The Friends of California Libre...

22 November 2004

What If It's Not a Dream and There's Nowhere to Hide?

Greetings, friends,
First of all, this screed is now available as an RSS feed, at this address:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/californialibre
or in a raw form directly at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jsmog/libre.xml

Please do not ask me what any of this means. I am still learning myself. You may also refer others to the feed at this address:
http://www.californialibre.com/

I am also pleased to announce that the shortest poem I ever wrote, "Highway 126", will be published in the next issue of "The Homestead Review", a literary journal published by Hartnell College in Salinas, the Republic of California.

Just a general question, is anybody doing anything exciting for New Year's Eve? I'm looking for somewhere to go to (within North America). Anybody got any suggestions? I have four days off (30 December - 2 January) and feel like flying somewhere. New York City? Chicago? Tijuana? I'm leaning towards Vancouver (since I'm contemplating moving there, damn it, and need more friends there.) Besides, I ain't gettin' laid here on New Year's (sorry, Mom) much as I've tried to over the years. What do YOU think? And do you want to come with?

I'm pleased that someone finally found me in the www.sorryeverybody.com site:
http://www.sorryeverybody.com/gallery/430/

Especially since I'm right underneath a hot 22 year-old black model from Kansas (sorry, Mom, but I can't resist), a very nice place to be:
http://www.musecube.com/ali_cullens/

I wanted to send Ellen's picture from this website (so cute, and she's even smiling sort of) but I didn't want to embarrass her. But it's in there somewhere, along with Ms. Monde. Where are the rest of you? I mean, why not, Goddamn? We've got to let our friends in Europe know the truth, that we're here and we need help; send money & guns:
Bush Makes Not-So-Good Headlines in Europe
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041104/ap_on_re_eu/bush_international_headlines

Our Christian government is finalizing the breach between us and Europe:
Moves Cement Hard-Line Stance On Foreign Policy
By Glenn Kessler The Washington Post
By accepting Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's resignation, President Bush appears to have taken a decisive turn in his approach to foreign policy.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111704B.shtml

Even our friends to the GW North are not amused:
Canadian Lawmaker 'Stomps' Bush in TV Satire
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041118/od_nm/insult_dc

Alas, where can I run away to? One recent study named Ireland as the best place to live, and I can vouch for it:
http://www.euobserver.com/?aid=17788

Of course, I can also vouch for Switzerland:
Swiss youths smoke most dope in Europe
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041118/od_uk_nm/oukoe_swiss_cannabis

But the nations of the world, from the tip of the Tierra del Fuego to the fjords of Spitzbergen, are showing their contempt for our paper dollar empire. Our rebuke of the Kyoto accord is now an albatross hanging round the neck of our largest corporations:
** Putin clears way for Kyoto treaty **
Russia's President Putin signs the Kyoto protocol on climate change - enabling it to come into force next year.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3985669.stm >

Not that Europe is perfect; the corporate machine is everywhere, and whoever taps into Chinese labor and resources first will be a big winner:
Capitalocracy and Democracy, Europe, China and the US
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/edito/2004/031104.php

But if Europeans are cynical about the rest of the world, God help the United States and their Christian pipe dreams. Here's an amazing analysis by the conservative Heritage Foundation of the best future they could imagine in Europe, serving our imperial future...a must read for my friends over the waters:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Europe/bg1803.cfm
___________________________________________________________
The Heritage Foundation is committed to building an America
where freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish.

The Neo-Conservatives will not stop with Iraq. In order to survive and continue using up the world's resources, we must control the entire globe, without a single voice of dissent. Think I'm joking? Read this article from the National Review:
http://www.nationalreview.com/gaffney/gaffney.asp

The Europeans, in contrast, think that the United States has to change, ha ha:
America Will Have to Change
By Jean François-Poncet Le Figaro
For once unanimous, Europeans ardently wished for John Kerry to be elected. Not without some naïveté, they expected him to return to a policy of transatlantic cooperation and respect for the United Nations.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111204H.shtml

Our "coalition of the willing" is losing another member:
Dutch troops to leave Iraq in March. 13/11/2004. ABC News Online
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200411/s1242858.htm
The Netherlands will withdraw its troops from Iraq by March 15 as planned despite earlier statements by Foreign Minister Ben Bot.

