http://dh1976.wordpress.com/
A hilarious exposition....esp. the comments.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Oil spill as a symptom.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/gulf-oil-spill
Five fucking pages of Oil Spill related coverage on a prominant Liberal web site.
A goodly number of them are about Avarice and Calumny, Greed and Corruption.
The Oil Industry, (Bad Petrolium (BP) stands at the front, today...but the entire Industry is just as Guilty.)...they are shamelessly attempting to manipulate the Public Perception of their Catastrophe....Hiring a mess of Temps for Obama's latest "Inspection Tour".
Openly Shopping for a favorable Judge to hear the numerous Lawsuits against them.
The CEO trying to run the media off the ruined shore....and the bastard Lying, Lying, Lying!!!
And what about the GOP (Whores and Weasels!), their Noise Machine, the Tea Party Brown Shirts,the Loud Fat Men, Hollering on the radio?
The Goddamn Drill, Baby, Drill; Deregulate Everything/Drown Government in a Frakking Bathtub- Crowd?
Well, that worked out about as well as the Deregulation of Wallstreet, and everything else!
Unmitigated Disaster!
It is a Testament to the effectiveness of their Machine, as well as an indictment of the Public Education they have despised and faught against, that so many otherwise ordinary folks still hang from their Back Bumper.
Depending on which poll you use, between 20 and 50 % of the Nation adheres to the Tomfoolery and Voodoo of the Right....in a Nation Founded, not on Superstition, but on Reason!
Surely, we are a Doomed Nation!
In every letter I've written regarding this Mess, I've included reference to Gas Digesters...to Methane Generation from Sewage, from Feedlots, from Landfills.
It is my Pet Energy (partial) Solution to our unnecessary dependance on OIL and GAS.
"Natural Gas" is a marketing term, dreamed up by Oil and Gas Companies to sell what comes out of the ass of every living thing.
they say it was needed, because "Consumers"(sigh.) were lilly livered about any mention, or mere thought, of bodily functions, and their byproducts.
The real reason for the verbal makeover was that Big Oil & Gas didn't want to compete with everything that Poops.
The 1000 septic tanks in my small county, as well as the Feedlots, the landfill and the city sewer sytem all generate Methane.Without any intervention by Humans.
All that is needed is to capture and clean (scrub) this byproduct of Life, and burn it.
The latter 3 (feedlots,etc) are repeatedly Fined by the EPA for "emitting" "Too Much" of this gas.
One can buy a city-sized digester domestically. Million or so bucks...but for a home, or neighborhood-scale digester....not here! You can get 'em in China, who is into this big time. Africa, yes...readily available.
To boot, a few years ago, while attempting to purchase such a system for my little farm, I found that the digesters sold in Tanzania for around $800...were manufactured in Georgia,USA....
But when I contacted that company, I was told that they "Couldn't sell one to me"...something about regulations.
The Right, at leats the ones I talk to about this, blame TreeHuggers for these Regulations.
I blame Big oil and Gas.
This technology actually renders what would be a potent Greenhouse Gas into a less potent form. Methane, into CO2. It takes the "Effluent" (Shit), and turns it into sterile mulch.....as in No Pathogens.
(My Shop/Smithy will be completed, soon...and I intend to build my own.Bull by the Horns, and all...)
My point is, There Are Alternatives(TAA, instead of TINA)...they are kept from us by greedy pigs, intent on the maintanance of Wealth and Power and Priviledge...
And it'll stay that way as long as a big potion of the American People continue to believe the BullShit and Hot Air from the Right.(Whom, now that it come to it, might be something of an energy source, themselves...)
Five fucking pages of Oil Spill related coverage on a prominant Liberal web site.
A goodly number of them are about Avarice and Calumny, Greed and Corruption.
The Oil Industry, (Bad Petrolium (BP) stands at the front, today...but the entire Industry is just as Guilty.)...they are shamelessly attempting to manipulate the Public Perception of their Catastrophe....Hiring a mess of Temps for Obama's latest "Inspection Tour".
Openly Shopping for a favorable Judge to hear the numerous Lawsuits against them.
The CEO trying to run the media off the ruined shore....and the bastard Lying, Lying, Lying!!!
And what about the GOP (Whores and Weasels!), their Noise Machine, the Tea Party Brown Shirts,the Loud Fat Men, Hollering on the radio?
The Goddamn Drill, Baby, Drill; Deregulate Everything/Drown Government in a Frakking Bathtub- Crowd?
Well, that worked out about as well as the Deregulation of Wallstreet, and everything else!
Unmitigated Disaster!
It is a Testament to the effectiveness of their Machine, as well as an indictment of the Public Education they have despised and faught against, that so many otherwise ordinary folks still hang from their Back Bumper.
Depending on which poll you use, between 20 and 50 % of the Nation adheres to the Tomfoolery and Voodoo of the Right....in a Nation Founded, not on Superstition, but on Reason!
Surely, we are a Doomed Nation!
In every letter I've written regarding this Mess, I've included reference to Gas Digesters...to Methane Generation from Sewage, from Feedlots, from Landfills.
It is my Pet Energy (partial) Solution to our unnecessary dependance on OIL and GAS.
"Natural Gas" is a marketing term, dreamed up by Oil and Gas Companies to sell what comes out of the ass of every living thing.
they say it was needed, because "Consumers"(sigh.) were lilly livered about any mention, or mere thought, of bodily functions, and their byproducts.
The real reason for the verbal makeover was that Big Oil & Gas didn't want to compete with everything that Poops.
The 1000 septic tanks in my small county, as well as the Feedlots, the landfill and the city sewer sytem all generate Methane.Without any intervention by Humans.
All that is needed is to capture and clean (scrub) this byproduct of Life, and burn it.
The latter 3 (feedlots,etc) are repeatedly Fined by the EPA for "emitting" "Too Much" of this gas.
One can buy a city-sized digester domestically. Million or so bucks...but for a home, or neighborhood-scale digester....not here! You can get 'em in China, who is into this big time. Africa, yes...readily available.
To boot, a few years ago, while attempting to purchase such a system for my little farm, I found that the digesters sold in Tanzania for around $800...were manufactured in Georgia,USA....
But when I contacted that company, I was told that they "Couldn't sell one to me"...something about regulations.
The Right, at leats the ones I talk to about this, blame TreeHuggers for these Regulations.
I blame Big oil and Gas.
This technology actually renders what would be a potent Greenhouse Gas into a less potent form. Methane, into CO2. It takes the "Effluent" (Shit), and turns it into sterile mulch.....as in No Pathogens.
(My Shop/Smithy will be completed, soon...and I intend to build my own.Bull by the Horns, and all...)
My point is, There Are Alternatives(TAA, instead of TINA)...they are kept from us by greedy pigs, intent on the maintanance of Wealth and Power and Priviledge...
And it'll stay that way as long as a big potion of the American People continue to believe the BullShit and Hot Air from the Right.(Whom, now that it come to it, might be something of an energy source, themselves...)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
river 5-2010
"-'For happiness, how little suffices for happiness!' Thus spoke I once and thought myself wise. But it was a blasphemy: that have I now learned. Wise
fools speak better.
The least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a whisk, an eye-glance- little makes up the best happiness.
Hush!
-What has befallen me: Hark! has time flown away? Do I not fall? Have I not fallen- hark! into the well of eternity?"-Zarathustra (Neitzche)Part 4 (at
Noontide)(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Thus_Spake_Zarathustra_-_Thomas_Common_-_1917.djvu/337)
There are few fish in the Llano River these days...Gar, and Humans, have eaten too many; and the Carp, some as big as my 8 year old, as well as the
Nutria, have eaten the "Cover"....an untimely flood, 4 years ago at Spawning-Time lowered the population,too...
So when I finally got down there the other day, and it was raining, I just tied up to a Billion Year Old Cliff Face...and observed.
Got high, drank Tecate, looked at all the Life Everywhere.
There were Idiots with Automatic Weapons, somewhere upstream...hollering and shooting...I gleaned that I was far enough, and low enough, that I
would be OK...
The Cliff was Alive! Spiders and their Prey, Mosses and Ferns, Trees (baby trees) established in cracks in the rock,...and the Rock!
Strata that was once Mud on the floor of a shallow sea, when the dominant species on Earth were Jellyfish.
One of the places I tied off was overhung by a Rock Shelter, 15' above the water....one can still see the char on the "cieling" from 10,000 years of
campfires.An almost unknown folk, called the Chama...who, due to a two hundred year old mispelling, gave their name to this River.
There are Rock Ovens, farther upstream, where these folks cooked...Caves and Overhangs where they lived....
The rapids just upstream from where I was the other day is known as Soldier's Crossing...artifacts from both cultures can still be found, if one knows
what to look for.
Kingfishers, Eagles, and the omnipresent Buzzards.
Deer and Black Cows....wading across the river.
A wild Turkey Hen, and her Brood, scurrying up a wide gash in the Cliff Face, past Buffalo Grass and stunted Live oaks, covered with Ball Moss.
If it wasn't for the occasional burst of machine gun fire from upstream, and the occasional truck on the mile-distant highway, I might be in any era.
a Million miles away.
fools speak better.
The least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a whisk, an eye-glance- little makes up the best happiness.
Hush!
-What has befallen me: Hark! has time flown away? Do I not fall? Have I not fallen- hark! into the well of eternity?"-Zarathustra (Neitzche)Part 4 (at
Noontide)(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Thus_Spake_Zarathustra_-_Thomas_Common_-_1917.djvu/337)
There are few fish in the Llano River these days...Gar, and Humans, have eaten too many; and the Carp, some as big as my 8 year old, as well as the
Nutria, have eaten the "Cover"....an untimely flood, 4 years ago at Spawning-Time lowered the population,too...
So when I finally got down there the other day, and it was raining, I just tied up to a Billion Year Old Cliff Face...and observed.
Got high, drank Tecate, looked at all the Life Everywhere.
There were Idiots with Automatic Weapons, somewhere upstream...hollering and shooting...I gleaned that I was far enough, and low enough, that I
would be OK...
The Cliff was Alive! Spiders and their Prey, Mosses and Ferns, Trees (baby trees) established in cracks in the rock,...and the Rock!
Strata that was once Mud on the floor of a shallow sea, when the dominant species on Earth were Jellyfish.
One of the places I tied off was overhung by a Rock Shelter, 15' above the water....one can still see the char on the "cieling" from 10,000 years of
campfires.An almost unknown folk, called the Chama...who, due to a two hundred year old mispelling, gave their name to this River.
There are Rock Ovens, farther upstream, where these folks cooked...Caves and Overhangs where they lived....
The rapids just upstream from where I was the other day is known as Soldier's Crossing...artifacts from both cultures can still be found, if one knows
what to look for.
Kingfishers, Eagles, and the omnipresent Buzzards.
Deer and Black Cows....wading across the river.
A wild Turkey Hen, and her Brood, scurrying up a wide gash in the Cliff Face, past Buffalo Grass and stunted Live oaks, covered with Ball Moss.
If it wasn't for the occasional burst of machine gun fire from upstream, and the occasional truck on the mile-distant highway, I might be in any era.
a Million miles away.
Farm boy in Town
"Such a man feels himself a citizen of the universe, enjoying freely a spectacle that it affords, untroubled by the thoughts of death because he feels himself not really separated from those who come after him. It is in such a profound instinctive union with the stream of life that the greatest joy is to be found."
-Bertrand Russell
I'll attempt to put up pictures of the back lot where the garden and the birds are.
If it doesn't work, they're at Flikr, under Amfortas the Hippie:
These are in no particular order...I'm not sophisticated for that.
This area was a wasteland 11 months ago....10' weeds, trash, brush, a 50' diameter trash pile,10' high...and no fences. The cousin/neighbor, whom noone likes, had tried to annex this part of wife's family place...unsuccessful, but he had contributed mightily, to the pile of refuse.
Enter Amfortas.
The Chicken House has an attached Greenhouse and "Run", where chicks go when they are too big for the hutch, but not big enough for the General Population.
The lot is divided into 3 "paddocks": the garden, the "Goose Pen" (w/ the kiddie pool) and the "Foyer", where the Chx House is, the apple Trees are, and the grain and whatnot is kept...the foyer opens either into the back yard, the lot next door (another, absentee, Uncle), the Goose Place (Anserinium), or the garden.
The birds (Chickens, Ducks and Geese...next year Pheasants and Turkeys) are rotated: Winter, they clean the Garden, Spring and Summer, they're next door, mowing...Fall is the yard, the Anserinium, etc....
The Garden shown is what I could accomplish this year...(I'm Damaged, after all...)
I've got around 15-20 more of those metal beds, out at the old place.
The neighbor to the back has horses...I get all the horseshit I can carry.
And the feedlot in Town gives well rotted cowshit away...just pull up the truck and they load it.
All this, combined with kitchen scraps, and bedding from the chicken house (I use hay)makes for abundant soil where there was only clay....the topsoil having washed away over years of misuse/neglect.
If I can acquire the place next door, on the other side, I'll have enough room for more birds, and a coupla milk goats....and we're well on the way to Food Security.
I've started on gutters on the house, have one 300 gallon tank that filled up during a 1" rain....and there's an old well I'm intending to work on this summer...gonna put a hand pump on it.
The Cowboy Pool (water trough)is in one of those pics....I have an idea for a savonius rotor to circulate the h2o through a charcoal filter...
And whatever h20 I can't collect will be channeled into the Pond, close to the pool in the pic, that is slowly taking shape (hand digging...ugh!)
Didn't have any chicks hatched this year, as the house wasn't complete and the birds were being moved here over time this winter...uproar isn't conducive to Broodyness.
It's a Work in Progress...
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Outlaw
I went home, hopefully for the last time…my Grandmother's death removed the last excuse for ever returning to the places I grew up.
200 miles I went, and saw 1 cop…then I crossed into Montgomery County, and in the next 20-30 miles saw no fewer than 12 cops.
It has become a Police State.
I'll elucidate why I hate the place so much….Magnolia/Tomball
When I was 16, my Mom kicked me out of the house. She was in her crazy period, having been through a long divorce, and had a moneyed, cripple Vietnam Vet shacked up w/ us….
I was entering my own crazy period, resisting arbitrary authority wherever it could be found.
I left…and she got on the phone to all and sundry with her version…that I had "run away"…even to the cops…classic CYA, which she has never admitted.( I let this go a long time ago). 86 "Homebase".
I went to live w/ Dad in Tomball…he was trying to reorient his life after the divorce….had a girlfriend,etc…was always gone.
I enjoyed the freedom…and did well in school and socially…as much as can be expected from a budding genius in the land of mediocrity (which is discussed elsewhere).
A friend of mine called one night when Dad was off somewhere….Ziggy…his girlfriend had called him crying. Her mom had beat her, but Zig was stuck in Galveston, or somewhere…could I pick her up at Ken's Bread and Butter?
I said sure. Went and got her…black and blue wisp of a girl.
She stayed w/ me for a few days ( and I didn't even try to screw her), then Zig showed up and took her off my hands.
2 nights later, me and my girlfriend were on a double date…came back to my Dad's place, and all the cops in Tomball came roaring in.
Officer Stan came up to me, demanding to know that girl's whereabouts.
He was to become my friend, and the only cop I felt I could trust for the remainder of my time there.
This is how I "got on their Radar".
I was what was known as a "Stoner", although, that doesn't account for the nuances and richness of me. Had long hair, played music, thumbed my nose at authority….
and did most of the things that my peers did…nothing unusual about my actions, appearance or attitudes, really.
A few years later, another girl…this one a longtime friend, called me up, crying. Her Crazy Mom had gone too far, her Crazier Dad's house was not an option…she was on the side of the road, so I went to get her. We laid low at Chaaker's house…and there learned that her Dad had called the dogs…His brother was Police Chief.
We ended up at Mary Beth's safe haven. She had been married to the Crazy Dad, and could protect us.
I was threatened with "statutory rape" and jail….I had never slept w/ Mippy, even tho I had loved her for a long time.
This whole fiasco ended w/ Mippy living w/ her Dad, Jerry….and me becoming Persona Non Grata.
From then on, I was chased, harassed and slandered by the cops. Gun held to my head for being drunk, followed whenever I came into town, pulled over and put through the ringer for the smallest infraction..this official behaviour spread to Magnolia, too…I learned to sneak around the Greater Northern Houston Area.
All this had a profound effect on me…which I hadn't realized 'till just a few years ago.
I drank, got drunk, did drugs, etc Ran around being a Rebel….none of this really set me apart, even tho I was a bit more extreme. In retrospect, I was depressed…I had been abandoned by my hometown(s) and my family….and had sought solace. I noticed, early in this period, that others "got away" with the same things I got the third degree for. Seems I was a special case.
What set me apart is that I was "on the Radar"….
This went on for years…I made forays to other places, tried to live w/ Mom again…but never had the money, or familial support, to get set up someplace. Home was my truck, or someone's couch. And I had nothing to lose, since I could, apparently, do no right….
Officer Stan pulled me over one day, after numerous tickets, and said "you better get out of town, Joe"….seems the law was gonna "plant" heroin on me, to be rid of me.It was only then that I found out the root of my problem. I asked Stan why they were always after me. He said," Because of that girl…"
I left.
Went to college, and on to Austin….with a few years of Road thrown in for good measure.
This period of Pariah-hood set in stone my distrust and hatred of Authority.
I was totally unprepared for the realities of life in Reagan's America…I had absorbed the Myth from family, that if one worked hard, and did the "right thing", was honest, one could "make it". (my attitude regarding school is covered elsewhere) Well, I had done the "right thing", to my mind and sense of Morality, in helping these waifs….and the Powers had tagged me as a Problem to Be Eradicated. I was a Weed.
Almost 20 years later, I moved back to Magnolia, looking for work.
Living in my Great Grandmother's house, w/ my Brother, in the neighborhood where I grew up.
Found a job.
Just beginning to get out of the hole caused by 911 and Lil George's economic "policies"…
Day off, I was at the Hill, where we used to camp, and hang around, building forts, etc…memories!...Drinking beer in my truck, not 100 yards from the house, parked in the ditch beside our property, not a soul on the little road. Local redneck, Ricky, comes by in a Mule, w/ a fifth of Wild Turkey and an AK47. Stops, shoots the shit, provides me with a joint….same idiot redneck that used to chase me with his buddies, "Here, Hippy!"…
He left.
Not 10 minutes later, cop pulls up and arrests me. Turns out that Ricky had a "special relationship" w/ the law….in addition to his business of construction work, mostly public works, rife with corruption and kickbacks, he was also a drug dealer…complete with cops in his pocket. Redneck Mafia.
When I got out of jail, (PI), I was afraid to leave the damned house! Was it starting all over?
Was I still, after all these years, Persona Non Grata?
I had my wife and year old son to think about….and it cost more to live there than I could hope to make….so we evacuated…back to the Hill Country.
When we were down there for the funeral, that same son(now 8) was riding with me….and wanted to know why I hate the place so much. He was shocked to learn that his dad was once an Outlaw…
I am resolved to not hold back with him, about the shittyness of the world….like my folks held back with me.
I had to find out on my own, by trial and error….
Grandma's place (Gagoo, I called her) will be on the market soon….and I ain't never going back…53 years of occupation by Browns and Pinters is at an end.
The Rednecks and the UberConservative, Rightwing Xians can keep their People's Republic of North Houston.
200 miles I went, and saw 1 cop…then I crossed into Montgomery County, and in the next 20-30 miles saw no fewer than 12 cops.
It has become a Police State.
I'll elucidate why I hate the place so much….Magnolia/Tomball
When I was 16, my Mom kicked me out of the house. She was in her crazy period, having been through a long divorce, and had a moneyed, cripple Vietnam Vet shacked up w/ us….
I was entering my own crazy period, resisting arbitrary authority wherever it could be found.
I left…and she got on the phone to all and sundry with her version…that I had "run away"…even to the cops…classic CYA, which she has never admitted.( I let this go a long time ago). 86 "Homebase".
I went to live w/ Dad in Tomball…he was trying to reorient his life after the divorce….had a girlfriend,etc…was always gone.
