North Korean Blast- This is getting ridiculous.
Read this and compare it to this and this. Then there's this early report from Canada that pretty much says it was a nuclear test.
In a nutshell. Now NKorea is saying there was no explosion. There was no mushroom cloud. There was an explosion (even though there wasn't) but it was part of a hydro/electric dam project. An explanation that wasn't offered until 5 days after the incident and no foriegn representatives were allowed to the "site" for a week. Something really stinks on this. I wish Canada or some non-American stooley representative would tell us what's going on.
Fat chance- but I've got my fingers crossed.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Thursday, September 16, 2004
FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!!!
Well, apparantly the dems have been visiting my blog because it appears Kerry has finally remembered that he's running for President and not wuss-boy of the democratic party. I don't think it's a coincidence that a few weeks after Clinton's people showed up Kerry changed tactics and stopped being a nancy-boy. Clinton was a mediocre Pres. at best, but he knew how to work the system. The Repubs might have kicked him around, but there's little doubt he would've won a third term if he could have run for it. Two days of standing up and calling Bush the lying little prig that he is and W's lead vanishes in the polls. We'll see if Kerry can maintain the track he's on- he's known for great impromptu zingers in debates, so there's hope- such as it is.
We shall see. If Kerry fights this'll be a hell of a race. If he backs down or blinks- he's through.
Well, apparantly the dems have been visiting my blog because it appears Kerry has finally remembered that he's running for President and not wuss-boy of the democratic party. I don't think it's a coincidence that a few weeks after Clinton's people showed up Kerry changed tactics and stopped being a nancy-boy. Clinton was a mediocre Pres. at best, but he knew how to work the system. The Repubs might have kicked him around, but there's little doubt he would've won a third term if he could have run for it. Two days of standing up and calling Bush the lying little prig that he is and W's lead vanishes in the polls. We'll see if Kerry can maintain the track he's on- he's known for great impromptu zingers in debates, so there's hope- such as it is.
We shall see. If Kerry fights this'll be a hell of a race. If he backs down or blinks- he's through.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
2 stories apparantly not worth discussing
There are 2 stories that seem ENORMOUS to me that I cannot find any decent information about AT ALL.
First there is the 2 1/2 mile explosion with a mushroom cloud in North Korea that happened LAST Thursday Sept. 9. We've said the explosion wasn't nuclear- but we give no further explanation. NUTS.
Second is Russia. Yesterday Putin essentially gutted the Democratic reforms of the previous decade and a half and returned the country to a Dictatorship. You'd think that would be news. But it isn't. Why? Becuase he took a page from Karl Rove's playbook to do it. Putin is using the Chechnya/terrorist thing to complete revert Russia back to the good old days of one-party rule. We should never forget this guy is an ex-KGB officer.
Both of these stories have one thing in common. They are very damaging to the Bush white house. Korea has been ignored by them and even setting off nuclear explosions in their own country cannot get anyone's attention. The Bushies don't want us to talk about the Putin thing either becuase people might correlate Putin's message with Bush's. An easy thing to do since they are essentially saying the same thing. Terrorism= a battle we must do whatever we have to do in order to win. Including destroying the very ideals that makes the society worth living in in the first place.
There are 2 stories that seem ENORMOUS to me that I cannot find any decent information about AT ALL.
First there is the 2 1/2 mile explosion with a mushroom cloud in North Korea that happened LAST Thursday Sept. 9. We've said the explosion wasn't nuclear- but we give no further explanation. NUTS.
Second is Russia. Yesterday Putin essentially gutted the Democratic reforms of the previous decade and a half and returned the country to a Dictatorship. You'd think that would be news. But it isn't. Why? Becuase he took a page from Karl Rove's playbook to do it. Putin is using the Chechnya/terrorist thing to complete revert Russia back to the good old days of one-party rule. We should never forget this guy is an ex-KGB officer.
Both of these stories have one thing in common. They are very damaging to the Bush white house. Korea has been ignored by them and even setting off nuclear explosions in their own country cannot get anyone's attention. The Bushies don't want us to talk about the Putin thing either becuase people might correlate Putin's message with Bush's. An easy thing to do since they are essentially saying the same thing. Terrorism= a battle we must do whatever we have to do in order to win. Including destroying the very ideals that makes the society worth living in in the first place.
why the dems make my head hurt
The following is an email- I get about one a day- just asking me for money.
We are at one of the defining moments of this campaign -- one of those points we will look back on when we win. We will remember that George Bush and Dick Cheney tried to completely ignore reality -- and we will remember that we stood side by side and refused to let them get away with it.
George Bush and Dick Cheney wake up every morning with their fingers crossed, hoping the American people will ignore their miserable record, forget their trail of failures, and fear the future. But with your help, we are going to make sure that the American people see through their bluster and posturing, and see what a mess they have made. true- but it isn't a reason to vote for Kerry.
Please make a contribution to the Democratic Party today:
THERES A LINK HERE I TOOK OUT
George Bush and Dick Cheney have lost over a million jobs, made our health care crisis worse, and turned record budget surpluses into record deficits. They misled America into war, failed to plan for the peace, and are running up a $200 billion bill at the expense of America's middle class taxpayers. again, all true- but Kerry voted for the war and view on tax cuts which are the best thing about his whole gig in my opinion, isn't even mentioned. (For those that don't know he wants to eliminate the tax cut for those who make over 200K a year and leave what meager relief there is for the other 98% of us.)
And now they are acting like they are doing us a favor by standing for re-election. They even have the gall to tell the American people how risky it would be if we turned them out of office.
The biggest risk to America's future is four more years of Bush-Cheney's incompetence, misinformation, and ill intent. It might be risky. There's a few indications that Kerry could be like Lydon Johnson- a believer that the answer to turn around a failing war is to send in more troops.
Don't let Bush, Cheney and the Republican Party run away from their record. Send a "Don't yield an inch" contribution to the Democratic Party right now:
THERES A LINK HERE I TOOK OUT
There are seven critical weeks left in this campaign. There will be moments when everything seems to be going our way -- and times when we will wish events were moving in a different direction. But we will never lose faith. We will never stop working for victory. And we will never yield an inch to our opponents.
