Originally published August 2007
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
Given the nation’s tottering infrastructure, imperial overreach abroad and vandalized constitutional process by a lawless executive branch, what will it take to scare the general public, mainstream press and political classes into immediate action to bring about meaningful change? At this twilight hour of the American republic, there must […]

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Originally published July 2007
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
In this summer of angst and grim foreboding about what further assaults against common sense and common decency the Bush Administration might inflict upon the people of the world, how many times during the day do those of us — still possessed of mind, heart and conscience — take […]

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Originally published July 2007
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
At present, George W. Bush is unpopular with the majority of the American public not because of the murderous mayhem he has unloosed in Iraq; rather, his standing has plummeted due to the fact that he didn’t deliver the goods. Americans are fine with fueling our republic of road […]

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Originally published June 2007
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
In microcosmic mimicry of the plight of the besieged middle and laboring classes, my parent’s Atlanta neighborhood, as is the case with many others in the vicinity, is being destroyed, in reality — disappeared — by a blight of upper-class arrogance. The modest, post-war homes of the area are […]

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Originally published December 2006
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
“Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he’s not to blame.”
– Bob Dylan
It has been reported that George W. Bush is counting on the judgment of history to redeem the perception that he has been at the helm of a failed presidency. This notion […]

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Originally published November 2006
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
Recently, we’ve been plied and pummeled with the absurd proclamation that “the system worked” — that our congressional representatives listened and took note of the collective, antiwar fulmination of the people, registered in our faux republic’s latest, sham plebiscite. Yes, I suspect, the political classes of Washington did hear […]

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Originally published October 2006
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
Day-to-day life within an empire consists of the deceitful leading the disengaged. Although when the artifice shielding a nation’s populace from the ruthlessness of their leaders begins to fall away, hysteria and displaced rage rises in the land. Ergo, in the American empire, we’re witnessing these demented days of […]

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Originally published October 2006
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
Many believe fascism will come to the United States of America resembling contrived spectacles such as The Super Bowl, The Academy Awards, and American Idol, with the proceedings intercut with teary, yet ultimately triumphant, Oprahesque tales of how redemption can be gained through the renunciation of one’s rights, […]

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Originally published September 2006
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts’ desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
— H.L. Mencken, Baltimore Sun, 1920
As Americans Waddled into the new century, overweight, overworked, and as self aware as a […]

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Originally published August 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
“If he [Hugo Chávez] thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”
– Pat Robertson
“Muslims want to rule the world. They want […]

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originally published August 2005
Posted by Phil Rockstroh
In a small, prefab house on the coastal Carolina lowlands, an old man, the son of a son of a tobacco sharecropper, my wife’s father, lay dying. Even though the St. James Bible had been placed at his bedside, Fox Cable News served as his Psychopompus, conducting him up […]

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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 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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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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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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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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