I enjoyed the freedom…and did well in school and socially…as much as can be expected from a budding genius in the land of mediocrity (which is discussed elsewhere).
A friend of mine called one night when Dad was off somewhere….Ziggy…his girlfriend had called him crying. Her mom had beat her, but Zig was stuck in Galveston, or somewhere…could I pick her up at Ken's Bread and Butter?
I said sure. Went and got her…black and blue wisp of a girl.
She stayed w/ me for a few days ( and I didn't even try to screw her), then Zig showed up and took her off my hands.
2 nights later, me and my girlfriend were on a double date…came back to my Dad's place, and all the cops in Tomball came roaring in.
Officer Stan came up to me, demanding to know that girl's whereabouts.
He was to become my friend, and the only cop I felt I could trust for the remainder of my time there.
This is how I "got on their Radar".
I was what was known as a "Stoner", although, that doesn't account for the nuances and richness of me. Had long hair, played music, thumbed my nose at authority….
and did most of the things that my peers did…nothing unusual about my actions, appearance or attitudes, really.
A few years later, another girl…this one a longtime friend, called me up, crying. Her Crazy Mom had gone too far, her Crazier Dad's house was not an option…she was on the side of the road, so I went to get her. We laid low at Chaaker's house…and there learned that her Dad had called the dogs…His brother was Police Chief.
We ended up at Mary Beth's safe haven. She had been married to the Crazy Dad, and could protect us.
I was threatened with "statutory rape" and jail….I had never slept w/ Mippy, even tho I had loved her for a long time.
This whole fiasco ended w/ Mippy living w/ her Dad, Jerry….and me becoming Persona Non Grata.
From then on, I was chased, harassed and slandered by the cops. Gun held to my head for being drunk, followed whenever I came into town, pulled over and put through the ringer for the smallest infraction..this official behaviour spread to Magnolia, too…I learned to sneak around the Greater Northern Houston Area.
All this had a profound effect on me…which I hadn't realized 'till just a few years ago.
I drank, got drunk, did drugs, etc Ran around being a Rebel….none of this really set me apart, even tho I was a bit more extreme. In retrospect, I was depressed…I had been abandoned by my hometown(s) and my family….and had sought solace. I noticed, early in this period, that others "got away" with the same things I got the third degree for. Seems I was a special case.
What set me apart is that I was "on the Radar"….
This went on for years…I made forays to other places, tried to live w/ Mom again…but never had the money, or familial support, to get set up someplace. Home was my truck, or someone's couch. And I had nothing to lose, since I could, apparently, do no right….
Officer Stan pulled me over one day, after numerous tickets, and said "you better get out of town, Joe"….seems the law was gonna "plant" heroin on me, to be rid of me.It was only then that I found out the root of my problem. I asked Stan why they were always after me. He said," Because of that girl…"
I left.
Went to college, and on to Austin….with a few years of Road thrown in for good measure.
This period of Pariah-hood set in stone my distrust and hatred of Authority.
I was totally unprepared for the realities of life in Reagan's America…I had absorbed the Myth from family, that if one worked hard, and did the "right thing", was honest, one could "make it". (my attitude regarding school is covered elsewhere) Well, I had done the "right thing", to my mind and sense of Morality, in helping these waifs….and the Powers had tagged me as a Problem to Be Eradicated. I was a Weed.
Almost 20 years later, I moved back to Magnolia, looking for work.
Living in my Great Grandmother's house, w/ my Brother, in the neighborhood where I grew up.
Found a job.
Just beginning to get out of the hole caused by 911 and Lil George's economic "policies"…
Day off, I was at the Hill, where we used to camp, and hang around, building forts, etc…memories!...Drinking beer in my truck, not 100 yards from the house, parked in the ditch beside our property, not a soul on the little road. Local redneck, Ricky, comes by in a Mule, w/ a fifth of Wild Turkey and an AK47. Stops, shoots the shit, provides me with a joint….same idiot redneck that used to chase me with his buddies, "Here, Hippy!"…
He left.
Not 10 minutes later, cop pulls up and arrests me. Turns out that Ricky had a "special relationship" w/ the law….in addition to his business of construction work, mostly public works, rife with corruption and kickbacks, he was also a drug dealer…complete with cops in his pocket. Redneck Mafia.
When I got out of jail, (PI), I was afraid to leave the damned house! Was it starting all over?
Was I still, after all these years, Persona Non Grata?
I had my wife and year old son to think about….and it cost more to live there than I could hope to make….so we evacuated…back to the Hill Country.
When we were down there for the funeral, that same son(now 8) was riding with me….and wanted to know why I hate the place so much. He was shocked to learn that his dad was once an Outlaw…
I am resolved to not hold back with him, about the shittyness of the world….like my folks held back with me.
I had to find out on my own, by trial and error….
Grandma's place (Gagoo, I called her) will be on the market soon….and I ain't never going back…53 years of occupation by Browns and Pinters is at an end.
The Rednecks and the UberConservative, Rightwing Xians can keep their People's Republic of North Houston.
Rebel
I am the Consummate Rebel….the Quintessential Iconoclast…an Unrepentant, Independent Other.
It has always been thus, since very early on, when I kept finding Differences in Myself that were unwanted/Feared by the Herd. I grasped onto that Anomalousness…Owned It! It was Mine!
Evidence was manifest and unavoidable that Society, and all its numerous Constructs, were anathema to a Thinking Person…and must be resisted, at all costs, if Integrity were to be preserved.
"Conform!" said the Machine…and I refused.
"Be Silent!", it said…and I said my peace.
"Sit Down!"….I stood.
This is such a Part of Me,now, that I cannot help but Live it.
It is Integral to Who I am…from the Beard, the Long Hair, to the Refusal to wear a tie (ridiculous, leash-like fashion requirement!)…to my Immunity to Propaganda and Advertising, my Profound Distrust and Dislike of Authority…my Total Disregard for the Opinion of those whose opinions I hold as less than worthy of consideration…
All this is no secret to those whom I do hold dear, few as they may be…
And yet, those closest to me are Shocked and Amazed! When I bristle at any suggestion that I Conform, Shut Up, Sit Down, etc…"just for today"….as if Integrity can be laid aside, temporarily, when the perceived "Need" presents itself.
Personal Integrity is so rare, today that it is confused with public approval, it seems…
How can one have Integrity if no one knows about it, or (worse) no one acknowledges it?
To the Contrary, I say…Integrity is most Important when No One recognizes it. This is more of an indictment of the Polity, than an affirmation of Personal Integrity.
Plato's Cave, and all….
To hear, even implied, "act normal", "don't say that", "you're wearing that?", "are you going to cut your hair for(insert formal public function)?"….from those whom I hold Dear, is maddening.
Have they not been paying attention?
Do they really think I'm gonna wear Flip-Flops to Church? Or worse, take a big-ol- dump in the aisle?
That is what is implied…that being Me, Unapologetically, is an affront to "Civilisation"…and is, inherently, Embarrassing.
It's even worse when it comes to my Crippleness…"can you leave your cane for (insert formal public performance)?"
"Can you not make a big deal out of not being able to go up and down stairs when the Immigration Czars don't have enough Handicap-accessible seats?"
Implied, just like the perception I get from the Public at Large, is that I'm somehow "Faking it"…
After all, I don't look sufficiently damaged…
Maddening….and dispiriting…that those closest to me think so little of me.
It's hard to be an Anomaly…but it's not something that comes with a switch…
It is Not something that I do to get a rise out of folks…(well, sometimes)…indeed, with the recent turn to the right, and hence, more conformity, it is more than uncomfortable to be so obviously Other.
Even so, it is a Duty that I take very seriously…to remain Integral…while the rest of the world seems bent on Suicidal Conformity.
Since I've been out of the Cave, it is incumbent on me to not deny the existence of "Outside the Cave"…I couldn't live with myself, otherwise.
I am among those who came down from the trees…and to pretend to be just another Fire Monkey is not only a disservice to my own sense of Worth, I reckon it as a disservice to Mankind…
It is not easy…this way I am.
It's hard, it's lonely, being Anomalous….There is, apparently, no Place for Me in this World.
When this is revealed, inevitably, it is "why don't you stop being anomalous?"
As if it's a "lifestyle choice", or a passing fad, instead of Who I Am.
Why should I regret it, lament it?
My "crimes" and "failures" are in the eye of the beholder, and not without context…and, anyway, they pale in comparison to the crimes and Failures of our Society, Civilisation, Species….
Instead of"why don't I change, be more like the Herd?"…I say, "why does the Herd persist in it's irrational, superstitious, ultimately suicidal behaviour?"
Without the Weirdos, we would have likely died out, as a Species, long ago.
It was the Freaks who thought outside of the Norm, who ensured our continued survival.
I am a Lonely Representative of that Tradition of Freakishness.
It has always been thus, since very early on, when I kept finding Differences in Myself that were unwanted/Feared by the Herd. I grasped onto that Anomalousness…Owned It! It was Mine!
Evidence was manifest and unavoidable that Society, and all its numerous Constructs, were anathema to a Thinking Person…and must be resisted, at all costs, if Integrity were to be preserved.
"Conform!" said the Machine…and I refused.
"Be Silent!", it said…and I said my peace.
"Sit Down!"….I stood.
This is such a Part of Me,now, that I cannot help but Live it.
It is Integral to Who I am…from the Beard, the Long Hair, to the Refusal to wear a tie (ridiculous, leash-like fashion requirement!)…to my Immunity to Propaganda and Advertising, my Profound Distrust and Dislike of Authority…my Total Disregard for the Opinion of those whose opinions I hold as less than worthy of consideration…
All this is no secret to those whom I do hold dear, few as they may be…
And yet, those closest to me are Shocked and Amazed! When I bristle at any suggestion that I Conform, Shut Up, Sit Down, etc…"just for today"….as if Integrity can be laid aside, temporarily, when the perceived "Need" presents itself.
Personal Integrity is so rare, today that it is confused with public approval, it seems…
How can one have Integrity if no one knows about it, or (worse) no one acknowledges it?
To the Contrary, I say…Integrity is most Important when No One recognizes it. This is more of an indictment of the Polity, than an affirmation of Personal Integrity.
Plato's Cave, and all….
To hear, even implied, "act normal", "don't say that", "you're wearing that?", "are you going to cut your hair for(insert formal public function)?"….from those whom I hold Dear, is maddening.
Have they not been paying attention?
Do they really think I'm gonna wear Flip-Flops to Church? Or worse, take a big-ol- dump in the aisle?
That is what is implied…that being Me, Unapologetically, is an affront to "Civilisation"…and is, inherently, Embarrassing.
It's even worse when it comes to my Crippleness…"can you leave your cane for (insert formal public performance)?"
"Can you not make a big deal out of not being able to go up and down stairs when the Immigration Czars don't have enough Handicap-accessible seats?"
Implied, just like the perception I get from the Public at Large, is that I'm somehow "Faking it"…
After all, I don't look sufficiently damaged…
Maddening….and dispiriting…that those closest to me think so little of me.
It's hard to be an Anomaly…but it's not something that comes with a switch…
It is Not something that I do to get a rise out of folks…(well, sometimes)…indeed, with the recent turn to the right, and hence, more conformity, it is more than uncomfortable to be so obviously Other.
Even so, it is a Duty that I take very seriously…to remain Integral…while the rest of the world seems bent on Suicidal Conformity.
Since I've been out of the Cave, it is incumbent on me to not deny the existence of "Outside the Cave"…I couldn't live with myself, otherwise.
I am among those who came down from the trees…and to pretend to be just another Fire Monkey is not only a disservice to my own sense of Worth, I reckon it as a disservice to Mankind…
It is not easy…this way I am.
It's hard, it's lonely, being Anomalous….There is, apparently, no Place for Me in this World.
When this is revealed, inevitably, it is "why don't you stop being anomalous?"
As if it's a "lifestyle choice", or a passing fad, instead of Who I Am.
Why should I regret it, lament it?
My "crimes" and "failures" are in the eye of the beholder, and not without context…and, anyway, they pale in comparison to the crimes and Failures of our Society, Civilisation, Species….
Instead of"why don't I change, be more like the Herd?"…I say, "why does the Herd persist in it's irrational, superstitious, ultimately suicidal behaviour?"
Without the Weirdos, we would have likely died out, as a Species, long ago.
It was the Freaks who thought outside of the Norm, who ensured our continued survival.
I am a Lonely Representative of that Tradition of Freakishness.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Inconsistencies in Arizona
My, what a shitstorm.
The Right has finally found a Gooberment who will do what they have longed for...
I predict that, at some point, Arizona will be the first state to secede.
But that's not what I'm on about.
I'm on about Inconsistencies!
Long has "Down with Big Government!" been a rallying cry for the Right. "Drown it in the Bathtub", "Get it Off Our Backs!"...
This Meme was, of course, stolen from the Libertarians...who naively believed that simply getting rid of Government would Magically solve all the problems in the world. (I know, as I used to count myself among them...)
The Right took this Meme and, starting with Reagan, used it as a Stealth Weapon against their enemies, who are Legion:Po' Folks, Black, Brown, Yellow and Red Folks, "Commies", "Socialists" and Secular Humanists....all of whom were believed to be either hanging from the Teat of Government, or Deploying that Teat in ways meant to benefit these Unamerrcans. (to the great disadvantage of "Real Amerrcans".
Now, at least for a brief time, we can watch the Laboratory of Federalism (State's Rights) work it's magic...the Law mandates that cops ask for Papers from anyone who doesn't look sufficiently Amerrcan.
From long practice with our Litigious Civilisation, the cops will err on the side of Caution...and stop Everybody, just to be sure.
The Inconsistency is this: How is this NOT Big Government?
How does this NOT intrude into our Lives in an unwholesome way?
Even disregarding the obvious parallels in recent history ("Papers, please...(Nazi Germany, USSR,etc...))this Law sets a course, necessarily, for More Government Intrusion! ...with it's inevitable bureaucracy!
(sigh.)
The other glaring inconsistency is what this Law hopes to remedy: "Illegal Immigration"....hordes of "undocumented workers", sneaking across the porous border, to "steal our jobs!"...
It occurs to me that these folks embody the much vaunted Free Market....more so than the sham of Corporate Capitalism, fer sure!
They have identified a Need, and risk Life and Limb, and Illegality, to Fill that Need. The right should be embracing these Paragons of Entrepreneurship!
The Free Market at Work!
...of course these folks would probably rather stay home, but nafta took care of any glimmers of an economy back home...messing with the Free Market caused this Immigration. There's a Lesson for the right....lol.
What a bunch of Maroons!
And! to boot! after all the shouting, "Drill ,Baby, Drill!", accompanied by Secret Fantasies of Nailin' Palin, I'm sure...the growing Environmental Catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, not a month after the Evil One (Obama)(!??) handed them what they wanted, will expose the unfortunate Fact that all us Bleeding Heart Liberals, Hippies and assorted Godless Treehuggers were right, after all...250,000 oil spills since the 70's, and they thought opening up the Coastal Shelf for Rapacious Oil Giants was nothing to worry about.
So Louisiana will lose it's Barrier of Wetlands, as well as most of it's tourist and Fish economy, for oil that wouldn't last us a year, and would take at least 10 years to get out of the seabed.
When will a sufficient portion of the mouthbreathers on the Right finally peer out from their Colons and get right with Reality?
Geez!
(and a caveat, in case we're not on the same page...I detest the Right...no secret.
But it doesn't follow that I, therefore, Love Democrats, who I regard as merely less disturbing and evil than Republicans. There hasn't been a Left in this country in my lifetime...at least an organised Left that I could sign up with. A Real Left would oppose Empire, and all it's Trappings...no such animal, that I can see. Machine works too well.)
The Right has finally found a Gooberment who will do what they have longed for...
I predict that, at some point, Arizona will be the first state to secede.
But that's not what I'm on about.
I'm on about Inconsistencies!
Long has "Down with Big Government!" been a rallying cry for the Right. "Drown it in the Bathtub", "Get it Off Our Backs!"...
This Meme was, of course, stolen from the Libertarians...who naively believed that simply getting rid of Government would Magically solve all the problems in the world. (I know, as I used to count myself among them...)
The Right took this Meme and, starting with Reagan, used it as a Stealth Weapon against their enemies, who are Legion:Po' Folks, Black, Brown, Yellow and Red Folks, "Commies", "Socialists" and Secular Humanists....all of whom were believed to be either hanging from the Teat of Government, or Deploying that Teat in ways meant to benefit these Unamerrcans. (to the great disadvantage of "Real Amerrcans".
Now, at least for a brief time, we can watch the Laboratory of Federalism (State's Rights) work it's magic...the Law mandates that cops ask for Papers from anyone who doesn't look sufficiently Amerrcan.
From long practice with our Litigious Civilisation, the cops will err on the side of Caution...and stop Everybody, just to be sure.
The Inconsistency is this: How is this NOT Big Government?
How does this NOT intrude into our Lives in an unwholesome way?
Even disregarding the obvious parallels in recent history ("Papers, please...(Nazi Germany, USSR,etc...))this Law sets a course, necessarily, for More Government Intrusion! ...with it's inevitable bureaucracy!
(sigh.)
The other glaring inconsistency is what this Law hopes to remedy: "Illegal Immigration"....hordes of "undocumented workers", sneaking across the porous border, to "steal our jobs!"...
It occurs to me that these folks embody the much vaunted Free Market....more so than the sham of Corporate Capitalism, fer sure!
They have identified a Need, and risk Life and Limb, and Illegality, to Fill that Need. The right should be embracing these Paragons of Entrepreneurship!
The Free Market at Work!
...of course these folks would probably rather stay home, but nafta took care of any glimmers of an economy back home...messing with the Free Market caused this Immigration. There's a Lesson for the right....lol.
What a bunch of Maroons!
And! to boot! after all the shouting, "Drill ,Baby, Drill!", accompanied by Secret Fantasies of Nailin' Palin, I'm sure...the growing Environmental Catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, not a month after the Evil One (Obama)(!??) handed them what they wanted, will expose the unfortunate Fact that all us Bleeding Heart Liberals, Hippies and assorted Godless Treehuggers were right, after all...250,000 oil spills since the 70's, and they thought opening up the Coastal Shelf for Rapacious Oil Giants was nothing to worry about.
So Louisiana will lose it's Barrier of Wetlands, as well as most of it's tourist and Fish economy, for oil that wouldn't last us a year, and would take at least 10 years to get out of the seabed.
When will a sufficient portion of the mouthbreathers on the Right finally peer out from their Colons and get right with Reality?
Geez!
(and a caveat, in case we're not on the same page...I detest the Right...no secret.
But it doesn't follow that I, therefore, Love Democrats, who I regard as merely less disturbing and evil than Republicans. There hasn't been a Left in this country in my lifetime...at least an organised Left that I could sign up with. A Real Left would oppose Empire, and all it's Trappings...no such animal, that I can see. Machine works too well.)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
When the going gets weird, the weird turn Pro..-HunterSThompson
Further evidence of a nacent civil war…
The 2 women I talked to yesterday, one from a state congessman's office, the other, federal…were unintentionally instructive as to the depth of the Ideological Divide in this country.
The first was the more open and forthright…coming right out with it in a long, tangential meander into Tea Party Talking Points (which I saw later on Faux News).
The second made an effort to remain neutral, to handle the problem at hand (my lack of a Hip,etc), but her own Tea Party Exposure was evident, if merely implied.
I'll focus on the first.
At first, it was about "constituent services"…helping me find the services I require.
When we reached mutual understanding that there really are no services for my particular situation, she began veering Right…into the Government=Evil Meme-Field..
The fault, it seems, for the lack of an answer, lies with Democrats and Big Government.
I couldn't really follow her "reasoning" on this…something to do with Trial Lawyers and Malpractice being at the root of the high costs. I mentioned the possibility, obvious to me, that Insurance Companies and the Profit Motive might, in some way, have a share of responsibility.
Heresy!...those benevolent Corporations are merely trying to help..but the Evil Trial Lawyers and Socialists (whom, I gathered, were under every other rock), were ruining our perfect system…biting the Invisible hand, as it were.
