Rawrahs... Shouting into the Abyss

2012-02-10T19:57:00.002-06:00

empty; not running

Why Right-To-Work Is Wrong -OR- 16 Tons

2012-02-09T18:14:00.002-06:00

From the autobiography of Oscar Neebe 1850-1916

One day my boss told me: "Oscar, I have a good situation for you where they manufacture milk cans. You can make more there than what I can pay you for work you can do. I can get along with a boy and I cannot pay you what you are worth. You can commence Monday." On his recommendation I started to work the next Monday. It was a new place. A new patent milk can. In a short time the business increased and there were fourteen workmen. We could make each from 25 to 30 cans a week, but some of the workmen were too greedy; that was not enough. They worked harder and made from 35 to 40 cans a week, and that was too much to pay a week, $35 to $40, to a workman by the company who worked said patent can, the price was reduced to 75 cents apiece, but the selling price was increased from $6 to $7 apiece. . Now the workmen worked to their utmost strength, so as to make the same wages as before, and I told them they would, by doing so, reduce the price of wages furthermore. A short time after that the price was reduced to 65 cents apiece. A friend of mine, Barny Collins and I were appointed a committee to consult the company and let them know that the workmen would not make a can for that price. Collins and I went to Mr. Sheppard and laid the resolution of the workmen before him. He laughed, and offered to bet that the others would work for 65 cents. We told him no. He offered us two, as we were his oldest and best hands, to give us 75 cents. We told him we and our comrades would not do so, would rather stop than to make those cans less than 75 cents; he went to one of the workmen and asked if he would rather stop than to make the cans for 65 cents. He said Yes, if the others would, he would, of course. Through their cowardice and breaking their word, Collins and I left. It was the first time I saw skilled workmen, who were wanted and needed, back down. It was in 1871. I heard later that the price was reduced to 45 cents. Mr. Sheppard got to be a wealthy man and his workmen poorer and poorer through the cowardice of the workman.

I commenced work in another factory where they made oil cans and tea-caddies. That was the first place where I saw children from 8 to 12 years old work like slaves, working on machines; most every day it happened that a finger or hand was cut off, but what did it matter, they were paid off and sent home, and others would take their places. I believed that children working in factories has for the last twenty years made more cripples than the war with the south, and the cut off fingers and mangled bodies brought gold to the monopolies and manufacturers. How often has the sweat of a poor man or child paid for the silk dress of a kept woman of these men, whose only desire is "to have lots of fun and a good time.

It's taken 100 years to get back to where we started? Who are the pushers of right-to-work, killing Health Care, demonizing teachers and perpetuating conflict appealing to to elevate their chosen candidates into positions of power and control? You and me? They're going to act in MY best interests?

I know exactly how Mr. Neebe felt.

Whack-A-Mole -OR- Floor-Flopping Temper Tantrums

2012-02-07T07:15:00.002-06:00

"When I was a child I spoke as a child..."

As a parent, the four words that steeled my spine were "Dad, Can I have...?"
If you are a parent, you're only too familiar...a pony, a puppy, a hamster, a few hundred F-117 Nighthawks, a new bike, that old twenty dollar bill in your wallet, a tax exemption for my profitable enterprise, a happy meal, repeal of Roe v Wade, the complete set of Harry Potter Action Figures, your ATM card and pin number, another $200 Billion for my war machine?

Any parent can testify to the perseverance of a child's mind. When they get locked into a want, things can get a bit trying. Kids have strong skills in survival and staging a scene. There are many, many times when you simply cannot reason with them.

Kids don't know from limits. They must be taught. They'll wail and moan about the unfairness of it all, but ceding to their unreasonable demands is not a viable plan. It's a recipe for incremental, escalating torture.

For them EVERY SINGLE thing is an all or nothing proposition in a ceaseless list of things they want whether needed or not. "If I don't get that new I-Phone with unlimited text and data, I'll just DIE! You just don't understand how important this is. Dad, you can walk to work and skip lunch for a month. That's not asking too much, after all I'm the most important thing in your life! right? You wouldn't want to crush my will to live now would you?

There it is! Welcome to the P.O.G.'s winning strategy. Act like bratty, petulant children, don't take no for an answer. Ask again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. Sooner or later, they'll wear down and say Fuck it and then we win! And that's all that matters. When it all goes to shit, it'll be them that gets blamed for what WE do!

Bottom of the Ninth -OR- Crushing Defeat

2012-01-28T18:47:00.002-06:00

It's been 20 years since I had my "Reggie Year" playing 16" No-Glove softball around Chicago. 30 years since I had my "Mr. October" moment. In the title game. Extra innings. In the top of the ninth (Softball plays 7 innings)the opposing team pushed across a run. The season rode on us coming up with at least one in the bottom of the inning. I was due up third.
The first two batters singled bringing me to the plate with the winning run at 1st. I hit a line drive with eyes (shot!) between short and second. The short-center fielder made a spectacular diving catch, jumped up, ran to second, tagging the runner coming from first base while stepping on the base to complete an unassisted. triple. play. I ended our season?
Half way to first base, I saw the catch and knew I was out, but the rest of the weirdness had nothing to do with me, all I could do is watch as our season ended.
I was dumbfounded.

Oh well, great game? One for the ages?

Old news. Spilt milk. Water under the bridge? So imagine my shock when a neighborhood bar had a championship reunion night for the teams in the league.
A good friend played on the opposing (winning team) and called me from the festivities. "Hey, getcher ass over here! We're sitting here watching your triple play!"

"Say What?!?!? You mean there's actual footage of my nightmare?"

"Yep!"

I raced right over. I didn't get to watch it myself, but I'm assured that it does indeed exist and the guy who brought it has promised to burn it to a DVD for me.

I will finally be able to prove that what happened was not my fault. There is joy in Mudville!

In the grand scheme, it's but a distant memory, but as moments go it was a singular experience.

When I get the DVD I'll figure out how to post a youtube of the play and let the intertubes decide for themselves.

Influence Back-Peddling -OR- Fool Enough Of the Pig People For Long Enough

2012-01-23T07:01:00.003-06:00

H/T Mad Magazine

It's been clear to me since 1968 that a wormhole had opened and deposited Opposite Worlders in our midst. I've watched in bemused horror as they laid out their agenda. I admit to giggling openly as they bumbled, stumbled and seemed completely alien to this planet. Those halting, stuttering first salvos of Barney Fife "Law and Order" versus Dirty Fucking Hippies spewage seemed harmless enough since they were so at odds with the reality for most Americans.

Their efforts were feeble, their rhetoric was over-the-top, their double-standards and faulty logic were transparent. They were clearly a solution in search of a problem. So full of distrust, fear and ugly, there was no way they'd be able to find quarter in this country. Unless conditions changed they would never be more than an annoyance. Certainly would never be put in charge, or allowed anywhere where they could put their inane world view into practice.

But these sowers of sour were nothing if not industrious and perseverant. When simply laying out their "plan", they were roundly laughed at and ridiculed. Their dire predictions were baseless. In the end, the only nightmare force that was "out to get us", determined to destroy the American way of life, was the conservative movement. People, in general, understood the concepts. Good versus Evil. They were sold something completely different. Marketing and advertising were brought to bear to change the conditions. Power and influence were used to alter the script. Silent steady encroachments were exploited until defects could be built it and/or added to our daily diets.

Our lives are hopelessly interconnected. We live on a large, very sensitive web that can transfer unease from seemingly unrelated distant points.

Nobody shakes the web better than Newticles. Nobody shifts the fault lines with greater dexterity. Nobody is more cravenly convinced that the scam can be fulfilled without detection. President Gingrich? Who better to pull the final switcheroo then "save us" from ourselves?

Nobody embodies the long con of Opposite World with Newtie's deeply flawed understanding and mitigations. You ALWAYS know where you stand with him.

In the way!

Reproblican Motto: If At First You Don't Succeed...

2012-01-19T09:32:00.003-06:00

LIE LIE AGAIN!

It's 2012 and the "question" of Reproblican FAIL is still subject to debate? Bravo! Got to hand it to the skeevy bastids. No matter how early and often their ham-handed, say anything brand of populism is exposed as fear-driven, self-serving and destructive, they remain on message. Despite the redundancy of their blatant hypocrisy and disdain for America and average Americans, they claim their path is righteous and Christian to the core. While displaying all of the characteristics of the pure sociopath, they insist that eliminationism will unite us? Purging, cleansing, incarcerating anything that gets in their way.

If they can just imprison, marginalize and exclude enough, their illusionist's majority will survive and the greatness of what was once America will be theirs to control? Isn't that exactly the time loop we've been repeating for decades now?

What sustains and expands their agenda is the perpetuated notion that what they've done is NEVER enough. Not that it was wrong, addle-pated, against the treaties and agreements hammered out over a couple of centuries and change that lent opportunity and stability to our lives. That somehow, those filthy bleeding heart liberal hippie scum sabotaged their plans?

Locking up 2.5 million Americans didn't make us safer, happier, more secure? That's only because it should have been ~~10, 20, 30 million~~ anyone who bitched? The S&L fiasco that distracted, derailed and shook our trust, that enriched overwhelmingly "conservative" reproblican interests? The clear answer is more deregulation and allow the whole financial industry get in on the fun. When that craters, blame the welfare system?

When the billions pooled in 401Ks are replaced with counterfeit securities and IOUs, and this occurs cyclically, almost predictably? It's not the market being manipulated and enabled to steal, it's not that our Congresscritters couldn't resist the pitchmen and flim-flammer's shimmering lures that promised prosperity for all, it's because brown people hate us for our Christian freedoms?

Funding for this ongoing criminal conspiracy has been labeled free speech. Protected.
They tell you that what's bad for you is really good for you. They tell you that there are two sides and clear choices. I don't know about you, but the only sides I can discern are inside and outside. Upside and downside. They tell you that both sides are equally to blame. The arsonists for setting fires and the victims for living in a place that an arsonist might target? They should have known better?

The ONLY "sides" who seem unconvinced that the game's rigged are the riggers, their Congressional beneficiaries and their media stooges. Their vistas are clear and tastefully decorated and wrapped up in Jebus bows. People forget? They disremember? Driftglass calls it strategic forgetery. I'm not so sure. They remember. They're full-blown nostalgic for the memories. What they seem to forget is how it was lost.
Or at this point, what IT was in the first place, because as long as I've been aware, this warped and twisted domination of defining good and bad have been wrapped in a flag and carrying a bible. We've always been on their slippery slope, engaging in their desired discussions and looking at what/where they've been pointing out our "problems". It's now the only thing on the grocery shelves. The argument is now how authoritarian and punitive things have to get before we all submit to the grand design.

The infamous bridge to nowhere may be somewhere in Alaska, but the reproblican's Ronald Wilson Reagan memorial bridge to nowhere is Nation Wide and it's all been accomplished by lying and stagecraft.

Yep, got to hand it to the skeevy bastids. Thanks to their vision and cleverness, our future's so bleak, we've got to wear blinders just to bear the loss. After 1001 reproblican candidates' dog and pony lie-fests where the argument is over whether grabbing one's ankles is the proper position to assume for receiving the next dose of reproblican solutions. But hey, this time they MEAN it! That other stuff? That's the old reproblican way. Get ready for the new stuff!

When they've successfully contaminated or destroyed the last remnants of our glory decades, you can thank them as they feel entitled to be thanked.

Honesty? It never had a chance. Too many skeletons to hide and sins to eat. In Opposite World, honesty is poison.

Right? Right? Nothing Left!
Always remember, This time it's because teachers and cops and firemen are being paid too much!

2012-01-18T06:06:00.002-06:00

2012-01-18T00:01:00.001-06:00

Laugh Out Loud Funny (And So True!)

2012-01-13T14:10:00.000-06:00

Running On The Record -OR- Crawlin' From The Wreckage

2012-01-10T07:39:00.002-06:00

Over the objections and obstructions of rabid conservatives, protectionists, projectionists, racists, strict constitutionalists, fundamentalists, elementaryists, secessionists and full-blown batshit crazy loons, it was American Socialism that dragged this country from the depths of the Great Depression, put it back to working together, secured the freedoms, propelled the American economic boom and fulfilled the "toward a more perfect union" foundations. It was American Socialism that "won the war", that united our common goals and ideals, that fully embraced the concept that we are in this together. Publish or perish.

We went on record with our beliefs that freedom and opportunity and determination of a determined nation is the most powerful force known to man. The Atomic Bomb may have shortened the war, but American Socialism WON it.

Success did not dissuade the above mentioned from their disproven beliefs. They didn't join up. They didn't unite. Throughout the war they continued their opposition. American Socialism forced them, grudgingly, to contribute to the effort and actively tempered their greed and profiteering through public humiliation and confiscatory penalties for their breaches of trust. Power they had abused was stripped from them and transferred back to the people. They were allowed to keep the bulk of their wealth, but were forced to pay fairly for their privilege.

That is our history. That is our legacy. That is what the conservative movement has co-opted and corrupted. They didn't change with the times. They didn't admit they were wrong. They looked for ways to profit. They actively recruited ambitious wannabes for the cause. While most of the country went back to work, married, had children, raised families and built communities, they remained focused and loyal to their disproven scheme and made it pay off.

Using position and power they systematically set out to rewrite history and make themselves the heroes of our story. They were roundly laughed at by anyone who remembered, but they persisted. They made little inroads. They incrementally influenced how the public was informed. They carried out acts of sabotage upon the workings of government, diverting and redirecting its attention through hyped up fear and their carefully crafted fictions. They maintained their history parallel to ours.

They built an army and over time, we forgot enough of our own history that it became blurred with the fiction. It happened incrementally. It happened while what was said and what was being done were diametrically different. It happened by using the combined efforts of all against us, for the benefit of the few. It was fueled by liquidating the shared assets of our nation. The whole time saying "Trust us, we know what we're doing. We're saving you from evil socialism."

That's the record. That's the lie. That's the ONLY truth that can salvage what was built by pure American Socialism; providing shared resources for the benefit of ALL.
All the rewriting,lying, shift, switch and shaft takings falls in the light of truth.

Their topsy-turvy revisionism can't stand up to REAL scrutiny. They had it all declared LEGAL? The CHANGED the laws? Do you really think that can stand up in a court of Law? Isn't about time we filed suit to find out?

Wedges and Levers and Strings Oh My! -OR- To Be A Fly On The Wall...

2012-01-06T04:20:00.000-06:00

THUD! Ah, there's that other other shoe. Is it a sensible conservative black wingtip? A Jackboot? or just a red velvet slipper type of thing?

Chicago's Francis Cardinal George, speaking for his archdiocese's millions of Roman Catholics, taken at his word, considers "Gay Activism" to be comparable to the KKK?
"You don’t want the Gay Liberation Movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism," the Cardinal said.
Removed of the irony of robes and pointy headwear, Cardinal George has exposed his undeniable Chicago roots, intolerance, sensibilities and upbringing. In a vast metropolis whose areas and neighborhoods are still deeply identified by in which parish/church its residents reside, turf battles are nothing new.

The Chicago Gay Pride 2012 parade controversies have ramped up several notches. An earlier start time, a different route and several other negotiated changes have kicked off a very public pissing match. Because of the change in route, the parade will now pass directly in front of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, on a SUNDAY, at NOON, in the Lakeview neighborhood. The church is worried about traffic problems?
Its parishioners will not have convenient valet parking? It's not as though OLMC is
a revered shrine, or that there aren't alternate Catholic churches within spitting distance in any direction, so it must be OLMC's weekly collections that is at risk?
Surely there could be an internal archdiocese auditing credit that would ease the cashflow crunch? Maybe the parish could erect skyboxes and premium viewing platforms for attendees? In years past, with a 2 pm parade start on Halsted Street, the church's parking was packed like sardines and used to generate income. Maybe it's that loss that is being lamented?

Chicagoans with their vague, candy-coated fears and loathings are frantically trying to keep up with 2012 scheduling challenges. A relatively mild winter so far has left the local media with time to fill. Instead of storm watches, field reports of road conditions, accidents and the annual "saving of the parking space with lawn furniture" dibsies olympics, they've filled the time with details on 2012 scheduling. By all reports, road construction is not the big worry this summer.

In fact, Chicago is emerging, once again, as an epicenter for the airing of grievance. Occupy Chicago is already here. Wobblies, Anarchists, Socialists, Communists and hundreds (thousands) of National SIGs have Chicago offices.
Groups are mobilizing for The G8 and NATO summits in May. You may want to either give this area a comfortably wide berth or make your plans to join in the festivities. It is shaping up to be quite the exercise in advanced citizenship. What could possibly go wrong?

To that, Mayor Rahm and his top-cop have upped their game too. Plans, contingency plans, emergency plans, response plans, intelligence, surveillance, free-speech rules and zones...

Call your travel agent. A landslide of Chicagoans already are. They've done the math.
Disorder will be preserved! Another perfect storm is gathering. Come to Chicago to be heard? herded?

From the distal reach of the 'L', it'll be a easy commute.

Dr. Strangelove Redux -OR- Drizzle, Drazzle, Drozzle, Drone, Drone, Drone...

2012-01-04T06:50:00.006-06:00

Appealing to the repellant? The density of matter? The pitter-patter of closed minds?
The rejection election?

So far, the only trend on display in the 2012 POG Goat Rodeo is the extent to which large swaths of our democracy have failed to thrive. Has the scorched earth strategy upon which the Party of God ascended finally run out of earth? Will they ever say "Oops, Nevermind"? Oh Hell no! Drill baby drill. Dig baby dig. Hate baby HATE!

The job's not done? What job is that? What is the lofty dream of shared toil and sacrifice that's not been shot full of holes? Which lie has not been belied?

This insane dismantlement, fueled by the life savings of millions, for the short-sighted, short-term greed of a bunch of petty, jealous, vindictive sociopaths has reached its logical end. The chips are down, the cow is empty. The only remaining ready fuel are the bodies of the undeserving.

