When Clowns go Bad

the right to what now?

2006-08-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

Who's clowning who?

Anger with lack of weight-loss surgery grows

"Two Nova Scotians say they're the victims of discrimination because there's no weight-loss surgery available in the province."

PentWhistle says, "wha-?"

Discrimination? Come come now. If you are kept from the normal course of life due to discriminatory interference, then you may qualify as a discriminatee. However, weight-loss surgery, last I checked, isn't a right of life (and according to the Thick-Headed, much Bemakeupped PM Harper, neither is water).

Anger as a response? I hope these two don't drive.

-PentWhistle

Evil Clowns and Curses

2006-07-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

While Pentwhistle was perusing Deuteronomy 28:49, the Nasty Harlequin's dot-connecting noodle swirled with thoughts of nations under the banner of the Eagle...

49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. 52 They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.

53 Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you. 54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 55 and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 56 The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter 57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.

Sound like anyone we know?

--PentWhistle

clowns of all colours

2006-07-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

Christian Plutocrats

a list to add to the infamy of Mammonic Cultists.

the short list:
Rev. Pat Robertson
Dr James C Dobson
Rev. D. James Kennedy
Alan Sears
Rev. Donal Wildman
Rev. Jerry Falwell
Tim & Beverly LaHaye.

ick!

--PentWhistle

Trickster Roll-Call

2006-07-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Calling all Clowns

A cavalcade of some of the World's Wilder Wanderers: the creators, teachers, mischief-makers and fire-stealers.

Spider - NE Woodlands
Hare - Plains & Great Lakes
Coyote - W & SW, Crow
Raven - Pacific NW & Inuit
Bugs Bunny - Pop Culture
Loki - Norse
Medechiibelau - Pulau
Letao - Marshall Islands
Olifat - Chuuk(Truk) & Yap
Annecy - West Indies
Spider Anansi - West Africa
Robin Goodfellow, Puck - England
Kaulu - Polynesia
Wemicus - Timigami Ojibwe
Qat - Banks Ilsands
Amaguo - Inuit
Nanabozho (Wenabozho) - Ojibwe, Chippewa, Algonquin
Chulyen (Crow) - Nootka, Tanaina
Guguyni (Raven) - Nootka, Tanaina
One-tail-of-Clear-Hair (Opossum) - Catawba
First-Scolder (Coyote) - Plains, Chelan, Wasco
Unktomi (Iktomi) (Spider) - Lakota Plains
Azeban - NE Abenaki
Cunawabi - Great Basin
Taqwus -
Cin-an-ev (Wolf) - Ute
Blue Jay - NW, Chinook, Coos, Tilamook
Ti Malice - Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles
Bamapana - Murnging N. Australia
Wisagatcak (Wisakedjak) - Cree
Queen Mab - England
Saynday - Kiowa
Rabbit - SE, Creek
Kmukamch - California Modoc
Yehl - Tlingit
Yo - Bamara
Marawa (Spider) - Melanesia
Legba - Haiti, West Africa
Yurugy (Pale Fox) - Sudanes & Malinese Dagon
Alyosha Propovich - Russia
Kumiho (9-tailed Fox) - Korea
Monkey - Mayan
Joker - Pop Culture
Wolverine - Labrador

also
Mouse
Frog
Mink

evil clown quotes

2006-07-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

or harlequins as author, harlequills d'hauteur.

from A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

about three-quarters of the way into the story.
--
Ishvar shook his head sadly. "Why are business people so heartless? With all their money, they still look unhappy."

"It's a disease without a cure," said Dina. "Like cancer. And they don't even know they have it."
--

"The lives of the poor were rich in symbols..."

--

-PentWhistle

How about this for starters.

2006-07-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

An Evil Clown's guide to deconstructionism, and recycling.

Hexagram 49 - Ko - Revolution (Molting)

The trigram above TUI - The Joyous, Lake [younger daughter]
The trigram below LI- The Clinging, FIre [elder daughter]
from the Wilhelm/Baynes version:

The Chinese character for this hexagram means in its original sense an animal’s pelt, which is changed in the course of the year by molting. From this the word is carried over to apply to the “moltings” in political life, the great revolutions connected with changes of governments.

