oh no!

So it would seem i’m pretty much screwed.

Golden Age

I

we thought we lost you,
in a room full of oaks
and leaves turned
brown.
while you wore your dark
overcoat, and whispered
into our ears,
the sounds of angels
and the songs of
men
born into dust.

II

in a slow dancing society,
you weaved,
and you swivelled,
with beautiful arms flailing.
and we watched you,
like impatient children
waiting for a swing. but
that was the last we ever
saw of you; under the
shimmering lights,
with people
in your
pale palms,
and a gentle
magnolia
in your hair.

III

your feet were draped in the water,
and little sparrows
whistled nearby,
as the water rustled
past and left your skin
glittering, in the
sun’s august gaze; while
we watched you splash
the ducks, with our
purple blankets
and plastic
baskets.

IV

all the things you said,
that careened through
the air, and drew patterns
in our lives; we’ll engrave
on the empty walls
in our houses. and amidst
the tapestry you gleaned,
and in listless nights
showed to us, with a half
broken flashlight,
we’ll stand in the
pouring rain
in our backyards with
our eyes closed;
a collective yearning,
for that one
last dance
from you.

Recession? What recession?

So, Lehman brothers has filed for bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch has just been bought by Bank of America. Two huge, HUGE financial institutions have basically gone under. Lehman was, if i’m not mistaken, the 4th largest investment firm in the US. Now, it essentially does not exist. Merrill Lynch, again, a gigantic financial firm with renowned brokerage services, belongs to BoA.

Lots of people have rightly had a go at Bush for bailing out Bear Stearns (by arranging a deal for JP Morgan Chase to buy them), in what’s called a ‘too-big-to-fail’ policy, where the Govt. helps out a failing bank by supplying some additional capital to another bank to take them over.

Anyway, last week we also say mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (!?) being bailed out by the Govt thanks to taxpayer dollars. Ofcourse, foreclosures aren’t falling, because fuck the people who got screwed over thanks to ridiculously greedy financiers!

Couple of things here.

First, for those who seem to think that their taxpayer dollars are going to waste in foreign-aid, how do you feel about your money being used to bail out corporations who decided to take a couple of risks too many? How do you feel about your money being used to bail out irresponsible lending?

Second, where’s that old Hayekian political economy? Aren’t exponents of free market capitalism supposed to let these firms die because of their irresponsibilities? Isn’t that what capitalism is? Let the market decide. The market decided to fuck these people off! The boards of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac handed themselves shitloads of bonuses for success! Must’ve been posthumous awards…

So the world suffers thanks to a mortgage crises whose proprietors were greedy bastards. Lots of people lose their homes, and now lots lose their jobs. What happens to the executives though, especially of a firm like Lehman which is royally fucked now?

Probably nothing. I have limited sympathy for them, though I doubt it’ll matter; they probably have enough money to live lavishly for two additional lifetimes.

Taxpayers paying for the stupidity of lenders. Taxpayers paying to save lenders, not those who are now without houses.

Free market capitalism. You can’t have it both ways.

¿Qué?

And so, US forces embark on another incursion on Pakistani soil, buoyed by Bush; officially. Cue the usual claims of a violated sovereignty and people calling upon the army to attack these ‘invading forces.’

Fair enough.

Let’s attack those SEALs. After they’ve done killing our soldiers, we can launch a ‘proper’ attack as, of course, we’ve been invaded. Or something similiar.

Then, when the US retaliates, we can embark on a futile war where we’re shown up to be the paupers we invariably are. Forget the children, and their education, lets engage in a worthless battle over a ‘principle’ that hasn’t existed for us for an age and then some.

Ahh, sovereignty. A state that is unanswerable to no-one, superficially, ofcourse. So, in due course, and bringing Hobbes, Rosseau, Locke and other social theorists into the room, aren’t the Taliban (who seem to be supported implicitly by a substantial amount of our fellow citizens) violating our sovereignty too, by carrying out attacks on a foreign nation without the explicit permission of our government?

Why no outcries of sovereignty then?

Sometimes, I think people in Pakistan seem to forget that being incharge of a country means you are responsible for millions of lives (as much as this can be attributed to some average-joes, it is equally applicable for most if not all of our politicians).

Ah, idealism. To quote Huxley: “At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.”

Unfortunately, no tale of rabidly ridiculous laws being enforced and girls schools being burnt seems to awaken people to the fact that these mongs are opposed to everything that Pakistanis by and large believe in. Who the hell burns down a school anyway? I don’t get it. It offers nothing as a tactical manoeuver. Is it just spite?

Anyway, i’ve rambled. As always. But US forces are ‘invading’ our lovely sovereign land because we’ve been standing for far too long with your hands up our asses. They’re invading because we’ve been callous, if not outright stupid. This ideology gains from the subtle acceptance of every individual in Pakistan. It is perhaps a damning indictment of Pakistanis that our disdain of the US seems to exceed our disdain for the taliban -  an ideology that has hijacked our very religion to meet a couple of obscure, vague political goals.

Football

So, this is another football related post. I can see most of you backing away quietly now.

The summer transfer window deadline was yesterday, and it was a ridiculously hectic and, well, stunning day. Manchester City have just been bought by the Abu Dhabi United Group of Investment and blah blah. Basically, they have so much cash that Abramovich looks like the owner of a cornershop. In one day, when their takeover wasn’t even ‘complete’ or ‘official’, they put on the table money in excess of £60m. £37m for Berbatov (and in the process hijacking our deal :@, albeit temporarily), £32m for Robinho (a deal that was later completed) and probably £15m plus bids for David Villa and Mario Gomez. It was, pretty much, ridiculous.

Anyway, as I just said, eventually we got Berbatov (he always wanted to come to us so!). We now have Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov as our frontmen. I don’t know, but to me that looks fucking, fucking scary. They might just be the best attacking force in Europe (especially if Rooney starts playing behind Berbatov and is even as good as he was a season ago, pinging balls left right and centre and generally running the game).

Manchester City’s money though is worrying. There’s an argument to be made about how despite all their cash, some players simply wouldn’t want to come to them. I think that’s something that will be proven wrong. If there’s any success, the cash + hopes of trophies will welcome some really good just-below-world-class players. Once they’re in the CL, that’s it. They will get some of the best.

I just hope they knock Liverpool off of 4th place. That would simply be fantastic