The strange thing is either the belief that this result is somehow good and natural or that a solid 17.3% of the "base" don't recognize where they are being led. They don't seem to mind that their candidates are completely devoid of workable solutions.
They've gotten exactly what they've voted for in successive elections, but somehow the ultimate goal is still out of reach?

Yeah, that's a winner!

What's In A Name -OR- Why I Call It Opposite World

2012-01-03T04:20:00.002-06:00

h/t: Ronald Reagan Was A Horrible President
How did I miss this site until now?

History. Teachers, Period. -OR- When Will We Ever Learn

2012-01-02T04:20:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year. Happy Leap Year. Happy Election Year.
Buzz...Click...Reset...
Hey, wait just a cotton-pickin' minute. I've seen this crap before.
Null signal...
The whole point of recycling is to keep USEFUL stuff out of the landfills.

Does anyone actually still believe that the nightmare we're living is the result of some liberal dream world run amok? That is...besides the people who think humans and dinosaurs lived harmoniously in the same gated subdivisions?

Use your elementary skills. These two pictures represent 44 years of our "leadership". How are they alike? How are they different?

Which of these represent a liberal point of view?

People Helping People -OR- What I Gain From Blogging

2011-12-29T14:53:00.002-06:00

Batocchio over at Vagabond Scholar has done it again. He's carrying on a tradition begun by Al Weisel. Al blogged under the name Jon Swift and was about the best friend a small blog could possibly have. When the big blogs and aggregators circled their wagons and tried to monetize their status, they stranded dozens of small blogs in their wake. Linking and sharing among blogs and bloggers built networks around these hubs. Jon was quick to respond denouncing the power grab and stepping up his own efforts to build on the linking and sharing community.

One of his ideas was an annual "Best Of" list submitted by the small blog authors themselves. He compiled the list, published it on his blog and encouraged others to do likewise while adding their own favorites.

When Jon passed away, his grand idea could have died with him, but didn't. Batacchio would not let that happen. He took up where Jon left off and compiled the list as a memorial to Al/Jon. I've added sidebar links to the 2007-2011 lists and encourage one and all to use them liberally. You'll find wit, charm, snark, detailed information, well-deserved smack-downs, and no shortage of fine writing among each year's participants.

Leave comments for the things you like and, if it's within your budget, help out the bloggers who've put out a tip jar. Pay it forward. Bookmark a few favorites and remember to go back. It beats the hell out of watching tv or wading the shallows of Twitter/Facebook.

Pax.

2011 Lowlights -OR- Jaw Dropping Nastiness

2011-12-28T04:20:00.001-06:00

Exhibit A:

The Professional Left Top Ten Lies of 2010

2011-12-27T04:20:00.000-06:00

D r i f t g l a s s& Blue Gal during their Pre-Christmas Podcast presented this list (with further elaboration). Driftglass was kind enough to put up the list as a stand-alone post.

It's such a perfect list that I won't despoil their production with further commentary at this point, but I do intend to mine this vein. Mainly because we're
stuck at these points on every debate we should be having. For 2012 and beyond, we need to end this undeserved advantage the P.O.G. has wrongly insisted is rightfully theirs.

1. It matters if you’re wrong.
Club members never have to worry about being wrong.

2. It matters if you’re right.
Non-Club members are virtually never be credited for being right. The closest we come is that sometimes -- 5 or 10 or 20 years after the fact -- convention Beltway Wisdom will slowly submit to the relentless badgering of Reality, reverse itself (while taking infinite care not to hold any of the advocates of the Old Lie account) and recongeal around the what has been the Dirty Hippie position all along. At no point will Beltway brain wizards ever admit they had been wrong all along (see lie #1.)

3. Big Media is a disinterested observer and reporter in the political process.

4. There is no governing elite.

5. The Republican Party’s priority is family values.
It's all IOKIYAR all the time when it comes to sex, power and hypocrisy.

6. Centrism!

7.Most Americans are independents.
Bullshit. Most Americans are not interested in politics at all, or are afraid to discuss it, or list themselves as "Independent" for a variety of mutually contradictory reasons ("The 'Independent' Granfalloon").

8. There is a free market.
Ha! Any pretense of a free market has been abandoned by big business who use their almost unlimited economic power to stack the government in their favor (for example, BOA President saying “we have a right to make a profit.”)

9. Voting is a privilege not a right.

10. Voting doesn't matter.
Ha! If voting didn't matter, the GOP would not be spending billions of dollars to stop you from doing it.

Too Much To Ask? Really?

2011-12-25T10:25:00.001-06:00

Thinklings -OR- Random WTFs

2011-12-22T08:52:00.003-06:00

Accepting a smaller life to enable already unequaled privilege and comfort is the new America for which Ronald Wilson Reagan has been canonized.

Blaming our present clusterfucks on dirty fucking hippies who've had less than zero power or influence EVER is either the best or worst marketing campaign in history.

Cashing in the chips and chits of a dozen generations should have required more than a wave of the flag.

Keeping an electorate busy trying to make sense out of nonsense is apparently a winning strategy.

The "Both sides do it" false equivalency perpetuates both sides doing what it is they do.

The party affiliation applicable to most of the electorate is the "Whatever" party.
Having voted consistently, with futility, for things to make sense, they've been rewarded with even more of the same.

Politically, a missed opportunity is as good as a light year at our present speed making any advertised destination impossible to reach.

The attributes generally assigned to and largely accepted for our current political leanings are 180° from reality. This is either a deliberate or delusional condition.

The demonized "Tax and Spend" ways and means, historically, have a far more respectable record of checks and balance than our glorified "Tax Cut and Spend"
ways and means.

Math is tricksy. If you know, with confidence, that you can steal a billion, not go to jail, and return less than pennies on the dollar, the line to get some of that will never end.

A man can spend a life pretending to do good deeds, but sodomize one child and that's all that anyone will know.

Thank you for playing our game.

Otherwise Occupied -OR- Take A Break

2011-12-21T12:34:00.002-06:00

After careful study of the calendar, lunar cycles and list of things in need of doing, it has been concluded that there's just no time for thought or mashing words together until they resemble a coherently expressed idea. Therefore, in keeping with the spirit of the season and the occupy movement, Occupy Mayberry, is deemed appropriate as long as you're mindful of the subtle racism in this recognized American treasure. Surely Mayberry had at least one black family? Even "It's a Wonderful Life" had Lillian Randolph.

Here's hoping you find a minute or five to enjoy and reflect in the frenzied days ahead.

Happy Hanukkah. Shalom

2011-12-20T11:26:00.001-06:00

All Aboard!!! -OR- Overture, Prelude, Fanfare or Calliope?

2011-12-19T07:02:00.004-06:00

Exit. Cuckoo for cocoa puffs all the way. Stage Right

There is an old saw about deaths occurring around the holidays. That something in the human spirit, or lack thereof, greases the wheels for some people. While it's doubtful that Kim Jong Il attached any import to the symbolism of Christian holidays, he was astute enough to grasp the timing of the West's news cycles.

Many pundits and scholars will milk the Il cow sensing opportunity. In the end, that's what drives our newsinfotainment outlets. How Il upstages and overshadows the death of Vaclav Hovel is purely a corporate decision. If an actual celebrity with a vast library of footage kicks off between now and Sunday, Both Il and Havel will move to a footnote in the notable passings of 2011 year end wrap-ups. Perhaps lumped together because of Andy Rooney.

This has become our continuum. Our conditioning allows others to determine the amount and quality of information we receive. They report; we decide? Everything's changing? Nothing has changed? Short-attention span kabuki?

In general we remain on a treadmill of unchanging scenery. Still a ball of confusion.

Occupy the Kitchen -OR- Domestication

2011-12-18T15:14:00.003-06:00

It's crunch time! Every surface of the kitchen has some element of food in varying stages of preparation. The oven is cranking out mini-loaves on Sara Lee scale. I'm not sure the sleigh can carry it all, but the smells are amazing.

Happy Birthday Frank Zappa. See you next Zappadan*.

*Assuming the Mayans are wrong about the end of the world and/or the SOPA bill doesn't restrict online activity to only officially sanctioned bits and bytes.

My Future State Rep? -OR- Pol Asks; Please! Indict ME!?

2011-12-17T04:20:00.000-06:00

We be Pirate Country! We here in Twp 39 North, Crook County, Illinois are just heading into the next primary election cycle. With the legacy of pay to play, elected privilege, opposition retribution, sleazy dealings (all legal of course!), cronyism, cover-ups, voter apathy,disqualification,intimidation,fraud, andonandon you'd think the list of indictments would be just as long. But Proviso Township only rarely attracts the attention of our legal watchdogs. This video clearly shows how things work. It's just politics... Scummy, community destroying, corruption plagued politics that are seemingly coated in teflon and kevlar.

Proviso Employees Perform Political Work on Taxpayer's Dime: MyFoxCHICAGO.com

The candidate in this incident is making his second run at a seat in the state legislature from his current position as President of the failed institution locals call Proviso High School District 209. He controls a board majority, so he decides who shares in the $80 million annual budget's "discretionary" bonanza.

His list of accomplishments, education wise, are funding creation of a magnet high school via bond sales to bypass voter approval, then funding the schools operations out of the budget for the two existing campuses. Last year he fired all of the Principals for a shot at "Race To The Top" funding and to avoid the NCLB consequences of failing to meet standards. Provisos East and West are textbooks for how to run "good enough for them schools of last resort.

The district Chris Welch is running to represent has no media coverage to speak of, it spans all or parts of 15 communities just west of the city. An inner-ring frontier that still has many charms. The lack of press limits exposure to the ugly to the point that you can almost ignore it. Easily, a majority of the residents are blissfully ignorant to who's running things or the bizarre things that they do.

The obvious question is why anyone would live in this ongoing nightmare. I don't think I have a rational explanation for that except location, location, location.
Anyone with means simply bypasses the scum and hopes that somebody does something about it. That hope is mostly half-hearted since things have been this way for a long, long time. Despite the nonsense, it's still a mostly good place to live. Civic pride is compensated for by great neighbors who share the faint hope that things will be fixed...soon...eventually and then things will be perfect!

Well Said... Mostly. There was that one thing... you screwed up royally, but all in all... Well played sir.

2011-12-16T08:42:00.003-06:00

“I became a journalist because I did not want to rely on newspapers for information.” ---------Christopher Hitchens 1940 - 2011

Having the Cowardice of One's Convictions? -OR- A Spine, A Spine, My Empire For A Spine

2011-12-16T04:20:00.001-06:00

How is YOUR National Security doing? I only ask because after years of being hammered incessantly over the abject failure of Democrats (still SO need to find that "dripping with disdain" font) to properly address "National Security Issues", I can't help but wonder if those cyclically chanting that mantra have clue one what the term means.

Remember when we were a scrawy, puny nation? Before St. Ronnie led us to the gym and whipped us into shape? When all the cool kids were talking about us wasting our money on welfare instead of warfare? Tossing aggregate amounts around asking what we have to show for it? We shifted our resources to the military and away from people programs. Not that we were going to USE the weapons, only that having those rippling abs and biceps would let us score with every babe on the beach?

How's that working out? In the early 80s I was shouting into the abyss that having armies and armaments all dressed up with no place to go would be too tempting to the saber rattlers to resist trotting out to play with. The scoffing and cackling at that potential was pause for concern. Trust us, you'll see, when we're buff, the world will ~~respect~~ FEAR us. In the mid to late 80s, when my nightmares began to unfold, its justifications were as nonsensical as the "peace through strength" meme had been. But there's no time right NOW to ponder rationales, "TRUST US, when this is over we'll show you the error in your thinking". Their answer was to make sure it was never over. The next newest threat was another democrat hell bent on making us puny again by ignoring our National Security! The compromise reached was to hound and impeach that President so no credit could be taken for the adjustments that actually paid for our adventures through relatively sound fiscal policies. This was no way to destroy Social Security or let Medicare "wither on the vine" or further close the wealth loop... It just didn't serve conservative ideals to have a seemingly functional government capable of reducing debt and building surpluses. Oh noes! We can't possibly allow a street to be paved or a bridge be rebuilt unless we allow "the market" to control who can use that street or cross that bridge. After all, that is what America is all about right Right? The Market is awesome. It can fly! It can levitate. It can function without connection to earthy realities.

This fundamental denial of the laws of a physical universe is the fatal flaw in the incomplete thinking of the Opposite World dogma. It denies that the very things it is sure must be eliminated are the bedrock upon which their dreams are built. They've been convinced that everybody is out to take what they've attained through ONLY their own true grit. And that if everybody just did as they have they too will find Randian utopia. All the good outcomes are due to their absolutely infallible ideology. All of the bad is the fault of non-believers. In short, their way of life is consequence free, waste free, and non-polluting.

Our national security begins at home. Our productivity HAS to FIRST make sure that the footings are stable. That should mean reinforcing the foundation and frameworks, not undermining it or especially not hacking away at key components of the structural integrity.
I don't care what sort of faith-based force field you believe in, without a stable base, there will be no skyscrapers.

Theodore Geissel explained all that in Yertle the Turtle. We really do live in Salamasond. Believe THAT!

Yertle the Turtle by MistyIsland1

Your Kind Attention Please -OR- Big Yellow Taxi in the Loading Zone!

2011-12-14T12:38:00.002-06:00

Following on the previous post, understand that in Opposite World, ANTI-(anything) means pro-advantage to not us. The SOPA bill has NOTHING to do with piracy and everything to do with PRIVACY. Just another piece of the plan.

Curiouser and Curiouser -OR- On Thin Ice

2011-12-14T09:08:00.002-06:00

Just so we're straight...The Newt is surging? There is an almost elegant Opposite World symmetry to this. Y'all remember that we're living in Opposite World now don't you? Well, nobody has been more instrumental in molding, shaping and framing the transformation to Opposite World than ol' Newt. He is positively vainglorious about his responsibility in the switcheroo and of course, this being Opposite World it's all the fault of those people for not accepting the natural superiority of Newt's thinking on all matters.

Newt's DNA, muddy bootprints and fingerprints are on and around every single I.E.D. that has propelled this country's long strange trip into O.W.. From filibuster, gridlock and malaise in his rookie year to our present dysfunction, Newt's been there to frame the debate and assign the blame 180° from its source.

His rise and fall and rise eclipse Nixonian in scope and grandeur. His tap-dancing on the mass graves of the American Dream is nothing short of Faustian. His ability to distance himself from the rotting detritus of his wake, the cock-sure aplomb and bombast of his Newtspeak, his pseudonymous imputation of single-minded purpose to his GOPAC movement and his Svengali-like implantation and erasure of historical facts make Newt one bad political motherfucker.

Because this is opposite world, these traits are not negatives, they are his charm.
He rises, not despite, but because of his larger-than-life crafted mythology. He employs Jedi-like powers of ~~persuasion~~ mind-confusion until nothing is certain except his certainty.

He is driven by every wedgie and swirly he most certainly had to endure growing up. His is the retribution of the nerds who even the nerds thought were assholes. His vast experience crafting imaginary alternate worlds where he was in control, inexplicably, made the transition to reality and we've all been affected by the consequences. Because it's OW, he's the bully now. It's all right there in his history books

This time, he promises not to let it go to his head.
Forget all about his official transcript on promises. He has granted himself blanket permission to revise, twist, bend, alter, erase, sanitize and purify the record and isn't afraid to use it.

That makes him the OW logical choice.

Bed Strangefellows -OR- Hot Rats!

2011-12-13T04:20:00.000-06:00

Why I choose to celebrate Zappadan. Despite the ham-handed interviewer, the candor, clarity of thought, purpose and understanding make FZ unique. Who is his equal today?
Is it safe? Who should decide?

Pointless? Meaningless? -OR- Take Good Care

2011-12-12T04:20:00.000-06:00

In still further evidence that it's not that our children aren't learning, it's what they are being taught by the so-called adults they witness. Traditional measures no longer apply.

Education is a sum of one's experience, not just what schools provide. Regardless of the quantity, quality or traditional acceptance of knowledge imparted in a classroom setting, it is in the real world translation and application, where that information stands or falls as valid or valuable.

Given: Hard work is rewarded?

Maybe on a philosophical, zen level, but in the meat world? Opposite. Hard work is a relative concept? Different strokes for different folks? How can such a universally accepted fundamental have become so malleable? Why, if this is a guiding principle in our society, isn't there someone, somewhere paying more than lip service to the issue?

Hard work may be rewarding, internally, but external recognition and reward? No longer a hard and fast rule. More and more becoming the exception rather than.
Our language has changed regarding value and worth, the underlying truth has not.
Still, when one looks up from his/her toils, the supposed goal remains elusive.
This isn't a new phenomena, it's purely a class struggle. Our ancestors have faced
imbalance and fairness problems at every age of mankind. Through trial and error, direct and indirect action, by treaty, contract and agreement, some semblance of balance can be achieved, but only through vigilance and constant reinforcement can it be maintained.

When fundamental "givens" are ignored, altered or squelched... discomfort, anger and, if necessary, violence are necessary to restore satisfaction. That is what drives our society. A pure ratio between satisfaction and dissatisfaction can be measured and our lives are affected by the delicate balance. But what happens when methods that formerly contained and tempered the effects are systematically rendered inoperable or ineffective? IMO, that's where we stand today. Most are seeking an appropriate response when faced with the array of problems and level of wrong in their daily grind. Accommodations we neither approved nor accepted, that should be unable to sustain, are still presented as part of the deal; As how things have always been despite certainty that they have not.

Given: Ingenuity is rewarded?

This one too has been breached. Whence once upon a time, a diligent, methodical type could cobble together a design, build a prototype, start-up on a shoestring with help from independent financiers, that model is no longer viable. The legal work alone assures that most efforts are usurped, co-opted and taken over by opportunists. They've merged, acquired and consolidated the process to the point that only rarely does something fall through the cracks to become the next big thing.
The "idea radar" sounds the alarm and ingestion/assimilation minions assure that whatever the development, it will be controlled and influenced by and for only the people who matter.

