Examining electoral votes by State given current polls it would seem that John McCain has a mountain to climb come Tuesday. That said, I wouldn’t write the Republicans off just yet. Since I’ve been down here I have only met a handful of people that plan to vote for Obama, most choosing to vote for McCain because they fear Obama’s tax increase for those that make over $250,000 dollars a year. The race in Nevada is close, with Obama scheduled to speak here tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see which way the State goes next week.

Nevada, along with Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina are going to be crucial if Obama is to succeed. If he can take all of them, the White House should be his. If he loses all of them, the it will be a very tense evening.

While not all that important to many of the people that I’ve spoken with down here, the international reputation of this country is certainly on the line next Tuesday. Eight years of the Bush Administration has left much of the world disenfranchised with the United States, not to mention resulting in most regarding it as a greater threat to global security than any other nation or entity. Unfortunately, while I do think that Obama will change various aspects of domestic policy, I do not believe that he will seriously confront the military establishment or the stranglehold that the defense sector has on the nation. He may very well work to disengage the United States from Iraq, but those resources will only be moved to another theatre of war, and in many ways it will be business as usual. And while I am sure that Guantanamo’s days will be numbered if he succeeds next week, I do not believe that the detention and interrogation of prisoners will stop at undisclosed locations.

Do I believe that an Obama victory is crucial next week? Yes, I do, but primarily for the sake of perception – not only with regards to international perception, but that of the nation’s youth, who may very well view an Obama victory as proof that if they engage themselves change is possible. If anything is needed in this country, it is the resurrection of that belief from which real change can hopefully spring.

post linesOctober 31, 2008 42 Comments

This morning I signed all of the Live At Massey Hall covers that were sold through pre-sales. I tell ya, your signature sure does turn into a mess after a while.

My Morning

post linesOctober 30, 2008 55 Comments

I find myself, sunglasses strapped to my head in the shade, in the grips a hangover. Yesterday was one of my close friend’s 40th birthday. A few weeks ago his wife contacted me and asked if I would secretly fly into town – they live in Las Vegas – and play a few songs at his party. So I got on a plane yesterday morning, after a nice visit with Dan Lilly at the airport, and came down.

It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, my penchant for straight vodka on the rocks isn’t all that fun the next day.

post linesOctober 30, 2008 29 Comments

A few people were disconcerted by a recent entry I posted about diplomacy, particularly the historical references that I chose to use. Obviously, we all have varying points of view with regards to history, and such points of view are shaped by how much we have been educated regarding various historical subjects. But more importantly, it is the information with which we expose ourselves to that says a great deal about how our beliefs are shaped.

History has many dimensions, but two of its most important are the truth and the manipulation of the truth for the purposes of perception. It is routinely the latter, not the former, that we are commonly exposed to.

Universal Historic Culpability

War, conquest, exploitation, slavery, torture, theft, deception, religious subjugation – elements of all of these things can be found in the histories of every great society that has existed, some more than others, and certainly in numerous cases more blatantly that others. The progression of morality is the façade that has altered the methodology of such societies throughout history, ultimately limiting their ability to act in a shamelessly transparent fashion. The Romans tortured and enslaved without shame, as did the Greeks and the Egyptians, but all of them, at the height of their influence, were also considered to be the most civilized of societies. That reality has not changed in over two millennia, only the mechanism used to disguise the reliance on those things deemed immoral to achieve various ends.

Every great power has, in its time, been guilty of the worst crimes conceivable on a mass scale. No matter the ideologies on which those societies were based, be they monarchies, dictatorships, or democracies, the reality is that all of them are just as culpable as their forebears. But it is perception and context that skew our understanding of history, often leaning on necessity as justification for those things that we consider despicable though condone because of context. That phenomenon is the usurpation of history itself, no matter what point of view you happen to hold, and thus the manipulation of the truth for the purpose of perception.

Proper Context

The Soviet Union was invaded by Germany on the 22nd of June, 1941. In the four years that followed the Soviets suffered over 10 million military deaths and over 11 million civilian deaths. And yet, in the context of Western history with regards to the Second World War, the role played by the Soviets is significantly downplayed for various reasons – Stalin’s murderous and dictatorial reign, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and the East-West confrontation that emerged after the war.

