I'm Back

Titanium Hip, and almost a 3 hr drive, and I'm propped up like Nero, on my nest of 19 pillows, with a mountain of books arrayed within reach (but that I cannot yet read, due to Narcotics(!))
Reachers, Grabbers, a telescoping scratcher(prolly the most sensible investment I've ever made),a walker, with a little basket, and my usual trapeze.
Fentanyl, and Dilaudid, injected into my spine...as well as "Versed", which makes ya forget...and I wake up after 10 seconds(actually around 2 hours) to Fog and a Sandy Beach with a hospital bed and a funny nurse person, asking pesky questions.
I answer with a falling brook of metaphysical nonsense...and then(Time?what Is Time?)
I'm being wheeled...rather the bed is being wheeled(I am a passenger(il Passant)) through corridors that all look strangely alike, going up and down elevators...all to no apparent purpose.
Then we take a sudden hard right, fly right  into the door jamb(crash! shudder!aaargggh!) and I am lifted(?) and...
I'm in room 419....fussed over by nurses and aides, and doctors, and cleaning ladies, and my wife and dad.
Dilaudid continues till next day...but it's effects continue even now.(co-on-sti-pat-ion...sung to the tune of Carly Simon's "Anticipation")
I take myself off of it, because I couldn't find my mind...and am remarkably pain tolerant.
 I don't realise these other, horrible, effects, till the 3rd day...after gorging myself on all manner of tasty vittles....thus making matters worse.
I resolve, from 3rd day, am, to eat fruit, alone...Joe, the tube-Nosed Fruit-Bat.
"Post Operative Fever"....and then, according to the Doc, "Costipation Related Fever" hits every afternoon...and abates 4 hours later with drenching sweat.
3rd day, midday...I'm up, again...sitting in a chair by the window(I had a great view), and the Hospital's Chaplain walks in(an older woman(and it's a Catholic Hosp)).
I open with, "I'm a Secular Humanist/Mystic".She appears intrigued, sits down and says, "Do tell...what do you mean by "Mystic"?...
Hour later...long after her appointed time(Time?),...she must go...says she's glad she's met such an interesting individual....most well read she's ever met.
Ha!
Doc(all 12 feet of him, in his blonde, boyishness) comes bounding into the room, at 7 this morning...looks at the "Wound"(google: Amfortas Wound)...says, "Get out of here", and is gone.
Pretty nurses, for the most part...and all but one is nice, careful, and super attentive.
I sent a note , addressed,"to the Head Honcho"...encouraging him/her/them to give Raises, all around.
I was all but Nekkid for this whole period...those little backwards dresses they give you are more trouble than they're worth...what with IV, Walker,PulseOx, etc etc.
It was obvious that they were having a care for My Modesty(I have none)...always pulling the damned dress this way and that...so the first day, I said.."Y'all see horridly obese patients, every day, in the most unholy positions...If my Nekkid doesn't bother you, it sure as hell doesn't bother me." Thus, the futile attempts at Modesty in such an immodest situation, was dispensed with.
I am, by all accounts, a Model Patient.
Here endeth the Tale.
..we're pretty washed out.
I haven't slept for more than an hour at a time in 4 days.

Amfortas ventures Forth(2-19-2013)

So I’m Calm, now.

Hour or so of that Yes! album(“Classic”) I got at wallywirld(ugh)…
Lite Beer(b/c I don’t really like it)
Now Miles, Filles de Kilimanjaro, and In a Silent Way…

Comforting…now, after bringing in Library Wood, for tomorrow’s Rain Event, it’s Kind of Blue…

I left, this morning, at 9:30….all the way to North Austin.
”Arboretum”

I remember when it was cedar woods and Rangeland.

Testing distances…so I took 29 to 183, at Seward’s Junction…and headed south…into Cedar Park/Round Rock…and the absolute Fuckup they’ve made of 183.
I know to blame Rick Fucking Perry, because it’s a goddamn TollRoad that’s smack in the middle of what used to be a rather simple Highway.

So, 120 miles, and 2 ½ hours, and I’m pulling into Chuy’s…
The north Austin Version.

Get the patio…and learn that Austin’s No Smoking Crusade extends out there, as well…

as expected…
Order Enchilada’s Chicka Boom, or something…(Chuy’s Rocks)
…and read Neitzsche, alone in my little corner…birds

flocks of them,

Ignoring me.
The denizens of North Austin…staring…

They , in their Brooks Bro’s Shirts and Cologne,

…and I’m like a Ghost of Austin Past…
They can’t figger if I’m Real, or not.

‘Ecce Homo’, indeed!

So I go to the Bonesaw Shop, next door to the Hospital where the Blessed Event will take place…

Quick talk with the PA….
He’s in a hurry(vibes), and attempts to reassure me.(he’s recently from Chicago, so there may be certain cues, body language issues there…)

On to the hospital, proper…
More of the same…and more Exsanguination!

Mountain of Homework!

4PM Leaving.

Thick Austin Traffic.

I accidentally get on the Toll Road(Damn You, Rick Perry! Damn you to Hell!)

Reckon I’ve missed my desired Road…1441….but, no!

 There it is, after I find Regular 183.(!?!)

20 minutes later, headed West, sort of…and I’m in mostly The Country.

Winding, beautiful Road…Hills, covered with the hated Cedar(Mountain Juniper)…
Quite Lovely.

Light Traffic…as no one lives out here.

The Herd continues North…

….But there’s Smoke!

Lots of it.

 My Lovely Highway passes through Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife somethingorother…

(that’s why it’s so perty)

TPW is doing a Controlled Burn…that doesn’t appear to be all that “controlled”…
Helicopters with Buckets…Cops!

Firetrucks(mostly “Brushtrucks”) careening around, with Purpose(I assume, but cannot attest).

Almost 20 miles of this.

Finally get to Marble Falls, then Granite Shoals(speedtrap/Fundyland), then the Truck Overheats!

Pull in, next to the marker across from what used to be a Giant Granite Rock(Pluton/Batholith)…

but is, now, a broken pile, jagged…they’ve taken most of it away for seawalls, and state capitols…

Pour in a quart of oil, and the contents of one of the canteens…(“Be Prepared”…especially if yer Po Folks)

And on Home…after an uneventful 50+ miles.

I understand that people do this sort of thing every day….
But I most certainly do not.

Bully.

Friends and Relations, and the Necessity of Dissent.

In an insular and isolated community, social reinforcement mechanisms often become acute.
When one is in a minority, of some kind…be it religious, political or even ethnic/racial…one becomes keenly aware of this, and it takes a great deal of Courage to overcome such pressure,

 and speak one’s Truth.
When one’s minority status is of the political or religious variety, conflicts are bound to arise with friends and family, as well.
I am fortunate to have been born into a long line of Democrats and Left-Leaning individuals…not monolithically so…but in the main. Still, we have our share of conservatives, republicans and even  Tea People. This sometimes makes family relations uncomfortable…

so I understand.
In this little town…in this Far Place…the majority seems to be rather Apathetic, when it comes to Politics.
The second largest group are those of a Republican Bent, in all it’s variation.
There is a small Minority, often forgotten, of folks who are neither…who are, instead Democrats…and who, whether they know it, or not, are on the Left of the spectrum…part of a Tradition of Liberalism, of Free Thought, stretching back to the very first European Settlers in this region.(Adelsverein)
Nowadays, “Liberal” is most often heard in these parts as a slur…a pejorative.
This is due to a 40 year campaign of political Bullying.
That Bullying has become the Norm.
It can be found in classrooms, in church, at the grocery, at the café.
Letters to this paper are often filled with it, as are many of the regular columns.
It has become tacitly Acceptable Behaviour.
This, in it’s turn, has the effect of driving Dissenting Opinion into the shadows.
I understand.
I know the pain of rejection.
I understand the reluctance to Engage in such situations…the Courage needed to stand up to Incivility, disguised as Political Speech.

