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Mickey Z
Cool Observer
the Department of Homeland Security.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Independence Day, Land of the Free, and all that crap
On July 5, 1861, the U.S. Attorney General endorsed Honest Abe Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus. Over the next four years, 18,000 Americans were jailed and held without trial.
Less than a century later, we had FDR signing Executive Order 9066, interning over 100,000 Japanese-Americans without due process…thus, in the name of taking on the architects of German prison camps, he became the architect of American prison camps.
Take-home message: George W. Bush did not invent injustice. He’s just a fan.
This Independence (sic) Day, let’s keep in mind Mumia, Peltier, and some two million others who are behind bars...and all the dis-labled folks locked in nursing homes against their will...and the innumerable animals in laboratories, zoos, etc...in the home of the brave.
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(Think: Henry Miller meets Bukowski and Vonnegut at Sunday Mass)
This short story will give you an idea of what CPR for Dummies has to offer
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Monday, June 30, 2008
How many times have I run this exact post?
“In the middle of the road/You see the darnedest things.
Like fat cats driving around in jeeps through the city,
Wearing big diamond rings and silk suits.
Past corrugated tin shacks holed up with kids and
Man, I don’t mean a Hampstead nursery.
But when you own a big chunk of the bloody Third World,
The babies just come with the scenery."
("Middle of the Road,” The Pretenders)
Neil Young sez: “There’s one more kid/That will never go to school/Never get to fall in love/Never get to be cool.”
Voltaire sez: “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”
Nigerian Proverb: “Not to know is bad. Not to wish to know is worse.”
Bubba the Democrat sez: “Let me say this as clearly as I can: No matter how sharp a grievance or how deep a hurt, there is no justification for killing innocents.”
Dubya the Republican sez: “Any time innocent life is lost, we’re sad. Our country values life, all life.”
Howard Zinn sez: “I wonder how the foreign policies of the United States would look if we wiped out the national boundaries of the world, at least in our minds, and thought of all children everywhere as our own.”
Ward Churchill sez: "Stop killing our kids, if you want your own to be safe."
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Head’s up: Michele and I are getting away for a couple of days of much-needed rest. My Internet access will be limited but, as always, I hope you’ll all continue to gather and chat in my (relative) absence.
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(Think: Henry Miller meets Bukowski and Vonnegut at Sunday Mass)
This short story will give you an idea of what CPR for Dummies has to offer
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Like what you see on this blog? Then please make a donation.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Once upon a time...
As a barometer of how drastically the climate of a city can change, consider Abbie Hoffman’s 1971 tome, Steal This Book, in which he dedicates a chapter to the possibilities of surviving by your wits in New York. Considered radically beyond the pale at the time of its release, some of Hoffman’s advice appears somewhat quaint when viewed through the prism of the twenty-first century.
Under “housing,” Abbie advises fellow travelers: “There’s a poet named Delworth at 125 Sullivan St. that houses kids if he’s got the room.” For food, said the Yippie King, try the “host of swank bars with hors-d’oeuvres” on the Upper East Side.
Other entries demonstrate how incredibly corporatized our society and culture have become. For example, Hoffman talks of The Black Panther Free Clinic in Brooklyn, the St. Mark’s People’s Clinic, The Lawyer’s Commune, and services called “dial-a-demonstration” and “dial-a-freakout.”
In the age of cell phones, Prozac, and HMOs, these ideas unfortunately seem remote...to say the least.
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George Carlin’s last interview
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(Think: Henry Miller meets Bukowski and Vonnegut at Sunday Mass)
This short story will give you an idea of what CPR for Dummies has to offer
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Like what you see on this blog? Then please make a donation.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Keith Moon Conundrum
If you wanted to be in a 1970s rock band, there were many pre-requisites, e.g. long hair, sex, heavy drinking, sex, drug use, sex, intolerable drum solos, sex, and an innate ability to demolish hotel rooms.
How many yarns have been spun about classic rockers like Led Zeppelin and The Who being banned from entire hotel chains after turning their rented rooms into Superfund sites? Keith Moon’s legend was built as much on his motel madness as his drumming dexterity.
Consider this come-on from a British travel website: “Los Angeles has more rock ‘n’ roll landmarks - and more trashed hotel rooms - than any other city, making it a mecca for music fans and trivia buffs.” It’s become socially acceptable—admired even—to leave your borrowed digs in worse shape than how you found them.
Hmm ... I smell a metaphor brewing:
Imagine Earth as an enormous Holiday Inn...and humanity as, say, Ozzy Osbourne on tour without supervision.
At some point, however, the hotel bill comes due…
G. Bernard Shaw sez: “I don’t know if there are men on the moon, but if there are, they must using the earth as their lunatic asylum.”
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The day I saw almost everything
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(Think: Henry Miller meets Bukowski and Vonnegut at Sunday Mass)
This short story will give you an idea of what CPR for Dummies has to offer
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Like what you see on this blog? Then please make a donation.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
My first "CPR for Dummies" interview
Q. CPR for Dummies is full of quirky and unexpected characters. Who is your favorite and why?
Mickey Z.: Hmm...well, among many others, there’s the guy who faked his death on 9/11, and the priest that loves porn, an elderly female exhibitionist, the sentimental kickboxer, and let’s not forget the homeless prophet. But I’d say JC has to be my favorite. Her sweet, nerdy, sexy, radical soul is the center of the book...not counting the humongous asteroid, of course.
Full interview here
(You have to scroll down a bit)
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Pre-order CPR for Dummies here
(Think: Henry Miller meets Bukowski and Vonnegut at Sunday Mass)
This short story will give you an idea of what CPR for Dummies has to offer
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Like what you see on this blog? Then please make a donation.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Shape of things
A tiny taste of human life, circa 2008:
Speaking of human-orchestrated doom, Expendable JOS recently recommended The Road. Well, I got my hands on the book and ended up reading it in one sitting the other night. I found it riveting and enjoyed the writing style...but the ending was a major letdown. Has anyone else read this book and, if so, would you care to comment?
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(Think: Henry Miller meets Bukowski and Vonnegut at Sunday Mass)
This short story will give you an idea of what CPR for Dummies has to offer
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Like what you see on this blog? Then please make a donation.
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