Historical truth, on the other hand, tells a very different story, one in which the Eastern front was the deciding factor of the war itself. Be it German miscalculation or Soviet resolve, the reality is that what occurred on the Eastern front played a significant role in the ability of Western powers to successfully invade Western Europe. Without it, the likelihood that Britain would have been invaded is considerable, which would be why the West went to great lengths to aid the Soviets on the Eastern front. As a result, the Soviet Union lost 23 million people. In comparison, the losses suffered by the major Western Allied powers in the European theatre were paltry by comparison.

No nation in the European theatre paid a greater price than the Soviets, and yet theirs was a contribution wholly undermined by anti-Communist sentiment that ultimately led to the mass manipulation of historical truth in classrooms throughout the Western world.

In the decades that followed, the Cold War saw the world’s two primary super powers stoop to the same degenerate levels in various instances, both engaging in situations that would carelessly waste lives. This game, justified by both powers as a battle of ideologies, was anything but. It was, in truth, the desire for global military supremacy and the cementing of those regional influences required to achieve it. Ultimately, the United States won that battle, primarily because its citizens were never exposed to the sort of widespread destitution and corruption that their Soviet counterparts were. Theirs was a just cause, and the dirty work that occurred out of sight and mind was concealed by both the mass belief that freedom was the guiding principle of the struggle coupled with those elements prevalent in Western societies that provide distraction.

If the Cold War proved anything, it’s that democracy is a far easier guise to exploit with regards to the advancement of global military dominance.

Cuba

Cuba is a touchy subject, especially for Americans. While I’ll not argue that Castro’s governance of the country didn’t produce human rights violations, and that such violations are never excusable, proper context must once again be applied.

Prior to the Cuban revolution, Cuba was a nation governed by an American puppet regime that ensured that US economic interests were vehemently protected. In truth, General Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorial rule of the country was much hasher than that of Castro’s, with his guiding principle for the ill treatment of segments of the Cuban population being the protection of the interests of a foreign nation. In any other circumstance, Batista’s removal would have been viewed as just, especially by a populist movement. But given what the United States lost after Batista’s removal, it was seen as criminal.

Like it or not, Fidel Castro did initially attempt to work within the nation’s corrupted democratic framework to invoke change. When that failed, primarily because of Batista’s seizure of power, which was wholly backed by the United States, the method of change, and the ideology behind it, was altered. That alteration, steeped in Marxist-Leninist ideology, ultimately led to the successful populist uprising that drove Batista from power, one which was supported by the majority of Cubans at the time. What’s crucial to remember is that prior to the revolution 75% of Cuba’s best arable land was owned by foreign interests, predominantly American.

There is no questioning the fact that the revolutionary government was flying by the seat if its pants when it took power, nor that it used extreme methods to deal with those that supported Batista. But what should not be overlooked is that it also implemented programs of worth, such as a nationwide literacy program and land reforms that actually raised the standard of living. But Cuba’s post revolutionary future was not one that would be allowed to naturally unfold.

The United States waged nonstop covert warfare against the Castro government for years as a part of the CIA’s Cuba Project, which included everything from psychological to agricultural warfare. Ultimately, using a brigade of US trained Cuban exiles, an invasion of the country was attempted. When it failed, US covert operations continued unabated.

Threats of invasion, coupled with a crippling economic embargo, forced the Cuban revolutionary government into a corner. In that corner was, of course, the Soviets waiting with an available hand. But the question has to be asked – had the revolutionary government been allowed to focus on domestic matters rather than being driven into a state of paranoia and economic disparity, what would Cuba look like today?

We will never know the answer to that question because the United States refused to allow it to happen. In the end, the spirit of the revolution was replaced by paranoia and fear, leading to a dictatorial government rather than one that could have evolved into something else had it the chance to.

The Challenge

If there is one thing that history demands of us it’s vigilance, and to be vigilant we must be prepared to open ourselves up to those things that cause us discomfort and that challenge accepted norms. It is there that the eclipsed side of history is to be found, the completion of its totality, and therefore its whole truth.

post linesOctober 28, 2008 101 Comments

One of the reasons that a new design has not been implemented yet is that I have been spending some time developing a philosophy based on my online experiences that will best serve users.

Anyway, I need to ask a favor. Believe it or not, I don’t actually have copies of any of my videos. I have started a YouTube account and want to post my entire catalogue to it. So if you happen to have a high quality version, please feel free to email it to me. I would very much appreciate it.

PS: Does anyone know how to go about implementing a graphic on YouTube pages to personalize them? Leave tips in the comments if you could.

post linesOctober 27, 2008 40 Comments