What some folks fail to remember, or acknowledge, is that we are a Pluralist Country…from our very Foundation.
The First Amendment says so.
Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion…these strongly imply a Freedom of Conscience.; without the overarching Freedom of Conscience, of Thought, the First Amendment is Meaningless.
The Minority of One enjoys the same Protections, is Entitled to the Same Freedoms, and is Subject to the same Restrictions, as the member of the greatest majority.
Diversity is Strength.
Those in the Majority must learn to accept that they are enjoined to Share this Nation with those who Disagree. The USA is not their Private Preserve…it belongs to Us.

 All of Us.
Those in the embattled Minority must, on the other hand, endeavor to Stand Up, and Speak their Truth…Our Democratic, Republican form of Government demands the Courage to Dissent.
If such Courage is lacking, the Bullies win…and Political Freedom  withers.

Use it ,or lose it.                                                       

Health Rant for February 2013

So I’m scheduled for Hip Replacement Surgery, on the 25th of this month…
In North Austin.
The “Pre-Op”..wherein they hook me up to an EKG and Exsanguinate me…was eyeopening…
Aside from my 70 year old skeleton,

I am, apparently, as Healthy as an Ox.
A little overweight…from Laying There, for so long…
In fact, technically, “Obese”…
I question this,…especially when I stand before the mirror, Nekkid.

A little Paunch…much more than what I consider my “Norm”…but where is that extra 35 pounds kept?

(I insist that it’s all in my head,lol…as in Brains)

Kidneys, Liver, even Lungs and Heart…wonderfully Robust.
I was shocked, really.
After the Drunken Ramble of the last 25 years, gradually tapering off, to today…
Chain Smoking, essentially…
And coupled with the increasing Immobility…

I had expected worse.

Of course, I could kick off, right on the Table…
As they say, “surgery is inherently Dangerous…”

(in that case, know that I dearly Love my Wife and Sons!...and I am very Fond

of all you so very Silent sons-a-bitches, out there…(giving a poignant edge to the word,”Lurk”!))

I’m very nervous about the whole Anesthesia, Catheter(!!!) and Tube in my Throat, bit…

After the wreck, I had no choice, for one….and I have no memory…aside from tiny flashes.

A Morphine Dream, of Pain and Disconnected, hallucinatory events…
This time, I’ve got almost a Month to Think about it.
I have avoided Thinking about it, for 6+ years…an amorphous , Future Event…at times, I despaired at ever reaching this point…
Now, it’s at the very forefront of my Mind…
the Blessed Event…and what comes after..

Will it Help?

Will it be orders of magnitude Better?

Unknown.

There’s still the rest of my Skeleton….
The Crumbling Vertebra T-4(or5,or 6…the XRay was only before me for a moment), is especially Bothersome.

Unknown.

I doubt I’ll ever cook agin.
What shall I do?

I will have to Reinvent myself…again.

I’m Limited by being stuck, way out here…few Jobs…fewer that don’t require Physical Labor..
and those that do not, I am unqualified for.

Honestly, I’m probably Unsuited for them ,as well!
”Unsuited” meaning,”Feral”
Ha!

I won’t wear a Tie…I won’t cut my hair.

Those sorts of jobs seem to require such Fakery…and I have grown too Wild , for that sort of Dishonesty.
Too, I have no Experience with “Office Work”….I have often wondered what they do all day!

I’m thinking of Artisan…Birdhouses, Hand Forged Crucifixes…something…

Or Author…once I can sit up for longer.
Local Ag. is one of  the Objects of my Crusading…as is Alt Energy… Especially Methane…
Unknown, until after…if I’m able enough for that.

Hyperegulation of Small Enterprise is a limiting factor, as well.

Maybe put in a Vineyard, out at Mom’s…join the budding Local Wine Industry.
It was, after all, My Idea…almost 20 years ago…(but, as I didn’t move on it, no one knows this,lol).

I have been ahead of my time, many times…there’s little money in Revolution, if one is Too Early!

What I won’t do, is Dishonest Work…or Drudgery…which likely means that I won’t work “for” somebody…
If I have learned anything, it’s that Life is too damned Short for that.
Whatever I end up doing, it must be amenable to Passion!

And to those Qualities I consider my Best…my sin qua non.

Probably a tall order,lol.

Two Weeks, or so…to go….
Then I expect to have Hard Data to go on…

Until then, I might as well be talking about Lunar Colonisation.

Light a Candle, for me…or whatever it is that you do…on the 25th.

Fragment on,”Where the Wasteland Ends.”

(with a wink at IK)

Roszak is describing, in outline, a natural confluence of two rivers…Cartesian Dualism…the Scientific Mind of Reason…and what is regarded, here, as it’s anathema…the Romantic, Poetic, Ineffable Mind.

His Critique of what he terms “Single Vision” is in line with Adorno and Horkheimer, and of course Eliot and Blake…and all the rest of the Romantic, “Counterenlightenment”…

All of which I’m coming to see as, rather, an Extension of Enlightenment..

I keep coming back to Habermas’ instruction, that what the Enlightenment Project requires, is not a Reversal…a Retreat to the Old Forms…but “More Enlightenment”.
A Graduation, sort of, from the Adolescent to the Adult Stage of the Project.

A Reunion of the two Sides of the Brain, Right and Left…the Poet and the Scientist.

“Above all, how was one to break free of the idolatrous psychology which, thanks to Christianity, lay so heavily upon the mainstream of western culture?.....
…..Orthodox Christianity, however, was no use at all. Its history included a scattered contingent of ecstatic saints, celebrated yet marginal figures whose discontinuous biographies do not add  up to a tradition-or even to a school of thought. Again we return to the critical fact in the evolution of western consciousness. Mainstream Christianity had sacrificed the rhapsodic for the theological, the mythic for the literal. It had become religion of the word, not the experience. It was without a discipline of the visionary powers.”(p.283-4)

I could reorganize my Library into these opposing camps…Brothers, facing each other across the battlefield of How we apprehend the World. What Roszak is proposing, so far, is the same thing all the rest of the “Romantics” were after…a Family Reunion. The Enlightenment’s Universal Reason, Tempered with the Rapture of the Shaman.
I smell Nietzsche.