Remember this: they are the ones who are hoping and praying that reality does not catch up with them by Election Day. We are the ones who are going to make sure that it does.
The rest of this campaign will be tough. But, we will be tougher. They will throw everything they have at us. But we will give as good as we get. And when the dust settles on Election Day, we are going to pull through to victory. I hope they mean this- cause they've been getting waxed.
Thank you for all you have done to help me, John Edwards and other Democratic candidates. And, most of all, thank you for standing with us through thick and thin. Together, we will win.
Thank you,
Notice that he never once asks for my vote. Like he's entitled to it because the corporate wing of the Dem. party annointed him King.
Of course I prefer Kerry to Bush- but man, it just really bothers me that we're stuck with this damn lesser of two evils thing again.
The following is an email- I get about one a day- just asking me for money.
We are at one of the defining moments of this campaign -- one of those points we will look back on when we win. We will remember that George Bush and Dick Cheney tried to completely ignore reality -- and we will remember that we stood side by side and refused to let them get away with it.
George Bush and Dick Cheney wake up every morning with their fingers crossed, hoping the American people will ignore their miserable record, forget their trail of failures, and fear the future. But with your help, we are going to make sure that the American people see through their bluster and posturing, and see what a mess they have made. true- but it isn't a reason to vote for Kerry.
Please make a contribution to the Democratic Party today:
THERES A LINK HERE I TOOK OUT
George Bush and Dick Cheney have lost over a million jobs, made our health care crisis worse, and turned record budget surpluses into record deficits. They misled America into war, failed to plan for the peace, and are running up a $200 billion bill at the expense of America's middle class taxpayers. again, all true- but Kerry voted for the war and view on tax cuts which are the best thing about his whole gig in my opinion, isn't even mentioned. (For those that don't know he wants to eliminate the tax cut for those who make over 200K a year and leave what meager relief there is for the other 98% of us.)
And now they are acting like they are doing us a favor by standing for re-election. They even have the gall to tell the American people how risky it would be if we turned them out of office.
The biggest risk to America's future is four more years of Bush-Cheney's incompetence, misinformation, and ill intent. It might be risky. There's a few indications that Kerry could be like Lydon Johnson- a believer that the answer to turn around a failing war is to send in more troops.
Don't let Bush, Cheney and the Republican Party run away from their record. Send a "Don't yield an inch" contribution to the Democratic Party right now:
THERES A LINK HERE I TOOK OUT
There are seven critical weeks left in this campaign. There will be moments when everything seems to be going our way -- and times when we will wish events were moving in a different direction. But we will never lose faith. We will never stop working for victory. And we will never yield an inch to our opponents.
Remember this: they are the ones who are hoping and praying that reality does not catch up with them by Election Day. We are the ones who are going to make sure that it does.
The rest of this campaign will be tough. But, we will be tougher. They will throw everything they have at us. But we will give as good as we get. And when the dust settles on Election Day, we are going to pull through to victory. I hope they mean this- cause they've been getting waxed.
Thank you for all you have done to help me, John Edwards and other Democratic candidates. And, most of all, thank you for standing with us through thick and thin. Together, we will win.
Thank you,
Notice that he never once asks for my vote. Like he's entitled to it because the corporate wing of the Dem. party annointed him King.
Of course I prefer Kerry to Bush- but man, it just really bothers me that we're stuck with this damn lesser of two evils thing again.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Hiatus Ends
Hey everyone- sorry about the long absence. I've been focusing on finishing a readable draft of Ialtaboath and getting started on the new book- more details on that later. I've been following the politics all along, but its been really frustrating to watch.
Bush and his flunkys are making Nixon look like a guy who likes a fair fight. Not since Max Cleland have they been willing to punch this far South of the border. And you better believe they have an October surprise just waiting to be launched. (As I and many others having been predicting since last year. So why is it working? Because Kerry is a wuss who deserves the drubbing he's going to get. (I'm currently guessing Bush will win by a wide margin 10-15 points. OH CANADA!)
When a draft dodging coke head can make a 3 time purple heart winner look like the bigger liability to US foreign policy- well then that 3 time purple heart winner is a fuckin joke and doesn't deserve to be President.
What's really frustrating isn't the candidates, it's us. The people in this country seem to have their heads so far shoved up their own asses we're nearly inside out. That this base- third grade level of political activity is working on a National Level is terrifying. This whole campaign- on both sides- has been run like a couple of 4th graders running for Student Council President. And what's worse? It's working for Bush. Just repeat crazy things until the media says they are true. Repeat ad nauseum. War in Iraq? We're winning. No we're not- but they say it enough most people believe it. Iraq and al Queda? Connected. No there not- but they say it enough and most people believe it. And on and on.
The coming conflict isn't between people, it's within them. We are all going to have to decide each and every one of us. Do we really want to try to do what so many country's have tried to do before us? Do we really want to rule the entire world by force? Is that really what we want? Cause that's where we're headed. Bush has the same kind of ideological glint in his eye that Stalin and Hitler had- and he's probably going to have 4 more years to think of a good reason to cancel election in 2008. The only plus side to a clear cut Bush victory? The really scary scenarios become less likely- the one's I think everyone is a little afraid of- because they won't be necessary. I think this psychological fear will actually keep quite a few Democratic voters away from the polls this year.
At least for now Shrub seems happy keeping most of his bombs and tanks in other countries... as if that makes it OK.
Hey everyone- sorry about the long absence. I've been focusing on finishing a readable draft of Ialtaboath and getting started on the new book- more details on that later. I've been following the politics all along, but its been really frustrating to watch.
Bush and his flunkys are making Nixon look like a guy who likes a fair fight. Not since Max Cleland have they been willing to punch this far South of the border. And you better believe they have an October surprise just waiting to be launched. (As I and many others having been predicting since last year. So why is it working? Because Kerry is a wuss who deserves the drubbing he's going to get. (I'm currently guessing Bush will win by a wide margin 10-15 points. OH CANADA!)
When a draft dodging coke head can make a 3 time purple heart winner look like the bigger liability to US foreign policy- well then that 3 time purple heart winner is a fuckin joke and doesn't deserve to be President.
