Rotwang Ruminates (4)
Tim Geithner is not a tool of Wall Street. He is an agent of finanzkapital.
Jack Murtha to his constituents: if lovin you is wrong I don't wanna be right.
Everybody is discovering what tools be the Senate Democrats.
My NCAA final four bracket was the Minneapolis Trotskys coached by Farrell Dobbs, the Toledo Autolites w/coach A.J. Muste, the Seattle General Strikers, and the U.S. Bonus Army Academy. The Denver Wobblies coached by Bill Haywood were declared losers by default for not observing the rules of the game, after Joe Hill threw in a three-pointer from the third row seats.
Obama guarantees your GM car's drivetrain for five years, and it's a step down the road to fascism!
The U.S. advisers in Afghanistan are so not like the advisers in Vietnam, and Pakistan is totally not like Cambodia.
TPM Café needs more posts on Israeli politics.
The Washington Post is consolidating all of its sections into a Sudoku puzzle.
The new global currency will be dropped from black helicopters.
"TPM Café needs more posts on Israeli politics."
Heh. How many countries are there in the world? Go to the superb new 'Foreign Policy' website if you want to learn what is going on in, well, foreign policy.
March 31, 2009 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
.
For some funny reason . . .
I have have this sinking feeling that someone hasn't met Rotwang.
~OGD~
March 31, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, YOU didn't know it was a joke. (H/T Derek Zoolander)
March 31, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
.
Gotcha . . .
Thanks for the clarification . . .
~OGD~
March 31, 2009 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I too remember when the fascists tried to guaranty consumer warranties. Then they came for the gypsies...
March 31, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then they came for the wrestlers.
March 31, 2009 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sometimes they come for the duck a l'orange (but I hear the grilled chicken isn't bad)...
March 31, 2009 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice avatar.
Hun.
March 31, 2009 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then they came for the Huns (the poor pitiful Huns)...
March 31, 2009 10:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
uh oh, I've created a monster
=D
March 31, 2009 10:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Finanzkapital? Is that the cadre of blue-eyed, blond-haired bankers that president Lula was talking about?
March 31, 2009 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
TPM Café needs more posts on Israeli politics
Hear hear! There aren't any other countries of equal import in the world, and nothing going on in them that concerns us. (Isn't it absurd how MSM like the New York Times puts minor events like this on the front page, reassigning valuable manpower that could be used to cover the latest scuttlebutt on Israeli army confessions of guilt about Gaza earlier this year? It makes one wonder if they are in on the coverup of the war crimes! After all, Islamic people attacking Islamic people with nukes should be of no concern of ours! I myself have been constantly amazed at how each new post on Israel solicits new and usual points of view and solutions on I/P issues, and how often the debate offered changes minds and makes people think about it in new ways.
March 31, 2009 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rudolph Rotwang Ruminates Rudimentally
March 31, 2009 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Tim Geithner isn't a tool, how we gonna fix this thing?
March 31, 2009 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
As the saying goes, 'everything looks like a nail to a carpenter whose only tool is a hammer.'
March 31, 2009 9:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dear Rotwang, I was not even going to come into the cafe today, given that even my pores are exuding work-work-work. And then I saw you. ;)
As usual, you provide such deep philosophical nuggets.
Finanzkapital? As in Das preceeding it? Oy. Rosa and Vladimir, where are you? Kapital has become the emperor of Teh World? I've suspected so. However, I am willing to be lied to -- say it ain't so, Rotwang. Because if so, then what is ensuing with Wall Street warlocks, traders, derivative vendors and spellbinders, hedge-fund voodoo makers and now the automakers is war by other means? Or perhaps you seek to warn against our govt from seeking unwarranted influence as in the rise of such misplaced power will persist.
Your final four pix -- ROTFL.
Fascism is such a fashionable word this decade. I blame Dick Cheney. It's all his fault.
Yes, US advisers are different these days and more to the point Pakistan/Afghanistan have different histories than Vietnam/Cambodia. On the same land mass but still very different, no?
TPMCafe does need more posts on Israel. Like, really. Heh.
WAPO as Sudoku. No wonder my ambidextrous brain has such a hard time deciphering it.
Can we start a whole thread on what to name the new global currency?
My list --
Dactyls = dollar. Corybantes = in change
March 31, 2009 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Can we start a whole thread on what to name the new global currency? "
Good idea - my pick is "roots". The denomonitions will feature pics of the Fallen Angels:
"I'll call your 3 Lucifers and raise you 5 Molocs."