And, here’s my perennial Theme: I don’t Know, and that’s OK…look at the Milky Way, and those great Voids, scattered throughout. And Relax, and Dream.
This Hunger for Knowledge, and it’s black twin, the Fearful Hunger for Agency….that’s where the EP went off the rails…
I was astonished the first time I heard someone say that the Enlightenment Enabled Totalitarianism.
I couldn’t believe it. Twenty-Plus years later, it seems all too obvious, of course…the IBM Cards, Systematising the Nazi Death Machine…the Certainty, too…my favorite practice dummy.
The Certainty that the Nazis, or the Stalinists, Assumed,…Precisely at that point when Absurdities and, therefore, Questions , Arose….
Perhaps it’s mere Human Nature…a simple failure of Courage, to admit that one may have been Wrong….especially after so much cajoling Rhetoric had been expended to drag one’s Society down the oh so Reasonable Path…Logic, indeed, led to the Atrocities.
(here’s Fromm, lurking!)

Perhaps Western Man wasn’t “Ready” for the Enlightenment…
…which, in this vein, could be considered Multiple Truths…Instead of only One(TINA).

No matter, it’s the past, and we should Learn from it(More Enlightenment)…and Temper our continuing Bubble Expansion with the Humility and Awe of Mystics.

More Ire for AEI.

I inadvertently saved a receipt from Walmart. from 1996….I found it a few years ago, in a box…and put it in Wealth of Nations…over there, next to Marx’ Capital, a large portion of the output of Galbraith, and the Godfather.(the "Economics Shelf")

A “large bag of Catfood”, way back then, was around $4.00.

The “Same “ Bag, today, is closer to $20.

Did the Catfood Improve, exponentially(fortunate for the poor!)?

Did Catffood become Scarce?
I think a Reasonable explanation is , rather, that the Money we use to Purchase that Catfood, is that much less Valuable.

There’s lots of examples like this(but for which I didn’t save receipts)…that indicate that the Official Inflation Rate has been Artificially Low...that the "Purchasing Power"(utility*) of the Dollar is a lot Lower than it used to be. Indeed, that even the Official Numbers are Rosy, and thus Suspect.

(Steak=Hamburger, "Energy" is unimportant, so isn't counted,etc)

But…here’s AEI!

This is a sort of Random, Cursory, Sample of their section on Poverty…..the first, by my new Whipping Boy, Nicholas:

http://www.aei.org/article/society-and-culture/citizenship/the-poverty-of-the-poverty-rate/

http://www.aei.org/papers/social-and-culture/poverty/the-material-well-being-of-the-poor-and-middle-class-since-1980/

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2011/11/income-inequality-myths-no-the-rich-didnt-steal-all-the-money/

It is all in our heads, I guess!

I possess a Refrigerator(three, actually)…a Microwave….Three Computers….and the Internet.

We also have three window units(A/C is mentioned, a lot…as in “if ya got A/C, ya can’t be “poor””)

Under the Criteria, used in these links, I am Not Poor.

(yay)

I have a washer/dryer, too.

I submit, that folks who try to Research “Poverty”….hell, all Economists!....should spend a Year of their Education, Living at the Bottom.
Perhaps with some great weight attached to one leg…small stones placed in their shoes….or a Cilice.

 To simulate Disability.

//////////////////////
I can only stomach so much  Opposition Research, lol.

I will continue to pick on Nicholas, and his buddies…but, for Health Reasons, only when I’m already Angry.

*I do not mean "Utility" like Economists do...rather, I mean it: How good is the Hammer that is Money?
Does it just barely get the job done(like a bar of iron)? Or is it better, more suited to the job, at hand?
I had forgotten about their esoteric definition.lol

Anger

Sorry, if I offended.

I wrestled with that last thing…to the Nicholas Lizard.( http://amfortasthehippie.blogspot.com/2013/02/piss-on-my-gate.html )
My Reasoning is thus:1 He knowingly associates with such outfits as AEI, and WSJ…

2His entire “Argument” is Representative of the Mindfuck visited on the great mass of the Rest of Us, these past 35(100?) years.

3Mix 1 & 2, he painted a target on himself…and, as per usual, with such creatures, doesn’t expect any of Us to Bite Back.

 Number 3 is Important.

We should Bite Back…and Hard.

For most of my life, I (we) have been the Victims of Ad Hominem, and Elitist Sneering from such Reptiles.

They have played on the Fears and Ignorance of our friends and neighbors, to enlist them in the Fight against Us…we have endured Hatred, even Beatings, from their many versions of Brownshirts(from Tie Wearing Scolds, to Rednecks and Bikers).

Any Counterargument has been met with Derision, and Screaming.

The vast Majority of Humanity has been regarded as Worthless…including the Majority of their own supporters.(!!)

The Thinkers on Our Side have been Too Fucking Nice!

Basta!

I’m tired of being Nice.

I wish to Strike at the Root….and the Root lives on Wall Street.
The Folks out here…the Befuddled herd who blithely attach themselves to the Thieves and Whores and Weasels…without understanding their actions…they are Not the Enemy.

Heritage, AEI,PNAC(or whatever incarnation…)”Wall Street”, K Street, Madison Avenue, Etc etc…

They are the Enemy.

The ones who believe that the great mass of humanity are mere impediments to their further advancement…worse, stepping stones…

The ones who have , not only furthered…sold…the Heartless Evil of HyperAvarice….But Formulated the Rationale.

The ones who have Stolen the Whole World…Stolen even the Image of Jesus….perverted into their own image.

Even Our Own Party has been Stolen by this Insidious Band of Dark Philosophers, this Mob of Manipulators and Liars and Cheats.

The very Language has been perverted to their Ends…

And now, at this late hour, it becomes Evident that Time is Running Out.

From Peak resources, to the terrifying changes in the Climate; from the Patenting and Manipulation of the Language of Life, itself…to the Encirclement, by Regulation and other means, of the capacity to Take Care of Ourselves and our Own…to the other Encirclement ,of the Panopticon…where We, the People, are Watched, tagged and Bagged.

When is the Right Time to Stand Up?

When is it Acceptable to say, No? Enough?

If the last 6 years have taught me anything, it is that the Systems that Nicholas and his buddies have built, are the epitome…the Quintessence…of Evil.

And that Mythology is at the Root of it.

When is it OK to Step on their Toes? To Piss them Off?

To Fight?

Much of the Citizenry is Offended by my Vitriol….

That’s unfortunate, I guess…

I am Offended, myself.

I am Offended at being Labeled a Leech.

I am Offended at being unjustly regarded as a Traitor, a Cockroach, a Terrorist.

I am Offended at being expected to sit idly by, in Silence, while My Country is Stolen from me.

I am Offended at the Use of even Christ, himself, to Further Hatred and Greed.

When is it Acceptable to Offend, in turn?

The Head, the Brain, of Our opponent is Impossible to find…Machine is Everywhere, and Nowhere.

Machine’s Representatives will have to do.

Nicholas is one such representative.

As FDR said, “I welcome their Hatred.”

Arise, folks, and Bite Back. 

Piss on my Gate.

 Re: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323539804578259940213918254.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Nicholas,

Regarding the Discussion(is that what we’ve been having?) about the “Welfare State”…You said,… that Obama said, that the “Discussion” is Over.
Then, you went on…

“It is not over—and won't be anytime soon, because the country's social-welfare spending is generating severe and mounting hazards for the nation. These hazards are not only fiscal but moral.”

When does the construction commence?

The Scaffolds and Guillotines will fit nicely, alongside that big ass Bull.

Let’s talk about Trillions of Dollars…Wasted on the Scum of the Earth!

…..

oh/….wait…you were talking about the poor and downtrodden?

