Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, January 28, 2006
"Big Daddy"
Good morning MickeyZ, good morning Expendables,
I always feel like I’m caught off guard on Story telling Saturdays! I’m not much of a bard that way...maybe I can fathom something up a little later.
I like the mystery links - it’s like a carnival game at home.
Big Daddy will keep on doing it until a Bigger Daddy moves next door. Eesh - that’s not very optimistic on my part, is it? Or, I suppose until the kids grow up & are “able” to see for themselves more clearly. There, that’s much more hopeful.
Back later!
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/28 at 08:24 AMmorning all
story to come soon.
Mickey, “No blood for lattes” was priceless
i just discovered that its official - WAR IS PEACE…
“I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.”
George W. Bush, June 18th 2002
http://tinyurl.com/4g77aPosted by michael on from scotland 01/28 at 08:53 AMGood morning, Empress and Michael. We just watched Bill Blum on C-Span. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have people like him on the networks on a regular basis?
Btw, the line Michael refers to is from a comment I left on his excellent blog: http://thumpingthetub.blogspot.com
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/28 at 10:05 AMa little story of sorts.
in one job i had (i didn’t last long, it was incredibly dull) i had to check certificates that people had sent in for certain information. oftne people would move and forget to claim them back so i would try and track them down or throw them out if they had been there for a certain time (i think it was 2 years but i can’t remember).
Anyway a lot of the certificates were foreign and there were a few odd things i noticed in them…
Italian certificates do not say italy on them anywhere.
Barbados has a “vital statistics registration act 1980”.
It Costs 6 pounds to be born in Northern Ireland.
Bangladeshi birth certificates are stamped by the “sanitary inspector”
A Tanzanian birth certificate i read had “fathers occupation – deceased”, “mothers occupation – peasant”.
don’t know why i am mentioning any of this other than that i find it bizarre
Posted by michael on from scotland 01/28 at 10:21 AMI´m reading VALISD by Phil K Dick at moment, which is him trying to make sense of those odd things happened to him in 74. Here is a piece I like from it:
“To fight the Empire is to be infected by its derangement. This is a paradox; whoever defeats a segment of the Empire becomes the Empire; it proliferates like a virus, imposing its form on its enemies. Thereby it becomes its enemies.”
It´s what comes to mind when I hear people talk about the ‘fight for peace’, (Milan Kundera said Czechs talk about the fight for peace that killed everyone) it´s only a struggle if you want to call it a struggle.
First mystery link - great idea by the way - I clicked on was the census about the average wage. That myth about high standards of living even finds its way over here.
Posted by Owen on from Batcelona 01/28 at 10:44 AMHey Michael. The Tanzanian birth certificate was particularly chilling: “fathers occupation – deceased”, “mothers occupation – peasant”.
Great stuff, Owen. I know how you feel about U2, but I’m reminded of this stanza from “Peace on Earth”:
Where I grew up there weren’t many trees
Where there was, we’d tear them down
And use them on our enemies
They say that what you mock
Will surely overtake you
And you become a monster
So the monster will not break youAnd it’s already gone too far
Who said that if you go in hard
You won’t get hurt?Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/28 at 10:51 AMi suppose it is a bit f*cked up but i am still not sure if ‘deceased’ ranks as an occupation
Posted by michael on from scotland 01/28 at 11:16 AMHey everyone-- just checking in quick to say hi and thanks all for the overwhelmingly intriguing links and posts… overwhelming ‘cause am in the middle of cooking and cleaning for my party tonight, and at my new job, not much time online. Bravo to all you Expendables, and best wishes to Rosemarie! There’s always a home-cooked vegan meal in Hell’s Kitchen here for you if you find yourself in the area!
And yeah Owen, PKD is the man, and Valis was awesome. Wish he’d stayed of the hard drugs and aneurysms and kept on writing…
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/28 at 12:58 PMHI Everyone!
Owen: Valis was one of the first PKD books I ever read. It affected me profoundly. Noncoincidentaly Boing Boing recently posted a link to a comic strip detailing the circumstances around the making of that book.http://www.philipkdickfans.com/weirdo.htm
Great post today Mickey. I spent a good deal of time going through every link you sent. PostSecret was particularly poignant.
Something funny that happened to me last week. I’ve been having to baby my car recently to keep her from over heating. At first I would only have to do it once a month or so, now it’s down to filling the radiator every other day. Since I work about a 30 minute freeway trip away from home I don’t relish the thought of getting stuck somewhere with an overheated car.
As you can imagine it was an ongoing process where I wasn’t sure if I needed to fill it or not. So this one morning I was rushing out the door and decided that I would probably make it to work without having to fill her up. Wrong, I’m about half way along the freeway and she’s redlining it. So I pull off and find a gas station where I can let her cool down and fill the car up again. Long story shorter I end up futzing around with it for over an hour, at one point even thinking I had a serious leak. It turned out that the water I had spilled filling it was steaming off excessively. So by this time I was over an hour late for work, a bit grumpy, worried about the car and not sure if I would make it the remaining 20 minute drive to work.
