Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Wednesday with Ward (and much more)

Posted by Mickey Z on 12/14 at 05:47 AM
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  1. Good morning Mickey...and all who congregate here...not going to get sucked into forgetting anyone so I won’t name names

    Always a great read, today’s no exception - Mickey a few key phrases from your op ed got me to thinking ~fear of death~ and I found a little excerpt from some writings on Jainism:

    While talking of non-violence we should not chase shadows. We should remember that of the three things - violence, fear, false attachment - it is the last that has to be tackled first.
    It is the delusion of attachment that causes fear and which in turn results in violence.

    If it had not been for fear no weapons would have been invented. Fear of the enemy leads to the unending race for more and more deadly weapon systems and the degree and possibility of violence increase correspondingly.

    Today the whole world is reeling with fear. Nations are afraid of one another and so are different sections of society.

    Not until people become fearless can non-violence be firmly established, and fearlessness is possible only when people learn to free themselves from the delusion of attachment.

    The site is all about Jainism - a philophy often overlooked for Buddhism, it “seems”, since it’s much more popular with the celebrities and because organised Jainism’s principles are very demanding with little room for interpretation. I interpret anyway - something’s better than nothing is my logic with that one.

    I thought it might be of interest:

    http://tinyurl.com/bk6nh

    (Joe - a fellow horticulurist? I’m the Porcelain berry kind of twining vine.  The purple and turquoise berries are what I’m fond of)

    Posted by Amelopsis from Crisp Snowy Wonderland north of the 49th parallel  on  12/14  at  08:53 AM

  2. A State that wishes its citizens to respect human life must lead by example.

    Excellent essay, Mickey.

    The quote above nails it, for sure.  The State in its current manifestation—politically rightwing, with fascist tendencies and a total lack of effective opposition—does not repect human life.  It respects money, it respects raw power, and it respects violence.  These are the values that trickle down to our youth, and unless a change comes in rapid fashion, these values will become so entrenched that we’ll be stuck with them for generations to come.

    I sometimes go over to the Democratic Underground message board to see how the Democratic “opposition” is reacting to current events.  In Tookie’s case, there has been an alarming amount of pro-death-penalty rhetoric, with a lot of commentary along the lines of, “I’d pull the switch if they let me,” and “gang members are not humans,” and “gang members should be killed.” These are comments from DUers with over a thousand comments after their names—adults, presumably, who are so intertwined with State values that they have become blood-thirsty animals in their own right.

    These are fearful times, methinks, which is why we need to speak out with all the more power and passion.  Thanks to Mickey for putting his voice into the cauldron on a regular basis.

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO  on  12/14  at  09:01 AM

  3. MZ, from last night...great wjites, huh?  you got some sort of prejudice against the differently colored sharks?!  Are makos to be subjugated in the Great Foodchain?!  I say rise, egghosts and spermhosts, and overthrow the larger, stronger and wronger great whites!

    “Intelligence” = intolerance.  The mere awareness of self as separate from environment is lethal to “goodness” I fear.

    And you should know better than even to try to enumerate our ranks, MZ.  What of Old Glen in Sweden, to take an often-present example?

    Side note: Could Nancy give us a guest book of some sort where regulars and would-be regulars sign up?  A voluntary Expendable membership roster of sorts.  Perchance a cool little icon on the posts of those who’ve posted more than, say, 200 times?  I hate leaving people out, and the cheat of “et alii” isn’t really appealing.  And you as our immoderate moderator need some way to keep track of us, like the FBI does!

    Hi Hawk!  It’s colder in Astoria than in Denver for once. 
    “These are the values that trickle down to our youth, and unless a change comes in rapid fashion, these values will become so entrenched that we’ll be stuck with them for generations to come.” Was I asleep for the Golden Age where these values you reference were NOT dominant in Murrican society?  You’re younger than I am, so I know I was alive when you observed this, but for the life of me (pun), I don’t remember it.

    Perhaps my Half-heimer’s disease is progressing faster than I thought.

    Amelopsis, I love especially the turqouise berries because shades of blue are uncommon in fruits of any sort.  I don’t really count purple as a shade of blue, especially since most purple fruits are reddish purple.

    Jainism’s worldwide HQ in India is very beautiful, from the images I’ve seen.  The fact that it’s such a new religion surprised me, coming from India land of the Ancients of Days.

    Where are those fickle EuroExpendables?!  They’re usually here before me.  Wakey wakey!

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  09:43 AM

  4. Joe, from last night...hugs back.

    Ashland is one of the few places on the West Coast I’d consider living with anything other than a resigned sigh.  It’s very pretty, and it’s not very near anything else much; consequently, since i don’t want to work at Harry and David for the rest of my life, I’d have to be very, very rich before I even gave it a shot.  Actually, the West Coast of Canada is more appealing to me.  I still dream of living Summers in Skookumchuck, BC.  I ask you...who could ever be in a bad mood living in a place with a name like “Skookumchuck?”

    Guess I’ll “start” packing....

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  09:50 AM

  5. Was I asleep for the Golden Age where these values you reference were NOT dominant in Murrican society?

    Good point, Mudge!

    I think I’m an optimist at heart, and I like to think that power, greed and violence weren’t always the highest values of my natural-born country—but really, these are the things that brought us to where we are.

    Maybe my point has more to do with the current “leadership,” which has dropped all pretentions to civility, and is as crass a program of stealing from the poor and fattening the rich as anything we’ve seen in our history.  We’ve reached a peak of soul-less-ness—we are, collectively, more removed from the surrounding environment than ever, ruled by self-centeredness and fear.  Maybe I was thinking that it’s way, way worse than anything I remember in my 43 years—but I wasn’t around during the Palmer Raids, the Robber Barons or even the McCarthy Hearings.

    I wanted to think we had a better past to which we could appeal—but you’re right, we won’t find it in American history.  Gotta look elsewhere.

    P.S.

    How many posts have I put up?  Ten?  Man, it’s quite a climb to 200!

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO  on  12/14  at  09:55 AM

  6. Jainism is actually very ancient (more so than most other Indian religions or philosophies) - is there some wacky information I missed on the site I linked? I have seen misinformation posted about Jainism but it’s mostly been at university sites’ pages about ‘world religions’ (I hope the courses are more thorough than any of the summaries I’ve read online!)

    Mahavira (the last Tirtankara, or guru, or teacher of 13 with 1000’s of years between each one’s existance) is supposed to have studied with Buddha and it’s said that many Buddhist teachings stem from accepted Jain logic. (the Jain philosophy is keen on logic and gets quite scientific at times)

    Didn’t intend to get things off topic this morning...it was the principle that the adoption of non-violence in the smallest of ways is the only thing that is likely to ever lead us away from atrocities like state sponsored violence; such led to Tookie’s death yesterday, and wars around the world in every part of the globe.  (Jainism’s single prevailing principle is Ahimsa)

    I fear that we are too late to take part in a global revolution, but just in time to witness the violent suppression of it.