She moved on to Car Insurance…a parallel to Health Insurance, regarding the Mandatory stuff in the new health legislation…I said, yes! There's yer precedent..right there!
She was having none of it.
That was ok, you see, because it's not all that expensive, and all those poor folks who "choose" not to carry insurance (for cars) are driving up costs for everybody…
She ignored the obvious relation her argument for mandatory car insurance had to Obama's argument for mandatory health insurance…
She moved on…seems there's a Credit of some kind for energy efficient appliances; Federally mandated, state administered.
Her office "handles" so many calls from folks wanting this "free money"(?) that the phones are smoking!
Damned Freeloaders…(I got that from her tone)…
I said that, seeing as I have ample time to read and learn, and am interested in such things, I had a solution!
Get onto the manufacturers! Have them make more efficient machines, (for instance : put the Guts of a refrigerator on Top, instead of on Bottom…where the heat rises into the area one is trying to cool. This is done with restaurant equipment, already).
I further suggested that it would be great to have available a fridge that ran on 24 ,48, or even 12 volt…to facilitate the use of wind and solar, which are easier to use in those voltages…(now, one must have lots more generation capability, as well as an Inverter…which loses lotsa power in conversion.)
This, apparently, suggested that I was talking about the Big, Gigantic Wind Farms going up all over West Texas….with attendant Giant Powerlines that no one wants in their yard…(I tried to syeer her back to the idea of decentralization of power generation…to no avail)
Those damned Environmentalist Hippie Socialists were Ramming These Eyesores Down Our Throats!
Seems these Ne'er-do-wells all live on the east coast, in cities, and on Martha's Vinyard…which the Kennedy's have fought to protect from such intrusions…(sigh.)
I, again, offered up a Solution!...Methane Digesters….Glorified Septic Tanks, simple Scrubbers=Free Methane for Everyone.
I said that such small scale digesters were made in Georgia, shipped to the Third World, but that they were unavailable in the US…due to some unknown Import Restriction…
She pounced! See, the damned Environmentalists!
I said, No…it's the Oil and Gas Corporations who had written these Regulations, during Bush 1…(if I remember right)…they didn't want the competition from everyone who Poops!. (think about it…"Natural Gas" is a marketing euphemism for Methane)
She, it seems, didn't hear or understand…insisting that it was Environmentalists and Trial Lawyers and Socialists and the Evil Federal Government who was at the bottom of this Nefarious Plot!
She then seemed to catch her breath…said she had been "in Government" for most of her adult life (she said she was in her seventies)…and returned to my problems…said she'd get right on it…
I thanked her, and that was it.
Analysis.
This woman offered that she has worked for the government for a long, long time.
But the government is the source of Evil in the world, and by implication, should be eliminated.
My statement(s) that it was the combination, the marriage, of Government and Big Business that was the real problem, was poo-poohed…multinational Corporations are Free-Enterprise at it's Finest.
Government is controlled by Environmentalists, Socialists, Hippies, Lawyers, Democrats, and Beaurocrats..of which list, she admitted to the last…being a government functionary for 50+ years.
Social Security and Medicare are Evil, except, it seems ,for the part where she is On Social Security and Medicare.
Poor Folks are Evil, as well…wanting to "be taken care of by the Nanny State" and "thinking they're entitled to a handout, when a Job is what they really need"…except that they're "too lazy and coddled to go out and find a job…since Welfare is right there for the taking"….(quotes are her words, as I remember them…I 'm not trying to put words in her mouth…)
Business is being "Strangled by Regulation and Government Meddling and High Taxes"…
All of which, at least in Texas, is demonstrably false…
Which brings me around to the most scary thing about this whole encounter:
Facts, Evidence, Objective Reality….none of this matters.
If it runs contrary to the Mythology, it either doesn't exist…or it is some kind of Liberal Socialist Plot to destroy us.
Nothing can disabuse these folks from their beliefs…the sky, when they look up, really IS Green!
This woman, and the other one…as well as a guy who used to work in the Medicaid Office in Brady…are all, by definition, "The Government"!
Yet they rail and rave that Government is Evil…without Shame, much less the slightest sense of Irony!
You can almost hear the disembodied Voice of Beck, Limbaugh and Faux News, behind everything they say.
We are so Fucked!
(and the Governor of Virginia has made a Proclamation of Confederate Day, neglecting to mention the role of Slavery in the War of Northern Agression…Civil War was all about Freedom!...
They are embracing the Meme.
Liberals, and all others who don't believe in this tripe, should clean their guns,(in a defensive manner, of course), and Hunker Down…
That may sound crazy, but I fear it'll come to that…)
The 2 women I talked to yesterday, one from a state congessman's office, the other, federal…were unintentionally instructive as to the depth of the Ideological Divide in this country.
The first was the more open and forthright…coming right out with it in a long, tangential meander into Tea Party Talking Points (which I saw later on Faux News).
The second made an effort to remain neutral, to handle the problem at hand (my lack of a Hip,etc), but her own Tea Party Exposure was evident, if merely implied.
I'll focus on the first.
At first, it was about "constituent services"…helping me find the services I require.
When we reached mutual understanding that there really are no services for my particular situation, she began veering Right…into the Government=Evil Meme-Field..
The fault, it seems, for the lack of an answer, lies with Democrats and Big Government.
I couldn't really follow her "reasoning" on this…something to do with Trial Lawyers and Malpractice being at the root of the high costs. I mentioned the possibility, obvious to me, that Insurance Companies and the Profit Motive might, in some way, have a share of responsibility.
Heresy!...those benevolent Corporations are merely trying to help..but the Evil Trial Lawyers and Socialists (whom, I gathered, were under every other rock), were ruining our perfect system…biting the Invisible hand, as it were.
She moved on to Car Insurance…a parallel to Health Insurance, regarding the Mandatory stuff in the new health legislation…I said, yes! There's yer precedent..right there!
She was having none of it.
That was ok, you see, because it's not all that expensive, and all those poor folks who "choose" not to carry insurance (for cars) are driving up costs for everybody…
She ignored the obvious relation her argument for mandatory car insurance had to Obama's argument for mandatory health insurance…
She moved on…seems there's a Credit of some kind for energy efficient appliances; Federally mandated, state administered.
Her office "handles" so many calls from folks wanting this "free money"(?) that the phones are smoking!
Damned Freeloaders…(I got that from her tone)…
I said that, seeing as I have ample time to read and learn, and am interested in such things, I had a solution!
Get onto the manufacturers! Have them make more efficient machines, (for instance : put the Guts of a refrigerator on Top, instead of on Bottom…where the heat rises into the area one is trying to cool. This is done with restaurant equipment, already).
I further suggested that it would be great to have available a fridge that ran on 24 ,48, or even 12 volt…to facilitate the use of wind and solar, which are easier to use in those voltages…(now, one must have lots more generation capability, as well as an Inverter…which loses lotsa power in conversion.)
This, apparently, suggested that I was talking about the Big, Gigantic Wind Farms going up all over West Texas….with attendant Giant Powerlines that no one wants in their yard…(I tried to syeer her back to the idea of decentralization of power generation…to no avail)
Those damned Environmentalist Hippie Socialists were Ramming These Eyesores Down Our Throats!
Seems these Ne'er-do-wells all live on the east coast, in cities, and on Martha's Vinyard…which the Kennedy's have fought to protect from such intrusions…(sigh.)
I, again, offered up a Solution!...Methane Digesters….Glorified Septic Tanks, simple Scrubbers=Free Methane for Everyone.
I said that such small scale digesters were made in Georgia, shipped to the Third World, but that they were unavailable in the US…due to some unknown Import Restriction…
She pounced! See, the damned Environmentalists!
I said, No…it's the Oil and Gas Corporations who had written these Regulations, during Bush 1…(if I remember right)…they didn't want the competition from everyone who Poops!. (think about it…"Natural Gas" is a marketing euphemism for Methane)
She, it seems, didn't hear or understand…insisting that it was Environmentalists and Trial Lawyers and Socialists and the Evil Federal Government who was at the bottom of this Nefarious Plot!
She then seemed to catch her breath…said she had been "in Government" for most of her adult life (she said she was in her seventies)…and returned to my problems…said she'd get right on it…
I thanked her, and that was it.
Analysis.
This woman offered that she has worked for the government for a long, long time.
But the government is the source of Evil in the world, and by implication, should be eliminated.
My statement(s) that it was the combination, the marriage, of Government and Big Business that was the real problem, was poo-poohed…multinational Corporations are Free-Enterprise at it's Finest.
Government is controlled by Environmentalists, Socialists, Hippies, Lawyers, Democrats, and Beaurocrats..of which list, she admitted to the last…being a government functionary for 50+ years.
Social Security and Medicare are Evil, except, it seems ,for the part where she is On Social Security and Medicare.
Poor Folks are Evil, as well…wanting to "be taken care of by the Nanny State" and "thinking they're entitled to a handout, when a Job is what they really need"…except that they're "too lazy and coddled to go out and find a job…since Welfare is right there for the taking"….(quotes are her words, as I remember them…I 'm not trying to put words in her mouth…)
Business is being "Strangled by Regulation and Government Meddling and High Taxes"…
All of which, at least in Texas, is demonstrably false…
Which brings me around to the most scary thing about this whole encounter:
Facts, Evidence, Objective Reality….none of this matters.
If it runs contrary to the Mythology, it either doesn't exist…or it is some kind of Liberal Socialist Plot to destroy us.
Nothing can disabuse these folks from their beliefs…the sky, when they look up, really IS Green!
This woman, and the other one…as well as a guy who used to work in the Medicaid Office in Brady…are all, by definition, "The Government"!
Yet they rail and rave that Government is Evil…without Shame, much less the slightest sense of Irony!
You can almost hear the disembodied Voice of Beck, Limbaugh and Faux News, behind everything they say.
We are so Fucked!
(and the Governor of Virginia has made a Proclamation of Confederate Day, neglecting to mention the role of Slavery in the War of Northern Agression…Civil War was all about Freedom!...
They are embracing the Meme.
Liberals, and all others who don't believe in this tripe, should clean their guns,(in a defensive manner, of course), and Hunker Down…
That may sound crazy, but I fear it'll come to that…)
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Interstices
Sent this to "my" State Congresscritters:
Howdy,
My name is , ,and I'm disabled. I'm not "technically" disabled, due to the Byzantine system we have in this country, but I am disabled, nonetheless.
20 years ago, I had an accident…hit a tree at 90 mph. Both the tree and I survived.
I severed the "neck" of my right femur, made my left ankle into gravel, and messed up my knees…especially the right one. After I got out of the Hospital, I spent a long time in bed…then a long time in a wheelchair…and a long time learning to walk, again.
Sooner than anyone's expectations, I was back at work, and back at school.
The pain was always there, but it was tolerable. I was a cook…I like the term "Chef"…for all those years. I was very good at it…a "Ninja in the Kitchen"….but the hard floors, the long hours without a break, had their effect…
Five years ago, when I would go to work, I found myself having a harder and harder time finishing my shift…the pain was so great… After I finally got off, I could hardly drive home. Then, in the mornings, I'd find that I could not walk.
So I quit, and went to my Doctor, who said, "You need a new hip".
In these last 20 years, I have fallen a lot. I've broken both thumbs, both wrists, both elbows….damaged my back and neck (due, I think, to not being able to "lift with my knees").
Also, after my wreck and all the surgery and recovery was done, my insurance dropped me like a hot potato. I have never been able to get insurance, since that day.
So, all these "peripheral injuries" are undocumented…I just wrapped them up, drank some tequila, grit my teeth, and moved on.
When my Doc said "get a hip", I applied for Disability.
I have been through that whole process one and a half times….I'm in the second go-'round, on the first appeal to the first denial.
For some reason, they keep denying me.
Seems to be a criterion in the relevant law regarding "jobs present in the National Economy"…..notwithstanding the presence of such jobs anywhere near me.
I live in Mason, Texas. I cannot move, as I have been out of work for nearly 5 years.
This doesn't matter to the Judge, or to the Functionaries…
It seems like a convenient excuse for denying me.
I don't qualify for Medicaid, as my wife makes around $1000 per month…and the income threshold for adult Medicaid is $230 per month….in my opinion, ridiculously low.
A doctor friend of mine suggested that I "establish residence" in San Antonio, or somewhere ;where there are big County Hospitals. But I am fatally honest….I won't lie.
I am in a kind of Purgatory…I can usually walk, with great pain…I can do stuff, but I pay for it with pain.
I do the necessary repairs on this ancient house, but then I have to lie around for 1-5 days, depending on the strenuousness of the chore.
The few jobs out here are not conducive to this.
I have stated, repeatedly, that I am NOT after a check. I want to go back to work, start a business, something!
But to do so, I must be repaired.
They tell me I have Avascular necrosis in my hip…the bone is dead.
I need a hip replacement…I also need what's called an ankle-fusion.
The Orthopedic guy says I'll soon need a right knee replacement.
The Hospital quoted me, 2 years ago, $40,000+, just for the hip.
I'm at my wits end.
My family suffers, needlessly, for it.
What am I supposed to do?
The system is broken…and I didn't do the breaking.
I have never asked for "welfare" before all this started.
The system was built by folks who hold their Ideology above their Hearts…and it is Shameful.
With the recent hullaballoo over Health care Reform, there's been a lot of Hyperbole and Hollering…but the fact remains…I have fallen through cracks, that were opened, then made wider, by folks who care more about the health of Corporations than the Health of Poor People.
You, Sir, supposedly represent me.
I am a Human Being, a 5th generation Texan.
Fix it!
Thank You.
You can call me any time.(325)
Actually got a response…booted it up to "my" National Congressman…who's Minion called me.
She was very nice, very understanding…but there apparently ain't a damned thing they, or anyone else, can do.
The underlying contempt for all things Government was palpable, but I didn't get into my feelings about that…lol.
Seems that since I'm white, 40 and Educated, I have fallen through a sizeable Crack.
I am informed that the last five years of wrangling with a heartless system was for nothing.
She said it's "not what Social Security/Disability is for…it's for people who will never work again…"
Not, she says, for repairing younger folks so that they are able to go back to work.(!!)
So…from all this I glean that there is no help forthcoming, from state, federal or local government.
I'm screwed until I'm 65…or become so damaged that I can never work again.
Incentive to jump off the roof?
Yes, if I trusted the Machine with a hole in the head…which I do not.
I am, as I've feared, Doomed to deteriororate ,in increasing pain , till I finally can no longer move, at all.
I did get a rise out of her, though…
I related the results of my research into costs, regarding the Hip Replacement.
Fredericksburg Hospital "quoted" me a ballpark figure of $40,000…for the fake hip and it's installation. This figure does not include anesthesia, anesthesiologist, post operative stuff, a bed in the Hospital for a night or two,or any platinum-clad, diamond studded Tylenol or other extras that may be needed. Nothing about Physical Therapy, to get me back on my feet. Just the surgery.
I found a place that would do the whole damned thing…all the stuff mentioned above, plus recovery in a bungalow on the beach with a private nurse…for $18,000.
It's called Cuba.
It's the only country in the whole world that I ,as an American, am specifically forbidden from visiting.
If 20 grand falls out of the sky, I'll be on the first fucking boat, I told her…and y'all can throw me in jail afterwards.
If such things come to pass, be certain, dear readers, that the entire adventure will be available on YouTube.
Call it Citizen Journalism.
Or consider it a Stick in the Eye of the Beast.
Howdy,
My name is , ,and I'm disabled. I'm not "technically" disabled, due to the Byzantine system we have in this country, but I am disabled, nonetheless.
20 years ago, I had an accident…hit a tree at 90 mph. Both the tree and I survived.
I severed the "neck" of my right femur, made my left ankle into gravel, and messed up my knees…especially the right one. After I got out of the Hospital, I spent a long time in bed…then a long time in a wheelchair…and a long time learning to walk, again.
Sooner than anyone's expectations, I was back at work, and back at school.
The pain was always there, but it was tolerable. I was a cook…I like the term "Chef"…for all those years. I was very good at it…a "Ninja in the Kitchen"….but the hard floors, the long hours without a break, had their effect…
Five years ago, when I would go to work, I found myself having a harder and harder time finishing my shift…the pain was so great… After I finally got off, I could hardly drive home. Then, in the mornings, I'd find that I could not walk.
So I quit, and went to my Doctor, who said, "You need a new hip".
In these last 20 years, I have fallen a lot. I've broken both thumbs, both wrists, both elbows….damaged my back and neck (due, I think, to not being able to "lift with my knees").
Also, after my wreck and all the surgery and recovery was done, my insurance dropped me like a hot potato. I have never been able to get insurance, since that day.
So, all these "peripheral injuries" are undocumented…I just wrapped them up, drank some tequila, grit my teeth, and moved on.
When my Doc said "get a hip", I applied for Disability.
I have been through that whole process one and a half times….I'm in the second go-'round, on the first appeal to the first denial.
For some reason, they keep denying me.
Seems to be a criterion in the relevant law regarding "jobs present in the National Economy"…..notwithstanding the presence of such jobs anywhere near me.
I live in Mason, Texas. I cannot move, as I have been out of work for nearly 5 years.
This doesn't matter to the Judge, or to the Functionaries…
It seems like a convenient excuse for denying me.
I don't qualify for Medicaid, as my wife makes around $1000 per month…and the income threshold for adult Medicaid is $230 per month….in my opinion, ridiculously low.
A doctor friend of mine suggested that I "establish residence" in San Antonio, or somewhere ;where there are big County Hospitals. But I am fatally honest….I won't lie.
I am in a kind of Purgatory…I can usually walk, with great pain…I can do stuff, but I pay for it with pain.
I do the necessary repairs on this ancient house, but then I have to lie around for 1-5 days, depending on the strenuousness of the chore.
The few jobs out here are not conducive to this.
I have stated, repeatedly, that I am NOT after a check. I want to go back to work, start a business, something!
But to do so, I must be repaired.
They tell me I have Avascular necrosis in my hip…the bone is dead.
I need a hip replacement…I also need what's called an ankle-fusion.
The Orthopedic guy says I'll soon need a right knee replacement.
The Hospital quoted me, 2 years ago, $40,000+, just for the hip.
I'm at my wits end.
My family suffers, needlessly, for it.
What am I supposed to do?
The system is broken…and I didn't do the breaking.
I have never asked for "welfare" before all this started.
The system was built by folks who hold their Ideology above their Hearts…and it is Shameful.
With the recent hullaballoo over Health care Reform, there's been a lot of Hyperbole and Hollering…but the fact remains…I have fallen through cracks, that were opened, then made wider, by folks who care more about the health of Corporations than the Health of Poor People.
You, Sir, supposedly represent me.
I am a Human Being, a 5th generation Texan.
Fix it!
Thank You.
You can call me any time.(325)
Actually got a response…booted it up to "my" National Congressman…who's Minion called me.
She was very nice, very understanding…but there apparently ain't a damned thing they, or anyone else, can do.
The underlying contempt for all things Government was palpable, but I didn't get into my feelings about that…lol.
Seems that since I'm white, 40 and Educated, I have fallen through a sizeable Crack.
I am informed that the last five years of wrangling with a heartless system was for nothing.
She said it's "not what Social Security/Disability is for…it's for people who will never work again…"
Not, she says, for repairing younger folks so that they are able to go back to work.(!!)
So…from all this I glean that there is no help forthcoming, from state, federal or local government.
I'm screwed until I'm 65…or become so damaged that I can never work again.
Incentive to jump off the roof?
Yes, if I trusted the Machine with a hole in the head…which I do not.
I am, as I've feared, Doomed to deteriororate ,in increasing pain , till I finally can no longer move, at all.
I did get a rise out of her, though…
I related the results of my research into costs, regarding the Hip Replacement.
Fredericksburg Hospital "quoted" me a ballpark figure of $40,000…for the fake hip and it's installation. This figure does not include anesthesia, anesthesiologist, post operative stuff, a bed in the Hospital for a night or two,or any platinum-clad, diamond studded Tylenol or other extras that may be needed. Nothing about Physical Therapy, to get me back on my feet. Just the surgery.