What's really frustrating isn't the candidates, it's us. The people in this country seem to have their heads so far shoved up their own asses we're nearly inside out. That this base- third grade level of political activity is working on a National Level is terrifying. This whole campaign- on both sides- has been run like a couple of 4th graders running for Student Council President. And what's worse? It's working for Bush. Just repeat crazy things until the media says they are true. Repeat ad nauseum. War in Iraq? We're winning. No we're not- but they say it enough most people believe it. Iraq and al Queda? Connected. No there not- but they say it enough and most people believe it. And on and on.
The coming conflict isn't between people, it's within them. We are all going to have to decide each and every one of us. Do we really want to try to do what so many country's have tried to do before us? Do we really want to rule the entire world by force? Is that really what we want? Cause that's where we're headed. Bush has the same kind of ideological glint in his eye that Stalin and Hitler had- and he's probably going to have 4 more years to think of a good reason to cancel election in 2008. The only plus side to a clear cut Bush victory? The really scary scenarios become less likely- the one's I think everyone is a little afraid of- because they won't be necessary. I think this psychological fear will actually keep quite a few Democratic voters away from the polls this year.
At least for now Shrub seems happy keeping most of his bombs and tanks in other countries... as if that makes it OK.
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Democratic Convention '04 --or-- I think I'm gonna puke.
"We don't want to offend anyone or Bush-Bash"
Pathetic. Wimpy, pathetic, lame, sorry bastards. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
About 2% of "expected voters" are undecided. 50% of the country doesn't vote at all.
So who does Kerry go after? The 2% of voters who are somehow so stupid and spineless they haven't been able to figure out if they want Insano Bush to rule the world for 4 more years of scandal and war.
The 50%+ who don't vote, nobody's talking to them at all. There's several million votes just waiting for John Kerry to remember what party he's in. Al Gore was prevented from giving the speech he deserved to give, the one where he rips the pretender to the throne a new asshole and gut punches the democratic senatorial leadership who refused to allow the House to combat the Supreme Court's illegal hijacking of the election. (Se Farenheit 9/11 for the painful footage of this atroctiy.) There are a whole lot of us out here who want an ass-kicker. That's why Mike Moore and John Stewart's Daily Show are so popular. They're kicking ass, but with vicious humor instead of vicious vitriole. They show their anger, but they use humor which makes it inclusive. I mean these guys are just sitting ducks, every time W opens his mouth what comes out is either a mushmouthed babble or a lie.
So why don't the Dems court the progressive wing of the party? The several million of us (80,000 of which are in Florida a key swing state) who either voted for Nader or didn't vote at all becuase no one represents us at all. And now, even when 95% of the delegates INSIDE the convention center prefer "total withdrawal from Iraq" IMMEDIATLY, not only will the war not be directly criticized, Kerry doesn't even stand for ending the fucking thing.
Spineless wimpy shithead. He thinks being a push-over wuss is going to make the 2% think he can be a good strong leader. He looks like the little boy who tells the bully, "Not only am I not going fight you, I'm going to pretend you don't exist at all and stand here talking about what a nice fella I am."
What are you nuts? Ask any kid what happens next. The bully stomps your guts. You don't have to fight the same way as the bully, but you have to acknowledge the guy's existence.
Which means we're gonna be stuck with 4 more years.
I'm gonna be sick...
"We don't want to offend anyone or Bush-Bash"
Pathetic. Wimpy, pathetic, lame, sorry bastards. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
About 2% of "expected voters" are undecided. 50% of the country doesn't vote at all.
So who does Kerry go after? The 2% of voters who are somehow so stupid and spineless they haven't been able to figure out if they want Insano Bush to rule the world for 4 more years of scandal and war.
The 50%+ who don't vote, nobody's talking to them at all. There's several million votes just waiting for John Kerry to remember what party he's in. Al Gore was prevented from giving the speech he deserved to give, the one where he rips the pretender to the throne a new asshole and gut punches the democratic senatorial leadership who refused to allow the House to combat the Supreme Court's illegal hijacking of the election. (Se Farenheit 9/11 for the painful footage of this atroctiy.) There are a whole lot of us out here who want an ass-kicker. That's why Mike Moore and John Stewart's Daily Show are so popular. They're kicking ass, but with vicious humor instead of vicious vitriole. They show their anger, but they use humor which makes it inclusive. I mean these guys are just sitting ducks, every time W opens his mouth what comes out is either a mushmouthed babble or a lie.
So why don't the Dems court the progressive wing of the party? The several million of us (80,000 of which are in Florida a key swing state) who either voted for Nader or didn't vote at all becuase no one represents us at all. And now, even when 95% of the delegates INSIDE the convention center prefer "total withdrawal from Iraq" IMMEDIATLY, not only will the war not be directly criticized, Kerry doesn't even stand for ending the fucking thing.
Spineless wimpy shithead. He thinks being a push-over wuss is going to make the 2% think he can be a good strong leader. He looks like the little boy who tells the bully, "Not only am I not going fight you, I'm going to pretend you don't exist at all and stand here talking about what a nice fella I am."
What are you nuts? Ask any kid what happens next. The bully stomps your guts. You don't have to fight the same way as the bully, but you have to acknowledge the guy's existence.
Which means we're gonna be stuck with 4 more years.
I'm gonna be sick...
Friday, July 23, 2004
Chomsky
There's a nice Chomsky interview HERE from Germany. Check it out. Topics include, propoganda model, why the Bush administration and the press hates democracy and more.
There's a nice Chomsky interview HERE from Germany. Check it out. Topics include, propoganda model, why the Bush administration and the press hates democracy and more.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Fear and Deja Vu on the Campaign trail 1972-2004
I just finished re-re-re-reading Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972. It's one of my favorite all time political books, really cutting through the bullshit and laying open that year's race with a clarity that is belied by Thompson's "crazy guy" public image. More than anything I think it should be required reading for everyone voting in this year's election.
Nothing. And I mean nothing has changed since 1972. It's the same shit, only this time, instead of getting the McGovern (the only comparison this year would be Kucinichor to a lesser degree Dean) we got Muskie (Kerry), the Old Party Hack that McGovern's candidacy, had he won, was supposed to signal the end of. See, in spite of recent argument to the contrary, the Democratic party has long had a problem with being afraid of what it is. It's the alternative to the Republican Party. At least on paper.