The two trigrams making up the hexagram are the same two that appear in K’uei, OPPOSITION (38), that is, the two younger daughters, Li and Tui. But while there the elder of the two daughters is above, and what results is essentially only an opposition of tendencies, here the younger daughter is above. The influences are in actual conflict, and the forces conflict each other like fire and water (lake), each trying to destroy the other. Hence the idea of revolution.

THE JUDGEMENT

REVOLUTION. On your own day
You are believed
Supreme success,
Furthering through perseverance.
Remorse disappears.

Political revolutions are extremely grave matters. They should be undertaken only under stress of direct necessity, when there is no other way out. Not everyone is called to this task, but only the man who has the confidence of the people, and even he only when the time is ripe. he must then proceed in the right way so that he gladdens the people and, by enlightening them, prevents excesses. Furthermore, he must be quite free of selfish aims and must really relieve the need of the people. Only then does he have nothing to regret.

Times change, and with them their demands. Thus the seasons change in the course of the year. In the world cycle also there are spring and autumn in the life of peoples and nations, and these call for social transformations.

THE IMAGE

Fire in the lake: the image of REVOLUTION
Thus the superior man
Sets the calendar in order
And makes the seasons clear.

Fire below and the lake above combat and destroy each other. So too in the course of the year a combat takes place between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, eventuating in the revolution of the seasons. Man masters these changes in nature by noting their regularity and marking off the passage of time accordingly. In this way order and clarity appear in the apparently chaotic changes of the seasons, and man is able to adjust himself in advance to the demands of the different times.

[the lines, read from the bottom upwards, are either Nine, a straight line, or Six, a broken line.]

THE LINES
Nine at the beginning means:
Wrapped in the hide of a yellow cow.

Changes ought to be undertaken only when there is nothing else to be done. Therefore at first the utmost restraint is necessary. One must become firm in one’s mind, control oneself - yellow is the color of the mean, and the cow is the symbol of docility - and refrain from doing anything for the time being, because any premature offensive will bring evil results.

Six in the second place means:
When one’s own day comes, one may create revolution.
Starting brings good fortune. No blame.
When we have tried in every way to bring about reforms, but without success, revolution becomes necessary. But such a thorough going upheaval must be carefully prepared. There must be available a man who has the requisite abilities and who possesses public confidence. To such a man we may well turn. This brings good fortune and is not a mistake. The first thing to be considered is our inner attitude toward the new condition that will inevitably come. We have to go out to meet it, as it were. Only in this way can it be prepared for.

Nine in the third place means:
Starting brings misfortune.
Perseverance brings danger.
When talk of revolution has gone the rounds three times,
One may commit himself,
And men will believe him.

When change is necessary, there are two mistakes to be avoided. One lies in excessive haste and ruthlessness, which brings disaster. The other lies in excessive hesitation and conservatism, which are also dangerous. Not every demand for change in the existing order should be heeded. On the other hand, repeated and well-founded complaints should not fail of a hearing. When talk of change has come to one’s ears three times, and has been ordered well, he may believe and acquiesce in it. Then he will meet with belief and will accomplish something.

Nine in the fourth place means:
Remorse disappears. Men believe him.
Changing the form of government brings good fortune.

Radical changes require adequate authority. A man must have inner strength as well as influential position. What he does must correspond with a higher truth and must not spring from arbitrary or petty motives; then it brings great good fortune. If a revolution is not founded on such inner truth, the results are bad, and it has no success. For in the end men will support only those undertakings which they feel instinctively to be just.

Nine in the fifth place means:
The great man changes like a tiger.
Even before he questions the oracle
He is believed.

A tigerskin, with its highly visible black stripes on a yellow ground, shows its distinct pattern from afar. It is the same with a revolution brought about by a great man: large, clear guiding lines become visible, understandable to everyone. Therefore he need not first consult the oracle, for he wins the spontaneous support of the people.

