9292011 2am

I set my alarm (Scotland, the Brave) for 4AM…but woke up at 2.

Thursday is my watering day, Midnight till 9AM; and 7pm to Midnight.

Drought…restrictions.

I made the Coffee and set to….keeping eyes peeled for the Possum I’ve been after…and, who is after the 3 Lil Red Roosters that disdain proper shelter.

An hour at a time…then moving the sprinkler. By Dawn, I’ll have the Wild Lot soaked. The Rye is sprouting.

Whisper of deep green in this brown land.

To the Café…(a Blue Table, and some chairs, out by the road.Where I drink Tea in the evenings)

Barrio is quiet, save for the dogs, near and far….and the 3 wayward Roosters.

I have disturbed them.

On Sunday mornings (my other watering day), there are Cattle to be heard…all night…from the Stockyards, a mile to the east.

They keep the dogs up and howling…but, tonight, quiet.

The Barrio begins to stir, in another hour.

Trucks.

The rest of the Roosters…mine, and many others…will tune up around then.

Crowing and flapping and jostling.

The Geese are already muttering…they know I’m about.

Ducks can be heard, as well…complaining softly in their hide.

I do most of my work, on these mornings, in the dark.

One of my Psychological Issues with Town Life is feeling Watched.

I have almost always been in the country…and, reason be damned, I cannot shake the feeling. 2 years of observation and insomnia haven’t cured me.

It is partly a likely holdover from the Prowler Problem, out at Mom’s.

One never knew when He would be lurking….and I still have the urge to go about armed.

Unnecessary, now…especially since the Lollo Affair sent that dude into hiding.

Probably a touch of PTSD…to go with my other “issues”.

Too, in the country, I’d likely be Nekkid for this work.Ha!

I’ll spend the rest of the day napping, and Willing the Rye to Grow….perhaps I can be Painless enough to do the Pantry. Inventory, et cetera.

I used to love the Fall of the year…now, the Fronts lay me out.

I can smell it…the change in the season…a mere suggestion of Chill, although it’s almost 80 degrees.

A “mild” Winter is forecast.

And Summer’s stars are gone, by this time of the morning.

Regarding the Mayor’s mention of re-doing the Sewer Plant.( a letter to city and editor)

Everything Poops!

It may not be pleasant to think about, but there it is.

Most things that Poop have Micro-Flora and -Fauna, in their Gut, that generate Methane.

The city and county, in recent years, have been fined for venting Methane to the atmosphere…from the landfill, at least. It is a certainty that the aging Sewer Plant Vents Methane, as well.

“Natural Gas” is a marketing term, invented by energy companies, decades ago, in order to sell Fossil Methane. Seems everyone knew , at the time, that Methane = Sewer Gas….and our aversion to the products of Bodily Functions meant that even the Fossil Gas was a hard sell.

Now , we are in an Energy Crisis. Light Sweet Crude Oil is hard to find, the “low hanging fruit” having been extracted, long ago. This is the reason for the mad scramble for “alternatives”…such as Oil Sands, Tar Sands, Deep Water Drilling, etc. All of these, and more, have what is called a Negative EROEI (energy return on energy invested); it costs more energy to extract and make useable these resources, than is contained in the resources, themselves. Enormous amounts of Fresh Water, and a whole lot of “Natural Gas”(the Fossil Kind) are also required to Process these resources into a useable form.

It is, in short, Folly…and an act of desperation.

Fossil Fuels are Finite….there is only so much of them there…and the world has used them wantonly.

Nothing, really, can replace Oil, barrel for barrel. It is energy dense, and transportable. “Natural Gas” is neither. It is expensive and dangerous to transport it…and at the earliest opportunity (a pinhole leak), it escapes to the atmosphere…where it is a remarkably efficient Greenhouse Gas.

A viable alternative to at least some of these problems is sewer gas….Methane. The Landfill, the Feedlots (that are, luckily, right next door) and the Sewer Plant. All that is needed is to Capture that Methane, run it through a glorified Charcoal Filter, and Viola! Energy for Mason!

Currently, our Electricity comes from far away…through Power Lines…

Power Lines “Lose” around 40% of what’s Generated, in Transmission. That Electricity is simply “vented”…much like our Methane…in the form of an Electromagnetic Field.

What a Boon for Mason, if we could actually use the Waste we Generate to heat and cool our homes…and to run our gadgets. It is worth looking into, since our Elected Officials are contemplating a Major Overhaul to the current infrastructure.

I urge you all to educate yourselves on this matter….and to then tell your Council-People and Commissioners about it.

I have sent this to Mayor Brent, along with a smattering of links…which Gerry can print if he wants to.

Thank You, Josef

http://www.pewclimate.org/technology/factsheet/anaerobic-digesters

http://www.habmigern2003.info/biogas/methane-digester.html

http://www.mrec.org/pubs/Anaerobic_Report.pdf

http://www.water.siemens.com/en/products/sludge_biosolids_processing/digesters/pages/default.aspx?stc=wwiis250060

http://www.eisenmann.us.com/biogas-gw.php?gclid=CLPwuuiqs6sCFcWd7QodLSpexg

A Brief History of the Politics of Amfortas.

I had considered myself a Libertarian, for as long as I had been aware of such distinctions. However, I remember, hazily, being on Jimmy Carter’s side, during his debates with Reagan…This was in 5^th grade, and the teacher Mrs. Biggers, was not only mean and prone to screaming, she was decidedly in St Ronny’s corner. I’m certain that this had some influence. My folks were all Democrats…and their folks, and so on…but Politics was another of those things that was kept hidden from my brother and I. We were given a questionnaire, in the Civics semester, about Political Leanings. I came out very Left…but it felt too simplistic, to me.

I remember, during the ’88 election feeling that I had to make a choice, as it was my first time being eligible to vote in a Presidential contest. I went with Ron Paul…largely due to the Libertarian’s reputation as Pro-Marijuana…but also as an expression of my congenital Rebellion.. At the time, I paid little attention to politics, let alone economics…I wanted more Freedom! ….and was becoming more aware of it’s lack, in my daily life. I knew I didn’t like Republicans…Reagan and Daddy Bush always felt somewhat dishonest, to me…like there was something about them, behind the façade, that was fundamentally Wrong. I eschewed politics for a long time after that…I had other things to think about.

The wars, especially the Drug War, didn’t set well with me. There was always a feeling of Repression…largely undefined. What little attention I paid to politics, was mostly like this…a gut feeling. I liked Hightower..and Anne Richards…I liked Ross Perot…Clinton was OK, mostly because his name was not Bush.

It wasn’t till I moved to Austin that I became aware, politically. The intransigence of the Republicans, the self righteous BS of Newt, and company…they were associated with the Rabid People, in my mind…the Bombing in Oklahoma was perpetrated by one of theirs…and I leaned Left.