That means it's unabashedly liberal. It is concerned with people over profits. Change and radicalism over stagnancy and fearful conservatism. It hates big business. And if big labor becomes another form of big business it should hate big labor too. The Democratic Party, at least on paper is supposed to be captured by the term "democratic" which means, for the people.
John Kerry is Muskie. McGovern got his clock cleaned by Nixon not because he was a radical candidate but because he was perceived as going to the middle and because of the disastrous mistake that was picking Eagleton as his VP. He was choked off by his own indecision. If McGovern was running now, they would've played an audio cut of him clearing his throat or something until he was the laughing stock of the world. The thing that freaks me out is, in the past the candidates had to hang themselves. In '04 the media has demonstrated it can kill of candidates over nothing (Dean's WHoo-AAH) or by simply pretending they don't exist (Kucinich) It's like the very vehicles that McGovern used back in 72 are no longer available. And that's a shame.
because Kerry will probably lose too. For the same reason only from the opposite end. McGovern lost because he was perceived to be a maverick and then looked just like another politician by the way he handled Eagleton. As a result, no one came out to vote for him. Kerry's gonna have the same thing happen, only he IS just another politician and everybody knew it from the start. No one is gonna come out to vote for him. He's worthless. He stands for nothing. He might as well be a republican. Like Nixon, Bush is gonna lay low. If he wins re-election I would bet anyone (and give YOU odds) that Bush is going to be impeached by the end of his four years. If not, we ALL are gonna get what we deserve, an America that is little more than a shell. A Christian corporate hellhole with us as serfs.
If John Kerry wins. It'll just be a corporate hellhole. What a choice. What a bummer.
The more I think about it I'm just gonna vote NO this November. No to Bush. No to Kerry. Even No to Nader who's getting 10 percent of his funding from W's inner circle and still doesn't see that at this point he's working for the Republicans.
If you didn't understand the bulk of this particular entry, read the F&L '72. Like Orwell's 1984, it's the truth for today, written decades ago and it's proof that history goes in circles.
I just finished re-re-re-reading Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972. It's one of my favorite all time political books, really cutting through the bullshit and laying open that year's race with a clarity that is belied by Thompson's "crazy guy" public image. More than anything I think it should be required reading for everyone voting in this year's election.
Nothing. And I mean nothing has changed since 1972. It's the same shit, only this time, instead of getting the McGovern (the only comparison this year would be Kucinichor to a lesser degree Dean) we got Muskie (Kerry), the Old Party Hack that McGovern's candidacy, had he won, was supposed to signal the end of. See, in spite of recent argument to the contrary, the Democratic party has long had a problem with being afraid of what it is. It's the alternative to the Republican Party. At least on paper.
That means it's unabashedly liberal. It is concerned with people over profits. Change and radicalism over stagnancy and fearful conservatism. It hates big business. And if big labor becomes another form of big business it should hate big labor too. The Democratic Party, at least on paper is supposed to be captured by the term "democratic" which means, for the people.
John Kerry is Muskie. McGovern got his clock cleaned by Nixon not because he was a radical candidate but because he was perceived as going to the middle and because of the disastrous mistake that was picking Eagleton as his VP. He was choked off by his own indecision. If McGovern was running now, they would've played an audio cut of him clearing his throat or something until he was the laughing stock of the world. The thing that freaks me out is, in the past the candidates had to hang themselves. In '04 the media has demonstrated it can kill of candidates over nothing (Dean's WHoo-AAH) or by simply pretending they don't exist (Kucinich) It's like the very vehicles that McGovern used back in 72 are no longer available. And that's a shame.
because Kerry will probably lose too. For the same reason only from the opposite end. McGovern lost because he was perceived to be a maverick and then looked just like another politician by the way he handled Eagleton. As a result, no one came out to vote for him. Kerry's gonna have the same thing happen, only he IS just another politician and everybody knew it from the start. No one is gonna come out to vote for him. He's worthless. He stands for nothing. He might as well be a republican. Like Nixon, Bush is gonna lay low. If he wins re-election I would bet anyone (and give YOU odds) that Bush is going to be impeached by the end of his four years. If not, we ALL are gonna get what we deserve, an America that is little more than a shell. A Christian corporate hellhole with us as serfs.
If John Kerry wins. It'll just be a corporate hellhole. What a choice. What a bummer.
The more I think about it I'm just gonna vote NO this November. No to Bush. No to Kerry. Even No to Nader who's getting 10 percent of his funding from W's inner circle and still doesn't see that at this point he's working for the Republicans.
If you didn't understand the bulk of this particular entry, read the F&L '72. Like Orwell's 1984, it's the truth for today, written decades ago and it's proof that history goes in circles.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
“ALL GOOD GOES BAD”
William Hrdina
Commentary about the lot scene at the All-Good Music Festival 2004 at Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia.
July 9-11, 2004
I could write exclusively about all the positive aspects of the 8th Annual All Good Music Festival because there were a bunch. The grounds were beautiful- snuggled in the hills of West Virginia maybe 15 miles off the highway. The weather, infamously terrible for the past seven years, decided to cooperate and it didn’t rain until late Sunday night. The music was absolutely first-rate with Keller Williams, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Dark Star Orchestra, the Grey Boy All Stars, and a whole bunch more. There was a Family area right next to the stage where people with children could camp without having to drag their toddlers a half-mile back and forth to the venue. On Sunday afternoon, when it got hot, the organizers started selling water for a buck out of the concession stand- a rare show of kindness in our modern corporate wonderland. All in all, I would say the organizers at Walther Productions did an absolutely fantastic job.
But there’s another side to the story. Dark and violent vibes were coursing under our feet, unseen until they lashed out in a single act of violence so heinous it put a pall not only over the festival, but my entire summer.
In the midst of what was otherwise a very enjoyable festival I had the dubious distinction of being an eye-witness to a very nasty pistol-whipping; possibly a murder. I never got word if the kid who got hit died and I haven’t been able to find any mention of the incident in the papers. I hope he’s OK, but I worked in an ICU for 3 years and if the kid can still spell his name I admit I’d be surprised.
