In a Trance - America 2008

I've been watching quite a few documentaries lately, juggling theories, and contemplating major issues that I have at least had some awareness of, but not knowing quite the extent of the problems until researching and digging into everything further.

I've come to one conclusion so far - we're in some deep shit in the not-to-distant future if we don't come up with solutions to the toxic self-destruction bred into existence by our consumerist, industrialist, and very much socialized concepts of this culture that turns around and preachs naitivity to these very same issues.

It seems as though we've been held in a trance that is quite difficult by itself, to actually break from and view as such because of it's grasp on our minds before they developed the skills to reason and think logically. We've become a culture largely engaged in double think, to hold two contradictory viewpoints, knowing they are such, and still believing both of them.

I know I'm polluting the air I breathe by driving my SUV, but I just can't imagine how else I would get to work.

We are clever and creative; hell, even an industrious people, so why is it that we have not come up the solutions to destroying ourselves, our air, our water, and every living thing around us? The horseless carriage has been around for over 100 years, and we've all known for quite some time that it's emissions are toxic.

Why haven't we found alternatives? There have been alternatives developed, but not accepted yet into the mainstream, so we continue on with our outdated, toxic habits, waiting for that day that fades away like the quality of our air, and essentially, ourselves.

Similar to the degradation of our own habitat, we watch our basic human rights erode under umbrella names, such as 'protection' and 'security' or even 'freedom'. Those who legislate to restrict our freedoms actually have the audacity to use the very same terms as their excuse of why it must be done.

The "Patriot" Act?

There is not thing patriotic about sacrificing our privacy and civil rights for freedom. Benjamin Franklin warned us of this saying, "He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security."

Why have we, as a majority, rejected the premise that this nation was born under, and brave men and women have fought and died for?

Why have we allowed a band of crooks and criminals into the highest offices of our now centralizing, federal government to wage immoral, illegal wars at home and abroad; to suspend habeas corpus, practice torture, spy on it's own citizens, and shift power from a now impotent congress, to the new branch of government called 'executive privilege' ?

Why do we allow our repugnant and cowardly president to pass the largest budget ($3.1 TRILLION) in the history of our nation, while in the midst of economic recession, an inflating dollar, and a housing and credit bubble- while the fed artificially inflates the dollar further by lowering interest rates and putting even more paper into circulation from thin air?

The federal bank (which is NOT federal) is not rescuing our economy by lowering interest rates, they are destroying our economy and the buying power of the dollar. Finally, some calls have been made for congressional hearings into why the chairman of the federal reserve is artificially inflating the dollar, though I doubt they'll go through with it. Businesses are even starting to accept euro's at some retail spots in NYC. The dollar is on a respirator and the fed is trying it's hardest to pull the plug.

With the devaluation of the dollar, foreign investors are now able to more effectively grab shares of american businesses, and even our infrastructure. Would you ever believe that we would be paying a businessman in China to use his toll road to get from your town into Los Angeles, Seattle, or San Fransisco? Large portions of America could be up for sale if we stumble as hard as we did in 1929, yet the president requests another $200 billion from congress this year to continue his war on decency and humanity, building military bases and infrastructure in foreign countries. What about our infrastructure you lunatic, wannabe cowboy? Our bridges are falling down at home. Our roads are being sold to foreign countries, one slice at a time. You've sold out America.

Where are we?

Where the hell are we as a nation? Why do we passively watch our tv's and listen to our ipods in a massive cultural trance while everything is bought and sold around us by men we've never even heard of? Why are we allowing people that are supposed to be representing us, be silenced by one branch of the government? When will we start viewing ourselves as human beings again, with God-given, unalienable rights instead of consumers- and whatever other labels the mainstream media can effectively tag us with.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is anything less than war declared on our own hearts and minds. Bush has said himself, that his goal is "to win the hearts and minds of the people," because it's so much easier to control the masses with your self-deprecating agendas when they already agree with you.