I knew I was Not Republican…and Democrats seemed, even then, to be little better. Dems made noises that I liked, but didn’t follow through. I didn’t make the distinction, at the time, but I was a Left Libertarian…the influence of Jefferson and the Beats, and the whole Hippy Milieu meant that I really didn’t fit, anywhere. I hated the idea of War..the Wars in my time felt dishonest…not like WW2…not Just Wars…more about Business, with a Crusader Patina, that wouldn’t become overt, till much later. I sympathized with Clinton, during the scandals. He was getting railroaded…that was obvious. The economy, at the time, while better than it is now, didn’t have any justice to it. Clinton , and the Dems, were the only ones who said anything even remotely connected to the economic realities I was beginning to understand….but my perception was that they were full of shit, too…just not as much so, as the Republicans. The Republicans were an obvious opponent. Everything about them said to me,”we’re after you!”. The abortion mess, never mattered to me, really…until high school, when I helped a friend get one. That issue was the only thing about Ron Paul I didn’t like. Later, I would add the Pro Corporate stance of the Libertarians to my list of differences….but that was later. I was nacently anti Government…largely due to the whole Waco/Ruby Ridge thing…and the Drug War.

In Austin, I knew a lot of homeless people, young and old…lot of Vietnam Vets, living out of dumpsters…at the time, there began a crusade against the “blight” of homeless folks in Austin. My first Protest was against this. (wherein I drank beer with Molly Ivins, on Congress ave.) I was becoming politically aware, and active…and keenly aware of the injustices of our Economic System.

George Bush 2 was Governor…and was obviously a fool, and a Corporate Lackey, as well as being plugged into the whole conspiracy theorist’s nightmare of CIA/MKULtra, and other, assorted Evils…of course, at the time, I was certainly aware that Clinton was , too. The Richards/Hightower-Types were few and far between….and that’s where my sympathies lay. Too, I was married into the Black Sheep side of the Bush Crime Family…my wife’s paternal granddad was also George Bush, he was a cousin to the Kenebunkport Bushes…and hated them with a passion. Daddy Bush showed up, with the Secret Service at Grandma’s funeral…and there were stories of how the White Sheep Faction had stolen the family’s west Texas oil wealth.

During this time, Economic considerations drove me to Mason….and I , again, eschewed Politics. When Lil George ran for President, I thought, at worst, he would be a one-termer, and that whatever Dem came after would likely have some cleaning up to do…

I was more aware of Economics, in those days…enough to know that Corporate America was my likely nemesis…things like Nafta meant that the New Democrats weren’t the answer…and Republicans, of whatever stripe, were obviously in the corporate Pocket…so I was libertarian, still…even becoming Mason County Chair of the Libertarian Party(wholly ineffective)…the L’s own fellation of Corporations, as some kind of high expression of Freedom, finally drove me out. There seemed to be no party for me, save, perhaps, the greens.

Then 911, and the Nazi-like rhetoric, the militaristic chest thumping…the anti-intellectual nationalism…the sudden lurch to the Right…

I became a Reluctant Democrat.(the stolen election of 2000 played a large part, too). Evil had a face…and it wasn’t Al Quaida…it was Dick, Don and Lil George!

Into a Research Frenzy I went…one that I am just now wrapping up. I weighed all the various “Conspiracy Theories”…noted the surreality of Conventional Wisdom…delved into the History of the Right and Left…the Philosophy of it all. ..and sided with Gore and the Dems, as the last best hope for Freedom and a continuation of the Enlightenment.

I spent years reading the federal Register…piecing together a counter-narrative, that included the worst crimes of our country…

Economics and Political Philosophy…what I knew of the Bush Crime Family…”Conspiracy” as shorthand for “Crazy”, even though many of the “Theories” fit reality so much better than the Official Narrative. The Propaganda Onslaught, and the Love It Or leave It Nationalism, the Das Heimat Rhetoric…and the Dems half-hearted opposition to it all…I became a Lesser Evil Dem.

The Neocons were matched by the Neolibs as two sides of the same Evil. Corporate Feudalism, Friendly Fascism,and America,Inc.

A distinction had to be made, between the “Good” Dems, and the Bad. While I still distrusted Big Gov, I came to realize that it was likely all that stood between us and the Machine…a sad realization! The Language was all wrong! It was the language, the Meme-Space of the Right that had clouded everything(Yoda)…making honest political distinction impossible.

And here we are! Stuck in Surreal-Topia…Up is down, etc. The Corporate Machine has gone Global (long ago, it turns out…and with bipartisan support)…and there is nothing standing in the way of Eternal Fascism. Peak Oil is Real, and lurks behind all of this. The Conventional Wisdom is hopelessly marred, and the Framework I worked so hard to construct appears to be a lot closer to the Reality of things…but there is too much mud and confusion…too much knee-jerk Patriotism…and far too little Understanding.

I will continue to vote Dem…the alternative is too terrible….but I have little hope that Civilisation can be saved. We must go into the Burning Times,the Fall of American Empire…and likely the End of our Global Civilisation…I see nothing else that can possibly stop the Panopticon, the Dystopian Hell World that is rapidly being constructed.

My Task, as I see it, is…on the one hand…to “Rage against the dying of the Light”…and on the other, to Hunker Down…to try and preserve some ember of the best of Us….Secular Monasticism…a little Life Boat of Enlightenment, in a Sea of Darkness.

Re; Sand Mine.

http://www.masoncountynews.com/news/article/45459

What jumped out at me from Gerry’s article on the coming Sand Mine, in Katemcy, was the revelation that this “industry” is almost totally Unregulated.

Here is the much vaunted Free Market, at work. This Corporate Person has bought up all that land, and are Free to do as they will….no matter what the neighbors think. I noted the same Inconsistency, if not outright Hypocrisy, in the recent hubbub over Power Lines. Thankfully, in that fight, the Machinery of government was successfully brought to bear, for now. There appears to be no such recourse in this fight, however.

That this is true, that Government has little say in the operations of this Corporate Person, is wholly consistent with the Free Market Fundamentalism, so popular on the Right.

How often have we heard about “Freeing Job Creators” from “Government Interference”?

How often has Mr Hemphill, and many others, railed against those Damned Treehuggers and Overbearing Regulators?

Here is the result; a Corporate Person has bought land, and will soon degrade our Common Air, Pump an Incredible amount of our Common Water, clog our Common Roads with Trucks…and there ain’t a thing we can do about it.

Welcome to the Free Market you all have been pining for!

I cannot effectively water a garden, at this time, due to the drought, and the resultant water restrictions; and Green grass is almost nonexistent in Mason. Yet this “Person” can pump away, as there is , it seems, no one to stop them.

This coming Blight can be laid squarely at the feet of those who have hollered and screamed about “Big Government”, and largely succeeded in shrinking that government.

You have no one to blame, but yourselves.

Your votes matter…in the future, may I suggest that you consider the effects of those votes, and whether they are really in your interest.

my (unpublished) last word on the Sharia Hysteria in Mason

Hominem Unius Libri Timeo.(St. Th. Aquinus)

There often comes a time when one must leave intransigent opponents to themselves. Some folks just cannot be swayed from their habitual beliefs, no matter the evidence, or reasoned arguments. The sky will still appear Green, to them.

