GIMME THAT OLD TIME JUNGIAN SYNCHRONICITY

I haven’t thought about The Cross And The Switchblade of maybe two decades and then the obscure piece of marginal pop culture manifests itself in an already hallucinatory reality twice in one week. (See last Wednesday.) And at a time when insane Christianity may drag us all down.

The secret word is Click

SAD BUT TRUE FOR SATURDAY

(This and the above come from Valerie)

PAUL NEWMAN -- RIP

HOW HARD CAN THEY GET?

The simple answer is I don’t have a clue. I worked all night, and, as I was about to go to bed, I learned that Washington Mutual had collapsed. I sat around and thought that one into the ground, which engendered some bad dreams. I only crawled from my bed in time for the first presidential debate, and right now I’m still trying to grok the scary fullness. I was not overly impressed with Barack’s performance, but maybe I was expecting too much. At the same time, nothing seems real and there’s plenty to get hung about. All I can say is stay tuned. Panic is optional.

The secret word is Grim

We are probably going to need all we can get.

$700,000,000,000

Just count the zeroes. It’s another bill we have to pay for bloody George Bush. Do we now need to count the dead?

NAOMI WOLF CLAIMS THIS IS THE REAL FACE OF McPALIN

As things turn weirder and weirder, Kass sent the following piece of lurid paranoia, but, while Naomi Wolf certainly has a point about McPalin, dictatorship and the S&M of politics, I feel she’s living too much in the 20th century. Totalitarian oppression for the new century will be far more sophisticated and a lot harder to recognize. I’d predict closer to The Matrix than the Third Reich or Chile under Pinochet. Although the presence of Witchfinder Thomas Muthee also pushes Sarah Palin back to the 16th century.

“Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah "Evita" Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state.
You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand "Palin Power." A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections -- but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you don't have freedom.
I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites ("the heart of America is on display") and realized Bush's speechwriters were writing her -- not McCain's -- speeches. I heard her tell George Bush's lies -- not McCain's -- to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners -- this is Rove-Cheney's enthusiastic S and M, not McCain's.” Click for the whole story.

SPECIAL GEORGE W. BUSH CRYPTIQUE – The dog ate my economy.

THIS BLOG IS STILL PROTECTED BY...

HEARD THE LATEST McJOKE FROM WASHINGTON?

Cancel debate
Cancel campaign
Cancel election
(drum roll)
DICTATORSHIP!
(rimshot)

(But seriously folks, wouldn’t this seem to be exactly the time for McCain to restore national confidence by conducting business as usual?)

The secret word is Fraud

(Image stolen from Nuzz Prowling Wolf)

THIS LITTLE GUY CAN SURVIVE IN DEEP SPACE

Shall we take a moment off from the collapse of capitalism and the nerve-stretching election? Valerie sent us this quite amazing story about the tardigrades who may, one day, be masters of the universe.

“Tiny invertebrates called 'water bears' can survive in the vacuum of space, a European Space Agency experiment has shown. They are the first animals known to be able to survive the harsh combination of low pressure and intense radiation found in space. Water bears, also known as tardigrades, are known for their virtual indestructibility on Earth. The creatures can survive intense pressures, huge doses of radiation, and years of being dried out. To further test their hardiness, Ingemar Jönsson of Sweden's Kristianstad University and colleagues launched two species of dried-up tardigrades from Kazakhstan in September 2007 aboard ESA's FOTON-M3 mission, which carried a variety of experimental payloads. After 10 days of exposure to space, the satellite returned to Earth. The tardigrades were retrieved and rehydrated to test how they reacted to the airless conditions in space, as well as ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and charged particles from space called cosmic rays. The vacuum itself seemed to have little effect on the creatures. But ultraviolet radiation, which can damage cellular material and DNA, did take its toll.” Click for more.

The secret word is Triffid

IT TAKES TWO SECONDS OF DECISION...

I think it’s safe to say that, by age ten or so, I had chosen the switchblade. At least as metaphor. (And, as far as I recall, this is the first time Pat Boone has ever appeared in Doc40.)

CRYPTIQUE – Rome didn’t decline and fall in a day.

THINKING ABOUT THE UNTHINKABLE

The little girl in Hiroshima, on the morning of August 6th ,1945, saw a tiny silver plane against the background of a clear-blue, summer-morning sky, and though how pretty it was. The shit storm doesn’t always herald it’s own approach, and in times that will later live in historical infamy, everything on the surface seems so frighteningly normal. The sun comes up. The sky is blue. The ancient cat yawns. There’s still food in the fridge and beer at the 7-11. Only the computer and the TV make me aware that the very foundations of US banking are collapsing into a sinkhole of previous greed, and could well bring down the entire planetary economy as they go. And most of those in any position to do anything about it are scum, planning only the ways and means to loot the wreckage – the metaphoric equivalent of stealing the Titanic’s silverware after the iceberg has hit. Meanwhile the Pentagon denies, without even needing to be asked, incidents on the Afghan/Pakistani frontier between US military and our heavily-funded, nuclear-armed, supposed-ally, Pakistan. Surely a gerbil must see that this is not the time to make a senile fool like John McCain the most powerful man on Earth.

"It's hard for me to stay silent, when I keep hearing that peace is only attainable through war. And there is nothing more scary than watching ignorance in action." – Tommy Smothers as he accepted his honorary Emmy.

“How come I never got my pagan-equinox bacchanal, fuckwad?”

The secret word is not Solstice

CRYPTIQUE -- Atlas sometimes shrugs.

THE ADVENTURES OF MARILYN (Part 3A)

In which Marilyn – aware of the threat posed to all sentient life for at least a hundred parsecs in any direction by the combined forces of The Amorphous Blight, Azathoth 3, Fat Men in Hats, and the Alaskan Energy Drain – enlists in D Corps of the People’s Army of the Fourteenth International and volunteers for agent training. But when expected to lift weights, right outside the Doors of Perception, she is less than happy. “All I need to learn is a few simple techniques like the Configuration of Yian so I can create the Tesla/ Yuggoth Particle Beam. I’m Marilyn. I kinda know the rest.” To which the Drill Instructor, who is configured to look like Ernest Borgnine, responds that she needs to complete the simple essentials before she moves on to combat metaphysics. He had smiled unpleasantly. “That’s why they call it basic training.”

THEY DON'T STAGE SHOWS LIKE THIS ANY MORE #5

The secret word is Solstice

CRYPTIQUE – Sometimes Big Brother blinks.

I MIGHT BE SPEAKING TOO SOON BUT…

Blogger does seem to have reverted to normal, and I figure I’ll go back to regular posting, and the impending collapse of capitalism and perhaps the material world. But I think it'd be a good idea to get some sleep before I do anything quite that rash.

CRYPTIQUE – Revolution is not a dinner party.