Archive for social criticism

Void Me

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , on May 5, 2011 by B Schiff

To be the messenger of the gods and informed the uninformed newly.  To be a potion mixer, a torture fixer, a redoubtable waste of uninspiring talent.  To ramble, to indulge, to be facetious, fatuous and debonair.   Fix the story blindly and model it in perfume.  Be an eerie piece of dirt in the loving muck, a dainty charlatan and buffoon.

Touch me.  Feel me.  Make me over and give me breakfast.  Treat me with affection.  Cherish my gratitude.  Picture me my pictures.  Speak me my words.  Envelope me well.  I love a long night with its comforts and joys.

The right practice of right practice is upon us.  Users pay and the users play.  Users use and users tell.  The power is to the user.  The user knows … the constant user knows…the democratized user knows…the common among us know.  Through sham and pretense, claustrophobia and hype the world is awash with informed common sense keeping up appearances and keeping  down wretched excess….. it is one damned big rancid circus after all …  blessing the beasts and the children.

The mornings know.  The paths to hot and hell, cool and low, to slumber and back know.  The bored to death and the spoon fed sick slick know.    The monster never sleeps.  All is known.  All is seen.  Hardy shame for those who are not…… Vivaciousness is the key.  Vital organs are key.  Eyes here there and eyes everywhere…

It is good to be free and smart and basking in dumb enlightened in times of joyous rays of godlike sun.  Be a proud seeker of the holy grail.  Move me.  Feed me.  Fondle me.  Make me cry.  I learn because I am.

Patrick B. Pexton  Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-journalists-no-1-platform-neutral-duty/2011/04/29/AFi1KyGF_story.html

From Columbia Journalism Review

http://www.cjr.org/news_meeting/what_are_americas_most_essenti.php

The dumb …… the honored creed. The rancid bastards …… the true.

http://bschiff.com/

Dominance Games: Void Me

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , on May 5, 2011 by B Schiff

To be the messenger of the gods and informed the uninformed newly.  To be a potion mixer, a torture fixer, a redoubtable waste of uninspiring talent.  To ramble, to indulge, to be facetious, fatuous and debonair.   Fix the story blindly and model it in perfume.  Be an eerie piece of dirt in the loving muck, a dainty charlatan and buffoon.

Touch me.  Feel me.  Make me over and give me breakfast.  Treat me with affection.  Cherish my gratitude.  Picture me my pictures.  Speak me my words.  Envelope me well.  I love a long night with its comforts and joys.

The right practice of right practice is upon us.  Users pay and the users play.  Users use and users tell.  The power is to the user.  The user knows … the constant user knows…the democratized user knows…the common among us know.  Through sham and pretense, claustrophobia and hype the world is awash with informed common sense keeping up appearances and keeping  down wretched excess….. it is one damned big rancid circus after all …  blessing the beasts and the children.

The mornings know.  The paths to hot and hell, cool and low, to slumber and back know.  The bored to death and the spoon fed sick slick know.    The monster never sleeps.  All is known.  All is seen.  Hardy shame for those who are not…… Vivaciousness is the key.  Vital organs are key.  Eyes here there and eyes everywhere…

It is good to be free and smart and basking in dumb enlightened in times of joyous rays of godlike sun.  Be a proud seeker of the holy grail.  Move me.  Feed me.  Fondle me.  Make me cry.  I learn because I am.

Patrick B. Pexton  Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-journalists-no-1-platform-neutral-duty/2011/04/29/AFi1KyGF_story.html

From Columbia Journalism Review

http://www.cjr.org/news_meeting/what_are_americas_most_essenti.php

The dumb …… the honored creed. The rancid bastards …… the true.

http://bschiff.com/

Dominance Games: The kindness of others

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2011 by B Schiff

Nobody knows nothin.  Talk talk talk.   Fictions grow and then recede and then grow again.  Enter the universal interpreters who tell us the world is as it is supposed to be and the track of things only frays around the edges.  Scare tactics and violent tactics and dead certainties know that the general narrative of our lives changes only slowly and in simple ways reflecting only the lack of product or energy or means of existence.

Small things these, that matter not to the core tides of history.  The core tides of history, the dead certainties of identity and narrative and home and country fit all of the regular patterns of a world in molasses.  War and peace, threat and disintegration… the primitive’s preserve.  They are, the primitives, the exotic who come in from the stone age…. at what price…. corruption, moral corruption, general blindness, wishful thinking, ….the befits of instability and diffusion of organized power. Better than Christmas and Valentines Day.  The gifts of false purpose.

Corruption of motive is long a certain thing.  The blindness of interpretation is a keeper.  Hell for losers.  Tis tough enough to win.  The lost lost losers need their own narratives.  Trust in the kindness of others.  Go in many pretty circles.  Wait for good publicity.

Central American drugs.