This is their Right. This is America, after all…where we are Free to believe all manner of Nonsense…and to promote those beliefs to the Public, at large.

I will defend that Right, however odious those beliefs seem to me, personally. As with the rest of the catalog of our Rights, they are meaningless unless afforded to the most heinous and unpopular among us. However, there is no Duty to give believers in a Flat Earth a seat at the table when deciding the Geography Curriculum. Indeed, Reason would seem to lean more towards keeping Flat Earthers as far away from Geography Instruction as possible. One’s Right to Speak, and to have and promote one’s Opinion can in no way be construed as including the Right to Force one’s Speech and Opinions on others, let alone on the General Public. Therefore, I will address the General Public, rather than anyone specific.

It is somewhat Pointless to argue with certain segments of our Society regarding their (Unfounded) beliefs that the USA is a Christian Nation. That is their Right, and is to be defended. I fear, however, that by letting this small, but very vocal, Minority have their way in small things, we set ourselves up for larger things, down the road.

In the last couple of years, Believers in the Far Right Version of Christianity have managed to insinuate themselves into various positions where they can influence, and often dictate, Public Policy. The recent flap over the State Board of Education is a prime example. The Pseudohistory of David Barton will soon be in Textbooks…that we are a Christian Nation, that Joe McCarthy was a hero, and that Thomas Jefferson was a minor figure, if he is mentioned at all. This is wrong, and serves no purpose save to further damage the education of our kids, and sow fear and hatred among the Public.

Anyone can cherry-pick the statements of our Founding Fathers to make their case.Too, anyone can cherry_pick the words in the Bible, the Koran or James Joyce to try and convince others to join in whatever Crusade they are mounting.

This is what Free Speech, and Republican Democracy, is all about.

However, in a Civilisation, such as ours…rumored to have been Founded on Reason…it is imperative that we guard against the encroachments of Nonsense into Public Life.

The usual retort to this kind of statement is that I am, thereby, Persecuting Christians.

Those offended have every Right to believe that, as well. But Civilisation only “works” if I am afforded the same Rights….and that some Common Ground can be discovered.

That Common Ground, currently,and for better than 200 years, is that no one Religion be promoted by the State.The Establishment clause, in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, necessarily prohibits any involvement, by the State, in Religion. Therefore, if one wants their kids to receive Religious Instruction, one should look elsewhere than the Public Schools. Public Schools should deal in Commonalities…in the reality, and history, that We all agree on. This is getting more difficult as time goes on.

Similarly, the State is Prohibited from promoting, or favoring, any one Religion in any other area of Public life. This means that Non_Christians, including Muslims and Atheists, enjoy the same Rights and Protections as anyone else. No one can be discriminated against, or favored, due to their Religious beliefs. There must be Freedom of Religion for Everyone, even those you might despise, if there is to be Freedom of Religion for anyone.

One without the other is a recipe for disaster, as the Founding Fathers knew all too well.

Consider what would be the result, if those freedoms were suspended, if the Far Right of Christianity were to succeed in getting their Religion into Public Schools…Drive around Mason. Count the Churches. Which Version is to be taught? Shall it be Church of Christ? Methodist? That might not go down easily with the many Catholics among us….or the Lutherans. Whose Version shall it be?

Are we to impose a Literalist Reading of the Bible? If so, which Version?

This way leads to Chaos….and, eventually, if History has any weight, to a Hobbesian War of All against All.

Better, by far, to leave questions of Religion to the Family, and to the Individual….and keep the State out of it.

If the most despised minority is denied their Rights in questions of Faith, then no one’s Rights in such matters are secure.

on Relocalisation.

It seems like every week , or so, there’s a new, improved Bogeyman that we should all be terrified of….an Existential Threat to Mom and Apple Pie and all things American. These new “threats” send us caterwauling blindly into inaction, or worse, counterproductive action…action that actually makes things worse, mostly in quiet, unnoticed ways.

The recent spat over the “Islamic Threat” is case in point…Tea People get worked up over a threat that does not exist, and the handful of Democrats feel strongly enough about it to speak up…and around we go!

Meanwhile, electric bills are high, gas is high, propane is high, meat is high and even the crappy produce we get around here is high. Water is scarcer than ever. There’s lots of problems, right here….and with DC and Austin stuck in Ideological Amber, it’s foolish to wait for help from that quarter.

What can we do?

Several years ago, when Hurricane Rita blew through Houston, we had an opportunity to see just how thin the Patina of Civilization is…the trucks stopped running…our supply line was all but cut. Gas ran out, first Regular, then the next grade up, till all that was left was the “Premium”, high dollar stuff. The grocery store , without regular trucks, began to run out of the things we need, want and rely on.

I have news for you. Oil is getting scarce….at least the “low hanging fruit”…The oil that’s left is hard to get at, due to geology, geography and quality. Heavy oil, as opposed to “Light,Sweet Crude” is hard to get out of the ground, and even harder to refine.(there is currently One (1) refinery in the US that can handle the heavy stuff, and last I looked, it was owned by Venezuela). Things like Tar Sands, Oil Shale, and the like are even worse…not only environmentally, but economically,. EROEI, energy return, on energy invested, is a concept that must enter common parlance. If it costs more energy to get a barrel of oil than is contained in that barrel of oil, then getting that barrel doesn’t make sense.That’s why there are so many idle pump jacks in West Texas…the field is played out…Texas(and the USA, in general, save Alaska) reached Peak Oil in 1971. This situation is also why the rigs, offshore, are getting deeper and deeper. The Easy Oil has already been sucked out and used up.

I could go on, but you get the picture. Further information can be had with a google search of “Peak Oil”…or you can ask me.

The rub is that we will have to do more things for ourselves, in much different ways than we are used to. There is simply no “Replacement” for Cheap Oil. A Relocalization of Everything is in order, if we want to salvage a modicum of Civilization. Mason , without Cheap, Easy Oil, is a Wilderness Outpost.

I note that while the drought has all our Ranchers scrambling to get rid of their herds, the price of meat actually goes up. Thousands of Cattle pass through Mason, every week…hardly a pound of hamburger stays here.Too, when I drive to Fredericksburg to get Lamb Chops, they are expensive, and come from Australia…after I drive past 1000 sheep on the way there! We need a local processing/slaughtering facility. Sadly, the Giant Meat Packers (all 4 of them!) have succeeded in jiggering the Regs to all but prevent Local Meat Processing. A Coop is probably the only way around this, but it needs to be done.

I also note that while, as mentioned above, we get pretty crappy produce around here(due to business practices, and the nature of the Factory Farm Model), it’s very difficult for any local gardener to sell produce, locally. Corporate Grocers require enormous Liability Insurance, and have quite silly policies regarding the sourcing of produce…again, the Regs are partly to blame, as they were written by the Big boys. This, unlike the Meat situation, is easy to fix. The city should make available space for a Farmer’s Market, or two….without the usual fees and unnecessary rules.

