Whelmed

I let the Sept 11 stuff go by for the first time in 11 years. But I didn't want to say anything one way or the other because though I think it is time to move on that's not the same as saying forget about it. But the way things are in this stupid country all you have to say is "we need to move on" from 911 and a host of bozos will be on your case calling you down and saying we should never forget. So I didn't play.

Yesterday I took the day off work and pretty much just hid in my office. I've been having a lot of headaches lately and then the workmen started pounding and sawing and dumping yesterday morning. Now - as you know - I work overnight. So I go to bed say maybe 6:30-7:30 in the AM. And by 8 AM there was a crew building something and sleep was not going to happen. Got worse because I agitated myself over it. You know how that goes. If I'd have stayed calm I'd have been alright, but it was like I decided to let it bug me. So it did. I have to stop that shit.

Well I have to go in tonight because the bigger plan was to cash in my unused sick time check at the end of the year. An extra week's pay. So, yeah, that's not going to happen.

We've been trapping animals in our yard. Possums. They were living under our deck. $165 for the guy to come out and set traps, and then $55 per captured animal. They hauled away two, and the traps have been empty for two days now. So that's probably it for Mr and Mrs O'Possum. Now I have a project this weekend of animal proofing the bottom of the deck. They dug in under one part fairly well. No rest for the wicked I guess.

Our youngest daughter is getting married next year. That's cool news. So I have to come up with one more wedding toast. Not one of my favorite things. Both Jordan's father and I have been suggesting we just give them money and they elope. It's not like it would be a horrible thing, they've both been living on their own for years and are in their 30's. But, you know, it's a big deal for them. What are you gonna do.

I am stuck in a great big huge damn rut. Absolutely nothing is reaching me. Dynamite please...

Sometimes The Magic Works

Gang Nations

Really, what's the difference between nations and street gangs?

Both mark off territory and work to defend it. One old school word calls "turf" what another calls "spheres of influence." They have colors, uniforms and hierarchies. They each even have their own version of taxation. Each takes a part of the world and marks it off as "theirs." They can both extol extensive "histories" that belong to them alone. There are citizens and there are homies. They regulate trade and economic activity. They both have systems of "justice" to mitigate any disputes within their realms. Both control by force and compulsion. See what happens if you refuse to pay your taxes. Or your protection money. Declare yourself independent of the larger powers that surround you and you'll find out - from both entities - how far you'll get and how long you'll get to do it. How long has the US been the Crips to Russia's Bloods?

The difference, of course, is seen as one of legitimacy. But what state doesn't coerce its legitimacy? Might makes right. The power dictates. The capacity to redress grievances may differ, but that also differs between nations. You may be able to appeal certain things in the USA, but try to get redress for your concerns in Syria. It's just a matter of degree, really. A neighborhood under the oppression of local gun thugs in Los Angeles or Chicago is the same as being in some countries.

Is it because our "gang" has nicer uniforms and a flag that makes us, or any nation, "better" than a mere gang? Is this only a matter of degree as well? We're proud of our soldiers. So are some neighborhoods I know of. We're proud of our kids when they participate in the life of the nation. We cheer them on and point to them as examples. But the same thing happens in the world of gangs. Some gang members are third and fourth generation already.

And if we feel a rival nation is threatening us, what do we do? Isn't organized warfare between nations the same thing as gang war, when you come right down to it? So what is the difference, if not only a matter of degree?

In the realm of philosophical anarchism - i.e., anarchism separated from the bomb-throwing connotation and seen in the light of an individual's relationship to their community instead - this view raises questions about human nature. What do we construct around ourselves? It's a question of how we become groups, and how these groups interact.

You can't have pure anarchism, at least not for long. Any void will be filled and, in the case of power wrenched from what is established, it will probably be filled by those who have the means and resources to inflict a new level of control. If there were no states, states would form. Take away the controlling power and that vacuum would be filled by another kind of controlling power.

Give that some thought the next time you rise to sing the National Anthem. Hand over heart. Cap off. Gang signs.

Enter Snappy Title Here

This is now open to anybody who wants to read it. But maybe you should have a glass of whiskey before clicking, or smoke a cigarette out in the cold air first. I'm actually about twice as far ahead as you see there but you might find it interesting. I don't know. Some do. Some don't. Looks like few ever got beyond the third chapter. So if it bores you just walk away. No harm, no foul.

See Elmo in the corner?

I need someone to look at me so as to keep me from flying away sometimes, to paraphrase Peachy.

The other night I got an earful from a good old boy I work with about the Obamination in the White House. I'm pretty ready to just give it up and let you all do whatever you like. If you cast a vote you surrender your personal sovereignty. I'm pretty fed up.

MrsRW has turned me into a Nivea guy, can you believe it? Nivea shave cream, Nivea after shave balm. Time was, even unto last month, I shaved most days or, well, some days, and skipped it the rest of the time. I go to work in a print shop and who cares, y'know? But she's got me all being a proper gentleman and - after a certain age - you realize that the sharp, cooling, gel smells are for the younger guys. Old guys just want to smell clean from all that stuff. So I am now a careful shaver and a Crew forming cream guy. I may look like an old drunk by the lines on my face but I smell good all the time now. So there it is.