Keymasters and gatekeepers are strategically positioned. Very little slips past them.

A growing number are reacting to this "new" landscape and playing field with a mixture of shock and dismay. They seem genuinely surprised that the rules have changed so much from their understanding and expectations of just a few years ago.
Was it only a few years ago when the good times were going to last forever? When there were serious discussion about whether paying off our national debt was "good policy"? When the skies were the limit and the limit was the sky? No, I guess it was more than a few years ago. Way back in the year 2000! Remember? Projected surpluses that would pay off the debt as early as 2010? Whaaaaaaaaaaaat??! You DON'T remember? Haven't heard shit about anything like that EVER? Here it is. Read it and weep. Where was the tea party for THAT?

How do we go from debt free to projections of likely owing $20 TRILLION by the end of this decade? And why can't we seem to reconcile the discrepancy? We didn't lose trillions of dollars. We gave it away. Easy Peasy. We gave away money we didn't have
to people who didn't need it. Sure, they WANTED it, but by no measure did they NEED it. But we didn't stop there. We also spent a boatload more that we didn't have on disposable commodities like bombs and missiles and soldiers. Oops, I did it again.
How dare I!

Sick? Twisted? Demented? -OR- Nah, Just Frank!

2011-12-11T07:42:00.003-06:00

Another telltale of Opposite World would most certainly be that what is benign is framed as dangerous, and what is potentially lethal is posed as not just mostly, but completely, harmless.
War = Harmless.
Peace = Dangerous.
Music = Dangerous
Unchecked Power = Harmless
Got it? Check.

On the 8th Day of Zappadan 2011, we should ponder the difficulties faced when people are inoculated against anything containing contradiction to the message and how malleable the craftsmanship behind the message can be.

The bulk of FZ's music was conceived outside of the mainstream cauldron. It was written from a perspective that was not of the culture or even of the counter-culture. It was written for thought, not action. The most widely known FZ lyrical works happened to intersect with current or timeless events with which the listener was familiar, some reflect recurrent and even redundant mistakes to which we humans are subjected. He removed the margins and reacted to what he found. Deep shit.

Lumpy Gravy Yum! -OR- Yeah, Another Zappadan Treat!

2011-12-10T04:20:00.001-06:00

What is Lumpy Gravy you ask? Why not let Studs Terkel himself ask Frank himself for the answer? Okay. Good Idea!

Bwahahahahahahaha!

Busy Day Hall Decking -OR- It's Looking Like Christmas Threw Up All Over the Place

2011-12-09T22:04:00.002-06:00

Two years ago at Christmas, my daughter arrived home for the holidays. She walked into the house, dropped her bags and held her hands up to her eyes, mimicking holding binoculars, she panned around as she walked through the house, saying "Yep, Christmas".
I was intrigued so I asked her what she was doing. She said "Dad, everywhere I look it's Christmas. It's like Christmas threw up all over our house!"

Now I was a little miffed. I don't feel our decorating is over the top at all. It's certainly not Clark Griswold Christmassy. I don't have an inflatable Homer ~~Simpson~~ Santa, a Polk Bros. plastic Santa or anything oversize at all. There's garland and ornaments and lights and stuff... and the theme does include the living room, dining room, tv room, foyer, kitchen and bathroom on the first floor, but doesn't everybody's?

Then she said, "No Dad, it's a GOOD thing!" ... and it was.

So this year, like every year of her life, our house says Merry Christmas to one and all. Tomorrow is ornament day. The 37th December 10th on which the ornaments go on the tree. No fanfare, just Pizza and family.

Peace.

Just My Imagination, Running Away With Me-OR- ==TILT==

2011-12-08T16:20:00.000-06:00

Who is the voice in your head? The one that alerts you to bullshit.
The one you listen to most often. The one that you sometimes overrule only to find out you should have listened. Yeah, that one. Who is it? Have you even considered the voice? We all have one. It has many names; performs many functions. Conscience, Moral Compass, Bullshit Detector, Danger Signal, Advisor...

I have a head full and today two of them share a stage.

Remembering -OR- When Madness Rules Unquestioned

2011-12-07T16:20:00.000-06:00

Today marks the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. The defining moment of the last half of the last century. Few people saw the actual event as it happened. Within days everybody knew enough to understand what had transpired. We could no longer ignore what was happening on the other side of the world.

Over the next 4 years we changed the world. We joined forces with our natural allies to defeat megalomania and restore the peace that had been shattered.

As we remember the event, honor the victims and appreciate the accomplishments of all who sacrificed to reach V-E and V-J days, it seems wise not to allow this day to be used to justify any more than that. We were attacked. We responded. We fought for each other in hopes of returning to our American way of life.

It's also important to fully appreciate the thinking of our attackers. Their belief in their superiority. Their iron-fisted leadership based on delusions and propaganda willed their subservient followers to the otherwise unthinkable.

Our whole country went to war with one purpose. To stay alive. To end it as quickly as possible, by whatever means necessary, so as to get back to more productive lives and live in peace.

It's also important to consider what might have happened if the Japanese military hadn't made this fatal miscalculation. Without Pearl Harbor, our non-involvement would have had dire consequences that are unfathomable.

It was a terrible price to pay and a terrible lesson to learn. Today is our reminder. We should heed the lesson and show that we've learned.

My Sentiments Exactly -OR- Things He Said, But Couldn't Say

2011-12-07T04:20:00.000-06:00

"Better look around before you say you don't care, Shut your fuckin' mouth about the length of my hair, How would you survive IF you were alive? Shitty little person."

I stuffed this quote away after last year's Zappadan had passed, when I hadn't figured a way to work it in. I've disremembered where I ran across it along with the story of how Verve Records insisted that the lines be changed. You won't hear the lyric on We're Only In It For The Money's "Mother People". Instead we got "Lemme take a minute and tell you my plan, Lemme take a minute and tell who I am, If it doesn't show, Think you better know, I'm another person".

I was 14 in August of 1969 when I saw FZ at the Aragon Ballroom. I was just a kid, but no longer a child. That had been taken care of the previous August during the Democratic convention; witnessing LAW & ORDER up close. Being an "L" rat and street smart meant I could go places and do things. Seeing Frank Zappa was important to me.

I wore that record out. So there I was singing along having a great time when suddenly he wasn't singing what he was supposed to. The chorus above sounds about right for what I heard and I remember thinking it made more sense.

Do it again!
Do it again!

We are the other people
We are the other people
You're the other people too
Found a way to get to you...
Do you think that I'm crazy?
Out of my mind?
Do you think that I creep in the night
And sleep in a phone booth?
Lemme take a minute & tell you my plan
Lemme take a minute & tell who I am
If it doesn't show
Think you better know
I'm another person
Better look around before you say you don't care,
Shut your fuckin' mouth about the length of my hair,
How would you survive IF you were alive?
Shitty little person.
Do you think that my pants are too tight
Do you think that I'm creepy?
Lemme take a minute & tell you my plan
Lemme take a minute & tell who I am
If it doesn't show
Think you better know
I'm another person
Better look around before you say you don't care,
Shut your fuckin' mouth about the length of my hair,
How would you survive IF you were alive?
Shitty little person.

We are the other people
We are the other people
You're the other people too
Found a way to get to you
We are the other people
We are the other people
You're the other people too
Found a way to get to you
Do you think that I love you...
Stupid & blind?
Do you think that I dream through the
Night
Of holding you near me?

Lemme take a minute & tell you my plan
Lemme take a minute & tell who I am
If it doesn't show
Think you better know
I'm another person

Better look around before you say you don't care,
Shut your fuckin' mouth about the length of my hair,
How would you survive IF you were alive?
Shitty little person.

Yep. Where we were is where we are. Everything is different, but nothing has changed.
Written in 1968; written this morning. We are still the other people for whom concern is unworthy. Shitty little people are still calling the shots, making the rules and getting away with it. Now it is the shitty little sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of 1969's shitty little people. The pool has widened a little, but it's no deeper now. Dick Cheney entered politics in 1968, working for Nixon and helping to conjure up a "silent majority" who shilled for the shitty little people.

This is the maddening aspect of the blame game aimed at "Liberal Ideology". For roughly 40 years before `68, there was a progressive movement to which America moved and shook. In its waning phase, several key progressive components were attempted. Only one truly succeeded. That was Medicare. Its success is wholly owed to the success of Social Security. Therein lies the rub. Medicare was a Republican ruse. It did the right thing, just not the right way and certainly not for the right reason.
Medicare came into being as a devil's bargain to prevent the more progressive (and logical) movement for Universal Health Care. By granting UHC to seniors and funding it with heretofore untouchable Social Security Trust Funds, the Conservative movement won their first major battle and shifted the balance in their favor.

With Nixon's election there was an influx of "pure" conservatives into positions of oversight and direction where they could control funding. Now that the cork on SS had been popped, it was open season. Anything that hastened the draining could be funneled to assure maximum flow for diminishing results, which would require additional taps into the reservoir.

I've made conscious choices not to become a shitty little person. Even as I watched people I thought I knew take the bait and become just like them. I've paid a price for my choices. I've watched in a mixture of horror and bemusement as the tables were turned and all that had been attained, built and saved has been redistributed according to the Randian model. Using our shared sacrifices and investments to bankroll the operation. Easy come, easy go?

This Zappadan is yet another chance to come to our senses. To realize we've been had.
To stop accepting the mountain of excuses for our perceived decline and begin the process of restoring actual, equitable law and reasoned order to our lives. We are lucky, I suppose, to have prevented the worst of the repressive movement on our daily lives, but the incremental losses have only quickened as we've moved further and further from our stated goals. Yet another tipping point. Who better than one of the brightest observers of our dysfunction to show us the way?

I understand that we're supposed to be in the Christmas ceasefire, but sleaze never ceases. The torturers NEVER stop. They use our lulls and distractions to redouble and retrench. It's long past time that we do the same and fight back with purpose.

Early Fan Mail? -OR- Necessity

2011-12-06T04:20:00.000-06:00

These Mothers is crazy. You can tell by their clothes. One guy wears beads and they all smell bad. We were gonna get them for a dance after the basketball game but my best pal warned me you can never tell how many will show up...sometimes the guy in the fur coat doesn't show up and sometimes he does show up only he brings a big bunch of crazy people with him and they dance all over the place. None of the kids at my school like these Mothers...specially since my teacher told us what the words to their songs meant.

Sincerely forever,
Suzy Creamcheese
Salt Lake City, Utah.

FZ penned the above for the back cover of the "Freak Out" album giving birth to a recurring character that he wove into both his stage act and subsequent albums. He gave Suzy life. Nourished, supported and promoted her "career". Suzy was an idea. A plaything, a stage prop, a fictional character. There are three or four known women who filled the SC role and suspect thousands who helped feed and inspire the anecdotal amalgam of MOI and FZ's roadies.

Two Stinky Tootsies -OR- On the Second Day of Zappadan

2011-12-05T12:20:00.000-06:00

Douse the Halls With Anti-Psychotics -OR- Speaking Of Turkeys...

2011-12-05T04:20:00.003-06:00

As a species we are positively Pavlovian! And the incessant bells sure are ringing! Pack all your troubles in matched Gucci bags and smile smile smile? Nowhere is the affliction more evident than the image/message schism contained in our media diet.
Try to watch serious news. Hell, try to FIND serious news.

Yeah, it's kinda out there. For each and every "serious" news story we get instant ~~interpretation~~ obfuscation of what it all means from people with questionable bonafides; only sometimes pithy insights, colorful allegories and a bushel of "on the other hand" clatter. OR you get absolutely nothing at all; no context, shallow sourcing, dangling, dodgy principi, unconfirmed reports, raw footage of raw sewerage.

Lots of stories about the fiscal battles over government spending. How the congresscritters are gridlocked over how to deal with the crisis. How "we" have to get serious about this budget destroying item or that... This is immediately followed by a) ads for medicare approved suppliers of medical supplies that you can have if you qualify... AT NO COST TO YOU!!!

Important to note in the ongoing saga is that the money that we supposedly do not have is still being spent without alteration of its purpose or destination. Who do you suppose profits from that arrangement? The divvying up continues unabated. How long have we been locked into our present payout process? Shift, Switch and Shaft has been closing the money loop since the implementation of our so-called Great Society programs was hijacked by a mindset that strived for only minimal chance of success. Then, as now, it allowed, without question, due to its stated goals, spending without accountability and an open-ended ability to direct its resources to solutions without problems while actual problems went begging. We paid cash for our addictions, but put our responsibilities on lay-away. Who's minding the store? How are they fundamentally different from junkies and sots? Yet we elevate and esteem the former and demonize the latter for their human weaknesses?

They pretend that it's different, but it's not. They talk about tough choices that aren't really. It IS more important to feel good than to look good. Function always trumps form. Shed of its edifice and adornments, we have a shot. Insisting that the window dressing is essential is self-delusional destructive farce that perpetuates, prolongs, deepens the pits of our despair. If you're breathing clear air, you're standing on piles and piles of equally deserving, productive fellow Americans up to their pates in the offal of your comforts, yet you're told not to look down. You don't want to do that! If you did, you might see where you are and how you got there.

Zappadan 2011 -OR- Come Here Often? I'm A Leo...

2011-12-04T00:01:00.000-06:00

Bummernacht

With a big ol lie
And a flag and a pie
And a mom and a bible
Most folks are just liable
To buy any line
Any place, any time

Just who do they really
Suppose that they are?
And how do they manage to travel as far
As they seem to have come?
Were we really that dumb?

People, wake up
Figure it out
Religious fanatics
Around and about
The Court House, The State House,
The Congress, The White House

If only we had listened. For verily, it has come to pass.
Having been scoffed at, dismissed, marginalized and otherwise mistreated for daring to speak out loud "the Christers are coming, the Christers are coming", it is with only minimal feigned interest that I listen to today's epiphanists.

Don't get me wrong, I still want to pants them and send them back to their synthetic righteousness at a distance from everything save their soul-saving, Except what would have/could have been PREVENTED now involves trying to raise an army of exterminators and untold collateral damage.

Whereas if we just let them finish their Jubilee, we have only to pick up the pieces.
with full, if not permanent, immunity from yet another recurrence.

Bummernacht.

Stuck Between Hope and Doubt -OR- Finding A Restore Point

2011-12-02T04:20:00.000-06:00

It should go without saying that, in Opposite World, the search for cogent analysis, or what passes for thought in and among the Villager realm requires an ability to look beneath and sdrawkcab klat.

It's not so much "Everything you know is wrong". Only that what you know is out of context, rehashed, untethered, incomplete, upside-down, inside-out and backwards, but always circular; ever bending, twisting, turning to right. To the excoriation of all else. They happily grind our bones to make their bread.

What is fundamentally different now than it was? This is a serious and important, crucial even, elementary question in restoring our individual and societal equilibrium.

So what is the restore point for sanity? When was it that we broke from "the rules" and began this walk on the wild side? When did crazy talk supplant reason?

Scholars may disagree, but we'd never know. We don't let scholars do more than hawk their latest biography of Millard Filmore in view of the public. When you ask this question of the A-List villagers who've become the default de facto spokespeople for EVERYTHING, they will respond in unison that it was January 20th, 2009. If you press them about anything that transpired prior to that, they get all nostalgic and Reagany, while ignoring, dissembling and tap dancing past the mass graveyards of their policy debacles. I won't link to examples, it only encourages them. They'll only cite their traffic hits and never mention the pages and pages of comments regularly disproving their assertions.

So what the fuck really happened? Where did it go off the rails?

What if Jimmy Carter wasn't the worst president ever? In thirty-one years we've come to appreciate and admire the work he's done since leaving office, yet we still hold that his administration failed its mission? Sans the workmanlike discrediting and obfuscation attached to his claimed feeble attempts to serve as ringmaster, what was his short-coming? Wanting an honest and workable plan for sustainable, renewable, alternative energy? Brokered peace in the Middle East? Trade policies that embraced human rights for workers? "ZERO-based budgeting" to deal with the D.C. bureaucracy? Tax policies that actually encouraged INVESTMENT in American manufacturing? A small, strong, capable, but reasonable, military? Yeah, I know! Cuckoo! A negative eleventy on the PIZAZZ scale. America was at an incongruity crossroads that our language would not encompass. We had some choices to make. Some realities to face. Some adjustments and accommodations to arrange.Something had to give.

The Conservative movement of the time was still stinging from Nixon's unravelment, double digit interest rates,(remember W.I.N.?) and spent its time howling about government growth and spending. James Earl Carter campaigned on re-organizing the government. His efforts were not well received. He faced objection and obstruction at every turn...

Sound familiar? It should. It IS the only play in the playbook for which there has been no defensive adjustment. Bread and butter, fool `em again and keep on running it! It's the evil we dare not speak...

Why?

It's Always Something... -OR- We Interrupt This Comeback...

2011-12-01T07:54:00.003-06:00

Only two more shopping days until Zappadan 2011!
Now, more than ever, we need to celebrate the beacon of freedom Mr. Zappa championed.
I'm a bit torn over jumping the gun on the start of the season, but anticipation is running thick so there's bound to be some earlybirds... Now I've joined them...

When he wasn't thumbing his nose at the mainstream circus, Frank Zappa was providing chewy, nutritious deliciousness to serious musicians and music fans around the world. His efforts in exposing the absurdity and hypocrisy behind the "conservative" movement's demands for command and control over the music industry have been wholly under-appreciated. The stinging humiliation he delivered to the well-funded "law and order" vanguard will be prominently on display during the 2011 celebration. "They" came first for the musicians because they were speaking for and through the masses.
That tactic was not lost on Mr. Zappa. He stepped up and stridently defended ~~his~~ OUR rights.

As usual, FGAQ will
be the center ring and Mark Hoback its Ringmaster. Bloggers of every persuasion will post their own interpretations of the meanings of Zappadan to them and you will be free to add your own reflections in the comments sections.