These two things, alone, would do wonders for Mason, in my opinion….not the least of which is a little income for all the poor people around here.

Hand in hand with these is so called Value Added Foodstuffs. One is required to make jelly, salsa, and whatnot( everything that is not fresh and raw, basically) in a “Code Kitchen”. These are expensive to build and maintain, and there’s not a lot of opportunity for profit making to justify such endeavors under the conventional model. The City could facilitate this by, at the very least, easing up on some of the taxes and codes for such a place…perhaps to be run as a “nonprofit”. Again, a source of income for all our poor folks, as well as an alternative to the boring, homogenous corporate controlled fare, available now.

On Energy, there is an enormous resource currently being vented to the atmosphere…and for which the city and county have been fined; Methane. Methane is “Natural Gas”, and is produced by every living thing. Our sewer system, and landfill and the feedlots, produce gobs of this stuff. All that is needed is to capture it, run it through charcoal, and burn it…to produce heat, electricity…to cook with. The septic tanks, out in the country are already(somewhat inefficient) methane digesters. My napkin calculations indicate that my little bunch, chickens included, produced enough Methane to negate our need for Propane, in an average Winter. Perhaps a tax incentive to our local Propane companies is in order to ease the pain of a transition.

Wind, too, is a viable alternative. I understand that no one really likes the idea of gigantic turbines on the hills, but wouldn’t it be great to have cheap power, for us? The recent flap over powerlines is a direct effect of the Centralization of Power Generation. As much as 40% of what is generated is lost in Transmission. I reckon the Power generated Here, should stay Here

The difficulty of doing all these things is why I’m a Democrat. Who, but Government, has the resources to undertake such large, but arguably essential, endeavors?

Most of these things require a large initial investment…and unless there’s a Bill Gates lurking in our hills, with an overriding concern for the welfare of Mason County, I don’t know where else to look. We can consider it “Creeping Socialism”, “Big Government” and all manner of other Evils…or we can look at it like a WPA, a CCC, for the 21^st Century….an Investment in Us, for Us and by Us.

Just food for thought.

A kerfuffel has erupted in sleepy Mason Texas...due to this http://www.masoncountynews.com/news/article/44178 ...and the letters that followed(scroll down):http://www.masoncountynews.com/news/section/54

Here is my response...

I do not Fear Muslims.

At least, not just because they’re Muslim.

Similarly, I do not Fear Christians, Commies, Mexicans, Black People, Union Organizers, or Various Evil Spirits.

What I do Fear, is Ignorance…especially the Willful Kind.

Ignorance often has a corollary…Certainty.

I Fear this, as well, for it so often leads to Stupidity.

I did not attend the little exposition this past week.

I didn’t feel the need to…the organization has a website, after all…and a pretty comprehensive one, at that. Lots of links…

It was through perusing this site, and those links, that I could determine that this woman, Ms. O’Brien…who could very well be well meaning and sincere, was nevertheless…Wrong.

I have read the Koran, as well as large swaths of the Hadith…which is kind of the Islamic analog to the Jewish Mishnah…a commentary on the respective Holy Book.

I find no more Violence in these passages than I do in the Bible…or any other Sacred Text. We are a somewhat Violent Species.

I found the Web site of this organization Specious and Self Referential…filled with errors and misconceptions…most of which were easily dispelled with a simple google search.

What I found most disturbing, is the rhetoric, and the pseudoarguments, used by this organization, and those it has linked itself to. History Rhymes, as someone once said….and the language used, against Muslims, has been used before…against many others. In the USA, it has been used against “Reds”, Brown People, Black People, Red People…and , recently, Teachers. Imagery of “Cancer”, or “Vermin”(see Glenn Beck,et al.)…. Of some nefarious group, lurking in the shadows, eating out our substance…admonitions to “Be Vigilant”…to “Wake Up!”.

At the risk of violating Godwin’s Law, the rhetoric Rhymes with that of the Nazis, and Stalin, Pol Pot…well , the list is pretty extensive…

Some, if not most, of the regular folks who believed this stuff were, indeed, well meaning and sincere,(look up “Good German”,or see Milton Mayer’s “They thought they were Free”) but the facts remain.

Power sometimes needs to convince the People that there is an Existential Threat, in order to gain, or maintain, support. Scapegoats are sought out and held up…here is the Problem…here is your Enemy.

When times are hard, we must be especially vigilant that we do not fall prey to these machinations.

Guard against Gullibility.

Ms O’Brien , the original announcement states, “… graduated in 2010 from the invitation-only, prestigious Strategic Engagement Group for the Study of Islamic Doctrine in Washington, DC.” A web search reveals that, just for starters, this group received high praise from the likes of Lt Gen. Jerry Boykin…who, if you remember, tried to turn our current wars into a Crusade against Islam…and was called to the carpet for his trouble. A cursory search on one of the principals in this organization reveals that he, John Guandolo, is a former disgraced FBI Agent…who has ties to such luminaries as Pseudohistorian David Barton, and the Rifqa Bary “Controversy”. Another, Steven Emerson, while lauded by Neoconservative Elements, is considered a hystericist by many.

On ACT’s own site, the founder and apparent head person, Brigitte Gabriel, aka Nour Saman, makes numerous errors and utilizes many Logical Fallacies to convince folks to Fear Islam…according to her Wiki page, she rubs elbows with the likes of Pat Robertson, David Horowitz, John Hagee, and Pam Gellar…all well known for their rabid Islamophobia. .Hardly credible, in my opinion.

These folks peddle Hysteria, Fear and Loathing.

What we need is, rather, Understanding.

Instead of getting all one’s information , regarding Islam, from such one sided purveyors of Hatred, one should seek out “the rest of the story”, a la Paul Harvey. That’s what the Web is for.

Fear and hatred only lead to Violence and War, and I reckon that we have enough of those, already. Read the Koran, for starters…if you’re interested in knowing what it says…Visit a Mosque…there’s a few in Dallas, and I’m sure that more can be found.

“The intelligent person sees with the heart
the result from the beginning;
the one lacking in knowledge
only discovers it at the end.”

And,” In the sight of Love, fear isn't even as great as a single hair”

_Rumi,( Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī) , an 8^th century Persian Sufi Mystic)

....I don't know whether to expect cross-burnings, or what, from the pitch-forks and torches crowd. I drove by the meeting in question, and saw that the attendees were mostly old men, veterans and their wives. Figuring my attendance would be disruptive and counterproductive, I drove on.

Ab Irato

As I’ve been out on the road for a week, I’ve noticed things…

Between Mason and Galveston, there has been a proliferation of Evangelical-Style Churches…But, leaving at 7 am Sunday morning, I saw empty church parking lots, of all types, the whole 350 miles. Perhaps there was a ball game…

One has to pay extra to get so called “Liberal” news coverage…MSNBC is not on ANY Basic Package, that I’ve found…but Fox, and CNN(fox-lite), sure are…Fox is on every public television I encountered….and every Radio station, save one 90.1 KPFT, that I listened to.

