"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned..."

They've turned the internet into a great confessional booth! I can read all of your sins! I can peruse your innermost feelings, your tales of heartbreak and betrayal! And if little old me can read them, guess who else can... and is?

Did you notice those ads for Paxil appearing on your web browser after crying your heart out in your latest blog? Or how about those images of that particular brand of condom after you boasted about your latest lay on your favourite message board?

What do they have in store for a dissenting voice? Will they have to send their cash back up the corporate ladder in order for a spot on which to express it? What if said voice says something they don't want anyone to see? A ban? A visit, perhaps?

Whose governments do you remember quietly keeping watch on their citizens? How many of us know the goings-on of the world today? How many of us care? Why do you think that is?

I say let them see me for what I am. Let them try to push their products on me. Let them try to buy me off. Let them shun me from their made-up communities. If I live my life afraid of them, if I live my life afraid to do good, if I simply live my life afraid, I might as well be dead.

Trickle down...

I had a thought in my head, but couldn't seem to put words to it, so out popped this:

"Marijuana is a gateway, alright... a gateway to fun!"

Ahem. That's better.

As I was saying, it pleases me very little when I hear talk of "surplus" and "paying down the debt" from our noble elected officials. Wonderful. You've been spending our tax dollars on the private sector, and now you're using our tax dollars to pay off your debt to the private sector...

Actually, much like a credit card, where the bank pays for your purchases and you owe the bank, the private sector is still getting His, thus the tax dollars go to the bank, but I digress...

The wealth supposedly trickling its way down gets sucked right back up, with the government acting as chief money-launderer. I hear righties talk of there not being enough Iraqi oil to cover the cost, thus nullifying oil as a motivating element, and all I can think is, "Of course not. The public is paying for this war and the private sector is reaping the benefits."

So there you have it... the economy at work.

Good night, my few, frightened friends.

Father Knows Best

Today, I found myself unable to resist reminiscing of my relationship with the church. I never paid much attention in church; really only on how to follow protocol, for, as long as I've been on this planet, for two hours of one day each week, the all-seeing, all-knowing "God" cares how we dress.

Suffice to say, I have never been all that fond of the church. Leave it to this fine institution to ruin everything. How ironic that my admiration of Jesus seems to be inversely proportional to my admiration of the church.

Jesus preached love, not obedience. Jesus carried love in his heart, not a set of rules. At times, I felt like a trained dog. I'd always follow the line of relatives as I kissed icon after icon after icon. Nineteen Eighty-Four has been around longer than it took to count to nineteen eighty-four. If Jesus hadn't been Jesus, he would have marched his way down to the altar with the rest of us.

But what do I know?

The Meat Grinder

Noon. Sunday. I turn on the TV to all of our trusted news sources. As usual, I see the smiling portraits of this week's version of who got blown away in the name of "freedom", and each and every time, the faces I see have one glaring similarity:

They are faces of children.

Many of these kids were barely out of high school. Many were killed while their pals back home were whooping it up at a university kegger. When you received your degree, someone your age died somewhere in battle.

Did any of your friends start any of these wars?

Are their lives worth these wars they didn't start?

Where are the decision-makers in the grand scheme of things? They look awfully comfortable to me in their cozy office and boardrooms and press podiums, delivering the same rhetoric to us over and over and over again. Why aren't your lives sacrificed for these causes? Why is it always the children who maim and kill and perish?

To other human beings, these dead children are your son and your daughter and your brother and your sister and your friend and your lover. How do so few see the connection? Please tell me more than two percent of our population are capable of thinking like this. Please tell me our sitcoms and sporting events and "reality" television are not more immportant than the deaths of your loved ones, because as long as they're someone's loved ones, they're yours as well.

Fucking for procreation: the modern-day meat grinder. We'll only let you fornicate when we deem it to be necessary.

Advances in Medicine

Psychedelics could treat addiction, says Vancouver official

Personally, I propose we throw more people in jail. It's easier that way.

Where the Power Lies

Indian state bans Pepsi and Coke

Never underestimate the power of the common human being.

This includes you.

Enough!

I'm tired of watching the news and seeing nothing but talk talk talk while people continue to die in these meaningless wars. Fuck all of this chit-chat, already! I'm tired of seeing nothing but death and despair! I'm tired of seeing all this exploitation! I'm sick of all this shit!

Stop the fighting!
Sit the fuck down!
Explain why so-and-so hates so-and-so and so on and so forth,
then LEARN!
Learn not to allow for this to happen again!
We said "Never again!"
We're failing!
We're fucking failing!

A safe place a thing of the past?

Abducted Saskatchewan boy found alive

While I'm pleased to receive word of this boy being found alive, I cannot help but ponder the lack of attention given to the scores of children killed, maimed and otherwise scarred by Western imperialism. What hurts me most is the fact that a mother in Alberta will feel heartache over this story, yet simultaneously support a war in which her country and its allies shamelessly kill hundreds and thousands of children like this one.