I meant Wall Street.

You’ve pissed on my gate; I must Answer.

This latest attack on the poor , sick and injured is merely a rehash of that tired old “Welfare Queen” nonsense.
You all really must hire some new consultants.

There’s no evidence for widespread (individual) foodstamp or other welfare Fraud…and there is little evidence of widespread(individual) Disability Fraud.

It’s a Red Herring.

I have been unable to work, for over six years…at my doctor’s orders, I applied for Disability…

My Doctor and I both believed the sort of nonsense that you are spouting….that such endeavors would be stupidly easy.

They were not!

Here I was, Crippled, at 37…in need of a hip and an ankle…uninsurable…
We were sure I’d be a shoe-in.

Six and a half years later, I am only now…finally…getting a Hip.
Due to the delay….and wear and tear resulting from the delay…I now also need a Back, Wrists and Shoulders. Six and a Half Years! of Pain and Suffering!...not least of which was emotional…from the widespread Belief in that very Meme.

It took so long, and was inordinately unpleasant, because of people like You.

Always needing a whipping boy…someone to get everyone to Hate on and Blame…while you and your ilk run off with the country(since you write for the Journal, I assume that you are included in that lot’s crimes, if not, why do you work there(AEI)?…see above for my idea of a New WPA.)

I, instead, Blame You…and people like you…so coddled in your greed, so wrapped up in your Avarice…that you cannot see, let alone care, about the sufferings of your fellow man.

Re:” Over the 50-plus years since 1960, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, entitlement transfers—government payments of cash, goods and services to citizens—have been growing twice as fast as overall personal income.”

All but Ten of those years, give or take, saw NO Real Income Gains, relative to Inflation, for the majority of the American Workforce.

You, again:” According to the BEA, America's myriad social-welfare programs (the federal bureaucracy apparently cannot determine exactly how many of these there are) currently dispense entitlement benefits.>”etc etc

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

     ….and remember that Rumsfeld said, on 9-10-2001, that they had “misplaced” some $2 Trillion…all before the two Bush Wars were added to my Children’s Debt.(over $2 Trillion, total)

Much of that Budget is either hidden away(DOE, USDA,ETC), or Classified, outright( National Frikkin Security).

“welfare” , on the other hand, is Stimulative(Ask USDA about “Foodstamps” and “Multipliers”). It is above board….all out in the open…and y’all still can’t figure it out.(lol)

Very little Individual Fraud. The vast majority of “Welfare Fraud”, in it’s broadest sense, is Institutional, or at least Organised…from Two Guys with a Truck, delivering wheelchairs, to Pfizer.
Not Grandma.
Not Unfortunates like myself.

You also seem to include SS and Medicare…perhaps even the Va?...in your aggregate number.
The Former two are, if let be, supposed to pay for themselves….aside from the relatively easy to fix demographic problem…Congress keeps running off with the fundage!

More you:” At this writing, about 35% of Americans (well over 100 million people) are accepting money, goods or services from "means-tested" government programs. This percentage is twice as high as in the early 1980s. Today, the overwhelming majority of Americans on entitlement programs are taking "means-tested" benefits. Only a third of all Americans receiving government entitlement transfers are seniors on Social Security and Medicare.”

Twice as High as in the Early Eighties….Hmmmm….

Something else happened around that time…..
Reagan, and his Revolution.
You and your ilk bullied and lied your way into Power, and started dismantling everything.(Vandals)

You screwed it all up.
Now you want to blame Us.

Typical.

As for the last bit where you seem to not care for means testing, it seems like a good idea, to me…if you have a care for efficiency; so long as it’s Fair.(it’s not)

A little more you:” As entitlement outlays have risen, there has been flight of men from the work force.”

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc.

It’s a (potential) Fallacy of Causation.

You  brushing your teeth in the morning doesn’t cause the sun to rise, either.

Sorry.

Since I’ve been Cripple, I’ve had a lot of time to think about this sort of thing…

Perhaps some men are merely doing a cost benefit analysis…I thought y’all’s favorite theories called for Rational Agents. Something like:”Hmmm. pain, sickness…no healthcare…shitty job= no light at end of tunnel…perhaps a little help is in order…”
Seriously,In my anecdotal research, I have found that a whole bunch of these unemployed folks  just cannot find a job…ditchdigging, or no…

The economy’s been in the toilet  since  you all won (?) the trifecta, in 2000-2004….Reagan’s Dreams Fulfilled!
Where is the Dancing?

Flowers in the street?

Again, y’all screwed everything up.

And ya want to blame us.

You just won’t stop!----” But the pool of working-age government disability recipients may be even larger than those getting funds just from the Social Security disability programs alone. The Department of Health and Human Services reports that more than 12.4 million working-age Americans obtained disability income support from all government programs in 2011.”

 Man!

Maybe the lack of meaningful Health Care…and Declining Rel;ative Wages…have contributed to more injuries and illness…Preventative Medicine is cheaper…as is Quick Medicine (SIX AND A ½ YEARS!)

Makes for a Healthier Workforce, too…which benefits even You.

You:“That's more than the total number of employees in the manufacturing sector of the economy.”

Strawmen burn.

Manufacturing left largely because the Giant Corps(e) wanted it to leave…it’s been steadily shrinking for a long while, now. Hardly a good number for your comparison, there.

The rest of your bit…well…enough…I tire of shouting at earless …^%$*

I wish you the musculoskeletal Pain I have endured,,

I wish you the Depression I have, then, suffered, as a result.
I wish you even a mere 10% of my pain…experience it, then tell me about Bootstraps.

How many times have I heard,”You don’t look cripple to me…”

So many Experts, who don’t happen to look like my Doctor….and may have X-Ray Vision!!

To that whole, “You’re Faking It!”, Hysterical Argument…

Fuck you Nicholas.

Fucking Reptile.

Walk a Mile(100 feet), in my shoes.

I can no longer Fish, nor Fuck, nor Play with my Kids.

The last 5 Years were Medically Unnecessary, and Harmful, and have probably Damaged me for Life.

And I Blame Greedy Bastards like You, and the Hateful Mythos you have spawned.

May the Mob find you quickly.

Amfortas

in spite

-disability-fraud-hysteria

Ugh.
I think Mr Eberstadt might need to hear from me, today.
This little meme has been growing, sort of in the shadows...like some test-marketing scheme from hell.
Moocher.
Leech.
Faker.
After six and a half years of this nonsense, I am finally(!!!!!!!) scheduled for Hip Replacement, on Feb. 25th.
(cue choirs of Angels, fanfares, etc)
A Victory for Truth.
A Triumph of Perseverance.
The Deniers have been Vanquished.
Rejoice.
(but keep hollerin' at the asshats...)

Adventures in Home Heating.

Last week, amid what I consider Arctic Cold (yes, I am a wimp, when it comes to this shit…),

The Box Stove in the Library shows signs of Collapse…

It’s what it sounds like, one of those rectangular, boxy things, with a little door on the front, and  round things on top…which can be removed for cooking….

A leak around the roof jack had caused rust, which had weakened (after 10 years) the Chinese Imitation of an American Contraption.
It was an inefficient bugger, compared to my other 2…but it’s what I had, and I could Cook on it…quite a handy feature, when one is usually at one’s Brokest in winter, and the Propane runs out…a week before payday.