There will soon be ample available retail space along my route.

Every third house is for sale.

Every fourth business is closing, or looking run down…Corporate Outlets (franchises, and the like, are the exception)

That last, the everywhere one looks Corporate homoginisation of America, is all the evidence one needs that this isn’t Papaw’s America.

When I looked around , at an intersection on 61^st street, looking for the coup de grace for an argument I had been making, I saw not one non-chain, non-franchise, non- corporate business…save for the numerous nail and hair salons and a mechanic’s shop.

I hear “Conservative” memes and themes and word constructions from even obvious Liberals…we habitually encounter the world, using “their” filters and frames.

Polls show that the US is at least Half Non “Conservative”…and that at best the ‘Religious Right” make up a mere 15%. One would never know this from direct observation.

Too, hardly anybody, “conservative”, Liberal or “Independent” actually Votes….only 91 million, out of 218 million eligible voters, voted in the 2010 elections. This was the so-called- Tea Party “Revolution”…leading to their “Mandate”…and obstructionism, etc 42%, give or take.

2008,out of 213 million eligible, 132 million voted…this was Obama’s “Mandate”….a little more believable, imo. 61%

Both of these were anomalous, given recent history…turnouts were much lower before the Bush “Administration”….

Tea People talk as though the whole country were theirs and theirs alone…as if all the rest of us are interlopers, insufficiently American to bother counting, let alone paying attention to. Mainstream Media encourages and promotes this delusion, and foists it on our collective mind(that twisted and starved thing…)Everything lurches rightward…and what Liberals there are, or even non Right Wingers, hide…and avoid eye-contact.

Sigh.

Galveston, for a week…

…with my mom, my brother, and his brood, and my bunch.

Beach-house, not 200 feet from the surf.

Fish! Elijah caught a 4# Redfish, Brother, some rather large Specs…me, a mess of smaller fish.

Saw a Shark, on the grass flats in the Bay…Bay was too hot for fish…all the action was in the surf.Top and bottom, live and dead bait.

Me and wife walked/hobbled to the beach at 10 one night, and the water’s edge had gone! Extremely low tide…new moon, I surmise. Bait flopping around everywhere, and a few fat, unpleasant people catching crabs and such.

Next night, a less spectacular low tide, but me and Kurt and Eli caught mullet in a cast net…the unpleasant ones were, apparently, unable to arise from the couch, that night.

Moody Gardens, the Aquarium, while neat, as all such things are, was entirely overpriced…my 5 year old was an “adult”, under the pricing scheme,…and there were very few places for a cripple, or one of the myriad old folks , to sit….except for the many benches out in the sun, in 99 degree, 90% humidity. They did let me borrow a wheelchair(ugh!). Smokers are required to Broil, as well.

Ghost Tour, on the Strand was cool as hell, and well worth the cost…

The Bolivar Ferry was free, as ever, and neat…the boys really dug it. Captain floored it, and the breeze was much welcomed.

There are Democrats…and Hippies…in abundance on the Island.

I did not expect this.

There’s even a Democratic Club…that meets regularly! In Public!...they even advertise!

If I had the wherewithal, I’d consider emigration…felt like a chunk of South Austin washed up on the beach.

Legs, to varying degrees, hurt the whole time(house had a ramp, tho it was pretty steep)…but I muddled through.

On the last morning, I managed to limp down to the water’s edge, at 4;30 am, and go skinny-dipping. My hip cut it short…but it was cool, nonetheless.

Back in the Broiler of Mason, now.106. 8% humidity.

Reading the local paper, Tea People on the front page, having a meeting about Sharia Law, etc.

Sigh.

Add another entry to the very short list of possible places to be a refugee, of sorts…if money falls from heaven.

Politics plays no small role in this…for once, I felt no undue scrutiny, from Cops, or anyone else…my hair was wilder than usual, too…salt/wind/sun…

How refreshing.

I can envision a shack on a ziggurat, somewhat inland…coupled with a school bus on the beach, or at an rv park, near the beach. Fishing can be super cheap, if one applies oneself….

It rains there.

Only drawbacks are hurricanes(hence, a ziggurat) and ordinances(since we’re not yet god’s, but cumbersome, all the same) and economic considerations(everything’s expensive).

There are workarounds, however….I could make more $$$ jerking around on the guitar, on a streetcorner(protected, 1^st amendment activity(see wiki;”Busking”), than I can possibly make in Mason. Gardening has actual potential,(it rains, sometimes!) if one can undercut the competition(which, at first glance, seems simple)…I could charge more for a tomato than I do here, and still be competitive,,,and there’s at least 2 “farmer’s markets”…all manner of opportunity for entrepreneurship… I observed that there is a shortage of folks willing to mow, for instance..or paint houses…prolly the weather, and homeowners tiring of the all too soon necessity…

This is my first, real (nonworking) Vacation since I was a kid.

Fragment, on Origens.

I grew up in near East Texas, north of Houston, where the Piney Woods mix and mingle with the more deciduous Central Texas Post Oak Savannah, to the West. Bounded by the San Jacinto, on the east, and the Brazos, to the West.

Our neighborhood, was composed of both types of forest…was somewhat isolated, and had a Railroad as it’s off-center Axis…running north-south.

I remember when I was 5, venturing, for the first time, out of the yard…up a dog-trail, into the Woods.

These Woods would later be the Center of the World…on the slopes of what we called the Hill. A crossroads of two Stagecoach Tracks was situated there…over the years, many artifacts were accidentally discovered…skillets, wagon hubs, and the like. To think that this very oak tree sheltered soldiers and settlers…At the hill, nigh the fence across the road(which was adjacent a big field), ancient bricks were scattered…remains of a sawmill, owned by the man who had cleared this country, and from whom my Grandad had purchased our 10 acres. That man’s house, or the ruins of it, were down the Hill to the west, towards the Tracks, stuck into the belt of almost Jungle that paralleled the Railroad. Remains of kitchen items, lilies from someone’s kitchen garden, now-wild roses…it was an eerie place, especially at night.

In later years, this was the Shortcut to the Tracks…

The Long Way, was by the black top road…which led away north, ere turning west to the Railroad, the Highway(149) and the World, at large. The road skirted the dense Pine Forest, the Presley place…and behind that was Nanduhirion(too much Tolkien), dense Woods, crossed by logging roads, and containing hidden pools, the site of much Reveling in later years…

From that first venture into the Woods, at 5, my World steadily, if slowly, expanded. Folks set limits, which were exceeded, as our audacity grew…before long, we were all over, running through the trails we had cut, in camouflage,(red dawn/Rambo) sneaking up on Train Men, hiding from passing cars(we usually weren’t where we were supposed to be)…eventually Riding Trains…wandering far and wide.

Until I was around 13, I was alone…save for my younger brother…Justin didn’t move in, till then. Brother had buddies his age, while I was apart.