Six at the top means:
The superior man changes like a panther.
The inferior man molts in the face.
Starting brings misfortune.
To remain persevering brings good fortune.

After the large and fundamental problems are settled, certain minor reforms, and elaborations of these, are necessary. These detailed reforms may be likened to the equally distinct but relatively small marks of the panther’s coat. As a consequence, a change also takes place among the inferior people. In conformity with a new order, they likewise “molt.” This molting, it is true, does not go very deep, but that is not to be expected. We must be satisfied with the attainable. If we should go too far and try to achieve too much, it would lead to unrest and misfortune. For the object of a great revolution is the attainment of clarified, secure conditions ensuring a general stabilization on the basis of what is possible at the moment.

Criminal Corporate Entities

2006-06-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

2005's most reviled

These corporate criminals have reneged on all responsibilities.

Caterpillar
Chevron
Coca-Cola
Dow Chemicals
Dyncorp/CSC
Ford Motor Company
KBR (Kellogg, Brown & Root - subsidiary of Halliburton)
Lockheed Martin
Monsanto
Nestle USA
Philip Morris (Altria)
Pfizer
Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux
Wal-Mart

Notice how boldly Ford, Nestle, Altria and Wal-Mart earn their place in Pluto's favour.

Pluto's collection Plate

2006-06-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

Corporation	Chief Industry
General Motors	automobile manufacturer
Wal-Mart	retailer
Exxon Mobil	energy
Ford Motor	automobile manufacturer
Daimler Chrysler	automobile manufacturer
Mitsui	energy, et al
Mitsubishi	energy, et al
Toyota Motor	automobile manufacturer
General Electric	electronics
Itochu	finance
Royal Dutch - Shell	energy
Sumimoto	energy
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone	telecommunications
Marubeni	finance
AXA	Insurance
IBM	electronics
BP - Amoco	energy
Citigroup	finance
Volkswagen	automobile manufacturer
Nippon Life Insurance	insurance
Siemens	energy, telecommunications
Allianz	insurance
Hitachi	electronics
Matsushita Electric Industries	electronics
Nissha Iwai	mining
ING Group	finance
AT & T	telecommunications
Altria (Philip Morris )	food, beverage, tobacco
Sony	electronics, finance, media
Deutsche Bank	finance
Boeing	aircraft manufacturer
Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance	insurance
Honda Motor	automobile manufacturer
E. On	energy
Toshiba	electronics & engineering
Bank of America	finance
Fiat	automobile manufacturer & finance
Nestle	food & beverage
SBC Communications	telecommunications
Credit Suisse	finance
Hewlett-Packard	electronics
Fujitsu	electronics
Metro	retailer
Sumimoto Life Insurance	insurance
Tokyo Electric Power	energy
Kroger	retailer
Total Fina Elf	energy
NEC	electronics
State Farm Insurance	insurance

turning the corporate tables

2006-06-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

or, are these clowns serious?

PentWhistle's Pent Whistle is sliding ever upwards in mobility, as he learns whom are the kings and queens of Pluto's hierarchy of Corporate Temples, and whom of them require a Fool for their court, to lay bare the follies of the Herald - Marketing, the Town Crier - Media Outlet, the Soldiers - Armies.

to begin with, this:
they rule

to continue...

...to be continued

--PentWhistle

why you cannot be trusted

2006-04-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

or, an argument in favour of gun control

This evil clown has nothing on the rest of you all:

A recent survey:
They report that more than 80,000 Americans needed to be treated in hospital for injuries caused by lawn mowers in 2004.

If 80, 000 Americans have injured themselves in the act of gardening, can they be trusted with anything?

--PentWhistle

when time is money

2006-04-07T22:47:00.000-07:00

an evil clown's treatise on currency.

Time = Money
Money = Time

Don't believe it? It's the foundation of our economic system.

People are paid weekly, biweekly, or monthly in denominations of dollars per hour and dollars per year.

dollar per year. That is an equation of money and time.
$30000/year
1 year = $30 000

The insidious measure is the calculation of interest, calculating money owed based on the elapsing of time, usually in terms of a percentage of the principal.