Because the world continues in FZ's absence, there will not be a halt in coverage of the ongoing ratfuckery and mainstream shilling that our planet off-gasses. There will just be plenty of FZ music and wisdom to provide sadly missing context to the continuing clusterfuck.

Frank Zappa wasn't a hippie in the Wikipedia sense. He wasn't an intellectual in the William F. Buckley sense. He wasn't a revolutionary in the Che sense. He wasn't a radical in the Emma Goldman sense. He wasn't a selfless humanitarian in the Mother Teresa sense. He was a fairly objective spokesperson for life on planet earth. He refused to let all the petty little people use their petty little distractions on folks to gloss over the really big problems their lust for hegemony created.

He sought to foster eqality, societal awareness, human rights, freedom, thought, civil discourse and peace. He tried to warn of the dangers inherent in power. He promoted acceptance of our differences while embracing our shared concerns. He wasn't seeking utopia, only semi-peaceful co-existence.

He was just a more prolific Rodney King. His experience taught him that it weren't "each other" who had a problem getting along. It was those who elevated themselves by driving wedges between us for personal advantage. He wasn't against anything except the abuses of power and privilege he saw squatting on us all. I can't think of a better reason to celebrate. It ain't theirs unless we give it to them. They can make all the ownership claims they like, but our lives are still ours.

Back In The Saddle Again -OR- Fear AND Loathing

2011-11-28T08:07:00.003-06:00

The seasons change. My ambivalence over blogging is on the wane. Intro and retro- spection have re-emerged. The mission I've accepted is improbable...Back to REGULARLY scheduled postings. Whether my take on the outrage de jour is necessary or not, relevant or not, important or not, matter or not, I'm compelled to make the attempt.

The gaps in my missives here have not been empty. I continue to battle pig-stupid short-sighted, borderline redundant assertions on small venue outposts of my immediate surroundings. I observe and report with commentary and interactive dialogue on several local outposts. That's a fancy way of saying I participate in local online forums debating the meaning of life in all of its facets.

The translation of this activity is not easy to summarize for blogging purposes. I prefer the give and take of relative real-time horn-locking. Over time, a few constants persist that mirror the wider circumstances by which we live.

The results are, more often than not, satisfying. I'm able to collect and distill sentiments into cogency for myself. I'm more convinced than ever that our prospects of averting the deliberate and willful destruction of centuries of human progress is still possible. It's simply going to require a lot more show and a lot less tell.

The ability to reassign the proceeds of our long slog as a society, from the catalysts of that progress to those who fought against it all with every fiber of their being, must be cauterized. This is not what we ordered. We have to have the gumption to send it back and get what we deserve. what we signed on for, what we PAID for.

I've maintained, for myself, that the fundamental schism is a programming error. A particularly nasty virus that has metastasized to our entire operating system, corrupting the existing data, overwriting vital information and infecting all new input from all of our peripherals. The outcome is a machine that flat refuses to produce anything but corrupted results.

Because of its IF:THEN predictability, those with the stand-alone resources to stay clear of the consequences are having a field day.

This is meant to be the preface to what must follow. We will see where this goes; together.

The Attitude I Seek -OR- Maximus The Cat

2011-11-27T15:21:00.001-06:00

Censorship Update -OR- Bad News For Obama

2011-11-24T11:10:00.002-06:00

Received an email status update on the Internet Bill.

"The Internet Censorship Bill took a massive beating last week (yeah, you did that!) but drug companies, movie studios and the Chamber of Commerce do *not* go down easy.

Now-- get this-- they're telling Congress it's a "jobs" bill.

This is dangerous. Everyone in Congress is desperate to do something to create jobs. Now the most powerful lobbies in Washington are banging down their doors, saying "this is your (only) chance to pass a jobs bill.""...

FightForTheFuture is fighting the good fight. It's not on the radar for most of us. Bigger fish, wolves at the door, more pressing concerns and all that...

Make no mistake though, the rat-fuckers who've looted, pillaged, plundered, transferred, sacked, buggered, contaminated, usurped, merged, acquired, dissolved, dismantled, despoiled, destroyed, claimed, stolen, purloined, absconded with, switched, shifted and shafted for fun and profit aren't finished. They don't have it all yet. When they're honest with themselves they KNOW their VIP ride will come to an end. They're delusional enough to think that when that day comes, they'll be sitting pretty on their diverse tax-sheltered nest eggs behind their Trusts and incorporated compounds. They've envisioned their "escape".

They think this because, as they've continually shown, they have no grasp of human history. They feel they're smarter than the carpetbaggers, bounders, flim-flammers, snake-oil salesmen, opportunists, conqueror worms, profligate frauds, et al who've plagued humankind throughout recorded history. They'll get away with it this time, because through their pure pluck and ingenuity, THEY did it all nice and legal. They got the courts to rule that their payoffs weren't bribes. Their graft and corruption was according to Hoyle...

So sad; too bad for YOU. Winning! Duh!

And of course, President Obama's seeming inability to effect change is proof of the superiority of their scam. Every roadblock and distraction tossed in the way is enabling the escape plan. The pig stupid fools who've acted as their human shields and shills will stand by them when a reckoning comes.

This "failure" to stem the tide, correct the mistakes, preserve the foundation, hold the line and otherwise deal with our parasitic infestations is yet another example of liberal weakness.

Really?

Some have already plotted their course thinking that disavowing the continued campaign will somehow preserve what they amassed while shilling for it. Yes, I'm looking at you Andrew Sullivan, David Frum and the rest of those who've suddenly epiphanized that "those" people have turned into crazy bastards, but just can't admit that they always were WRONG for America.

Better Days...

So what I am thankful for today is the certain knowledge that this too shall pass and payback is a motherfucker!

Hang tough. When the smoke clears we'll still have history on our side.

When we go progressive, we get unprecedented progress. Each and every time. It may not last, we'll fall into complacency again, but the end is not today. It doesn't belong to them. It's our children's, children's, children's, children's, children's, children's, children's, children's, children's, children's, children's, children's, children's...

Peace!

What In The Wide Wide World of Sports Is A-Goin' On Here? -OR- Big Yellow Taxi Took Away

2011-11-18T10:14:00.002-06:00

I am an anonymous blogger. My reasons have nothing to do with not having the courage to stand up and defend my ideas, except in that I would prefer to do so on a level-playing field. I will stand and deliver to anyone who deigns to pose a question here. Challenge my ideas, not my existence. Anonymously, I don't hide behind the conferred honors or degrees of others that I may or may not possess. You and I are equals. My thinking has been shaped by everything I have experienced, as I've experienced it from myriad sources. I am free to accept or reject the opinions of others without prejudice. I expect NOTHING in exchange for my efforts.

Perhaps if I came from a different place, lived in a different place and interacted with different people, I would see things differently? I don't.

I don't get around as much anymore. I feel no need to travel very far these days. What I once went in search of I find locally or do without. I use the internet for information, research, entertainment, interaction and correspondence. I prefer the freedom and democracy the internet allows.

I've been online longer than most. I've watched online communities built and torn down across decades. I participated in the debates over how we measure progress across virtual platforms. I've lamented the losses each and every time the newest replaces the kludgy but functional old. I've wrestled with those who sought to dominate and control. I've watched the wedges being driven and the splintering that results. I've encouraged continuity and fairness.

Change has been both blessing and curse. Improvements in technology have been dizzying, but I am hardly obsessed or impressed with speed alone. I cheer access. I marvel at the portals at my fingertips. With so many open doors and welcome mats I feel no need to pry my way in to protected areas. I do not fear or automatically suspect the motivations that drive anyone else. I understand, only too well, that there are some who cannot handle their online activities responsibly, but I feel no need to be protected from them by restricting access for all. I vehemently resent being treated like a defenseless child and punished for the actions of others.

I firmly believe in our capacity to distinguish between and deal with benign annoyances as well as the necrotic or malignant who roam our virtual worlds without creating an online police state. As I do in the meat world, I appreciate and support the beneficial influences of reasonable rules and their enforcement. I push back against that which seeks only to control our freedoms.

So where is the problem? How am I a threat?

Visit, frequent, use and support:
American Censorship
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Mozilla
Creative Commons

2011-11-16T13:09:00.000-06:00

Nigel Tuffnel Day -OR- It Coulda Been Good

2011-11-14T04:20:00.001-06:00

Call me a Chicago snob, but I do loves me some WXRT radio; Chicago's elite FM radio station since the DFH "underground radio" days.

On Friday 11/11/11 the station's website offered each of the "on-air personalities" the opportunity to list the eleven songs they crank up to eleven. Cool! Well, briefly cool that quickly devolved into pissed-off anger when I went to the website. Fourteen DJs made their "lists". The website however, didn't print a list. Instead, each of the fourteen was posted one song at a time, complete with YouTube embed of the selection. Twelve clicks to see each DJs list? Not gonna happen. While I appreciate that website clicks and time on site are important for profit based websites, it would have taken hours to plow through the "lists".

So with all due respect to the "Jewel of Chicago Radio", drop dead. I've come to expect that kind of cleverness from senseless empty content providers like Forbes, but I have more than enough semi-productive ways to waste time... While I might have enjoyed the trip, I have to wonder what the fuck was the point? For me it would have been interesting to see the lists side-by-side, see what songs were common to the most lists, what "guilty pleasures" creeped in, what, if any, themes developed etc.
Now we'll never know. Oh well...(shrug)

Somebody might slog through and post a concise unadulterated list of the lists. That person will get clicks and linky love from me, but I won't hold my breath. I'll just make my own list to share with you...
Crank it UP!

1. Heard It Through The Grapevine- CCR (long version)

2. Medicine Jar- Wings

3. Mahler's Symphony #1 Titan

4. Ride The Sky- Lucifer's Friend

5.Thick As A Brick- Jethro Tull

6. Whale Meat Again- Jim Capaldi

7. The Royal Scam- Steely Dan

8. Good Life Shuffle - The Boyzz

9. Bring It On Home To Me- Dave Mason

10. Bohemian Rhapsody- London Horns

11. No Class- W.O.W.

11-11-11 -OR- To Oblivion And Beyond!

2011-11-11T11:11:00.001-06:00

It's Veteran's Day. My Peace Flag is still flying. Making my statement.
Randy Newman said it well.

Song For The Dead
From the Album: "Trouble in Paradise"
(also included on "Guilty")

as prescient now as it was in 1983.

"Deep in the field
A lone soldier stands
With mud on his boot
And blood on his hands
They left him behind
To bury the dead
And to say a few words on behalf of the leadership

Pardon me, boys
If I slip off my pack
And sit for a while with you
I'd like to explain
Why you fine young men had to be blown apart
To defend this mud hole

Now our country, boys
Though it's quite far away
Found itself jeopardized
Endangered, boys
By these very gooks
Who lie here beside you
Forever near
Forever

We'd like to express
Our deep admiration
For your courage under fire
And your willingness to die
For your country, boys
We won't forget
We won't forget"

I don't forget.
I doubt the living veterans we honor today forget either.
It's vital that we remember.
I endorse these words and the questions they evoke.
When it is acceptable to call on the 1% to answer their country's call in
a time of need. Theirs is not to question the need or dismiss the call.
They answer. They pay. We OWE.

Almost There -OR- Dots Connected

2011-11-03T09:10:00.001-05:00

Closing the Loop -OR- Thank You For Playing Our Game

2011-10-28T08:39:00.006-05:00

OWS is not speaking a different language. It is our Mother Tongue.
We've been listening to translation of Opposite World-ese and Corpspeak for so long that our native language just SOUNDS foreign.

The bedrock of the conversations we need to have at this point of our history must be in unambiguous language everyone can understand.

(or we'll do it ourselves and you won't enjoy it.)

No more "Heads we win; Tails you lose."

We will definitely wait, we will not wait indefinitely.

We love peace; we are not pacifist.
Our atrophied collective muscles are beginning to flex again.

BTW, YOUR army? That's us.

Back To Percentages? -OR- Wait Your Turn

2011-10-24T07:57:00.002-05:00

For me, there is rarely a lighter side to this catastro-clusterfuck. Despite the incessant clown-cars, borscht-belt one-liners, zingers and flingers, any mirth to be found is short-lived.

Gotta laugh? Maybe someday, but today isn't that day. I can't tell you how much this sucks. Now don't get me wrong, there are moments, distractions and diversions. Without them and the people who capably provide them, things would be much, much worse. If not for the tides, prevailing winds and under-currents, these brief respites could be enough. If we were headed in a generally acceptable direction, proposing non-draconian plans, not so untethered from our shared desires...

Nope, can't do it today. Just another day doing the best we can UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES as our limited choices become less and less palatable.

Maintaining dissatisfaction beneath a critical mass is an unacceptable goal. Why is that the driving concern?

Langolier Oblivion -OR- Society's Steamroller

2011-10-20T04:20:00.000-05:00

I though I had given up having this argument. I know that it smacks of paranoid conspiracy cabal-ness, but whenever I consider and examine the anecdotal evidence the conclusions are inescapable. The argument is whether we have a JUSTICE system or an EXCLUSION system.

Whenever I attempt to call the question, I immediately lose. It's crazy to suggest that "criminals" should not be prosecuted. I agree. That is crazy. What is also crazy is to hold no fundamental distinction between the crimes that have always been out of bounds and those created by and for specific slivers of our society as a contrast media and sorting mechanism. A competitive edge for the few against the many?

What prompted Henry Thomas Buckle to assert that "Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it" is rarely fully considered. The alternative, of course, must be anarchy, which everyone knows is sheer madness. Still, I find myself unconvinced of the merit of this argument ending. That it is an all or nothing proposition. Our lack of nuance and need for simplistic solutions has to be continually brought to question, else we contribute to our own destruction. To not apply motive (of all parties) and mitigation to the process of regulating behaviors, to insist on uniform, non-negotiable punishments that do NOT fit the crime, -but rather, surrenders justice in favor of management expediencies- can no longer be considered justice in any way. shape. or form.

Set `em up. Knock `em down. Not so subtle behavior modification. Be sure to make the downward slope extremely slippery. It will prove you were right and justify the measures taken. Divide, single out and PUNISH. The distant, sanitary nature of the process relies on our TRUST. The seemingly ceaseless news and images reinforce our trust that punishment is not only justified, but, perhaps, in need of further teeth.
We've stopped trying to separate fact from "fictionalized account". That line has disappeared. Our context for "crimes" is so interwoven with our "entertainment" that we don't even attempt to distinguish anymore.

There are no petty crimes. There are no petty criminals. The serial killer is no different than the shoplifter. We just don't have time to sort through anymore. Actually we turned that burden over to our paid staff when we were convinced that we shouldn't need be bothered. It distracted us from our productivity.

It's a dangerous world. Who will save us?

2011-10-11T16:27:00.000-05:00

I Have Been Renewed -OR-Nevermind -OR- Happy Birthday John Prine

2011-10-11T04:20:00.000-05:00

Quiet Man Copyright- John Prine

Strolling down the highway with my shoes in my hand
I don't talk much I'm a quiet man
Beauty and silence both run deep
And they're running like crazy while you are asleep

You got news for me, I got nothing for you
Don't pin your blues on me
Just go ahead and do whatever you wish to

Last Monday night I saw a fight
Between Wednesday and Thursday over Saturday night
Tuesday asked me what was going on I said,
"Sunday's in the meadow and Friday's in the corn."

You got news for me, I got nothing for you
Don't pin your blues on me
Just go ahead and do whatever you wish to

Hocus-pocus, Maladjusted
Don't you think my tears get rusted
Steady losing means you ain't using
What you really think is right

You got news for me, I got nothing for you
Don't pin your blues on me
Just go ahead and do whatever you wish to

Oodles of light what a beautiful sight
Both of God's eyes are shining tonight
Rays and beams of incredible dreams
And I am a quiet man.

Oodles of light what a beautiful sight
Both of God's eyes are shining tonight
Rays and beams of incredible dreams
And I am a quiet man.

Oodles of light what a beautiful sight
Both of God's eyes are shining tonight
Rays and beams of incredible dreams
And I am a quiet man.

When last we saw our intrepid blogger, he was wallowing in indecision and doubt. What was the point? In appealing to our better selves, there comes a point at which one has to wonder if there is such a thing. The empirical evidence would suggest that indeed, as the Old Milwaukee commercial suggested, "It doesn't get any better than this".

What options do we really have? Well, I think we're beginning to see a few. While it would be nice if they were mainstream ideas, it certainly isn't the first time that we've bypassed the traditional to achieve a goal. It's taken a large measure of self-determination to demonstrate the benefits to the larger population. I'm cautiously optimistic that the present efforts to tamp down discontent to beneath the acceptable threshold will fail. There's just too much pent up anger and frustration with the status quo to think it can be squelched with symbolic lip-service.

There is an energy out among the Occupy groups that transcends anger. There is a courage and optimism that now is the time to be relentless in expressing the will of the people. `Til we outnumber them.

It's amazing. It's exciting. It's PEACEFUL. It's important.
and it's happening now.

Boomerang Boobs -OR- Say WHAT?!?!?!

2011-10-10T07:57:00.000-05:00

I've been saying for decades that I/We now live in an alternate universe. I mark the cross-over date as Jan. 20th, 1980. Not that everything was sunshine and rainbows , or that everything before that made perfect sense, only that RWR's first inaugural marked the point when we turned things upside down. When we decreed that it was better to LOOK good than to FEEL good. When what was said became largely unrelated to what was done. When being armed to the teeth was being peace-loving. When sticking it to the other guy was a virtue. When the only measure of value and worth were what we told it was. When the batshit crazy gemerators were flipped on and cranked up to Eleven!

The shift was anything but subtle. What was said, was 180° from what was done. Through rhetoric and cleverness, using leverage and illusion, major modifications were made to our uniquely American values. It may be shocking to think that prior to that point in time, the stock market reacted to activity and productivity in the domestic MANUFACTURING sector. The market rose and fell based on actual things being produced.
It reflected the markets for actual goods and services.