Before you get feeling too sorry for this guy, you should know; he brought the gun he was pistol-whipped with.
I was sitting on the side of the road, selling my sci-fi novel Portal when I saw six guys walking behind another guy who appeared to be completely alone. It was immediately clear from everyone’s body language the six guys were pissed at the one guy, and the one guy, hunched over and walking fast- certainly wasn’t presenting himself as aggressive in any way. My first reaction was “What are these assholes doing?” My sympathy was with the guy walking alone. Six against one isn’t a fair fight in anyone’s book.
Then I began to hear what the six guys were saying and my anger turned to confusion.
“What the fuck are you doing with that gun on the lot man?”
“No guns on lot.”
“Why you got a gun motherfucker?”
Around this time the kid was passed directly in front of me and I got a clear look into his pocket. There really was a gun there. The matte-black rubber handle stuck out just a little bit. I remember thinking at the time, “I wonder what on earth possessed this guy to bring a gun to a show?”
The kid with the gun looked really scared. He kept repeating, “Leave me alone. I just want to leave. I’m leaving.”
Around this same time the language of the 6 increasingly frantic guys started to get a great deal more threatening.
“Give up the gun asshole.”
“Give us the gun motherfucker or we’re gonna kick the shit out of you.”
That did it. I knew at that moment something really savage was about to go down. The worst thing you can do to an outnumbered guy with superior firepower is back him into a corner. In another testament to the fact this kid wasn’t about starting a confrontation- he tried to run when the threats of violence started. He didn’t make it far, the six guys chased him and before I could even turn around in my chair to see what was happening the 6 guys were kicking the hell out of the guy with the gun. It was like Rodney King with feet instead of batons.
I clearly remember one guy yelling, “Someone take his gun. Take his gun.” He couldn’t take the gun himself because he was busy: kicking this kid in the head.
By this point I wasn’t sure who I wanted to have the gun less, the kid, who was by himself; or these crazy-violent morons who seemed hell-bent on getting somebody shot in the name of not having weapons on the lot. The irony was lost on me at the time. I knew they should’ve done what I was trying to do in the midst of keeping a close eye on what was happening, they should’ve yelled for Security, or even been smarter and got security on the sly. Instead they had to be heroes in their own puny minds and do the one thing that almost guaranteed something bad would happen. In a lot of ways they were just reflecting our culture, aping George W. by overreacting to a perceived threat that didn’t really exist. I don’t know the kid who had the gun, but from his demeanor and the way everything went down, I really doubt that stupid gun ever would’ve seen the light of day if those 6 guys would’ve used their heads.
After about ten seconds of getting kicked the kid with the gun managed to get to his feet. His face was a mixture of anger, pain, and most clearly, pure animal terror. Predictably, he went into his pocket and pulled out the gun. What happened next really shocked me. In what would’ve been a neat trick under very different circumstances, the kid closest to the gun reached out and yanked it out of the other kid’s hand like he was stealing candy from a kid on Halloween. You almost expected the guy to yell, “Yoink!”
It could’ve been over then.
Instead, the new guy with the gun turned it around so that he was holding it by the cylinder. He reached back behind his head and took a full swing at the newly disarmed guy’s head. The gun made contact pretty much right between the kid’s eyes. There was a corresponding crack/thud of metal on bone and blood began to flow. The pistol whipped and the pistol whipper then ran off in opposite directions. The entire incident took maybe 25-30 seconds from start to finish.
One minute I was having a very nice time, the next I was just happy to be walking away without any bullet holes in my body. On the grand-scale of violence, what I saw at All Good wasn’t really that big a deal. After all, no one was actually shot, so things went a lot better than one could’ve reasonably expected. But that’s out in the world. I wasn’t out in the world. I was at a show.
“We are,” as Jamie Masefield of the Jazz Mandolin Project said on the second day, “…like a secret society. We come out to these places out in the hills and just do our thing and it’s the greatest thing in the world.”
He’s right. But, the problem is, the wrong sort of folks are starting to find out about the password into our post-modern version of the Masons. They’re getting in with words like, “molly” and “coke” instead of Icculus or Gamehenge. Music doesn’t have a thing to do with why the hard-drug dealers are at the shows. They’re at the show to make a lot of money and that’s it. Gang-style violence and bullshit is inevitably going to follow. Once the first shooting happens, and we are on a definitive curve in that direction, it’s gonna be too late. Frankly, I resent the fact I had to witness these morons and their bullshit. I don’t particularly feel sorry for the kid with the gun- he shouldn’t of been carrying it, and even though I think they’re total morons- I don’t particularly blame the kid’s who tried to take the gun away. If I was a complete imbecile I probably would’ve done the same thing.
I don’t know why the kid brought the gun in the first place any more than I know how the six kids who beat the shit out of him found out he had the thing. But I’ve thought about the entire incident a lot and I think I can make a pretty good guess.
First, reasons the kid wouldn’t use for bringing the gun. It wasn’t self defense. If it was in any way reasonable to think you’d need a gun at a show this single act of violence wouldn’t be so shocking. It wasn’t because the guy was some aggressive bad-ass who shot people for screwing up his order at the drive-through. Those sorts of people don’t need to be kicked in the face to spur them into pulling out their pistol, and besides, he tried to run away; that’s just not what a bad-ass guy does.
Maybe the kid had a violent past and carried a gun out of a deep seated sense of paranoia. Possible, but unlikely. The most coherent reason a guy like the one I saw would carry a gun, is because he was dealing either Molly- so called molecular MDMA, cocaine, or heroin. Most likely it was coke. Unlike pot or mushrooms, you can carry highly valuable amounts of the powder drugs in your shorts pocket. Because hard drug dealers generally work on a fronted basis, if the drugs get taken from you, someone’s gonna want their money. Thus, the gun.
If the kid was, in fact, a dealer, it would also give a likely reason how the 6 guys found out about the gun. Maybe they bought some weight and the kid accidentally showed the gun in the transaction. Maybe one of their buddies saw it under the same conditions and passed the word along.
Anyone who’s seen a few shows this summer has noticed the ridiculous increase in hard drugs on the lot. I think it’s important to point out I’m not talking about pot or the hallucinogenic. I’m talking about the narcotics and the bath-tub drugs. I’ve even seen and heard an increase in “pharmies.” Come on people, that’s Rush Limbaugh’s trip. You want to do the drugs he does?