So, I’m down here reading one early AM, when I notice a large Crack…through which I can see the fire.

Preemptive Pain Meds…and a really good dolly…and out the thing goes.

Irreparable.

I then move the Pantry Stove in to replace the Library Stove…a larger, heavier, more robust and efficient model($200, from a friend down the street.).

Fine and well…collapse for a few days, in a hell of agony.
I’m not designed for this sort of work, any longer…but necessity, and all…(leak was fixed a couple of months ago)

So, now I’m down to the large, old Earth Stove, up front, and the Library Stove…with the Freezing Pantry(former garage), in between.(till Tax Return)

Day before yesterday, after adding a mesquite knot, so’s I’d have coals, when I returned,…and on my way out the door…I noticed that the Elbow, arising from the top of the Front Stove, has deteriorated…the last 2 pieces of the Cheap Stove Pipe have almost expired. As I had to special order the Good Stove Pipe, before, I had to wait till payday, and a trip to Fredericksburg(45 miles, one way) to get a good El…Meantime, it’s Aluminium(lol) Foil, and Vigilant Insomnia…and lows in the 20’s…

Yesterday, I made the trip (Eye Doctor..Ugh!), and, as it never left the 30’s…the fire kept on.

2 am….”Cop Radio” wakes me(Local News)…and the Fire has died, as I intended.

Up gets the wife, and I …and we screw around replacing the damned pipe and el…and it’s , apparently, nonstandard, by an inch…so the big ass stove must be manhandled, lifted onto additional blocks…in order to work….and an hour and a half later…Viola!

I quickly kindle a new fire(I can build a fire in a lake!)

….and run in and out, inspecting the connections…(this had been a 2-person, indoor/outdoor job…front room was Cold!)…so far, so good…but

What’s that smell?

The Damned New Elbow is Painted Black! (I much prefer the Galvanized Stovepipe, for this very reason)

The “New Pipe Smell” is the ….well, whatever it is that cooks off of a new, black pipe, on the first burn).

So it’s 23 degrees, outside…3:30 in the morning…and I’ve got the kitchen, and bathroom exhausts going, as well as the Smoking Section Exhaust, over my bed…all going…and the Doors open, waving a damned pillow, to blow out the New Pipe Smoke.

So, now, at 4;30, the boys are in our bed(they like sleeping in the front room, for some reason(?))…Wife’s in the big red chair, asleep…and I’m in the Library, with coffee, and my own fire.

I can confidently predict that very little else will get done, today.

Hypocrisy

“If the President is allowed to suspend constitutional rights on his own personal whims, our free republic has effectively ceased to exist,” Stockman wrote.(1)

 Once again, the Right has forgotten…oh so conveniently, it’s recent history….and expects the rest of us to join them in their selective remembrance.

Like the  easily forgotten admonition that “Deficits don’t matter”(2), the whole “Unitary Executive” nonsense seems to have never happened.

Only Republican Presidents get to be “The Decider”, I guess…

Where was the loving, worshipful regard for Constitutional Government, when Lil George was busy setting  said “Goddamn Piece of Paper” alight?!

This forgetful bullshittery was on full display on Talk Radio™, yesterday…the Usurper! The Democratic Dictatorship!

Trampling Our “Precious Constitution”!!!

Some of us remember…

I remember being might near Strangled, when I asserted, with actual Facts to back up my argument, that Bush II was the worst President, ever…and that he should be brought in Chains to the Hague to answer for his Crimes.(3)
I was labeled, Loudly, a Traitor…for warning of Dictatorial Tendencies that I detected in the Bush/Cheney “Administration”…all with ample, documented Evidence, to hand.

How easy it is to forget, when one is out of Power.

(1)    http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/texas_goper_threatens_impeachment_over_executive_action_on_guns/

(2)    Dick Cheney

(3)    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schmitt#Neoconservatism

A Little Light Reading…

So.

A Book Budget.

After all this time, I’m ecstatic when the mail comes.

Giddy, even.

I’m halfway into the Dharma Bums…my Dad’s favorite Kerouac…which I haven’t read since Highschool, when I picked it up from his bedside table…

It’s what led me, like a rock rolling, to On the Road, and my Wild Years.

And the rest of the Beat Catalog…and, then, to the almost predictable, Identification with them.

Simultaneously, I’m a ¼ into “Where the Wasteland Ends”…it’s been on the List for a long while…

Seems like a sort of Counterenlightenment Manifesto for the Post Modern Age…. fits in with Howl!, in this way(the big red book of Ginsberg has yet to arrive).

I’m reminded of Rosenstock-Heussey, “Out of Revolution”…and his Critique of Cartesian Duality…rather the Universalism with which we employ it.

Romanticism, as a Critique of the failings of the Enlightenment…which are Legion, and almost totally unregarded in our usual, kneejerk Reactionism….

Universalism in Enlightenment Thought went overboard, in it’s self-regard, and produced the Nazis and Stalin…and our own Universal State.

In a similar, if more Dense, vein…Gilles Deleuze, “Anti Oedipus”…

I’m only 5-6 chapters in…but it’s remarkable!
Above mentioned tendency toward Fascism is inherent in Us all….and the antidote, as in Nietzsche(!) …is to Feel…as well as Think.

 More Enlightenment! (Habermas)….in answer to the Habits that the Enlightenment inherited from Ancien Regime.

All of these guys, Uncle Jack included, are indicating the same thing.

Universalised Reason, to the exclusion of all other considerations, is as bad as Divine Right…

Pure Reason leads to Pure Efficiency, which leads us to the Hell World being constructed all around us, today.( Iron Law of Oligarchy)

Leaving no room for the Mystic…the Ecstatic…the Meaningful.

Film at eleven…

Do I dare disturb the Universe...

Safer

http://www.saferchoice.org/content/view/1028/84/
http://blog.norml.org/2012/12/20/teen-pot-use-stalls-as-states-continue-to-regulate-use/
http://texasnorml.org/

A Modest Proposal *

Another day, another Mass Shooting.

What is a Freedom Loving Country to do?

Many are calling for, ironically, More Guns…

If only, they wail, there had been Good Guys with Guns, to counter the Lone Bad Guy, the atrocity could  have been, at the very least, Mitigated.

Arm the Teachers! Arm the Principal! Arm the Children!
Call out the National Guard, and Deploy them in Schools, Shopping Mall Food Courts, and wherever else Precious Children gather!(Boxer,of all people)

Just Arm Everyone!

I submit that this will not be sufficient.

Drastic measures are called for…with which all Freedom loving Americans would surely agree.

I propose that we wire every Public School, indeed, every Public Place….Wire them all with Explosives.
Perhaps C-4…and wire these Patriotic Explosives with so called “Gun Shot Sensors”(mentioned on NCIS, Law and Order, et al)….so that, whenever a Gun is Fired in a Public Place by some deranged Lunatic, the whole frikkin place goes up!

Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) has a long and proud History in the American Republic…it worked to keep us from being vaporized by the Communist Threat…it will work, similarly, to protect our Precious Children, as they…learn stuff…or hang out at the Mall.

Pass me the Rainwater and Grain Alcohol….

*. lol http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html

For a rational critique of the Insanity I sarcastically channel here, see: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/armed-guards-schools-nra-wants-police-state?paging=off

A Gateway…

.....Out of Addiction....