Luckily the car didn’t overheat on my way in. The street I normally arrive at work on comes from a residential area and crosses Broadway in Vancouver and just as I was driving up to the intersection a Large Semi Flatbed comes driving by with a life sized Triceratops on the back! Here’s what I saw.I was amazed and enchanted. Since I was delayed from car trouble I was the only person in my office to see it. I guess you never know what a bad event will bring you.
Peace and love,
LunaPosted by Luna_C on from Zoid Land 01/28 at 01:14 PMGood Morning, Expendables. Mickey, loved the Mystery Links. The Expose Exxon, Toast The Earth Video was especially timely. My Story:
Two nights ago, I was at a neighbors’ house visiting. Eventually, our discusssion led to the topic of the world’s dwindling oil supply. Happily, and with with great pride, my neighbor informed me that he knew a big secret, and he was eager to share it with me: there is NO shortage of oil, it’s all a big ole myth. He said there’s enough oil for us, our children, our childrens’ children, and so on. And to top it off, even better news, WE own it all! Why, “where ever there’s oil, there’s an American Oil Tanker, so obviously we own it all. You can find American Oil companies where there is absolutely no good reason for them to be, unless it’s because we own the oil. How else could they be there, after all???” I sat there literally open-jawed, while he continued to insist there’s so much oil, we’re dripping in it. Finally, he said, “There is no way you or anyone else is EVER going to convince me otherwise. I know this is the real truth. See, I have a good friend who’s a real big-wig at EXXON, and he told me the real truth. He told me you wouldn’t believe how much oil there really is. We will NEVER run out of it. Ever. And if anyone knows the truth, it’s a guy that’s actually working for the biggest oil company in the world!”
If this is the more or less the global mentality of Americans, it’s no wonder the world is so f*4%#!’d up! It explains SO much. Apply this mentality to just about anything we’re constantly being lied to about, and you can see how “they” appear to have won. It makes me wonder if there really is any chance for significant change...And then I come here, read all your posts, and I’m once again armed with hope. Thanks to you all for that.
A big shout out to JOS, and hope he’s still doing well. Also sending out good thoughts and wishes to Rosemarie in her difficult challenges. Good Luck, James, with your party tonite. Wish we could be there!
And finally, thanks to you ALL for the kind wishes and concern expressed for Joe and me during our flood scare. We’ve gone back to read the posts, and appreciate the incredible support. Mickey, this site is an enormous gift!
Posted by suzanne on from 01/28 at 02:04 PMFantastic to see Luna and Joe back in action here. Thanks for the stories. There’s an odd syncronicity in back-to-back tales that discuss fossils and fossil fuels. We’ll all go the way of the triceratops and the planet will breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Speaking of impending doom, it’s another global warmingly sunny January day here. Almost 60 degrees. Michele and I were out for most of it, looking at apartments...for sale and rent. We’ve never owned anything and that idea is freaky. We also might just pack up and leave NY before the end of the year. Who the hell knows?
James: We’ll see you later.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/28 at 02:50 PMOwen my last blog post was on that very same subject, and the relevant Kundera quote I used was “Hate traps us by binding us too close to our enemies.”
I made a conscious decision some years ago to stop using aggressive rhetoric to speak about my...whaddya call ‘em… “ideological enemies”. No fighting for peace, no “smashing capitalism”, no “beating the system” and so on. Tough work and I’m not always successful. I am very interested lately in getting out of lock step with criticizing the easily critiqued. What if we simply began ignoring bullshit instead of freaking out about it all the time? It might only take a few people in every community to actually ignore the bullshit. And we’d recognize each other, and when the State smashed a lady’s car to bits she wouldn’t have to depend on the State to replace it, just on the people around her similarly tired of the bullshit…
...I’m not talking about moving off the grid, I’m talking about creating our own.
Last night a man was standing in the main square (Grote Markt) in The Hague, kicking a puupy squashing it under his boot. The puppy was screaming. A large crowd formed. Now I have seen plenty of fights on this square, it’s all bars and people are drunk and high and the junkies bum for change there. But this time the crowd formed around the guy and just asked him what he was doing. No aggression. The man was very clearly insane, and the dog was very clearly frightened of him. But the people peacefully kept him occupied while someone called the police. I’m not so big on police--as a rule--but this person had to be separated from the puppy. Obviously for the puppy’s sake, but perhaps for the man’s sake too. I cannot imagine he wasn’t demonstrating something for the public when he decided to bring his private depravities out to the main square.
Anyway. Here’s my birth certificate story: my birth certificate was lost. When I had it replaced they spelled my name wrong---"Kier" instead of “Keir”. (People always do that it’s sooo annoying.) Anyway when it was time to renew my driver’s license the Department of Motor Vehicles only wanted to use the incorrect spelling. If I wanted the correct spelling---"Keir"---I would have to get a new birth certificate. But to get a new birth certificate, I was told, I would need a current driver’s license.
