2-4 Tuesday Spoken Word History Lessons

Up The Doseage -OR- We Need More Thorazine... STAT!

I spent some quality time with the in-laws over the weekend. The gathering was "Downstate" in their natural habitat, just outside the shadow of our state capitol.
Not all of the relatives could attend. Because of the early, wet spring and a new record succession of 80+° days, the corn had to be harvested. The earliest harvest anyone could remember...

That may or may not be important, or correct, since there is ample reason to suspect their capacity for memory. They've forgotten that there were presidents before Obama (who were not named Clinton), and that for MOST of the last 42 years, they've been republican, that Illinois was governed by an unbroken string of Republicans from 1977 through 2003 aka the years before Blago, and that education in Illinois has been badmouthed, bullied, beaten, kicked and financially starved through a shifting of funding to the lottery, casinos and sin taxes since I was a student.

When I tried to introduce any of this "ancient history" into the general berating, belittling and bemoaning of all things Obama, there was blankness. Invoking the Reagan "legacy" of exploding federal spending, reduced revenue to the states and unfunded mandates I swear they plugged their ears and chanted "NANANANANANANANANANA, I can't hear you".

"Reagan??! What does he have to do with anything happening today? Sheesh, he's been out of office for 22 years and dead for the last six!"

Hmmmm, okay you remember THAT though? You remember when he left office, bow your head in reverence whenever his name is spoken and support a national holiday to commemorate him, but you really haven't considered the impact of his policies on the realities of 2010? More blankness.

"He's dead. Get over it. He has absolutely nothing to do with what the Kenyan Usurper is forcing down our throats.".

"Right, and the guy who died 2010 years ago? He didn't do anything that has gone terribly askew either?" Yep, the twofer. Politics AND Religion. Despite the glaring from my long-suffering wife, I was in it to stay. I AM Don Quixote!

"Well 200,000 people were in D.C. for Beckapaloza what does that tell you?"

Gee, I don't know, there were 300,000 in Chicago in 1968. Did the D.C. cops wade into the crowd swinging riot sticks? Now that would have been fun eh? Did they disperse the crowd with tear gas, fire hoses and dogs? Isn't that the playbook for large demonstrations?

"Don't tread on me!"

Awww, fuggit. Where's the Beer?

Strangely Familiar -OR- Deja Poo

(ed. note)I really have to start using labels on this stuff.

FTTT, I offer glimpses into what it means to live, collectively, in a small inner-ring suburb of Chicago, Crook County, Proviso Twp., Illinois. Where, as Driftglass so stunningly nails it, it is: "A place of two rules. Rule #1, There is a club. Rule #2, You ain't in it."

Yet, as a resident, you get to pay for it all. In spades. Well, you certainly don't want to appear cheap now do ya? Well? Do ya?

It's really more like a high school. There are tons of clubs. All with their own cliques, secret passwords and catering options. All carving out their slice of pie.
All convinced of their own importance in the grander scheme of things.

It is in this, the importance, where it all turns to slime and taints everything. There just isn't enough pie to go around. Consolidation is not an option because the reason there are so many clubs is that they do not play well together. In fact, they exist in such numbers because at sometime in the past, a "member" felt slighted and started their own club. overandoverandover again.

The village I live in was formed by being kicked out of a club. It was our drinking that rankled the rest of the club. They didn't like the image of beer halls and taverns, so they drafted some new rules, drew some new lines leaving their hood liquor free. People who lived there still drank here, but they didn't have to be otherwise associated with demon alcohol. For almost 100 years, they didn't like us, so we didn't like them. Anything they could do, we could do too, just not together.
Then of course, the battle over which was "better".

But I digress, the point is that schisms happen. The problem arises when they fight over funding. No sharing. No pooling of resources. No even splits. No tag-backs. No Cootie Shots. Those kicked to the curb have to claw and scratch their way to fill the cracks left behind.

It's at this point that is gets childish. Playground rules. Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm- ish.

Dead on your feet, you won't get far. If you keep on sticking your hand in the medicine jar.

Lyrics penned by Jimmy McCulloch of Wings. Good advice. Not heeded. Jimmy died of a heroin overdose.

We're not suffering due to a lack of funding. We're suffering because of how our funds are divvied up. Micro to Macro we need serious psychotherapy and cleansing enemas. It hardly helps that most of our club presidents seems to fall into the sociopathic spectrum, with delusional tendencies.

2-4 2sDay Of Course You Are

In The Beginning
(Graeme Edge)

First Man: I think, I think I am, I think.

Establishment: Of course you are my bright little star.
I've miles
And miles
Of files
Pretty files of your forefather's fruit
And now to suit our
Great computer
You're magnetic ink.

First Man: I'm more than that, I know I am, at least, I think I must be.

Inner Man: There you go, man, keep as cool as you can.
Face piles
And piles
Of trials
With smiles
It riles them to believe
That you perceive
The web they weave
And keep on thinking free.