I found a place that would do the whole damned thing…all the stuff mentioned above, plus recovery in a bungalow on the beach with a private nurse…for $18,000.
It's called Cuba.
It's the only country in the whole world that I ,as an American, am specifically forbidden from visiting.
If 20 grand falls out of the sky, I'll be on the first fucking boat, I told her…and y'all can throw me in jail afterwards.
If such things come to pass, be certain, dear readers, that the entire adventure will be available on YouTube.
Call it Citizen Journalism.
Or consider it a Stick in the Eye of the Beast.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
On Falling Down
I have always been a drunk.
Not the "normal" drunk, having a nip every morning, needing alcohol to get through every day, or (almost) unconsciously following the dictates of Addiction.
I am Anomalous in this, as in everything else.
I'm Episodic…and Deliberate.
I know, at the outset, exactly what I'm doing….Trying to Stop My Mind.
My Mind is aswirl, most of the time. I've got Music…whole symphonies playing in my head, to the tiniest detail. For years, now, I just don't listen to music…it gets stuck in my head, and I can't get rid of it. I'll hear a snatch of (for instance) a commercial, that reminds me, on some subconscious level, of Mozart or Strauss, or Hendrix or John Coltrane….and my Mind takes over, playing the music back, like I have a tape deck in my head…whose stop button has been removed.
At the same time, having learned, it seems, far too much about the World, I think about Philosophy….whether Religion, or Politics, or Science, or History….Another kind of Symphony, playing right along side the other.
Daily tasks, like dishes, or building the porch, or even interacting w/ my bunch….I've got these other, parallel tracks in operation…
10-track mind.
Curse of Genius….
One of the problems, the Philosophical Track has no outlet in the real Life I find myself in….there is no Salon…no Lycee..nowhere to find others who Think.
America in the 21st Century, at least Texas, is anti-intellectual…(which is, of course, one of the Harbingers of Fascism…Action over Thought)….
So, in my Time, I've found that, not only am I unable to be socialized, Domesticated…unable to just naturally "fit" into our "Culture"…the things I think about, the things I care about…noone really wants to know.
I can't make "small-talk"…I just don't get it.
Here I am, concerned about Very Large Things…our place in the Universe, what it means to be American, Human, Alive…lately, whether we as a species actually deserve to survive ourselves…..
And everyone wants to talk about basketball.
About who fucked who.
About what they bought at walmart.
(spell check wants to capitalize "walmart",lol)
My Wife tries to Engage me…but we are conditioned by the Machine to be uncomfortable with Thought…
So many of the most important questions have no definitive answers…they are open ended.
Many others require looking at ourselves sans-slogans…without the Labels that we use to, unthinkingly, shut down critical thinking.
It appears that most folks are uncomfortable with Thinking…preferring, instead, to accept whatever Model they've been handed.
Safety in the Warm Herd.
I have been told, usually by shrinks (who are singularly unprepared for someone like me) , to "shut it off"….just stop thinking about the Very Large Things…Accept…rejoin the Flock, in their Happy Oblivion.
Therein lies the Problem…not only can I not stop…I don't want to stop.
To stop Thinking about these things would be unethical…it would, if I could, put me into the Herd in such a way that would destroy my Integrity.(the Integrity that matters, how I see myself…not the "integrity" that is worn on the sleeve…noone can see my Integrity.)
To say" it's too hard to think about Ethics in an unethical age" is the same Cowardice that I rail against.
I'm stuck…so, once a week, once every two weeks (it varies)…I drink.
It starts out fine…it works….the Mind slows, I can focus on one track…the Music quiets…I find the "Sweet Spot", like the drunkard in Streetcar named Desire…
But the addiction takes over from there…and, sometimes (not always) I go too far…become Mr Hyde…
Mr Hyde is a Libertine, an Extremist…a Kerouacian Force of Nature….Dionysius on Acid….
Totally in the Moment, the Eternal NOW.
I don't run off, like I used to…Even Drunk, I'm still a Cripple, after all.
Now, I find myself "drunk dialing", even online….I think it's looking for connection, just forgetting the Anomalousness….
I don't realize, in that state, that I am even harder for folks to Understand…I make references that, if I were sober, I would usually attempt to explain….
These seemingly unconnected references come across as strange, as wildly inappropriate…they are frequently taken out of Context….a Context I fail to provide.
Complexity of Thought, presented as it Is…without Explanation….
I think that is what I find Liberating….not having to give a class for every utterance.
I know the Context…it's right there, before my Mind's Eye…when I'm beyond the Sweet Spot, I (mistakenly) expect everyone else to have the same Contextual References before their Mind's Eye as well.
What to do…
When I manage to abstain…or, even, to stop at the Sweet Spot…my Mind gets so spun up…whirling with all these Big Things that have nowhere to go…no outlet.
It is… uncomfortable.
Our "culture", in it's long drive towards Homogeneity, driven by Consumerism , Materialism, and the Unspoken Fascism these engender, has few outlets for Anomalies like me.
We are all supposed to be the Same….it's never stated so plainly, honestly…but it's there in every Trope, every Slogan, every instance of Small Talk.
It is Implied, strongly, that Unusual is Bad. Normal is Good.
Beware of the other, the Not Like Us.
What to do?
One can't Unring a Bell….I can't unread Nietzsche….can't unthink all the thoughts that led me to this place…I cannot be "normal". It would mean Pretending to be Normal.
And that would be Dishonest….and require a Bullet.
And in the current "cultural" milieu, with unthinking Teabaggers, and secretly ashamed former Bushies, and Fundamentalists of every stripe…well, there is even less of a need, or even mere acceptance, of Me.
Plug in the deterioration of the Practice of Discussion…
Plug in the Certainty on all sides…
And you have the recipe for Pitchforks and Torches….Mobs.
I know enough about history to understand just who the Mob thinks is to blame…
And it looks an awful lot like me.
Not the "normal" drunk, having a nip every morning, needing alcohol to get through every day, or (almost) unconsciously following the dictates of Addiction.
I am Anomalous in this, as in everything else.
I'm Episodic…and Deliberate.
I know, at the outset, exactly what I'm doing….Trying to Stop My Mind.
My Mind is aswirl, most of the time. I've got Music…whole symphonies playing in my head, to the tiniest detail. For years, now, I just don't listen to music…it gets stuck in my head, and I can't get rid of it. I'll hear a snatch of (for instance) a commercial, that reminds me, on some subconscious level, of Mozart or Strauss, or Hendrix or John Coltrane….and my Mind takes over, playing the music back, like I have a tape deck in my head…whose stop button has been removed.
At the same time, having learned, it seems, far too much about the World, I think about Philosophy….whether Religion, or Politics, or Science, or History….Another kind of Symphony, playing right along side the other.
Daily tasks, like dishes, or building the porch, or even interacting w/ my bunch….I've got these other, parallel tracks in operation…
10-track mind.
Curse of Genius….
One of the problems, the Philosophical Track has no outlet in the real Life I find myself in….there is no Salon…no Lycee..nowhere to find others who Think.
America in the 21st Century, at least Texas, is anti-intellectual…(which is, of course, one of the Harbingers of Fascism…Action over Thought)….
So, in my Time, I've found that, not only am I unable to be socialized, Domesticated…unable to just naturally "fit" into our "Culture"…the things I think about, the things I care about…noone really wants to know.
I can't make "small-talk"…I just don't get it.
Here I am, concerned about Very Large Things…our place in the Universe, what it means to be American, Human, Alive…lately, whether we as a species actually deserve to survive ourselves…..
And everyone wants to talk about basketball.
About who fucked who.
About what they bought at walmart.
(spell check wants to capitalize "walmart",lol)
My Wife tries to Engage me…but we are conditioned by the Machine to be uncomfortable with Thought…
So many of the most important questions have no definitive answers…they are open ended.
Many others require looking at ourselves sans-slogans…without the Labels that we use to, unthinkingly, shut down critical thinking.
It appears that most folks are uncomfortable with Thinking…preferring, instead, to accept whatever Model they've been handed.
Safety in the Warm Herd.
I have been told, usually by shrinks (who are singularly unprepared for someone like me) , to "shut it off"….just stop thinking about the Very Large Things…Accept…rejoin the Flock, in their Happy Oblivion.
Therein lies the Problem…not only can I not stop…I don't want to stop.
To stop Thinking about these things would be unethical…it would, if I could, put me into the Herd in such a way that would destroy my Integrity.(the Integrity that matters, how I see myself…not the "integrity" that is worn on the sleeve…noone can see my Integrity.)
To say" it's too hard to think about Ethics in an unethical age" is the same Cowardice that I rail against.
I'm stuck…so, once a week, once every two weeks (it varies)…I drink.
It starts out fine…it works….the Mind slows, I can focus on one track…the Music quiets…I find the "Sweet Spot", like the drunkard in Streetcar named Desire…
But the addiction takes over from there…and, sometimes (not always) I go too far…become Mr Hyde…
Mr Hyde is a Libertine, an Extremist…a Kerouacian Force of Nature….Dionysius on Acid….
Totally in the Moment, the Eternal NOW.
I don't run off, like I used to…Even Drunk, I'm still a Cripple, after all.
Now, I find myself "drunk dialing", even online….I think it's looking for connection, just forgetting the Anomalousness….
I don't realize, in that state, that I am even harder for folks to Understand…I make references that, if I were sober, I would usually attempt to explain….
These seemingly unconnected references come across as strange, as wildly inappropriate…they are frequently taken out of Context….a Context I fail to provide.
Complexity of Thought, presented as it Is…without Explanation….
I think that is what I find Liberating….not having to give a class for every utterance.
I know the Context…it's right there, before my Mind's Eye…when I'm beyond the Sweet Spot, I (mistakenly) expect everyone else to have the same Contextual References before their Mind's Eye as well.
What to do…
When I manage to abstain…or, even, to stop at the Sweet Spot…my Mind gets so spun up…whirling with all these Big Things that have nowhere to go…no outlet.
It is… uncomfortable.
Our "culture", in it's long drive towards Homogeneity, driven by Consumerism , Materialism, and the Unspoken Fascism these engender, has few outlets for Anomalies like me.
We are all supposed to be the Same….it's never stated so plainly, honestly…but it's there in every Trope, every Slogan, every instance of Small Talk.
It is Implied, strongly, that Unusual is Bad. Normal is Good.
Beware of the other, the Not Like Us.
What to do?
One can't Unring a Bell….I can't unread Nietzsche….can't unthink all the thoughts that led me to this place…I cannot be "normal". It would mean Pretending to be Normal.
And that would be Dishonest….and require a Bullet.
And in the current "cultural" milieu, with unthinking Teabaggers, and secretly ashamed former Bushies, and Fundamentalists of every stripe…well, there is even less of a need, or even mere acceptance, of Me.
Plug in the deterioration of the Practice of Discussion…
Plug in the Certainty on all sides…
And you have the recipe for Pitchforks and Torches….Mobs.
I know enough about history to understand just who the Mob thinks is to blame…
And it looks an awful lot like me.
Monday, April 5, 2010
machines, thinking
I find it strange, that the Bots, or whatever, that place the ads on my little blog seem to think I'm a Right Winger.
"Stop the Liberals"?
"Say No to Cardcheck"?
Someone tell the Machine that I am a Liberal....please.
"Stop the Liberals"?
"Say No to Cardcheck"?
Someone tell the Machine that I am a Liberal....please.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
screw it...
After actually being engaged in Mr Horowitz's site, for however briefly before I was no longer allowed to...and after reviewing past experience with other Right Wing sites...I give up.
There can be no common ground, no agreement to disagree, no compromise...when one's "opposition" inhabits a completely different world.
The Right's hysterical hatred of anything that wanders out of their narrow world...
Their inability to see anything outside of their narrow worldview, makes impossible any attempt at coexistence.How can one, in good faith, compromise with folks who believe that you are Evil...and will believe nothing to the contrary, no matter the evidence?
It appears to me, after long study and observation, that the Right simply cannot see evidence that contradicts their Ideology.
Consider the cherry-picking of scientific knowledge, the rampant cherry-picking of Bible Verses and even the cherry-picking of quotations by the Founders...picking out those utterances and concepts (or pieces thereof...) that support their World; and chucking all the rest.
Most obvious is the Bible stuff, I think...Ignoring the "Liberal" sayings of Jesus (Beatitudes), and quoting, ad nauseum, Leviticus, Exodus, Isaiah, Revelations, and various passages from Paul...in other words, the most violent, warlike, hate-filled parts are the ones they holler the most.
There is even a website, modelled on that evil, liberal Wiki, to rewrite the Bible, excising the "Liberal" parts.
The recent uproar in Texas, with the Board of Education rewriting History, and the teaching thereof...removing Thomas Jefferson (due to "Wall of Separation between Church and State", I'm sure),in favor of Newt Gingrich,St. Ronnie, and a revived Joe McCarthy.(!)
The total forgetfulness of what Lil George, et alia, accomplished...instead, focusing on what they perceive happening w/ the Obama administration...almost word for word what we on the Left saw with the Previous Occupant.(the difference is that Lil George left ample evidence laying about...no shame there!).
Projecting on to "Liberals" the very things that they secretly hope and pray for....like death camps, roundups of the "opposition", widespread spying, wrecking the country...all of these things that have been a part of Right Wing Rhetoric for years, they Project onto us.
Never mind that such things are inimical to "Liberals"...go against the very things that make us Liberal, in the first place.
Fine.
I propose that we give them a little world...say Oklahoma, maybe Kansas...we can argue about this...where they can be "God Fearing Conservative Patriots".
Can we skip the whole Civil War II, thing? just hand over some portion of the country where they can try their Right Wing Theocracy, and whatever else they have been pining for?
If Texas falls under that Jurisdiction (Likely) I'll be happy to emigrate.
I can think of nothing else that would avoid Hobbes' War...the Political System is hopelessly Marred...they Broke it.
They broke it when they decided that elections don't matter...if they lose them.
When they decided that Majorities don't matter...when they are not in them.
The last year has been a testament to this...they don't think it matters that they lost, handily.
They still behave as if they are in charge.
What can men do, in the face of such Mindless Intractibility?
We'd be in better shape arguing with Geese.
There can be no common ground, no agreement to disagree, no compromise...when one's "opposition" inhabits a completely different world.
The Right's hysterical hatred of anything that wanders out of their narrow world...
Their inability to see anything outside of their narrow worldview, makes impossible any attempt at coexistence.How can one, in good faith, compromise with folks who believe that you are Evil...and will believe nothing to the contrary, no matter the evidence?
It appears to me, after long study and observation, that the Right simply cannot see evidence that contradicts their Ideology.
Consider the cherry-picking of scientific knowledge, the rampant cherry-picking of Bible Verses and even the cherry-picking of quotations by the Founders...picking out those utterances and concepts (or pieces thereof...) that support their World; and chucking all the rest.
Most obvious is the Bible stuff, I think...Ignoring the "Liberal" sayings of Jesus (Beatitudes), and quoting, ad nauseum, Leviticus, Exodus, Isaiah, Revelations, and various passages from Paul...in other words, the most violent, warlike, hate-filled parts are the ones they holler the most.
There is even a website, modelled on that evil, liberal Wiki, to rewrite the Bible, excising the "Liberal" parts.
The recent uproar in Texas, with the Board of Education rewriting History, and the teaching thereof...removing Thomas Jefferson (due to "Wall of Separation between Church and State", I'm sure),in favor of Newt Gingrich,St. Ronnie, and a revived Joe McCarthy.(!)
The total forgetfulness of what Lil George, et alia, accomplished...instead, focusing on what they perceive happening w/ the Obama administration...almost word for word what we on the Left saw with the Previous Occupant.(the difference is that Lil George left ample evidence laying about...no shame there!).
Projecting on to "Liberals" the very things that they secretly hope and pray for....like death camps, roundups of the "opposition", widespread spying, wrecking the country...all of these things that have been a part of Right Wing Rhetoric for years, they Project onto us.
Never mind that such things are inimical to "Liberals"...go against the very things that make us Liberal, in the first place.
Fine.
I propose that we give them a little world...say Oklahoma, maybe Kansas...we can argue about this...where they can be "God Fearing Conservative Patriots".
Can we skip the whole Civil War II, thing? just hand over some portion of the country where they can try their Right Wing Theocracy, and whatever else they have been pining for?
If Texas falls under that Jurisdiction (Likely) I'll be happy to emigrate.
I can think of nothing else that would avoid Hobbes' War...the Political System is hopelessly Marred...they Broke it.
They broke it when they decided that elections don't matter...if they lose them.
When they decided that Majorities don't matter...when they are not in them.
The last year has been a testament to this...they don't think it matters that they lost, handily.
They still behave as if they are in charge.
What can men do, in the face of such Mindless Intractibility?
We'd be in better shape arguing with Geese.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Perusing David
I've been wandering around David Horowitz's numerous web-publications...
(I started here:
)
I am just stunned! Talk about Myopic, Studiously Ignorant Ravings!
They see everything through Red (Commie)-Coloured Glasses!
Obama is, somehow, a Liberal/Progressive President...which seems to equal, in these people's mind, Communist/Fascist Totalitarianism. (?)
Amazing.
Seems that if one doesn't swallow the whole Capitalism/Manifest Destiny/USA!=Freedom(no matter what!) Mantra, one is, by definition, a member of the Enemy...lurking in shadows, yet at the same time, boldly taking over God's Own Country.
No grey area, here!
As I remember, it was Conservatives...not "Liberals"...who had a hand in creating the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan...leading directly to Taliban/Al Queda.
It was Conservatives who championed Deregulation of Corporations, in the name of "Free Enterprise"...which led directly to our current Economic Malaise.(Clinton, who is not "Liberal" by any sane definition, went along with Conservatives in this)
It was a Conservative "Administration" who shamelessly and openly usurped many of our Rights under the color of fighting a War on a Tactic (Terrism!).
I could go on, and on...
I am not saying, and have never said, that Democrats are our best hope.
I'd be as Myopic as Horowitz.
Democrats, with few exceptions, are nothing close to Liberal/Progressive.
Neither is Obama.
They are, at best, merely less Right Wing than the Republicans/Conservatives(who are linked by their own words, not mine...and have been trying to tacitly separate since the Failures of BushII)
I expect my contributions to David's Comment Sections to be removed, forthwith...not because I was nasty (I wasn't) but because there is no room, in his world, for a Reasoned Opposition.
it's sad, and illustrative...I go to such sites because I really do want to know...I want to understand folks who think like that.But when I dare to ask questions...dare to point out inconsistencies..I am either banned or pilloried or both.
I'm interested to learn how Good David reacts.
(I started here:
)
I am just stunned! Talk about Myopic, Studiously Ignorant Ravings!
They see everything through Red (Commie)-Coloured Glasses!
Obama is, somehow, a Liberal/Progressive President...which seems to equal, in these people's mind, Communist/Fascist Totalitarianism. (?)
Amazing.
Seems that if one doesn't swallow the whole Capitalism/Manifest Destiny/USA!=Freedom(no matter what!) Mantra, one is, by definition, a member of the Enemy...lurking in shadows, yet at the same time, boldly taking over God's Own Country.
No grey area, here!
As I remember, it was Conservatives...not "Liberals"...who had a hand in creating the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan...leading directly to Taliban/Al Queda.
It was Conservatives who championed Deregulation of Corporations, in the name of "Free Enterprise"...which led directly to our current Economic Malaise.(Clinton, who is not "Liberal" by any sane definition, went along with Conservatives in this)
It was a Conservative "Administration" who shamelessly and openly usurped many of our Rights under the color of fighting a War on a Tactic (Terrism!).
I could go on, and on...
I am not saying, and have never said, that Democrats are our best hope.
I'd be as Myopic as Horowitz.
Democrats, with few exceptions, are nothing close to Liberal/Progressive.
Neither is Obama.
