underXposed

With a single act of defiance, a lone Chinese hero revived the world’s image of courage. Almost nobody knew his name. Nobody outside his immediate neighborhood had read his words or heard him speak. Nobody knows what happened to him even one hour after his moment in the world’s living rooms. But the man who stood before a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square June 5, 1989 impressed his image vividly on the global memory.

The meaning of his moment it was no more than that was instantly decipherable in any tongue, to any age: even the billions who cannot read and those who have never heard of Mao Zedong could follow what the “tank man” did. A small, unexceptional figure in slacks and white shirt, carrying what looks to be his shopping, posts himself before an approaching tank, with a line of 17 more tanks behind it. The tank swerves right; he, to block it, moves left. The tank swerves left; he moves right. Then this anonymous bystander clambers up onto the vehicle of war and says something to its driver, which comes down to us as: “Why are you here? My city is in chaos because of you.” One lone Everyman standing up to machinery, to force, to all the massed weight of the People’s Republic the largest nation in the world, comprising more than 1 billion people while its all powerful leaders remain, as ever, in hiding somewhere within the bowels of the Great Hall of the People.

No American is willing to take a stand

Those sworn to protect and defend the Constitution sit cloistered behind their walls, laughing at us. Our skies remain unprotected today. The entire Air Force is in stand down “for overhaul and review of procedures” (read original story). Our skies are unguarded today, and our vulnerability has been announced to the whole world. It’s an open invitation to America’s enemies to attack us. The last stand-down, unannounced ahead of time, took place on Sept 11, 2001. What’s planned for today? Oddly enough, El Al, the Israeli airline, will not be flying planes today either.

Zoo Station
U2

I’m ready
I’m ready for the laughing gas
I’m ready
I’m ready for what’s next
I’m ready to duck
I’m ready to dive
I’m ready to say
I’m glad to be alive
I’m ready
I’m ready for the push

The cool of the night
The warmth of the breeze
I’ll be crawling ’round
On my hands and knees

Just down the line…Zoo Station
Gotta make it on time…Zoo Station

I’m ready
I’m ready for the gridlock
I’m ready…to take it to the street
I’m ready for the shuffle
Ready for the deal
Ready to let go of the steering wheel
I’m ready
Ready for the crush

(She’s just down the line)…Zoo Station
(Got to make it on time)…Zoo Station

Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright
It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright, It’s alright
Hey baby, hey baby, hey baby, hey baby
It’s alright, it’s alright

(Alright, you can turn it up)

Time is a train
Makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass

I’m just down the line from your love…(Zoo Station)
You know I’m under the sign…(Zoo Station)
I’ve gotta make it on time
Make it on time…(Zoo Station)
That’s alright…(Zoo Station)
Just two stops down the line…(Zoo Station)
Just a stop down the line…