April 1, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
April 1, 2009 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The new global currency will be dropped from black helicopters.
Hey, thanks for the valuable tip/leak. The reason for your nom de plume becomes clearer. Is it that you are a member of the Bilderberg group? If so, can you tell us if the plan was announced in this June meeting?
March 31, 2009 6:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
but ... aren't most heli's black? I hope the new global currency will come in a neon pink heli. So much more a fashionista statement, no? And more appropriate too, given that it's carrying money. ;)
March 31, 2009 6:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ummm, perhaps if the heli remained a classic basic black color, the large U.N. initials on its sides could be in your neon pink?
April 1, 2009 5:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night....
March 31, 2009 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
But it was really Bobby McGee in a Mercedes Benz, not a stylishly black helicopter.
It was a natural mistake, bwak. Everyone gets them confused. :-)
April 1, 2009 6:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Wobblies didn't just get disqualified, they got massacred (look it up).
March 31, 2009 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm looking forward to the glamour showdown between Michele Obama and Carla Bruni.
Of course, Carla is a huge lefty and comes from a very riche and politically powerful family so she may not want to compete head-to-head in the couture department. That would be gauche, n'est pas?
The last glamour contest was between Carla and The First Lady of Syria, Asma al-Assad.
Alas according to wikipedia:
"In 2008, French women's magazine 'Elle' chose Syria's First Lady Asma al-Assad as the most stylish of international political ladies, beating France's own Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. A jury--made up of top French designers and the magazine's editor-in-chief--picked the willowy slim first lady for top place from among a host of elegant political women who are increasingly politically active in their spousal role."
March 31, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
heh, well, thank your lucky stars you have teh internet and don't have to rely on that nasty MSM Elle to tell you what to think, you can be fully informed of all the important play-by-plays, and make your own judgment:
MObama Has Landed — and She Changed Into Chartreuse Jason Wu!
3/31/09 at 5:25 PM
...When we know who the coat is by, we'll let you know...
:-)
March 31, 2009 9:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wuv teh innerwebs!
It was those cheeky boys over at Syria Comment who first alerted me to the who's the chic-est 1st Lady babe? contest between Asma and Carla.....who knew?
Since the MSMSNBC informs me that Michele's thing is selecting up-and-coming designers...if Carla is clever, she will seek out the Frenchie version.
*Asma will have to wait.
*(obligatory FP reference)
March 31, 2009 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Comrades!
Why oh why -- "Foreign Policy" is all about how to meddle in the affairs of others.
destor23 -- "Springtime // for Chrysler // in Germany . . . "
mszost -- Finanzkapital is the scientific term for dirty rotten scoundrels
artappraiser -- give it another thousand years.
Little Yva -- is everybody still doing the locomotion? If you're willing to be lied to, I'm willing to lie to you. So Pakistan is nothing like Cambodia. Cambodia was easy. Excellent idea re: the new global currency. My vote is for 'bernankes.'
artappraiser2 -- I tried out for the Bilderbergers but couldn't pass the swim test.
bigtime patriot -- I don't think you've quite gotten into the spirit of this thread. And when the Wobs organize Starbucks they will control the U.S.A.
lally -- Lipsticks are twenty paces?
March 31, 2009 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
In regard to those deep thinkers who see no important similarities between the Lunatic Leviathan in Cambodia and the Lunatic Leviathan in Pakistan we must provide them with a hint: namely, "Pay attention to the Lunatic Leviathan and not the insignificantly different local natives he keeps trampling all over."
Prior to Deputy Dubya Bush's demented invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, many of us surviving veterans of the Nixon-Kissinger Fig Leaf Contingent (Vietnam 1970-72) tried to warn our countrymen of the impending folly. Typically, we received a sneering brush-off by neocon/liberal-hawk know-it-alls who claimed that "Vietnam and Iraq are completely different." To which our fellow Vietnam Veteran Daniel Ellsberg would always reply: "Yeah. Like, in Iraq its a dry heat, and the language our political and military personnel don't speak is Arabic instead of Vietnamese."
But you've got it right about Cambodia vs Pakistan, Dr. Rotwang. Nixon and Kissinger could easily order the obliteration of helpless, hapless Cambodia (not that it made any difference to the Vietnamese who kicked us out of their country eventually anyway) but with its nuclear weapons, I think treating Pakistan in the same way as we treated Cambodia wouldn't work out well at all, to say the least.