Interest is charged on loans, investments, taxes, deposits, mortgages, and countless other interactions. Paying for elapsing time...

May as well charge us for the air we breathe at this point, so ridiculous it is.

--PentWhistle

what fools

2006-04-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

April 2nd is ever the day for Frightful Fools

In case you felt that the Foolishness of the First and the spring-blown wind-bags manage to fill the well with frolick to make up for the mundanity of the rest of the year's day-to-day trudgery.

but, alas, it is not to be. For foolishness, and bending the arrogant, egocentric, hubristic over for a fleet foot up the fundament is a duty, all year, every day.

to begin, a boot to arrears:

All this talk about security - what do we mean, exactly?
Has it evolved from the Latin securus, meaning "free from care?"
Of course not. Look how much we care about our security.
Perhaps it has evolved from the Latin securis, meaning "[headman's] axe."
that's much more in keeping with the "security culture" that breeds around us.

You ain't fooling me with your fast-talking, head-spin doctors.

If fools be wise, they care not for your axiom of security.

--PentWhistle
securis

the number of the beast

2006-03-28T10:05:00.000-08:00

neither John of Padmos, R.A. Heinlein or Iron Maiden would flip over this

According to the visionary John of Padmos, a nasty clown if ever there was one, in the Bible's "Revelation" there is some reference to the number of the beast marking those who are allowed to trade and those not. The number is reckoned at 666.

What if we've been reading it wrong all along?

what ubiquitous 666isms are there in our trade-frenzied world?

The film Naked suggests that the three spaces on the omnipresent bar codes are the equivalent.

I suggest that it is something else altogether.

$9.99 - only upside down.

Nothing is ever what is appears to be. What could be more devillish, demonic, and beastial than pernicious, deliberate smoke and mirrors?

$10 is never ten dollars. It's $9.99, keeping the rivers of "copper" pennies flowing. Or there's some level of tax or other that shifts the price beyond the innocent price tag suggesting $10.

999 - the number of the beast - pay at your peril.

--Not Jack

a little cackle for your crack

2006-03-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

put a smile in your cheeks.

not all of us are evil clowns from one moment to the next, but between us all, there is a never-ending cavalcade of evil clownishness.

a story a mischeivous mite told humblest PentWhistle this very afternoon:

"I wear my bike helmet when I go to visit my friend downtown [in a corporate tower]. People in the elevator think I'm a bike courier and ask about my helmet. I tell them that it's my elevator helmet [knocks it with a knuckle], because, you know, elevators..."

the rest of the trip is spent in uncomfortable silence.

Blessed are the makers of all dairy products.

--PentWhistle

the "I'd"s of March

2006-03-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

I'd a this and I'd a that - the impotence of past-pluto-perfect

verb tension

I'm sure George Orwell, a Haughty Harlequin, Acerbic Acrobat, Verbal Vermillion, would agree.
things don't mean what they meant.

torture no longer includes certain acts of torture in its definition.

democracy no longer includes rule by the common people (if it ever did).

freedom includes the removal of freedoms, and rights.

united (as in states) doesn't include the notion of togetherness.

terrorism excludes huge acts of terrorism (such as state-sponsored militarism).

I don't which way is up.

--PentWhistle

vernal vernacular

2006-03-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

tis clowning season, well and truly now

does anyone remember the groundhog? Remember that little rascal, sitting up and not seeing his shadow - the day itself poised midway between the Longest Night and the tipping of the balance towards the light.

if this mark's the beginning of Spring, the day of the Fool merely a fortnight away, then what was the Groundhog all about?

the shadow.

the Groundhog is the beast of the underworld, looking out of its hole. If the Sun is at its zenith in Summer at the Solstice, and Nadir is at night in the Winter, on the Solstice, then the Groundhog is looking toward's Winter if it sees its shadow, and towards Spring if it doesn't.

festival of the sundial, and the shadowgazing gopher.