Can’t remember how I worked that one out.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 01/28 at 02:57 PMI agree, Keir (please note correct spelling). I’d rarely rely on callig the police but if I saw what you saw, I’d do it. Great stories.
The Kundera quote reminded me of Mary Shelley: “Life is obstinate and clings closest where it is most hated.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/28 at 03:03 PMGood Afternoon all MZ’ers.....I have not yet had time to read all of the posts, but I promise I will. Today began with very nice e-mails from Amelopsis and Youngfox...a great way to begin the day.
Then I watched Bill Blum on C-span. He was great....came right out, and in answer to a viewer’s question, said Bush is a war criminal. He also said, at one point, that he takes a moral view (as opposed to economic) of the world. Every time I see him, I am more impressed with his humanity.
Meantime I picked up today’s Bennington Banner, usually a journalistic disappointment, BUT today they are to be commended. The headline is, ‘ARMY USES INSUGENTS’ WIVES FOR LEVERAGE”. This refers to a news story that has not had sufficient coverage. Among other things our troops have locked up the young mother of a nursing baby just as a form of blackmail against her husband. If this news story does not get more national coverage, I hope that I get time to write about it.....and we wonder why they hate us.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/28 at 03:20 PMIt’s morning here, so “Mornin’ All”
That’s good news (publicising) about bad news (kidnapping wives and family), Rosemarie. Just appalling.
Excellent post, Keir.
One of my favourite books “A Force More Powerful” demonstrates from history that the manner in which social revolution is achieved will determine the nature of the subsequent society i.e. violent revolution begets another violent society. And it’s true on a personal level, too. But how to overcome the urge to violence?When I was young, I experienced extreme violence and witnessed such things as people being literally butchered. So violence sickens me but even so, I still find myself far too often fantacising about being extremely violent myself (only to feel sick and exhausted again).
I have sometimes wondered about writting about it briefly and what I have learned from it one of these Saturdays. But it’s not pretty.
HA! Oracle says “just”. If only the world was.
Posted by Jim on from 01/28 at 06:20 PMRMJ: The transcript to Blum’s C-Span appearance is here: http://urlsnip.com/788877.
Jim: You’re welcome to post your story—pretty or not—any time.
Michele and I are off soon to attend Expendable James’ party. A house warming in Hell’s Kitchen? What a concept.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/28 at 06:41 PMHey, if anyone’s still around, I just read this speech by Cindy Sheehan and figured I should spread the love.
I found fascinating the fact that she is embracing the larger concepts. I recall the question being brought up here during her stay in Texas last summer (around the time that Rosemarie came up with the “Inform the Troops” idea) of whether “Support the Troops: Bring ‘em Home” appropriately summarized “what we want”. I recall that it didn’t. Nice that Sheehan is taking the issue further.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 01/28 at 07:04 PMThanks, Mickey. I guess I was fishing around for permission. I shall put something together for maybe next Saturday. Enjoy the house warming. Hopefully not too long before you have one!
Keir, you’re putting some good stuff up lately! That Cyndy Sheehan article I thought was quite inspirational. I find it amazing how powerful stating the simple and obvious things can be particularly if it’s not contrived.
I guess it’s because it is simply the truth and the truth is very powerful.Posted by Jim on from 01/28 at 08:33 PMThanks for posting the Blum interview transcript - sadly I don’t get C span. I’ll read the Sheehan piece shortly.
James - Happy Housewarming! I wish I could make it to your “place”, enjoy some of your vegan delights for me, would you?
And make a toast that no one need ever be inspired to paint another Guernica.And of course, give Frank and his compatriot a nice scratch under the chin too!
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/28 at 10:40 PMI join James: hi, Mickey and everybody else! ‘Just checking in quick .. and thanks all for the overwhelmingly intriguing links and posts.’ My thoughts exactly, James!
And it would be great to have Bill Blum on the networks on a regular basis, Mickey!
Ciao,
HelgaPosted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/28 at 11:41 PMI’m still here - on a ‘muggy’ afternoon in Daylesford, Australia. Thanks for the link to the Blum transcript, Mickey - and good luck with apartment-hunting! Hope you find something suitable in NYC but if not ..
And I can’t recommend Bill Blum’s books enough: ‘Rogue State’, ‘Killing Hope’ and his memoir ‘West-Bloc Dissident’.
Good afternoon/night all.Captcha: ‘groups’. I am happy to be a member of this group aka ‘expendables’.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/28 at 11:50 PMHey all...I’m just now leaving James’ party. Excellent night, more details tomorrow. G’night, all…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Hell's Kitchen 01/29 at 01:07 AMGood night all-- very proud I am to see that-- ‘posted by Mickey Z from Hell’s Kitchen” good time all around! Be well RMJ JOS and Mudge and Joe and everyone!
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/29 at 04:04 AMCool. I just got into anime, any suggestions for what I should pick up?
Posted by Zoids on from 05/29 at 11:05 PM
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