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70s Saturday
Saturday, April 17 2004
[REDACTED]
Today was beautiful, with 70 degree temperatures and mostly relentless sunshine. Our new neighbors, the Meatlocker People, came over this afternoon and borrowed our truck so they could move in some furniture. Gretchen left in the mid-afternoon, leaving me alone with my decadence.
Loaning out my truck to our new neighbors got me to thinking about all the trucks I've borrowed in my time. Back when I was in Oberlin, there was this one guy in Harkness named Ira (he looked sort of like a young Syd Barrett, but then, didn't we all?) and he had a truck that he would loan to his friends. They mostly used it to pick up folks at Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport. I borrowed it on a many occasions, always making sure to fill the gas tank when I was done. I guess I was a little more responsible then than I'd been only a year or so before, when I borrowed the OSCA truck from someone who had, in turn, borrowed it from OSCA. I had it for all of Winter Term and subloaned it to someone else who ended up putting thousands of miles on it. OSCA was the Oberlin student co-operative association, and they'd bought the truck specifically to rent to students on an as-needed basis. Whoever signed up for it had to pay a certain amount per mile, though I'm sure in this case they were forced to waive the fee.
I always talk to the dogs and cats using a special falsetto, assuming for some reason that they only tune into higher frequencies. Today, though, I tried talking to Sally with a normal conversational voice. Amazingly, she seemed much more responsive. She pricked up her ears when I said her name and then she came over when I called her. I got the distinct impression that she found the absence of a patronizing tone refreshing. She might be a dog, and a cute one at that, but she wants to be taken seriously too.
How long do you think it will be before the American military, using a supposed Iraqi front group, takes a group of American soldiers "hostage" who are then subsequently "rescued" by a well-publicized commando raid? Maybe some weapons of mass destruction can turn up around the same time. I'll bet there have been plans for a WMD-planting mission from the start, but everyone knows that would be a delicious whistle to blow.
Here's another bet from the Good Ship Paranoia. How much do you want to bet that the stuff said about Muqtada al-Sadr - that the Grand Shi'ite Poohbah (never call him Ayatollah!) Sistani has convinced Sadr to negotiate with the Americans, that they've surrendered the Shi'ite cities of Iraq - is yet another propaganda lie brought to you by the US military?
I've been hearing that American press people captured as hostages in Iraq are routinely being released. This makes me wonder what will become of the first FOX reporters the Iraqi insurgents capture.
Damn, how did I not know that Shi'ite Islam is a messianic religion? Check out this quote from a recent Salon article:
Most of Muqtada al-Sadr's fighters are young, and the name of their organization, the al Mehdi Army, is taken from an historical figure who is prophesied to return from the dead to liberate the oppressed around the world. They say they are waiting for an Islamic messiah, to defeat the enemy and deliver justice. But Muqtada al-Sadr's people are not really waiting. Al Mehdi could come today, one minute from now, or tomorrow, the followers tell me, but their job is to make sure he has an army ready when he gets here. Until then, Muqtada al-Sadr will run things, at least in Najaf, and Imam Mehdi will communicate through him to the members of the militia.
We are so completely fucked. I imagine myself 2000 years in the future learning in 11th Grade World History that the "United State of America" was sort of like an Egypt that was defeated after only 230 years.
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?040417 feedback
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