If I cover my eyes, they can't see me

An interesting tidbit for today, my friends.

Browsing around the Intarweb tubes with the help of ‘the google’ I happened upon the following story (published yesterday, 11/25/06) from Reuters by way of the Washington Post:

“The Transportation Security Administration said yesterday that it will charge $28 a year to process background checks on each airline passenger who joins a privately run traveler registry.

Congress created the Registered Traveler program after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in response to complaints about long security lines that became common at airports with stepped-up passenger and bag screening.

The program is mainly aimed at frequent fliers, which include premium-paying business travelers on major airlines at busier airports.

The fee, charged to the private companies that run Registered Traveler, would cover the TSA's costs for performing the checks and overseeing the program, the agency said.

Previous TSA fee estimates of up to $100 had generated a backlash from airports and companies interested in the program. They said higher cost would sap passenger interest.

Supporters say Registered Traveler will lead to a faster and easier trip through airport security for those who sign up and agree to submit personal information for background checks and fingerprints or other biometric information to be embedded on an identity card.

The program has been slow to get going and so far is in place only at the Orlando airport. There, passengers pay $99.95 for a one-year membership, which covers expenses for TSA vetting. Verified Identity Pass Inc. said it has registered more than 30,000 people for its registered traveler programs, most from the effort in Orlando.

The company, which is privately held, , said it plans to expand the service to Cincinnati, Indianapolis, San Jose and the British Airways terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport by January.”

[Let’s seeee, $99.95 x 30000 = 2,998,401. Not bad for the first launch at the first airport. Not too bad as an annually replenishing passive income stream, either. As this becomes more intertwined with the airline and DHS way of doing things, one can’t help but wonder how high this fee will eventually rise, what with inflationary concerns, more stringent security requirements as time goes on, and new measures deemed necessary to protect future data after an invariable “data loss”. What happens to someone who joins and then doesn’t want to renew? Is that person now “suspect” as trying to avoid this thing that “is for our own good”? Just some questions worth pondering…..]

Security and Convenience for just a bit more cash. Who wouldn’t want that? I decided to dig a wee bit deeper to check for “monsters under the bed”, if you will.

First, a trip to the website of Verified Identity Pass, Inc. The main page greets potentials with fantastic news, namely that it has the backing of Michael Chertoff. If it’s good enough for Chertoff and the Ministry of Truth DHS, it good enough for me.

Moving on.

A search of the address listed on the website reveals some information that should be of note. In looking at the list of associated businesses, one name in particular jumped out:, Kroll (in its many forms). Severely underwhelming, you say? Who cares, right?

Indeed, who cares, except for one small detail. Kroll was the company responsible for security up to the attacks that illuminated the imminent, ever-present, and “for the foreseeable future” terror threat. Boy, thank goodness they’re in our corner. (Also enjoy, with compliments, these tasty morsels from The Center for Public Integrity or Demopedia)

What about the folks at the top? Such people will surely have no motivation other than the altruistic sort. In the interest of time let’s take a brief look at the two persons at the top of this latest venture to contribute to the public well-being.

In the first Director Chair we have Samuel Berger, who happens to be a former National Security Advisor. He also happens to have been recently convicted of a misdemeanor. It is the details of said misdemeanor from a Justice Department document that are of particular note—yet another innocuous coincidence in a world filled with so many, no doubt.

(While certainly no law expert, I have the sneaking suspicion that had you or I been the ones removing, destroying, and/or otherwise altering National Archive documents, much more serious charges and penalties would have been levied and enforced. Congratulations! You’ve won a free trip to a secluded and rustic location of our choice!)

In the second Director Chair we have Steven Berkenfeld. Mr. Berkenfeld is a managing director of Lehman Brothers. He is a Director of RSI Holding Corporation (who acquired Employment Solutions, Inc. in 2002, who are “…in the business of locating and providing labor to industrial companies.”), and is a Member of the Corporate Financing Committee at the NASD. (this information comes from Tiger 21, itself an interesting site).

Start reading. Begin recognizing the chains that increasingly bind.

***********

Just what is all this trying to imply? That it’s all a big shell game? Perish the thought.

We are informed, ad nauseum, by our elected parents that these monsters under the collective bed do not exist. Who to believe? Our dependency on the ‘rents is strong. Will we grow up and learn to depend on ourselves once again or will we regress further still? Will we continue to retreat to the fake comforts of a televised reality that says what we so desperately want and need to hear because glimpsing the beginnings of truth means facing an ugliness we never really thought possible?

I wonder why our media ringmasters think it unnecessary to let us know these things. I wonder why digging for said information never seems to have occurred to them in the first place.

Okay, that’s a lie. I don’t wonder at all. If these “little” bits of information were actually sought after and reported in the main, it just might lead people in a truly informed democracy to think that they might not need all of these new measures, costs, and restrictions in order to be safe in the almighty scam that is the War on Terror. People just might be very averse to the idea that this is yet another way to extract from them more flesh, less in pounds, but more in survivable and sustainable ounces. It is the bar mitzvah of our new microfleshcash economy, transforming people into the new and improved, more frightened and easily controlled, money machines they always knew we could be.

Basil, this coffee smells like shit.

It *is* shit, Austin.

Oh, good, then it’s not just me.

November 23

Let me preface the following by stating that this post in response to his comment is not the beginnings of a massive flame war or “blogger drama” between StB and myself. We have spoken, remain friends, and both look forward to a couple of beers (likely it will be many more than that) together during the upcoming WPBT festivities in Vegas. It is with no bile that I write the following. I am merely using the comment as a tool to try and further explain the wholly massive change that has taken place within me over these last weeks

So without further ado or qualification, here goes.

**********

The best way I know how is to take this in parts.

“You will link in a Republican who suggests people help each other, but not link Democrat Charlie Rangel call for reinsituting the draft?”

I didn’t think that it was altogether necessary to link Rangel’s call for a draft because (at least for these few days) it has been all over the news and to me it is an assumed that everyone already knows about it, at least in the sense that the issue has been brought up (again), and they likely know who brought it up. In retrospect, it’s true that I may have assumed too much (cue folksy wisdom about assuming. Ass, u and me, and so on), and in the interest of being as complete as possible here is a link to Congressman Rangel.