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/marijuana-exit-drug-study-suggests-some-are-taking-it-substitute-prescription-drugs-and

While I have enjoyed, and willingly partaken, of the Noble Weed for “Recreational Purposes”…since I was 17, or so….it has never Led me, inexorably, to  “Hard Drugs”.

Being of an Explorational Mindset, I have, indeed, Tried various substances… but this was NOT due to Pot. (and the true “Hard Drugs”, like coke, crack, speed and Horse, I have rejected…having confirmed by experimentation, that they are dangerous and stupid)

Pot no more caused this Explorational tendency, than it caused me to Think outside the box.
Those Features of Me are inherent…they were present in my Constitution long before Pot.

The 30+ year campaign to convince folks that Pot is a “Gateway” to the Hard Stuff, is Stupid…and I understood this from the get-go.

What I have found, on the other hand, is just what this Study has found…Pot is a Therapeutic Replacement for the Hard Stuff…in my case, Alcohol.

While I still fall off the wagon…roughly Quarterly…but especially in December…I don’t Drink anywhere Near what I used to…
I firmly believe that Marijuana has helped in this endeavor.

AA, and most of the “Rehab” methodology, considers Pot as a mere Substitute…and, further, as an equally Evil Substance….despite all manner of research and anecdotal evidence to the contrary. The False Equivalency is reflected in the DEA’s Scheduling Schema…Pot, according to the FedGov is equal to Heroin, PCP, and Meth…equally dangerous, equally addicting, and equally irredeemable.

The War on Pot is an almost perfect microcosm, an analog, for what is Dysfunctional about our current Political Battlefield…dismissive of Science and other Evidence, if it disagrees with the Ideology; Based, instead, on Faith…in this case, Faith that Pot necessarily is Equal to Heroin, and that any relaxation of the War will lead, inexorably, to Chaotic Disaster ; the resulting manipulation of the Legal System; denying viable defenses, out of hand, all but prohibiting the Justice System to Function as intended…in apprehension of Truth.

 Vested Interests in the Status Quo, who cynically manipulate the Folks…use Fear and Hatred and Division to prolong their Regime, and reap the rewards of doing so (Prison Industry/Big Pharma/ Cops/ the “Treatment” industry; likely Big Cotton/Tree/other Textile)….

 These Warriors Bully and Threaten and Scare…and the War goes on.

It’s past time for it to Stop.

Bah

Having kids, it’s difficult to hate, outright, Xmas Morning.

Aside from that early hour, or so, I find it otherwise quite simple to despise the “Season”.

My Eldest figured out the truth behind the subterfuge of Santa, some time ago.
Last night,(Xmas Eve), he indicated that he would like to be an Elf…and would I please get him up at 4 am.

I assented, and he awoke me(!) at 3:55 am.lol.

We dislodged the presents from their hidey-hole, put out a dummy coffee cup(complete with dregs), and jangled the “jingle bells”(usually on the Big Gate), outside the window where Youngest was sleeping…the Psy-Op/Subconscious Manipulation-Phase of the Annual Mythos of Greed/Coersion.

At 6 am, after tending the fires, I put on the whole Nutcracker…hour and a half…(I cheated, and started with Wagner’s Das Vorspiel…an arguably Pagan tune)…
My hobbling around became increasingly incareful…and when Youngest opened bleary eyes, all I had to say was “Merry Christmas” to send him uncharacteristically leaping from bed, to make sure everyone was awake, and then(to his credit, 2nd) checking under the tree.

A Mystic/Agnostic and a somewhat lapsed Catholic apparently make for good kids…little of the rivalry and “Mine!”  that I remember from my own youth.

One Hour…out of around 3 Months!

Imagine if we were all but Required to have Halloween, or Mother’s Day, or Easter…sound and fury and smells and wall to wall…for 3 months out of a given year.
”Here comes Peter Cottontail…” blaring from every TV, and speaker, public and private, for 90 days.
Pastels and Peeps, omnipresent.

How about a yearly fight, on both the Psychological Front, as well as sometimes the Physical, over the “Reason for the Season”…Bunnies or the Risen Christ!

I forbid “Christmas Music” around here, till  Epiphany.
Same with the Tree, and all the other trappings.
Luckily(snort) we don’t have Cable…so I am excused from the incongruity of Gladiatorial Bloodsport…and the Announcers that go with it(!)….in a Season ostensibly about Peace on Earth, already marred by Acquisition and maniacal and crafty Ad Campaigns.

I have no problem with the whole Bethlehem story… nor the many Pagan symbols and accoutrements that have been, somewhat dishonestly, attached to it…Goose Doctrine, and all…
I do have a problem with the Overkill…and the Happy Happy Happy…and forced Expeditions to Houston in the Dead of Winter…and Cinnamon Smell overpowering one’s nose at every turn…and the Insane Rushing About…and the more secular Xmas songs(I detest “Rocking around the Xmas Tree”!!).

I expect, and hope, that the Little Guy figures it out , in the next years…

I’ll cherish the memories of that Hour, or so…but the rest, I’ll not be sad to see go.
Once my cover is blown(as “Santa”), I’ll more than gladly choose to Hibernate for the 3 months of the “Holidays”.

http://www.alternet.org/belief/how-i-gave-christmas-and-found-serenity?paging=off

http://www.alternet.org/trading-sex-f-cking-happy-meal-mom-cant-get-food-stamps-after-drug-offense-resorts-prostitution-feed?paging=off

On Secession

On Secession
and Federalism

Dig it: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/will-secede-why-its-not-just-right-wing-fantasy?paging=off

My thoughts on Secession are, for the most part, in line with this guy’s.
I abhor the one-size-fits-all, overbearing qualities of the Imperial USA,inc.

In looking into City and County, and even School Governance, in Texas…I have found, to my surprise, very little opportunity for Local Self Expression, in Political matters.

This bothers me…even though I am currently in the Minority in my own smallest of Political Divisions.
Federalism was a Good Idea…and, in large part due to the Civil War,and other less than admirable struggles, it has gotten short shrift over the last 150 years.Think of the connotations associated with the phrase, “State’s Rights”.
That Dark Pigmented Human Beings are still Human Beings, was an idea that had to be forced down the throats of a large portion of Americans. Similarly, for Women…and Workers, and “Consumers”…now Homosexuals(rather, “nonheterosexuals”..is it really our business?)

Centralism, as opposed to Localism, has been needed, on occasion, to Force needed changes….and to mitigate the dysfunctions of Democracy.

Nothing’s perfect, after all.

In Theory, I like the Idea of Secession.
It falls well within Jefferson’s Ideology.
Practically, however, and given the Reality of so many People on a Finite World, it becomes Unworkable.
”Balkinisation” rightly has seriously negative Connotations….Internicine Strife, and Ethnic Cleansing, among them.
As always, there’s 3 sides to every story…and We tend to focus on the Ditches on either side of the road, leaving the road, itself, uninhabited.
Any criticism of “Capitalism”…is automatically impugned as “Communism”.

Secessionist sentiments are like this…but nowhere do I see the necessity of such Extremism…
The  periodic flowering of Secessionist Sentiment…as the article says, both Left and Right…is a Symptom of something…something that is often unaddressed, or belittled…be it Federal Drug Policy, or Federal Tax Policy, as the case may be.
It is a Symptom of the Over-Centralisation of Everything.

