Placed a wire and wood totem in the rhododendron, wooden fingers to ward off marauding goblins. Arts and Crafts Sundays rule.

A poem a night is a tiny goal
Insignificant self-improvement
Maybe even self-destruction
Reducing life to paltry lines

Culture? I will sell you garbanzos nickels for ounces through the feathered shadows cast by phosphorous glares of war. It may be possible that the war is here, lurking between our slender aural bones in sparks and chemical pulses. Never doubt the value of altering reality to suit your giggling whims.

Culture?

Ha.
Teapots telling time to Amontillado
Notebooks - "In hell there is no beer"
Candles obviously molested by pudgy hands
Sandpaper and a broken die next to teapot
Ahmad Tea glances down at shiny cylinder
As the lamp glows against the blinds
The light in the transition of a bloody rage of ninja
Over obelisk big screen topped by dwarf avatar
So it is, we build our peculiar nests
Rummage in them like peculiar pets
Daydream of validation and love one day
Visions of butterflies and warm woolen pines
That memory of beauty bubbling out gleeful
Popping across the third eye like Monkey
Playful, a hint of deathgreed layered in ancient haunts
Lost loves among the daffodils and thick drooping moss
Beer mug full of 5-times brewed tea and bucket of life
All ideas in things even in the stomach of the night.

Obama campaign quickly responds to Hillary's Ads. I think the way Obama sheds Hillary's attacks by bringing up specific issues is very clever. She's getting the creeping nervesprints now, truly in the animal soup of it.

The New York Times says that 1 out of 100 adult Americans was incarcerated in 2006, and probably more than that today. A startling rise, especially on those always visceral charts. The prison-industrial complex is a nasty thing indeed. Throw in the voter manipulation mentioned earlier by Mac, as felons of course lose voting rights in some states, add the racism that's endemic in our legal system, mix, serve frothy. Paranoia shakes, a wee prison bit in the craw.

It's the definition of a criminal that we've gotten confused, I think. Being crazy or weird or irrepressible isn't worthy of prison. Violence or theft, aye, but we live in a country where yelling on a street corner or knocking over a single symbolic shopping display can get you tazed and dragged away. Maybe we need to add the Right to Perform Art into the Bill of Rights.

50 bucks for a street performer's license?

Personally, I like the picture of Obama in African dress, I think it's the kind of picture the world should see. Some sensitive Americans might feel uneasy about it, but imagine the impact in Egypt, Italy, Morocco, Pakistan, Indonesia…

Sunday, fading Sunday. Culture?

Snake Visions

The stream
Diving in
Getting down
Finding shiny rocks in the silt of grouchy Chronos
Looking up
See the stars
Hug the grass
Walk swift balanced like squirrel along rocky walls
Cliffside calls
Echoed low moan
Darkness swallows
Shadow creep and pry the jaws of Orouboros
Under stair
Whisps of jet hair
Hate on soft lips
Toss the seed into the breeze and watch the fall.

First plagiarism, and now calling for Obama to be ashamed for printing the truth. She won't even give a clear answer to a thrice-repeated straight question - This woman wants to make us buy healthcare whether we want it (or can afford it) or not.

And there's a google trends video that's pretty impressive, even if it is just based off search pings.

One of my big political concerns is the horrifyingly wasteful and damaging war on drugs that this country has been waging against minorities and the poor since Reagan. I'm reconciled to the fact that it will take a long time before we crack the back of the prison-industrial complex, but the first steps towards doing so must come soon.

While I know Obama has been cautious (with very good reason) about saying what he would do about the drug war, my instinct is that, having grown up as a drug-using black man and seen the damage that the drug war has wrought upon the black community, he would almost certainly attempt to reduce sentencing, promote treatment programs, and quite possibly decriminalize or at least minimize penalties for the possession of certain drugs.

My concern, though, is that Asshole and company will begin hammering away at Obama's drug use and crazy liberal hippie drugfest ideology once the real contest begins. There are many Americans who still staunchly support the drug war, and a smear campaign that paints Obama as a reckless and immoral hedonist might actually resonate quite well across the nation.

So, I suppose this is the bugbear on my mind - How should the Obama campaign approach this issue? Should they focus on healthcare-based solutions like rehab and reduced sentences for successfully completing treatment? How should Obama respond to the inevitable attacks on his credibility for (GASP!) using drugs as a youngster and (DOUBLE GASP!!) admitting it?

My Obamarama continues to grow. I think he stomped Hillary, particularly in terms of his discussions of economic stimulation, Iraq, and leadership. I also think that the plagiarism question was very well handled, and the mere raising of that ridiculous issue is damaging to Hillary.

But what really got me was the "times you were tested" question, which Obama answered with a short overview of his life, which made a good impression on me. Clinton, on the other hand, used her visit to the veteran's hospital to illustrate that there are others who have had much more difficult lives. Well, no shit, she's a rich white woman who has stalked the corridors of ultimate power for years, of course she haven't had as many challenges in her life as some poor Hispanic kid from the hood who joined the Army and lost his legs in Falluja. But that's not what the question was. The question was about the candidates' personal experiences, and using disabled veterans to answer such a question is disgusting to me.

I'm betting on Obama to take Texas. The question in my mind now is whether Clinton will bow out after Texas and Ohio or stay in it…

Thoughts?

Breaking news on CNN right now is the riots in Serbia protesting Kosovo's newfound independence. It did seem a little too easy, didn't it? Apparently the British embassy was also targeted by mobs. Oh, pictures.

Apparently constant messianic rhetoric is one of President Ahmadinejad's favorite tools (news to me, anyway), as he insists on preparing for the return of the 12th Imam. He must really be crazy about it if an Iranian cleric is criticizing him for it. I think I'll have to reread Dune side-by-side with some Shi'a theology, since I do love me some messianic prophecy.

Medvedev is so assured of his future position as Russian President that he's not even spending money or going on TV. A pity that all that campaign money he collected is going to just have to be scattered among his associates. Man, I wish I was in Russian politics.

On the positive side, seems that Pakistan is doing well after their recent elections. It's going to be interesting to see how Musharraf responds to a united opposition.