    Posted by Amelopsis from Crisp Snowy Wonderland north of the 49th parallel  on  12/14  at  09:59 AM

  7. Oh dear, Amelopsis, I fear the “strong” possibility of irony being tough to translate onto a page has defeated me again...I’m not a huge fan of emoticons, so I don’t put winks and smileys around moments of dry humor, but I could have put a >nudge< on there to be clearer.  >sigh<

    Hawk, dear, there has never been a society whee the prevailing Murrican values were NOT dominant.  Even hunter-gatherers have greed and lust and dominance fights.  This is because we’re all human.

    The ameliorating factors of cultural taboos have led some societies to minimize the nakedness of these motivating factors, but only minimize and not very well or for terribly long stretches.

    We are vile, irredeemable scum as a species and can only work towards personal redemption.  The group won’t change, nor will our basic natures.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  10:22 AM

  8. Chris, I got your file.  Watson’s a stitch!  You’ve imagined him as a character I can really enjoy beating up...and Holmes, one of my least favorite characters of all time, is actually fun to hate in this story!

    Thanks.  I’ll file it “under” pastiche and toss darts at it occasionally, so as to imagine Holmes shrieking in pain...almost as much fun as imagining the extinction event of catkind.  (A major mental recreation of mine.)

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  10:26 AM

  9. Hi again, Mudge,

    Well, like I said, I’m an optimist, so I don’t see humans as intrinsically scummy.  I see them as “lost” or “fallen,” in that life does a number on them and for the most part, they’re grasping about in the dark.  Fear is the normal state, and humans in fear will perform all manner of atrocities.

    I absolutely agree with you, however, that peace can only be found within.  Changing the world starts there, too.

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  12/14  at  11:17 AM

  10. On another subject—which Expendables and other assorted regulars here will be interested in—I’m listening to Jay Marvin on local progressive radio (760 am)... and he’s got Alexander Cockburn as a guest.  Alexander is shouting into a speaker phone and is hilarious.  The topic is CIA-funded “journalists,” like Walter Pincus, who not only remain employed by the various paragons of journalistic integrity (sic), but are showered in awards on a regular basis.

    Oy.

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  12/14  at  11:19 AM

  11. Great article Mickey - thought provoking as always. And great posts here so far this morning. I always learn something new when I come here, sad as it is that my only option for a Salon these days seems to be an impersonal online one.


    Back to the essay: I always shudder when the advocates of State-sanctioned murder use the “eye for an eye” quote. Like most things printed in all the different holy books, it’s so easy to take something out of context and screw its meaning around to serve one’s more sinister purpose. If one reads the complete passage that contains that particular gem, one discovers we are not being instructed in the art of revenge, but rather being admonished that in the pursuit of justice we are only entitled to equitable recompense. Now, I can already here advocates of the death penalty saying I have validated their position, and I would have except for that pesky little “Thou Shall Not Kill” commandment. As Lenny Bruce, my patron Saint, once said, “The commandment doesn’t say ‘Thou shall not kill, except...’ “ And they conveniently ignore the stuff from Gawd in Mark 25 about “what you do to the least of my bretheren, you also do to me.”


    But I don’t mean to get all Holy Roller on you - I am after all the Athiest Minister. To be more precise I am an Agnostic Atheist: I doubt the existence of my own beliefs. Gawd is after all just an invisible friend for adults. I just like to study these things for ammo in my debates with the more delusional sheep in our society.


    Everybody give at least one of Mickey’s books as a gift this Winter Solstice Season. And give one of mine too! http://www.noblebeastpress.com/


    Da Rev

    Posted by Rev Joe from   on  12/14  at  11:25 AM

  12. Hello Amelopsis,

    It’s interesting that you would bring up the Jains.  For the past year I’ve been reading through the Sutta Nikayas of the Pali Canon, one sutta each day.  These are the oldest records of the Buddha’s teaching, considered to be relatively free of subsequently-imposed biases and distortions.  Throughout the suttas, the Buddha frequently debates spiritual luminaries of the day—and more than any other tradition, he gets into it with the Jains.

    Jainism began at about the same time as Buddhism, and contains many of the same ideas.  As a result of the vigorous debate that went on circa 550 BC, we have a clearer picture of the basic spiritual milieu of that period, so that Jainism and Buddhism share some of the same practice techniques, as well as a similar ethical foundation.

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  12/14  at  11:26 AM

  13. Uh… I see that I just repeated what Mudge said, sort of.

    More oy....

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  12/14  at  11:32 AM

  14. Ward Churchill is an utter fraud.  I’m so sick of white “liberals” and white “radicals” trying to prop up minorities and act like they respect merely for the purpose of appearing “tolerant” and “accepting”.  It’s so pathetic I nearly gag thinking about it.

    Ward Churchill is NOT one of us.  At best he is 1/16 Native American, that’s simply absurd.  He’s one of you (white so-called radicals who spend their time crybabying over ridiculous things like veganism and “OMG CORPORATE NAZIS”, having the nerve to pretend that they care about the suffering of native peoples while still occupying our land).  You want to further the cause of “radicalism”, “anarchism” or “progressivism”?  Here’s an idea.  GO BACK TO EUROPE.  This is our land, and only your white privilege allows you to exploit it and remain here.

    Posted by Akeitay from Newark, Nj  on  12/14  at  11:33 AM

  15. Ward Churchill is an utter fraud.  I’m so sick of white “liberals” and white “radicals” trying to prop up minorities and act like they respect merely for the purpose of appearing “tolerant” and “accepting”.  It’s so pathetic I nearly gag thinking about it.

    Is that you, Bill O’Reilly?

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  12/14  at  12:05 PM

  16. Well, interesting greeting this morning.
    Hello to all -
    and an especial hello to you, Badass…

    Maybe you should hang out, for a few days, and debate with us - unless a hit and run away style is more to your liking… if so, fine.  If not, welcome to you… and, make no mistake, I’m not going “back” to anywhere - since I was born here, as were my parents, and 3/4 of their parents, as well…

    So, since I’m not going, and neither is the US govt., you might wish to choose your battles more wisely:
    Let’s see - Bush / Repubs, & Clinton / Dems, - or
    The CryBaby Radicals who hate all government, at Mickey’s…

    In one group you have a de facto ally, though you don’t seem to realize it…
    In the other group, you’ll find a well-oiled organization dedicated to our enslavement or extermination, or both…

    Doubtless you have a right to be angry - even at us.  Nevertheless - here you have brothers and sisters, no matter how “whiney” and “ridiculous,” while there…
    You / we have… nothing…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  12:17 PM

  17. Hey everyone.  In response to all the welcomings, can I say thanks for the warm responses?  I feel most welcome.

    Mudge, glad the Holmes spoof hit the spot, even if the spot wasn’t the one I was aiming at!  Always good to give satisfaction, and gratifying when done in a way I was completely surprised by. 