However, what bothers me more than the sentence itself is the distinct mention of Republican and Democrat, as though I may be biased or party leaning in one direction or the other. For anyone who might be of this opinion, let me state as clearly as I can to all who will listen that it does not matter one iota to me whether or not the person or link in question is Democrat or Republican. The only reason I link to anything is in support of the things I am trying to get across.

Democrats and Republican are only slightly differing sides of the same broken and destructive political coin.

**********

“You are right. "helping out at homes, health care, nurses, etc.". How evil!”

Again, call me an ass for assuming and you would likely be right. Here was the part of the article I had hoped would jump out:

And those skills include math: "If I have 40 acres of forest," runs a typical problem, "how many search dogs will I need to find a fugitive?"

Before going further, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia on Hitler Youth:

“In 1940, Artur Axmann replaced Schirach as Reichsjugendführer and took over leadership of the Hitler Youth. Axmann began to reform the group into an auxiliary force which could perform war duties. The Hitler Youth became active in German fire brigades and assisted with recovery efforts to German cities affected from Allied bombing. The Hitler Youth also assisted in such organizations as the Reich Postal Service, Reichsbahn, fire services, and Reich radio service, and served among anti-aircraft defense crews.”

Do I think that volunteering to help out one’s community is evil? Certainly not. In bringing up the subject of Hitler Youth, do I mean to imply that the children of our country that want to do good works are Nazi’s? Most. Certainly. NOT.

My assertions were not an indictment of volunteer work. Rather they were and are meant as an indictment of government run and/or funded volunteer service programs in the context of the horrifically aggressive government and intelligence apparatus of the last six years (minimum).

The point is that these programs are being used by Homeland Security as a more “public friendly” tool to line up with the Terrorist Information and Prevention System (TIPS) they tried rolling out with full force in ’02, which sought to create more citizen informants than were employed by the Stasi in East Germany. The similarities between these government and "private" programs and those of the Hitler Youth programs should not be ignored simply because our government programs have a more polished veneer, or the programs aren’t “there yet.” Nor should anyone ignore the similarities merely because the mention of Hitler, whatever the context, now seems to be verboten. We are not immune to being completely overtaken by the same religious-in-nature and wholly misguided nationalistic fervor that once took hold of German society.

Hitler said Jew. We say Terrorist. Both are supported by the same irrational and reactionary fear. You say potato, I say potato. Both are, and have been (in their inherent irrationality), equally effective in duping entire peoples.

**********

“I guess you believe we are not at war.”

(Note: I take this as referring to not so much the literal war in Iraq, but our broader war on the “terrorists”—If I am wrong and the reference was to the actual war being currently fought, my apologies. In my defense, though, I can’t see how the actual war would have anything to do with it in the context of the article in question)

That’s correct, I do not believe that we are at war, not in the way that our “leaders” and media would have us believe in order to whip largely ignorant masses of Americans into a fearful frenzy.

We have the War on Drugs.

We have the War on Poverty.

We have the War on Terror. (All new and continually improved!)

None of these “wars” are, nor have they ever been, successful on the grand scale to which they are often referred. In fact, they are continually unsuccessful and steadily lose ground. These “wars” are not designed or fought to be won. They are promoted as never ending continual struggles, paid for by us, in dollars and in blood, while our great leaders and their attendant family dynasties profit personally and politically the entire time. Drop the incessant war moniker and start refusing to be the fuel in this engine that drives their aspirations of power and control.

*********

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on our blessings, and I am well aware that many might find the above unpleasantness to be distasteful on such a holiday when we should be focusing on the good things our lives. In a contextual vacuum, I would agree with this. However, given the fact that we are currently in the midst of a great global upheaval largely of our own creation, this narrow view taken during the holiday is escapist at its core.

We must rediscover that it is possible to celebrate in a sober fashion, acknowledging and considering these circumstances that are of great public and global moment. We must remember that today, American troops will die. We must remember that today, a great many innocent Iraqis will die. We must remember and contemplate the fact that for all of these, turkey and trimmings (or, if you like, insert particular cultural or religious celebration here, as not everyone eats, or enjoys for that matter, turkey) with family and friends is truly a world away.

There exists little joy in our own blessings when we deny others the same on a basis of lies (ties to terorism, WMD's, liberation). I have no doubt that Americans and Iraqis alike would be thankful on this day to know that there still exist people who are thinking of them and making all efforts, in thought and in deed, to end this elective war (and its attendant death and destruction) for geopolitical gain. Political face-saving, be damned.

It is with great thanks in my heart that I say cheers to all of you, have a Happy Thanksgiving.

(thanks again, StB, for the comment)

Citizenship for Service!

Break out your copies of Starship Troopers and witness the future.

"Put us on a war footing."

Have the kids do the police work.
(It's fun to catch the bad and scary terrorists when Homeland Security points them out and trains us to find them.)

Force the rest.
(Don't worry, the richest will still be in school training to pick up where their fathers left off so you can keep fighting the good fight abroad)

Just think, if it wasn't for visionary science fiction we would have no idea just how great the future of perpetual war will be under the direction of our wise elites as they regale us with tales of our own bravery and astute "security-oriented" wisdom.

Decisionating

It was with big smiles that I read this morning about senators Leahy and Dunn in their efforts to repeal major offending portions of the odious Military Commissions Act. My first thought was, “Damn, I hope they can get that passed.”

Using my day off to cruise news outlets that report something other than “Tom Cruise may be getting fat and how come Oprah wasn't invited to the wedding, OMFG” my thoughts incessantly turn to nagging questions. What if they are able to get these revisions passed? How long would it take for such a thing to actually happen? Once it actually happened, what would be the immediate and direct consequences? Would there be any, or, would we set up another committee to begin another round of investigations, all built around the ostensible “cooperation” of the administration? Would any of these “setting things to right” actions lead to the upheaval and consequences that the shredding of the Constitution so richly deserves?

Wait, though. Even if such a thing makes it through all of the various committees and debates, comes up for a vote, and passes, it still goes to the President’s desk for a signature. Do you think he will sign after all of that work he's put in to get the things he wants “legalized”? Or, will he sign with his Super-Decisionater 3000 pen, gutting the legislation with his signing statement superpower*?

*For those who may not know, said signing statement superpowers are given to he who is deemed worthy of wielding The Super-Decisionator 3000 which contains the magical Executive ink. Barbara asks that we be gentle as we break the news to George that his pen is not actually “super” and that his ink is not infused with a super-ingredient called “Executive” meaning that if he writes it, it is so. She simply told him that so he would practice his cursive, and just feels awful that it has caused so much trouble.