They are, at best, merely less Right Wing than the Republicans/Conservatives(who are linked by their own words, not mine...and have been trying to tacitly separate since the Failures of BushII)
I expect my contributions to David's Comment Sections to be removed, forthwith...not because I was nasty (I wasn't) but because there is no room, in his world, for a Reasoned Opposition.
it's sad, and illustrative...I go to such sites because I really do want to know...I want to understand folks who think like that.But when I dare to ask questions...dare to point out inconsistencies..I am either banned or pilloried or both.
I'm interested to learn how Good David reacts.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Cowardice
The Stupidity, and Disingenuousness, of the Right never ceases to amaze me…
In continuing my rant from below, if ya' want a Revolution, a Civil War 2, at least have the courage to come out and say it!
The Right's Machine, their de facto Leadership, has for years been scaring folks into more and more violent and apoplectic moods. Combined with the demise of Discourse and Debate, this has led to a very Dangerous Place: a Nascent Revolution.
I don't have numbers, polls being what they are…but whatever percentage of the country is included in Right Wing Nuttyland has been stirred up, like the proverbial hornet's nest, to the very edge of a Violent Outburst.
This should surprise no one…and indeed, many on the Left have been warning about this for years…(Dave Niewert comes to mind)
That the Republican/Conservative "leadership" is frantically backpedalling, now at the Hour of their Glory, highlights (in Pink?!) their lack of Courage.
They are, after all, Cowards…Arm Chair Rabble Rousers.
Pathetic.
They hide behind small, fearful, outraged Idiots…the same idiots that they have created…the same , that they have nurtured, and poisoned, and whose hair they have set alight.
Now, when their long program of ignorance and indignation has come to fruition, they run for cover.
If they truly believe in their own Rhetoric…of which there is ample evidence, going back to the Palmer Raids, at least…if they really believe all the Vile Things they've pounded into the minds of their Base, they should grab a flag, and a gun, and get out in front of the Mob they have created.
They won't, of course…
Turns out that the Right is not only Cowardly, but quintessentially dishonest.
The Reason the Right's "leadership" is against Healthcare Reform is not, as has been shouted, because it is a "Government Takeover"…it's because it will at least begin to rein in the Corporations involved in "health care".
They are against Unions, and the stalled EFCA…not because of some principled concern for the Freedom of the Worker…but because restoring the right to Collectively Bargain hurts the bottom line of Corporations.
They, in almost every instance, have hollered about how they are for "the American People" and Freedom…when, in Reality..they are protecting the Rights of Corporate Vampires.
I could go on, but it's very early…
The "leadership" of the Right will continue it's disingenuous distancing from the Violence they have unleashed…
They have created these conditions, now they can sit back and allow the Machine to do it's work.
A Principled Stand would be out of character, and might lift the Veil just enough to allow the Bewildered Herd to see where their real allegiance lies..
Why would they risk that?
Fucking Cowards.
In continuing my rant from below, if ya' want a Revolution, a Civil War 2, at least have the courage to come out and say it!
The Right's Machine, their de facto Leadership, has for years been scaring folks into more and more violent and apoplectic moods. Combined with the demise of Discourse and Debate, this has led to a very Dangerous Place: a Nascent Revolution.
I don't have numbers, polls being what they are…but whatever percentage of the country is included in Right Wing Nuttyland has been stirred up, like the proverbial hornet's nest, to the very edge of a Violent Outburst.
This should surprise no one…and indeed, many on the Left have been warning about this for years…(Dave Niewert comes to mind)
That the Republican/Conservative "leadership" is frantically backpedalling, now at the Hour of their Glory, highlights (in Pink?!) their lack of Courage.
They are, after all, Cowards…Arm Chair Rabble Rousers.
Pathetic.
They hide behind small, fearful, outraged Idiots…the same idiots that they have created…the same , that they have nurtured, and poisoned, and whose hair they have set alight.
Now, when their long program of ignorance and indignation has come to fruition, they run for cover.
If they truly believe in their own Rhetoric…of which there is ample evidence, going back to the Palmer Raids, at least…if they really believe all the Vile Things they've pounded into the minds of their Base, they should grab a flag, and a gun, and get out in front of the Mob they have created.
They won't, of course…
Turns out that the Right is not only Cowardly, but quintessentially dishonest.
The Reason the Right's "leadership" is against Healthcare Reform is not, as has been shouted, because it is a "Government Takeover"…it's because it will at least begin to rein in the Corporations involved in "health care".
They are against Unions, and the stalled EFCA…not because of some principled concern for the Freedom of the Worker…but because restoring the right to Collectively Bargain hurts the bottom line of Corporations.
They, in almost every instance, have hollered about how they are for "the American People" and Freedom…when, in Reality..they are protecting the Rights of Corporate Vampires.
I could go on, but it's very early…
The "leadership" of the Right will continue it's disingenuous distancing from the Violence they have unleashed…
They have created these conditions, now they can sit back and allow the Machine to do it's work.
A Principled Stand would be out of character, and might lift the Veil just enough to allow the Bewildered Herd to see where their real allegiance lies..
Why would they risk that?
Fucking Cowards.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Do-Overs
So…the Democrats and the President (finally) pass something to reform our Byzantine, For-Profit Healthcare System…and the Right goes Apeshit…
Throwing insults, epithets and even Bricks (!) at Democrats, calling for the Lynching of Elected Representatives, Praying to their God for the Immediate Death of their Opponents…
Suddenly, the Republicans, and many of their TV Loudmouths, are furiously trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube.
"Oh, the violence is just terrible…we didn't have anything to do with it…but it's terrible!"
What a bunch of Chickenshits! Hypocrites! Liars!
Since Obama began his campaign, the Right (including elected Republicans) has been hollering all manner of lies and hyperbole…that O will be the socialist/communist/Nazi/fascist/negro…END of the Frakkin World!!!!!!
That the "Liberal Agenda" (as near as I can tell nonexistent, much like the "Gay Agenda") includes Death Camps, Death Panels, Gun Confiscation, and Handing American Sovereignty over to the UN…or Iran, or Hugo Chavez, or Mother Russia….(it's hard to keep track of all the Serious Existential Threats, there are so many…)
Now, when a portion of the watered down Liberal Program is passed into Law, and the last almost 3 years(+100) of Eliminationist Fearmongering have their (predictable) effects…the Right is surprised, and Shocked!
How could this have happened?!
The Right's over-the-top, Fact-Free Rhetoric…from Reagan on…but especially since 9-11, has been leading us to this point….inexorably.(it really began with Hoover…)
The Toothpaste is out…and there is very little to be done about it.
Facts, Truth, Objective Reality…these things are an anathema to the Right…ever since they hitched their Wagon to the Fundies. Same thing with Civil Debate and Discourse…they have been replaced by Ad Hominem Shouting, Shamelessly Lying about Everything, Coded Language and Ideology Trumping Truth.
Mythology is what passes for Reality, now….("we create our own reality" said Turdblossom)
And the Holy Cleansing Civil WarII that the Right has been itching for…without ever being honest enough (with themselves or anyone else) to just come out and admit…that Civil War is fixing to come to pass.
Except, this time, it'll be sans battle-lines…Bellum Omnia Contra Omnes…house to house…almost random.
When you make Civil Discussion impossible…when you use Eliminationist Rhetoric against your political opponents…when you ceaselessly promote Fear and Loathing as Legitimate Public Discourse…and when you Lie and Lie and Lie, about Everything for almost 100 years…
Well what would you expect?
Throwing insults, epithets and even Bricks (!) at Democrats, calling for the Lynching of Elected Representatives, Praying to their God for the Immediate Death of their Opponents…
Suddenly, the Republicans, and many of their TV Loudmouths, are furiously trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube.
"Oh, the violence is just terrible…we didn't have anything to do with it…but it's terrible!"
What a bunch of Chickenshits! Hypocrites! Liars!
Since Obama began his campaign, the Right (including elected Republicans) has been hollering all manner of lies and hyperbole…that O will be the socialist/communist/Nazi/fascist/negro…END of the Frakkin World!!!!!!
That the "Liberal Agenda" (as near as I can tell nonexistent, much like the "Gay Agenda") includes Death Camps, Death Panels, Gun Confiscation, and Handing American Sovereignty over to the UN…or Iran, or Hugo Chavez, or Mother Russia….(it's hard to keep track of all the Serious Existential Threats, there are so many…)
Now, when a portion of the watered down Liberal Program is passed into Law, and the last almost 3 years(+100) of Eliminationist Fearmongering have their (predictable) effects…the Right is surprised, and Shocked!
How could this have happened?!
The Right's over-the-top, Fact-Free Rhetoric…from Reagan on…but especially since 9-11, has been leading us to this point….inexorably.(it really began with Hoover…)
The Toothpaste is out…and there is very little to be done about it.
Facts, Truth, Objective Reality…these things are an anathema to the Right…ever since they hitched their Wagon to the Fundies. Same thing with Civil Debate and Discourse…they have been replaced by Ad Hominem Shouting, Shamelessly Lying about Everything, Coded Language and Ideology Trumping Truth.
Mythology is what passes for Reality, now….("we create our own reality" said Turdblossom)
And the Holy Cleansing Civil WarII that the Right has been itching for…without ever being honest enough (with themselves or anyone else) to just come out and admit…that Civil War is fixing to come to pass.
Except, this time, it'll be sans battle-lines…Bellum Omnia Contra Omnes…house to house…almost random.
When you make Civil Discussion impossible…when you use Eliminationist Rhetoric against your political opponents…when you ceaselessly promote Fear and Loathing as Legitimate Public Discourse…and when you Lie and Lie and Lie, about Everything for almost 100 years…
Well what would you expect?
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Ethics
To make one's way in the world, with one's Integrity intact, a System of Ethics is more than helpful.
After 30 years of development, I figger now is as good a time as any to set down mine...
For my boys.
There are several anecdotal maxims that I consider to be at the Core of my own, personal System of Ethics.
First among these is the Idea of Reciprocity....variously stated in the Golden Rule, the Rule of Hillel, the Wiccan Rede and (in thousands of words) Mill's On Liberty.
My favorite, and (in my opinion) the most succinct, is the Rede:"An harming none, Do as thou wilt."
Can you imagine what the History of Mankind would've been like if everyone had taken this Maxim to heart?
Kant said pretty much the same thing, with his test of Morality/Good..."is what I contemplate something that I would make into a Universal Law?"
or, "Would the action I am about to perform , if Universalised, be a Good thing?"
These things, which are just different ways of stating the same thing, all require us to Think about the Consequences of our Actions....like the Iraquois, down to the Seventh Generation.
The Second Maxim is as follows: There is a Prohibition on First Use of Force...with the exception of defending the defenseless...but even that caveat is, at root, a Defensive stance.
The Idea is that one should not, under any circumstances, Initiate Violence...only defend against the Initiation of Violence by Others. Again, what would History look like?
This Maxim can be shoehorned into those areas where actions are not Violent, per se, but merely contain the Threat of Violence...however veiled.
Coersion, as in the Tax Man, the bully, the Dictator...
The PaleoLibertarians extend this concept to the Mundane. If some dude opens up a factory of some kind next door, belching noxious vapours and emmitting loud noises, deep into the night...he has initiated a kind of Violence onto the Peace and Tranquility of the neighborhood. He has lessened the Quality of Life.
The PaleoLibertarians insist that he must make recompense, or cease such Violence.
I wholeheartedly agree...and find that, altogether, this Inclusive use of the term quite marvellous in maintaining Peace.
The Third Maxim: The Purpose of Life is to Learn and Experience.
Trite cliches, such as "it's the Journey, not the Destination" are applicable, here. We, endowed with Conciousness,can be thought of as the Universe Contemplating Itself....an Idea I find Profound and, ultimately, comforting.Consider, Life's grand March on this small World has been a March toward greater and greater Conciousness....From Cyanobacteria to Plants to Amoebae to Dogs to Us (as far as we know...see below).
Greater ability to Introspect...greater capacity for Understanding. With Greater Understanding should follow Greater Compassion...but it is seldom so.Which leads to the Fourth Maxim...and the most Important.
Socrates said, "I know that I do not know"...and thus, was the Wisest man in Hellas.
Socratic Perplexity is the first step to Wisdom. It's opposite is Certainty.
Consider...if one is Certain, if one believes that one's own worldview is, necessarily, correct, without Error...Inquiry, Introspection, are shut down.
One is immune to Compromise. One has Reached the Destination...no further argument is needed. This, invariably, leads to the Crimes we see throughout our History.
It is Fundamentalism; Religious, Political or both. When we are Certain that we have the Truth, the Journey is over...we are free to force others to adhere to our view.
This is particularly odious where Religion is concerned: "We are Right, because we have the Word of God, in this Book...of unknown, questionable Providence..and as we interpret it....therefore, we are doing God's Work when we slaughter these Infidels and Heretics ("Faithless Choice-Makers")". This mindset, of Certainty, leads inevitably to Violence...after all, if God is "on your side", you can do no wrong...Inshalla,it is God's Will. Who can counter this?What Reason can penetrate Certainty...this is the Fundamental (pun intended) Problem of our Time.
The Remedy to this is Perplexity..."I know that I do not Know"....in the face of that Arrogance, that Presumtion of knowing the Mind of God...I am Humble in my studied Perplexity.
I Do Not Know.
This doesn't mean that I don't have some Ideas. On the contrary, I have constructed a Model of the Universe that satisfies me...untill new data is found that shatters the Model.
We all construct Models of the Universe....most don't realise it, and accept the Model that has been handed to them...never questioning the Foundational Assumptions that lie at the root of all such Models.
I have Foundational Assumptions...the sky appears Blue....Oxygen readily bonds with two atoms of Hydrogen..there is a Thing behind Things...indeed,.all manner of assumptions.
The difference is that I am willing, and ready, to cast out my Foundational Assumptions when and if some new evidence is found that makes them Unworkable.
Jesus shows up on my rooftop...revise my thinking that Xianity is Superstitious Nonsense.
I expire, and wake up in Hell...well, you get the idea.
I do not presume to Know, for Certain...anything. All my Knowledge is Provisional...Subject to Revision, pending new data.
I readily admit, that this is a more difficult way of interacting with the World....but I believe (untill new data disproves it...) that it is the only Honest way.
This Perplexity, this UnCertainty, is an effective shield from the stupidity and violence we find everywhere. If I Don't Know, am I likely to follow someone in doing Violence to the Other?
No, I am likely to follow my own Mind...since the Great Leader can't presume to Know, any more than I can. The Pope, the President, the King, the Crime Boss...all are just as fallable as me...just as Perplexed. They just don't know it...and I do. I , alone, am responsible for my own actions...not to God, or the King...but to myself, and my own Integrity. And. not because I fear punishment, but because I wouldn't respect myself if I went against my own counsel.
That's it...that's the Ethics of Amfortas the Hippie.
After 30 years of development, I figger now is as good a time as any to set down mine...
For my boys.
There are several anecdotal maxims that I consider to be at the Core of my own, personal System of Ethics.
First among these is the Idea of Reciprocity....variously stated in the Golden Rule, the Rule of Hillel, the Wiccan Rede and (in thousands of words) Mill's On Liberty.
My favorite, and (in my opinion) the most succinct, is the Rede:"An harming none, Do as thou wilt."
Can you imagine what the History of Mankind would've been like if everyone had taken this Maxim to heart?
Kant said pretty much the same thing, with his test of Morality/Good..."is what I contemplate something that I would make into a Universal Law?"
or, "Would the action I am about to perform , if Universalised, be a Good thing?"
These things, which are just different ways of stating the same thing, all require us to Think about the Consequences of our Actions....like the Iraquois, down to the Seventh Generation.
The Second Maxim is as follows: There is a Prohibition on First Use of Force...with the exception of defending the defenseless...but even that caveat is, at root, a Defensive stance.
The Idea is that one should not, under any circumstances, Initiate Violence...only defend against the Initiation of Violence by Others. Again, what would History look like?
This Maxim can be shoehorned into those areas where actions are not Violent, per se, but merely contain the Threat of Violence...however veiled.
Coersion, as in the Tax Man, the bully, the Dictator...
The PaleoLibertarians extend this concept to the Mundane. If some dude opens up a factory of some kind next door, belching noxious vapours and emmitting loud noises, deep into the night...he has initiated a kind of Violence onto the Peace and Tranquility of the neighborhood. He has lessened the Quality of Life.
The PaleoLibertarians insist that he must make recompense, or cease such Violence.
I wholeheartedly agree...and find that, altogether, this Inclusive use of the term quite marvellous in maintaining Peace.
The Third Maxim: The Purpose of Life is to Learn and Experience.
Trite cliches, such as "it's the Journey, not the Destination" are applicable, here. We, endowed with Conciousness,can be thought of as the Universe Contemplating Itself....an Idea I find Profound and, ultimately, comforting.Consider, Life's grand March on this small World has been a March toward greater and greater Conciousness....From Cyanobacteria to Plants to Amoebae to Dogs to Us (as far as we know...see below).
Greater ability to Introspect...greater capacity for Understanding. With Greater Understanding should follow Greater Compassion...but it is seldom so.Which leads to the Fourth Maxim...and the most Important.
Socrates said, "I know that I do not know"...and thus, was the Wisest man in Hellas.
Socratic Perplexity is the first step to Wisdom. It's opposite is Certainty.
Consider...if one is Certain, if one believes that one's own worldview is, necessarily, correct, without Error...Inquiry, Introspection, are shut down.
One is immune to Compromise. One has Reached the Destination...no further argument is needed. This, invariably, leads to the Crimes we see throughout our History.
It is Fundamentalism; Religious, Political or both. When we are Certain that we have the Truth, the Journey is over...we are free to force others to adhere to our view.
This is particularly odious where Religion is concerned: "We are Right, because we have the Word of God, in this Book...of unknown, questionable Providence..and as we interpret it....therefore, we are doing God's Work when we slaughter these Infidels and Heretics ("Faithless Choice-Makers")". This mindset, of Certainty, leads inevitably to Violence...after all, if God is "on your side", you can do no wrong...Inshalla,it is God's Will. Who can counter this?What Reason can penetrate Certainty...this is the Fundamental (pun intended) Problem of our Time.
The Remedy to this is Perplexity..."I know that I do not Know"....in the face of that Arrogance, that Presumtion of knowing the Mind of God...I am Humble in my studied Perplexity.
I Do Not Know.
This doesn't mean that I don't have some Ideas. On the contrary, I have constructed a Model of the Universe that satisfies me...untill new data is found that shatters the Model.
We all construct Models of the Universe....most don't realise it, and accept the Model that has been handed to them...never questioning the Foundational Assumptions that lie at the root of all such Models.
I have Foundational Assumptions...the sky appears Blue....Oxygen readily bonds with two atoms of Hydrogen..there is a Thing behind Things...indeed,.all manner of assumptions.
The difference is that I am willing, and ready, to cast out my Foundational Assumptions when and if some new evidence is found that makes them Unworkable.
Jesus shows up on my rooftop...revise my thinking that Xianity is Superstitious Nonsense.
I expire, and wake up in Hell...well, you get the idea.
I do not presume to Know, for Certain...anything. All my Knowledge is Provisional...Subject to Revision, pending new data.
I readily admit, that this is a more difficult way of interacting with the World....but I believe (untill new data disproves it...) that it is the only Honest way.
This Perplexity, this UnCertainty, is an effective shield from the stupidity and violence we find everywhere. If I Don't Know, am I likely to follow someone in doing Violence to the Other?
No, I am likely to follow my own Mind...since the Great Leader can't presume to Know, any more than I can. The Pope, the President, the King, the Crime Boss...all are just as fallable as me...just as Perplexed. They just don't know it...and I do. I , alone, am responsible for my own actions...not to God, or the King...but to myself, and my own Integrity. And. not because I fear punishment, but because I wouldn't respect myself if I went against my own counsel.
That's it...that's the Ethics of Amfortas the Hippie.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Kill the Bill!!!
First, Congress should kill this sorry excuse for a Health Care Reform Bill.
Second, Joe Lieberman should be stripped of his Chairmanship, then Kicked the Fuck out of the Democratic Caucus….loudly and soundly.
Third, Democrats should abandon Bipartisanship, come up with a Single Payer Bill, and ram that fucker through…
Reconciliation sounds good.