    Hawk, we all know many journalists get where they are by sucking Satan’s cock, but I had no idea the CIA actually funded them!  I thought it was more right wing think tanks like the Cato Institute.

    (btw, in my novel - self promo time, skip if you might gag - there is a think tank called the Mentle Institute, after some minor - and fictional - contemporary of H L Mencken, whom Mencken used to play practical jokes on or something.  I just liked the idea of media scumbags working in a Mentle Institute.  Sorry!  I’m easily pleased)

    We can all see the bias ooze out of much of our popular media.  However, some of it is still cool.  Yesterday’s Guardian had a great set of essays on 5 years of Bush; with an excellent piece by cartoonist Steve Bell.  Anyone who likes satire really should check him out, he is an awesome talent.  His work during the Thatcher years was both hilarious and wince-inducingly acute. 

    Re: all the primitive culture discussion.  I think (could be wrong) that neurology claims a part of the brain is the intrinsically aggressive, amoral part.  The reptillian brain, I believe it’s called, but it serves many purposes and is not just for dominance. 

    I find it a problem to see so many aspects of shitty human nature when there are so many fine people in the world.  What’s the deal here?  What goes wrong?  Most of my closest friends have their hard knocks & roll with the crap life at times throws them without becoming dominating & cruel. 

    I do, however, firmly believe there is a direct link between Republicanism and small penises.  Call it instinct.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  12:22 PM

  18. Oh, Mudge, remembering your disdain for HST - about five years ago I wrote a spoof called “Hunter S Thompson and the Temple of Doom,” an attempt to write parts of the Indiana Jones movie in the style of Fear & Loathing.  (it seemed a good idea at the time.) Let me know if you (or anyone else) wants to see it, even if only out of dank curiosity ...

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  12:24 PM

  19. Where are my manners?  Congratulations to Michele upon achieving her Master’s, must be a proud day for you both, Mickey.  Well done!

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  12:37 PM

  20. Regarding basic human scummery:  I put up some stuff on King Asoka, who ruled the Indian Mauryan Dynasty around 250 BC.  He’d been a ruthless warmonger ala Ghengis Khan, but had a conversion experience and is remembered as the most benevolent, tolerant ruler in history.  Here’s one quote:

    He abandoned meat eating for himself and advocated moral values for his subjects. He also promoted tolerance towards all religions which he supported financially. The prevalent religions of that time were the sramanas or wandering ascetics, Brahmins, Ajivakas and Jains. He recommended that all religions desist from self praise and condemnation of others. His pronouncements were written on rocks at the periphery of his kingdom and on pillars along the main roads and where pilgims gathered. He also established many hospitals for both humans and animals.

    I’m trying to remember the name of another ruler, I believe in India, who decreed that all his subjects go naked and remain that way throughout their lives.  This was to ensure that nothing was hidden from anyone else, so that complete integrity was all that was left.  His rule was marked by a total absence of war and violence—and not just because everyone was embarrassed to leave their houses.

    Does anyone remember the name of this ruler?

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  12/14  at  12:40 PM

  21. Hello Expendables. Long, hectic, and cold morning/early afternoon for yours truly...and I don’t think I can do “anything” to catch up with all the great conversations here.

    More soon…

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  01:26 PM

  22. mudge, i have been on a five day exile and been to the land of marking where 70 freshman (we jsut say 1st year) essays about john stuart f*cking mill had to be marked. thankfully, i got it done before my head burst. then i had to grade them on classroom performance. done now. whooppeee

    oh and i have a little theory.. who said ‘OMG corporate nazis’ on this site and what does the OMG stand for (excuse my stupidity).

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  12/14  at  01:36 PM

  23. oh, and whats wrong with a book or a good old fashioned newspaper. took this from another blog… http://tinyurl.com/axfso

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  12/14  at  01:39 PM

  24. Wow, Michael...now our bathrooms will really smell bad.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  01:41 PM

  25. Hello Again, everyone -
    Too many here to mention by name. 
    I guess our angry Aktitay didn’t return.  Here we’re never sure if we have a potential ally, or, as Mickey puts it, a “troll.” Trolls are folks who stop in, relieve themselves of some bad smells, and run off…

    I enjoyed your article, this morning, Mickey - and Dave Zirin’s as well.  Thanks to you both.

    Amelopsis - no, I have little understanding of plants, though I’m most enamored of their beauty and tenacity.  I just looked up the word, and found references to several different vines.
    It’s a nice name to choose for oneself…

    Hawk - I’m very much inclined to agree that we are much, much more than we appear to be. 
    When I look around the world, I see immense populations subjected to almost incessant brutality - mass murder, even genocide, rape, torture, theft of homes and lands and of all means of survival, denial of access to education, health care, clean water, reasonable nourishment, and even the near-enslavement of entire populations. 
    Let’s make no mistake - all of us, here and everywhere, are little more than domesticated animals… at best - and slightly better off than outright slaves… at worst.

    We - the very many, are essentially imprisoned by the very few.

    I don’t feel it’s fair, or logical, to assume that the behavior of the many, within such brutal, anti-human systems, is in any way reflective of their true nature. 

    Let us escape from this immense prison.  Let’s walk around upright for a while, out in the sun, away from the crushing burden of organized thuggery -
    then we’ll have a more accurate sense of who we are. 

    Mickey & Michael - welcome back.
    I like those “restroom readers.” Finally, an opportunity to put the “news” to appropriate use.

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  01:48 PM

  26. god, i’m back two minutes and reduced the conversation to the toilet! (i always find the restroom ridiculous - who foes in there to rest? you want to rest, you go to bed

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  12/14  at  01:51 PM

  27. Trying to catch up. Rev., this one rocks: Agnostic Atheist: I doubt the existence of my own beliefs.

    Michael, you bring out the toilet in us.

    Hi Joe.

    Thanks for the congrats, Chris. Michele is quite relieved it’s over.

    Thanks to all who said something nice about my op-ed. I was on the subway this morning and saw people reading it. I’m sure it will provoke some letters to the editor.

    My knowledge of Jainism is limited but I do find the subject brought up every now and then when I mention I’m a vegan.

    Hi Hawk.

    Completely unrelated to anything above: I cut through Central Park this morning to get from an East Side client to a West Side client. I don’t know why, but it had been barley plowed. Walking in sneakers on a sheet of ice with a sub-zero wind chill in the “air”? Not suggested.