I mean, if you're going to observe a holiday, we may as well observe it right. There are huge gatherings on this day at the Mayan pyramids in the Yucatan, to watch the serpent's slithering shadow slide up the steps to its home at the apex.

Yet here, it is a day as any other. Many celebrations happened this past weekend, to account for the work week.

This is our day of balance, weighed against the Autumnal equivalent, poised above our swing into the year's night. And so, once again we've emerged from the darkness, to visit the light. And with it renewed energy.

and with it - war - maybe tomorrow, on Tiw's day, in March while the Sun is in Aries.
Or on the 28th, around the time of elections overseas.

And so, with the emergence of our collective spirits from the winter of our discontent, we wake to the chinese year of the fire dog, arise into the first step aground after a three month journey through the Abyss of Winter's long, cold nights - as if anything else united Canadians in spirit - ready to regain our legs.

and jump for Joy.

Spring is Fool season. Look to springs, in Jacks-in-their-boxes, holding bulbous eyes to novelty glasses, in sticks-a-po-go, and coils of festive streamers. Such harlequinry is all about the distraction. You know the drill, "nothing to see here. Ooh, shiny."

This, as all other days that fall upon all people, the Solstices, the Equinoxes, the risings and settings of celestial bodies, are deserving of a holiday, or a week say.

For the Equinoxes and Solstices and their midpoints - that's eight more holidays a year. make them two days to acknowledge the end of season and the beginning of season.

Dec 21 - Jan 1
Solstice and New Year's - we get the whole twelve nights off.
Festival of the Abysmal

Feb 2 - day of the Shadowgazing Gopher
pair this with Chinese New Year and the days in between and that could be a fortnight of celebration

Mar 20 - Equinox
day of the balance tipping upward
Feast of the Fertile

May 1 - midspring
Feast of the Fertile

June 21 - Solstice
midharvest

Aug 1 - mid summer
Feast of Fire

Oct 31 - Nov 2
Days of Souls

Add to this July 3 to Aug 11 as the Dog Days of Summer, owing to the timing of the heliacal rising of the dog star, Sirius. And that gives us a year with something to celebrate, instead of moments when our monies are traded for things other than the usual.

Welcome to Spring. The season of the Fool, and the playground for the Evilest of Clowns, who resemble Fools in many respects, but one.

They don't like the same kind of fun.

Leave your old ways of thinking in the blackest Abyss of Winter, and be reborn to think anew, open to a different method of living, because to carry on the legacy of the lifestyles that have lead to our dependence on bloodshed is sheer and utter tomfoolery.

--PentWhistle

Symptoms of Evil Clownishness

2006-03-19T18:19:00.000-08:00

telltale signs if you've got intentions divine or just a naughty mind.

evil clown symptom #23: they spoil the ending to every story.

Usually by giving away the murderer after one is well and truly committed to sleuthing it out for oneself, for example.
the rotten rascally roustabouts.

evil clown symptom #401b: they won't play along.

Proof again against magic of all sorts, the evil clown refuses to pick a card, any card, throw the juggling club gently or surrender the stage.
characteristically churlish clowns.

evil clown symptom #2: they point out the very centre of denial without fail.

Usual with an innocent (but who's kidding who?) affectation, along the lines of, "aspartame gives you brain disease," to the diet soft drink sipping sycophant.
selective sinister seducer.

evil clown symptom #5: they always get the last laugh.

More of a melodramatically mad mouahahahahahahahahahaha with lots of the wringing of the big, white gloves.

toot toot

-- PentWhistle

whatever happened to opportunistic hippies?

2006-03-16T21:02:00.001-08:00

how the "me" generation fled to "de" generation

The Dirty Hippies.

Not all of the hippies are dirty. And not all of the hippies who happen to be dirty are Dirty Hippies. The dirty hippies to whom I refer as "The Dirty Hippies" are those who rode the swell of sincere interest of ending the wars overseas purely out of self-interest.

The Dirty Hippies are those who followed the trend, took advantage of the free love and punch of available intoxicants, and living in the then most prosperous nation on earth, were catered to since before they were born by television which began advertising diapers very soon after the war.