Dems have the Majority…what’s the fucking problem/?
A much slimmer Majority of Republicans held us all hostage during Lil George…
Is it that the Dems are too nice?
Or is it, as I suspect, a lack of Spine/Stones?
Second, Joe Lieberman should be stripped of his Chairmanship, then Kicked the Fuck out of the Democratic Caucus….loudly and soundly.
Third, Democrats should abandon Bipartisanship, come up with a Single Payer Bill, and ram that fucker through…
Reconciliation sounds good.
Dems have the Majority…what’s the fucking problem/?
A much slimmer Majority of Republicans held us all hostage during Lil George…
Is it that the Dems are too nice?
Or is it, as I suspect, a lack of Spine/Stones?
Friday, November 13, 2009
Silence
The main reason that we are NOT a Democracy, but a Republic, is that the Founders feared Pure Democracy.
They had been in the Political Minority, and wanted to avoid Mob-Rule, the Tyranny of the Majority.
Thus, we have a Constitutional Democratic Republic, where the Minority (or Minorities...) are protected, under Law.
I wholeheartedly agree with these sentiments...they sound great.
What a wonderful country that would be, that enjoyed such Egalitarian Freedom.
Sadly, that's not how it always is "on the ground".
I live in a Red County...the last 20 years have seen the Republicans gain the Majority.
The problem is that the Democratic Remnant is afraid to speak.
They feel intimidated, I think...judging by my Wife and the few other Liberals I am acquainted with.
The Right walks around, spouting their eliminationist, racist,dishonest rhetoric...and noone calls them on it.
Kids in the high school call the President a "Nigger" on the way to class...and nothing is said.
Teachers provide their captive audiences with the vilest of misogynist, anti liberal rants.
Regular folks,good Christian women, talk of the need for public executions and a return to Prayer in the Public School.
I have overheard talk of "running the Socialists off'...and, indeed, have been nearly strangled by a member of the local American Legion, in a bar, for relplying to his query,"what do you think about George Bush"...with "I think he's a War Criminal."
The local paper is filled with columns, and the occasional letter,with a decidedly "Conservative" slant...but any "Liberal" reply is demeaningly labeled "Politics as usual"...as if to say "how dare they"...or"see, we let the crazies speak, too..."
And the "opposition" lies down.
They are too polite, it seems, to actually call any of this what it so obviously is...Fascism...lest they offend their neighbors.
They are as shocked as the Right when someone has the temerity to stand up and call "Bullshit!".
So the eliminationism, the racism, the underlying violence of the rhetoric of the Right goes unchallenged...
And they begin to believe that "everyone" believes as they do...
And ,eventually, they will think that they are within their "God Given Rights" to "get rid" of any remaining Liberals...or Queers, or voting Mexicans,or...well, you get the idea.
These things must needs be challenged, ere they grow and fester, and turn into a new Civil War.
It is the Duty of the Minority to be vocal and unafraid...to stand up and speak out...whether the Right likes it, or no.
They had been in the Political Minority, and wanted to avoid Mob-Rule, the Tyranny of the Majority.
Thus, we have a Constitutional Democratic Republic, where the Minority (or Minorities...) are protected, under Law.
I wholeheartedly agree with these sentiments...they sound great.
What a wonderful country that would be, that enjoyed such Egalitarian Freedom.
Sadly, that's not how it always is "on the ground".
I live in a Red County...the last 20 years have seen the Republicans gain the Majority.
The problem is that the Democratic Remnant is afraid to speak.
They feel intimidated, I think...judging by my Wife and the few other Liberals I am acquainted with.
The Right walks around, spouting their eliminationist, racist,dishonest rhetoric...and noone calls them on it.
Kids in the high school call the President a "Nigger" on the way to class...and nothing is said.
Teachers provide their captive audiences with the vilest of misogynist, anti liberal rants.
Regular folks,good Christian women, talk of the need for public executions and a return to Prayer in the Public School.
I have overheard talk of "running the Socialists off'...and, indeed, have been nearly strangled by a member of the local American Legion, in a bar, for relplying to his query,"what do you think about George Bush"...with "I think he's a War Criminal."
The local paper is filled with columns, and the occasional letter,with a decidedly "Conservative" slant...but any "Liberal" reply is demeaningly labeled "Politics as usual"...as if to say "how dare they"...or"see, we let the crazies speak, too..."
And the "opposition" lies down.
They are too polite, it seems, to actually call any of this what it so obviously is...Fascism...lest they offend their neighbors.
They are as shocked as the Right when someone has the temerity to stand up and call "Bullshit!".
So the eliminationism, the racism, the underlying violence of the rhetoric of the Right goes unchallenged...
And they begin to believe that "everyone" believes as they do...
And ,eventually, they will think that they are within their "God Given Rights" to "get rid" of any remaining Liberals...or Queers, or voting Mexicans,or...well, you get the idea.
These things must needs be challenged, ere they grow and fester, and turn into a new Civil War.
It is the Duty of the Minority to be vocal and unafraid...to stand up and speak out...whether the Right likes it, or no.
Another reason why we shouldn't torture people...
...I mean besides the troublesome fact that it's inherently immoral, uncivilised and beneath what we ,as a Nation, purport to hold dear.
Seems the Obama Administration wants to bring 3 Al Queda "Detainees" out of Guantanimo, where they have been safely out of reach of Justice.
So now the Right has a conundrum.
In fact we all have a conundrum, just the Right's hands are a little more sticky.
You see, during the Bush II Years, we abandoned the Rule of Law...we took these "Enemy Combatants" and placed them on a US Base, on a Communist Isle...Placed them in a kind of Legal No-Man's-Land.
We stripped them of all Human Rights...
Then we Tortured them, in violation of our own laws, international law and human dignity.
They are tainted men, not only for their horrible crimes, but for how their accusers have treated them.
Now that they are being brought to a Court in New York, the Right would have us fear that they may escape, or (ludicrously) get off on a "Technicality"....
Which translates as,"get off scott-free because our torturing them rendered our "evidence" against them unusable..."
What really has the Right worried is the prospect of the sordid details of the Guantanimo Experience all over the Media.
What was done in the seven years, Post 9-11, of the Bush II "Administration" will be once again laid on the dinner table, as it were, where it can quiver and ooze.
The Right will argue that it is so much better, and more likely to remain forgotten, if we just keep them in Cuba...out of sight, out of mind.
What the present Administration is doing will ensure that these 3 men, and their stories, will be right in front of everyone...just in time for the start of the 2010 campaign season.
Should be very entertaining to watch the contortions of logic, the stammering and righteous indignation that are sure to ensue.
Seems the Obama Administration wants to bring 3 Al Queda "Detainees" out of Guantanimo, where they have been safely out of reach of Justice.
So now the Right has a conundrum.
In fact we all have a conundrum, just the Right's hands are a little more sticky.
You see, during the Bush II Years, we abandoned the Rule of Law...we took these "Enemy Combatants" and placed them on a US Base, on a Communist Isle...Placed them in a kind of Legal No-Man's-Land.
We stripped them of all Human Rights...
Then we Tortured them, in violation of our own laws, international law and human dignity.
They are tainted men, not only for their horrible crimes, but for how their accusers have treated them.
Now that they are being brought to a Court in New York, the Right would have us fear that they may escape, or (ludicrously) get off on a "Technicality"....
Which translates as,"get off scott-free because our torturing them rendered our "evidence" against them unusable..."
What really has the Right worried is the prospect of the sordid details of the Guantanimo Experience all over the Media.
What was done in the seven years, Post 9-11, of the Bush II "Administration" will be once again laid on the dinner table, as it were, where it can quiver and ooze.
The Right will argue that it is so much better, and more likely to remain forgotten, if we just keep them in Cuba...out of sight, out of mind.
What the present Administration is doing will ensure that these 3 men, and their stories, will be right in front of everyone...just in time for the start of the 2010 campaign season.
Should be very entertaining to watch the contortions of logic, the stammering and righteous indignation that are sure to ensue.
Monday, November 9, 2009
tangled
"All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue."
-Bob Dylan
Copyright ©1974 Ram's Horn Music
Suddenly, after 20 years of exile, a drunken, half-hearted web search finds 2 old friends...
The other hair-farmer from HS and the lead singer in my first band...
20 years+- ago, I was on the road...mostly.
Couch-surfing, VW Van living, wandering....
Ended up in Austin, Texas....And didn't really tell anyone...
I had lost connection.
And what I knew of the other's lives pointed to them being very different from my own.
Oat Willie's "Onward through the Fog" and Kesey's "Further" were ingrained in me....
So I didn't even try to go back....save once...
Made an appearance at my 10 reunion, but the former Jocks and Bowheads didn't remember me, and I wasn't on their list....so couldn't get in..
(!)
Clinched the deal for me....
I inadvertantly disappeared into the Texas Hill Country.
(All of the dates, chronologies and timelines are approximate, at best....I am Timeless.)
Had a few contacts, over the years...usually during an exceptionally inebriated phase...Proved my theory, that I alone still harbor the Wildness that defined us, back then...
'Normal" lives, all of them...
I can't say I haven't thought about at least attempting a "Normal" life....Just don't think it's in me.
I've strayed too far from the reservation,it seems....and can't be found.
Our experiences constitute who we are, and how we define the World.
My experiences have been singular, and far outside the norm...ergo...
Strange duckness.
I've had a wild and interesting life.
(only 2 regrets...not sticking to my guns on a Philosophy degree, and not seeing more of the world)
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue."
-Bob Dylan
Copyright ©1974 Ram's Horn Music
Suddenly, after 20 years of exile, a drunken, half-hearted web search finds 2 old friends...
The other hair-farmer from HS and the lead singer in my first band...
20 years+- ago, I was on the road...mostly.
Couch-surfing, VW Van living, wandering....
Ended up in Austin, Texas....And didn't really tell anyone...
I had lost connection.
And what I knew of the other's lives pointed to them being very different from my own.
Oat Willie's "Onward through the Fog" and Kesey's "Further" were ingrained in me....
So I didn't even try to go back....save once...
Made an appearance at my 10 reunion, but the former Jocks and Bowheads didn't remember me, and I wasn't on their list....so couldn't get in..
(!)
Clinched the deal for me....
I inadvertantly disappeared into the Texas Hill Country.
(All of the dates, chronologies and timelines are approximate, at best....I am Timeless.)
Had a few contacts, over the years...usually during an exceptionally inebriated phase...Proved my theory, that I alone still harbor the Wildness that defined us, back then...
'Normal" lives, all of them...
I can't say I haven't thought about at least attempting a "Normal" life....Just don't think it's in me.
I've strayed too far from the reservation,it seems....and can't be found.
Our experiences constitute who we are, and how we define the World.
My experiences have been singular, and far outside the norm...ergo...
Strange duckness.
I've had a wild and interesting life.
(only 2 regrets...not sticking to my guns on a Philosophy degree, and not seeing more of the world)
Friday, November 6, 2009
Pain makes ya bored
A "Stop health Care Reform!" advertisment appears next to my Blog!
What can one do in the face of such incredible, well-funded, rediculousness?
I managed to plant 2 beds of Garlic and set 2 (very heavy) steel posts...in the last week.
Rest of the time, I've been laying here, in a vicodin haze....
Neck-down pain.
I'm doing good to do the laundry and dishes.
And cook.
Gotta earn my keep, after all.
My wife is very understanding....
The Depression that inevitably results from being a couch creature is almost as bad as the pain.
Daytime Tv...sucks.
I've watched all the dvd's we've collected over the years....and I read, a lot.
Now, it appears that my eyesight is in trouble.
The walmart magnifyers (x2.5) no longer do the trick.
Add "real glasses" to the list of health related things I can't afford.
sigh.
Still waiting for the county "indigent care" chick to get back to me....perhaps she'll have good news.
And I reapplied for Disability/SSI...for what it's worth.
Preemptively, I asked the (very nice) woman if i could get my employment records.....
Last time I applied, I got all the dates and stuff wrong...only to find out that they had the correct info right in front of them.(duh! they're Social Security...)
I was told it would cost me $57 to get my records.
Not gonna matter, anyway...my "credits" have decreased in the last 3.5-4 years...and I am probably not eligable for Disability/SSI.
Won't know for sure for a very long time, I suppose...given the glacial pace of these things.
One good piece of news...Doc upped my dosage of Vicodin...so I can take what's necessary without running out.
I'm still quite miserly, tho....Titration, and all.
With news being the only, somewhat, intelligent thing on TV during the day....I surf through all those channels.
Even Fox.
The "Debate" on health is an endless source of hollerin' at the boob Tube.
Bachmann's nutty Tea Party at the capital, yeaterday, marked the end of my Tolerance.
I switched it off and attempted to sleep.
Today, I've been sending irate e-mails to the AstroTurfers...including the RNC.
And I know that it will not make a difference.
They don't even hear contradictory opinions.
It's like arguing with Geese.
What can one do in the face of such incredible, well-funded, rediculousness?
I managed to plant 2 beds of Garlic and set 2 (very heavy) steel posts...in the last week.
Rest of the time, I've been laying here, in a vicodin haze....
Neck-down pain.
I'm doing good to do the laundry and dishes.
And cook.
Gotta earn my keep, after all.
My wife is very understanding....
The Depression that inevitably results from being a couch creature is almost as bad as the pain.
Daytime Tv...sucks.
I've watched all the dvd's we've collected over the years....and I read, a lot.
Now, it appears that my eyesight is in trouble.
The walmart magnifyers (x2.5) no longer do the trick.
Add "real glasses" to the list of health related things I can't afford.
sigh.
Still waiting for the county "indigent care" chick to get back to me....perhaps she'll have good news.
And I reapplied for Disability/SSI...for what it's worth.
Preemptively, I asked the (very nice) woman if i could get my employment records.....
Last time I applied, I got all the dates and stuff wrong...only to find out that they had the correct info right in front of them.(duh! they're Social Security...)
I was told it would cost me $57 to get my records.
Not gonna matter, anyway...my "credits" have decreased in the last 3.5-4 years...and I am probably not eligable for Disability/SSI.
Won't know for sure for a very long time, I suppose...given the glacial pace of these things.
One good piece of news...Doc upped my dosage of Vicodin...so I can take what's necessary without running out.
I'm still quite miserly, tho....Titration, and all.
With news being the only, somewhat, intelligent thing on TV during the day....I surf through all those channels.
Even Fox.
The "Debate" on health is an endless source of hollerin' at the boob Tube.
Bachmann's nutty Tea Party at the capital, yeaterday, marked the end of my Tolerance.
I switched it off and attempted to sleep.
Today, I've been sending irate e-mails to the AstroTurfers...including the RNC.
And I know that it will not make a difference.
They don't even hear contradictory opinions.
It's like arguing with Geese.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
response to ignorant diatribe
This is a letter to the editor of my local paper, never sent(no internet at the time), in response to another letter, in which a woman fawned ond masturbated over Glenn Beck...and called on us to "Wake Up" and resist the "Socialist Menace".....
Gerry,
I read the three-column diatribe in "Letters" last week, and felt it needed a response...
Where was the outrage, for the past 8 years, as the Right's poster-boy subverted the Bill of Rights, handed out no-bid contracts to his corporate pals, wiretapped all and sundry, etc. etc. etc.?
I guess that when a Republican endeavors to destroy the very Foundations of this country, that's somehow OK?
And that all us who disagree must sit down and shut up?
Love it or leave it, and all….
But Heaven forbid that a "Liberal" gets into office (sans "voting irregularities" or unprecedented "help" from the Supreme Court)...Then it's "Man the barricades!!!"
Heaven forbid that a "Liberal" try to repair the damage done by 30+ years of "conservative" policy...like reregulating Wall st., putting giant, multinational corporations back in their box, and endeavoring to make the Super-Rich pay their fair share.(the Horror!)
And Heaven forbid that someone attempts to rebuild our station in the world, renounces torture or puts an end to these stupid, wasteful wars.
And, please, Heaven forbid that anyone would attempt to see Justice done, and our former Employees punished if they have broken the Law.
For 30+ years, the Right has poisoned the mind of America...with lies and disinformation, fear-mongering and ad hominem.
And, for those 30 years, we have heard the ceaseless cry of “Deregulate!” and “Free Market!” and “Trust Business!”
“Drown Government in a bathtub.”
The Bush II "administration" was the horrible fruition of "conservative" policies that have brought us to the very edge of ruin.
And now that a majority of Americans have opened their eyes to the folly of such nonsense, the Right has no choice but to get up on it's hind legs and holler...
It has no other recourse with which to fight the Truth.
It's "ideas" have been shorn of their Glamour, laid bare for what they are, and always have been:
Government by, and for, a self-selected handful of Elites and the corporations they hide behind.
And, all my counterparts on the Right, I challenge any of you to define “Socialism”.
I’ll bet that you can’t.
Your’ studious ignorance, your’ emotional reactionism, plays right into the hands of those who would rule us all.
Those aren’t reins in your hands,
But chains.
Wake up, indeed...then look in the mirror.
And look into getting a dictionary.
Thanks,
Gerry,
I read the three-column diatribe in "Letters" last week, and felt it needed a response...
Where was the outrage, for the past 8 years, as the Right's poster-boy subverted the Bill of Rights, handed out no-bid contracts to his corporate pals, wiretapped all and sundry, etc. etc. etc.?
I guess that when a Republican endeavors to destroy the very Foundations of this country, that's somehow OK?
And that all us who disagree must sit down and shut up?
Love it or leave it, and all….
But Heaven forbid that a "Liberal" gets into office (sans "voting irregularities" or unprecedented "help" from the Supreme Court)...Then it's "Man the barricades!!!"
Heaven forbid that a "Liberal" try to repair the damage done by 30+ years of "conservative" policy...like reregulating Wall st., putting giant, multinational corporations back in their box, and endeavoring to make the Super-Rich pay their fair share.(the Horror!)
And Heaven forbid that someone attempts to rebuild our station in the world, renounces torture or puts an end to these stupid, wasteful wars.
And, please, Heaven forbid that anyone would attempt to see Justice done, and our former Employees punished if they have broken the Law.
For 30+ years, the Right has poisoned the mind of America...with lies and disinformation, fear-mongering and ad hominem.
And, for those 30 years, we have heard the ceaseless cry of “Deregulate!” and “Free Market!” and “Trust Business!”
“Drown Government in a bathtub.”
The Bush II "administration" was the horrible fruition of "conservative" policies that have brought us to the very edge of ruin.
And now that a majority of Americans have opened their eyes to the folly of such nonsense, the Right has no choice but to get up on it's hind legs and holler...
It has no other recourse with which to fight the Truth.
It's "ideas" have been shorn of their Glamour, laid bare for what they are, and always have been:
Government by, and for, a self-selected handful of Elites and the corporations they hide behind.
And, all my counterparts on the Right, I challenge any of you to define “Socialism”.
I’ll bet that you can’t.
Your’ studious ignorance, your’ emotional reactionism, plays right into the hands of those who would rule us all.
Those aren’t reins in your hands,
But chains.
Wake up, indeed...then look in the mirror.
And look into getting a dictionary.
Thanks,
Whores and Weasels and Mossadegh.
Whores and Weasels
The Senate has caved....
Passed a "health bill" that "contains a public option"...
Except that it allows States to "Opt Out"....
And would only "cover" a smidgen of folks who need or want such an option.
I guess the money was just too good.
And even with such a cowardly, niggardly bill...the Dems lost Olympia Snowe...their sole product of months of "Bipartisan" handholding.
sigh.
Missing in all of this is examination of fundamental assumptions....per usual.
For instance, (and most importantly)...
Why the percieved necessity of preserving the Health Insurance Industry?
TINA.
(!)
The Parisitical Corporation has no business being in the business of "providing" access to Health , for Profit.
This isn't hard to understand.
What do they do?
They don't "lower costs"....this would be against their very Nature.
Everything in their Being leads them to cut expenditure in order to increase Profits...
Expenditure, here, is read as "Providing Health".
Why not do away with them....for the very same reason we don't (so far) Privatise water, sewer, Interstates (and other roads), the Air Force, the cops, the courts, and the fire Department.