We had great Campouts, at the Hill…the first fort was there…and the first Fire Pit…ashes can still be found, there, at the Center of the World.

Exploding cans of ranch style beans, inadvertently kicked into the fire…trails of burning gasoline in the road, to freak out the paper guy, at 4am…caches of tools, porn mags and explosives…liberated from the Trains and assorted equipment left at the Tracks…

My first drink, New Years Eve, when we were 15…me an ML snuck into Rickett’s Barn, at the hill…after watching their drunken revel for several hours…all staggered home, leaving the barn, and the keg, open. Almost passed out on the tracks that night…which probably should have foretold the disasters to come…awoke to the sweeping headlight of an oncoming Train, horn blowing, rushing up to us…I woke ML, and we escaped…throwing rocks at the wheels, watching the sparks…

I can still taste that first beer…PBR.

All of this is hazy…seen as if through mist…due, I suspise, to the Wreck, and the intervening Wild Years…my 20’s.

I get real nostalgic, overcome with forgotten things, when I return there.The pine trees that were a mere 10 feet tall on the misty September morning when Pop died, are now 50 feet high…the “Stairs”, “Hole in the Wall”,and other fortifications are still discernable, in the Jungle-like growth…staging areas to wait for the Engine to pass, on the sidetrack, so we could board the Trains…by moonlight, and early morning, rain or shine…ride for a while, then jump and roll, on the sand pile, still extant, beside a certain part of the Tracks….then run back and board it again. Talking, at the Crossing, to Trainmen, waiting for a passing freight…on their way to Teague, and on up into the heartland of America, then back, to Houston, the Ship Channel, and the starving people of the World. Wanderlust…engendered by the tales they told, as well as our own explorations…a Wanderlust that has never left me, even now, in my Cripplehood….Further!

We used to communicate, over distance, by “Howling”…just what it sound like…I remember a late summer morning, before the roof of the first Fort was completed, Howling for Justin…a coolness in the air, approaching Fall…the sharpness of the distant stand of Pines…crispness of the air…

And the morning Pop died, we had to meet the bus at Justin’s…there were deer, in the mist, among the small trees in the field…

And the early morning 3am when me and ML, nodding around the fire, at the Hill, heard the coyotes and owls, echoing through the Pines, up from the Creek Bottom…and another, wilder sound…Bigfoot…otherworldly screech/howl…silencing the others…moonlit fog in the pine boughs…

I procured old USGS maps from Gagoo, and, together with stories of my parent’s Wild Years in those same Woods, we set out, beyond the Neighborhood..into the Great Woods, the Creek Bottom (Lake Creek), and the Bog…a deep depression where my Dad had lost a deer, decades before…impenetrable Thickets…a Bald Hill, deep in the Woods, that my Mom spoke of, that I, however, only found once, at sunset…and got lost on the way out…a bic lighter for seeing, and surrounded by Eyes…I made my way out, and home.

Later, (I believe it was Justin) and I crossed Lake Creek, on one of our Wanders…got lost, and spent the night, with a fire, and ten thousand eyes…heard the train in the morning, giving us a direction Home.

When I was 15, an oil rig went up, at the back side of Nanduhirion…me and Justin investigated, by moonlight…his dog kept running from our hide, along the ponds, into the bright lights from the rig…the workmen never knew that they were watched…

Trainmen, too, rarely knew of our presence. Justin overheard them once, talking about the long red headed wild man, in the woods…that was me, of course…my first Mythical Incarnation, as it were…

There were six foot Rattlesnakes, Eastern Diamondbacks, in those woods…I grew up along side them…in retrospect, it’s a minor miracle that either they, or the Trains, didn’t get us…

By the time I was 15, mind filled with Books, the Wanderlust was becoming very Powerful…I’d stand at the Hill and feel the Universe, out there…a Universe of Experience, People, Places…The fuzzy Boundaries of our Neighborhood were closing in…

I began to Leave, at 16…when Mom ran me off for Rebellion….I finally, for real, left, several years later, when the heat was hot, the cops were after me, and there was no question as to whether my two hometowns any longer wanted me around…

Pons Asinorum

From my Library window,

, I can see the developing Mesquite Beans…trees are full, this year…

It’ll be a good crop.

I am confident that we are the only folks around here that will take advantage of it.

The Trucks still run, after all…three times a week, to what passes as a supermarket.

Soon, now that the Garden is done, for now…I’ll set to work on the Grey Water.

How many thousands of gallons wasted, sent down the drain to be mixed, irretrievably, with the Black?

A simple diversion, of the kitchen sink, and the bathtub..and the Garden is taken care of.

It’s all illegal, of course.

I won’t even ask the city…

I have the intention of running this cast off water through a Biofilter…a kind of built Wetland, of stones and gravel and sand and cattails(an almost perfect food,btw) and papyrus…then off to the Garden.

The Conventional “Wisdom”, that set of assumptions, that Entities like the city operates under, is no longer applicable.

We, here in arid Central Texas, cannot afford the wanton waste we are accustomed to.

As Ive said, great herds of cattle pass through this tiny outpost every week…yet, when one goes to the supermarket, the beef comes from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away…lamb, when available, originates in Australia! This, after driving past 1000 sheep!

When I first arrived at the idea of Peak Oil, it was considered “Fringe”, “Conspiracy Theory”. In the almost 10 years since then, it has become less and less so…It’s in all the magazines that matter, Natgeo, Economist, Time…but it’s not on TV…so it must not exist.

35 years ago, during the Oil Shocks of the 70’s, we faced a crossroads.

The idea of PO was well known at the upper levels, of course(since the 50’s, at least)…but the Oil Shocks threatened to wake everybody up. Jimmy Carter came on TV, in a sweater, and said that we’d have to get used to a lower standard of living, start reworking our Civilisation to use ever less oil and gas…Solar Panels on the White House.

The Movers and Shakers of the world had other ideas…Reagan, Morning in America(when it was really late afternoon), a return to big cars, conspicuous consumption…just about everything needed to make the situation exponentially Worse.

Asinus ad Lyram, indeed!

I’ve been thinking, for years, about building a Gas Digester…a compost pile/latrine that takes Waste, and turns it into Methane (“Natural Gas”) and safe, nonpathogenic Fertilizer. I have a 55 gallon tank for a prototype…this is likely illegal, in the city, as well

I’m not even gonna ask.

Better to beg for forgiveness…

Even all this ain’t gonna save us…it’s just whittling.

There are 4000 folks within 30 miles of me…and there ain’t a one of them thinking about these things…

Or, if a few are, they are paralyzed…the Problem seems insurmountable.

Any solution would require enormous expenditure, short and medium term…and yield results only after the Conventional “Wisdom” , BAU, has Failed.

That scenario grows closer by the day.

Part of me, when observing the current shenanigans in DC, is breathless…it’s finally collapsing.