Of course, these questions and many more are simply offshoots from the root. The root question is, “Will any of it make a single bit of actual difference when real accountability is “off the table”?

There still hasn’t been a whisper about the damaging John Warner Defense Authorization Act. There hasn’t been a peep about the massive election fraud we just experienced only a couple of weeks ago. Everyone is still following the piper off the cliff as we witness the run-up to a change in strategy that sounds an awful lot like the one we had before, just with more troops and money. The rhetoric against Iran hasn’t really slowed down; perhaps if we can topple that government everything will right itself in the region.

The government consultant told me, “More and more people see the weakening of Iran as the only way to save Iraq.” (The New Yorker)

Fantastic. Hey, if you walk away from the table you walk away almost broke, but if just double down a few times you can leave with a profit!

Really? Okay, then.

“The Pentagon is considering $127 billion to $160 billion in requests from the armed services for the 2007 fiscal year, which began last month, several lawmakers and congressional staff members said. That's on top of $70 billion already approved for 2007.” (USA Today)

Changing 200 billion! Sirs, do you need any silver for the bonus bet?

Mission Accomplished

It is with great relish (and no mustard) that I am able to finally report and fully commit. The Heads will be joining the assault on Las Vegas poker tables and bars, to begin upon our arrival sometime during the evening of 12/7.

To be sure, it was a long fight against the HR Generalists, but one they could never hope to win in the end due to my inter-department shock and awe campaign, where vast swaths of cubicle farm were bathed in the holy fire of bombs filled with political capital. Our arrival in Vegas represents true victory for The People. BG is right, and does well in making the larger point, which is that we must fight HR departments everywhere, because they hate our freedoms.

I just hope I don’t get bogged down in a quagmire that sees me throwing hammers on video poker machines that will never submit.

Mission Accomplished. See you there.

Another scrap on the pile

Here is an article to give the scene below some context.

This is what now happens in America, land of the free, when you don't have ID, forget your ID, or simply decide that you shouldn't be compelled, at random, to produce your papers.

I first saw this clip on MSNBC before I left work this morning. The clip they showed had little/no sound and was only a couple of seconds long.

There is so much to say about this it is difficult to know where to begin, so I won't. I shouldn't need to go on at length--pictures are truly worth thousands of words. Here is the entire video, and indeed, witness freedom and our fucking Patriot Act at work.




6:40 PM--Much credit goes to Keith Olbermann for giving this issue the proper attention on Crossfire, a far cry from the regulat "news". It's nice to see the ratings trending away from the trash that is Bill-O toward something much closer to reality.

Testing our Limits

Originally attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller because of the lack of action from German intellectuals during the Nazi rise to power:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came... )

There are many variations of this poem, but all have the same underlying theme. They all speak to the killing off of freedom by the state, by the government. They will tell you when it’s okay to play poker, they will tell you when it’s okay to travel, they will tell you how and why to fear—no need to decide for yourself.

Alas, I am going into familiar digression and will cut it short for now. The following is the “why” of today’s post.

The 2006 Military Commissions Act is now law. Let's try this baby out and see how it works.

Are you really going to accept that the concept of your individual liberty is nothing but a memory? It’s only immigrants, you say? Ignoring, for now, the general moral depravity of such a sentiment, I challenge anyone to read the actual text of the new law. American citizens, not just immigrants illegal or otherwise, can be declared enemy combatants, ask Jose Padilla.

Does it not prompt in you even the smallest sense of foreboding? If it does, please see the links below and start finding out why. If you have no sense of foreboding about this, see the links from posts below (ignore the ReviewMe) anyway, and stop taking so much from the state on faith.

See the truth, even if it is ugly and frightening, and begin to glimpse how being truly free can feel.

Kicked in the Junk, indeed.

Time and time again over the last couple of years I have gone on at great length and with great sarcasm about anything smacking of the sentiment Save the Children. It's no secret that I'm generally annoyed by children for all sorts of different reasons, some definitely more valid than others.

Today I realized something. I don't hate kids at all. The reason that I cannot stand the thought of having children is that I cannot stand the thought of something so essentially innocent not even having a chance.

Sit down, close the poker table, shut down the iPod, radio, TV, and listen to what is being ignored and has been woefully underreported.

John Yoo, one of the architects of U.S. legal policy on torture in a public forum debate with Doug Cassel, International Human Rights expert. Please make sure you are paying very close attention to the last 1/3 of the six minute clip.

Now look at your kids. What if anyone ever calls you a terrorist? It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s true, it just has to be “put out there”. Perception is the only reality now, substance doesn't even enter into the debate. It’s not like there needs to be a warrant, or charges, or evidence, or anything even close thanks to the (now signed into law) 2006 Military Commissions Act. Ask yourself, if Democrat leadership is so effective and decent as compared to the big bad neo-cons and Republicans that were just swept out, how come they have not uttered the word “repeal”?

Maybe there are bigger and better things to do, like shoving an Amnesty Plan through for people here illegally. Is this how problems are dealt with? Declare them non-existent? Is that something you get to do under a continually increasing tax/debt burden as you make less and your money becomes even more worthless? Do you teach your children to declare things non-existent? Also worth remembering *again* is that the Republicans rejected Amnesty—So now that those guys are out, has Bush really lost anything? Oh yeah, he’s losing the dead weight of Cheney and Rumsfeld. They’ve helped start the wars they needed to; he can take it to Iran without them.

Do you really think they’re trying to avoid war? You need do some real research. You better wake the fuck up. These are the people who can conceive of crushing your kid’s testicles if they decide you are terrorist enough. Don’t be afraid of the terrorists you can’t see, be afraid of the one’s that you can.

I hate the all of the Save the Children mantras out there just as much as I ever did. It’s because they are not saving anyone or anything. They are using your natural instincts and emotions to blind you, and they are perverting the entire concept of saving children, making many (including myself up to now) discount or hate it, when fundamentally it is good.

Start taking back the country and life that’s being stolen from you.

Join a real Save the Children campaign.

The State of My Union

“….of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.”
--Alexander Hamilton, No. 1 General Introduction, The Federalist Papers

The helicopters are buzzing around my house and neighborhood again this morning. It is now a more constant and common sound, one that I find I do not like and cannot get used to.