There are efforts to Privatise these things, I know...Toll Roads and Military Contractors, etc.....
Luckily, these have been limited, almost experimental....and disasters.(see the record of the Bush II "administration")
(Hardy Toll Road, in Houston was great when it was government run...I think it wa privatised, I don't know)
The Profit Motive is anathema to some endeavors.
Really wan't "cost-cutting efficiency" on that bridge?Or would engineering overkill be more confidence-inspiring?
What about the fire crew rushing to your' aid?
Why send 3 trucks, when one might do?
Costs money to be proactive and preemptive, after all...might harm the Bottom Line.(There is actual history regarding private fire departments...ugh!)
Healthcare should be a Human Right, not a "Product"....that we "Consume".
A perennial problem with Corporations is even more egregious when it involves Health and Life....
Recourse.
Bodiless...Soulless...Artificial Creations that ultimately turn on their Creators.
Where does one place the bullet?
That is one reason we have Government.
To rein in, and kill when necessary, these Vampires.
Corporations are extensions of Human Avarice into the Realm of Myth....almost a magical cloak, behind which greedy men can hide.
Government, almost alone, has the Power to destroy them...or keep them on a leash...since it is Government that facilitates their creation.
(The other Entity that has this Power is the People....but, I fear we are too ignorant and fractured to be effective...)
(and Government is supposed to be an extension of the People, anyhow...)
So....
Obama should abandon the Republicans....and the "Blue Dogs"...to the Political Wilderness.
Abandon "Bipartisanship"....the Opposition abandoned it 30 years ago.
Pull a Mossadegh!
Nationalise the Health Insurance Companies!!!
The Right will wail....and maybe even rise up...
But then, at least, we can all choose sides.....inject a little honesty into this fight.
Who sides up with who.
Abandon this horrible pretense that Politicians are not Whores and Weasels...that they work for us, not Vampires....
Put it to the test.
Nationalise, and see what happens.
The Senate has caved....
Passed a "health bill" that "contains a public option"...
Except that it allows States to "Opt Out"....
And would only "cover" a smidgen of folks who need or want such an option.
I guess the money was just too good.
And even with such a cowardly, niggardly bill...the Dems lost Olympia Snowe...their sole product of months of "Bipartisan" handholding.
sigh.
Missing in all of this is examination of fundamental assumptions....per usual.
For instance, (and most importantly)...
Why the percieved necessity of preserving the Health Insurance Industry?
TINA.
(!)
The Parisitical Corporation has no business being in the business of "providing" access to Health , for Profit.
This isn't hard to understand.
What do they do?
They don't "lower costs"....this would be against their very Nature.
Everything in their Being leads them to cut expenditure in order to increase Profits...
Expenditure, here, is read as "Providing Health".
Why not do away with them....for the very same reason we don't (so far) Privatise water, sewer, Interstates (and other roads), the Air Force, the cops, the courts, and the fire Department.
There are efforts to Privatise these things, I know...Toll Roads and Military Contractors, etc.....
Luckily, these have been limited, almost experimental....and disasters.(see the record of the Bush II "administration")
(Hardy Toll Road, in Houston was great when it was government run...I think it wa privatised, I don't know)
The Profit Motive is anathema to some endeavors.
Really wan't "cost-cutting efficiency" on that bridge?Or would engineering overkill be more confidence-inspiring?
What about the fire crew rushing to your' aid?
Why send 3 trucks, when one might do?
Costs money to be proactive and preemptive, after all...might harm the Bottom Line.(There is actual history regarding private fire departments...ugh!)
Healthcare should be a Human Right, not a "Product"....that we "Consume".
A perennial problem with Corporations is even more egregious when it involves Health and Life....
Recourse.
Bodiless...Soulless...Artificial Creations that ultimately turn on their Creators.
Where does one place the bullet?
That is one reason we have Government.
To rein in, and kill when necessary, these Vampires.
Corporations are extensions of Human Avarice into the Realm of Myth....almost a magical cloak, behind which greedy men can hide.
Government, almost alone, has the Power to destroy them...or keep them on a leash...since it is Government that facilitates their creation.
(The other Entity that has this Power is the People....but, I fear we are too ignorant and fractured to be effective...)
(and Government is supposed to be an extension of the People, anyhow...)
So....
Obama should abandon the Republicans....and the "Blue Dogs"...to the Political Wilderness.
Abandon "Bipartisanship"....the Opposition abandoned it 30 years ago.
Pull a Mossadegh!
Nationalise the Health Insurance Companies!!!
The Right will wail....and maybe even rise up...
But then, at least, we can all choose sides.....inject a little honesty into this fight.
Who sides up with who.
Abandon this horrible pretense that Politicians are not Whores and Weasels...that they work for us, not Vampires....
Put it to the test.
Nationalise, and see what happens.
Friday, October 23, 2009
More ranting from my web exile
10-02-09
Got my shop (that I insist on calling the Barn..."Boy outta the country"...) just about set.
Office area, w/ computer, guitar stuff,etc...a little place for fly-tying, which my almost 8- yr old is interested in...
Fishin' poles on the wall, a large workbench....etc.
All that's left is removing the nasty couch and armchair that Drunk Uncle left in here...Prolly hafta take the Sawzall to the couch...
The woodstove is intended for the place currently occupied by that detritus.
Back porch is finished, except for the roof...which will hafta wait ( as will the Smithy roof) until the debt to the Hardware store is paid down.
Internet will be cheaper than I first thought...
After these few things, all I'll have left of the heavy lifting will be the rest of the fence (around the back lot), and the chicken house....
The latter will be constructed from material recycled from porches, etc at the country place.
When I get to it, I'll take the large "load-center" from the Greenhouse to replace the small one in the Barn...more illegal electrical work...LOL.
After the City "Inspects" the Smithy and Porch, and eventual Chicken House, I figger I'll be free to run power (covertly) ...
So, soon, I'll be able to lay off the construction work...which is causing a hellova lot of Pain!...and work on Blacksmithing, Poultry Ranching and Gardening.
The Government, in it's Wisdom (?!), has deemed me " Not Disabled"...final appeal fell on deaf ears....
Despite MRI images that a blind person can see, and the determination of 4 doctors...
Now I get to start all over..except that my "eligability" runs out in 3 months...(haven't worked in almost 4 years...)
What's left in the quiver of options is the County "Indigent Program" (run by the most beautiful woman in town, at least..), and several ideas that border on Fraud, and/or illegality..
I can "establish residence" in San Antone, in order to get into their county health-care system,
Or, my Wife and I can get a Divorce, so I can act homeless and destitute, to meet the rediculous requirements of Medicaid...(Adults in Texas must make below $231.00/month to qualify)
Or, as a last effort, I can borrow $$$( yeah, right) or (more likely) rob a bank...then steal a boat and run off to Cuba, and get fixed there...
Even without the Grand Larceny, this last is illegal...
I'm probably just plain Fucked.
And should resign myself to the remainder of my life being one of increasing pain and decreasing mobility...
Considering getting ramps in while I'm still able...for the eventual wheelchair...
There is consolation in the knowledge that Blacksmiths in Mythology were, all of them, Lame...
I have a barstool at the Anvil...
What worries me is the pain in my arms...peripheral damage, from falls when I was relearning walking, wear and tear from the cane., compensating for my legs,.etc.
The Lame-God aspect and the prospect of building upper-body strength ( and the high price of swords..) are what got me into Blacksmithing in the first place.
All this construction/remodelling work I've been doing these past 2.5 months has left me a bundle of irritated nerves.
I hurt from the neck down...and it's Fall.
Cold fronts are beginning to find their way to within 1000 miles of my Barometer (my skeleton)...and every bone and joint that I've ever broken, bruised or otherwise damaged is crying out.
Shall I ennumerate?
The obvious: R. Hip, L. Ankle, R. Knee....these are the primary complains, and the root-cause of all the others.
Both wrists, both thumb-joints, both elbows,(old, untreated fractures from falls due to bad legs)
Neck, from a truly ancient injury,
Back ,from compensating for legs,...right between the scapuli is the worst...
R. shoulder, I assume from leaning a little too heavily on my stick.
Left Hip, now...don't know why...
Left knee, for the same reason as the right(locking knees onto the brake pedal during my encounter with the sweetgum tree)...
Sigh.
Got my shop (that I insist on calling the Barn..."Boy outta the country"...) just about set.
Office area, w/ computer, guitar stuff,etc...a little place for fly-tying, which my almost 8- yr old is interested in...
Fishin' poles on the wall, a large workbench....etc.
All that's left is removing the nasty couch and armchair that Drunk Uncle left in here...Prolly hafta take the Sawzall to the couch...
The woodstove is intended for the place currently occupied by that detritus.
Back porch is finished, except for the roof...which will hafta wait ( as will the Smithy roof) until the debt to the Hardware store is paid down.
Internet will be cheaper than I first thought...
After these few things, all I'll have left of the heavy lifting will be the rest of the fence (around the back lot), and the chicken house....
The latter will be constructed from material recycled from porches, etc at the country place.
When I get to it, I'll take the large "load-center" from the Greenhouse to replace the small one in the Barn...more illegal electrical work...LOL.
After the City "Inspects" the Smithy and Porch, and eventual Chicken House, I figger I'll be free to run power (covertly) ...
So, soon, I'll be able to lay off the construction work...which is causing a hellova lot of Pain!...and work on Blacksmithing, Poultry Ranching and Gardening.
The Government, in it's Wisdom (?!), has deemed me " Not Disabled"...final appeal fell on deaf ears....
Despite MRI images that a blind person can see, and the determination of 4 doctors...
Now I get to start all over..except that my "eligability" runs out in 3 months...(haven't worked in almost 4 years...)
What's left in the quiver of options is the County "Indigent Program" (run by the most beautiful woman in town, at least..), and several ideas that border on Fraud, and/or illegality..
I can "establish residence" in San Antone, in order to get into their county health-care system,
Or, my Wife and I can get a Divorce, so I can act homeless and destitute, to meet the rediculous requirements of Medicaid...(Adults in Texas must make below $231.00/month to qualify)
Or, as a last effort, I can borrow $$$( yeah, right) or (more likely) rob a bank...then steal a boat and run off to Cuba, and get fixed there...
Even without the Grand Larceny, this last is illegal...
I'm probably just plain Fucked.
And should resign myself to the remainder of my life being one of increasing pain and decreasing mobility...
Considering getting ramps in while I'm still able...for the eventual wheelchair...
There is consolation in the knowledge that Blacksmiths in Mythology were, all of them, Lame...
I have a barstool at the Anvil...
What worries me is the pain in my arms...peripheral damage, from falls when I was relearning walking, wear and tear from the cane., compensating for my legs,.etc.
The Lame-God aspect and the prospect of building upper-body strength ( and the high price of swords..) are what got me into Blacksmithing in the first place.
All this construction/remodelling work I've been doing these past 2.5 months has left me a bundle of irritated nerves.
I hurt from the neck down...and it's Fall.
Cold fronts are beginning to find their way to within 1000 miles of my Barometer (my skeleton)...and every bone and joint that I've ever broken, bruised or otherwise damaged is crying out.
Shall I ennumerate?
The obvious: R. Hip, L. Ankle, R. Knee....these are the primary complains, and the root-cause of all the others.
Both wrists, both thumb-joints, both elbows,(old, untreated fractures from falls due to bad legs)
Neck, from a truly ancient injury,
Back ,from compensating for legs,...right between the scapuli is the worst...
R. shoulder, I assume from leaning a little too heavily on my stick.
Left Hip, now...don't know why...
Left knee, for the same reason as the right(locking knees onto the brake pedal during my encounter with the sweetgum tree)...
Sigh.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
river
10-14-09
The only problem I have left with this town-living, having gotten used to the rest, is having nowhere to retreat to...away from Humanity.
Barring earplugs, that is.
I just returned from White's Crossing , on the Llano river.
There is what amounts to a road, now filled with mud, that winds a mile or two upriver, through the pecan bottom.
One passes between, and through, deep oxbow gullies,quiet meadows,and beneath towering limestone cliffs.
This morning, i saw a deer, and a coral snake devouring some smaller, unfortunate snake.
It was quite nice...and peaceful.
I flyfished for a while, till I realised that the river was full of snakes....(!)
Recent rains must've stirred them up...I saw around 10 of them in the water...a.nd decided it wasn't an opportune day for standing in the river
As I was putting my dry shorts on, I heard the arrival of Humans, 3/4 mile away, at the bridge.
It was hard to miss....
Booming bass, echoing off the cliffs, shouts, gunning engine...
So I packed up my gear and headed out,(I was starting to hurt,anyway) hoping to get back to the truck ere they opened fire.
(This has happened before;idiot rednecks with machine guns, shooting up the woods...where I happen to be fishing.)
These folks had left before I had picked my way back....too muddy to run down wildlife with the truck, I guess.
(I have witnessed this behaviour, on more than one occassion, as well...)
There was a new bag of garbage near my truck....I tossed it in the bed.
(This is nothing new either...whereever the public has access to Wildness, around here, there is a debris-field from the encounter.
I regularly bring several bags of trash out of the river...even carry trashbags in my truck....At least this lot was already bagged.)
I had wanted peace and quiet and Nature.
I had the first two, for a while...and I am thankful of that...
And Nature was all around me....
But now that I don't actually live in the Wilderness, there's nowhere to go to get away from people...and their noise and trash and nosiness...
The only problem I have left with this town-living, having gotten used to the rest, is having nowhere to retreat to...away from Humanity.
Barring earplugs, that is.
I just returned from White's Crossing , on the Llano river.
There is what amounts to a road, now filled with mud, that winds a mile or two upriver, through the pecan bottom.
One passes between, and through, deep oxbow gullies,quiet meadows,and beneath towering limestone cliffs.
This morning, i saw a deer, and a coral snake devouring some smaller, unfortunate snake.
It was quite nice...and peaceful.
I flyfished for a while, till I realised that the river was full of snakes....(!)
Recent rains must've stirred them up...I saw around 10 of them in the water...a.nd decided it wasn't an opportune day for standing in the river
As I was putting my dry shorts on, I heard the arrival of Humans, 3/4 mile away, at the bridge.
It was hard to miss....
Booming bass, echoing off the cliffs, shouts, gunning engine...
So I packed up my gear and headed out,(I was starting to hurt,anyway) hoping to get back to the truck ere they opened fire.
(This has happened before;idiot rednecks with machine guns, shooting up the woods...where I happen to be fishing.)
These folks had left before I had picked my way back....too muddy to run down wildlife with the truck, I guess.
(I have witnessed this behaviour, on more than one occassion, as well...)
There was a new bag of garbage near my truck....I tossed it in the bed.
(This is nothing new either...whereever the public has access to Wildness, around here, there is a debris-field from the encounter.
I regularly bring several bags of trash out of the river...even carry trashbags in my truck....At least this lot was already bagged.)
I had wanted peace and quiet and Nature.
I had the first two, for a while...and I am thankful of that...
And Nature was all around me....
But now that I don't actually live in the Wilderness, there's nowhere to go to get away from people...and their noise and trash and nosiness...
latest health rant
10-13-2009
Well, here I am...40 years old...and denied my final appeal for Disability.
Borrowed $$$ and got an MRI that a blind man can read....to no avail.
Right hip is trash.
Avascular Necrosis...(that means dead bone due to lack of blood supply)
Left ankle is toast...one pound of metal and numerous fractures and "Loose Bodies"...X-Ray looks like a gravel pit.
Right knee is screwed as well....damage from the wreck, 20 years ago, plus wear and tear from cooking all these intervening years...damaged ligaments from falls, no cartilage to speak of.
My lawyer says to reapply...start all over.
Only problem is i haven't worked in almost 4 years (I’ve been disabled…duh.)...my "credits" will run out in December, and I will no longer be "eligible" for Disability.
But i can't work...at least at a real job...
Sure, I can do things that need doing around the house/farm (within limits)...but "working" for 4 hours then laying there, in pain, for 2-4 days isn't exactly what most employers are looking for, I think.
4 hours is what I can generally handle...if I stay clear of heavy lifting, ditch-digging, etc...and if I have the option of sitting or laying down, when needed.
I'm talking here about housework....laundry, dishes, cooking.
If I am required to do "real" work, (because if I don't ,it won't get done. like slapping together a porch/future utility-room, patching the roof, etc)..I'm worthless for several days.
The Judge at the video-hearing had an “expert” with him, who determined that I was capable of two jobs….”Cut and Paster” and “Order Clerk”. The former, I have no idea….seems like computers do that kind of thing. The latter is usually found in a warehouse…and in my experience, requires lifting and walking and 8 hour shifts. No one seems to have noticed that most employers have not exactly been pillars of social responsibility these past 30 years…and, regardless, there are no such jobs within at least 40 miles of me.
So what am I to do??
A Doctor I know suggests that I "establish residence" with a friend or relative in San Antonio, or somewhere...and get into the County Health System.
Of course, this would be Fraudulent...at least to me.
I can't afford to move to the big city....let alone live there.
Another tack...
Divorce my wife (on paper)...
In Texas, where we are all Christians, following His Teachings to the letter (snort),an adult must make less than $231.00/month in order to qualify for Medicaid.
My wife brings in around $900 every month....ergo, we are deemed too well off for Public Assistance.
So, we reasoned, we could pay the $300 for a divorce, and I could "live in my truck" with "no income' and, theoretically, qualify for healthcare….save that I’m pretty sure that one needs an address to get Medicaid.(How someone making under $231/month can maintain a residence is beyond me…)
And, once more, fraudulent...
The three surgeries I need would cost around $18,000 in Cuba, I'm told....
as opposed to $100,000+ , here...
But, I have no money...
In theory, the Emergency Room is forbidden from turning someone away....one hears this on the news all the time.
I'm not sure I'm confident enough in that assertion to test it....I mean, I could jump off the roof, thus (inevitably) breaking my damaged hip, and calling for an ambulance.
With my luck, they'd check my credit score, or something, before handing me an advil and pushing me out the door.
I have been uninsurable since I was rebuilt, after that wreck, almost 20 years ago...the insurance I had then paid all but $100,000, and dropped me.
Haven't had insurance, since.
And....now, it's not only the big three...(hip/ankle/knee)...
It's my back, my neck, my wrists, my elbow, my thumbs, my shoulders....and my "good" hip.
Wear and tear...compensation for my damaged parts.
You're suppose to lift with your' knees...but what if your' knees are fubar?
Ergo, damaged back,etc.
Of course, I have no "proof" of all of these newer ailments...MRI's. X-rays and doctor's visits are expensive. Too, when I fractured my thumbs in a fall, for instance, I wrapped them up, drank tequila and endured…no records….no documentation.
So when I reapply for Disability, I'll just have my word.
And if my previous experience with the system is any indicator, they won't even process my application until I'm no longer "eligible".
So, while my "Representatives" are yelling about "Socialism" and generally standing in the way of any real reform of this fucked up "system", I deteriorate.
And get more broke, and broken.
And wonder why my country has abandoned me.
At this rate, I don't think I can make it another 23 years, till I am eligible for Medicare....assuming that that program hasn't been misused and defunded and destroyed by that time.
It is disappointing, in the extreme, that my best "option" seems to be to rob a bank, steal a boat and make my way to the nearest Communist country.
What does it say about our System that that becomes a more and more reasonable choice?
When varying degrees of Fraud and Grand Larceny are the best, most cost effective path to health? Or even the only path.
What does it say about us? A self-described "Christian Country"?
When I review the four Canonical Gospels, I can't find any mention of taking care of giant Corporations at the expense of the Poor and Sick.
Nowhere is it mentioned that we must make sure the rich get richer.
Jesus didn't buy stock options in the money-changers....he kicked them out of the Temple.
The various Parables don't say the Rich will inherit the Earth, but the Meek.
Jesus was a Liberal...
And it is the height of hypocrisy to call oneself a Christian while supporting a political party that, at every turn, does just the opposite of what Jesus would do...as deduced from His Words.
War is not Pro-Life...neither is the coddling of the Super Rich...
But Universal Healthcare is.