Some things lend themselves to Local Control…and some, to Central.
Folks agitating for more Local Control of some area of Life seem to start talking Secession, when they feel that they are not being Listened to.
The Problem, of course, is when the Local Issue is indefensible (like Slavery), or is a Reaction to some unpopular, but Objectively Necessary, Central Policy(War and Peace, Taxation, Regulation of large and destructive businesses). (especially given the Corp control of the Fora, when Objection is pooh-poohed, outright)
Often, the Secessionist Trend is Reaction  based on pure self interest…and unwillingness to Play with Others…(Anarchocapitalist, etc)
These interests and perceived Problems are often dismissed out of hand…
They shouldn’t be.
But we are fractured…and have lost the ability to Debate…and rely overmuch on Assumptions. The Polity is so large and unwieldy and diverse, that it is almost impossible to have meaningful discussion…
I really and honestly do not see a way forward…USA inc. is so Large.
And so Diverse….and Unequal in so many ways…not least, access to the Public’s Ear.

I think that a new Federalism is in order…and a De-Emphasis on Centralisation of Everything….but this need not entail a wholesale careening into the Right hand Ditch!  A Middle…the Road, itself…can be apprehended.
But I don’t really see this happening, without some major disruption in the current paradigm…like an Oil Shock.

Then, of course, there will be the tendency, in such an Emergency Situation, of the Worst Among Us rising to the top…because We seem to no longer agree on the Nature of the  Constitutional Floor…”at least this Free, no Less”.

Remove the Fedgov, and we would soon see Theocracies, and Ethnic/Racial “States”…States where Women are Chattel…and on and on.

This was the Purpose of Fedgov, in the first place…a Floor under the People…as well as the (secondary, in my Opinion) mechanisms for Unity in our dealings with the world.
The Corollary, that has been forgotten, is the Fence…around the Fedgov. While I understand the Reasoning behind much of the Federal “powergrab”, of the last 150 years…it has remained in one of the Ditches.
It has become a Taboo to challenge it….and when it is challenged, the challengers rely on faulty reasoning, and lots of Assumptions that fail to hold up under scrutiny…the challengers of Federalism tend to go the whole other direction…”Abolish the Fedgov!”…assuming, ridiculously, an era of Peace and Prosperity and a Virtuous Humanity that never has, and never will, Exist.
As long as that remains the case…and as long as so many of those who chafe under the Federal Yoke do so in the service of Greed and Racism and other Hatreds, Secessionist movements will never enjoy their proper place….that is, Pointing Out Dysfunction….and attempting, by trial and error and experimentation, to find ways of mitigating the Dysfunctions.

A Response to an Asshole

In Re: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/welfare-spending-equates-168-day-every-household-poverty_665160.html

To put it bluntly, you are mendacious in your use of numbers, and your Assumptions boggle the mind.
This, “The universe of means-tested welfare spending refers to programs that provide low-income assistance in the form of direct or indirect financial support—such as food stamps, free housing, child care, etc.—and which the recipient does not pay into (in contrast to Medicare or Social Security).”

…is one way of seeing things…but it ain’t accurate.

All of these Programs are, in effect, “Social Insurance”…
Compare them with a regular car insurance policy; I purchase a policy… pay the first installment…and have a catastrophic wreck. The insurance company pays.
Simple, right?

If the insurance company followed your prescriptions, they would not pay anything, until I had “contributed” enough Jack to cover the amount paid by them for that wreck. This would remove the validity of the whole insurance “industry”…better to have a savings account.

“Welfare” is Social Insurance…and, under this system, We are a great big family…We, the People Purchase this Policy, to cover Everyone in Our national family. It’s the sensible and most cost effective way to tackle such problems….unless you get off on the suffering and hardship of your fellow man.

Then there’s this: “The situation Booker presents, however, is not accurate: a low-income individual on food stamps may qualify for $25,000 in various forms of welfare support from the federal government on top of his or her existing income and resources—including access to 15 different food assistance programs. Further, even if one unrealistically assumes that no other welfare benefits are available, the size of the food stamp benefit increases as one’s income decreases, as the benefit is designed as a supplement to existing resources; it is explicitly not intended to be the sole source of funds for purchasing food.”

Where, pray tell, do you get these numbers?

The perennial Assumption is that it’s an awesome experience to be on “Welfare”…and that it’s so freaking Easy to do, that Lazy People are “Choosing” Welfare as a sort of alternative to a Career.
There is No actual evidence for this Assumption.
I am Disabled.
I had a wreck 22 years ago, yesterday…and after hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Repair, I was able to go back to work. The Insurance that I had, up to that time, promptly dropped me…leaving better than a hundred grand in medical bills. I have not been “Insurable”, since.
So, six and a half years ago, when the Pain finally became too much for me to continue working, I took my Doctor’s advice…and applied for Disability.
Four Times I went through that Byzantine process. Apparently, my age at the beginning of this foray(36) counted against me…I was denied, despite all of the Doctor’s(including Disability’s own) being in agreement that I was “Disabled”.
So, since I didn’t Work during all this time (being Disabled, and all), my “Credits” withered away, until I was no longer “Eligible” for Disability…then SSI kicked in….and I am now navigating the screwed up Medicaid System that folks like You have created.
I receive Food Stamps…at first, $300/month…then, for no apparent reason(nothing’s changed in my Situation), the USDA dropped that to $80.(Largesse!)
I am currently having great difficulty finding a Doctor who will Fix me, and who also takes Adult Medicaid…due, I’m told, to the stupid, inefficient way that payments to Doctors are made….which is entirely due to folks like you. The Right has not been able to prevent, or repeal, things like Medicaid,,,so, instead, you all have endeavored to fuck it all up…ensure that it is dysfunctional and stupid.
Good job!

To add insult to injury, you and your ilk have engaged in the propagation of mean and nasty myths…fomenting an unearned and undeserved stigma on those unfortunate enough to have nowhere to turn, save Public Assistance.

Your “Facts” are easily countered (http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-astounding-new-right-wing-lie-about-economy-born?paging=off) ( which you will handily discount, since it’s from Alternet…note, that I read the Weekly Standard)

Walk a mile in my shoes…rather, hobble a few feet to the bathroom in them…ere you so blithely dismiss my plight…and the plight of so many other Americans.

The money wasted on Corporate Welfare, including the Subsidies to Exxon, et alia, would more than cover the cost of Medicare for All…as would a Financial Transaction Tax of a penny or two, per dollar..in the Great Casino of Avarice.
It’s about Priorities.

Who would Jesus Hate?

an Excellent Link

Excellent!
http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/2012/12/thinking-unthinkable.html

I am continually amazed at the stupidity that rules a nation founded on Enlightenment Principals.

They’re coming for your Guns, again!

LOL.(lol is re: the right's insane response to such insanity)

Another crazed gunman.

Aside from the welcome rhetoric about the Piss Poor Public Mental Health System, the aftermath of this horrible event is entirely predictable.
It occurs to me, lurking as I do in my blind on Townhall(Ha), that the Second Amendment is beyond Debate.

It is Sacrosanct!
Holy Writ!
Not to be questioned!

Well and Good.

