Monday, March 03, 2008

Too Much Too Little Too Late

Fortunately Mr. Ehlers brought blacknotblack around to a little something I can handle. Images of white chairs and yours truly lend no thread for me to weave an interesting tale. Politics I can handle. And right now I have a better idea for the campaign song for presidency this year. Ladies and gentleman, Lady Deniece Williams, escorted by Sir Johnny Mathis: link

As an American who placed himself on the Nordic side of the planet, I constantly have to answer questions regarding life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, mainly because I moved from Los Angeles to Helsinki, not the other way around as historical trends portrayed. Go west young man? That was the trek of my grandfather.

I moved in with a woman, met my Finnish family I had not known, and looked forward to escaping imperialism. "Freedom!" I screamed from the roof tops and the bar stools, and few listened or understood. I left the hospitality industry for documentation and specification of graphical user interface design. I found more humanity in technical writing and composing copy than serving food, drink and fare to actual human beings. I also had to tell more people more often why I chose to leave the United States of America for Finland.

Gratuitous use of blog entry as supplant of confession so I can sleep in on Sundays . . . CHECK!

The concept of America never existed. I never saw it, never smelt it. The weaning was difficult, since I certainly remember where I'm from, and do not practice in the hype of assimilation nor anti-assimilation of expat pubs or sports bars. I stand out in the crowd, but that simply keeps me true to my personal history. I am a loner from Los Angeles living in Helsinki.

Now that Barack Obama has a damn good shot . . . fuck it, I guarantee he wins, helping the American bourgeousie cut the albatross from its neck, smiling at the collection of new things white people like. Obama will win the election, most likely without any need of superdelegates, and must recognize his role as a janitor cleaning up the mess. The situation he shall inherit will provide enough smokescreen to obscure any special interest kickbacks he receives. Cue the Sergeant of Arms: Madame speaker, here's the president, beeyatch! Stepping through a joint session of Congress for the State of the Union, with veep Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pellosi sitting upright behind their leader. A black man up front and proud with two white women behind him for support. Only in America.

I notice he said yes, he would certainly pay Raúl Castro a visit without any preconditions. I do indeed dig the rhetoric Barack Obama speaks in terms of international relations. Obama seems to recognize how the U.S. of A is nothing more than one political entity in the world, one nation on a planet in need of liberty and justice for all.

Meanwhile the pursuit of happiness lives on in Finland. They respect civil liberties here, such as walking home from a bar at 3 in the morning. If the cops show up to break up a party, there's good reason for it. The marketing campaign in Finland officially states, “The Police Are Your Friends”. I only know they can wear beards, and only stopped me for questioning once, to make sure I was OK, and said have a good night when I told exactly how many pints I'd had. I feel fortunate to have dual citizenship, especially since the taxes I pay show a good return on investment.

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