Nowtopian

Busy and blurry lately, emotional grays rarely penetrated by the bright lights of passion or excitement, but so it goes sometimes. Part of the sub-malaise (that is, not quite a depression, but a distinct lack of inspiration) is the endless blather that passes for politics that I already complained about last time. It builds and builds towards the election and then there’s the inevitable hssssssss of gas escaping the inflatable ballooney that everyone was so worked up about… coming very soon. But until then, it’s nonstop fretting and fervent hand-wringing about… not much.

Meanwhile, the real world out there is carrying on, and the American narcissism that really imagines this is the epicenter of world history, the best civilization has to offer, etc., is barrelling towards its imminent rude awakening. To get a glimpse on the military and political front, I highly recommend the 3 part series by Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry that went up at Asia Times this week on the Hezbollah victory over Israel, and the ensuing collapse of U.S. agendas in the Middle East. It even casts serious doubt on the coming bombardment of Iran, which many U.S. radicals think is all but unavoidable. It may be that the abject failure of Israel in Lebanon is giving pause to even a palpable madman like Rumsfeld, facing the almost guaranteed disaster that will follow a U.S. attack on Iran.

Then there’s the unmentionable but obvious reason why the U.S. is deep into a years-long murderous frenzy: energy resources. The sidewalks of San Francisco are increasingly a gallery of imaginative stencil art, and here’s my most recent favorite, that I saw on Valencia near 15th Street I think:

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