I’ve thought this before, of course…the PTB always seem to find a way to keep the rickety Machine lurching forwards…At some point, however, the Baling Wire and Bandaids will no longer be enough. The sand of reality, in the gearbox of Civilisation, will have it’s effect…and things will no longer work.

I have always said,”the sooner the better”…in spite of the pain and suffering that will ensue, even a Die Off.

Better to get the Burning Times over with, while there’s still a functioning Biosphere.

I maintain that the longer the Machine holds together, the worse it will be, when it finally Fails. The Machine’s intolerance of Alternative Means of Survival ensures that we all go down with the ship.

Alternatives must be pursued in relative secrecy, and relative solitude.

…as in the above City Policies….and the stories that come from all over, about folks being made into criminals for such silliness as growing a Garden, in their front yard.

Barba tenus sapientes! “Wise, as far as the Beard!”…as a Habitual, if Feral, Philosopher, these musings always lead me to uncomfortable places…

Are we, as a species, that stupid?

Sadly, it appears that we are.

Still…a Fool’s Hope, is still Hope.

Teabagging the Global Debt Machine

How ironic, that the architects of the imminent Doom of the global debt based economic system, are the creations of it’s greatest beneficiaries. The current crisis, artificially imposed on the national agenda, is, at root, a crisis of Faith.

The System relies on Faith…..Faith that that green piece of paper, with arcane symbols printed on it, is actually Worth Something…Faith that it has Value.

I’ve advocated a tearing down of the entire edifice of the Machine for a long time…the Machine is too large, complex and composed of “fixes” piled upon “fixes” to ever be “reformed” sufficiently…to be made Ethical, etc. I’ve said that it must, instead, be destroyed, so that we can begin again…and hopefully, this time, construct something that is both Ethical, as well as Sustainable.

This Creature of the corporate Machine, the so-called Tea Party Movement, is on the verge of doing just that.

I do not think that this was it’s intended function…there must be quite a bit of Freaking Out, in the boardrooms and Think Tanks, at this moment….perhaps akin to Einstein, and colleagues, watching news reels of Hiroshima…”What have we done?”

The Fast-Crash, versus Slow Crash Arguments we had at Latoc are about to become Moot. This is the economic iteration of the Protestant Reformation…95 Theses, nailed to the Door…The long, slow decline…the slope we were coasting down …at the end of which was likely a sudden drop…has been replaced by a hard right turn, right off the adjoining cliff…

I’d like to be a fly on the wall…rather, several hundred flies on as many walls…

Obama can, of course, use the machinery of the Imperial Presidency (thanks, George…) to Unilaterally “raise the debt ceiling”…it’s kind of arbitrary, any way…

Similarly, the Fed, and Bernanke, could Cancel the Debt “we owe to ourselves”…thus averting the “crisis”…

Or, the Tea People in the House could cave…

But, does it really matter, at this point?

The proverbial cat is out of the bag….and it appears to be lifeless.

Money is fiction.

All this current Kabuki is doing is stripping away the collective Hallucination that Money ever had any “Value” in the first place.

Should be an interesting time to be alive.

However, a warning is in order….the Forces of Darkness, those who support the Machine…from Economists to Modern day Prophets to would be Dictators are waiting in the wings for just such a crisis.

Folks of a of a more Liberal Orientation should be, as well…with a New Paradigm in hand.

Christ Militant

Saw this…http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/item/17841-he-who-casts-the-first-stone …regarding the group Repent Amarillo. This group has, on it’s web site, a “spiritual warfare map” of the city, wherein they identify locations “in need of spiritual cleansing”…casting out of demons, and the like.

My usual caveats apply…I will defend, to the death, these folks Right to believe in whatever Crazy they like..but, the First Amendment doesn’t cover Militant Assholeishness, when it harms folks…or makes them into targets. (http://www.blog.repentamarillo.com/map/)

This is part of a growing, and worrisome trend in America, today. The rise of the Religious Right, as they are called, has been an ongoing curiosity since the late 70’s. They have been a political sin qua non of Republican office-seekers since Reagan, at least. And they have hidden behind the First Amendment every time they’ve been challenged….”Oh! You’re persecuting us because we’re Christians!”.

Sigh.

In recent years, they have insinuated themselves into all branches of Government…and began stealthily remaking our institutions to better suit their Worldview. Most egregious, to my mind, is the recent actions of the “Texas Taliban”…the Board of Education, rewriting History…and mandating that their version of history be taught in Public Schools. Taliban members, by their own statements, have had no shame in letting us know exactly what they were trying to accomplish: a forced institution of Theocratic Ideals. (see :Cynthia Dunbar, Don McElroy, David Barton, the list is long. (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/ has a good list))

They are under the impression that the USA is a Christian Nation…and they cherry-pick the statements of the Founding Fathers to support that view. It’s all nonsense, of course…but folks seem to have a tendency to believe Nonsense when it supports their prejudices.

The USA was founded as a Secular Nation. Sorry, but that’s the Fact. It is a product of Liberalism…the Enlightenment…sorry, but that, too, is a Fact.

Most of the Founders were Deists (a watch implies a watchmaker…who winds it up, and has no further involvement)….Fact.

In the world they intend, there is no room for Non-Christians…or Queers, or Uppity Women, or anything resembling Free Thought….all that will get ya stoned to death , if these folks get their way (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominionism) (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-advocates-seven-mountains-dominionism) (http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm)

Most of the “mainstream” Religious Right Leaders don’t like to talk about this stuff , in public…but they’ve been outed many times…and the more extreme ideas have been moving more and more onto center stage.

Gov. Rick Perry’s upcoming “Response” prayer rally, in Houston’s Reliant Center, this August should put any confusion about this to rest.( http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fact-sheet-gov-rick-perry%E2%80%99s-extremist-allies)

On the one hand, this is a cynical pandering to the extremist vote, by a slick likely Presidential Contender.

On the other, it’s a wake up call to all those Americans who do not share these folks view of what America is all about.

If anyone reads this, I’ll likely be called “AntiChristian”, or something…a member of the Liberal Conspiracy to sacrifice God-Fearing, Real Americans to Satan….sigh. The rhetoric is not new, by any means.

My question, to these Crusaders: If/when you “win” your Culture War, and “take back the country for Jesus”, what do you intend to do with folks like me? Are there pitchforks and torches in my future? A good, old fashioned Stoning? An Auto de Fe?

Your rhetoric leads me to expect such things, if you ever do “win”.

I, once again, am an American…a seventh generation Texan…I trace my lineage back to the brother of one David Crockett…sons of Pioneers , etc.

Whether you like it or not, it’s my country, too.

I support your Right to exist, and to say what you want(with certain caveats(“fire” in a theater, etc)), believe what you like…hang out with who you like…all the Rights of an American. Am I not to be afforded the same consideration?

Is there no room, in your “America” for anyone who is different from you?

My concerns about this movement have, in the past, been met with incredulity…Pshaw!

Turns out I was not far from the mark.

If unchallenged, these folks will make America a Hell-on Earth.