    Hi Mudge.

    Where the hell is Rosemarie?

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  01:58 PM

  28. Michael, of course I go to the toilet for a snooze.  It helps me keep my butt in its uniquely scrunched shape, and I often go to the loo to meditate after relieving myself all over my bed. 

    (sorry, I’m a vile fucker when I get the chance)

    I regret I can’t share the newspapers of New York, but I do have heartfelt preferences for toilet reading.  A large stack of old favourite books is a must.  Light hearted novels, some short stories, the odd cartoontist’s compilation - all grist to my nether mill. 

    I also have a prize find - a very ingratiating book on the Queen Mother, full of many hilariously grim photos from her uniquely priviledged and pointless life.  Never fails to make me feel good.  Seeing such crappy pageantry over the morning dump raises the spirits for the whole day! 

    (soon I hope to upgrade to a book on Prince Charles, but it requires deep spirituality to laugh at such a dunce casually - most people can’t stop for days)

    As we’re talking toilet here, I have an odd - but highly effective - piece of psychology to share. 

    Next time you feel helpless about a worrying situation, eat some incredibly hot & spicy food.  This is known to me as the Vindaloo cure.  Several years ago, when my niece (and, I am proud to say, god daughter) was born, she had to undergo immediate, life threatening surgery.  Being incapable of helping, not being allowed to the hospital (she wasn’t expected to survive), I stayed at home.  Looking for something to relieve the angst, I ate my (first and only) Vindaloo.  For some bizarre reason, it’s impossible to plum the depths while steam is billowing out the ears. 

    Part of the myriad splendours of being human. Perfectly true; try it if you doubt me.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  02:09 PM

  29. sorry all, this is british chat for a minute…

    whenever they talk about the queen mother the same phrase comes out all the time..that she “helped us through the war"(WW2). i always wanted to know exactly how this was the case. did she fight? did she work in the factories or something? or was it by inviting oswald mosley the leader of the british fascists to the palace for a meal before the war?

    that always bugged me

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  12/14  at  02:19 PM

  30. Joe said:  I don’t feel it’s fair, or logical, to assume that the behavior of the many, within such brutal, anti-human systems, is in any way reflective of their true nature.

    It’s a complex subject, but what you say here expresses my feeling as well, Joe.  It also explains why we all seem to be surrounded by basically good, kind people, when it seems like the world is full of fang-dripping killers.

    Has anyone here read The Seventh Cross?  Here’s another one on my reading stack—a novel about the run-up to WWII in Germany, showing how normally peaceful and upstanding citizens are able to turn their backs on atrocities that had already become commonplace.

    Mickey said:  Hi Hawk.

    Hi Mickey!

    And please give my congratulations to Michele, whose name I would’ve been given (with an extra ‘l’, probably), were it not for slightly altered genetic conditions.  She must be really, really relieved, if not totally excited.  I can see that some ailing kids will soon be in good hands....

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  12/14  at  02:25 PM

  31. Ah, did she buggery help!  Living off sumptuous food not the paltry rations, being exempt from the threat (Buck House has rather extensive cellars, I gather!) not to mention not having any loved ones off being massacred.  It makes my stomach turn to think of that myth.

    All the old cow did was turn up in the East End, shake hands with a few paupers and fuck off again.  All that “looking the East End in the face” bollocks is arsy propaganda.  BTW, many of the East End were furious with her & had to be held back - the photos of her inspecting the ruins were staged. 

    It makes my blood boil to think of those poor people being “inspected” by some cretinous blood sucker.  As if being bombed out of their homes wasn’t enough, they had to be patronised by, and deferential to, the richest (and safest) woman in the country.

    As to the rest of our wonderful overlords, Prince Philip had a cousin in the Gestapo, Himmler’s private secretary!  Ah, our noble rulers ...

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  02:26 PM

  32. My understanding of the Jains is quite simplistic, I’m sure, but all I’ve heard is that they are very, very serious about trying not to hurt or kill -
    anything.
    Worms, bugs, slugs, protozoa… bacteria…
    I don’t know… but I draw the line just before protozoa…
    In my world, huge, scary spiders, cock-roaches, and microscopic creatures are doomed.

    Had an interesting experience in India.
    Don and I both wore leather “money-belts.”
    We figured that, if worse came to worse, even if we were robbed, we’d perhaps be able to retain our belts, and could use the money secreted therein…
    Well, we met a guy who was just outraged by our leather apparel.  He blasted us in very articulate English.
    Don, quite intrigued and delighted by his arguments, asked:  “Wow, wonderful stuff - are you a Jain?”

    With that, the guy was completely undone.
    He was, he ranted, an orthodox Hindu, with respect for all animals -
    and NOT, a foolish, overzealous Jain, committed to a life of frittering and tip-toeing about, anxious not to kill off some helpless virus.

    Later, Don and I laughed at the experience:
    We weren’t extreme enough.
    The Jains were too extreme.
    Our Hindu was.... well.... just right!

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  02:26 PM

  33. By the way, that “did she buggery help” was NOT meant for Michele - I didn’t see Hawk’s post until after mine was sent.  Don’t want any of you thinking I was being somewhat snide about our good host’s wife - plus it seems rather knee jerk! 

    A pure accident, although seeing it in that order did make me snigger.  Sorry.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  02:28 PM

  34. Thanks, Hawk. I’ll pass on your good wishes. Now that Michele is done with school (at least for a while), she may be able to stop by here more often.

    Btw, here’s Arnold’s next victim: http://tinyurl.com/7dqkb

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  02:28 PM

  35. Lots of us typing at the same time.

    Love that story, Joe. Ain’t that life? No matter what you do or “say,” there’s always someone out there to mock it.

    Chris: I might be offended, if I had any idea what “did she buggery help” means.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  02:31 PM

  36. “It makes my blood boil to think of those poor people being “inspected” by some cretinous blood sucker.”

    Now, Chris -
    no need to namby-pamby about the subject.  No need to sugar-coat your remarks.  We’re all friends, here.
    Please - just say what you feel…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  02:32 PM

  37. Oh god.  If the man’s gravely ill, some bastard will probably want to expedite the process so as to not cheat the hangman. 

    Any got any remote idea why people stay on death row so long?  Surely if the decision is that they die, common humanity (admittedly a quality very lacking in this area) dictates it should be done as quickly, & painlessly, as possible.

    I remember the first time I thought about the death penalty.  I chanced across a description of death via electric chair - the thought terrifies me.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  02:34 PM

  38. Don’t know why, Mickey, but I’m reminded of those old “3 Stooges” cartoons, where the stooges would be walking down the street when a beautiful woman would suddenly appear, walk up to one of them and slap him, very hard, across the face, yelling:

    “How Dare You Look Like Somebody I Hate?!”