It sounds like the beginning of some paranoid Orwellian post-apocalyptic sci-fi inside look at possible paranoid schizophrenia while struggling against the tyranny that has always existed at various points throughout the course of human history --type of novel. (I'd like to buy some comma's please, Pat)

But it’s not from any novel or movie. It is an increasing and encroaching reality.

No, I do not think I’m being followed and yes, police and television helicoptors are nothing new. It is their constant droning for half an hour out of every two as they constantly gaze and sweep my area that weighs heavy on me, reminding me with increasing frequency that I could “legally” be surveilledghostedrenditioned, and for the most ambiguous and ill-founded of reasons. Reasons that have no accountability and that I am no longer allowed to be aware of. We The People, “officially” reduced to little more than bit players in an elitist ant-farm spectator sport.

I’m reasonably sure that anyone reading posts here within the last month has already picked up on the fact that my knowledge and acceptance of what is truth has been changing drastically, and I have been struggling in many ways to come to terms with it.

To look directly upon the approaching tyranny and force myself to see it for the insidious thing that it is, and to confront the innermost part of myself that doesn’t want to believe it has been extremely unpleasant. Devastating, if I may use the word, is the freezing water realization that if we seek to preserve our national soul then we as citizens cannot stand idly by while pretending the horrors committed in our name and in the name of our noblest concepts don’t exist or aren’t as awful as all that. The fix has truly been in for a while now. Devastating is the fact that the people of the world, who used to look at us in large part with admiration or envy, now pity our apathy, our laziness, and our general national stupidity. Most Of Our Children Are Going To Be Left Behind is our new unspoken and unacknowledged legislation. The fact that our broken government or complicit, spineless mainstream media does not show us the truth as it is, and the fact that we have collectively used this as an excuse to believe blatant lies in trade for our next quick shot of gratification rends me to my core every time I consider it.

**********
I did not accomplish anything heroic during my term of service in the U.S. Air Force. It’s a fact that always disappointed me just a bit when I thought about it, as I was always enamored to a certain extent by the likes of Audie Murphy, Sgt. York, and other military heroes. I came to accept the fact that, more than likely, I was never going to be thrust into any Medal of Honor situations save those brought to me by the programming sweatshop leaders at Electronic Arts, and that all-in-all this was a good thing, a blessing. In spite of essentially hating the monster bureaucracy that was government, there was great comfort in the fact that I was still a tangible part of something larger and nobler than myself. On my second deployment to Saudi Arabia, when Saddam decided to lob a few scuds in our direction, I could begin to relate (even if it was in the most miniscule way) to the ones who went before me, who suffered, died, and gave up what was most precious so that I could have it. Crouched in a bunker, in a ridiculously unweildy chemical warfare suit, enduring the miserable torture of a gas mask in 120 degree weather, waiting, you think on these things. Even though you know that scuds are notoriously inaccurate and will likely miss you by twenty miles, you wonder, and you think on these things. While extents and durations may differ in each case, I believe that you would have extreme difficulty finding many military members who haven’t done the same. For goddamn sure, every one of your children, our people, on the other side of the world have thought on these things.

I’m telling you so you will know where I come from.

***********

When I was in the sixth grade, Mrs. Campbell taught our Government/History class. There was a particular issue being discussed (I wish I could remember exactly what it was, but alas, I cannot), and many of us in the class began running away with said issue, shooting ideas around and beginning to explore possible solutions to an ongoing societal problem as only “almost teenagers” who are naively 11 years-old can. While everyone excitedly carried on, I stopped because I noticed that this was the point where my teacher would usually quiet everyone down and we would continue our ride on the education train down curriculum track. However this time she just sat there, with a wry smile on her face and her head shaking back and forth a bit. When things finally died down and she spoke it was in a smaller tone, and our class unintentionally became near-death quiet in our efforts to listen. (Perhaps if she had been a more reflective personality type, she would have realized that in her softer tone there was power to shut us up where other efforts had failed, but that is neither here nor there I suppose) She said, “The thing you guys are so excited about is called idealism. It’s great when you’re 11 or 12, but you’ll realize when you get older that none of these things will ever happen. None of these ideas will ever really work.” That is a direct quote that I will not forget it as long as I live. It ran contrary to everything I had been taught up to that point. I knew about Dr. King, I knew about Ghandi, I knew about our founders, all forward thinkers who gave much and achieved more in pursuit of man’s unalienable right to Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness. The concepts we stand on are a noble product of honest and critical thought. During 17 years in the confines of (or protected by, depending on your viewpoint) my super-Baptist household, I doubted much and questioned even more throughout my formal and informal education. Basic truths that are common through all major religions were increasingly ignored in favor of the competing dogmas of the moment. But I never doubted the fundamental ideas or documents of our country on which we based all. I knew.

I’m telling you so you will know where I come from.

**********

Turn off your Consumer Training Device, if only for a little while. Read what our founders wrote. There is a great deal of wisdom and truth there, history validates it and makes every effort to remind us if we will only take the time to look. The telescreen talks very little about things which will truly benefit a person, taking us from shallow human interest spectacle to empty and staged political debacle and back again, all in a wonderfully convenient 5-7 minute formatted package before it’s time for the Product Hymns once again. .

Oh no! The issue is Black and White! Look we’ve added Mexicans! All new! It is not.

Oh no! The issue is Christian and Muslim! Wait, Christians and Extremists! It is not.

Oh no! The issue is Red and Blue, Asses and Pachyderms! It is not.

Oh no! The issue is Gay usurping Straight! Child Predators! Oops, that's us, never mind!

Jedipublican's wave their hands.....(these are not the Congressmen you're looking for...)

The issue is Liberty vs. Tyranny. Television only speaks of these things after they have been twisted; to prompt in us the hideous DoubleThink perversion that is now reality. The latter does not spread the former. Stay the course. We’re not staying the course, we’ve never been stay the course. We’re not leaving for a while. We only need 100 billion and one year to defeat all evil, I mean find WMDs, I mean spread democracy. Don’t they know we’re “liberating” them?. Hey, buddy can I get another couple of trillion? How dare you say it is over oil! If you don’t give us the money to stay, your gas prices could go up! By the way, it’s doubtful you’re going to get this back.