Let me break it down for you:
Hard Drugs à Much Money
Much Money àDrug Dealers who don’t give a flying hoo-hoo about music coming to our shows
{[(Drug Dealers) + (Much Money)] + Large Market of buyers} à Pistol Whippings and mayhem
Pistol Whipping and Mayhem à The death of the scene and nothing but Christina Aguilera on the radio to listen to.
The solution?
Don’t buy your hard drugs at shows. If you have to do Coke, get it from your dealer at home. It’s that simple.
It’s like shopping at Wal-Mart. Sure it’s convenient, the prices may even be cheaper, but those benefits don’t come without a flip-side, and that flip-side is packing guns and acting like total morons. Most importantly, that flip-side couldn’t give a shit less about the music, and when that crucial ingredient is missing, you get the Dead at Deer Creek in ’95. You get the disaster that was Corporate Woodstock. And in spite of a nearly perfect effort by the organizers and musicians at All Good, you get pistol-whippings and fights.
We don’t need cops. We don’t need anal searches or John Ashcroft. This is a self-restraint issue. The Lot is sacred, I know I’m not alone in feeling that my church and my God are best expressed in the music I see at shows and the kindness and coolness I see from people in the lot. I don’t want to lose that to a bunch of strung out shitheads or the leeches who supply them.
I’m not the only one who sees the dark clouds on the horizon. In Trey’s “Why Phish is breaking up for good” interview with Charlie Rose the following exchange took place:
CHARLIE ROSE: What do you regret about what Phish was and what it became and what it is, and if you look from the beginning to this last concert that will come up...
TREY ANASTASIO: OK. Do you want my honest opinion about that? I think you do. I`ll tell you what I regret. What I regret is that -- I don`t regret it, but I feel like in the last couple of years it started to become an excuse for people to show up in a given town and party. And it never was that for such a long time.
Our scene thrives because of the music not because of the drugs. If you’re at a show to get loaded first and see a concert second, do me a favor- stay home. You can watch the DVD and I don’t have to get shot.
William Hrdina
Commentary about the lot scene at the All-Good Music Festival 2004 at Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia.
July 9-11, 2004
I could write exclusively about all the positive aspects of the 8th Annual All Good Music Festival because there were a bunch. The grounds were beautiful- snuggled in the hills of West Virginia maybe 15 miles off the highway. The weather, infamously terrible for the past seven years, decided to cooperate and it didn’t rain until late Sunday night. The music was absolutely first-rate with Keller Williams, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Dark Star Orchestra, the Grey Boy All Stars, and a whole bunch more. There was a Family area right next to the stage where people with children could camp without having to drag their toddlers a half-mile back and forth to the venue. On Sunday afternoon, when it got hot, the organizers started selling water for a buck out of the concession stand- a rare show of kindness in our modern corporate wonderland. All in all, I would say the organizers at Walther Productions did an absolutely fantastic job.
But there’s another side to the story. Dark and violent vibes were coursing under our feet, unseen until they lashed out in a single act of violence so heinous it put a pall not only over the festival, but my entire summer.
In the midst of what was otherwise a very enjoyable festival I had the dubious distinction of being an eye-witness to a very nasty pistol-whipping; possibly a murder. I never got word if the kid who got hit died and I haven’t been able to find any mention of the incident in the papers. I hope he’s OK, but I worked in an ICU for 3 years and if the kid can still spell his name I admit I’d be surprised.
Before you get feeling too sorry for this guy, you should know; he brought the gun he was pistol-whipped with.
I was sitting on the side of the road, selling my sci-fi novel Portal when I saw six guys walking behind another guy who appeared to be completely alone. It was immediately clear from everyone’s body language the six guys were pissed at the one guy, and the one guy, hunched over and walking fast- certainly wasn’t presenting himself as aggressive in any way. My first reaction was “What are these assholes doing?” My sympathy was with the guy walking alone. Six against one isn’t a fair fight in anyone’s book.
Then I began to hear what the six guys were saying and my anger turned to confusion.
“What the fuck are you doing with that gun on the lot man?”
“No guns on lot.”
“Why you got a gun motherfucker?”
Around this time the kid was passed directly in front of me and I got a clear look into his pocket. There really was a gun there. The matte-black rubber handle stuck out just a little bit. I remember thinking at the time, “I wonder what on earth possessed this guy to bring a gun to a show?”
The kid with the gun looked really scared. He kept repeating, “Leave me alone. I just want to leave. I’m leaving.”
Around this same time the language of the 6 increasingly frantic guys started to get a great deal more threatening.
“Give up the gun asshole.”
“Give us the gun motherfucker or we’re gonna kick the shit out of you.”
That did it. I knew at that moment something really savage was about to go down. The worst thing you can do to an outnumbered guy with superior firepower is back him into a corner. In another testament to the fact this kid wasn’t about starting a confrontation- he tried to run when the threats of violence started. He didn’t make it far, the six guys chased him and before I could even turn around in my chair to see what was happening the 6 guys were kicking the hell out of the guy with the gun. It was like Rodney King with feet instead of batons.
I clearly remember one guy yelling, “Someone take his gun. Take his gun.” He couldn’t take the gun himself because he was busy: kicking this kid in the head.
By this point I wasn’t sure who I wanted to have the gun less, the kid, who was by himself; or these crazy-violent morons who seemed hell-bent on getting somebody shot in the name of not having weapons on the lot. The irony was lost on me at the time. I knew they should’ve done what I was trying to do in the midst of keeping a close eye on what was happening, they should’ve yelled for Security, or even been smarter and got security on the sly. Instead they had to be heroes in their own puny minds and do the one thing that almost guaranteed something bad would happen. In a lot of ways they were just reflecting our culture, aping George W. by overreacting to a perceived threat that didn’t really exist. I don’t know the kid who had the gun, but from his demeanor and the way everything went down, I really doubt that stupid gun ever would’ve seen the light of day if those 6 guys would’ve used their heads.