Well, here I am...40 years old...and denied my final appeal for Disability.
Borrowed $$$ and got an MRI that a blind man can read....to no avail.
Right hip is trash.
Avascular Necrosis...(that means dead bone due to lack of blood supply)
Left ankle is toast...one pound of metal and numerous fractures and "Loose Bodies"...X-Ray looks like a gravel pit.
Right knee is screwed as well....damage from the wreck, 20 years ago, plus wear and tear from cooking all these intervening years...damaged ligaments from falls, no cartilage to speak of.
My lawyer says to reapply...start all over.
Only problem is i haven't worked in almost 4 years (I’ve been disabled…duh.)...my "credits" will run out in December, and I will no longer be "eligible" for Disability.
But i can't work...at least at a real job...
Sure, I can do things that need doing around the house/farm (within limits)...but "working" for 4 hours then laying there, in pain, for 2-4 days isn't exactly what most employers are looking for, I think.
4 hours is what I can generally handle...if I stay clear of heavy lifting, ditch-digging, etc...and if I have the option of sitting or laying down, when needed.
I'm talking here about housework....laundry, dishes, cooking.
If I am required to do "real" work, (because if I don't ,it won't get done. like slapping together a porch/future utility-room, patching the roof, etc)..I'm worthless for several days.
The Judge at the video-hearing had an “expert” with him, who determined that I was capable of two jobs….”Cut and Paster” and “Order Clerk”. The former, I have no idea….seems like computers do that kind of thing. The latter is usually found in a warehouse…and in my experience, requires lifting and walking and 8 hour shifts. No one seems to have noticed that most employers have not exactly been pillars of social responsibility these past 30 years…and, regardless, there are no such jobs within at least 40 miles of me.
So what am I to do??
A Doctor I know suggests that I "establish residence" with a friend or relative in San Antonio, or somewhere...and get into the County Health System.
Of course, this would be Fraudulent...at least to me.
I can't afford to move to the big city....let alone live there.
Another tack...
Divorce my wife (on paper)...
In Texas, where we are all Christians, following His Teachings to the letter (snort),an adult must make less than $231.00/month in order to qualify for Medicaid.
My wife brings in around $900 every month....ergo, we are deemed too well off for Public Assistance.
So, we reasoned, we could pay the $300 for a divorce, and I could "live in my truck" with "no income' and, theoretically, qualify for healthcare….save that I’m pretty sure that one needs an address to get Medicaid.(How someone making under $231/month can maintain a residence is beyond me…)
And, once more, fraudulent...
The three surgeries I need would cost around $18,000 in Cuba, I'm told....
as opposed to $100,000+ , here...
But, I have no money...
In theory, the Emergency Room is forbidden from turning someone away....one hears this on the news all the time.
I'm not sure I'm confident enough in that assertion to test it....I mean, I could jump off the roof, thus (inevitably) breaking my damaged hip, and calling for an ambulance.
With my luck, they'd check my credit score, or something, before handing me an advil and pushing me out the door.
I have been uninsurable since I was rebuilt, after that wreck, almost 20 years ago...the insurance I had then paid all but $100,000, and dropped me.
Haven't had insurance, since.
And....now, it's not only the big three...(hip/ankle/knee)...
It's my back, my neck, my wrists, my elbow, my thumbs, my shoulders....and my "good" hip.
Wear and tear...compensation for my damaged parts.
You're suppose to lift with your' knees...but what if your' knees are fubar?
Ergo, damaged back,etc.
Of course, I have no "proof" of all of these newer ailments...MRI's. X-rays and doctor's visits are expensive. Too, when I fractured my thumbs in a fall, for instance, I wrapped them up, drank tequila and endured…no records….no documentation.
So when I reapply for Disability, I'll just have my word.
And if my previous experience with the system is any indicator, they won't even process my application until I'm no longer "eligible".
So, while my "Representatives" are yelling about "Socialism" and generally standing in the way of any real reform of this fucked up "system", I deteriorate.
And get more broke, and broken.
And wonder why my country has abandoned me.
At this rate, I don't think I can make it another 23 years, till I am eligible for Medicare....assuming that that program hasn't been misused and defunded and destroyed by that time.
It is disappointing, in the extreme, that my best "option" seems to be to rob a bank, steal a boat and make my way to the nearest Communist country.
What does it say about our System that that becomes a more and more reasonable choice?
When varying degrees of Fraud and Grand Larceny are the best, most cost effective path to health? Or even the only path.
What does it say about us? A self-described "Christian Country"?
When I review the four Canonical Gospels, I can't find any mention of taking care of giant Corporations at the expense of the Poor and Sick.
Nowhere is it mentioned that we must make sure the rich get richer.
Jesus didn't buy stock options in the money-changers....he kicked them out of the Temple.
The various Parables don't say the Rich will inherit the Earth, but the Meek.
Jesus was a Liberal...
And it is the height of hypocrisy to call oneself a Christian while supporting a political party that, at every turn, does just the opposite of what Jesus would do...as deduced from His Words.
War is not Pro-Life...neither is the coddling of the Super Rich...
But Universal Healthcare is.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
3am
3am 9-6-09
So, "L" is taking shortcuts through the back yard...
He's real slippery...such that I haven't been able to confront him.
I noticed him standing at the property line, looking into the back, as I was out front taking trash out.
By the time I got in and to the back door, he was already through the yard....he was waiting for front door noises...
Clever.
I don't think he means any harm...except maybe to any material I neglect to lock up....
I surmise that he's trying to avoid the road...he's a wanted man.
(for dope and petty theft)
If caught, he'll be deported.
So I have a cheat-sheet stapled to the back door jamb......
""Te puedo ayudar?","Alto!","No traversar.""Privado propiedad.","Camina alrededor." and "Vamos!"..
I think a tall fence would speak volumes...in any language..
I'm decent at Spanish, in a kitchen...but my grammar sucks...and I'm better suited (as w/ all languages) to reading.
Give me text in Greek, German, Latin....even French...and I can figure it out.
At least the gist.
Spoken, it moves too fast....
Most, I've never heard spoken out loud.
New problems have presented themselves regarding the house...
Sewer. (!!!)
Borrowed a mechanical snake from FIL...switch don't work...gotta rig it somehow...it's Labor Day...so noone's open till Tuesday.
I had intended to be blacksmithing on all these weekdays that everyone’s at school…
First “free time” I’ve had since my oldest was born almost 8 years ago….
Alas, Moontime Don has thrown a sizeable wrench into those plans…
I’m to the point in my dismantle-out-there/build-here regime where I must either dismantle the big stuff…or purchase new material.
Too, I’m having the propane tank moved…so there’s a ditch to be dug…a wild peach tree to be cut…
And more $$$ I don’t have to be spent on the gas-man to get ‘er done.
Roof/walls of the Smithy (integral to the fence) will come from the porch out there…I hope.
Roof , and posts, and long boards…for the new back porch for W/D,etc will hafta be new.
And my Dad is coming…
He’ll cast his critical eye on all aspects of the property….
And, hopefully, approve….
And be open to helping us purchase it.
My Brother is getting all manner of help to get into a “real” house in Kingwood….his down payment would buy this place, outright…
Brother did everything right…finished school, and college…worked diligently in a career track…makes upward of $80K/year.
…And can’t make ends meet.
While, I …the “crazy one”…have been a Chef/Musician/Farmer (and now, Crippled Philosopher)
Never made more than $25K….mostly much lower…
Quit when I got pissed off at stupidity/unnecessary drama…
And, generally, went my own way.
I think it says a lot that we’re both in pretty much the same boat.
This is NOT our Grandad’s America.
Haven’t had time to think about Doom…or social/political issues…
Hollered at the TV, a lot…
But haven’t had it in me to bitch/ hold forth…
Perhaps we’ll have an opportunity this winter…
So, "L" is taking shortcuts through the back yard...
He's real slippery...such that I haven't been able to confront him.
I noticed him standing at the property line, looking into the back, as I was out front taking trash out.
By the time I got in and to the back door, he was already through the yard....he was waiting for front door noises...
Clever.
I don't think he means any harm...except maybe to any material I neglect to lock up....
I surmise that he's trying to avoid the road...he's a wanted man.
(for dope and petty theft)
If caught, he'll be deported.
So I have a cheat-sheet stapled to the back door jamb......
""Te puedo ayudar?","Alto!","No traversar.""Privado propiedad.","Camina alrededor." and "Vamos!"..
I think a tall fence would speak volumes...in any language..
I'm decent at Spanish, in a kitchen...but my grammar sucks...and I'm better suited (as w/ all languages) to reading.
Give me text in Greek, German, Latin....even French...and I can figure it out.
At least the gist.
Spoken, it moves too fast....
Most, I've never heard spoken out loud.
New problems have presented themselves regarding the house...
Sewer. (!!!)
Borrowed a mechanical snake from FIL...switch don't work...gotta rig it somehow...it's Labor Day...so noone's open till Tuesday.
I had intended to be blacksmithing on all these weekdays that everyone’s at school…
First “free time” I’ve had since my oldest was born almost 8 years ago….
Alas, Moontime Don has thrown a sizeable wrench into those plans…
I’m to the point in my dismantle-out-there/build-here regime where I must either dismantle the big stuff…or purchase new material.
Too, I’m having the propane tank moved…so there’s a ditch to be dug…a wild peach tree to be cut…
And more $$$ I don’t have to be spent on the gas-man to get ‘er done.
Roof/walls of the Smithy (integral to the fence) will come from the porch out there…I hope.
Roof , and posts, and long boards…for the new back porch for W/D,etc will hafta be new.
And my Dad is coming…
He’ll cast his critical eye on all aspects of the property….
And, hopefully, approve….
And be open to helping us purchase it.
My Brother is getting all manner of help to get into a “real” house in Kingwood….his down payment would buy this place, outright…
Brother did everything right…finished school, and college…worked diligently in a career track…makes upward of $80K/year.
…And can’t make ends meet.
While, I …the “crazy one”…have been a Chef/Musician/Farmer (and now, Crippled Philosopher)
Never made more than $25K….mostly much lower…
Quit when I got pissed off at stupidity/unnecessary drama…
And, generally, went my own way.
I think it says a lot that we’re both in pretty much the same boat.
This is NOT our Grandad’s America.
Haven’t had time to think about Doom…or social/political issues…
Hollered at the TV, a lot…
But haven’t had it in me to bitch/ hold forth…
Perhaps we’ll have an opportunity this winter…
Lawdy...
Lawdy,Lawdy….
Turned 40, yesterday…at 18:45 CST.
Awoke at 4 AM…. By 5;30, I’m out back…digging holes for psts..for gates.
I dig “Pi-Gates”, my own invention…two uprights, and a lentil….very Megalithic…
Crossties…
So I’m up at 2, this AM, feeling like I’ve been run over….
Hafta lay around and watch movies, today….
Sucks…not least cause I got all this work to do…
Uncle has been surprisingly civil…and quiet.
I suspect it’s the regular evening meals I’ve been providing.
Better than he’s eaten since Grandma died.
Too, nourishment, and a belly full of lasagna, mitigates the drunkennesss.
Whatever…I’m just glad there hasn’t been any BS from that quarter.
L, however, is back in town…sneaking furtively through my back yard to avoid arrest/deportation…(hence the perceived need to finish the fencing: Gaucho is a particularly nasty variety of barbed wire…lol.)
Still, makes me a mite jumpy..him being around….doing the staring thing.
His brother ,B, is a real piece of work…
Prolly my least favorite part of the barrio.
Fat, mean and hypermasculine….stereo in his (overly loud) dually can be heard for blocks…and he spends most of his time w/ the drug-slinger next door…truck parked out in the road, doors open, conjunto blaring…bass penetrating.
Nervewracking for a dog-eared hillbilly.
Besides that, it’s not that bad being in town….
Proximity to so many folks (compared to the last 16 years) will take some getting used to.
Intellectually, I know that noone is “watching”…but their mere presence ( and the Mexican “staring” thing) makes it feel as tho I’m on stage,,,
(More good reasons for fences…especially the opaque kind…)
No more wanton nakedness….someone will surely call the Law.
Sigh.
Turned 40, yesterday…at 18:45 CST.
Awoke at 4 AM…. By 5;30, I’m out back…digging holes for psts..for gates.
I dig “Pi-Gates”, my own invention…two uprights, and a lentil….very Megalithic…
Crossties…
So I’m up at 2, this AM, feeling like I’ve been run over….
Hafta lay around and watch movies, today….
Sucks…not least cause I got all this work to do…
Uncle has been surprisingly civil…and quiet.
I suspect it’s the regular evening meals I’ve been providing.
Better than he’s eaten since Grandma died.
Too, nourishment, and a belly full of lasagna, mitigates the drunkennesss.
Whatever…I’m just glad there hasn’t been any BS from that quarter.
L, however, is back in town…sneaking furtively through my back yard to avoid arrest/deportation…(hence the perceived need to finish the fencing: Gaucho is a particularly nasty variety of barbed wire…lol.)
Still, makes me a mite jumpy..him being around….doing the staring thing.
His brother ,B, is a real piece of work…
Prolly my least favorite part of the barrio.
Fat, mean and hypermasculine….stereo in his (overly loud) dually can be heard for blocks…and he spends most of his time w/ the drug-slinger next door…truck parked out in the road, doors open, conjunto blaring…bass penetrating.
Nervewracking for a dog-eared hillbilly.
Besides that, it’s not that bad being in town….
Proximity to so many folks (compared to the last 16 years) will take some getting used to.
Intellectually, I know that noone is “watching”…but their mere presence ( and the Mexican “staring” thing) makes it feel as tho I’m on stage,,,
(More good reasons for fences…especially the opaque kind…)
No more wanton nakedness….someone will surely call the Law.
Sigh.
8-26 observations:manana/machismo
8-26-09 Observations:Hippie,into the Barrio
So there was this dude, "L", friend of Uncle...who moved into this house in Febuary...
Same Deal as me..."fix it up."
Did just the opposite...then went to jail...now deported, as far as I know.
Drug addict,etc.
Been cleaning up after him, since i arrived, almost as much as after Uncle.
Old Chevy pick-up, in pieces, in the back yard...I want it gone.
So, I (repeatedly, over 2 months) keep on Mother in Law, the Liason, to contact L's people to get rid of the junker.
Brother, Girlfriend, etc...no luck.
No action....
Manana.
To be clear...I wouldn't know L from Adam.
To me L = "someone I've cleaned up after."
Don't know any of his people, don't really care to.
So MIL says, finally, "get rid of it"...so I call the wrecker who will scrap it for free.
After 2 weeks, the wrecker finally shows up last night at 7pm...
Hooks a chain up to the wreck and has one (what's left of a) wheel on the edge of the truck, when a dude shows up...
" where are you going w/ my truck?!"
I've seen him , and waved, for 2 weeks next door....They told me his name,"B", but never mentioned that he was L's brother...
So wrecker guy goes back ,pissed at the waste of time, and B says, w/ bluster, "I'll move it tomorrow"...
I'm a "walk-by-and-get-it-done" kind of guy...my inheritance from Pop, my Grandad..
The Manana Phenomenon is a source of endless frustration, to me.
I just don't get it.
Manana, coupled with extreme drunkenness and drug use, is why this house has been allowed to fall down around Uncle.
Hence the contrast between the last 5 years, and the last month or so...
Cultural trait....the Anthropologist in me is intrigued...
The Husband/Father/Doer is frustrated and bewildered.
Another cultural thing that intrigues and bothers me is Machismo.
I have spent most of my life in kitchens...hanging with the women.
I'm Bi, and comfortably removed from all the testosterone-poisoning....never been comfortable with the whole Man-thing of Football,violence,"Honor" and "My Dick Is Bigger"...
Among Hispanic men, this dick waving is taken to the extreme...
Inherant Misogyny...and the worst culprits, from my studiously objective standpoint, are the ones who have the least to brag about.(!)
Most of my experience w/ this phenomenon comes from Wife's family holidays...Xmas, etc.
The Women, inside in the kitchen...
The Men, outside...with beer.
Talk is about football, pussy...and put-downs.
I tried, for years, to at least hang...
But I will, it seems, always be the sissy white dude...tolerated, and joked at.
Individually, the men in Wife's family are alright...I can engage them in almost conversations about what I regard as more important/interesting things...
But gathered into a group...impossible.
I suspise that it has something to do with male perceptions of powerlessness…
The Hispanic Culture is, essentially, a Matriarchal one…
(at least as far as I can see, and read..)
The Women carry the purse, control the money, raise the kids, and do all the things, big and small, necessary for the continuance of the species/culture.
The men, on the other hand, either work (hard and diligently), and hand over their $$; or they hang around and drink…
The individuals who hang around and drink, are more Macho…more blustery and rooster-like.
It seems there is an inverse relationship between the amount of gainful work done/versus amount of drinking and the prevalence of the Mach attitude.
Can't wait to get internet....I have lots of questions...lots to learn...
My anthropologist hat shall remain invisible.
So there was this dude, "L", friend of Uncle...who moved into this house in Febuary...
Same Deal as me..."fix it up."
Did just the opposite...then went to jail...now deported, as far as I know.
Drug addict,etc.
Been cleaning up after him, since i arrived, almost as much as after Uncle.
Old Chevy pick-up, in pieces, in the back yard...I want it gone.
So, I (repeatedly, over 2 months) keep on Mother in Law, the Liason, to contact L's people to get rid of the junker.
Brother, Girlfriend, etc...no luck.
No action....
Manana.
To be clear...I wouldn't know L from Adam.
To me L = "someone I've cleaned up after."
Don't know any of his people, don't really care to.
So MIL says, finally, "get rid of it"...so I call the wrecker who will scrap it for free.
After 2 weeks, the wrecker finally shows up last night at 7pm...
Hooks a chain up to the wreck and has one (what's left of a) wheel on the edge of the truck, when a dude shows up...
" where are you going w/ my truck?!"
I've seen him , and waved, for 2 weeks next door....They told me his name,"B", but never mentioned that he was L's brother...
So wrecker guy goes back ,pissed at the waste of time, and B says, w/ bluster, "I'll move it tomorrow"...
I'm a "walk-by-and-get-it-done" kind of guy...my inheritance from Pop, my Grandad..
The Manana Phenomenon is a source of endless frustration, to me.
I just don't get it.
Manana, coupled with extreme drunkenness and drug use, is why this house has been allowed to fall down around Uncle.
Hence the contrast between the last 5 years, and the last month or so...
Cultural trait....the Anthropologist in me is intrigued...
The Husband/Father/Doer is frustrated and bewildered.
Another cultural thing that intrigues and bothers me is Machismo.
I have spent most of my life in kitchens...hanging with the women.
I'm Bi, and comfortably removed from all the testosterone-poisoning....never been comfortable with the whole Man-thing of Football,violence,"Honor" and "My Dick Is Bigger"...
Among Hispanic men, this dick waving is taken to the extreme...
Inherant Misogyny...and the worst culprits, from my studiously objective standpoint, are the ones who have the least to brag about.(!)
Most of my experience w/ this phenomenon comes from Wife's family holidays...Xmas, etc.
The Women, inside in the kitchen...
The Men, outside...with beer.
Talk is about football, pussy...and put-downs.
I tried, for years, to at least hang...
But I will, it seems, always be the sissy white dude...tolerated, and joked at.
Individually, the men in Wife's family are alright...I can engage them in almost conversations about what I regard as more important/interesting things...
But gathered into a group...impossible.
I suspise that it has something to do with male perceptions of powerlessness…
The Hispanic Culture is, essentially, a Matriarchal one…
(at least as far as I can see, and read..)
The Women carry the purse, control the money, raise the kids, and do all the things, big and small, necessary for the continuance of the species/culture.
The men, on the other hand, either work (hard and diligently), and hand over their $$; or they hang around and drink…
The individuals who hang around and drink, are more Macho…more blustery and rooster-like.
It seems there is an inverse relationship between the amount of gainful work done/versus amount of drinking and the prevalence of the Mach attitude.
Can't wait to get internet....I have lots of questions...lots to learn...
My anthropologist hat shall remain invisible.
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