Below is an anonymous voice, a faceless frustration. I didn't write these words, I simply copied them here from someone who wanted to remain anonymous. These words are dead on the page, so read them aloud and make them your own!

we must begin expanding
until understanding of the underhanded
who abandon their fellow man for a dollar is reached,
and the stonewalls of economic seclusion are breached
in these united we stand
for oppression states where we squash all debates,
and breed our children into hate.
we need an instrument to unload the excrement
that's contributing to the detriment of our society
so we can tap a song-and-dance around the government
and breathe, yeah breathe, breathe our love into each
other's need instead of breeding greed and feeding
on the demon seed of the evil empire
because the entirety of everything is love unconditional
not the habitual betrayal of our brothers or the
ritual appraisal of one another.
but it's that love, yeah that love, that licks the
wounds and teaches tombs are merely rooms we assume
when we escape the rape of mother earth
and take some universal shape where the stakes aren't
so high and to die is meaningless.
so like rage we must raise our fists and resist the
mediocrity and hypocrisy and race at high velocity,
to discover the truth and uncover the eyes of the youth.
but i taste the waste in the sweat on my lips,
and the nausea sets in and the pains begin again
to send shockwaves down my spine
from the line "I gotta get mine," a rhyme i find all
too unkind with no transcendence in mind of crossing
the threshhold of time that binds us, confines us
in isolation from the oneness in our destiny, 'cause the
past we see keeps arresting me in the soothing illusion
but mind numbing confusion that separation is absolution.
the pollution starts after a child is born, and love is scorned
and the television comes on, rotting our brains and keeping
us tame while they're producing the same nuclear devils
they've shoved down our throats since the war turned
cold and they sold the freedom of old to uphold the evil they
fold over our eyes disguising lies while the going
rate to assimilate to the hate they propagate is the divine state of ignorance.
I want my voice to ride the tide of resistance
floating on an insistence of omnipresence of unity.
I want my words to set the sun on apathy.
I want my rhyme to cut like a knife through the mediocrity in the American dream.
I want every line to lodge itself in the collective heart of the masses
so that they can't swallow another drop of hate.

Worried about the future? Maybe it won't be so bad if Ray Kurzweil is correct. Check out his theory: The Law of Accelerating Returns

A battle for energy, democracy, international accountability, and freedom has already begun. Just look at any satellite photo of the Middle-East and accept it. Bastions of power and influence now clash behind closed doors and spin their decisions for public consumption. A growing uneasiness in the economy is well-justified... our global market is now vulnerable to recession on a global scale--local economy is inconsequential to the powers that be. Many examples are available: today's $40+ oil prices now strain any hopes for economic growth in the near term. Our current recession originated in the jarring recoils of Japan and Southeast Asia's economies. Corruption in Turkey, and South America has led to currency devaluation and economic destitution. Market-dominant minorities are being contested in Africa and Venezuela. All of this injures the global trade system and can be linked to current economic woes.

Clearly the U.S. has a sort of strategy for dealing with the economic issue... Take a look at the federal government's simultaneous refusal to alleviate state deficits while committing to spend billions on market reform in countries like Turkey, Israel, Iraq--these countries are potential powerhouses for a world economy now that developed countries are lagging in growth. There are individuals in the United States who are global economic powerhouses by themselves--a nice chunky tax cut will help to maintain their place in the economic order. Note that places of little economic note recieve little attention from the U.S. media and government. Our "international community" really only includes nations with military and economic might (USA, Russia, China) or U.N. veto power (Great Britain and France). While our president claims the tax cut will help those who are hurting most from the recession, it is in fact only solidifying the wealth of a few extremely affluent citizens.

What does this have to do with war in Iraq/Afghanistan/Israel/Chechnya/North Korea/China/Cuba/E.U.? There are pockets of humanity that simply haven't bought into our system. It's not enough for them that our system lets us sit in traffic jams each day on our way to work. It's not enough for them that we get all our information from a talking glass box. Or maybe it's the fact that while i sip my latte at an air-conditioned Starbucks, the coffee harvesters are stuck with the honorable duty of serfdom at the hands of the global economy--oh yes.. it is serfdom. These people are bound to the land where they have been born, and as long as wages are kept low enough, their options and alternatives for life are dished out to them by the businesses of the "international community." I digress.

What does this have to do with war, you ask? Basically, the U.S. is arguing that the international community needs to have a strong military if it's going to maintain the current order. This is entirely logical--if the global economy changes in the wrong way, it would be disastrous for American lives. The only reason we're in power today is because of the system that we have developed--if that system is challenged, then our power, wealth, and way of life is endangered. These pockets of dissent are a threat to the global order as it now stands. One argument is that a strong and active military will serve to deter most in the world from engaging in globally revolutionary activities. Anyone developing WMD is a prime candidate for either (a) diplomatic assimilation (anti-proliferation treaties, economic trade, UN membership, military alliance) or (b) if that is not possible--as in the case of Saddam--military annihilation. The threat of countries like North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, and even China is palpable to countries like the U.S. These countries have foreign cultures, religious or communist governments, and WMD. Thus, they are able to pose a front of opposition to the current world order if they so decide. The E.U. has a more leftist stance, but it full well understands that its power and lifestyle depends on maintaining the current world order.

The U.S. has taken a gamble that the "international community" would support it in this battle for global control--after all, the "international community" only stands to lose if WMD and dissent grows amongst the developing world. But U.S. strategy has been and continues to be poorly communicated and strongly overshadowed by a string of acts of self-interest. Many disagree that our current strategy of taking out Iraq would even work to our advantage. The great unknowns involved in this endeavor boggle the mind. The U.S. is taking a big gamble now that it is losing support from many of its traditional allies. Where will this policy take us?