In 1980 there were vast reservoirs of small, medium and large businesses that were profitable, community building, re-investing economic engines, each sitting on its own sustainable nest-egg and mindful of its cost/benefit ratios. The ethos was to keep it going for the benefit of all. It allowed and supported a stable, manageable class structure with opportunity for all. It sustained by moderating and controlling the potential extremes across the spectrum. And despite the 180° change in definition that occurred, WE owned it. Symbiotically, nobody wanted to have it all. Ownership was concerned with the whole as it allowed them to live a comfortable lifestyle.

What happened?

The model for the economy, post-1980, was the steel industry, the automotive industry and other disinvestment "success" stories. The fuel for Reaganomics was the vast reservoirs of successful businesses. By extending the disastrous disinvestment allowances to the entire economy, it began a mergers and acquisition feeding frenzy. Bite the heads off, suck the juice, throw the skins away. For Fun and PROFIT! It's so easy!

With a seemingly endless supply of profitable businesses to choose from, nobody would miss or notice the slow wildebeest (or herd) that fed the new profit model.
The blood, sweat and toils of successive generations of workers framed as their equity and honored by successive generations of owners vanished in a puff of profit.
The internal organs of our post-WWII society became commodities. To be bartered, bought and sold by and for the highest bidder. As the dominoes began to fall, there were winners and losers. Shrug. That's just the way the mop flops. That's America buddy.

Anyone who looked ahead to where this road would inexorably lead, predicted serious consequences, but were unheard over the celebratory jubilation of "winning". There is a certain unpleasant satisfaction in having your long marginalized warnings begin to be voiced by un-marginalized voices. The problem today is what can be done? We are so far removed from that time and that place. We are so used to being used and accustomed to having our misgivings ignored or worse, redefined to mean something never intended. This is what happens when you weaponize the basest thinking and use it indiscriminately against a defenseless population.

When you empower and mobilize brute squads armed with their own personal demons cultivated by a steady diet of 180°isms. It's we, not they, who are supporting the wrong side. Just look at the Jumbotron scoreboard of the last 50 years!!! The biggest, most succesful lie of this delusion is that somehow, back in the sixties, the DFHs got EVERYTHING THEY WANTED and just look what it hath wrought! That now, having tried it the DFH way, it's time to get back to some good ol' fashioned law and order beatdowns to learn them people their place! Which, if it were TRUE, might even be justified. I'm confident that history will show that power never shifted to the left. Some of the rhetoric perhaps did, but the policy never followed.

Most of the rhetoric is nonsense when applied to the reality, compared to the implementation, held up to the light and considered objectively. Up is down, War is peace. Greed is still good... Most things haven't changed much at all since the Commie Scare, McCarthyism, Civil Rights, House UnAmerican Committee... The only REAL change has been purely rhetorical. The Bozos are still driving the bus...

Nomenclature -OR- One For My Baby and One More For The Road

2011-10-04T07:43:00.002-05:00

"Up against the barrier of a common language"- Dylan Thomas

It struck me this morning while listening to a self-avowed Christian spokesman, who, for the sake of accuracy, would more aptly be described as a Levitican. Obvious from his preach was his infatuation with and reliance upon O.T. principles. Further, the un-christianness of his positions seemed to be of little to no concern for his purposes. He was doing God's work, in Jesus' name. Given. His interviewers made no effort to push back against his spewage. His new gospel was infallible.

Then again, as I've evolved and detached from dependency on present usage, there's a gaping hole in writing and conversation. Just my bad luck? I hardly stood idly by as our language was hostilely taken over. Like the gajillion other usurpations to which I objected, for which I found no mass protest, losing privilege went with the territory.

If the stakes were lower, or my position more advantageous, I might assume a posture of indifference or mild bemusement. My options, it seems, had been reduced to acceptance or rejection.

I am NOT Don Quixote. I'm just an old hippie, clinging to my non-evangelical, marginalized, seemingly singular perspective. Waiting. I still feel as though I am where I am supposed to be. Waiting. I feel no compulsion to run over there, simply to come back to where I already was. An expatriate exile in my own homeland.

Waiting.

In the Grand Scheme of Things -OR- It's a Jungle Out There

2011-09-13T14:35:00.003-05:00

Once again, I've been remiss. I passed the 900 mark for posts back in July and didn't realize it until today. I should feel something. Some sense of accomplishment. A warm fuzzy feeling that I've contributed my little speck to the larger discourse? Except that the larger discourse has gone severely off-course. The precepts, concepts and arguments bouncing around have no loci.

It's easy to begin a post about the insanity of this or that synapse jolting stoopid in the daily churn. It's difficult to sustain that, logically, to a conclusion, solution, suggestion of where to go from here. When you start from blowhole stoopid, where does one go? Sure, I can blast out 800 words on teh stoopid. I could toss my cookies into the spectrum of spotlighting the (select one) amazing, dumbfounding, awe inspiring posts being bled out by ~~bloggers~~ journalists around the web. I'm still reading a ton of stuff at my blogroll and elsewhere that feeds and nourishes me, but the effect is short-lived. Nothing changes. We're locked in.

There has to be a valid reason, when most people generally agree that it's FUBAR, that it continues, without pause, without real concern from those tasked with fixing shit. Of course the immediate reason is that it doesn't materially affect them or a sufficient number of "us" to merit their attention. Bigger fish to fry and all...

To what end? For what purpose? At whose behest? For most intents and purposes I am no longer in "the game". I'm lucky that I have a wife who understands. I've had hiatuses before. I did the stay-at-home dad thing. I was a "room mom". I picked up odd-jobs and short-term assignments between career building, that closed the gaps, spackled the cracks and provided the extras and etceteras while allowing us the LUXURY of actually parenting our progeny. After my last separation, I dutifully jumped right back into the job market... Talk about your "brave new worlds". Over qualified? One might think that would be a good thing to be. My salary expectations may have been assumed, but they were never disclosed or discussed.

First, I quit going on cattle calls. The last thing I needed to do was sit in a room full of varying levels of desperation and apprehension. No need to compare notes on how miserably fucked we all were presently or how the sun would indeed come out tomorrow.

For a while I concentrated on niche resumes for specific positions that may or may not have been advertised. I wrote proposals of what I could bring to the "team".

That strategy lead to some informal interviews and networking that were hopeful, but fruitless.

My last formal interview, was my last. At least for the near-term. I was one of four candidates being invited in. I'd met the others before and had heard the intimate details of their difficulties in the current job market. When I arrived, I was told that I was first in line. After a brief overview of what my special purpose would be, I politely told the HR interviewer to remove me from consideration. I told her that while I could do the job, and the pay was acceptable, I would prefer that the job be given to one of the others. If it was my choice to make it would be Mike. A great guy who NEEDS the job to keep his family intact. We spent the rest of my time talking about Mike's qualifications, his situation and his general likability.
He did get the job.

As I see it, it was the right thing to do.

I have more than enough projects to distract me from thinking like a statistic. At some point, something will come along, but I'm no longer pursuing, competing or groveling for employment. This comes at a price, but it's a price we can pay without scouting for bridges to live under.

I'm eight years from retirement and already semi-retired. We will survive.
I sort of feel the same way about my efforts here. I've decided to publish my draft folder. Maybe somebody else will stumble across the seedlings and find a meal.
This too shall pass.

I'll be concentrating on, but mostly not posting about, local problems, annoyances and idjits. I have the time and ability to call them on their bullshit, so that's where I feel my "talents" are most needed. This isn't my first rodeo.

I'll be poking around and when I find something worthy, I will assuredly add it to my portfolio here. Weekly, Monthly? Weakly? Mothly? Thanks to those who've stopped by and included my musings in their hunting gathering process. I'll leave the light on for you.

A Harmless Game of LIFE -OR- Take the bypass.

2011-08-23T04:20:00.000-05:00

With the exception of a very small sliver, is anybody really being fooled? The problem is that the sliver aren't really fooled either. They are merely shills. "America is Broke!". Really? Does anyone with any firing synapses actually believe this shit?

"The pump won't work because the vandals took the handle."

Indeed, when we first set out on this Airplane Game, there were those who doubted, those who cried WOLF!, those who recognized the catch-phrases and rhetoric of a MLM, "We're ALL gonna be RICH!". If you WANT it bad enough and don't care about who gets screwed over so you too can hang out with the ELITE! Get yours now! Let everybody else worry about everybody else..., because when you come right down to it, there is only Us and THEM and you surely don't want to party with them now do ya sport?

And like any worthy pyramid scam it all went well for a while. In fact, when you have multi-billions being seeded into the scam from the Federal Treasury, you can sustain the smoke and mirror illusions long enough to fool even more of the people; more of the time!

So by now you've risen up the Randite ladder and have secured your wee slice of heaven... You don't want YOUR assets mingling with theirs. Hedge funds are where you NEED to be. Sure it's the same Glen Gary Glen Ross, Boiler Room, Jedi Mind Trick that's kept your "dreams" of being one of the elite always just out of reach. You content yourself at being better than THEM and are still hearing that clarion call that with just a little less humanity and a bit more of your inner predator, you too will be among the truly blessed.

You heed the word that to separate from them you need to join the right church, club, political organization and toney suburban enclave. You barely notice the "truly" elite exiting as you enter, moving on up themselves to distance themselves from YOU. You miss that they look at you the same way you look at them people.

You buy in. Step up in "class".

Your life is good. You buy the whole package. (Contents may NOT settle. Period.) You've distanced yourself from the rabble. You've insulated yourself and your loved ones from the greedy unwashed. You have no need to visit the commons. It's bad enough that you may have to pass through on your travels. Your little niche has everything you need. What it doesn't yet have it eventually will as the takings continue. The great sorting is on schedule. The tide of public opinion is stemmed.

Yep, you've hitched your wagon to a real plan. No rags in the bag; no trash under the counter. You paid your dues. You have subscribed. And ain't that America? It's ALL good! You and your bootstraps did all this single-handed. You don't owe anybody anything.

Good luck with that going forward.

I'd Like to Explain -OR- Excuse # 4 (swerving off on a Rant)

2011-08-18T08:02:00.003-05:00

As it truly is easier to ask forgiveness than permission, I beg yours. You may have noticed a steep drop-off of my efforts here beginning in June. When bloggers fall off the radar without explanation it's usually not a good sign. Health issues? Money problems? Extraordinary Rendition? Arrest? Imprisonment? Committed to a mental health facility?

In my case, thankfully, it is none of the above. I am one of the fortunate. I'd like to say I've been touring the world, making stops in interesting and exotic ports, meeting new and interesting people from different cultures... That's not it either.

The plain fact is that I had the amazing good fortune to marry a teacher. If any of you have an opportunity to do the same, I highly recommend it. After 26 years and 24 summers during which either I was working and/or my teacher was enrolled as a student to augment/enhance her teaching talents, this year we had a unique opportunity to do nothing this summer. Consciously. Willfully. Gloriously, IDLE.

There was plenty of nothing in need of doing. A garden, some necessary organizing and purging of our natural accumulations, movies and tv shows we've neglected, books to be read, a house to repair/improve/keep standing, events to attend... IOW, roses to be stopped and smelled.

It was not a total escape. If you recall, just as the school year was ending, the attack on teachers in the war on public education entered another SURGE period. Firings, layoffs, big budget cuts, daily sorties on teachers' Unions and collective bargaining rights, every planetary pundit wading in and weighing in on the dismal state of Education in America.

Wherever we went, socially, we were at DEFCON 2. Serve and volley. Serve and volley.
Within 5 minutes of arrival, I could usually tell how the morning, day, evening would devolve into spewage of the day's talking points on the state of education. Even at the "pro-teacher" gatherings there was always that undercurrent of survival instincts, fight or flight.

None of which explains or excuses the neglect I've shown to this place. In fact, I could have written of the experiences; sort of a running record of the battles at ground level? I did not. I tried. I really did. I have a draft folder with the beginnings of dozens of posts about this summer's reindeer games. In hindsight, I'm actually glad that I didn't finish any of them. In the end, it would have been pointless. Adding to the distraction that was the whole point of the surge in the first place.

We've been occupied in this public education debate since the first release of the fictionalized "Grace Report" of the Ray-gun administration. Those were the "rules of engagement" that laid out the battle plan and forced educators to almost constantly defend the basic concepts of "free" public education. The report's self-fulfilling prophecies of our dumbed down schools and the tacit encroachment and erosion of
trust in the institutions through which the overwhelming majority of Americans spent their youth were plausible only if you were willing to disregard the unprecedented progress and relative harmony our public schools enabled and underpinned.

That's right. Overall, PUBLIC EDUCATION has been a monumental societal success. There are acute, isolated situations that are less so, but not to the pervasive extent that has dominated the field for a couple of generations now.

At root, the goal of every syllable of anti-public education rhetoric has been to raise the status of an elite by diminishing the potential of everybody else. It has been the deliberate introduction of a contagion with no known cure short of isolation and genocide. Now that might seem downright uncivilized thinking and certainly no candidate, pol or pundit would use those words in public, but the strong message, decoded, delivers precisely THAT message. We only need our schools to be just good enough for THEM. (why isn't there an easy to use "dripping" font to denote disdain?)

The corporate purveyors of "education", -including, but not limited to the secular exemplars, stand ready and willing, eager even, to do for education what for-profit pursuits have done for health care. A fully tiered approach based on access. Those with "options" will opt them. And isn't THAT what America is all about?

As someone who has been relegated to the sidelines because my observations and ethos skew toward inclusion and community and a level playing field, I can HOPE that someday the country will skew back to such ideals, but the odds are certainly stacked against spontaneous reclamation.

As a parent, I've already been through the public/private wringer. I had a front row seat for the consequences of abandonment of public education. I railed against it, I spent years trying to resolve the prevailing acceptance of failure, I got a close up look at what happens when the reality attains the perception. Despite a nicely diverse population and relatively stable communities, it's a plainly known "fact" that the high school exists only for them not us nudge, nudge wink, wink. Anyone with options opts out. What remains is proof positive of the failure of public education. And still the school manages to produce more than a few silk purses out of their sow's ears. There's still "education" within those walls. Of course there is a whole `nuther education to be had there too. That one is the predominant outcome for most students. They learn that there is a club, and they're not in it. They (and WE) pay dearly for that going forward.

So what do we make of this? How do we slow this infection? How do we cure this dis-ease? We have to realize that our education is what's left after we finish going to school. In a country, generally, that eliminates through arbitrary achievement standards, our kids IS learning the lesson. When more of them do, the goalposts will be moved again and new standards set that fewer can meet. Addition by subtraction.

It's our kids and their dedicated, tireless teachers who can and do make the difference. When you opt for greener grass because of your perception, based purely on skuttlebutt not of your kids or their teachers, but somebody else's kids and teachers SOMEWHERE that's not where you live, the infection spreads. The disease is yours.

Truth

2011-08-08T07:45:00.001-05:00

All Show; No Go -OR- It's A Money Trick

2011-07-28T10:06:00.002-05:00

You say you're unhappy?
You blame it on me?
I can't make you happy,
You won't listen to me.

I can't have a singularly unique perspective on current events. I wonder how many people have completed the cycle and now reside in the realm of "Who Gives A Shit Anyway?" Fuck -it-! Burn it down, shut it down, fight over it, destroy it, break it some more, pray to/for it, sing to it, beat it like a rented mule, alter it, amend it, paint it green... it hardly matters anymore and I just don't really give a shit what you do with it. Odds are high that you're gonna fuck it up anyway.

I've reached a point of amused detachment, mainly, because the -it- on display isn't. People everywhere are retrenching, regrouping, re-thinking and adapting to the velocity of life. They know their head's in the noose, but you just can't worry about things, that despite your best efforts, remain out of your control or influence. We've spent our lives adapting to and meeting demands. We're better at that than just about anything else. What's one more?

When the smoke clears we'll pick up, adapt and move on. Others, sadly, are in for a very rude awakening and hard times. Lucky for them, we're not as vengeful as we deserve to be.

Ya Got News For Me? I Got Nothing For You.

2011-07-20T06:53:00.002-05:00

Don't mistake silence for complacency. I've lowered my attention to ignorance. Rude experience tells me that being a victim of great compromise is a fact of life in Opposite World.

Thanks for stopping by. Sorry there's nothing new to report. No money, no funny, no prospect for rational progress. Over the din, voices in the wilderness are inaudible.

Everything is extreme short shelf-life. Use it, lose it, fuggit. Not really worth comment or documentation. Plumbing the depth of delusional depravity is unhealthy.
So we're rewiring here. It's a daunting task. With 100 years of retrofit and patchwork, the only rational approach was to do it over and do it right.

There might be a metaphor there, but for now, it is what it is.

An Obituary

2011-07-09T09:27:00.003-05:00

It is with a mix of sadness and elation that I pass along word that "The Next Guy" is dead at age 65. Guy was a life-force to be reckoned with. Class of '46', who preached that anything was possible, but neglected to add: as long as you let "Next Guy" worry the frayed edges, unfunded portions, unintended consequences, detritus and incongruities, has lost its lifetime's pal.

Now when you toss that fast food bag out the window, not clean up after your Golden Retriever, leave the light on, the seat up, the door open, the perishables out, the garbage overflowing, the spillage on the floor, andonandon, Next Guy will no longer be around to make things right.

The Office of Undone Stuff issued a brief statement saying, "Due to budget cuts, his position will not be filled."

The Party of Personal Responsibility did not return repeated calls for official comment.

Next Guy leaves behind a shitload of half-finished crap, others, who were too busy or important to bother, had bequeathed to him. His Inbox was to be featured on an upcoming episode of HOARDERS. The show's producers said no decision had been made on whether the story would air as scheduled.

Dreams Of A Straight Up World -OR- Isn't It Really Interdependence Day?

2011-07-03T06:58:00.000-05:00

All of you independent rugged individualists out there take note... Unless you're subletting Ted Kozinski's cabin, eating roots, berries and game, you're a delusional poser. Your "freedom" is underwritten by someone else's lack thereof. Your convenience is aided and abetted by opportunities presented by common needs. Your extravagance is fostered through a psychologically driven exceptionalism. That guy you flipped off during your morning commute is your dependent and you are his. Now, there may be no joy in that, but who the fuck do you think you are?

