work in progress

Although withered the root shall takeover the marbled glass

Demonizing Muslims, Bush, Obama and the American Way.

I tried to stay away from politics and other stressful topics, but it never lasts long...







OBAMA
I recently received a very disturbing e-mail at work. It is one that has been forwarded several times to countless people, stating not only lies, but the politics and racism of the person sending it. The e-mail stated some urban myths about U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s “Muslim” background. Obama never claimed to be Muslim and is a practicing Christian.

The e-mailer asks “who is Barack Obama?” and “Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy. The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States, one of their own!!!!” The signs off with “Please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading our country?...... NOT ME!!!
Obviously, none of the “facts” stated by the e-mailer were checked, none of her statements were true, any bit of reality or research would prove that. More research would expose this e-mailer as a racist who just copied an e-mail that has been circulating the internet ever since Obama began his campaign.
I’m not alarmed by the misleading or blatantly false information, it is this person’s and many other’s ability to propagate this information without repercussions and with the intent of demeaning others, that is what I find so alarming.

What I find even more alarming is the implication that any Muslim is a threat to American and is by default a terrorist.

I’m not an Obama supporter, and this is not an attack on him, it is an attack on Muslims.

DEMONIZING MUSLIMS
Although alarming, this should not have surprised me, other candidates for President of the United States of America are just as racist. If my fears were not elevated during the current administration, they certainly will be if one of these guys wins.

Rudy Giuliani is running his campaign based on 9/11. He is running the “Ready” campaign using images of Muslims screaming in a commercial with the voice-over calling them “A people perverted”

Mike Huckabee uses the expression “Islamofascism” wherever he can and states on his website “Radical Islamic Facists have declared war on our country and our way of life”

John McCain when asked about religion and the presidency he stated that only Christians should be president.

Mitt Romney said that he will never appoint a Muslim as a cabinet minister.

Fred Thompson when the “clash” between Iranian boats and US naval ships apparently occurred said “I think one more step and” the Iranians “would have been introduced to those virgins that they look forward to seeing”

BUSH
Speaking of that clash…the administration is out to find a reason to attack Iran.
Reports of the incident conflict, the voice threatening the US ships did not come from Iranian boats and the boat that approached the US ships was unarmed.

Bush met with Olmert this past week telling him that even though US intelligence states that Iran does not have a hostile nuclear program, he doubts it and his beliefs lead him to think otherwise. Bush is going against his country’s intelligence and making dangerous statements to a foreign leader. What beliefs is Bush acting on?
It sounds too much like the build up to Iraq. The betting odds are 18-to-1 that Bush starts a war with Iran before leaving office.

THE AMERICAN WAY
So, why is it so easy to label all Muslims as terrorists, attack other countries based on a hunch, and say anything without repercussion? I do have my theories, but each one is scarier than the other.

And then it happened…

As I finally began a relent to sleep by four hundred and forty four winks, it happened; the breaking of barriers and the release of restrictive constrictive weight, an allowance to float, wading the expanse. Lightness as the liquid, fluid coast of mind and thought, freed. Drifting, almost drowning, I succumb and gulp the waters, more drowning. Lightness turns to sink, a struggle to gain comfort in overwhelming unbound wisdom. Four hundred and forty four winks stop in shortness of comfort and rest as eyes flash open one final time. The clock is dead, caught at four forty four. I ask you, “what does it mean?”

Of all elaborate plans

One more day and it will be another milestone birthday. This seems to be the worst. It is not that the destination is a source for all that is depressing, yet it is the uneventful, unremarkable, torturously bland journey by which I have arrived at this milestone that rankles me so.

As my friend IBJ insists, it is but another number, one that can be played or repainted on or molded into another shape to view as wondrous or insignificant as we please. He actually used more readily repeatable words of “Broa, shut-up. It’s just a number.” However the gist is just as memorable, I can’t focus on the number, but a milestone is reached non-the-less and for my memory being waned or failing I am unable to claim many goals attained by this passing day.

{Each New Year is another year gone for me, some say it is one of those false birthdates listed by immigrants, but whether it be January 1st or July 4th, an other year passes despite, in spite}

It is not so much the day, more the past days. What have I found along this journey, what will be found in my continued quest, and what is my final destination? My journey began more remarkable than it ends, with the obligatory marks set at college degree, employment, marriage, children and the like. Sure there was the brief stint on an illuminated trail, but no revelation, no discovery, no history and worst, no dreams realized. On the eve of a new year, my friend comments that you either are who you want to be or were never meant to be that person. Troubling words. As cryptic as they may be, they will haunt me. What am I? Who was I to be? Is this all? What determines who you are?