Oh wait I forgot to put on my hand cream. BRB, goop.

Okay... I'm back. When you work in a print shop you wrangle big stacks of paper and it's often very dry and the air sometimes gets charged with static electricity from time to time. So your hands get dry and cut up. Paper cuts. And it really doesn't matter how long you work in a print shop, you will get paper cuts. All there is to it. The only thing that happens is you don't squirm and squeam when you get one anymore. Just wrap a bandage around it and go back to work. But on the weekends it is a good thing to smooth up because otherwise you'll have crab hands and your cuts will pinch when you do normal stuff like pick up a sammich to eat.

Did I mention Elmo up in the corner there?

I signed on to this thing at Imagine Sports. You draft a baseball team from 4000 players and then you go up against other guys and the whole thing is on a computerized match-up with some measure of random rhythms and shit. You play 162 games and set your lineup and pick your ball park and all. I named my team the Iola Gasbags. I ended up with some guys I really wanted like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Schoolboy Rowe, Vinegar Bend Mizell, Stuffy McInnis, Spud Davis, Rube Waddell and Boom Boom Beck and Boileryard Clarke. Yes we're the all-name team and we play in the old Baker Bowl. I guess where you play matters in the computerized results thing. So that's fun. Somebody sent me a gift certificate for it so I'm playing for free. I don't know what it costs regularly.

Okay so I'm babbling again. Anyway tell your friends about this place. I need some company.

Around Town

Received the Spring 2011 issue of Fred Woodworth's The Match! today and, as usual, two hours later I've finally put it down. In this issue Fred discusses his protest of the BODIES EXHIBITION that lasted every day of 142 days through the searing Tucson heat. As usual Fred draws our attention to yet another item we simply choose to walk past without regard and focuses our attention to it in dramatic fashion. That these cadavers, skinned, posed and plasticized, are obtained by dubious means (some are Chinese police torture victims, some are homeless people, none ever gave permission for the use of their bodies) and translated as objects of "art" or "education" (a plasticized cadaver with a basketball in hand? Really?) for a gullible and desensitized American audience visiting the macabre displays by the hundreds of thousands. Until Fred brought to light the source of the bodies I myself thought nothing of it. But these are the victims of a police state. And his recording of justifications given by customers passing his protest (including "who cares, they aren't Christians.") are enlightening. This along with Fred and cohort's usual articles - including in the regular feature "Crap-Detection Department" which excoriates the hilariously hypocritical reactions of this country to the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords in his own town and the mind-numbing "words of wisdom" from President Obama and the chief of Homeland Security that followed; Fred once again demonstrates that there is a legitimate third and sometimes fourth way of looking at things. Whether you go along with his "Journal of Ethical Anarchism" or not, it remains the best magazine in the country. It's free for the asking, but send some stamps anyway to The Match! PO Box 3012 Tucson, AZ 85702.
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I'm going through my own entanglement right now regarding the individual facing the "corporate structure." My old job - which I left February 18 - still owes me a little over $5300 (before taxes) for salary left unpaid to me over the last few weeks. I have today sent them a certified mail letter explaining that though it is my right to do so right this second, I am giving them until April 15 to make final payment to me or I will be going to the state and seeking the aid of the Wage Collection Act. Looking at the form the state requires me to fill out makes me think the second I do it he's doomed. As soon as any investigator tries to reconcile my stating there are 5 employees there with the fact that only two ever got paychecks that took taxes out of, he's screwed. It's only because of past kindnesses that I'm allowing a window before applying for my rights. More than that, though, I'd rather not drag the government into it on principle. They clearly state it may take up to a year to collect the money from the offending company, and the whole process skirts by the right way to do it - which is to handle it between individuals without the intrusive involvement of a corrupt state like Illinois. Part of me wants to handle it face to face and part of me feels a bit impotent in the face of promises already broken. I hate to be an active critic of government and then rely on it to function in my behalf. There's something very Tea Party about that and it bothers me to no end. I hope he just comes up with the money he owes me.
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I'm very much enjoying the fact that it is Monday afternoon and I am still on my weekend, that I have been on since very early Friday morning and won't end until tomorrow at 3:30 in the afternoon. 24 more hours of liberty as I write this... it's fantastic, I must admit. The bad thing that happened is that I gained almost 2 pounds because I slacked my eating habits last week toward convenience. My goal this year was to get under 200 pounds and stay there. I started at 213 and last week was at 197, but am back to just a tick over 199 now. So the "oh what the hell" stops for Whoppers and Egg McMuffins is hereby over. I'm such a damn hypocrite sometimes. And then I laugh about it. Not good.
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There's going to be some exciting news around here in the field of the written word (no not the book that is currently making the rounds with an actual agent but just as fun) and it's going to include a familiar name or two, so stay tuned.
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I think I need a small libation right about now because, y'know, it's still the weekend like I said. Catch you all later.