Thinking quietly and privately on these things, there is no doubt that fear reaches out to squeeze the heart and keep us fixated. We must face that fear if our soul as a nation is to expand and heal. Only when we summon the courage to look into that expanse will we pay attention to where we come from, where we would like to be, and how we will get there. American people must be able to honestly admit that we will never find that destination wielding, or capitulating to, a tyrannical gun. Papers, please.

Take the time to look. Take the time to consider

Free.Your. Mind.

The more things change......

So, the Dems have control of both houses. Yippee, right? After watching three solid days of giddy post-election hype, it’s sadly obvious that the shell game in New Limited America continues. Election night was exciting for about three minutes, with several things quickly jumping to the forefront of my mind amidst the euphoric post-election haze that surrounded Democrats.

As a country, with this new power shift, we have been given a chance to take a breath, avert our current course straight into tyrannical police state hell, and regain the very fundamentals that used to give some legitimacy to the claim that America was indeed the greatest country in the world. In these few post-election days, it seems that the dangers lurking on our collective doorstep may have increased instead of swinging the other direction.

Let’s start at the top. What happened to the outcry concerning the piss-poor electronic voting machines and process in general? The Dems won control so that must mean everything is okay? Nothing has changed in the last 72 hours. Electronic voting is still outrageously easy to manipulate, with vote counts that cannot be authenticated. There is also the still unaddressed issue of the concerted efforts to, as the smarmy closet dweller Mehlman put it, “have poll workers on hand to challenge voter eligibility” which is nothing more than a direct attack on the citizenry of this country. None of these things have changed or come anywhere close to being adequately addressed, and yet what little outcry there was before the election is quickly fading away with this recent win. Democrats winning has NOT made everything okay. While there is a certain amount of hope resting with some seemingly more level-headed and thoughtful freshman Dems coming into Congress, the fact remains that they are freshman, which is going to make it much more difficult for them to accomplish anything of note, especially in the context of the many elephants currently crowding our political sitting room.

I’m still holding on to the vain hope that someone other than the face lifted Beelzebub that is Pelosi will be chosen as Speaker. Pelosi has no interest in correcting the many wrongs of the past six years. She and other senior Dems have little interest in getting us out of Iraq. The only thing they are seemingly concerned about is the placement of the troops, not whether they should be there in the first place fighting this nebulous “War on Terror.” When she stated on 60 minutes that impeachment was off the table, I paid it little mind, because I was still encouraged by the likes of John Conyers and his memo from last December, The Constitution in Crisis; The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution and Coverups in the Iraq War. It seemed at the time that in spite of Pelosi we would see some progress on this and other important issues.

However, hope has received a couple of swift kicks to the groin during these last days. Howard Dean as a guest on The Daily Show again parroted the phrase “impeachment is off the table.” What?! And now John Conyers, joining the parrot chorus saying impeachment is off the table. Yes, you read that right, the same guy who helped put together a 350-page document laying out grounds for impeachment, a man set to become head of the Judiciary Committee, is backing away from it with the usual rhetoric about how the American people don’t need partisan divisiveness, we need unity, blah blah fucking blah. Read the document. You won't be very many pages into it before you find yourself wondering how "off the table" can possibly be uttered with a straight face by someone claiming character or integrity. Sadly for us, in a move that should deepen our national shame, the Germans are now trying to do the job we should have done some time ago. Contrasted with events of 60 years ago, the irony is truly staggering.

All of this feel good unity bullshit is what helped us into this mess in the first place. By degrees, the masses have been conditioned to see conflict as a bad thing, something to be avoided (unless, of course, said conflict involves bombing brown people) when the truth of the matter is that conflict is the only thing that will lead us out of this shameful mess. It is a shameful lack of intestinal fortitude and character on the part of senior democratic leadership. While we increasingly hear the words “Impeachment is off the table” no one takes the time to wonder, let alone ask the important and obvious question of WHY. WHY is it off the table? WHY is using an intern of legal consenting age as a humidor and generally lacking in monogamistic moral fiber an impeachable offense, but illegal secret prisons and torture, illegal wars against nations abroad in an effort to funnel the wealth of their natural resources into the pockets of a few, and waging an illegal and unconscionable war on your own citizenry are not high crimes?

The WHY of it all is very simple. Any serious investigations truly intent on cutting out this cancer will not just bring out Republican skeletons; it will bring out many Democratic ones, as well. After all, many of these Democrats blindly supported the illegal invasion of Iraq, Patriot Acts I and II, Military Commissions Act, John Warner’s Defense Authorization Act, and more, in lock step with power mad NeoCons and their continual encouragement of ill-founded nationalistic fervor. The only concern on the minds of senior members of either party is the presidential election of 2008, and how they will ascend to greater levels of power and prestige. Again, the media is there to emcee the whole production. Ooooh, we heard John McCain is going to put together a presidential exploratory committee! [insert name of random puppet “expert”] What do you think Hillary is going to do now?

The real issues are fast fading into the background. I have heard no less than five times today on different channels, from Democrat and Republican alike while talking incessantly about the 2008 elections, that a candidates success will be determined by what this war looks like in two years time. There is no mention of its end because there are no real plans for it. The shell game continues. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery.

Has anyone even heard the word “repeal” uttered? What kind of backroom deals have Pelosi and the others made? Why are we seeing another push to throw open our borders completely? Legislation that Bush’s republican controlled Congress wouldn’t even pass is at the front of the line once again, in spite of data showing that Iraq and rampant corruption are the real issues of concern to a majority of the voters. Do a bit of googling on the North American Union and the NAFTA superhighway and then tell me I’m wrong.

Congratulations, Democrats. You have been successfully distracted from the real issues in the very same way that the sheeple contingent of the religious right is continually distracted by the wholly non-issue that is gay marriage.

……..the more they stay the same.

You can't leave....

...but rest assured, you're still free! Just like Iraq!

That's funny, I don't feel very free, or great, or happy these days.

That's only because you haven't listened closely enough. DHS knows better than you, you're not smart enough to know what is best.

From "US Citizens to be Required 'Clearance' to Leave USA"

“Think this can’t happen? Think again…it’s ALREADY happening. Earlier this year, HSA forbade airlines from transporting an 18-year-old native-born citizen, back to the United States. The prohibition lasted nearly six months until it was finally lifted a few weeks ago.”

Please read the entire article, and take the time to at least browse the pdf at its conclusion.