And so on, through "30 Something" and Phil Collins and a wash of atrocity dumped upon our poor unsuspecting pates on the way past the decadence of the 1970s, or the degeneracy of the 1980s into the darkness of the 1990s to the unbridled calamity of the 2000s.

The Dirty Hippies have traded in the possibility of Greatness for the disappointment of cultural navel-gazing, superficial dilution of our narratives, and rush to hubristic fulfilment of fleeting fickle interest regardless of the cost

to others.

hence with the incarceration, torture, bloodshed.

thanks for nothing.

--PentWhistle

p.s. Phil Collins? I mean, really, what the hell's the deal?

do you theenk I'm keedink?

2006-03-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

just in case you thought I was j-j-joking

Despot George II of NC of America, had some of these words for his nation on September 11th 2001. The importance of the dollar, and our economic enslavement laid bare...

read on,

if you dare.

"The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors."

"...we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity..."

" The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well."

It wasn't a long speech.

businessmen and women and their secretaries riding the same breath as military, federal workers, moms dads friends and neighbours. such special distinction.

Yet, are they not the front lines of the warfare of business, or business of warfare? With an untenable lifestyle floated on a swelling ocean of credit turned to debt turned to abyss of driving endless walking-distances, can there be a question?

business as usual - keep spending - keep counting money - keep shifting it around no matter the cost.

the cost.

keep shifting it around, because the way things works, all moving money gets skimmed, whether a tax, fee, tariff, levee, charge, surcharge, gratuity, interest or profit.

moving money ends up in the same inverted funnel, like an upside-down tornado, sucking all of the financial tokens of the majority up, away into the inaccessible stratosphere, where it is exchanged for opulence.

business as usual is the rallying cry of the war effort at home. Except that there's no war going on, no declarations, just an invasion, hostilities, and bloodshed. Call it war if you will, it's all in the name of lethargy and disinterest.

--PentWhistle

$top making $en$e

2006-03-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

To the declining doll heir: you're oh, so much newer replacement bourests onto the [ob]scene

such a simple symbol, no?

so eloquent, familiar, and ubiquitous. Yet, what the hell does it mean?

It may be the combination of U and S - it may be a combination of P and S (from the peso) - or it could be derived from the number 8 or it's the pillars of hercules.

US - PS - 8 - I I - $

The double-stroke dollar sign (with two lines - damned ascii - can't find it anywhere) - the two-line dollar sign is, of course

Snakes and Ladders

the adrenalyne pumping highs, the suicidal lows, the soaring and the plunging, the climb up the corporate ladder, and the precipitous slide down the throat of the snake, the belly of the beast.

what, then, exactly, is the economic dynamic represented by this snake, and this ladder?

is the snake the devil of eden? Is the ladder the tree of knowledge? If these potent christian symbols are the foundation of the economic system - the Fall from Grace - the why is it so surprising that economics are the demon to which we sacrifice all of our better nature?

$ - most jobs involving counting someone else's money

$ - there are no secular holidays that require all businesses to close (outside of emergencies)

$ - you get what you pay for [terrifying, considering]

finish these cliches appropriately:

a penny saved is...

pennywise,,,

now at the low low price of...

money makes the world...

$ - try living a day, a single, solitary, lonely day, from dawn until dusk (or rise until collapse), without spending one, single, solitary cent - without talking about money, without referring to money, without cutting a cheque, paying a bill, looking at a receipt - $

$ - how many days have you passed without thinking for a single solitary moment about the Sun, or the Moon, or the stars, or the back of your head, or how to love your heart as it keeps the beat - $

--PentWhi$tle

evil clowns abide...