I’ll not go quietly.

Roundup roadblock.

Sheriff makes me nervous…perhaps he’s brusque and bristling with everyone…but I got some heavy and suspicious vibes from him. I was informed that my inspection sticker is six months expired…lol. I’ve never been one to give much mind to such things, but perhaps this might include me in another Profile…

I am certainly Absentminded.

He seemed threatened, somehow…like I, or something else, might bite him.

That’s when to Fear Cops.

I tried, in my ineffectual, feral way to be polite, engaging…he started with suspicion/paranoia…the Vibe was unmistakable.

I guess it was himself, the Sheriff…it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him…I haven’t had truck with LEO’s in quite a while…I wave to Louis, that’s about it.

I like it that way, as me and Cops have never really gotten along…since the Mippy/Shauna Affair…and my resultant Persecution. I simply don’t Trust them, in general(as unfair as generalizations, generally are).

My Spidey Sense always bristles…and I feel my Otherness.

I endeavor to avoid Imperial Entanglements, of all stripes.

It shouldn’t be this way.

On the one hand, They, in effect, declared War on Me…Drug War, GWOT, and the AntiLiberal/AntiHippie Campaigns that have entertained us for the last century…Criminalising Dissent, even Perceived Difference …any Deviation from some ill defined Norm is suspect.

On the other, They work for me, as much as anyone else. I am a Taxpayer…and more importantly, an American Citizen. While it is not (currently) Overt Oppression, it is Oppression, all the same…this Vibe I feel whenever I’m eye to eye with a LEO. I have endeavored to engage Cops before, with little success. Lil Joe and Paul and Dale and Bill were notable exceptions. Louis is at least trustworthy…and not prone to Ideology. I can expect a fair shake and by-the-book with him. The rest, in my experience, are victims, as it were, of the Us/Them Mentality one reads about in some (mostly Liberal) circles.

A lot of that comes from Fear…I understand and sympathise…but their subsequent attitude and behaviour makes it worse.

I realize that I am sensitive to this stuff, due to my early history….see “Outlaw”…but others have noticed the “special treatment” I seem to get from my Employees.

Sigh.

On Juries and the First Amendment

The notion that the jury might acquit defendants "in the

teeth of both law and factsn7 has been deeply rooted in Anglo-

American law. Thematically, the foundational jury nullification

cases have been political cases involving the prosecution of

crimes of conscience against the government or the prevailing

social order.* Because of the preponderance of cases in the

literature, the jury nullification debate has been characterized

, by an analysis peculiar to these cases, that is, the dynamic of

a legally guilty defendant being acquitted because of… the jury's

rejection of an unpopular law or an oppressive government or

the jury's embrace of the position of conscience held by the

accused ” (Dorfman, David N., "Fictions, Fault, and Forgiveness: Jury Nullification in a New Context" (1995). Pace Law Faculty Publications.

Paper 532.

http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/532)

To the point…” the jury's

rejection of an unpopular law or an oppressive government or

the jury's embrace of the position of conscience held by the

accused.” (ibid)

When one is called to Jury Duty, the Judge and Prosecutor and Defense Counsel put you through something called Voir Dire…”In the United States, it now generally refers to the process by which prospective jurors are questioned about their backgrounds and potential biases before being chosen to sit on a jury.”(from the Wiki article,’voir dire’)

In my experience, the Prosector runs this show, while the Defense Counsel plays second fiddle….and the Judge reads, or is otherwise occupied.

The purpose of this exercise is, ostensibly, to weed out those who are “not suitable”…a very subjective judgment.

There has been, for many years now, a concerted effort by Jurists and Prosecutors to push down the Memory Hole a time honored concept….Jury Nullification.

Jurors, and potential Jurors, are “Instructed” as to their Duties…by the closest Authority Figure , the Judge or his delegate. These Instructions are often in such arcane and technical language, that the average Juror cannot fully understand them.(wiki;”jury instructions”)

That aside, increasingly…and over many years…Jurors have been instructed that their Duty lies solely in the finding of Fact..

Any mention of “Nullification” is the surest way for a potential Juror to be excused…and if such sentiments are well concealed by said Juror, so that he becomes a member of the Petit Jury, Nullification (or it’s advocacy) often ends in Contempt charges. Judges and Prosecutors really dislike the idea of Nullification.

So, what is Nullification?

From the Wikipedia article:” Jury nullification is a de facto and traditional power of juries. Judges rarely inform juries of their nullification power. The power of jury nullification derives from an inherent quality of most modern common law systems—a general unwillingness to inquire into jurors' motivations during or after deliberations. A jury's ability to nullify the law is further supported by two common law precedents: the prohibition on punishing jury members for their verdict, and the prohibition (in some countries) on retrying defendants after an acquittal (see related topics res judicata and double jeopardy).”

I’ll go further than this…Nullification is the Power of the Jury to Judge the Law, itself.

“

Jefferson was an advocate of this approach, believing that Juries represented the last line of defense, against Tyranny….of Government, run amok. In America of the early 21^st Century, such a check on Government overreach is much needed. Post 9-11, the Surveillance State has grown by mighty leaps…often without one arm knowing what the other is doing. The War on Terror, in my opinion, merely expanded the Overreach that was begun by the “War on Drugs”…which, in turn, flowed from the Anti-Communist Hysteria that continually reared it’s head during the 20^th Century. The effect of all these “Wars” has been a gradual, de facto, Repeal of much of the Bill of Rights….especially the Fourth, and I’ll argue, the First Amendments.

This gets to the very heart of what I’m on about, this morning…It is my First Amendment Right to Freedom of Conscience to which the anti Nullification Movement does Injury.

If I am to try a case involving, say…a person accused of violating a Blue Law, against the sale of alcohol at 11 am, Sunday morning…my Conscience dictates that the Law, itself, is Unjust….and, thus, unenforceable. Similarly, if the Accused is before me for Smoking a Cigarette in a public park, when there is an Ordinance against such behaviour…my Conscience is very clear…the Law, itself is Wrong.

Is my Conscience to be left at the Courthouse door?

The opposition to Nullification would have it so…and maintain that , in fact, a Jury is merely an arm of the Government….poorly paid Lackeys, who must do as they’re told, by Authority Figures.

On the contrary…I maintain that Authority is not given the Judge, the Prosecutor, nor anyone else, to Compel me to ignore the Dictates of my Conscience. Behind the First Amendment Guarantees of Freedom of Speech, Religion, Assembly, the Press, and Redress lies the freedom to Form one’s own Thoughts…to devise one’s own system of Ethics and Morality, and to then Live by them.

In this Age of Giant Government, and distant, if not Deaf, “Representatives”, there is little that the common man can do to check the advance of Tyranny. Nullification, of the Law, itself, by the Jury…and, necessarily, in the particular Case, before it…is an Important, if largely forgotten, Right and Duty.

I encourage my Countrymen to Think about these things, and to remember them when they are called to serve in such a capacity.

Carpe Libertatem,