Question Lyrics

Find the Cost of Laughter -OR- Grokking Things Today

"You've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness, you're out there runnin' just to be on the run" John Prine



He's on the road again. Trolling for relevance. Desperate for attention. Still full of shit. Coming soon to an open mike night near you.

Ahh, the road. Mythical, mystical, magical. Flat, Hot and Crowded. Just how crowded it is out there cannot be fully appreciated because it's being beamed into your life 24/7. News you can't use.

The only thing missing is Little Jack Horton on the midway hawking the freak & geek show.



C'mon, step on up! On your right. See Newtie and Mooselini. Armey and Annie. Don't miss the two Micheles! You haven't seen this much ramped up, amped up faux fury since
Lonesome Rhodes in "A Face In The Crowd".

Look UP! Working the wire above the midway. It's everybody's second favorite clown, Blago! Without a net. (curse my lack of Pshop skills. Think Ruth Buzzi's Gladys Ormphby with Blago's face.)


He still ain't sayin' nuffin, but he's using a lot of words, air time and hairspray to do it.

But shouldn't there be ponies? and funnel cakes? and carnival rides operated by tattooed carnies straight outta Central casting?

How Much Does a Free Press Cost? -OR- A Child Shall Lead

"If the role of the press in a democratic society is to have any value, all journalists – including student journalists – must be allowed to publish viewpoints contrary to those of state authorities without censorship by the authorities themselves. Without protection, the freedoms of speech and press are meaningless and the press becomes a mere channel for official thought." Dean v. Utica Community Schools (2004)

I can't imagine the level of control and censorship that takes place in thousands of high school newspapers. I'd likely not even think about it at all. Ever. I've spent many years and killed many brain cells trying to forget about my glory days.

Still, it's good to know that somebody, somewhere thought enough about the kids to convene a summit on the state of school-based student publications trying to come up with some ways to HELP budding journalists. They certainly aren't going to find good role models in the Murdoch/HuffPo/Howler Monkey "new media" models.

The hell with Peoria, I want to know how this will play in Texas. Protocol For Free and Responsible Student Media (.pdf file)

Of course, it might be relevant to question teaching journalism in high school at all in 2010-11. The future is bright enough, if you don't mind being homeless and hungry or are willing to dutifully fill in the media conglomerate's template.

Still, the remaining non-cynical me sees a glimmer of hope in batches of kids with
skills and abilities to churn out relevant copy and know-how to get that into readers' hands. Imagining thousands of start-ups to provide news we can use appeals to the pirate in me.

Brighter Days?

2-4 2sDay Troubles Series

First in a series?



Lyrics


Lyrics

Still Tricklin' After All These Years -OR- Velocitized For Their Convenience

"We would need $60 MILLION to make the necessary improvements to our sewers. This village will never have $60 million to spend on sewers."
Yada yada yada...
We need federal dollars. We need state dollars.

I tell ya, this shit is Mel Brooks funny. In Illinois, Crook County, Proviso Township it's been a stooge-a-palooza since the first floods hit in June. Neglected infrastructure coupled with the uncoupled high-density inbuilding that has marked the last 25 years along with the campaign funds that dovetailed from the developers had NOTHING to do with it. This being an election year (when isn't it) there's been no shortage of hand-wringers, commiseration and faith-healers to tour the damage.
But in our case, there's no BP to mitigate the damage and restore the foundations.

The arguments against allowing the developments in the first place are all proving true. The developers are long gone; moved on to greener pastures, retirement and the good life. The fifty pounds of shit they crammed into their ten pound bags are somebody else's troubles now. It's of little comfort that most of the scammers giants are in bankruptcy court over the last debacle in their chain. Their LLCs formed and dissolved with each project, so legally, they are only on the hook for their most recent misdeeds.

But for community after community the stain and stench literally permeates the towns. I'm told my reactions are sour grapes because I didn't cash-in by cashing out at the height of the boom. That my aversion to "progress" is a general character flaw of my hippie leanings. And that somehow the fact that the same plagues have visited communities across the spectrum where these scams were perpetrated shows that there is nobody to blame for any of it.

So yeah, I'm saying "I told you so.", but I'm certainly not enjoying it. There is no joy when the community you joined, raised children in and where you planned to remain goes through all this needless bullshit because of short-sighted sociopaths.

If there is a silver lining it comes from our town being small enough to FIX. That instead of paying lawyers to find new and clever ways to allow misguided planning and zoning finagles, we can instead use the tax dollars for their intended purpose and wind up saving money AND the town in the long-run. Other places can continue to play the game the old "spend your way to prosperity" ways, but we don't have to anymore. We have the scars to prove it's not a sane approach.

Sitting on the terminus of two "EL" lines, spitting distance to two Metra-rail lines,
with a bisecting interstate highway and wizened-up citizens oinking from the boinkin', there will be a tomorrow here. With any luck and much hard work it'll be a bright tomorrow.

I have my homestead and a whole bunch of great neighbors. That should trump the pissants and glory-holers. If not, I am a hippie, but I am NOT a pacifist.

Clarification -OR- Button, Button Who Has The Button

Clarification: The Hippies ARE still correct.