Michael Brande
2/14/08

My Love

The pentacle states
we're grounded here
in lonely rains
Aces turn and beckon
to hold you near

Those big, brown eyes
are the calling card
imprinting your voice
into those thoughts and dreams
outlasting several years

Insidious depths we swim
for love, my dear

Storms brood and clear
while we wait,
holding conversations
delicate as a paper rose
while I insist
that all my heart
is for you to hold

Attempts to Communicate with Christian Deities

"Dear Jesus or father in heaven, if you are there please respond."
"... "

"Are you there?"
"... "



Damn.


How is this is one of the most popular religions in the world?

Dear Dept. of Veteran Affairs

Dear VA,

I really would appreciate it if you would stop sitting on your hands and address expoditiously, the issues of returning veterans returning from the theaters of our GWOT.

We would not have have to address you with such urgency if our claims for PTSD and other service connected disabilities from combat were addressed and processed in a reasonable time frame, capping at a maximum of 160 days, like you have so publicly stated that you are targeting to have claims completed by to the mainstream media and the veterans still waiting.

Unfortunately, some of us are out of work and so severely disabled that we are not able to return to work to provide for ourselves and our families. We have returned, expecting that we will be taken care of well for our sacrifices we have made to this country, ourselves, and our families.

8 months is too long to endure the financial hardships of waiting for you to finish our claims so that we may move forward with our lives and take care of our disabilities, without fear of basic financial problems and basic survival necessities.

Something must be done for us. My claim has been sitting at the ratings board for 46days, not physically touched for 30 days. You are allowed 60 days by law, but this is not expoditious, and only further delays our ability to begin healing.

At this point, I'm not even concerned about the symptoms of my PTSD because I have been so preoccupied with survival. I would like to get to the point very soon, where I am able to address the symptoms of my PTSD because I am no longer worried about have food and other basic financial necessities.

I would like to reach the point where I am able to begin healing. 4 years of this kind of suffering has been far too long. Please help those who have volunteered to serve you.

Sincerely,

Michael Brande
USMC

My phone winks at me

I stare at that phone a dozen times a day, half-expecting it to stare right back. Maybe even wink and nod. But it is still, lifeless for the majority of it's existence- perhaps even siphoning my life away everytime I search and fixate on it's digital display.

I know my phone is an inanimate product of 1's and 0's, but given the amount of attention we focus on various other digital displays, you would think they would soon begin to talk; or at least acknowledge our existence the way we do theirs.

But electronics don't have emotions. They are silicone-based aliens, sucking our lives into themselves- offering no explanation for their silence, while we declare like a crazed lover that we cannot live without them!

Members of Congress get $4,000 Pay Raise

AP
updated 2:44 p.m. MT, Wed., Jan. 9, 2008

WASHINGTON -
Fortunately for members of Congress, their pay isn't tied to their approval ratings.
Lawmakers in 2008 will receive salaries of $169,300, a boost of $4,100 over the pay they have lived with since January 2006.
That 2.5 percent increase is mirrored by similar raises for associate justices of the Supreme Court, who will see their pay go from $203,000 to $208,100, and Chief Justice John Roberts, whose pay will rise to $217,400 from $212,100.

Veterans recieving disability compensation, like me, recieved a 2.3% cost of living adjustment for 2008. That is a $26 increase for me, compared to your $4,100 raise. Thanks congress!

Members of Congress get $4,000 Pay Raise

Veteran's Compensation Rate Tables

An undoing

Isn't this today like
any other?
Predictably impaired with
restless hands
idled by
restless thoughts
as you shoot in and out
out and in
like once before
and once again
we make amends
and allege that
we are the best of friends,
(so long as
we never talk again)

Mike Brande 1/8/08

The War in Iraq

These pictures speak volumes. Warning: Graphic

The Corporation

ABC GOP Debate Shorthand Analysis

Mayor Guliani - Something about you and your lisfp makes me wanna punch you in the teeth.

Sen. Thompson - You're a fucking actor. Go away.

Sen. McCain - Seniality is setting in. You've lost touch.

Congressman Paul - You didn't impress me so much tonight, but you were the only candidate who got applause.

Governor Huckabee - You are starting to appeal to me more, but I think it's because you are adopting Ron Paul's original positions.