If the future still doesn’t look bright enough, here is some more good stuff about the recent undermining of the Posse Comitatus Act. From the article, “Bush Moves toward Martial Law”:

"In a telling bit of understatement, the Senator from Vermont noted that "the implications of changing the (Posse Comitatus) Act are enormous". "There is good reason," he said, "for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy. We fail our Constitution, neglecting the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President to declare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty."

Again, please, if you have any love for country and your (vanishing) freedoms, take the time to read and be properly outraged. Inform others who do not yet realize what is happening underneath our collective nose. For those who immediately dismiss this stuff out of hand, please take note that all of this is documented and referenced. This move towards martial law was signed at the same time as the You Have To Let Us Torture People or The Terrorists Are Gonna Kill You Act Military Commissions Act, so why no public ceremony trumpeting the wonders of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, as well ? It is not wild lunacy; it is fast becoming more and more of a reality. It is a bitter pill to swallow, and continues to be with each day that passes, but the unpleasantness of the current reality is NOT a good reason to ignore it and remain willfully ignorant.

Or perhaps you would just like another dose of state-sponsored opiate.

It’s your choice, for now.

Temperature Changes

It's 65 degrees and I'm shaking like Nicole Ritchie being confronted with a plate of southern-fried food. It's a mundane thing, but a bit surreal when I think that I would literally have been shirtless in the same weather just seven months ago.

Acclimation, bitches.

***********

Why are we, at this very moment, sitting on Iran's doorstep?

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the elections, or Karl Rove's oft alluded to pre-election "suprise." We're simply being prepared, by running "exercises" to ward off an imminent threat. Right? Never mind the fact that they are, at minimum, five years away from even one nuclear weapon. Never mind the fact that exercises such as these always seem to preclude another false flag event. Gulf of Tonkin, anyone?

Over the next few weeks, I wonder what the suprise could possibly be?

Suprise! We've begun Bomb the Brown People: Episode III.

Suprise! Another election was stolen, but we swear it wasn't us. Let's foster unity, not division. Hey, look over here, we're at war again! Oh no! Be frightened, the Brown People are coming! Never mind, look over here instead, we're declaring Saddam guilty. Execution Pay-per-View in two weeks. Tune in and begin the 9-11 healing.

Suprise! Don't want to stay in your 'Free Speech Zone' because you're pissed off about the elections? We have a new series for you to watch, and perhaps participate in (if you're lucky) called Martial Law & Order. Hey, who said "martial"? It's social distancing and it's for your safety. Ripped from the headlines, indeed.

You know, you're right, it may all be bullshit and it could end up that nothing happens. We may be able to clear both Houses. The Dems may act responsibly (though I'm not at all confident thanks so much Nancy Pelosi) and begin impeachment proceedings immediately. But with only the words of the current wise and benevolent leaders to hold to, words that up to this point have been proven to be half-truths or outright lies (aren't those the same?), would you bet on it? I'm not a big fan of situations that are coin-flip, at best, and I'm sincerely hoping the same is true of you, as well.

If that coin lands on the wrong side, acclimation is gonna take on a whole new meaning..

Still think everything will just work itself out?

Haven't heard much anything about this by way of the mainstream propoganda machine. Just one more in a spectacularly long list of failures by "professional" journalism to serve the purpose for which their occupation is intended.

Indeed, a search for the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 yields no results from the public servants that are CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, Washington Post, et al. A search of these sites, specifically, for any information yields zero results. (Other major news outlets also yield little to nothing in the way of substance on this and other very important Constitutional issues--while my search was certainly not exhaustive, and there may be some coverage out there from the majors, it is with near certainty I submit that none of them will offer anything substantive or insightful, save Keith Olbermann, one of the few mainstream professionals still in possesion of both his brains and his balls.)

It's difficult for me to imagine too many things that could be more important than the issues of our fundamental freedoms and protections being stripped away from us with ever increasing boldness. But hey, what the hell do I know? Checking out the website of the "professionals" tells me what is truly important in the news. The current banner headline on MSNBC U.S. News front page:

DRIVEN BY TRAGEDY
NBC: Cop makes roads safer by catching 200 drunk drivers in a year.

Well, damn. I just read the article and I can't remember the last time I felt this safe and wonderful. I can't believe I was so worked up about the above. Perhaps it was the signing statement from Mr. Bush (the "B" is for Benevolent) stating that he wouldn't be adhering to any pesky oversight or accountability.

The signing of this new act will be another wonderful device to add to the Emporer's toolbox as he, his family, and his friends continue their benevolent Protection of America. Just don't dare point out that he's nude, it makes him testy. Not to worry, though, good citizens. There's nothing like a few good secret "dunkings" to lift the spirits.

We now return to your regularly scheduled dose of DoubleThink.

Read and THINK

Link to quoted commentary (please click and read)

"Among things Congress and the media should challenge is George W. Bush’s false claim that the United States does not torture. In an article published at the CommonDreams.org site, journalist Molly Ivins reports that in one case of death from torture by Americans, the military at first said the prisoner’s death was caused by a heart attack. Ivins adds that the coroner later said the heart attack occurred after the prisoner “had been beaten so often on his legs that they had ‘basically been pulpified.’”

" As Jonathan Turley said on Olbermann’s program, “I think you can feel the judgment of history. It won’t be kind to President Bush. But frankly, I don’t think that it will be kind to the rest of us. I think that history will ask, ‘Where were you? What did you do when this thing was signed into law?’ There were people that protested the Japanese concentration camps; there were people that protested these other acts. But we are strangely silent in this national yawn as our rights evaporate.”

Future generations will wonder why the U.S. Congress and mainstream press helped Bush build up an imperial presidency and eliminate constitutional protections. If they’re able to sort through the administration’s fallacies and lies and clearly see what went wrong with America during this time, they’ll wonder why there were so few Molly Ivinses, Keith Olbermanns and Jonathan Turleys.

Coming generations will also ask why by comparison there were so many who failed to notice the obvious holes in Bush’s logic and why so many turned a blind eye to his numerous false assertions and cruel policies. They’ll wonder why so many supported, whether by direct action or by silence, the Bush administration’s changing the fundamental nature of the democratic Republic we were given by America’s founders, based on the flimsy excuse of fighting a war on terrorism -- a “war” Bush defines falsely and fights ineffectively.