After about ten seconds of getting kicked the kid with the gun managed to get to his feet. His face was a mixture of anger, pain, and most clearly, pure animal terror. Predictably, he went into his pocket and pulled out the gun. What happened next really shocked me. In what would’ve been a neat trick under very different circumstances, the kid closest to the gun reached out and yanked it out of the other kid’s hand like he was stealing candy from a kid on Halloween. You almost expected the guy to yell, “Yoink!”
It could’ve been over then.
Instead, the new guy with the gun turned it around so that he was holding it by the cylinder. He reached back behind his head and took a full swing at the newly disarmed guy’s head. The gun made contact pretty much right between the kid’s eyes. There was a corresponding crack/thud of metal on bone and blood began to flow. The pistol whipped and the pistol whipper then ran off in opposite directions. The entire incident took maybe 25-30 seconds from start to finish.
One minute I was having a very nice time, the next I was just happy to be walking away without any bullet holes in my body. On the grand-scale of violence, what I saw at All Good wasn’t really that big a deal. After all, no one was actually shot, so things went a lot better than one could’ve reasonably expected. But that’s out in the world. I wasn’t out in the world. I was at a show.
“We are,” as Jamie Masefield of the Jazz Mandolin Project said on the second day, “…like a secret society. We come out to these places out in the hills and just do our thing and it’s the greatest thing in the world.”
He’s right. But, the problem is, the wrong sort of folks are starting to find out about the password into our post-modern version of the Masons. They’re getting in with words like, “molly” and “coke” instead of Icculus or Gamehenge. Music doesn’t have a thing to do with why the hard-drug dealers are at the shows. They’re at the show to make a lot of money and that’s it. Gang-style violence and bullshit is inevitably going to follow. Once the first shooting happens, and we are on a definitive curve in that direction, it’s gonna be too late. Frankly, I resent the fact I had to witness these morons and their bullshit. I don’t particularly feel sorry for the kid with the gun- he shouldn’t of been carrying it, and even though I think they’re total morons- I don’t particularly blame the kid’s who tried to take the gun away. If I was a complete imbecile I probably would’ve done the same thing.
I don’t know why the kid brought the gun in the first place any more than I know how the six kids who beat the shit out of him found out he had the thing. But I’ve thought about the entire incident a lot and I think I can make a pretty good guess.
First, reasons the kid wouldn’t use for bringing the gun. It wasn’t self defense. If it was in any way reasonable to think you’d need a gun at a show this single act of violence wouldn’t be so shocking. It wasn’t because the guy was some aggressive bad-ass who shot people for screwing up his order at the drive-through. Those sorts of people don’t need to be kicked in the face to spur them into pulling out their pistol, and besides, he tried to run away; that’s just not what a bad-ass guy does.
Maybe the kid had a violent past and carried a gun out of a deep seated sense of paranoia. Possible, but unlikely. The most coherent reason a guy like the one I saw would carry a gun, is because he was dealing either Molly- so called molecular MDMA, cocaine, or heroin. Most likely it was coke. Unlike pot or mushrooms, you can carry highly valuable amounts of the powder drugs in your shorts pocket. Because hard drug dealers generally work on a fronted basis, if the drugs get taken from you, someone’s gonna want their money. Thus, the gun.
If the kid was, in fact, a dealer, it would also give a likely reason how the 6 guys found out about the gun. Maybe they bought some weight and the kid accidentally showed the gun in the transaction. Maybe one of their buddies saw it under the same conditions and passed the word along.
Anyone who’s seen a few shows this summer has noticed the ridiculous increase in hard drugs on the lot. I think it’s important to point out I’m not talking about pot or the hallucinogenic. I’m talking about the narcotics and the bath-tub drugs. I’ve even seen and heard an increase in “pharmies.” Come on people, that’s Rush Limbaugh’s trip. You want to do the drugs he does?
Let me break it down for you:
Hard Drugs à Much Money
Much Money àDrug Dealers who don’t give a flying hoo-hoo about music coming to our shows
{[(Drug Dealers) + (Much Money)] + Large Market of buyers} à Pistol Whippings and mayhem
Pistol Whipping and Mayhem à The death of the scene and nothing but Christina Aguilera on the radio to listen to.
The solution?
Don’t buy your hard drugs at shows. If you have to do Coke, get it from your dealer at home. It’s that simple.
It’s like shopping at Wal-Mart. Sure it’s convenient, the prices may even be cheaper, but those benefits don’t come without a flip-side, and that flip-side is packing guns and acting like total morons. Most importantly, that flip-side couldn’t give a shit less about the music, and when that crucial ingredient is missing, you get the Dead at Deer Creek in ’95. You get the disaster that was Corporate Woodstock. And in spite of a nearly perfect effort by the organizers and musicians at All Good, you get pistol-whippings and fights.
We don’t need cops. We don’t need anal searches or John Ashcroft. This is a self-restraint issue. The Lot is sacred, I know I’m not alone in feeling that my church and my God are best expressed in the music I see at shows and the kindness and coolness I see from people in the lot. I don’t want to lose that to a bunch of strung out shitheads or the leeches who supply them.
I’m not the only one who sees the dark clouds on the horizon. In Trey’s “Why Phish is breaking up for good” interview with Charlie Rose the following exchange took place:
CHARLIE ROSE: What do you regret about what Phish was and what it became and what it is, and if you look from the beginning to this last concert that will come up...
TREY ANASTASIO: OK. Do you want my honest opinion about that? I think you do. I`ll tell you what I regret. What I regret is that -- I don`t regret it, but I feel like in the last couple of years it started to become an excuse for people to show up in a given town and party. And it never was that for such a long time.
Our scene thrives because of the music not because of the drugs. If you’re at a show to get loaded first and see a concert second, do me a favor- stay home. You can watch the DVD and I don’t have to get shot.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Almost, but not quite
Just moved and got my internet reconnnected, but now I'm going back out of town to the ALL GOOD festival in West Virgnia. Should be a real good time. Until then, go see Farenheit 9/11. Then go see it again. Kerry's gonna lose though, as much as I hate to say it. And if he does win, it's gonna be because of F9/11, not becuase of Kerry who chose putter-ass Edwards as VP. Rove is going Edwards an ambulance chaser a million times. Plus, I'm signed up for Kerry's "newsletter" and all I get is anti-Bush stuff and endless begging for money. (2 to 1 in favor of money grubbing) I can't tell you anything about what KERRY is going to do. Which is nothing. I saw him giving a speech saying he was going to create jobs that paid as much as the ones that were sent to mexico. Kerry voted for the damn NAFTA bill. The WTO too, and Iraq, and the Patriot Act, and on and on. So screw him. I'll probably vote for the prick, but don't even try to make me feel good about it.