Governor Romney - *Deeeeep sigh* Just watch this video.

Nietzsche on Hardship

They'll Be Watching You

"Progress and reaction have both turned out to be swindles. Seemingly, there is nothing left but quietism robbing reality of its terrors by simply submitting to it."
-George Orwell

FBI prepares vast database of biometrics

FBI prepares vast database of biometrics
$1 billion project to include images of irises and faces

CLARKSBURG, W. Va. - The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.

The story continues in the link.

FBI prepares vast database of biometrics

From the Declaration of Independence -

"...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

..."when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Look under Indictment and see how many usurpations have been seized by the government over our right to privacy and freedom.

Great Movie - Great Song

"A Lack Of Color"

And when i see you
I really see you upside down
But my brain knows better
It picks you up and turns you around
Turns you around, turns you around

If you feel discouraged
That there's a lack of color here
Please don't worry lover
It's really bursting at the seams
For absorbing everything
The spectrum's a to z

This is fact not fiction
For the first time in years
all the girls in every girlie magazine
Can't make me feel any less alone
I'm reaching for the phone

To call at 7:03 and on your machine I slur a plea for you to come home
But i know it's too late
I should have given you a reason to stay
Given you a reason to stay

This is fact not fiction
For the first time in years

-Death Cab For Cutie

A Picture of Myself

Hello world. I thought it would be nice to see the face behind the writing. I must tell you though; I am Piscean and so this face is everchanging. Pictures from 2 years ago look almost nothing like me now. Here, I'll prove it to you

See. This is also me, circa 2005. Want to see something else?

I'm the marine in back with "me" above his head. This is circa 2003.

Like I said - everchanging, evolving, growing.

About Me

I guess you could say I'm an avid collector of subjective experiences. I like to weigh them against each other, sort them out by category, sometimes blend them all together, add, subtract, multiply, and divide your input against mine to shape a consensus reality with those I hold close to my heart - and in simpler terms, to create the story in which we all have active or passive roles, and the occassional cameo appearance.

I was born into dogma, as were we all, perhaps because it was necessary for me to understand the difference between personal truth and myth, though both are equally subjective. I suppose I had to learn the box exists to get outside of it.

I've been told that I have a way with words, as I should, because they were my first friends to shape my impressions of the world into something symbolic and intangible. Like our own minds, they are powerful and it is my opinion that it is of dire need for every single person to master their own words. Their reckless use inspires destruction, just as their masterful use inspires creation.

I've never quite fit well inside any institution, social or public, I suppose because I regarded external, unadapted, and idealogical conformity as a subtle, yet dangerous entity of slavery. I believe it is ok for a time to adopt others ideals and stories while we are learning about ourselves, but that we must eventually break free of those adopted models to create our own. To me, this is adaption. This is evolution. This is the ultimate source of creation and the path of personal freedom.

Emote

The holidays
are hollow days-
getting more difficult
to swallow days
Goodbye warmth
and goodbye light,
I'm retreating to
my cave tonight
to wait you out
and wait
and wait

12.21.07

Sometimes

A tall, sad man that
eats alone,
thinks alone,
sleeps alone.
While the rest of the world buzzes away,
he wonders
can anybody hear me?
He writes his dreams
into a box
for the world to see,
to create a realm
of make-belief.
He takes his pill
and lies down to dream,
that tomorrow won't bring
the very same thing.

My Better Side

I wished all this writing would catch
your eye.
I want to begin a story right now and you
can be my partner in crime.
I say we fight this world, take what's ours,
and leave the rest behind.
This is my story.
This is your story.
This becomes our story
and anything we dream is ours.
I can see it in your eyes,
and in my own,
like a wild fire lighting the way
through darkened skies.
Now is the time to take what's ours.
Now is the time,
my better side

It's not about Time

Is time to remember

or forget

all of the memories

we create?

Is it our deception

to forget

the deepest connections

we have made?

Do they know that time is

ever fleeting-

So we must cherish love

forever.

Time is separation.

Time is not.

Time is made up, but our

love is not.

Mike Brande

12/14/07