Generations to come might ask why this president who lied so often, about Iraq and other critical matters, was ever entrusted with enough power to damage this country’s founding principles and wage endless, unprovoked war on other nations. If Congress and the media would ask these questions now, they might prevent Bush from doing further harm. This might save many lives, prevent much unnecessary suffering and possibly steer this country out of its present darkness."

Finally, it is not inconceivable that in the not too distant future that this man could be accused of terroism. After all, anyone who opposes the current foriegn policy must be a terrorist smpathizer and not concerned for the safety of the American people.

Kidding Me

A couple of posts back, I said that I would be back in about 10 days while I worked on a certification.

It’s been a bit longer. I had my usual crap that made the usual token effort to be witty or inventive or some other desirable writing adjective, but then the new online gaming legislation (or, “The Children may die solely because of your moral deficiency so we’re going to take the time to harness our infinite wisdom and caring to save you from yourselves and the terrorists” Act) was craftily inserted as a rider during the night. The result? An upsetting disruption of my personal enjoyment derived from a game I have enjoyed with admittedly decreasing frequency. My head slowly shook in disbelief as it tilted forward yet again in resignation.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

That was my mantra for the next few days, both internally, and when I could not hold it in any longer, externally. Then it dawned on me. I was angry, not resigned. I suppose that one could postulate that this was the first or second stage of……something. Pulling most of my bankroll due to the new fear of losing it, with the thought that I was taking the only course of possible action, I failed to realize that I didn’t feel a single bit better, even though I had ostensibly done the “smart” thing. Whatever stage it was, I’ve been stuck in it’s throes for a very long time, not just for the last couple of weeks or months. One of my favorite activities, after all, is sitting and watching whatever network news happens to be on, cursing at the constant stream of fluff but never truly acknowledging the desperate need for something real and true that lay at the root. The increasingly pervasive ocean of straw man arguments and liberal sprinklings of various other logical fallacies being accepted as analysis and wisdom is something I have long despised.

The push and pull of wisdom and foolishness, truth and lies, have always been a fact of life, but it always seemed to swing back into balance (or a reasonable approximation thereof) at the right time before all hope seemed lost. It is something that I believe we have always aspired to; you can see its thread in the history of our entertainment, ignoring for now the other areas of our history where such things have been exemplified. It is comic books and it is movies, it is heroism and nobility, honesty and integrity, freedom and liberty. We tout our own virtues, never failing to remind anyone who might question that we are undoubtedly “the greatest of all time.” When Muhammed Ali said it, it can be very reasonably argued that such an assertion was indeed true. Increasingly, though, every time such things are paraded from the mouths of our wise and fearless leaders, I cringe just a bit more than I did yesterday, because I know in my soul that while this statement cannot be true in its absolute sense given we are human, we shouldn’t be anywhere close to saying it with a straight face at this point.

You arrived at this tangent just because they made it tougher for you to play online poker?

Yes. No. I suppose it depends on how you look at it.

After eulogizing (for the most part) one of my favorite hobbies I stayed online to search out more articles and in-depth information so I could throw a hissy-fit in what would be a glorious and raging new post. Not planning on finding such a treasure trove of information (which is, in itself, a fundamentally retarded attitude, considering I was on the INTERNET) I dug down to the info I was looking for about the latest prohibition fiasco, but found that I could not stop there. It’s here that I think most would state something having to do with holes and their various depths. Online gambling prohibition led to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and from there it was off to the races. Ironically, while the hole is admittedly deep, it is much, much wider. The truth about so many things lies right underneath our very noses underneath a few flimsy layers of (oh so tasty!) emptiness and distraction that we can’t, or won’t, put together. We have, as a people gone from ignorant and/or apathetic, to actively ignoring and/or shutting our eyes to what we know (or should know) to be true.

As if we have taken up physical residence on the pages of George Orwell’s 1984, the fearmongering and outright lies are so pervasive they have become the New Truth. It truly seems, now, that the constant smoke and mirrors from our heavily complicit government and media has finally turned the tide past that so very difficult to distinguish “point of no return.” On top of the already steaming pile of lies and increasing oppression, we have now reached what I believe to be the absolute tipping point.

Quite literally, Habeas Corpus has disappeared.

More truthfully, the one major support beam we had as a people has not disappeared, we have given it away. Not only have we simply given it away, we did so while cowering, begging for the protection of our “betters.”

At this point, I believe that I’m beginning to edge my way into a new stage, a stage where I can honestly say “thank you” to Bush & Company for pushing me in the direction I should have gone long ago. Part of these past weeks have been spent considering whether or not I should even post something of this tone. That is the wrong question. The problem with this question is the fact that I now have to ask myself such a question. Why is this question now a serious consideration?

The answer is one of my greatest shames.

I have been willfully ignorant in favor of my own comfort. I have repressed what I know (and hard, verified science demonstrates) to be truth for what I have known is emptiness. The things we have done over these last years are not indicative of a “great” people, or the “best” society. These circumstances have been largely brought about by the cancer of our own complicity. I will say it now, as a veteran who took an oath to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic, as a citizen, as an American: I am ashamed of myself and I am ashamed of us. We are, at best, a mere shadow of what we were as a people. If we don’t begin speaking long and loud against the current and coming tyranny, we will never be again.

Some of you will be horrified at these words. I’m sure that there will be plenty of derision thrown my way. But I’m also sure that if just one person wakes up, even a little bit, because I took the time to speak up, then I will be just a bit closer to being able to live with myself again, a bit farther from coming up short when I turn inward. In speaking, I finally know the freedom that is now gone.

The freedom we must fight with our collective voice to get back.

Just another assault on the citizens...

Yet another fine example of our "democracy" at work. Pet projects being tacked on as riders at the last minute...

Seriously, why is this shit allowed to go on?

Back in 10

Huge thanks to all who left the wonderful comments about Mrs. Head’s art. It provided a wonderful psychic boost for which both of us are eminently thankful. And I was right; she seems re-energized towards getting back on the art horse, as it were.

**********
There still hasn’t been any poker because the workload is heavy and over the next two weeks will be even heavier than normal (120 hours in 10 days). Bleh. There just isn’t enough time to do all of the fun stuff. I did have some spare time over the Labor Day weekend, but couldn’t resist the siren song that is God of War on the PS2. Just the fact that I only recently began playing this game a couple of weeks ago is a pretty accurate indicator of just how behind I am on “fun.”