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  02:38 PM

  39. Joe, I apologise if my tone is too harsh, but consider: would you want to be basically approved of, and passed as fit for human acceptance, by someone of such privilege?  Who hadn’t made your sacrifices, nor seen the deaths? 

    Mickey, I was meaning that basically she (Queen mum) didn’t assist in the slightest. 

    Odd this “typing at the same time” thing - I’ve been responding to different points at the wrong time!  Heh heh.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  02:38 PM

  40. 1. Congratulations to Michele.

    2. I been super busy, programming an experimental music festival, little chance of substantive contributions until next week. But I’m reading!

    3. Great stuff in Metro, Mickey. The Metro here in NL (same company) doesn’t do material quite as biting, I’m afraid. I’m glad that kind of stuff gets published and distributed in the subways in NYC. Oh, and you are 100% spot on, by the way.

    4. Michael, OMG means “oh my god”.

    5. As for the rabid guest who hates Churchill and the rest of us (comment #14)---cany anyone have another read and see if they can make sense of it? Are we leftist commie terrorist scum or are we not left enough for His Leftness?

    6. I gotta say that one of the nice things here is the lack of pressure. I read the ZNet blogs and it’s too often about outdoing the previous commenter intellectually and proving you know more about, well, anything. This is largely a result of consistently having to defend even the most modest humanist proposals and snippets of truth about the war and so on from hardcore, vicious, die-hard capitalists and racists. It’s nice that we can exchange ideas here without inane bullshit (except the kind we like!). Nice, meaning: productive. Rabid, idiotic ideologues might want to down a bottle of chill-pills before getting their cyber drool on our freshly pressed virtual table cloth here. Thanks.

    Posted by Keir from The Hague  on  12/14  at  02:39 PM

  41. Here’s a B&N link for The Seventh Cross.  And here’s some blurbage:

    Written in 1939, first published in 1942, a national bestseller and a 1943 BOMC Main Selection, The Seventh Cross presented a still doubtful, naive America a first-hand account of life in Hitler’s Germany and of the horrors of the concentration camps. Seven men attempt an escape from Westhofen; the camp commander erects seven crosses, one for each. Only one, the young communist, Heisler, survives, not by cunning or superior skill, but through the complicity of a web of common citizens unwilling to bow to the Gestapo and forced to make decisions that will determine the character of their future lives.

    So, there’s some folks depicted who managed not to go along with the flow—that’s encouraging.

    Kurt Vonnegut, WWII vet that he is, wrote the intro.

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  12/14  at  02:39 PM

  42. i liked it chris.. i always preferred ‘inbred parasites’

    definitions of parasite include…

    1. An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.

    2. A- One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.
    B - One who lives off and flatters the rich; a sycophant.

    and i hadn’t heard this on but it still fits…

    3. A professional dinner guest, especially in ancient Greece.(or ancient greeks - prince philip - u might have to be british to get that one)

    take your pick

    as for inbred - the reason that haemophilia is known as ‘the royal disease’ is because it is hereditary and many of the royal families of europe used to pair off their children thus the level of haemophiliacs in royal society is way way above the general populace. this is why rasputin got to hang about the russian court - he said he could cure it.

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  12/14  at  02:41 PM

  43. Wow -
    these conversations are like a magnificent Acid Trip.
    I’m gonna print `em up and see if I can sell `em out on the street.

    Back soon with the cash…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  02:42 PM

  44. Thanks Michael.  Maybe “parasite” is the right word. 

    Still, they do a marvellous job! (nobody knows what it is, mind...)

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  02:43 PM

  45. thanks keir i figured what it was but wasn’t sure. thats my theory f*cked then!

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  12/14  at  02:49 PM

  46. Joe, my captcha word is “street.” I think you have ESPN.

    I’m once again surrendering all pretense at keeping up with the goings-on here. I’m sure, as I type these very words, 5 other comments are being posted on 10 other topics.

    Hello Keir. Don’t sweat the troll who posted earlier. He (she?) shows up every now and again under a new guise but with the same IP address at a Jersey college. Strange that people choose to spend their meager time in such a manner. But thanks for the kind words about this space. As for Metro, I’m ecstatic that they’ve made room for my stuff. Astonished, actually.

    Joe, I’m still laughing about the Three Stooges scene.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  02:49 PM

  47. Keir, re: “hardcore, vicious, die-hard capitalists and racists.”

    Recently I’ve been trying to sell a novel satirising Bush.  One of the responses, from a literary agent who had only received a polite letter and short synopsis, was:

    Mr. Wood:

    Your novel is a ferocious not to mention fallacious desecration of my country and our American servicemen serving in Iraq and putting their lives on the line to destroy terrorism!  This piece of vicious anti-American agitprop is disgusting and I am sending a copy of your offensive email to the British Consul here in New York so they are in the loop!  Incidentally, my U.K. Scottish colleague here in my agency Lord Collin Campbell son of the late Duke of Argyll agrees with me.

    Please loose our email.

    Marianne Strong

    C.C. British Consul N.Y.C.

    A little strong, I think.  I did enjoy writing back, though!  (still awaiting her response)

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  02:51 PM

  48. Congratulations Michele!

    Three months after the Katrina disaster: New Orleans left for dead: http://tinyurl.com/cbeeq

    at the end of the article there’s a link to some photos: http://tinyurl.com/7ksbb

    My Husband is at the Gates of Gitmo: http://tinyurl.com/b4lpg

    because this is really important: http://tinyurl.com/b3dd5

    Posted by tm from under ice  on  12/14  at  02:54 PM

  49. Keir, I think that the Badass from #14 has assumed everyone here is too white and or an immigrant from “Europe”.

    Must have one hell of a computer monitor to be able to see us all!

    Foolish myopia that just needs a good cry so he/she can get on with the issues without carrying the anger around.

    There’s too much for me to comment on here today - suffice it to say that I don’t want any automatic printer handling my paper in the WC (nobody used that one yet!) before I get my ..hands..on it; the queen mum had all sorts of dealings with nasties. Didn’t she also tour diamond factories/mines in South Africa by invitation from the DeBeers family?
    I also neglected to offer congratulations to Michele. 
    I’m still pondering on the unnamed ancient ruler that Hawk’s thinking of… and…
    plants are to be much admired; everyone should have at least one of them.

    Posted by Amelopsis from Crisp Snowy Wonderland north of the 49th parallel  on  12/14  at  03:01 PM

  50. TM, that last link is frightening.  Where’s the elbow room?  Reminds me of a Simpsons line about “the case of Lawyers vs. Humanity”.

