tags: American Dream

When I took A.P. U.S. History in high school… I learned about the crooked ways of the Republic. I learned that for the most part, the prosperity of this country is owed to the unthanked labor and often the death of the oppressed, starting with the poor ignorant English folk who came as indentured servants, starving to death at the hands of gentleman-adventurers who dreamt big but did little actual work. But the Native Americans are [the most obvious] first victims of the nascent Imperial onslaught… [starting with] the diseases the filthy Europeans had brought over, and… the depradations of… imperial Spain. The English did not become numberous enough to challenge the Natives for a while, although, I must say that it didn't take long for treaty-signing and subsequent backstabbing to become standard policy. After that came the despoilment of Africa….

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2006

May

2006 May 15

in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end was the word

Ursula K. Le Guin, in her fantasy world of Earthsea, comes up with a brilliant system of magic, one predicated on, essentially, words.

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2011

October

2011 Oct 4

The Fall of the Republic

The Republic is falling. Long live the republic!
Slow fall, was it only ten, maybe twenty years ago
the Dream long ago killed, sterilized, repackaged
and rebranded
absolute free, no money down
with the adjustable rate and the balloon payments
camoflauged under the fine print

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2013

July

2013 Jul 27

what's wrong with performance-enhancing drugs?

The ultracynical part of me thinks we should just let athletes use performance-enhancing drugs. Yes, it might seriously maim or kill them, but that's what they're getting paid millions of dollars for anyway, to potentially wreck their bodies for our entertainment.

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