It seems regardless of where I dip a toe into a stream, blame for the F.U.B.A.R. clusterfuckery playing out in the U.S. of A is stapled mercilessly on "The Boomers".
Done and done. Their fault. Look no deeper. Ask no questions.

The youngest of the "boomers" are celebrating their 64th birthdays this year. Therefore, they are hardly responsible for the "crisis in Social Security"; they are its victims. Their lifetime of earnings and payroll taxes used by dinosaurs and fossils to BUY the last 40 years "seniors voting bloc" through suspect means.

The "boomers" fought and died in Viet Nam and fought on all sides of the Anti-War, Civil Rights, Women's Rights andonandon movements here at home. DFHs, a collective, disparate spectrum label, span the ages under differing names. Their common beliefs, interests, movements and struggles tending to cluster on the progressive axises.

If we are to finally have a reality based discourse on the future, it will begin by talking in REAL terms about the people and actions that got us where we are; leaving the conjured boogeymen and scapegoats in the ante-rooms. Please?

2-4 2sDay Bomber Time

Prodded to Pray -OR- OH Lord

Life is too short to deal with assholes. Some smiting would be welcome.
`Tis interesting, that little insert, in the written directions.

Worry not your from your industrious labor, offenses and offenders will be handled.
in timely order. long before their misdeeds can have impact on anything of import.

Verily, almost as though `twere conceived, inserted and asshole-implemented as permission to absolve assholes of their assholiness.

And so it came to pass, being pre-absolved of being absolutely wrong-headed, counter-productive and damaging, the checks still cleared.

Enough of the people; enough of the time...

How Do You Think? -OR- Always The Square Peg Getting Hammered

How free are you? Within the confines of the allowable structure. Is that enough?
Where you draw the line is important, but hardly universal. Of late we've been hearing more than is necessary about "process" as being responsible for our seeming inability to get anything done. Great cacophonies of hue and cry blare omni-directionally from our institutional resources. All of it seemingly to design ever more elaborate mazes through which acceptability must navigate.

Does the complexity serve? Who? What?


Can we safely ignore the sheer numbers of unintended victims just so we can live in blissful ignorance? Are you too busy, or just too oblivious to understand that life in the maze is ALL about finding one's way? When any wrong turn results in game ending consequence, is the game worth playing? How does one communicate their withdrawal from the game without abdication of their ability to exist?

The list of transgressions which involve elimination from the rest of "ordered" society continues to grow, but to where does it lead?

Would Love to Post... -OR- It's Raining Again

I've re-learned quite a bit about hydraulics and "the clueless state" over the past coupla months. I'd dearly love to be amused by the frantic panic, and would be, except for the whiplash effect.

If I trusted in a higher power, I might conclude this has been a wake-up call that we are all required to know some basic things and have some basic skills. Sadly, we don't and to complicate matters, our "leaders" don't have fuck clue one either.

Apply as needed.

2-4 2sDay Sadly Gone

2-4 2sDay Just Some Nice Noise

Just a Reminder -OR- How I Remain (semi) Sane

You say you're unhappy
you blame it on me.
I can't make you happy
you don't LISTEN to me.

Big Fan -OR- Put on that Wide Belt and Sportshirt and Tell It Like It WAS!

The Driftglass & Bluegal Podcast

On this week's showgram, Drifty and BG `splain a few things that should be obvious to everyone, yet somehow aren't. Their anger is barely contained which ALWAYS makes for delicious listening.

Go. Listen.

At ~ 12:30 point of the podcast, BG points out that the bullies seem to be running everything. Bullying is the absolute proper descriptive. If you can't bully today, you get steamrolled by bullies.

Bizarrely though, we have a substantial movement to address bullying by school children. This is identified as a major problem in the lunch box set and there is a bewilderment over where the "trend" is coming from, but everyone, publicly, agrees that we have to fix it, so there are entire components of curriculum aimed at anti-bullying behavior modification.

Bullying is thought to be something that is outgrown in adulthood. It's not. It can be more effectively avoided and dispersed individually, it can be deliberately contained and countered by grown-ups only as long as it's really the grown-ups in charge.

Unfortunately, bullying has taken over. It dominates our playground and we cheer it on. We actively support their controlling of things under the mistaken illusion that they are being fair and honest; despite daily proof that it doesn't work that way.
Thuggery is being mistaken for security and people have willingly surrendered their liberty in exchange. Those who buck or question this surrender are labeled and marginalized as outsiders, malcontents, non-conformists...

There should be no bewilderment over how such behaviors are being inculcated into generations of young Americans. LAW and ORDER!

What began as a fear-driven, thinly disguised euphemism for all of our irrational -isms, has metastasized to our daily activities. It has permeated everything.

And as all of our "get `em young" philosophies have fallen short, we continue to double down on "education" as a viable way to change the future, because we're too scared or lazy to fix it at the source.

Because this has not, nor will ever likely be, identified as the problem, let alone *A* problem at all, it will continue be the law of the land. Bullies and bullying are the NORM and our school kids will learn it as such.