The Economist

http://www.economist.com/node/18560287

Terrorism and us

Peter Beinart The Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-02/osama-bin-ladens-death-time-to-end-war-on-terror/#

The dumb …… the honored creed. The rancid bastards …… the true.

http://bschiff.com/

Lust Games…the kindness of others

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2011 by B Schiff

Nobody knows nothin.  Talk talk talk.   Fictions grow and then recede and then grow again.  Enter the universal interpreters who tell us the world is as it is supposed to be and the track of things only frays around the edges.  Scare tactics and violent tactics and dead certainties know that the general narrative of our lives changes only slowly and in simple ways reflecting only the lack of product or energy or means of existence.

Small things these, that matter not to the core tides of history.  The core tides of history, the dead certainties of identity and narrative and home and country fit all of the regular patterns of a world in molasses.  War and peace, threat and disintegration… the primitive’s preserve.  They are, the primitives, the exotic who come in from the stone age…. at what price…. corruption, moral corruption, general blindness, wishful thinking, ….the befits of instability and diffusion of organized power. Better than Christmas and Valentines Day.  The gifts of false purpose.

Corruption of motive is long a certain thing.  The blindness of interpretation is a keeper.  Hell for losers.  Tis tough enough to win.  The lost lost losers need their own narratives.  Trust in the kindness of others.  Go in many pretty circles.  Wait for good publicity.

Central American drugs.

The Economist

http://www.economist.com/node/18560287

Terrorism and us

Peter Beinart The Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-02/osama-bin-ladens-death-time-to-end-war-on-terror/#

The dumb …… the honored creed. The rancid bastards …… the true.

http://bschiff.com/

Dominance Games: Yesterday’s toys

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , on May 3, 2011 by B Schiff

So.  Now we have a moment in time.  It is a fine and great moment…a moment that can be a magic springboard and springboard us back to the very best versions of our very best selves.  It can be a springboard to the very best selves that we hold dear and deep in our hearts, the ones we think of when we day dream and are heroic.

We are teary eyed wonders saluting our flags of strength and it is not by accident that we brave many things in order to envision the best of natures noblemen and women.  Honor fulfilled, large injustices not metastasized, as one we cherish our common suffering and our common courage and valor.  Oh but were that my exploits could be chivalrous and true.  Oh but were I a standard bearer for the sure and true.  My heart would sing forever.

We tell our selves.  We tell our selves again and again.  Oh, but were that me, the soldier of soldiers, the brave stoic soldier of soldiers.  Oh that the moment in time to be good is here again.   Oh that it is a moment of no frustration, of no foolishness, of no ass backwards behavior.  Oh, if only.

As have been many that have come before, so often, so hard charging, so eminently luminous…..the past is prologue.  It sets that which must come next.  Our past was yesterday.  It will not bear on tomorrow.   Our reactions harsh and fearful and weak.  Our past small, narrow and petty.

We come from hard times and look through many prisms.  There has been frustration and false premise.  There has been false horizons and false dawns.  Actors act.  They wonder.  They cannot see yesterday.  They cannot see tomorrow.

Yesterday’s toys.

David Frum…The Week

http://theweek.com/article/index/214436/life-in-the-real-world

Roger Simon…Politico

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53477.html

The dumb …… the honored creed. The rancid bastards …… the true.

http://bschiff.com/

Lust Games: Yesterday’s toys

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , on May 3, 2011 by B Schiff

So.  Now we have a moment in time.  It is a fine and great moment…a moment that can be a magic springboard and springboard us back to the very best versions of our very best selves.  It can be a springboard to the very best selves that we hold dear and deep in our hearts, the ones we think of when we day dream and are heroic.

We are teary eyed wonders saluting our flags of strength and it is not by accident that we brave many things in order to envision the best of natures noblemen and women.  Honor fulfilled, large injustices not metastasized, as one we cherish our common suffering and our common courage and valor.  Oh but were that my exploits could be chivalrous and true.  Oh but were I a standard bearer for the sure and true.  My heart would sing forever.

We tell our selves.  We tell our selves again and again.  Oh, but were that me, the soldier of soldiers, the brave stoic soldier of soldiers.  Oh that the moment in time to be good is here again.   Oh that it is a moment of no frustration, of no foolishness, of no ass backwards behavior.  Oh, if only.

As have been many that have come before, so often, so hard charging, so eminently luminous…..the past is prologue.  It sets that which must come next.  Our past was yesterday.  It will not bear on tomorrow.   Our reactions harsh and fearful and weak.  Our past small, narrow and petty.

We come from hard times and look through many prisms.  There has been frustration and false premise.  There has been false horizons and false dawns.  Actors act.  They wonder.  They cannot see yesterday.  They cannot see tomorrow.

Yesterday’s toys.

David Frum…The Week

http://theweek.com/article/index/214436/life-in-the-real-world

Roger Simon…Politico

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53477.html

The dumb …… the honored creed. The rancid bastards …… the true.

http://bschiff.com/

Dominance Games: Yesterday's toys

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , on May 3, 2011 by B Schiff

So.  Now we have a moment in time.  It is a fine and great moment…a moment that can be a magic springboard and springboard us back to the very best versions of our very best selves.  It can be a springboard to the very best selves that we hold dear and deep in our hearts, the ones we think of when we day dream and are heroic.