It’s looking like my mother will shortly be a guest of Harvard Medical because no one can figure out what is wrong with her and she’s still having heaps of potentially life-threatening problems. Over the last week my father nearly died, again. It looks as though I’ll shortly be involved in a lawsuit against the property management company we recently rented from. Life still seem to be nothing but a circumstantial mess, but there is some positive in that the tenant/landlord laws in Arizona a pretty clear cut so it looks like we’ll be receiving a decent amount of money in the near (I hope) future. Why would I still continue to write this boring ass crap when it’s been trumped time and time again that no one wants to hear about it?

Because that’s what is happening.

That being said, there only remains the choice of keeping it short and sweet or trying to “flower it up” in an effort to give the impression that I have some writing skillz. I’m simply too tired and too busy to do the latter. I wrote the above to simply remind everyone (and myself) to appreciate the continuity that does exist in their lives. While certainly not a new message, it’s worth stating if for no other reason than to inspire a “geez I’m glad that’s not me” moment in others.

As a poker blog, yep, this space may be dying but it’s not dead. It’s simply changing. Into what, I’m not sure. It may come back around to more poker – maybe sooner, maybe later, maybe not at all. That’s part of the reason it exists in the first place, to work it all out.

Give your continuity a hug. I’ll catch ya in 10 days (ish).

Three states really the same

It seems that the Bloglines subscribers to this space are steadily decreasing. It’s depressing, but understandable *sigh*. That being said, I greatly appreciate anyone still taking the time to stop by and peruse. With the “poke” having left poker to become more akin to rape-r, none has been played since the last post, I’m definitely not in the right frame of mind and frankly tired of seeing my bankroll get chipped away while I try to get right. I have been watching on TV though, the current favorite being High Stakes Poker.

I’m not sure why it took me so long to figure out that I did indeed have GSN, but I finally happened upon it a few weeks ago and gleefully sought out HSP to record. Through watching it over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed the growing feeling that this is real poker, which of course makes tournaments feel a bit more…artificial somehow. This is nothing new, Barry Greenstein and other notables have talked plenty about the same thing, but the realization certainly seems worth mentioning, as I guess most things are when you really begin to realize them for yourself.

That’s enough of the blathering about this goddamn game of which I know so little.

We are now into the paid programming portion of the evening. Literally.

Every work evening between 2 and 4 AM that is all that is on the tube. Most of the time it’s not a big issue as I’m too busy to really pay attention or care, but on those rare occasions when I can sit back (like now) I find myself in one of three states:

State #1—The Paid Programming Pain. This leaves me highly annoyed and looking around at the telephone cords and Ethernet cabling, trying in vain to come up with inventive ways to hang myself. Muting is no help, the inane banter continues in my head even when the sound is gone.

State #2—The National News Pain. When watching the paid programming just isn’t enough self-inflicted punishment one can always (as a certain well-known Ewok is fond of saying ) “kick it up a notch” by turning on CNN. Whether it’s another story that jumps on the “should not have EVER been a story but what the hell we’ll hype it anyway because there aren’t any other important things to talk about” JonBenet reporting bandwagon or wonderful tales of yet another government fuckup and/or lie that will be completely ignored and go on completely unchanged, there are plenty of seeds to harvest a bountiful crop of depression and frustration. To be fair, you could turn on most any news channel for the same effect. BBC is still a small antidote, but even that isn’t nearly what it used to be.

State #3—The MTV Pain. Ready for the ultimate in extreme self abuse? Do you feel like your IQ is just a bit too high? This channel is custom fucking designed for your purposes. I don’t even feel the need to elaborate on this one. Tuning in for 2.3 minutes is really all the explanation one will ever need.

Thank you Chuck Norris for Walker Texas Ranger. Without your reruns coming on at 5 AM, I’d never know the back-from-the-brink-of-despair smiling pleasure that comes with indulging in pure TV cheese (“TV cheese” being Spanish for high good vs.evil action drama).

**********
Last, but certainly not least, I’m trying to push Mrs. Head into selling some of her paintings a) because we just don’t have the wall space to hang all of them anymore, and b) I’m of the mind that they kick ass. My opinion, of course, could be biased. Like any artist, she doesn’t really like her own work so I’m taking the reigns and putting it out there.

Here are a few of them.

Shoot a comment or email to talk price, and help me convince her to start painting again—she hasn’t done so for quite a while and really should resume, like, yesterday.

Another 10

10 minutes. Let’s talk some poker.

Boy, I just had to gloat about the wondrousness of the new Stars HORSE games. Why could I not remember to just keep my mouth shut and say that things were simply going well? Even though it was truly forgetfulness on my part, the poker gods didn’t give me a pass and punished me but good.

Word around the campfire is that they teamed up with Murphy to make the reaming extra special.

Trips, three of a kind, meet river straight.
Full House, meet quads.
Quads, meet straight flush. Go ahead, meet a second time just for good measure.

In the interest of full disclosure, there have been portions of my losses over the last two weeks that can definitely be attributed to Corky-esque play on my part after having a miniature Sir Waffles meltdown. After donking off one of my tokens on a pure (purely idiotic) bluff I was able to arrest the downhill slide and just walk away for a while. I’ve been able to play briefly a couple of times since then, and while the decisions are much better the results are still cornholeiscious.

I must remember to always take my time and think, “Make the best decisions you know how to make.” Hell I should make a sign or something. Perhaps I could put it on a bat and have the Mrs. hit me with it.

So much easier said than done, and doesn’t ease the pain one iota while losing.

I’ve thus far recognized a very bad symptom that has slowly been developing—I’m seeing The Nuts everywhere. If I don’t hold the nuts myself, a seriously nagging voice tells me that someone else does even though it’s rarely true. When I finally make a decision that I’m being bluffed, OOP, there’s the nuts. My reads have actually become worse and it’s becoming very discouraging. I’m not sure whether this is just a symptom of the recent losses plus tilt, or something more insidious. I’m also not sure what to do to ease these seriously counterproductive symptoms—Any advice is most certainly appreciated.

For now, I figure that all I can do is play through it and keep trying to remain conscious. Keep focusing on making good decisions.

Oh yes. I’m sorry poker gods (and Murphy). Seriously, I am. Can you quit with the 2-outers now?