    Amelopsis, yes, the QM did tour diamond mines and the line.  Also coal mines (very few) in the UK when a miner’s life was hellish. 

    A very funny spoof in Viz magazine spoofed the Queen Mum shooting black people on safari in the 1930’s.  The line read “as there are now many more coloured people in Africa then there used to be, it could be argued the Queen Mum was actually an early conservationist!”

    Dark indeed.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  03:04 PM

  51. I look forward to Mudge’s reaction to that agent letter, Chris.

    TM: With Big Country AWOL, you are becoming the link-master. JOS, you hear that?

    WC, Amelopsis? Okay, I see you and raise you “shitter.”

    Gotta run for a bit...don’t miss me too much.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  03:18 PM

  52. Hi all!
    Mickey,Keep track of the trolls though since I´ve seen many forums getting wrecked by these virtual bullies but since you´re here on daily basis you should be able to see that it´s not getting out of hand.
    Different oppinions should be welcomed though as long they´re articulate and serious.

    Usually I agree with what being said/written here and then don´t comment as one is “surfing"/going through the sites you “have” to visit almost daily.
    If I haven´t said it before I regard this blog as being informative,easygoing and funny in an lighthearted manner and with cool graphics especially if you compare it to all useless blogs where people just write solely about “me,myself and I”.

    The comments section is also often frequented by nice and openminded people who doesn´t have the urge to brag,compete or being “the king of the hill” ,that´s good!

    Posted by The poster formerly known as "Old Glen". from   on  12/14  at  03:45 PM

  53. Thanks, Old Glen. Always a pleasure to see a comment from you here.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  04:55 PM

  54. Hi Everyone...sorry for my absence.  Things have been pretty crazy for the past few days. Have not had time to read all of the comments yet but want to send a great big hug to Michele for her accomplishment!!!  Nice photos of WC and also Michele and Michelle today.
    About comment # 14 from Akeitay, maybe there is a little bit of truth in what he says. We should either get out or at least pay for the land which we occupy, right?

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  12/14  at  05:15 PM

  55. Welcome back, Rosemarie.  Wonderful to see you!
    You’re right, of course.
    Until we decide where to go, I suggest we all stay at Mickey’s… from NYC, any destination is relatively straightforward.

    Keir -
    “Rabid, idiotic ideologues might want to down a bottle of chill-pills before getting their cyber drool on our freshly pressed virtual table cloth here.”
    That’s my new favorite sentence!
    Used to see lots of that stuff in academia.  Every conversation was actually a contest to see who could make reference to the most arcane factoid.  There was a smugness in the universities which would seem over the top, even at the Academy Awards.
    And, yeah, it can get hip-deep at ZNet, and at almost any gathering of “card carrying” communists or anarchists…

    Chris - I loved your comment.  My old friend Wes and I used to tease each other with those lines.  I’d “go off” frothing at the mouth about something, and Wes would chuckle:  “Hey, Joe - don’t sugarcoat it, baby.  Don’t be afraid to say it straight out!”
    Oh, and please tell Marianne Strong that we refuse to have sex with her unless she softens her tone…

    About the ancient King.  I’m only able to think of Janaka - who is the subject of many stories in the Advaita tradition.  One story revolves around his teacher’s attempts to get him to realize that his own thoughts were his biggest problem, his own mind his greatest tormentor.  The teaching went on for years - perhaps decades, till he “got it.”
    One morning, it is told, Janaka emerged from his chambers with a grim look to his face.  When asked about his unusual mood, he replied:  “I have discovered the thief who steals my very life-blood.  I will deal with him this very day.”

    Thereafter, he became the great Janaka… a model of wisdom and compassion and true fairness… etc.

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  06:20 PM

  56. Rosemarie -
    I didn’t mean to just leap over your remarks.
    I apologize.
    I certainly think we’ve treated Indians - and Blacks, too, with truly unimaginable cruelty. 
    I have no idea how we could possibly even adequately apologize, never mind attempt to repay them.

    The enormity of the crimes committed toward these great peoples completely overwhelms me…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  06:29 PM

  57. Hello RMJ. Welcome back.

    Joe, this is the only ancient king on my mind this week: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024216

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  06:30 PM

  58. Hey Michele: Congratulations on your achievement, and many years of success in the field!

    I was setting pen to congratulations card when I realized that the humorous sentiment might be appreciated, but the commercial card might take the edge off the excited and enthusiastic sentiments...so off cber-card-shopping I went.

    Lame, lame, lame.  There’s not a single one I’d be associated with.

    I can’t make cards from found stuff, because I lack all creativity.

    So, here I am at last, reduced to a rather simple note, but one that conveys my admiration for you in choosing this difficult and heart-wrenching path to joy, for yourself, your clients, and their doubtless grateful and certainly overwhelmed parents.

    You are more than ever a ray of sunshine in a dark and difficult world.

    Big hugs from--
    Richard

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  07:08 PM

  59. Joe - fair play.  I will let Marianne Strong know that sexual sanctions are in place until she gets her marbles right.  As for Colin Campbell, well, she’s probably off getting cheap thrills with a duck at the moment.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  07:09 PM

  60. Oh Marianne! Here girl, here girl!  Who’s a pretty poodle, then?!  Who?  There now, Princess, hold still while Mummy paints your itty claws....

    Chris, I got a huge laugh out of this.  Huge.  She’s not a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives http://www.aar-online.org/, so far as I can tell from a search for her name in the database.  Her response to you violates no ehtical code of the AAR, anyway.  I don’t know what agency she’s from but I am firmly of the opinion that she shold be reported to the AAR by name and agency affiliation so as to prevent them from admittting her should she ever apply for membership.

    Her response is not indicative of her respect for her potential clients, and if it became truly public, it would be detrimental to the reputation of agents in general.  Her behavior is reprehensible, and her dropping of some random name (Lord Whosey Whatsits, so blinkin’ what fool, who cares what you or anyone around you might or might not “think”?) is, to put it mildly, a faux pas of Biblical proportions.

    At all events, shame on you for attempting commerical sale of satire!  You are summarily convicted of the crime of Being British But Not David Lodge.  He is the Approved Supplier of British Satirical Fiction.  His patents royal are on file somewhere, just can’t dig ‘em up....

    Side note to all considering represntation: Never sign with an agent whose name (or agency’s name) is not in the AAR database.  Never.  The Canon of Ethics that each agent must sign and return with the annual dues is one’s best protection against unscrupulous behavior by agents.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  07:23 PM

  61. Thanks, Richard (Mudge). Michele is basking in the glow of such warm wishes.

    Joe: I was just reading up on the impending NYC transit strike when I came across an article about it...written by one of the aforementioned Three Stooges: http://tinyurl.com/bhoz7

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  07:25 PM

  62. Mudge: yeah yeah, commercial satire is bad IF it alters what you say.  This was a done job.  In any case, it’s just another way of trying to work my own hours. 