Just moved and got my internet reconnnected, but now I'm going back out of town to the ALL GOOD festival in West Virgnia. Should be a real good time. Until then, go see Farenheit 9/11. Then go see it again. Kerry's gonna lose though, as much as I hate to say it. And if he does win, it's gonna be because of F9/11, not becuase of Kerry who chose putter-ass Edwards as VP. Rove is going Edwards an ambulance chaser a million times. Plus, I'm signed up for Kerry's "newsletter" and all I get is anti-Bush stuff and endless begging for money. (2 to 1 in favor of money grubbing) I can't tell you anything about what KERRY is going to do. Which is nothing. I saw him giving a speech saying he was going to create jobs that paid as much as the ones that were sent to mexico. Kerry voted for the damn NAFTA bill. The WTO too, and Iraq, and the Patriot Act, and on and on. So screw him. I'll probably vote for the prick, but don't even try to make me feel good about it.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
PRESS BRIEFING BY LARRY SPEAKES
October 15, 1982
The Briefing Room
12:45pm EDT
Q: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement - the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
MR. SPEAKES: What's AIDS?
Q: Over a third of them have died. It's known as "gay plague." (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it's a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't have it. Do you? (Laughter.)
Q: No, I don't.
MR. SPEAKES: You didn't answer my question.
Q: Well, I just wondered, does the President -
MR. SPEAKES: How do you know? (Laughter.)
Q: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I don't know anything about it, Lester.
Q: Does the President, does anyone in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think so. I don't think there's been any -
Q: Nobody knows?
MR. SPEAKES: There has been no personal experience here, Lester.
Q: No, I mean, I thought you were keeping - MR. SPEAKES: I checked thoroughly with Dr. Ruge this morning and he's had no - (laughter) - no patients suffering from AIDS or whatever it is.
Q: The President doesn't have gay plague, is that what you're saying or what?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I didn't say that.
Q: Didn't say that?
MR. SPEAKES: I thought I heard you on the State Department over there. Why didn't you stay there? (Laughter.)
Q: Because I love you Larry, that's why (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: Oh I see. Just don't put it in those terms, Lester. (Laughter.)
Q: Oh, I retract that.
MR. SPEAKES: I hope so.
Q: It's too late.
From Prorev
Office of the Press Secretary
PRESS BRIEFING BY LARRY SPEAKES
October 15, 1982
The Briefing Room
12:45pm EDT
Q: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement - the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
MR. SPEAKES: What's AIDS?
Q: Over a third of them have died. It's known as "gay plague." (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it's a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't have it. Do you? (Laughter.)
Q: No, I don't.
MR. SPEAKES: You didn't answer my question.
Q: Well, I just wondered, does the President -
MR. SPEAKES: How do you know? (Laughter.)
Q: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I don't know anything about it, Lester.
Q: Does the President, does anyone in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think so. I don't think there's been any -
Q: Nobody knows?
MR. SPEAKES: There has been no personal experience here, Lester.
Q: No, I mean, I thought you were keeping - MR. SPEAKES: I checked thoroughly with Dr. Ruge this morning and he's had no - (laughter) - no patients suffering from AIDS or whatever it is.
Q: The President doesn't have gay plague, is that what you're saying or what?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I didn't say that.
Q: Didn't say that?
MR. SPEAKES: I thought I heard you on the State Department over there. Why didn't you stay there? (Laughter.)
Q: Because I love you Larry, that's why (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: Oh I see. Just don't put it in those terms, Lester. (Laughter.)
Q: Oh, I retract that.
MR. SPEAKES: I hope so.
Q: It's too late.
From Prorev
Sorry.
I know my blogging has been atrocious. I apologize. I'm pretty much going to be on the road for the rest of this month and I'm in no way rich enough to have some fancy wi-fi connection, so I'll be gone until July. Once I return to home, I will continue my ranting. In the meantime, go to Prorev and read Common Dreams everyday.
Also, I really want to thank all of the really good folks I've met out in the world, shows and music really are good for the soul.
Peace.
I know my blogging has been atrocious. I apologize. I'm pretty much going to be on the road for the rest of this month and I'm in no way rich enough to have some fancy wi-fi connection, so I'll be gone until July. Once I return to home, I will continue my ranting. In the meantime, go to Prorev and read Common Dreams everyday.
Also, I really want to thank all of the really good folks I've met out in the world, shows and music really are good for the soul.
Peace.
Friday, June 04, 2004
NEW BOOK JUST FINISHED
Sorry I've been silent all this time, but I've been concentrating on finishing the 1st draft of my newest (and 4th) novel, Ialtaboath. An accomplishment I just officially achieved a few minutes ago.
I'm really proud of it.
A brief summary:
It's the story of 2 archeologists Nina Adams and Elias Spade, who discover a Gnostic temple in the desert on the outskirts of Cairo and an ex-student of Elias named Harry Bonden who gets involved with a secret religious cult known as The Family. The cult leaders believe there is a great secret connected to the temple Nina and Elias discovered. A secret that challenges our most basic assumptions about God.
Its a rollicking and humorous adventure story that just happens to be about free will and the very nature of our existence.
Sorry I've been silent all this time, but I've been concentrating on finishing the 1st draft of my newest (and 4th) novel, Ialtaboath. An accomplishment I just officially achieved a few minutes ago.
I'm really proud of it.
A brief summary:
It's the story of 2 archeologists Nina Adams and Elias Spade, who discover a Gnostic temple in the desert on the outskirts of Cairo and an ex-student of Elias named Harry Bonden who gets involved with a secret religious cult known as The Family. The cult leaders believe there is a great secret connected to the temple Nina and Elias discovered. A secret that challenges our most basic assumptions about God.
Its a rollicking and humorous adventure story that just happens to be about free will and the very nature of our existence.
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