nobody said it would be fair...

snafu...that old army acronym for "situation normal all fucked up" for some strange reason just popped into my head. this is not an inordinate occurrence, but it does happen frequently enough. maybe it's because we seem to be living in a gigantic snafu right now. if you think about it, what isn't all fucked up right now? okay, one thing: bush is gone, but other than that?
the puppet masters are currently waging at least six wars:
   against iraq
   against afghanistan
   against terror
   against drugs
   against our civil liberties (remember those?)
   against common sense
there are probably more, but these come readily to mind. this is fucked up.
the economy is fucked up.
the job market is fucked up. 
the real estate market is fucked up.
the auto industry is fucked up.
gasoline prices are fucked up.
manufacturing is fucked up.
the education system is fucked up.
immigration is fucked up.
homelessness is fucked up.
the health care system is fucked up. 
the banking system is fucked up.
wall street is fucked up.
the ports are fucked up.
the airports are fucked up.
the infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc) is fucked up.
bail outs are fucked up.
the two party system is definitely fucked up.
so, it seems to me that pretty much everything is fucked up...

one definition of normal is: according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle.  conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern

so if everything is fucked up, then fucked up is normal, hence snafu.
one gigantic snafu.

"once upon a time..."

i've been listening to the radio since i was seven years old.  i used to lay in bed at night under the covers with a transistor radio and listen until i fell asleep.  it was crappy AM top forty music, but i didn't care.  i was mystified by this little magical device.  a few years later i had one of those old record players that looked like a suitcase and only played 45s.  i had to tape a nickel to the tone arm to weigh it down and keep the needle from jumping out of the grooves.  but this was one of my most prized possessions.  i loved those old 45 rpm records, those little black discs of pure happiness.  along comes february 1964 and the beatles are on the ed sullivan show.  i had to have a guitar.  and thus began a life long love affair with wood and strings.  a few more years passed and i acquired a small table radio.  i listened constantly.  this was an FM radio!

one day this sound like no other i ever heard comes out the speaker.  whack!  and then it's a rambling rolling sound with the words "once upon a time, you dressed so fine, threw the bums a dime, in your prime. didn't you?..." and that voice!  what the hell is this?  i already was a beatles fan, but this was something else entirely.  this was different.  no one sounded like this.  and those words...pouring out of that little box with such urgency, such intensity, such excitement:  "...you said you'd never compromise, with the mystery tramp, but now you realize, he's not selling any alibis, as you stare into the vacuum of his eyes, and ask him, do you want to, make a deeeeaaaaalllll?..." and it went on and on...for six friggin' minutes!  now, that may not seem like much in today's world, but this was back in the days of two and a half minute radio friendly ditties and things like that just weren't done.  after all, who would listen to a song that long?  "...you used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat, who carried on his shoulder a siamese cat, ain't it hard when you discover that, he really wasn't where it's at, after he took from you everything he could steeeaaaaallll, how does it feel?..."  WTF!  i was hooked!  i had to hear more.  whenever i managed to scrape a few dollars together i'd go out and buy one of his records and live with it, playing it over and over until i knew every word.  i learned the songs on the guitar and only played dylan, nothing else.  i wished i could sing like that.

the years passed.  musical styles came and went.  the beatles broke up, the stones didn't.  jimi and janis died.  the 60s were gone.  the 70s were gone.  the new millennium was upon us.  modern music became categorized and commercialized, but still i listened to bob.  somehow he was still relevant, he still mattered.  and he still does.  he doesn't sing like he used to.  some would say he can't sing at all (and never could).  but not me.  i still listen.  it was that thin wild mercury music that originally drew me in, but i'm still there.  he will turn seventy next year and you know what?  he is still out there.  he's still making records and is still out there on the road playing.  he just played the firggin' white house for crissakes!  he became what he set out to be...the wandering minstrel...just a song and dance man...long may you run brother...and may you indeed stay forever young...

is it rolling bob?

"...see no future...pay no rent..."

thought i'd start out with my world view, as bleak as it is.  collapse is imminent.  the pieces are all now firmly in place.  your civil liberties are just a footnote in history.  unless you are in, you are out.  out of luck, out of hope and out of time.  the war machine marches on putting billions, not millions, in the pockets of the masters of war.  these wars have nothing to do with terror or freedom.  its all about money.  jobs?  our president says we must create jobs.  why is that?  why are there no jobs?  could it be because jobs have been systematically leaving the country for the past thirty years?  meanwhile those who send what once were our jobs overseas suffer no consequence, but rather reap rewards for ruining our economy by doing so.  it is quite simple really.  if people don't work, they don't spend.  if they don't spend, the economy grinds to a halt.  for my entire life i've heard people say the middle class is the backbone of our country.  why then is it being dismantled?  who will support the needy and the rich once the base has collapsed?  buy a house with no money, don't pay for it to the point of foreclosure and then the govt will take care of you.  pay your note on time so you can lose 20-30% of your home's value only to sell short?  drive to the supermarket in your escalade with your jewelry dangling talking on your iphone in your designer clothes and pay with food stamps?  press one for english?  healthcare?  are you kidding me?  how is forcing me to buy insurance whether i have a job or not going to benefit me?  it will only benefit insurance companies.  bail out wall street and the big banks.  do you think the average blue collar worker (who might be lucky enough to have a job, but no 401K) gives a crap about wall street?  wall street has been playing a shell game for decades.  the big banks have been systematically closing the small banks.  the national average of bank closings is thirty a year.  last year there were over a hundred and thirty.  the big three fail miserably yet ceo gets millions in bonus.  what happened to the great american cars?  it was only fifty years ago that they ruled the road.  now they are built with planned obsolescence and all look the same.  where is quality?  what happened to our ideals?  we sold them out along with everything else.  if you believe in false idols, then now is the time to get down on your knees are pray to them.  pray for salvation, forgiveness or whatever, and when you are through go out and graze with all the other sheep.  or do something...anything, but get your head out of the sand and open your eyes.  look at what is happening.  how can it continue?  can it not continue?  what is the outcome?  greed is running rampant and no one, no one, is doing anything about it.  once the bottom completely falls out, then what?  how long will it take?  will anyone survive?  do you think all this is coincidental?  wasn't it j edgar who said there is no such thing as coincidence?  or is it something else?  are the puppet masters privy to something you are not?