money-lust. Okay, not entirely broken, but sold, traded, jaded and faded. Like Congress. Like the mega-dollar slapstick satire of campaign for high office. It goes back a few years. Mark Twain was not enamored with his bought leaders either, though graft of his day seems mere chicken feed, even in “today’s dollars,” next to surreal images of George W. Bush pointing at his opponent, saying “he can’t be trusted.”

Maybe so. Kerry was Skull n’ Bones too, the same billion-dollar disconnect. And Sarah Palin? Another head fart gear jam in the machine. She was sexy as hell with that slapstick patriotic religious surrealism. These billion-dollar campaigns have become absurd sketches fit for the Neo-Patriot-Redneck-God Cartoon Channel, clumsy in animation but laced with buzz words and religious bilk-speech—always crowd favorites. It’s not even good TV anymore. Lynn Swann catching that pass from Bradshaw in the ’74 playoffs, the Immaculate Reception, now that was good TV. We got rid of Nixon that year, but the speech dragons will not go quietly. Some of us would stab each other under the radar and subtle—raw fuel to speech dragons.

I have many punditicized right-leaning friends (formerly, “conservatives”) who tell me “socialism” is the ultimate evil of the universe, the final battle. They seem fond of final battle scenarios in general, even downright antisocial at times, my friends. Why should I pay the freight for those other fools? Okay fine, good point, but those fools eventually buy the products to make the faceless machine go ‘round and ‘round, not to mention the fact they eventually fight faceless mega-billion dollar wars of territory and resources needed to sustain the consumer carousel and keep the oil flowing, at least for now. It’s a closed system in the end—full circle. One might as well posit “corporate welfare,” or “corporate warfare” as the ultimate evil, the final battle. Why should I pay the freight for those rich fools who watch government-sponsored killing as some sort of invented God-mandate from the sidelines? Man, that’s old-school. This is representative government, right? Not some sort of Orwell nightmare.

Ah, but it’s old-fashioned comedy, a little bloated, a little scary, but no pain no gain. Like any Twelve-thousand step program, number one is to admit a problem exists. Like bought politicians, for one. Insular caricatures. Coached by animators. And no one appreciates how much they’ve accomplished behind the scenes to make the universe safe for capitalism—the various wreckage points of South America, the SAVAK, Pol Pot, bin Laden and Saddam. Et Cetera. It ain’t easy to make a few million bones. Heard a big stir on the news about some “secret CIA program.” Yeah? What do you think the CIA does? Bakes muffins?

Okay, so America isn’t “broken,” just under some sort of spell. Over-sold, maybe. Twain complained about it too, though he complained a lot in general. Maybe he was the first to write it all down. Him and Thoreau. Or a million poets here and there and the odd Emily Dickinson or two. Anyway, maybe the big box parking lots are getting to us, making it seem a little too easy, but the country isn’t “broken.” Not with apple pies cooling on the windowsills of 1904 craftsmen farmhouses kissed by a honeysuckle Indiana summer’s evening. Not with Larry Bird shooting a thousand jump shots in some sweltering driveway in French Lick. No, the place is not broken, but listing a bit under the crush of capital lust. At least for now. Check back tomorrow. The markets are self-correcting.

America gotta love it.........

Enjoyed your words Nazz

Well written commentary Nazz.
After I read it that old nursery rhyme humpty dumpty came to mind Makes me wonder if nursery rhymes were perhaps the bipolar ravings of those deemed village idiots, who actually were onto something. My thoughts these days tend to be in screaming rhymes, as if it's all I can do anymore about anything.
I think it's broken, think that Twain lived in the good old days of listing.
Like I said good commentary. Do you blog?
H

I still think-- in the end, greed kills. I some ways, the Soviet Union's greed for territory and resources (and its human rights abuses) helped hasten its demise, as the Cold war arms race escalated and became more burdensome. On a lesser scale we saw the same sort of foolish greed in the US invasion of Iraq (for its resources and to control it as a strategic chess piece).

And in America, we've seen for decades the damaging affect of greed in CEO's wrecking and bleeding companies dry, floating safely to happily-ever-after with obscene mega-dollar "golden parachutes." And we're seeing the damaging affects of greed in our financial markets, the foolish, unregulated lending schemes of banks, the dangerous bundling, leveraging and trading of volatile "securities" and everything related. And I think the US has only begun to see the damaging affects of its refusal to properly take care of its own people. Witness the sham of our ongoing health care "debate." It shouldn't be this much of a debate. We're either going to take care of ourselves in a larger sense, or not. If almost 50-million citizens are uncovered, find a way to cover them. No excuses. No shouting nonsense at town hall meetings. No broadcasting bald-faced insurance corporation lies on prime time cable TV. We are wealthy enough to do this, and it is the right thing to do, to see through the rampant "I've got mine, so screw you, I won't pay one thin dime in more taxes" bullshit. Greed, it's a killer. Very anti-Christ-ian.