We are teary eyed wonders saluting our flags of strength and it is not by accident that we brave many things in order to envision the best of natures noblemen and women.  Honor fulfilled, large injustices not metastasized, as one we cherish our common suffering and our common courage and valor.  Oh but were that my exploits could be chivalrous and true.  Oh but were I a standard bearer for the sure and true.  My heart would sing forever.

We tell our selves.  We tell our selves again and again.  Oh, but were that me, the soldier of soldiers, the brave stoic soldier of soldiers.  Oh that the moment in time to be good is here again.   Oh that it is a moment of no frustration, of no foolishness, of no ass backwards behavior.  Oh, if only.

As have been many that have come before, so often, so hard charging, so eminently luminous…..the past is prologue.  It sets that which must come next.  Our past was yesterday.  It will not bear on tomorrow.   Our reactions harsh and fearful and weak.  Our past small, narrow and petty.

We come from hard times and look through many prisms.  There has been frustration and false premise.  There has been false horizons and false dawns.  Actors act.  They wonder.  They cannot see yesterday.  They cannot see tomorrow.

Yesterday’s toys.

David Frum…The Week

http://theweek.com/article/index/214436/life-in-the-real-world

Roger Simon…Politico

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53477.html

The dumb …… the honored creed. The rancid bastards …… the true.

http://bschiff.com/

Laws may be a sham

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , , , on May 2, 2011 by B Schiff

Perfect villains.  Perfect fools.  The rush to build government, business, economies.  The rush to build equity, fairness.

The short hairs.  Whom got whom by them, the short hairs.  The laws of unintended consequence.  Who rages for them.  lasting fancy and a gift, all laws of unintended consequence.

The self interest of the self interested is the usual.  The fears and cries of the put upon is the dear.  Perceptions  are eternally skewed.  Perceptions of power bases are eternally skewed.  Readings of power are eternally flawed.

Puzzlers ponder answers, define not questions.  The powers of those in the catbirds seat always trump rage and rant.

Place the catbird seat.

Laws may be a sham

Nation states, also.

Two for the show.

From Times Book Review

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/books/review/book-review-the-executive-unbound-by-eric-a-posner-and-adrian-vermeule.html?scp=1&sq=The%20Executive%20Unbound%20-%20By%20Eric%20A.%20Posner%20and%20Adrian%20Vermeule%20.&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/books/review/Giry-t.html?scp=5&sq=parag%20khanna&st=cse

The dumb …… the honored creed. The rancid bastards …… the true.

http://bschiff.com/

Glory in the morning

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized, writing with tags , , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2011 by B Schiff

Power corrupts.  It corrupts mightily and famously.  It corrupts hedonisticlaly, morally, severely. It turns virtue on its head and relegates expression to a game.  Power fuels the laundered images of fear and the abject lack of restraint.  Power goads and practices, flails and takes what it takes.  It can be a serene thing  it can be a strong thing, a mocking thing, a self satisfied thing.  Power can shine like a beacon, drop like a stone, crush like a runaway truck.  It lures.  It calls.  It wants.  It produces sweet songs to calm the ear, sweet reason to sack the instincts.  It may turn away from its prey and seem to be something else, a trivial thing that hides itself  from challenges and flies sweetly from inspection.  Power knows.  It sweats.  It works very very hard. It knows itself.  It knows its dupes.  It glorifies all.

From The New York Review of Books

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/apr/28/wall-street-leviathan/

From The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/standardized-tests-prove-im-better-than-michael-jordan/2011/03/29/AF4sdL4C_story.html

http://bschiff.com/   the rancid bastards ….. the true…..the dumb ……  the honored creed…..the books I am pushing .

The landscape gets cold at night

Posted in Commentary, News, Politics, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , on April 29, 2011 by B Schiff

Again we mock the human soul.  Again we mock the human spirit.  The cadres of popular imagery are apparent no more.  Damn the torpedoes, all speed ahead.  The more we behave the better we become at ability.  The more we are drunk with the powers of observation, the more we are observant of the void.  The emptiness of the great desert of formless nothing haunts our futures and it is a barren desert, a hot dry place.

The landscape gets cold at night, a counterpoint to the extreme heat of the day. It is an uninviting place, the future in times of trouble and uncertainty.  It mocks us, our belief in it, in its presence, its shape.  It can retreat and hide, run away or crush.  It stares us down a hungry lion.

Deal with what isn’t there.  Build monuments to what is not real.

A view from the other side.

A view from trying to beard the tremulous lion.

Both from The Washington Post

Ian Morris

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/two-books-on-the-future-of-power-and-diplomacy/2011/02/28/AFHSsSHC_story.html

Robert Samuelson   Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-real-tax-avoidance-scandal-centers-on-dividends-and-capital-gains/2011/04/01/AFRz6TXC_story.html

http://bschiff.com/   the rancid bastards ….. the true…..the dumb ……  the honored creed…..the books I am pushing ….