2006-03-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

how to get laughs from a tough room

revile clowns:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/howardluken/AngstotheClown.html

business leaders in times of war

2006-03-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

how to butter-up dough-boys

from Reuters:
"Tim Hortons is heading into a war zone to serve the country's troops a taste of home."

referring specifically to Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

this is the beauty of it - Tim Horton's, long-standing institution throughout most of Canada, now dropped like a red brick bomb on the unsuspecting conquered... uh, citizens of Afghanistan, who can now line up to get a double-double coffee and doughnut for what amounts to a few months salary, provided your means of living hasn't been incinerated.

and just think of the calories! A Boston creme doughnut (will it be renamed the Kabuli Creme?) is just the thing for the civilian on the run.

mmmmm, doughnuts.

who'd'a thought that Canadian imperialism would manifest itself as a chain of doughnut stores in the wake of coalition bloodshed. When do the Iraqui, Iranian, Syrian, Palestinian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and North Korean franchise open up?

how many are there in the US?

--PentWhistle

calling for a real state funeral

2006-03-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

end to boreders

I say...

let's have a real state funeral, bury the state,
say a little eulogy, like, "it's been nice..."
and then throw the dirt over it, dust to dust and so forth.

we will stop listening to pernicious despotism then?

--PentWhistle

state funerals are the ultimate comedy

2006-03-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

or, how to gift a horse-mouth in the look

Toronto officers stage emotional tribute to police horse killed while on duty

lest we show any emotion for the dozens of people intimidated, pushed, corralled or injured by the horse, or its teary-eyed rider.

sniff sniff.

I laugh at this. I say let's all celebrate with authentic steak tartare - raw horse meat for all policemen, as I'm guessing it's already a staple.

no sympathy? no, never, not while police dogs and horses are part of the brotherhood of police, for whom the rest of us are simply outsiders. Doubt my assertion? 1000 cops showed up to bury a horse.

how many show up to funerals for victims killed as a result of police action/inaction?

take a wild guess.

and keep on laughing.

--PentWhistle

Squallor, Squallid, Squall, the Winds...

2006-03-03T21:07:00.000-08:00

a rant a day keeps everyone at a safe distance, at the very least

on a ramble about the backstreets late last evening, I noticed that the cherry blossoms have already speckled the gnarly branches to which they cling before their ultimate leap into the gentle descent like so much pink snow.

they started in February.

This is the earliest sign of spring in this place. the pink snow that counters the frozen hexagonally symmetrical crystals, in their cascade from the clouds, gifts of heaven cut out of folded vapor, and sent to earth as a sign that the divine likes us, and has a very strange sense of humour.

hence, send in the clowns.

didn't you know? clowns are a religious order. you'll hear passionate denials to the contrary, from clowns, and evil clowns alike. Maybe not crunkers.

the uniform, though varied, and multifaced, as the diamond argyle of the troubadour, is recognizable - colourful gendreless comically exaggerated perversions of the ruling class - they are truly the fools that have chased the moneylenders out of the temple. The moneylenders, bankers and insurancers, spend much of their time indoors, in offices, automobiles and homes.

they have been chased out of the temple.

the fool, the hobo hero, wanders the tracks under the wide skies of the great outdoors, and remains in a temple of divine construction, not of divine inspiration.

and with that, the fool travels far and wide, and brings with them stories - and at the heart of every one of those stories is hope.

now the evil clown, that's a whole other tale. Ironic twists into cruelty and subjugation, playing with the material as if it were symbolic, and the immaterial as if it were paramount. This can be comical, in the tragi-comical sense, when so much blood and so many bones go into telling their stories.

and the evil evil clown, is a clown of a different pallor. More aware that the religion of clownishness is neither redemptive nor sacrificial. It is a mystery, hidden in the deepest darkest abyss, and ironically, comically, ridiculously, that very abyss, the ineffable, unnamable, unspeakable void, inhabits each and every one of our souls.

a shard of the abyss sits within us all, and we can explore it internally beyond our heart's content, beyond the duration of two lifetimes. and it has depths that can swallow a person whole, yet it is contained within.

what strange antinomy. Is that what is meant by Shiva's dance?

guess I'll cut in and ask.

in the meanwhile, seek ye the laughably ridiculous - because the sincerely ridiculous have taken over.

the best thing about the abyss is that nothing's better.

--PentWhistle