There's no fun-for-all in our dysfunctional free-for-some approach anymore. You work hard for the money? Really? Seriously? Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude?

I don't mean to devalue your worth, I'm just trying to understand how and why you're so willing to raise your value by devaluing everyone else. Where's the long-term upside for THIS society from such an ignorant decoupling from reality?

What are the points? As in breaking point? Tipping point? The point at which a critical mass sees no point to much of anything? The finger you point from your attempt at detachment that frees you from responsibility for your part in the debacle?

As you gather with your posse this holiday weekend to proclaim your independence, among a sea of folks proclaiming their own, whether you're firing up a infra-red state of the art backyard cooking center in your personal compound or making use of space in a public park, try committing yourself to the interdependent ideal that America and Americans USED to take pride in. This is still a land of plenty but it's lost sight of too many of the things that made it great. It's allowed its principles to be hijacked by self-serving parasites who've pissed on the dream and lionized their place in a history that isn't theirs.

Peace.

Won't See Ya! -OR- 180° From "Normal, Sane, Cogent, Tethered"....

2011-06-30T09:17:00.004-05:00

Media Matters
encapsulates Beck.
Given that this schtick exceeded its shelf-life back on HLN and that amping up the crazy to be suitable for Faux Noise viewers still didn't prevent its inevitable demise, we should not waste time on the post-mortem. Bag it. Tag it. Move on.

Fear not. The next seer of Opposite World is un-medicatedly waiting in the Faux Bull(shit)Pen to continue validating its audience's basest delusions.

As if there's time for this crap...

That Oughta Do It! -OR- Tweakers Tweaking

2011-06-29T06:58:00.002-05:00

I've changed Congressional Districts. I've been traded from the Illinois "Fightin' Third" to the Illinois "Fightin' Seventh"!

The 2010 Census remap of Congressional Districts was signed into law last week. I'm a blue dog no more. I no longer must cringe when looking at my Congresscritter's voting record. Yip-fucking-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I haven't moved, but now instead of my interests being represented, in Washington, by Dan (Bill's Son) Lipinski, I will be looking to Danny K. Davis.

Life isn't fair. Sometimes it's not fair in your favor. Thirty years ago I was pleased/amused when shifted from Henry Hyde's district to Bill Lipinski's. Twenty years ago I was slightly disappointed when we weren't gerrymandered away from the Lipper to either Davis' 7th or Guiteierez' 4th. Six years ago, I actually considered a physical move when the Lipper's son was given his daddy's seat.

Now, for serendipitous fortune, I can actually support my local Congresscritter. I have no illusions that this will suddenly right all the wrongs, but it certainly gives me one less thing to bitch about.

It's still Chicago, Crook County, Proviso Township, Illinois politics with all the negativity that engenders, but somehow I actually feel better about my/our chances.
It's as though some cosmic force is sending a message that my "plan" is working. By remaining in one place, eventually, the whole world will wind up here too? Eventually?

In the past I've exchanged kind words with Davis' people and angry words with Lipiniski's. I've rationalized my representation by equivocation. Having Dan Lipinski
was still better than what many others had to endure. It's likely to be a brief respite. At 69, Danny K. Davis is not likely to remain my Congresscritter much longer. He'll be replaced by another west side movement Dem. I may lose Davis' progressive, democratic socialist, new party D leanings, but for now I'm gonna enjoy the feeling and worry the rest later.

If nothing else, the images I'll encounter when visiting my Rep's website will no longer jar my sensibilities. See for yourself. Can you discern the difference?
Davis : Lipinski

Spot the Problem -OR- TIME Magazine? Really?

2011-06-20T12:09:00.002-05:00

Outsiders vs. Insiders: The Struggle for the GOP's Soul

Straight from the FICTION shelves and JOKELINE'S padded cubicle. At very best, this would be a shriveled, atrophied prune of a "soul" hardly worthy of any sort of battle. Why wouldn't TIME magazine call it as it is? The soulless pursuit of the continued nation buggering the GOP has indulged in servitude to its least admirable benefactors?

At some point it must be critically evaluated and determined that our trust has been violently and brutally violated. That the "winners" at each methodical rape along our path to Opposite World have been those who funded this ongoing criminal enterprise. (any decriminalization and/or legalization of the actual CRIMES must be drastically discounted).

The GOP has perpetrated one massive scam after another through less than civil or even human determinations of value and worth. All while touting their moral superiority.

Critics are right to quickly point out that Dems have been spineless at times and equal abettors in the massive consolidation and protection of "wealth". They are wrong to extend that criticism to any segment of what is labeled the Left Wing.

Look What the Republicans Have Done to My Country

The present exercise is no less than the mopping up exercise to nail down any heretofore unlooted resources by and for the "worthy". It's fighting over table scraps to make sure that the have-nots will know their place once and for all.

Those linking up these false choices and attributing any sort of benevolent motivation to the perpetrators are either delusional or complicit collaborators.

We're sooooooo phooked. When the bough breaks, the payback will be a swift, ~~righteous~~ lefteous backlash. Stand back and take cover.

Law of excluded middle -OR- Connect The Fucking Dots Already!

2011-06-16T04:20:00.000-05:00

Wherein we examine, evaluate, peruse and consider the presented bill of fare to determine if there is anything of nutritional value worth ordering from this self-proclaimed Eleventy-star bistro. Despite appearances, this isn't Tiger-Mom's dinner table. You don't have to sit down, shut-up and EAT! You don't have to consider what people somewhere wouldn't give to be in your place. You don't have to accept warmed-over, substandard product because they say it's cutting-edge "cuisine".
Just use your senses. Smells like shit? It's probably shit. Smells like shit drizzled with perfume? It's probably shit drizzled with perfume.

Aren't you tired of false choices? Especially the same old -tired to the point of tedium- false choices trotted out every damn time a distraction is desired? You know they're false choices because they are so narrowly framed as the only possible options. Neither is particularly palatable, both are ladled with so much slop, glop and special sauce that you're never really sure what the main ingredient might be. One is dressed up, perhaps wrapped in the flag to be presented as so obviously less toxic in order to make the choice a no-brainer.

Please don't confuse your position in these battles. Make no mistake that these are indeed battles or that the stakes aren't germane to your quality of life. And PLEASE don't dismiss or downplay the deliberately, minutely orchestrated, stagecraft that's been carefully choreographed for the last several millennium.

Surrender nothing. Fight back against deceit. Ask nothing that isn't yours by right of participation. Remember that our progress as a nation was not bestowed, but earned; fostered by generations of work, building and sacrifice for and by the common citizens. Remember too that since forever, wealth and power have tried to claim ownership of all that enhances their wealth and power while ceding ownership of, and responsibility for, its toxic by-products.

Believe that for brief times there has been balance between the factions on the macro level. That these balances were achieved only when neither side wanted or expected it ALL. It has been a bargain. A contract. A mutually beneficial arrangement for a common goal. Despite relatively recent short-sighted takings, it isn't "theirs" unless you give it to them, whatever IT may be. Without your specific, informed approval, ownership claims aren't worth the paper they are written on.

Your only avenue of protest may be civil disobedience, but takings by proxy, even with the color of authority, cannot stand against an informed resistance. Refuse and refute the conjured dragons. We certainly don't need imaginary problems when absolutely real and present ones are pillaging our country.
Just Connect the fucking dots. will ya?

At distance, the dots are easy enough to connect, but if you obscure, deny and ignore the implausibly glorified Reagan Detour as POINT FUCKING A of this train-wreck, and cling to its mythology, I'm afraid you've failed. As is your RIGHT. That you seem willing and content to swallow the lies that are destroying us. That too is a freedom you currently enjoy, but when your proxy takes down the next support, all bets are off.

You are ground. zero.

GTFTS as read by Samuel L. Jackson

2011-06-15T22:36:00.002-05:00

Gotta love pure style like this. [G]

Right where I left it.

2011-06-06T10:34:00.003-05:00

"Tryin' to make some sense of it all,
but I can see it makes no sense at all.
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?
I don't think that I can take anymore"

`Don't know about you, but I've decided to disengage from raging against the machine.
Clearly the machine don't give fuck one about SOLVING anything and your average meatsack has already retreated from the fray. Everything I ever firmly knew, thought or believed has been rendered meaningless. Our history has been rewritten by our new ownership.

What's left when nothing is right? Welcome to Milliway's. Prepare to be abused and neglected as never before. But we're still here right? MOST of us aren't being victimized, tortured, ignored or crushed, Right? Yes, that is all very true.
At least not YET TRUE. What we are experiencing is an exercise in physics. All the gauges, indicators and calibrations seem to be seriously in the red, but wheels are still turning so it's all good.

What we are dealing with is known. The doing and the undoing. Controlled demolition of our civilization in preparation of what is to come next. Rather than enlightened gradual evolution, we've put a rush on things. Winners and losers happen. Deal with it. Believing in "mumbled such are promises" in exchange for our birthright. Easy come; easy go. Churn baby churn.

The bright, fairy tale future has become decidedly, fearfully dark. The churn is beginning to seize up. As more and more are tucking and rolling away from the wreckage, as still more are hanging on for dear life, it's easy to forget the point of the exercise. As the noise and carnage moves on, the din lessens, the pace slows and you actually find yourself asking, What the FUCK was THAT all about? You count your limbs, toes and fingers and know you are intact, but that's about all.

Every fiber of you is screaming for you to catch up and get back on because you don't want to miss your next big opportunity. You need to get back in the game.
Why? What's your position? What's your hurry? You'll lose everything?

Maybe it's time to figure out what everything is?

Shitty Reason For A Three Day Weekend. -OR- Remembering Josh

2011-06-01T11:09:00.005-05:00

I don't think Big Mike is related to me anymore. He's my ex-brother-in-law's brother, so I don't get to see him at family functions. He left Chicago a few years back dragging his pragmatic L-I-B-U-R-A-L ideology, his Cubs fixation and his not inconsequential talent and wit to the hinterlands. After a mercifully brief staycation in Kentucky, he escaped and wound up in a tiny speck of blue of the Hoosier State.

"Big Mike: War Is Heaven" is his latest foray into things that make him think something may not be as it should here in LOTF&THOTB. As such, it's an interesting observation piece.

I took some grief for flying my Peace Flag on Memorial Day. Some thought it was disrespectful to those who gave their all to defend our nation. I didn't try to explain myself. I took the grief. I soldiered on.

It's been 42 months since the last time I saw Josh alive. He's another sort of relative; my best friend's son who called me Uncle. That's when he told me he was deploying to Afghanistan in August. That he was eager to serve. That he'd email me when he got settled in. That no, he didn't need anything. That he'd be back in time for Christmas 2009.

Since September 17th, 2008, Memorial Day is his day and I fly my Peace Flag. Deal with it.

If only...

Maybe I'm Mistaken Expecting You To Fight? -OR- Maybe I'm Just Crazy, I Don't Know Wrong From The Right

2011-05-26T08:10:00.005-05:00

Take a quick musical primer in "Twas Ever Thus"
One morning's gnawing. Give me a reason to believe and face the day.

Rip off the masks and let's see. Another round of takings.

Reflection Of The Way Life Used To Be -OR- Snu?

2011-05-24T09:44:00.002-05:00

How does Camping's Rapture scam exceed or even come close to the myriad daily fleecings that transact each second of each day of our existence?

Does his date specific failure make him any worse than the ongoing industries that
prey on human afflictions, biases, guilt, elitism or vanity? How so?

Divide and conquer is so passe'. If I thought it would do much good, I would cite
the idiotic, obscene and oh so vain pursuits, beliefs and idolatry that consume our precious time, money and resources.

You might think that the transparent lunacy of Camping's gambit might wake people up to where their attentions are focused. Instead, we get an isolated public pillorying of one man's deeply-held and shared madness.

Once again, dear friends;
You say you're unhappy?
You blame it on me?
I can't make you happy
You don't listen to me.

Who Do You Trust? How Do You Know?

2011-05-09T04:20:00.000-05:00

The four most insidious words presently bandied about where the public trust is involved are "We follow the law". See, it's all legal. Move along.

Attention spans measured in minutes do not help when terms in office are for multiple years. Timing is everything. Memory is suspect. Poster boys and girls dot the landscape. The collective uproar is real. The effect dissipates almost as quickly as it builds. Our newsfotainment industry dutifully aggregates and reports the available details, along with the disclaimers, then moves instantly on to the next incident.

Nobody is fooled, yet justice, such as it is, can only flail around. Perhaps delivering on a sliver of a percentage of the cases deserving of injunctive relief. Even isolated incidents develop a pattern of recidivism that undermines attempts to apply the necessary deterrent force.
Absent relief, the logical coping methods run quickly to indifference and uneasy shrugged acceptance.

Over the last 30 years we've made previously unthinkable, unspeakable things legal, or to be more precise, not technically illegal. Bank robbery, tax evasion, bribery, extortion, fraud, theft by deception, usury, drug dealing, invasion of privacy, detention, property seizure, even manslaughter, murder and eugenics... are all perfectly legal as long as the practitioners FOLLOW THE LAWS as written. As long as "legitimate" methodology is employed, the justice system of the United States of America will stand behind and defend the perpetrators.

It's no wonder that Americans are confused about who we are and what we stand for. Why we appear tacitly complicit in the pervasive crime spree.

Black is white. Up is down. War is peace. Bad is good. Play the National Anthem. Wave the flag. Turn off, Tune Out. Mission Accomplished. A million Don Quixotes can tilt at windmills and battle apparitions. The business of business marches on.

Just a Quick Anecdote

2011-05-08T10:14:00.002-05:00

I've been working on changing my chi. That often involves biting my tongue instead of speaking my mind.

Yesterday, I was at a local shopping area. There was a sidewalk "craft" sale going on. Well, it was very early and most of the vendors were just arriving and setting up. While my wife ducked into Kohl's to replace her recently broken sunglasses, I walked along the pop-up tents to see what was being offered. Most of the vendors were busy arraying their wares. As I walked by a beadwork jewelry tent, a woman shouted "Mother's Day is tomorrow. Buy your Mom something pretty!" I took a few more steps, then heard the same voice say, "What? You don't LOVE your Mother?!?!"

My old chi won out. I turned and said, "Of course I do, but I would have to dig her up to give her the present and that just seems rude."

So if that woman happens to read this, I'm really sorry if I started your big sale day off poorly. I do hope you rethought your sales pitch before any significant foot traffic showed up.

And Mom? You know I'd love nothing more than to shower you with attention today.

I still try to remember your lessons... Most of the time.

Being There -OR- Walking Distance of History

2011-04-26T17:26:00.002-05:00

I've spent a lot of time among the reasonable folk. More than enough to wonder if maybe somebody forgot to `splain something to me a long time ago? Or maybe I wasn't listening when I shoulda been? Maybe if I knew what they seem to know, I could be reasonable too?

As a result of this void in my understanding, I'm constantly at odds with "conventional wisdom". I've been blessed by loved ones who almost seem to appreciate me, or at least pretend to understand my curmudgeonly ways.

This Sunday I'll be hopefully attending the re-dedication of the Haymarket monument. That is to say, I WILL be attending, hoping to recharge my lagging spirit. I approach each May Day with the anticipation that this will be the start, or the re-start of a new consensus. That by strength of numbers and force of will, there will be a better way and better days ahead.

That our materialism will moderate and our humanism will ascend. That we will reclaim what has been lost. I'm fully prepared for disappointment. I'll take what comes, though I must say that the frontal assault on what the Haymarket Martyrs died for has brought a renewed interest in working conditions, workers in general and the scapegoated unions.

I doubt that the speeches will restore my faith. Not likely. Sure there will be nods to the past and promises by "leaders" to fight on, but I fully expect the dais to file off and head for the luncheon. I'll get my edge back from talking to the stragglers. Those who hang around to ask or answer questions. If this year holds to past gatherings, I'll meet a few of the descendents and people keenly interested in what this place represents.

The eight-hour day, the five-day week, access to health care and basic fairness. That these things put me out-of-step with the currently popular trends is a head scratcher. I'd thought we fought and won these battles a century ago. We signed treaties and contracts and everything. In my mind, there's nothing to renegotiate.

As a DFH, I'm all in favor of recycling USEFUL things. But fighting the same battles over and over and over again, when the price we all paid was so high seems absurd.
I guess that's what happens when you vote to transform from a MARKET economy to a CONSUMER economy? You do remember voting for that little altering of terms, right?

Pay no attention to the white knuckle ride your life has become. It had NOTHING to do with the not-so-silent encroachments and reversals bought and paid for with your CONSUMER dollars. When you see the shrugs and hear the concessions being made on your behalf, fully realize the price of your proxy and tacit acquiescence. It's timem to start actively supporting people and things that are actually interested in the day AFTER tomorrow and subsequent days.

Such people aren't that difficult to find. Just look to the fringes where they've been exiled. LISTEN TO THEM with an open mind. Compare/contrast the causes they represent to the shilling and distractions spewing forth from the best government money can buy. Your CONSUMER dollars, once again, at work against you.

Step out and up on May Day 2011. Eyes, ears and minds wide open. Pay attention.
You might just learn something.

Non-injection Molded Creepy Crawlers -OR- Cyberfan(s)?

2011-04-20T08:04:00.007-05:00

"Trying to make some sense of it all
but I can see that it makes no sense at all.
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?
I don’t think that I can take anymore." -Gerry Rafferty

I've passed the peak. Over the hump. Free-falling no more.
The sun did come up somewhere this morning. Didn't it?
It's shining somewhere and it'll shine here too...eventually.
I think I can take some more. Some previously untapped reservoir of flat-out stubbornness no doubt.

Life's too short to deal with assholes, but deal with them we must.
I presently seem to be coping with more than my share. That must mean that somebody, somewhere is enjoying a brief respite. You're welcome. I won't bore you with details beyond a few that might amuse you.

