DarkObserver, 13. März 2003 um 14:48:20 MEZ

In the name of the Lord?

When Jake and Elwood Blues thought themselves to be "on a mission from God" in the 1980's hit movie "Blues Brothers" it was a funny notion to have. When President George Wanker Bush and his companions act based on that same "calling" today, it's not funny it's utterly worrying.

Based on what's happening right now, the USA and GB will start the war against Iraq despite opposition from most of the rest of the world. They will consciously breach international law! It will be legitimate to view them as aggressors, attacking another nation without being attacked first.

From a strict legal standpoint Bush, Rumsfeld and others -after their time in office has run out and their immunity is lifted- could be arrested while outside of the U.S. and put to trial by the International War Crimes Tribunal in La Hague

I don't know which famous American has said it but what we have here is another case of "this great country being held hostage by a corrupt government, deceiving its own people". The propaganda machine is well-oiled and running feverishly to lull the pubic into compliance by fabricating "facts" proving Bush and his war-mongering friends right. It's really like in the movie "Wag the Dog"! The American public -in mainstream media at least- is being kept in the dark about the suffering of Iraqi children because of sanctions running way too long. The majority of the Iraqi population is under the age of 18!

The tone of some of the articles and statements in U.S. media can only be called xenophobic, when it comes to throwing dirt at the French in example. Or how about "Freedom fries"? Come on, get some brains!

If I didn't know by experience that America stands for so much more than conservative-Christian fundamentalism I could start to hate it, but since I do, I won't.

This unilateralism carried out by the current government is nothing but a complete ego-trip by the world's remaining super-power, saying "Fuck U" to the rest of the world. Such bigotry is hardly bearable. The same Donald Rumsfeld who negotiated with Saddam Hussein touting him as a "reliable" partner against Iran back in the 1980's is now placing him in the same league with Hitler. Fact is, this dictator is the same cruel, inhuman asshole he was then.

The reasons for going to war wavered from the so-called "war on terror" to stripping Iraq of weapons of mass-destruction to simply getting rid of Saddam. The real reasons are the huge oil reserves -not exclusively though, that would short-sighted- but a whole host of other things and mainly this crusader-like Christian fundamentalist bullshit the Bush administration subscribes to.

Repercussions may include:

• Hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties
• More terror attacks around the world and in the U.S.
• Americas image in the rest of the world severely damaged for a long time to come "The class bully who cares about no-one else"
• More unrest in the Middle East
• North Korea and others gaining more freedom to do stuff really threatening world peace -because they're not in the focus of attention
• Ridiculing the U.N. "Use them if possible or ignore them"

The money this war will cost would be much better spent in America itself, in example for better education, especially for minorities and for rebuilding the desperate inner cities of many American cities.

*** To be continued ***

DarkObserver, 9. März 2003 um 15:07:29 MEZ

1000 visitors

It has happened: According to Sitemeter, there've been more than 1.000 visitors to this page now.

I just wanted to take that as an occasion to thank everyone who's reading this drivel regularly, by accident or because of whatever reason brought you here. Some of you I know, most of you I don't. Thanks nonetheless.

Although this blog is not very popular in comparison with others and I really couldn't tell what purpose it serves exactly, it's good to know that I'm not writing in total vacuum.

Announcement: After mostly dealing with my petty personal problems recently I am currently working on a hard-edged posting focusing on the pending war in Iraq. It will be controversial -or so I hope- because it will target U.S. policy while maintaining as high a level of objectivity as possible.

DarkObserver, 2. März 2003 um 02:45:37 MEZ

Another lonely -but not entirely unsatisfying- night

Tonight I've had a really interesting night: Although I considered staying at home after a hard working week, the longing for companionship -or merely a pussy?!- drove me out around 10 o'clock in the evening after all.

At first I went to a Punk rock concert in a cellar joint mostly visited by students. I had some beers and placed myself near the bandstand, sideways to the speakers, in order to save my eardrums from bursting. I liked the music and the guys in the band and the young people pogueing away to those aggressive Punk sounds. One of the girls in the audience caught my attention, sporting a Scottish-checkered skirt, like a kilt, interestingly patterned hose and a real Iroquois Punk haircut. She looked like one of those girls from my youth, who I admired from afar back then, while being an uncool geek myself. Nowadays I dress in all in black and I am well-figured and tattooed, but I'm basically too old. But that apparently so many young people even today can identify with the protest/anti-fascist message of Punk gives me hope. Hey, Punk lives!

When the concert was finished I was really drunk and I decided to stumble across the street to a former favorite hangout of mine called "Die Goldene Krone" (The Golden Crown) and get a coffee to sober me up somewhat. What happened was that I had the unexpected luck of witnessing one of the rare Blues concerts of a local legend of sorts: A man named Fred Hill, an African-American who's been living here in Germany for ages, was slumped in a chair on stage when I came in, looking ultra-cool, with a white leather cap on his head and wearing dark shades and black leather pants, not moving much, looking like a statue.

The man is in his 70s or 80s now and being a long, long way from Missisippi or Chicago, Fred is as close to a real Bluesman as one can get over here. I got my coffee, placed myself at a table and tried to stop my head from spinning around. After a while, I realized, that Fred wasn't sitting on stage for nothing and that he might be waiting for his performance to start soon. And start it did, after the 30 minutes or so that it took me to consume my coffee, the guy who owns the place and another guy playing drums joined Fred and they started jamming. Although being quite old -or especially because of that- Fred Hilll emanated a believability when doing those Blues songs that got to my heart.

There's a Blues song that says "You got to suffer, if you wanna sing Blues" I'd say, you have to know suffering if you want to UNDERSTAND Blues. I do. I mean, while sitting in this bar and listening to the Blues I thought about a lot of sad facts: About the last woman I ditched, who afterwards really meant so much more to me than I ever realized while we were together, about me not having become the famous author or journalist I've always hoped to become, about the friends I'd lost....And hey, why is it that -no matter where I go- I'm either too old or too young?? At the Punk concert I was sort of an elder, having witnessed the birth of this musical style back in the 80's and the audience being in their teens or twenties but at the Blues concert, most people were in their Fourties or Fifties. Hell, where are the guys and dolls my age? I guess at home caring for their kids and about each other. I neither have kids nor a wife...no wonder I dig the Blues so much. I've loved and I've lost and now I am lonely...

Anyway, when the band took a break, I decided I was sober enough to drive home. End of story.