    BTW, beneath is my reply to her:


    From: 
    Subject: Re: QUERY - JUDAS COW, novel submission
    Date: 16 September 2005 20:43:39 BST
    To: 

    Thank you for your blithering reply.  Perhaps in one of your more lucid moments you may consider my responses to your inane, childish points:

    Check your First Amendment in re: Freedom of Speech.  It’s quite important.  That fool Bush is happy to wipe his arse with your Bill of Rights, so citizens can now be chivvied and harassed like never before.  You really shouldn’t throw your rights away so lightly and with so little intelligence.  Please check the Patriot Acts I and II if you doubt this.

    You haven’t read my novel.  It’s not a diatribe against America or US soldiers.  It is invective about the Bush camp and while fictionalised, supported by real evidence.  Glad the synopsis pissed you off, though.  The power of the written word!

    Colin Campbell’s view interests me not in the slightest.  The aristocracy in general are a bunch of pointless turds, but then being English I would know that.  Is that why you think I should give a flying fuck what he thinks?  Shame.  Please ask him from me if all the Colin Campbells of his line really do have webbed toes.  A friend of mine maintains this view and I’d just like to know. 

    Scotland is in the UK, if you use the term.  I prefer to think of myself as English and many Scots think we have no business speaking for them.  Fine with me, not my country.  Surpising M’lady Campbell didn’t know that the UK includes Scotland, but then I wouldn’t trust an “aristocrat” to sit the right way on a toilet seat. 

    The Duke of Argyll?  Who he?  Do you know much about feudalism? 

    Let me know what the British Consul think.  I thought they existed to help Brits in warm water overseas, not to chivvy writers sat in England sniggering over your indignance.  (It really did make my day, btw.  Could you get some of your stupider colleagues to do the same?)

    Interesting that you follow your arrogant, witless twaddle by saying “please loose this email.” I pondered the “loose” briefly.  Should I take your mail to a forest and let it go free?  Seems bizarre, but as the rest of your message was barking it wasn’t impossible you meant this. 

    You also misrepresented and defamed me & my work quite a lot.  So, I forwarded it to a number of people and “loosed” it that way.  Why did you include the word “please” after writing such personal gibberish about me?  Rather surprising. 

    How is an email with a polite letter and synopsis offensive?  Does satire bother you?  Suits me - that’s why I wrote it.  Check the word sometime.

    What loop do you speak of?  Obviously some attempt to throw a noose over my view because my politics differ from yours.  How very pathetic.  Do you watch Fox too? 

    Some of my friends thought your mail bordered on the threatening, but I’m not exactly worried.  I know my rights.  Do you? 

    I think I might send your response to your clients.  Some of them may still believe in your First Amendment even if you don’t.  Things like the Constitution are the bits of America I like and respect, not your murderous idiot of a president or your presumptions about my views. 

    And, not forgetting:

    Fuck you.  I have better ways of wasting my time. 

    Many thanks for all the giggling. 

    Chris Wood

    C.C.  many friends, colleagues etc

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  07:48 PM

  63. Michael, oy vay izmir as the Polish Jewish grandma used to say.  Bleah, marking that many papers, oof, can you see straight yet?

    RMJ, you’re back at last.  Please don’t stay gone so long.  I get worried.

    Hey Joe!  Asoka’s the only Indian ruler I know anything about up until the Middle Ages and then it’s pretty sketchy until Queen Empress Vicky Snicky Pooh.  I read an alternate history over on USENET once called Answers for Milinda that taught me more in its footnotes than any of my various forays back to academia ever did about Bharati’s history.

    Amelopsis, that whole “conversation got away from me” thing is my reality here.  I go away to struggle with the boa constrictors of bureaucracy and end up fifty posts behind and desperately confused.  [whispers]It doesn’t show, does it?

    Hawk, O Optimist, good on ya for keepin’ it so long.  I haven’t managed that trick, or even come close.

    Poster #14’s “go back to Europe” line made my day.  Ethnic cleansing, repatriation of the Other...wasn’t that cause for hysterical outcries when said of African Americans?  What makes it okay for white folks?

    As for reparations...well, where does that stop?  I think China shold compensate the Tibetans; the Mogolian government needs to compensate the Eastern European nations; oh yeah, the Russians, Germans and Austrians owe me money for the partition of my Grandmother’s homeland in 1777 and oh yeah! Russia kicks in some more to me for Cossack pogroms, and what’s with the absence of Swiss coin in my money-belt for all the cash and assets they colluded with the Nazis to strip from the Jews (quarter Jewish, that counts, right)?  AND each one of you straight people owes me money, LOTS of it, for passing your loathsome laws forbidding me to marry someone I love, to share as a straight spouse would in the insurance and inheritance and other special rights you reserve for yourselves.

    BIIIIIIG money.  Ante up!  I’ll accept checks.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  07:49 PM

  64. What about us straight middle-class white guys? When do we get our share?

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  07:52 PM

  65. Chris, I do so hope you didn’t forward her private email to lots of people, just your response to it!  Her email to you was private, she owns her “intellectual” property (ie, her words) and you potentially violated her legal rights by disseminating those words without her consent if you did.

    OTOH, if you merely sent your own email to God and everyone, ROFLMGAO and go on with your bad self!

    Given your response, however, skip the idea of reporting her to anyone.  You’re firmly in the wrong.  Hilariously so, but wrong nonetheless.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  07:59 PM

  66. Do you think the strike will actually happen, Mickey?  Man, talk about shutting down the city.  I’d think that Lord Bloomberg would contrive a re-make of “Reagan and the Air-Traffic Controllers,” and just start arresting people…

    Larry Fine -
    I bet he didn’t get Moe’s permission:  “Why, I oughta...”
    I haveta admit, I really love those guys.  I used to watch them before school, when I was a young kid.  Their antics were much more reasonable and comprehensible than those that greeted me upon my arrival at school.

    I didn’t realize that Peter Jackson was doing the King Kong remake, Mickey.  His presence adds a little “weight” to the project.  Looks great.
    Of course, Lord Bloomberg and The Fuhrer will have him shot as a terrorist before he hits the 20th floor of the Empire State Building… or, if 9/11 is any indicator… well, he’ll make it to the top, pretty much unopposed.

    Mudge, I’ll not hire any agents from outside the AAR, though I tend to consider it my patriotic duty to hire someone like Marianne.

    Well, that’s the end of this “post.”