Somebody has found me deserving of a Facebook parody(?). That's right, someone created a persona on FB exagerating a few of my known meat-world interests and habits into an unflattering avatar on FB. He or she has also created similar avatars for nine other people and has them post to each other's walls. Creep factor: Eleventy.

Slightly less creepy than when he was posting unhinged rantings in random blog comments or one-person flash mobbing an obscure website in England, but still creepy.
I'm actually so glad that I annoy this person so much. Someday he/she may heed his/her doctor's advice and stay on his/her meds. Or maybe will get distracted by some shiny bauble, miss an important signal and become roadkill? Or will find someone else upon whom to shower his/her special attentions?

See? I can hope. Yes I can!

And so it goes.

Buzz-Whirr-Clunk

2011-04-19T07:36:00.003-05:00

Can't. Compose. Coherent. Sentences.

See. Some. Scary. Logic. To. Clusterfuck. Continuum.

Opposite. World. Entrenched.

Clipped. Thoughts. Only. Form.

Snowed. Yesterday.

Forecast. Mostly. FUBAR. With. Periods. of. Stoopid.

Finding. Zen. Difficult.

Where. Is. Plan. B?

Send. Cavalry.

Need. Sense.

or

Thorazine. STAT!

A Song For My "Leaders" -OR- We Need An Upgrade!

2011-04-17T16:57:00.000-05:00

Cat-herder -OR- I Can't Help Myself

2011-04-08T12:01:00.003-05:00

The Internet might just join other near-misses in the long slog of mankind.
Don't get me wrong, the POTENTIAL still exists for the progress of humanity via the World Wide Web. Sort of like Religion, Television and indoor plumbing (to pick just three). Its practical applications are still viable and its boundaries, literally, virtually limitless, yet the practical distractions, commercialization, dumbing down and deliberate obfuscations make it less likely each day that it will be any more successful at reining in the determined inertia of anti-change than all that has come before. Still, the arc is discernible toward a continued slog.

On a micro-scale, there have been jaw-dropping instances of glimpses of the power and potential. The new millennium's prospectors, boom towns and scallywags, carpet-baggers and snake-oil salesmen, with all of their shills and side-show geeks cannot take away the game-changing adaptations committed to the struggle and fleetingly seizing the day. Only to be swept under, back, aside by the next wave and the next and the next. By its very ethereal nature, unable to maintain form before it is less of a memory and more of a mirage. What happened? Did it really happen? Will it ever happen again?

In that, the internet is the ultimate facade. Its lofty canvas and the sequoia sized tent poles are surreal magnifications of its billion flea circuses. Beneath its tiers of bleachers, packed with children of all ages, the gate is sorted, stacked, counted and apportioned out to cover the costs.

This tiny way-station on the internet super-highway labors under the delusion that, with the right circumstances and perspective, if you tilt your head and squint your eyes almost shut, it is every bit the greatest show on earth that HuffPo pretends to be. Well, okay that's a reach, even for a delusion, but the premise could be sound.

This secular pulpit is every bit as valid and potentially viable as any other, perhaps moreso since my expectations and ambitions begin and end at the site's URL.
I post; therefore I am.

The glimpse I offer comes without cost or obligation. It's not a counter, but rather an alternative interpretation of people, places, events, spectacles and things that might otherwise go unnoticed. I've stepped away from the arena. Several, to many, steps back in an attempt to see a bigger picture.

Because I don't presume a universality of circumstances, I've noticed that my posts are hopelessly vague. What's the point? Is there a point? What is Rehctaw trying to say? I think they may be deliberately vague, but if so it is an unconscious deliberateness. They start; they end. They become part of the ether. Twas ever thus?

And still, here it is. worked without a net. flopping, skipping and quivering, waiting to be picked up and applied usefully by some enterprise or need.
Take a step or two back and look again, head tilted, eyes squinted just right...

See it yet?

Worse Things Than Losing -OR- BOHICA

2011-04-07T12:55:00.002-05:00

The Election is over. Outcome: Three will continue to beat Two.

There are worse things, more important things, happy things, all manner of things that allow hope to drive out despair after such a grueling, draining grind that didn't accomplish its goal.

There's much more to digest before attempting to translate it into useable or even readable prose.

Thanks for stopping by. I promise to process as fast as I can, so you will gain the benefits of what I've learned.

Look For the Union Label -OR- In Addition to Flying Your Freak Flag...

2011-04-02T04:11:00.000-05:00

While looking for other things, I found this other thing for Union Loving bloggers

I'm not in a union -- can I still join in?

Associate membership of Union Label entitles you to display a supporters logo on your weblog, like this:

Union Label

If you would like to join Union Label as an associate member, send an application by email to Robert Corr, including the following details:

Your name (or pen-name).

The name and URL of your weblog.

When your associate membership is confirmed, you will be added to the membership list and informed how to add the Union Label to your site.

Your email address will be kept entirely confidential. It will be used only to update you about the status of this project -- for example, if you need to update the code on your webpage. If you would prefer that I discarded your address, just let me know.

With Apologies -OR- Where ya been?

2011-03-26T13:26:00.002-05:00

As noted by the countdown clock in the sidebar, our local elections are 9.5 days away.
In this inner-ring suburb of Chicago, Proviso Twp. Crook County, Illinois, population ~15,000, that means the quadrennial battle for our very souls is heading into the home stretch.

I'm doing my part, or at least trying to do my part, to elevate the discourse, provide context, historical perspective and translation for the interested. Elections here are an odd lot. In the main event, two candidates to be Mayor and 11 candidates vying for the 4 commissioner seats. The simple math is that 3 votes provides a ruling majority for the next four years.

For the last 12 years the current mayor has enjoyed that power, consolidated that power, exercised and weaponized those powers. He identifies himself with the ethos of the Republican Party, but our elections are non-partisan. Big things, big plans, no scratch that, no real plans, just a vision thing. Shoot first, then draw a target around the arrow and say "See, that's what I meant the whole time. Isn't it great?"

His tenure and ambition mirrors that of another former small town mayor. One whose ascendancy to the national stage has offered bloggers and comedians a bottomless well of material. A comparison our MATC would categorize as nothing but a plethora of innuendo. (yeah he says shit like that)

He'll dispute the definition of deficit, transparency, fiscal responsibility...call them buzzwords, hint at sinister, despicable agents of discord who are nothing but whiners and complainers. While whining and complaining that they(we) just don't recognize excellence in mayoring.

A guy who turned this little Brigadoon into the next hot real estate destination. The new Bucktown/Wicker Park of the western suburbs. Doubling spending, doing less with more and shifting costs and responsibilities while ignoring accountability.
Just one of the many arms-length relationships he's developed with reality.

As of today, I'm cautiously optimistic that this time the bullshit won't fly. He'll fall short of the goal, which for the last four cycles seems to have been to fool enough of the people for just long enough.

So we're entering the home stretch and the long knives are coming out. Preaching caution and awareness that the whispers will be getting louder and meaner, the accusations will be flying, but that this time, if we hold fast, when the smoke clears our long local nightmare will have ended.

If not? I'll deal with that on April 6th. It's a tough time to even think about relocating.

Fleeting Friday Thought

2011-03-18T15:57:00.002-05:00

Once all the wealth is consolidated by and for its "rightful" Randian creators, I can join their club by selling maps to their undisclosed locations.

How to Live a Rich Rewarding Life -OR- Another Remaindered Attempt

2011-03-17T09:02:00.003-05:00

A noble pursuit.
Thank goodness he has the financial freedom to underpin his gradual divestiture.
Is that jaded? Probably. I come by that the old fashioned way.

While his voyage of discovery is laudable, the treasure he claims to have found is the place where most of us have always lived. It's also a place that was ridiculed and marginalized by his ascent. I'm not particularly impressed that in his epiphany he seems to have swapped elites. Gordon Gekko for Desmond Tutu is a start, but is it really a change?

Holy Fucknola Batman! -OR- The Hippies' Test Scores Rise Again!

2011-03-14T07:17:00.002-05:00

In the aftermath of natural and man-made disaster after disaster, there is a near immediate response that figuring out why things happen will have to wait until the search and rescue, search and recovery and rubble removal functions have completed. Then there must be a respectful period of mourning for the losses suffered. Only then can we.... Oh Crap! There goes another one.... Lather, Rinse, REPEAT.

In the absence of an actual emergency, one will be provided. (And people say our manufacturing base is dismantled?) Spun out of whole cloth if necessary, no expense will be spared to provide you with your mandatory daily requirement of mind-numbing FEAR, CONFUSION and DISTRACTION.

It's always been thus, right? You don't remember a time when this call and response exercise was less dire on a daily basis, do you? Hey! No time for nostaligia. There's an emergency happening! If you're assigned to hand-wringing, assemble in the large auditorium. Those chosen to run in circles, scream and shout, should report immediately to the football field. Finger-pointers and blamers, report to the main office.

Peer upward to your leaders! Purty ain't they? Competent? Not so much, but cosmetically FLAWLESS! Carry on! You will be notified when the `B' Ark begins loading.

We now return you to American Idol, already in progress....

Okay America! It's time to VOTE!
Text 1 for Douchebag #1.
Text 2 for ...

Obedience School -OR- Shoes For Industry!

2011-03-09T06:39:00.002-06:00

Separate and unequal. No hint of the nuanced subtleties of Jim Crow.
It does not even seem to matter if you're paying attention or not. Win-Win.
Tune in. I dare ya. Try to pay attention.

It's like the narrative, play-by-play and color commentary audio of a football game laid atop the video of a Nascar Race. The context is off. It makes absolutely no sense unless you are able to deny one sense or the the other. I should be hearing the keening sounds of internal combustion engines...WTF?!?

Clearly the voices don't have clue one about what's taking place on the field, but they keep authoritively describing something. Twist as you might, squint with one eye, it's still gibberish. Clearly two (or more) different games are being played. The viewing audience struggles to reconcile the sensory input with no seeming connection.

We're not all in the same boat. We're not all even in the same body of water. The circling great whites of one reality simply do not exist in others. Still, to the newsfotainers, "They could!". It's completely conceivable that there could be sharks! Why isn't somebody doing something about the conceivable sharks! We need a viable conceivable shark plan! And we need it NOW!"

Gibberish. "The rebound in the banking industry shows the excellent leadership in that sector. They've joined the oil industry in posting RECORD PROFITS!" No mention of the taxpayer subsidies, bailouts or assumption of the toxic waste problems.

Listen, if you can. Watch if you must. Just don't expect to gain an appreciation for the "sport".

Blast From the Past -OR- Rings True Today Too

2011-03-06T21:34:00.002-06:00

Brushing the dust off of a column I wrote in August of 1995 after Mickey Mantle Died.

Ode to Mantle: baseball should be a child's game at heart

In the end it was hard to be Mickey Mantle. That seems strange to me because for many summer days and evenings long ago, I was Mickey and it seemed easy. I'm not a kid anymore but certain things haven't changed. Mickey Mantle is still the awesomely powerful Yankee; Ernie Banks is still ready to play two and Nellie Fox is still the epitome of a second baseman.

If you saw them play, it didn't matter what path their lives took after baseball. That one thing defined their lives. They played in an era that didn't pay ten lifetime's wages in a single season. They were merchandised as heavily, but that income didn't benefit them! They were being paid what, at the time, seemed a fair exchange rate for playing a game they'd learned as kids. They didn't sign their first contract thinking about anything past getting a shot at "playing" for another year. Retirement? For them it meant becoming just another working stiff.

The game we know today would have been monumentally different if players like Mickey Mantle hadn't battled back from injury, played in pain and endured it, out of
a genuine love for what they did and the fear of life without the only thing that made sense to them. In today's market Mickey Mantle could have left baseball and led the destructive lifestyle he did, without the monetary worries that drove his life after baseball.

A marginally talented utility player today is all but guaranteed a quality of life that didn't exist for any player in the game that Mantle played. It is fruitless to compare then and now, either in the caliber of play or the post-career lives of the players.

Money has changed everything that we once knew and believed in, with the possible exception of our memory of the players of the games we loved. When it changed
has been widely debated, but in my mind it passed the point of redemption in 1985 when, then Los Angeles Rams hold-out running back, Eric Dickerson held a press
conference to ask the question, "Who's gonna take care of Eric Dickerson for the rest of his life?" as his "reason" for not honoring the contract he previously signed and refusing to play football unless his question was answered to HIS satisfaction.

Prior to that the emphasis had been about the worth of a player in relation to their present and future value to the game. Suddenly, potential had to be quantified
and paid in advance with a golden parachute clause that would make work after play unnecessary. A lifetime's earnings before a single game had been played was now the
prevailing rate and overriding consideration. Kids who used to play for fun -—imitating their heroes, dreaming of a chance to come to the turning point of a game with a chance to win it all--- to be that hero— Kids are now comparing signing bonuses and salaries instead of statistics. The dream isn't to get to the bottom of the ninth with the game on the line, it's to get to the bottom line. I think the current problems facing players and owners trying to "save" their respective games are largely due to the fact that the games they think they are trying to save no longer exist. I also think there is a direct correlation between the way our games changed and the way our lives changed. The spillover brought us the new sports of suing for damages, the instant riches lotteries and golden parachutes.

We still wanted to be like the sports heroes but it wasn't their athletic abilities we admired. Perhaps pinning the downfall of modern civilization on one running back is unfair, perhaps it was only that he put. into words something previously unspoken, but that is how it is etched into, my mind. How else can I explain my current sports fantasy of living through 90 seconds in the ring with Mike Tyson?

They can say whatever they like about the various organs of Mickey Mantle's life-battered body, but they can't question his heart. It was the heart of a child; spherical with stitches. The players in the current crop of professional athletes who still understand the qualities of greatness are few and far between. The rewards of their profession are not part of their uniforms. They seem to understand that their salaries come ultimately from the fans and regardless of ownership and contract, the fans have limits to what they will support.

It might be a shame that Mickey's life wasn't as blessed as Ryne Sandberg's, but the reverse might be equally true. I have enjoyed watching the various retrospectives
on Mr. Mantle's life, I had the opportunity to watch him play and did at every opportunity. He is now playing right field on the ultimate dream team, no bad knees, the speed and promise of his rookie year and once again doing what he was born to do; play the game. His death brought us a reminder of what was, but is no more. If the braintrusts who are arguing over the future of baseball were paying attention, they will begin by embracing the essence of what Mickey Mantle was first, last and always; a grown up kid playing a game that he loved.

Sunshine -OR- The Missing Piece

2011-03-05T07:40:00.003-06:00

March comes in like a schizophrenic berserker in full schitz and body armor... 50° 20° 0° 35° 18° 44°. Cloudy, drizzly, rainy, snow, freezing rain. Lather, rinse, repeat.. HEY! What's that? S-U-N? Right. Wobbly as a newborn foal. Thin, spindly rays offering a mere hint of the illusion of warmth.

I'll take it! Sure we had a brief spate of almost 70° in mid-February that made quick work of the massive piles of snow from the blizzard of 2011, but, if anything, yo-yo-ing between deep winter and early summer repetitively for an entire month can be a mellow-harshing ride.

So, in the Chicago area, the arrival of March is a psychological exercise in delusions. Fed by the guessers. Fooled by forecasts. Faint rumblings of the baseball season to come. Willing to believe, desperate to believe. Knowing full well that measurable snowfall is as, if not more, likely for Opening Day than anything resembling the images from Florida or Arizona's spring training.

March in Chicago is the epitome of irrational exuberance clashing with conscious reality. Faceless sherpas in anoraks and fur share the sidewalks with shorts-clad flip-flop wearers. Each thinking the other the biggest fools around.

It is in this schismatic atmosphere that citizens are asked to choose their leaders for the next four years. What the hell were they thinking?

What could possibly go wrong?

And They're OFF! -OR- Ahhhhh, Local Politics

2011-03-03T08:07:00.003-06:00

The quadrennial ~~exercise~~ popularity pageant is FINALLY getting underway here. Election day is April 5th. This Saturday will be the unofficial official beginning of the 30 day dash. The March 5th St. Patrick's Day Parade. The weather forecast is for a wintry mix, cold drizzle and flurries. Good news for the bars, taverns, snugs, restaurants and bistros that line the mile long parade path down Main St., bad news for trying to gain public exposure for a campaign.

Since the filing phase in December that unveiled 15 contenders, one withdrew voluntarily and three names have been stricken from the field by electoral challenge. A three-person electoral board, made up of current elected/appointed officials ruled against the wannabes saying their paperwork just didn't conform to the accepted guidelines. A change in local election law eliminated the primary that would have culled the ballot options to 8, leaving us with 11 candidates for the 4 commissioner chairs.

The undercard races for Park and School boards are also all contested for the first time in several cycles. You might think there would be some buzz or excitement in the air? After all, these four entities are charged with spending ~$200 million tax dollars; ostensibly to provide needed services to the townsfolk.

Yawn.

That's not apathy. That would that presume people know, but don't care about what's transpiring. It presumes that local government and local elections seek to engage the citizenry. That local media has contributed to a basic, objective, understanding of the issues and players. That peoples' lives interact with these entities, in meaningful ways, on a daily basis. That incumbents and challengers alike want to get their message out to the broadest possible audience. Pssssshawww!

Odd, that a town that actually advertises "Big City Access- Small Town Charm" puts its dysfunction on display in these dog and pony shows. Signs, glossy mailers containing the most generic bios and buzzwords, reveal politics that's all show/no go.

Allegedly, candidate websites, twitter and facebook are allowing more "interaction"?
I've visited them all and witnessed zero interaction.

In four weeks, a quarter (or so) of the registered voters will make their choices known and our fortunes will reside in the most popular hands. Whoopeeeeeeeeeee!

If it all smacks of middle-school class elections? Tough titties bucko.
On Wednesday April 6th, I will rise and gnaw through the restraints once more and try to find the silver lining in the next four years.