Is it even a question of quality of journey verses a value of destination, where is the emphasis? And if the destination is lacking in luster, will the journey fade in brilliance? Conversely, is a miserable trek rewarded? Surely in an after life, but will it in this?

By being who I am now at this stage in my life, it seems that this is exactly who I was meant to be. Or have I missed some turn? Optimistically, the journey has not ended, yet. There may be another turn up ahead. Pessimistically, I will fail to recognize it once more, or be reluctant to take it leading to a far more eventful journey. Then I may be who I was meant to be.

That story can still be filmed,
That book can still be written,
This life can still be extinguished before that turn appears.
Well, another number awaits my arrival, happy birthday to me.

another holiday passing

sorry I can only create strange, unappealing greeting cards, but the main point is may you and you families be granted joy.

37 factors of a rut

1. Got downsized.
2. Got new job that i don't like. same department. very strange how corporations work these days.
3. Lebanon is bracing for another Izraeli invasion. The economy is at a standstill again, former war-lords are still playing games with our lives.
4. The world is still against Palestine, in policy and rhetoric. no human rights for those who need them most.
5. There are so many wars and injustices that i tend to forget a few of them, and it seems others do the same so that those injustices remain.
5. Bush is trying to launch another unjust war, even though the case for is falling apart. They're not even working on their lies anymore, soon they'd say "we're taking over the world, deal with it."
6. Karl Rove has been trying to push blame for the Iraq war on the dumb democrats. This is the craziest use of warped logic ever.
7. Emotionally, socially, politically, environmentally, economically, culturally, humanistically, these are the worst days i've ever witnessed. More so since the knowledge and ability exists for a utopia.
8. The only person i knew who practiced love and justice passed away last year.
9. I don't ever see myself going back home.
10. I no longer see myself as a filmaker.
12. There is so much to think about that I end up crippled doing nothing.
13. I had a vision of my own demise and it isn't pretty, but is it changeable?
14. I have a problem, I know when people lie. But even when they know I've caught them, they lie more. Is that some sort of reconstructed human condition? For me to survive, I have to ignore the lies. That is painful, especially when some of those people are close.
15. there are 37 but I only have the energy to write 14. and missed # 11.

congratulations, welcome to the team

Well, these past couple of months I've been out of touch with a lot of people and of course the blog.
My department at work has been going through re-structuring. We knew we would lose our jobs and have to apply for new ones in the new department.

I survived.
I pretty much have the same job with a bit of change in focus at a different location.

The last thing I wanted when I chose a career as a video producer was to work for a large corporation with goals different from my creative goals, but that is where I find myself years later. I like my work yet working in a corporate environment is torture.

As the old saying goes "at least you have a job" That should not be an end all ambition. The economy in Michigan these days has lead people to believe that any employment is good. Of course, I'm thankful, but am no longer content, no longer loyal, no longer will I put in that extra effort. I will coast as everyone around me has been for years. And save my creativity for where its appreciated. The hell with it all.

There are no advancement opportunities. Life in Michigan is a dead end (without the dead part). "At least I'm alive"

Well now that the agony of waiting months just to see if I would survive this change is finally over, back to life I go.

maybe even more blogging.

I often wonder about the loss of hope while struggling to find any remnant of the promised, any sliver of light escaping from a shattered beacon.

As time stumbles by along a cold and desolate swampy existence my guide to aspire deliberately and purposefully commits to a self-induced suffocation of will.

Now where do I turn? A friend turns and a partner gives way; an occupation becomes a struggle to survive and a peaceful room comes to torture my thoughts.

What once was innocent and removed from this world’s devilish state stages daily coups to torment and giggle along the others humiliating betrayals.

It ends in a foreign place and a foreign state. I’ll leave nothing, not a journal nor a legacy. One more stumble of a crippled limb. One more strike by a smiling man.

As I looked for the moon, I noticed my son looking through my binoculars through the camera, this is what I assume he saw, so I took a shot of it as he may have seen it. This rendition appears like a celestial body, so I suppose he found the moon.