Loki Unbound!

Loki is a rather interesting character in Norse mythology.  He is often portrayed as being Wodin's right-hand man, but with a twist.  Whenever Wodin's not looking, Loki runs around creating havoc, which Wodin then has to clean up.

As we survey the world today, it would seem that Wodin has fallen into a drunken stupor in Valhalla, a bit of deer gristle stuck in his beard, and Loki has taken advantage of the situation.

The world has gone stark, raving nuts.  I can't think of any more appropriate description.  It's not just the natural disasters.  Those are sufficient cause for alarm.  But the people are out of control, as if Loki is moving amongst them with wild abandon, whispering devious schemes in their ears.  How else do you account for the sheer lunacy?

We have a Nobel Peace Prize winner ordering the death and destruction of thousands, while acting like a tyrant, and no one seems to see the irony in that.  We have the only country in history to get nuked in war-time, nuking itself and refusing to admit the severity of it.  We have the Bear and the Panda looking for all the world like restrained adults trying to marshal the unruly children of the West.  Meanwhile, the richest, most powerful nations of the last 300 years are imploding, and they are ordering gasoline thrown on the resulting fires.

Just amazing to watch, really.  Who would have thought Indonesia would become a power-house economy?  I mean, besides me, of course.  Who would have thought India and China would be shoving each other in the hallway over who gets to be the biggest, baddest mofo?  Who would have thought Ireland and Portugal would join together to finally crash the Holy Roman Empire?

And what about Libya?  Here we have a country that was quelling some domestic protests when suddenly the  US/UK empire decided now was a good time to start blowing them up.  No one was paying any attention to Libya.  They were just going about their business feeding oil and gas to Europe and many other countries.  Then, along came al Qaeda, who are supposed to be the bad guys over there (after all, the US has been bombing them into oblivion for 11 years).  They start stirring up some noise.  Qaddafi does what any good dictator does (see Obama) and puts down the protests.  That should have earned him a gold star and extra face time on Dancing With The Stars.  Instead, the Coalition of the Desperate start flying sorties, shooting DU and arming al Qaeda.

What the hell?!

When did the axiom of war become, "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy?"  It's as if only the US can beat up on al Qaeda.  If anyone else touches them, watch out buddy!  Heck, just the ruling junta in the rebel camp is a Who's Who of bad guys right out of the infamous Deck of Cards: al Awali, bin Laden's personal driver, guys the US has shot up three countries to kill.  Now the US is protecting them in Libya and giving them money and weapons.

Pardon me if I have this really confused look on my face, but when did the libretto change?  And what's worse?  The American people are just blissfully sailing along on Hope and Change, hardly noticing what those bastards in Washington are up to.

Meantime, the US debt is now par with the GDP, which means what?  B-R-O-K-E.  But don't let that get in the way of a good spending spree.  Last month the feds spent 8.2 TIMES the monthly revenues.  Let's just pause a moment to let that sink in...  You have a credit card.  The spending limit is $1,000.  So, what do you do?  Spend $8,200, of course.  What's more, the issuer lets you do it, since you always pay the interest (though the principle has been sitting there since Kennedy was sneaking girls into the Oval Office).

Things are much better in Europe, where Ireland and Portugal stepped up to dip from the trough...again.  No one seems to mind or care that all the bail-outs do is create more bail-outs.  When do you suppose Germany will get tired of floating the whole damn continent?

On the war front, Obama, Sarkozy and What's-his-name in Britain are strutting around like a bunch of preening chickens with their 'war postures,' yet not one of them has served a single day in the military.  In fact, it's the women behind the scenes who are starting all the fights, which is what women are really good at.  Hillary and that Power woman and a few other top broads are the saber-rattlers.  The boys are just the strutters.  The really funny part is that Qaddafi is the only REAL man in the whole play.  He's holding off a bunch of so-called rebels AND the combined efforts of three countries.  And that's with his left hand.

Yup, the more you look around, the more you have to assume that Wodin has turned Loki loose.

Over here in Asia, the rupiah has steadily risen from 11,000 against the dollar a couple of years ago, to 8,600 now.  But, Asian stocks took a dump when Japan dumped radioactive water into the Pacific.  I'm waiting for specials on 3-eyed flounder in a few months.  Needless to say, the sushi industry is toast for the next 2 or 3 thousand years.

Pay no attention to the neutron beams.  Those are just part of the light show.  Pink Floyd will be coming on soon.  After all, neutrons are only released when nuclear chain-reactions occur.  That's a good thing.  It means Loki is out of control.

A long time ago, I worked with an old black man named J.C.  He was prone to sitting around in between jobs and smoking his pipe and laughing to himself.

":J.C," I asked him one day, "why are you always smiling?"

"Heh heh heh," he replied.  "I'ze jes laffin' to keeps from cryin'."

I've never forgotten those simple words.  In fact, it's probably why I can see the hand of Loki at work.  The mischievous imp is running amok making black into white and white into black.  You have to laugh.  On some level, this is all really funny.  Great theater.  After all, if you take it too seriously, you'll just die from grief and heart-break.

Loki, wherever you are, thanks!  Now we can all just laugh ourselves into oblivion.  And J.C., thank you, too.  That was one of the most profound things I've learned in all my life.

I'm just laughing to keep from crying...