Weekend Poetry and Reading   (February 27, 2010)


Reader poetry, a new Readers Journal essay on Iraqi oil and a semi-random list of interesting books make for worthy weekend reading.

There's nothing quite like a timely haiku, and frequent haiku contributor Jed H. neatly summarizes the big picture in only three lines: (The structure of haiku is 5-7-5 syllables)

Spend, Borrow, hike TAX
GO, Federal PONZI scheme
The "END GAME" is here!

Thank you, Jed H., for keeping the site in provocative haiku. Readers, feel free to try your hand at your own haiku; it's a fun challenge.

Next up: the wonderful Boomers Storm by D.M. Lambert
(Copyright 2010 by DM Lambert).

Boomers listen and do absorb,
you are the problem, you did gorge,
the debt you made, is now a rage,
to the piper, it must be paid.

You did worship, the god of mammon,
and like a fish, we're all now salmon,
following, a god of lies,
in histories grave, we soon will lie.

Don't you see, the horizons cloud,
moving faster, towards the crowd,
children crying, going hungry,
millions suffer, tents and sundry.

You said that we, could have it all,
debt to the sky, ahead of the fall,
But thats ok, they said to us,
you are fine, just us, do trust.

Now we're not Congress, no we're not,
debts to the moon, we go to pot,
they say to all, it'll be ok,
clouds do gather, not here today.

A hurricane gathers, around the land,
generation zero, does try to stand,
what it means, they just don't know,
they filled your minds, all full of glow.

You went to class, and they did too,
a criminal act, they said to you,
that debts can grow, unto the sky,
a trick they pulled, upon your minds.

Cycles of history, they do flow,
unto minds, of men, you know,
they deceive and they do fool,
we're in the mud, and left with gruel.

The good times of credit, do not last,
after the good, does come the fast,
its different this time, they did proclaim,
we knew better, but went insane.

We the boomers, created the fall,
boomers must change, one and all,
we must find, a life without sin,
of he who dies, with the most toys wins.


Courtesy of our colleagues at www.oilprice.com, here is an insightful report on the energy/exploration situation in Iraq:

Tide Turns As Kurds Push For Oil Law Amid South’s Sudden Bright Future
(Fawzia Sheikh, February 27, 2010)

While the Iraqi government has made overtures to its Kurdish counterpart in the north to end an oil standoff, much remains in doubt without an actual law keeping the industry in check - rules which this time the Kurds are pressing for rather than Baghdad.

And a brief weekly analysis of the oil market:

Crude Oil Hits Ceiling in Week as Hedge Funds Attack Euro

Crude oil broke through the $80 a barrel ceiling repeatedly during the week but kept falling back as hedge funds placed big bets on the Euro’s decline.


Here is a list of potentially interesting/useful titles I've run across recently. Check them out at your local library if you don't want to own a copy.

Deschooling Society (Ivan Illich)

War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning (Chris Hedges)

Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (Chris Hedges)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Paulo Freire)

Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture

Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating

Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations

False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism

Get Ready!: Preparing for the Coming Catastrophe

Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines

How To Bury Your Goods: The Complete Manual of Long Term Underground Storage

Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law

Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ

Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop--from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication

China: Fragile Superpower

China: The Balance Sheet: What the World Needs to Know Now About the Emerging Superpower

China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy

The Blind Watchmaker

Conspiracy World: A Truthteller's Compendium of Eye-Opening Revelations and Forbidden Knowledge

Democracy: The God that Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order

Special autographed book offer: Fellow author (Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects) and blogger (Club Orlov) Dmitry Orlov has just published a limited-edition collection of his most acclaimed essays titled Hold Your Applause! A donation of $21 or more will get you a signed copy of this very limited-run book, and help support Club Orlov. Please check it out and support an independent, informed voice.


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