Now I realize the U.S. is not the only inflictor of major damage on the planet and its human population-- not even the worst offender, it seems. In terms of "major players," the USSR was worse, and China continues to be worse. China is a perennial human rights sinkhole, and is an evironmental disaster. Of course the global consumer economy feeds that disaster. It was a dangerous premise in the first place.

No, the US was never the only inflictor of major planetary damage of some sort, but to hear the the legions of right-wing-nut bobblehead blowhards, the US is the only true beacon of morality and justice in the world, and is guilty of no real abuse whatsoever. Major denial and willful ignorance. Cannot abide that. Can't afford it much longer.

Thanks hesty, keith. Appreciate.

Good piece of thought, Mark...

Your mention of Russia and China along with the U.S. brought to mind population size. China is number one, followed by India, with the U.S. coming in at number 3... Russia # 9.

Numbers 4 thru 8 are not major players, if we discount Brazil, but population figures along with wealth would seem to account for a lot of "major damage on the planet and its human population." Add to that the social inequities which in turn cause political turbulence which is felt thruout the global community and I see enormous problems on a scale neither our planet nor it's 6.8 BILLION people could ever envision... population strangling itself in an attempt to survive.

It would take visionary leaders around the political globe to change an inevitable tsunami of mass starvation from occurring in the next 50-100 years, if that long.

Don't forget Cec, the USSR grabbed a lot of territory well beyond the borders of Russia. And it happened so quickly after WW2. I'm no "America-hater" by definition (as so many "conservatives" have tried to paint me on these discussion boards). I actually blame the USSR more than the US for escalating the Cold War and arms race. The USSR, at its height, was higher than #9, not that it matters much. That part of history is over, but sometimes it seems America won't let it go, can't quite seem to move on.

I called it the "Age of Classics" on my last ramble. The last stand of classical militarism. Militarism pushed to its ironic anticlimax. The aging intercontinental nuke missile silos. The comedic old warhorses trying to win high office. And yes, population concentrations clearly have detrimental effects on the planet in general, but I think it goes beyond that. It will get down a little more into the realm of attitude, a "shift in consciousness," a downshifting in general, doing more with less.

Good point! Yes, the USSR during it's heyday would include all it's take-over territory which adds to the population, possibly #3...#4..?

Shifts in consciousness comes with generational shifts in attitude. When the 'new' generation comes into major play, then they bring with them their value systems... not unlike Pres. Obama and what he is doing, speaking up and for his generational importances, which in turn may be agreed upon as the consensus among many other world leaders from within the same generation.

We agree that the past is no longer capable of controlling the destiny of the future. Times insist upon change and those changes will come, regardless of the cries of negativity based upon fears of those changes.

True. Change must come. It's amazing how prolific the human species has been in the last hundred years or so, what it has been through and accomplished-- a huge spike on the chart, basically. The game seems a lot different now. It is. It has to be.

It's amazing how prolific the human species has been in the last hundred years or so, what it has been through and accomplished-- a huge spike on the chart, basically.

True. I've heard said that we've been so prolific due to the weather conditions being so conducive to crop growing which also added to the healthier and more plentiful supply of meats. Not sure if that is opinion or based upon fact. But something other than our own efforts aided us to get where we're at today, the spike you talk of over the past 100 years. (does that spike include the efficiency of our wars..?)

What do you think the CIA does? Bakes muffins? I guess only a little few below the northern río Colorado agree to think that...!

beautiful portrait full of heart & humor, nazz!, bravo!!

Thanks Arcadia. Yeah, a month or two ago there was a big flareup on the radio about some "secret CIA program" under the Bush Administration, and it seemed a little absurd to me. Like it was some shocking new thing. Sheesh. And Bush/Cheney were such rat bastard sneaks that they even invented a special secret agency (Cheney's O.S.P. in the Pentagon) to subvert the secret agency that is the CIA. Yes, surreal.

And Cec, not sure why the prolific spike, other than techno progress, longer life spans, climate conditions and just the inevitable logarithmic curve of population growth (until it runs up on the upper bounds of the supporting system). More efficient wars? Yeah, maybe-- though hard to believe given the two horrific world wars and general calamitous chain-reaction of state-run destruction that careened into seemingly endless Cold War and Third World exploitation, death and mayhem.