I am always in favor of Vigorous Defense of the Bill of Rights.

…which is what I’m on about.

Why only THAT Amendment?!
Aren’t there quite a few more?
I remember when there used to be a Fourth Amendment…or, at least, Most of One.

That particular Amendment has been whittled and wasted…all in the service of Fear…from Fear of Communists…to Fear of Druggies…Fear of Black Men…and, now, Fear of Terrists.

To assuage those Fears, we have allowed most of the Fourth Amendment to be burned away.

You are no longer assured security in your Homes, your Papers, nor Effects.

Every E-mail, every Phone Call is recorded and stored at some NSA “facility”…much is stored, on the Security State’s behalf, by the industries, themselves.
There’s a GPS Thingy in your Cell Phone.
Warrants are a thing of the past, as long as the Magic Words, “National Security” are uttered.

A whole class of Our Employees (Law Enforcement) has been trained to trick you into giving up your Rights (“Rolling Questions”=”Do you mind if I come in/look in the trunk”)
Dogs as arbiters of one’s Privacy….trained dogs, whose validity as “Evidence” is perennially questioned.

Whole Demographics have been preferentially singled out for scrutiny…not only African Americans, but white dudes with long hair.

Naked Grandmothers in the TSA Wing.

Can we maybe redirect some of the Vigor with which we Defend the Second?

Can we talk about the Fourth?

river

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
We are fortunate to have a relatively unspoiled River, here in Mason...the Llano.
It was named after a mistranslation (likely due to bad penmanship) of the Chama Indians, who once lived along it's banks.
Although I am no longer Able to get to the River as much as I would like, it still holds a large swath of the real estate of my heart.
Under Texas Law, as a "Navigable River", the River Bed is Public Property...and We, the Owners, have guaranteed access...simply put, wherever a Road crosses the River.
With this Privilege comes Responsibility.
At every such Access Point I have been to, there is, as evidence of Human Visitation, a Debris Field.
This is most Unfortunate.
It is also the reason that I habitually carry Garbage Bags in my truck...it is my habit to come out of the River with More than I went in with.
I encourage the Folks of Mason to adopt such a habit.
Some lazy Sunday afternoon, load up the kids, grab a few trash bags, and teach the next generation a little about Stewardship.
 This Commons need not be Tragic.

us vs me ,II

Endeavor to Persevere(*)

“God will not have his works made manifest by cowards.”-Emerson.

Food for Thought:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/the-post-apocalypse-survival-machine-nerd-farm

http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/

http://www.polyfacefarms.com/

http://www.postcarbon.org/reader/toc

http://www.acresusa.com/other/philosophy.htm

http://deadeyeblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/parity-the-key-to-economic-sovereignty/

The “Way We Do Things Now”, is counterproductive, mean, nasty and stupid.
The beneficiaries are large Artificial Entities, whose sole Moral Imperative is, simply, “More Profit”.

Parasites.

Under their System, jobs and production and Capital are sent to the Third World, and the Profits realized are sequestered in Tax Havens, where they can remain safe from paying their way, here…in the USA.

Freeloaders.

To get out from under this Cartel System, We will have to do more, for ourselves….not in the fantastical way of Rugged Individualism,…but, instead, by Community.

Protecting Cargill, ADM and Monsanto…let alone Exxon…is Not “Conservatism”; it’s being Suckers.

“Conservatism” implies that we are Conserving something…like, perhaps, a Local Economy.

The  Giant Cartels, and their System, are in the process of coming apart…this is due to their Model’s over-reliance on “Growth”, on a Finite Planet.

It’s also Failing for Us…especially those of us who live in former Farm Country….Small Town America.

When I first moved to Mason County, I drove around, a lot…to get a feel for the place, and because I have a thing for dirt roads. What jumped out at me were the numerous former Towns…Fredonia, Grit, and the like. These places used to Be Something…were once thriving Communities.  In a big way, the Mechanisation of Agriculture was the knife at the throat of these places, ensuring their inevitable Decline.
But Mechanisation was part of a larger story…that of Farm Policy.

(See: http://www.westonaprice.org/farm-a-ranch/parity-and-profits )

We behave as if “the Way We Do Things Now” is set in stone, handed down from God, or a Function of Nature. Economics is none of these things, rather, it is the Invention of Human Minds…and, as such, it can be changed.
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Remember Hurricane Rita?

That storm went into Houston, in ’05…not long after Katrina. It’s immediate, and unexpected, effect on Mason was a shortage of Everything. Gasoline tanks ran dry, cheapest to most expensive; Store shelves emptied out, until there was little but canned oysters and corn shucks.
Turns out that a whole lot of the things Mason takes for granted, from Fuel to Food, is sourced from the Port of Houston. That’s our Supply Line, and it’s frail and scary enough, just on it’s own…but used as Metaphor, it’s Terrifying.
It was the clearest evidence that I had ever witnessed that our Way of Doing Things was far from Robust…and that, indeed, that it was Foolish, and lacking in Foresight.
Everyone cries and shouts about “Welfare”…the perennial enemy is the “Lazy Poor”, the “Welfare Queen”, and the “Socialist Menace” who pays them to Lay About.

Leave , for a moment, the evident Non-Existence of such creatures(entirely Mythological)….and Think.
Why are so many folks Poor?

Could it be the growing Lack of Decent Jobs?

The Wage Stagnation of the last 35 years, relative to Inflation?

High Costs of Necessaries, like Healthcare, Energy, Durable Goods?

It’s, of course, all of these things.

But Fundamental to the breakdown is one thing, that no one wants to talk about:
We don’t Make Anything, anymore.

We do not Grow our own Food, Provide our own Energy, or even make our own Toilet Paper.
To fix this requires a reordering of how we Think about Economy….and Informed Consumers.
It also requires a commitment, by those Consumers, to Vote with their Dollars.
What I am proposing is a garden of Self Reliance…Toilet Paper, as a Cottage Industry.

Instead of going to HEB, and buying Lamb from Australia, Beef from Argentina, Grapes from Chile, and Eggs from wherever Eggs come from…a way must be found to do these things for ourselves.
Regulations, written largely by the Parasitical Giant Corps(e), hinder these efforts…especially with Meat, milk and Eggs…but these are easily overcome, if Local Government could be persuaded to do so.(see: http://vermontfoodsovereignty.net/2011/05/second-vermont-town-passes-food-sovereignty-measure/  )
Another Hindrance is the Purchasing Policy of our One Grocery Store.
Has anyone else noticed that the Produce Sucks?
That the Meat is often sub-par(to be charitable)?

I purchased a loaf of bread, there…just yesterday…and it was dry and hard and well on it’s way to Stale.
But the Local Bakery, if they so desired, could not sell Bread at the one Supermarket.
Similarly, a local gardener…say some retiree who happens to have a surplus of tomatoes,…cannot sell more than a few.

Why?

Policy.
and Regulation by the State.

Instead of continuously, and tiresomely, Hating on “the Least of these”…perhaps some thought needs to be given to the Reasons for their plight.

Instead of “Take Back Mason(before it’s too late!)”… how about, “Make Mason Work for Us”?!

* Chief Dan George in “Outlaw Josey Wales”

 

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place that divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides , redeemers and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.”
                                                            - R.W. Emerson, from, ”Self-Reliance”.