And Hungary is next:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6703743&src=rss/worldNews&section=news

NO, my friends, this is the end, I've already chosen my side. The Frankenstein monster has made plain what John Kerry and the Democrats would hide; that America no longer has any power to keep it in check:
Welcome to the New Cold War
By Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
It's Chirac vs. Cheney, SUVs vs. minicars, and pommes frites vs. freedom fries in the new transatlantic culture war. But here's what you don't know: In the global conflict for moral and economic supremacy, Europe is winning.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111604F.shtml

My generation has witnessed this change; our parents protected Europe and Japan, poured money into them, let them rebuild in peace and imagine a future of peace, while we faced down the idiot Russians with nuclear might. But now the Russians are little threat to the world. The only evil empire left is US, and we no longer have a familial bond with Europe.
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/edito/2004/181104.php

The French, for all their own international gaming, are quick to fit themselves into the future:
Chirac Issues Call for Strong Europe
By Graham Bowley The International Herald Tribune
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110704C.shtml

They can say to Tony Blair, for all the British blood shed and goodwill wasted, what did you get from US? A big nothing:
"Britain got very little in return for supporting the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and U.S. policies make it all but impossible for anyone to act as a bridge between Washington and Europe, French President Jacques Chirac said in an interview published Tuesday."
http://www.boston.com:80/news/world/europe/articles/2004/11/16/chirac_uk_got_little_for_backing_iraq_warThe

Europeans are making their own way to the moon, while our Space Shuttle sits idle on the ground, our "International" Space Station slowly twisting into oblivion:
** Europe probe arrives at the Moon **
The Smart 1 lunar probe enters orbit around the Moon, the first European mission to do so.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4015227.stm >

And using a radical new technology:
http://www.euobserver.com/?aid=17767

Meanwhile, our cynical Christian government risks the world's economy by letting our dollar go into a free-fall:
AMERICA'S PRIVILEGE, THE WORLD'S WORRY
The dollar plumbed new depths against the euro this week. Thegreenback's fall has unnerved European policymakers. But it is theirAsian counterparts who have most reason to worry
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3372405

The loudest voices in American economic policy are raised against this cynical and false way of boosting our economy:
Greenspan Issues Warning on Dollar
By David Streitfeld and Jeffrey Fleishman The Los Angeles Times
The Federal Reserve chairman is concerned that foreign investors may unload the U.S. currency because of the growing trade deficit.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112104D.shtml

The Christian government in power will do nothing, but let others suffer:
Dollar Melts but Snow Stays FirmBy Ashley SeagerThe Guardian We will not intervene, insists U.S. treasury chief.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111904X.shtml
And:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/18/business/dollar.html

The damage to this country will, unlike global warming, only affect us:
Dollar's Decline Is Reverberating
By David Streitfeld
The Los Angeles Times
If foreign investors look elsewhere, interest rates could climb and living standards could fall.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111504D.shtml

The counterbalance to this mad Christian government is a secular Europe, and we need it NOW: http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/02/opinion/edpfaff.html

Any kind of Christian madness over there should be given a cold shoulder:
** Buttiglione backs 'theo-con' aims **
Italian politician Rocco Buttiglione - stung by his EU Commission debacle - launches a campaign for Christian values.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3992761.stm >

Let these idiots make a Disneyland of the Inquisition, like these nostalgic Commies in Croatia:
Croatia prepares hard labour for tourists in search of a 'thrill'
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041118/od_afp/afplifestyle_croatia_041118173203

Beware, my European friends, that a Muslim witch hunt will disrupt your own democracy:
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/edito/2004/051104.php
and:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/07/news/dutch.html

Beware your own petty regional differences, which are the mortar of all the world's people:
Little East-West Romance 15 Years After Berlin Wall
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041109/od_nm/germany_divisions_dc

Remember that Europe is running out of Europeans:
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/articles_soc/2004/5_171104_1.php

The United States did do one thing right (a hundred years ago); we let everyone in, and so we created an uneasy but successful mosaic. The Canadians are even better at it. You must do better:
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/edito/2004/151104.php

But the future is coming fast; the European Union now has a single diplomatic service:
http://www.euobserver.com/?aid=17655

They're forming partnerships across the globe, with China, with Persia, with India:
http://www.euobserver.com/?aid=17716

If they can successfully get past racism and absorb Turkey, they will be the true global power, and fulfill the ancient dream of controlling the Silk Road:
http://www.euobserver.com/?aid=17693
and:
http://www.euobserver.com/?aid=17633

For my friends in Europe, here's a survey on the new EU Constitution, and they want to know what YOU think...here's the survey in French:
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/edito/2004/101104.php
And in English:
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/edito/2004/101104_2.php

But what the hell...it's not a dream and there's nowhere to hide:
A meteor is coming and we're all going to die, British teacher tells pupils
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041119/od_afp/britain_education_meteor_041119000654

And finally, if not a meteor, according the enclosed photo, it might be the Scots.

Vive le screed!

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