Follow The Bouncing Big Brass Balls -OR- Flopping Mops

2011-02-26T07:10:00.003-06:00

Circa 1974. I was 20. A group of ~20 friends were sitting around a roaring campfire in the woods next to the river, swapping stories with two alien visitors... No, not the ET kind. Two blokes from the British Army who were visiting one's sister who lived in the townhouse complex where we lived. There was much drinking and music and dancing and more drinking and dirt bike stunts.
There was undoubtedly some sharing and consumption of illegal substances. In other words, a typical weekend around the compound in which the visitors joined enthusiastically. The Brits were cheeky and fresh off posting in then very turbulent Northern Ireland. A week of R&R before reporting for maneuvers in Canada. It was a great night, full of the kind of memories that have surfaced often over the years.

It was there that I first heard of "Flopping Mops". A Brit/Irish colloquialism akin to the American crumbling cookie, as in "That's the way the..." Nonchalance in the face of the inevitable. That's just the way the mop flops. Whatchoo gonna do? (shrug)
Ranks right up there with "Shit Happens" in my event filing system.

If something is inevitable it must be predictable right? No "knowns or unknowns" Rummyspeak needed. Perhaps not the only possible outcome, just a most likely one. Take collective bargaining, defined benefit plans and the fun with numbers exercise currently in play and on display.

Governor Walker is telling anyone who'll stick a microphone in his face or a tape recorder on the other end of the phone that this is just the way the mop flops for workers in Wisconsin. He has the votes he needs, he has the manufactured conditions he needs, so it's a no-brainer. He is only ~~following orders~~ doing the job for which he was elected.

Who could have possibly seen this financial clusterfuck coming? This isn't the state of Wisconsin breaking its promises, shirking its responsibilities or laying the groundwork for replicant efforts nation-wide. He's just playing the hand he's been dealt, right? Whatchoo gonna do? (shrug)

He doesn't know anything about anything regarding how this hand was dealt. His actions that moved the state into deficit happened independent of the present situation. Just as all of the cascading failures, egregious and blatant fuggery, and general mop flopping that have 'crippled" the economy have NOT been deliberate manipulations to get this game of winner-takes-all and moves it offshore into every element of life.

You don't wanna play? Too bad. You just want the deal you made and signed? Sorry, fresh out. You'll take this NEW deal and like it. Hey! It's not piracy when we steal it legally. Thank you for playing our game.

If you haven't read Matt Taibbi's RS piece "Why Isn't Wall Street In Jail?" you should. Then maybe as these shrugging janitors en masse keep playing their bottom-dealt hands, to simply continue ripping down and acting as conduit to their monied benefactors the remainders of what hasn't been previously looted, you might grab hold of that flopping mop and stick its handle where it will do the most good.

Heads on pikes? Too barbaric? Sez who?

So Tired -OR- Opposite World Whiplash

2011-02-25T07:22:00.002-06:00

"You can wait here in the sitting room OR sit here in the waiting room"
See we're giving you a CHOICE!

Straight out of the Rod Serling handbook.

The sociopathic bi-polars, like Mr. Magoo, have done it again. To lauds and laurels from their doubtless delusional, memory-addled troupe of regurgitating followers.

Witless this exchange:
DDRF: "Has nothing to do with hate. Teachers can contribute to there on retirement and there own health insurance like the rest of us.
Great propaganda by the unions though" (sic)

Response: "Teachers DO contribute to their own retirement and health care. It's is part of the salary package negotiated by the districts. For twenty years (at least, you know during the get rich heydays) they've foregone pay raises in lieu of benefits.... It's not the teachers' fault that districts haven't fully funded the benefits that were negotiated in good faith. Districts have been foolish in expecting legislators would actually address the funding issues.

It's not the teachers' fault that health care costs have spiraled out of control. In fact, if this latest assault manages to deduct health care costs from teacher's take home pay, it will FURTHER spiral those costs for everyone. Teachers aren't the budget busters, insane FOR-PROFIT health care is.

Stop blaming teachers. The proof of their value and worth is evident every day in every way. Stop demonizing teachers and education for the failure of legislators to curb their inner-sociopath."

Another DDRF: "The problem is with teachers with tenure. Some of them no longer care and/or are not or were never any good. Yet, they STILL get paid high salaries and benefits like no other. Raises and continued employment should be merit-based. Get rid of the dinasaurs!"

Response: "Teachers didn't come up with Tenure as their road to riches or their way to "stick it to the man". It rose, as did most/all of our labor laws, out of protection against retaliation/loss of job because of the whims/p...olitics of schools and school boards. Because clever folks come up with clever ways to deflect their own responsibilities and accountability.

If anything, many administrators and boards have been HIDING behind tenure to excuse their lack of involvement in EDUCATION issues. We've all had "bad" teachers in our learning experiences, but they are far from epidemic or even predominant in the field.

At this point it's all games and money tricks. Don't fall for it. Get the legislatures and politics OUT of education. FIX the broken health care system so you don't have to play money games with people's lives.

There has been a concerted effort to destroy public education since the Grace Report. The proof that public education works is that you woke up this morning. That alone should be worth the price."

Spouse of DDRF#1: "I agree. Most employees do contribute to their retirement pensions. Even many police and firemen contribute to their own retirement and do not receive insurance once retired. Also, the cost of insurance could be lowered substantially by simply receiving more reasonably priced insurance. I do think that everyone could help but perhaps at least try to negotiate more reasonable benefits as opposed to dictating or running away. Time for all to grow up!"

Response: "There's a vast difference between negotiating and being steamrolled. By the numbers in Wisconsin, Walker wants to strip negotiating from public employees. So, for all intents and purposes, it's negotiate now or fully capitulate that right forever because Walker has the votes to do just that.

Negotiations are two-sided affairs. I haven't heard Walker pushing to eliminate legislatures, state/county/local governments that sat across the table and made these deals. He's managed, once again, to deflect responsibility by making unions the problem.

At no time in his campaign did Walker publicly say, suggest, hint that getting rid of collective bargaining would be his first order of business.
A sin of omission? Had he clearly stated his agenda, is it possible that the election would have turned out differently? So now, when he says we had an election, we won! He is LYING. This is his choice, not the peoples'."

DDRF#1S: "I know the difference between negotiating and steamrolling and if I didn't I just got a great lesson very recently, it is known as Obamacare. My point was that it is time that both sides stop steamrolling and at least make an effort to come... up with reasonable solutions on both sides . Also, there are many people who have foregone pay raises and don't receive benefits because of the state of the economy. Nothing is as it was and the things people feel they are entitled to; even if they are, unfortunatley need to adjust and then adjust more. The money just isn't there. In IL state income tax was just raised, real estate taxes have gone up and gas and food prices have increased. I doubt most people have any room in their budget to pay more for others much less the things they need or want for their own families. As I stated earlier, it is unnecessary to provide top of the line health insurance when so much could be saved by downgrading to a more reasonable policy. Also this issue is not about liking or disliking teachers. It is about money and power and both sides want it. The best solution is to share the power and stop spending so much on both sides. Basedjust on the posts on this subject , it is unfortunately very obvious that this will not happen anytime soon".

Response: "All you can do is spout the talking points? How wonderful life must be with blinders on. Keep shouting for lower taxes and higher standards.
Never look at facts, they'll just confuse you. Keep moving the goal posts and fearing your neighbors. You'll go far.

So we need some kind of "just good enough for them" health insurance? Is single-payer an option in your concept of health care reform? Since health care is crushing employers, employees and wannabe employees alike, doesn't fixing it ONCE the right way make the most sense. I... know that's not Obamacare, but... that was a quantum leap forward from whence we were.
You'd probably be surprised at how fiscally conservative I am, but at the moment we're in the wrong boat on the wrong waterway, paddling the wrong way. "

At this point, the DDRFs were evidently distracted by some shiny bauble and forgot they were in the middle of a debate. [crickets]
I'm sure when they've gently shaken, not stirred, their etch-a-sketch brains, it will never have even happened.
I guess that's to be expected from folks who roared with approval when we invaded Iraq because of ~~9/11?, WMDs?, insurgencies?, evil-doers?~~ unknown unknowns ... I bet they fly the flag every day too. It IS the absolute very least you can do as a REAL Amurcan."

Our Societal Smart-Bombs -OR- Make It So

2011-02-21T06:06:00.003-06:00

They came for the trade-unionists and something SNAPPED!

With several Trillion$$$ of transfered wealth alleged to be on the sidelines just waiting for John Galt. With Trillion$$$ of tax dollars pumping through the financial markets. With Trillion$$$ of tax dollars coursing through the military-industrial complex. With Trillions$$$ of PRE-tax dollars pooling in 401Ks and other misunderstood retirement conduits. With Trillion$$$ of state-incurred debt...
Now is the time!

It's obvious that the problem lies with UNIONS eh? Our GREEDY working ~~class~~ poor. How dare they feel secure and valued in an era of rampant unemployment when laborers would cede almost anything for a paycheck again. You'd have to be one of Driftglass' Flatworms to not see what's going on.

The cowering figure depicted is labeled business. In 1937, a full 8 years after the crash, business was still askeered of the big bad government. Their stalwart, loyal, lobbyists, at the time were the front pages of just about every major newspaper in the country. Each and every day, they railed against Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his programs, his proposals, his very being. Protecting the singular interests of wealth and privilege. The best paid writers of the Great Depression were churning out anti-government, anti-Roosevelt, anti-socialist, pre-Randian tripe about how tearing down the rich was not the way to go. How an unfettered, untaxed, unregulated market was the American way.

Even with unemployment at 25%, massive nomadic migrations, Hoovervilles, grinding poverty and diminishing prospects, the majority of Americans were still working, felt lucky to have jobs and were willing to work harder for less just to make ends meet.

Enormous wealth was attained by those able to buy up troubled businesses for pennies on the dollar. Businesses could become troubled by limiting their access to capital and/or making the capital very expensive to access making more businesses available for bargain hunters.

Robber barons? Feudal Lairds? Carpet Baggers? All pikers comparatively.
Our present manipulators have a far larger, more insidious, more malodorous arsenal at their disposal. It's taken 40 years of patient agitprop and ownership consolidation to assemble the siege tower that will finally topple the last vestiges of FDR's New Deal. Decades of demonization, millions spent on mouthpieces to push the verbiage, endowed think-tanks spewing corporate gibberish chasing the last obstacle to their dream of owning everything. They can almost taste it. The sweat, tears, skin and sinew of generations of workers, put on the block. America for sale.

The people's representatives -set up by economic hit-men- are poised to give it all away cheap. Rolling economic black-outs deployed strategically to break down resistance. So close. So close.

The last best money-trick.

Fun With Numbers -OR- Poof! They Gone!

2011-02-19T06:38:00.005-06:00

Ten cents each or two for a quarter.
100% Graduation Rates?

For the second straight year, Urban Prep Charter High School is not only touting that "all" of its seniors are graduating, but that 100% are going to college.

This is being held out as proof of meeting the Charter school's goals and mission.
What they fail to disclose is that last year's junior class of 121 students became this year's 100% graduating class of 104. The undisclosed asterisk?

This also begs the question of college admission standards when only 17% of the school's students met or exceeded state standards on standardized tests.

It's so much better to LOOK good than to BE good.
Isn't that much of what we've become?

An Important Voice Speaks Out -OR- Whatever Will The Villagers Do To Ignore Truth

2011-02-18T07:01:00.003-06:00

Out here on the fringe it is hard to put a cogent word in edgewise. For that you have to give credit where credit is due. Out here everything is reduced to non-sequitur. There is nothing in the newsfotainment stream to which desperately needed comment, discussion and debate can possibly relate. Pre-framed, pre-packaged, pre-scripted and served complete with first and last word provided by the rolodex of all knowledge worth knowing whose names are known and accepted as experts (because that's what the caption beneath their name says they are and they wouldn't be on TV if it weren't so). Folks like Pat Buchanhan, George Will, Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, Thom Friedman, Cokie Roberts, and the whole of Faux News' stable of liars. Rising and setting on how everything rises and sets only as it relates to maintaining the mythology of RWR.

The teeming millions, desperate for explanations, but too scared, harried and distracted to find and process independent information for themselves, ingest and
assimilate far inferior products as though it is nutrition for the mind. It may not make much sense to them, but the reasonable experts cited above seem to believe and understand it. Right?

So when a voice comes out of the wainscotting and speaks a different sermon, of and for a perspective with no mooring in the narrative continuity, it can sound queer and almost other-worldly; because it is. The world of which it speaks it the one we have lost.

Top of that list, for me, is Noam Chomsky
The ONLY place you'll see and hear him is on the PUBLIC Airwaves. The airwaves about to be defunded as unaffordable in these economic times.

You can see and hear the whole show at
Democracy Now

My favorite part:

NOAM CHOMSKY: This deification of Reagan is extremely interesting and a very—it’s scandalous, but it tells a lot about the country. I mean, when Reagan left office, he was the most unpopular living president, apart from Nixon, even below Carter. If you look at his years in office, he was not particularly popular. He was more or less average. He severely harmed the American economy. When he came into office, the United States was the world’s leading creditor. By the time he left, it was the world’s leading debtor. He was fiscally totally irresponsible—wild spending, no fiscal responsibility. Government actually grew during the Reagan years.

He was also a passionate opponent of the free market. I mean, the way he’s being presented is astonishing. He was the most protectionist president in post-war American history. He essentially virtually doubled protective barriers to try to preserve incompetent U.S. management, which was being driven out by superior Japanese production.

During his years, we had the first major fiscal crises. During the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, the New Deal regulations were still in effect, and that prevented financial crises. The financialization of the economy began to take off in the ’70s, but with the deregulation, of course you start getting crises. Reagan left office with the biggest financial crisis since the Depression: the home savings and loan.

I won’t even talk about his international behavior. I mean, it was just abominable. I mean, if we gained our optimism by killing hundreds of thousands of people in Central America and destroying any hope for democracy and freedom and supporting South Africa while it killed about a million-and-a-half people in neighboring countries, and on and on, if that’s the way we get back our optimism, we’re in bad trouble.

Well, what happened after Reagan left office is that there was the beginnings of an effort to carry out a kind of—this Reagan legacy, you know, to try to create from this really quite miserable creature some kind of deity. And amazingly, it succeeded. I mean, Kim Il-sung would have been impressed. The events that took place when Reagan died, you know, the Reagan legacy, this Obama business, you don’t get that in free societies. It would be ridiculed. What you get it is in totalitarian states. And I’m waiting to see what comes next. This morning, North Korea announced that on the birthday of the current god, a halo appeared over his birthplace. That will probably happen tomorrow over Reagan’s birthplace. But when we go in—I mean, this is connected with what we were talking about before. If you want to control a population, keep them passive, keep beating them over the head and let them look somewhere else, one way to do it is to give them a god to worship.

Give them a light and they'll follow it anywhere!

Honey Do -OR- To Serve With Love

2011-02-14T16:02:00.003-06:00

Nobody I know who deserves flowers from me will see this, but Happy Valentines Day. Do something monumentally foolish for someone you love.

Hopeless romantic that I am, I'm installing a new bathroom floor. Hopefully the last step in an unfortunate series of water-related events. I'm about half way home, but the works are working.

Do you ever feel like your life consists of moving from one broken thing to the next? Me neither. I'm a glass half-full kinda Rehctaw....

One Of Those Head Snapping Moments -OR- Taxman!

2011-02-11T20:30:00.002-06:00

If you drive a car,
I'll tax the street.
If you ride to city,
I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold,
I'll tax the heat.
If you take a walk,
I'll tax your feet.

"A bill in Washington state would tax electric vehicle drivers for the gas they aren't using to power their cars."

NPR Marketplace Story

There is no end to the counter-intuitiveness of a determined bureaucrat trying to perpetuate the carnival ride or the seeming gullibility of the American public.

Who gave the mouse the cookie?
Sin taxes have been all but tapped out. The internet has exposed a serious flaw in sales tax collections. Now what? Let's think outside the box. Save energy? That's not good for tax collection?

At what point does reality set in?

Tree Huggin', Peace Lovin' Hippies Like Me -OR- Time Has Come Today

2011-02-11T12:15:00.002-06:00

Transformational ascendency is, evidently, a matter of perspective. timing. tenacity and world-wide media attention.

Regulars here may know that I fundamentally believe in self-rule. That is to say that I try to practice self-control. But I'm a practical anarchist too. I know there are rules. ` just want those rules to make sense and be applied as fairly and judiciously as humanly possible to derive maximum benefit. That, apparently, leaves too much wiggle room for some people.

Right now, we are witness to the the end of an error. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who isn't elated with the events in Egypt outside of the Mubarak clubhouse and perhaps the dysfunctional family @ Faux News. Today is a hopeful day. Tomorrow has finally arrived.

Rather than letting anyone else tell you what it means, I encourage you to consider the potential for humankind. Unlike past transformational moments, we can all be there. LIVE.

Mubarak had a club. A very exclusive club. The people in the streets weren't in it, couldn't join it and didn't particularly like that arrangement. What comes next will be manifold attempts to retain the vestiges of the club because that's how things have always been done. Not anymore.

It's a great day for us all.

Change. Transformation. Can be sudden and stark.

I'll let Todd explain it all:

-4 to 40 -OR- Typical Chicago Weather.

2011-02-10T18:21:00.002-06:00

The temps here are doubling every 6-8 hours. Just when us flatlanders were starting to adjust to the mountains that sprang up last week, it's time to break out the shorts.

Then again, when you're standing between two eight foot walls of packed snow, I doubt the air will feel anywhere close to 40°. Only one thing to do. Hie with all speed to a completely cleared/plowed, big empty blacktopped parking lot, break out the grill and patio furniture and bask in the warmth.

Just beyond the 7-11 there's just the spot. The site of a former Chevy Dealer which was part of an "auto group" owned by some Brit. He moved the Chevy Dealer into his former Chrysler Dealership just up the road, he got a sweet tax incentive to renovate, similar to the one he got to build the Chevy Building several years ago.

But that's a story for another day. Now it's time to stock up on picnic supplies!