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  08:02 PM

  67. MZ 64:
    Straight people have no share.  White people less so.  Middle-class people have too much already.  C’mon, c’mon, make with the moolah.  PayPal’s good too.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  08:04 PM

  68. Joe, I am a fellow Stooges fan. I love that era. Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy...then a little later: Hope and Crosby. As for the transit strike, they’re already threatening the workers with massive fines (and I don’t mean Larry’s family).

    Mudge: I will consult my agent: http://tinyurl.com/d7fqg

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  08:13 PM

  69. Mudge, I’m not a lawyer but she did ask me to “loose” the email.  In any case, faced with such rank gibberish I’d sooner be loud, confident and wrong than craven and falling back on some duke’s son to back me up.  Fuck her.  (actually, Joe did say that was off the cards, but you get the idea)

    What does ROFLMGAO mean? 

    As to reparations, the enablers of such tyranny are surely the launderers; Swiss banks, the Vatican etc.  People who made the loot disappear into safety boxes and such.  They must have accumulated mightily, but off the record.  Doh!

    Historically, is it fair to argue that Spain fundamentally underwrites every piece of US imperialism and shortchanging, as a Spanish court funded Columbus and gave him a (religious) mandate to steal?  It’s just a thought, but how far are we reaching back here?  My history’s not that good. 

    I don’t even want to think about how many groups are owed money for oppression.  Also, if people are oppressed, they may become to some degree pathological and continue their own self restriction.  If this makes sense (& I agree it may not) then if someone does me wrong, I can fuck things up for myself, they owe me money!  Cool. 

    Mudge, I consider your reparation for all ills afforded you by narrow minded bigots is the knowledge that are not a fundamentalist Christian. 
    True, they may shit on your human rights, but you don’t have to take Jerry Falwell types seriously. 

    Mickey, I suspect this is where you, as a straight middle class dude, can consider yourself well off!

    BTW, Martin Amis wrote a great collection of essays called The Moronic Inferno.  His essays on evangelists & Reagan are outstanding.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  12/14  at  08:16 PM

  70. “Rolling On Floor Laughing My Goddamned Ass Off”

    Hey, if everyone else is in line for cash, I want cash, not some nebulous “you’re a better man than I am Gunga Din” crapola.  You bet I’m morally superior to these yahoos, but so what?  So are my dogs.  Intellectually superior?  See previous comment.

    As to saying “loose” well, it’s unlikely to come down to legal blows, but I have a feeling little poodle precious MEANT to add “address” on the end.  Though I vastly prefer your interpretation of “loose,” well...a tad disingenuous, hmm?  Anwyay, whatever works for you with people like this, do it.  I tend to ignore them, but I’m older than you are and have had a heart attack so I do my best not to rile myself up over anything not directly related to survival.

    Off to buy groceries!

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  08:30 PM

  71. Mickey - I believe I just saw Agent 99!
    Now, there’s a face I’ve not seen for almost a lifetime - what a jolt!

    The Stooges thru the Hope & Crosby road pictures WAS a great time.  Lots of fun.  Even my generally grim-faced father often said: “Oh, yeah, I get a kick outa `em.”
    BTW, I went back and read that “Fine” article.  I should have known.  Well, it’s absurd to allow the rabble to have any control over their own lives… after all, the business of the great metropoulos must take precedence over all else…

    Chris - helluva letter.  But, as a great American Sage, Rodney King, once asked:  “Can’t… can’t we all just get along?” Maybe you could send her a nice hallmark card and a tin of peanut brittle.

    Mudge, bless ya… you deserve some sort of “Still Standing, Damnit,” award.  I’m going to visit the Catholic Church, tonight, for the first time in decades.  God Himself owes you reparations, and I’m just the guy to wrest them from the Big Feller.

    Hawk:
    About that book.  You posted an excellent review of the book and the conversation ( for, as an aging imbecile, that’s what I’ve chosen to call it...) the conversation just got away from us.
    Here’s the post: ( # 41 ):

    Here’s a B&N link for The Seventh Cross.  And here’s some blurbage:

    Written in 1939, first published in 1942, a national bestseller and a 1943 BOMC Main Selection, The Seventh Cross presented a still doubtful, naive America a first-hand account of life in Hitler’s Germany and of the horrors of the concentration camps. Seven men attempt an escape from Westhofen; the camp commander erects seven crosses, one for each. Only one, the young communist, Heisler, survives, not by cunning or superior skill, but through the complicity of a web of common citizens unwilling to bow to the Gestapo and forced to make decisions that will determine the character of their future lives.

    So, there’s some folks depicted who managed not to go along with the flow—that’s encouraging.

    Kurt Vonnegut, WWII vet that he is, wrote the intro.

    Looks very good, young fella.
    I’ve never heard of it.  I’ll add it to a list which my heirs ( Ha Ha, Nyuk, Nyuk, heirs… ! ) will have to complete for me, one day…
    Thanks, Hawk, and sorry the post got so lost, and that we all did, too.

    Helluva day here, today… amazing.
    Soon we’ll all go to sleep, and we’ll wake up tomorrow and come here to get some Z’s…
    We’re an odd bunch, no doubt.

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  12/14  at  10:03 PM

  72. Yeah, Joe, I amaze myself sometimes.  Some people seem to live the Chinese curse, “May you live an interesting life in interesting times.” >hand goes up< Me!  Me!

    Hawk, The Seventh Cross is well worth reading.  Joe should. 

    Chris, Martin Amis’s London Fields is one of my favorite reads of the 90s.  Just generally speaking, I admire the deftness with which he penetrates hypocrisy and makes it bleed.  His papa was no slouch in the literary lists either...Lord Jim had enough funny moments to be called a comic novel, except for where it all led....

    I’m off on The Road to Utopia, aka beddy bye, a country “far” from here and fair.  Out at 9:20 CST.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  12/14  at  10:20 PM

  73. Signing off at 10:27...from frigid Astoria. I’ve had enough of winter “already.”

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/14  at  10:27 PM

  74. Time for a major celebration! Many, many congrats to Michele on an amazing achievement. MASTER MICHELE...it has a nice ring, eh?

    Posted by suzanne from   on  12/15  at  12:26 AM

  75. Two quick things. (Not to be nitpicky.)

    1) If genocide has no practical meaning at all, why is Ward Churchill abel to write about it so confidently and assume we’ll know what he’s talking about?

    2) If only 42% of the death row population is black, then it’s simply untrue that ““You will find a blacker world on death row than anywhere else.” Blacker places include: Jamaica, Queens; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Lagos, Nigeria.

    Posted by The Infanta from Manhattan  on  12/15  at  01:15 AM

  76. This is AWESOME! Thank you SO much for all the reviews! My non-dairy kids like the Soy Delicious and So Delicious Ice creams, but that’s because that’s all we’ve known to buy Free viagra tablets

    Posted by asfer from US  on  08/03  at  02:38 AM

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