Anyway, several years ago I wrote a poem called "The Tunnel at the End of the Light," from which here I will only excerpt a brief few stanzas relevant to your point:
...
Vietnam and Iraq look so different
As any deep thinker can see
Why, Iraq begins with the letter "I;"
Vietnam, with the letter "V."
And these differences go even deeper
As any sage pundit will say.
Vietnam has its jungles so shiny and green
And Iraq has it deserts of gray.
And the ex-pats who've hijacked the nation
Have such different names don't you see?
In Vietnam we had us a Ngo Dinh Diem
In Iraq, it's Ahmed Chalabi.
And the Asians don't look like the Arabs,
And the Buddhists don't look like Imams.
Yet the loathsome invader looks strangely the same
Flying over and dropping his bombs.
...
From "The Best and the Brightest" to "The Worst and the Dullest" in only one generation. Most people don't know that evolution also produces animal species whose gross incompetence sooner or later renders them extinct.
April 1, 2009 3:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
"The Machine Stops".
March 31, 2009 11:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn it!!! I don't see any rumination where I can work in a gratuitous marijuana reference.
Hold on a second...they grow great weed in Vietnam don't they?
But your Final Four ruminations did remind me of this classic soccer match...literally one for the ages. :-P
April 1, 2009 12:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
The new global currency (based on the Jamaican dollar in various denominations): the spliff, ganga, gash, swisher (backed by Acapulco gold)?
April 1, 2009 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
.
Uh . . .
Acapulco Gold is so 20th century ...
It went the way of the Panama Red ...
TrainWreck is currently the latest standard ...
Check the local MMJ outlet when visiting Oakland.
That is all . . .
~OGD~
April 1, 2009 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm chronically behind the times (and think I might have chronic glaucoma).
April 1, 2009 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
chronic glaucoma
A prophylactic regime is best....
April 2, 2009 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Doc. I’ve just got to get this Rₓ filled.
April 2, 2009 11:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
this Rₓ filled
I was standing at the bar at the old Roundhouse in London and this kid next to me pulls out the foulest green looking liquid (in what was otherwise a standard 5 oz cough syrup bottle) hits off it a couple of times, sees my expression, and says:
"Oh, that's me tincture, mate"
File under: You get what you need...
April 3, 2009 1:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Reminds me of one , (late), evening when I lived in midtown NYC in the early 80s. I was coming home from downtown, and missed my subway stop. Ended up in Harlem. I was alone in the subway car with a bag lady wrapped in multiple layers, scarf around her lower face. She rummages in her bag, and eventually pulls out a bottle of Airwick Air Freshener™, unscrews the cap, wafts it back and forth in front of her nose, glances up, and notices me staring at her, (who knows what expression was on my face that moment). She pauses her inhaling, and holds the bottle up to me and asks if I would like to join her. It was actually a very sweet moment, in retrospect.
April 3, 2009 3:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Airwick Air Freshener
As a person who once smoked the scrapings of banana peels with a steadily diminishing store of innocent hope, I am not in any position to cop an attitude about the *Airwick.
*(BTW, did she get high? I'm jus' askin')
April 3, 2009 3:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
*(BTW, did she get high? I'm jus' askin')
Can't answer that, as I had to get off at the next stop, and didn't ask her. In retrospect she might have been using it just for the fragrance, but the look in her eyes told me it was something more than that.
April 3, 2009 4:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Tinc·ture
1 a substance that colors, dyes, or stains b: color , tint
2 a solution of a medicinal substance in an alcoholic solvent
St. Patty's day?
April 3, 2009 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
2 a solution of a medicinal substance in an alcoholic solvent
Herewith a quote from a field report on "the Green Dragon"
"Two droppers gave me a "spiritual dose" (as strong as any brownie I ever had). Effects lasted 7-8 hours with lingering effects for 2 more hours"
April 3, 2009 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmmm...well, Pakistan has the atomic bomb. Cambodia had (circa 66-67) the atomic bong (by all INDICAtions.)
April 1, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
A.J. Muste
A.J. was famous for his sharp elbow work in the post.
dropped from black helicopters
By Abbie Hoffman, who only faked his death...
after Joe Hill threw in a three-pointer from the third row seats.
Assisted by cheerleaders Boxcar Bertha and Emma Goldman, who distracted the opposing Utah Pinkertons by improvising a prototypical Girls Gone Wild double-trouble routine.
April 1, 2009 12:17 AM | Reply | Permalink