Originally published February 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
I dreamed I was a fetus floating within the protective womb of Dubya’s America. In the dream, my work cubicle, the sealed interior of my SUV, and my insular guarded gate suburban home were awash in an amniotic fluid of mass media imagery; an umbilical cord tethered me to […]

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Originally published August 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
An unpopular war drags on, gas prices rise and rise, as a cloud of scandal gathers over Washington D.C. At times, it seems as though the 1970s never ended: it’s just Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton’s Quaalude-laced, faux populist snake oil caused us to sleep through the 80s and […]

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Originally published July 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
“Despite a nearly 500% increase in mental health drugs being prescribed to children in the previous six years, the NFC [New Freedom Commission on Mental Health] recommended a plan of mandatory mental health screening for all public school students and follow-up treatment with drugs when needed.
“The fact is, this […]

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Posted by Phil Rockstroh
Thank you, fellow murders.
Before you made your return to us by way of the London Underground, our existence was beginning to get tiresomely complicated again.
In the late summer of 2001, you bestowed us with a simple, easy to follow story line — a tale so preposterous it even allowed a dullard, usurper […]

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Originally published June 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
In the early 1970s, when George W. Bush was shirking his National Guard duties in Alabama, state Republican Party insiders tagged him with the moniker, “The Texas Soufflé,” due to his habitual arrogance, ceaseless indulgence in braggadocio, and preening sense of privilege and entitlement.
At present, after nearly half a […]

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Originally posted June 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
“Having an unexciting occupation may increase your risk of a heart attack, believe researcher.”
– Headline from the BBC, 7 June 2005:
It now appears the dire consequences that puritanical hysterics have attributed to human sexuality — from ill-health, early death, and societal decay, to being the flat-out progenitor of nearly […]

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A Conversation with Joe Bageant & John Steppling
Originally published February 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
As a fan of Joe’s, I asked if he wanted to participate in a cyber-conversation with Phil and myself. We purposely avoided any pre-determined topics or rules — this was meant to be just a friendly talk about the condition of the […]

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A Conversation About Culture with John Steppling Part II
Originally published January 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
Odd coincidence: I was thinking of cell phones and Aeschylus, on and off, all day. I had not connected the two, mind you…until your missive.
You’re right, John — cell phones make the world before you disappear. A few years back, I […]

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A Conversation About Culture with John Steppling Part I
Originally published January 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
“It is uncertain whether art is still possible; whether, with its complete emancipation, it did not sever its own preconditions.”
—Adorno
“So all things hobble together for the only possible.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), Murphy, 1938
It seems that man has always searched, both collectively (both […]

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Originally published November 2004
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
With the season being fall — perhaps I should let some illusions fall away like dead leaves.
Outside my apartment window, across a wind-blown courtyard, the crimson leaves of a white oak are falling into a swirling breeze, revealing the gnarled limbs and stark branches of the time-battered tree beneath. […]

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(For Tom Butcher) Originally Published August 2003
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
“On reflection, the work we did on this given day, maybe that was the product that came out of that phase some time in the past when we were ostensibly incredibly idle.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke
“I don’t want to be part of your revolution if I can’t […]

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Originally posted May 2004
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
“The story of Wal-Mart exemplifies some of the very best qualities in our country — hard work, the spirit of enterprise, fair dealing, and integrity.”
—Dick Cheney
“To all of us who have been charged, we all agree that we don’t feel like we were doing things that we weren’t supposed […]

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