Attack of the ISIS Eboliacs

There is a pandemic sweeping our nation and the virus I speak of is paranoia. We are being bombarded with scary inferences of death and destruction from our smart phones and computers who battle for our affection. The nefarious doomsday tactics of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) are suggested to us through eye-grabbing headlines and rehashed pictures of rebels in ninja attire training for Jihad. Just when Ma and Pa Average Citizen felt it couldn’t get any more frightening, along comes the wicked killer, ebola, to take us down by the millions. A lot of people get it but for those who don’t I want to address you with some common sense; the real thing to be frightened of isn’t ebola or Isis… the real thing to be frightened of are the people who now govern us.
The dismissal of our rights and our voting power is being whittled away, silently, behind the backdrop of fearful delusions produced by huge conglomerates who own the businesses providing our news. Independent news sources and grass roots websites that carry varied analysis on world affairs and more objective reporting have very little punch in numbers by comparison to monsters of media like AOL news or CNN. These moguls carefully select what stories to throw before us and work hard to keep us tuned in to them for the latest breaking news on the bigger-than-life villains they have created. I don’t doubt for one minute that ISIS is a terrorist group and that they wish to cause harm and destruction but what about the more prominent threats to our communities? A popular meme going around the internet right now states a sarcastic truth; Kim Kardashian has been married more times than there are people (in the U.S.) who have died from ebola. ISIS thugs have been instrumental in the abduction and execution of innocent people and my heart goes out to those which lost loved ones but what have we done about the acts of terrorism within our own country which were brought about by our own citizens? I believe more deaths have occurred from school shootings than by the hands of Islamic fundamentalists in America. What is our country doing about our border to the south where Mexican/American relations and drugpin cartel leaders continue to wreak havoc in our country and theirs?
We need to stop putting secondary issues in primary priority. Rather than stress over potential disasters from a foreign virus, lets start taking better care and precautions of those health issues that currently exist in the U.S.. Ebola could be a future concern but there are a lot of doubts as to whether it will spread to biblical numbers like the media wants to scare us into believing. Influenza, on the other hand, continues to kill a good amount of people every year here in America so why aren’t we working on using some tax dollars to inoculate anyone who wants a flu shot for free? We should put more dollars behind stopping breast and cervical cancer in women because there is a true monster that is not possibly killing women, it really is killing them. Middle East terrorists do sound scary but until they land on our shore I don’t consider them as large a threat as the kid down the street with a semi-automatic who just shot up his schoolyard playmates. There are deadly threats in front of us on a daily basis but all we should be doing is striking out at the nearest one to us. You have to wait for a supposition to bloom into a reality before it does any big harm-although this paranoid, 21st Century Red Scare is doing a pretty good number on blood pressures and anxiety. Last I would suggest to get out in November and vote candidates into office who plan on serving the public because the flock of sheep we have in there right now are buffoons. Professional politicians like John Boehner should be brought in front of the Senate and pistol whipped within an inch of his life. What a do-nothing piece of gunk that guy is. Old pieces of driftwood like Mitch McConnell need to be replaced with someone willing to work for the people and not be in the pocket of big business. Hillary Clinton is slowly working at throwing her hat in the Presidential ring and all I can do is wonder if we really need more of the same on Capitol Hill? If she got elected wed just have more bipartisan bickering to accomplish nothing while European and Asian countries strive ahead. We need to, for the sake of advancement, throw out the political baby with the bath water because its causing too much controversy among our people to make Capitalism in America effective.
If we, as a country, can get over our own pride and bullheaded approach to world affairs and stop worrying about these supposed threats (everything gives you cancer) we might all breathe just a little bit easier and be ready for a real problem when it occurs. We need a fresh approach to American life in the 21st century the time is now.

Only Rock N Roll pt. 2

The first person to go down for the count from alcohol consumption was James. He propped himself on a couch in the most awkward position and then stayed there, frozen and passed out. I supposed we should have checked on him a bit more thorough; these are the kind of scenarios you read about where some college student dies from alcohol poisoning and doesn’t get discovered for some time, but now everyone was down for the music and if James drank himself to death there wasn’t much we could do about it now.
My message here isn’t to go out and drink yourself into oblivion. I’m a firm believer in handle your high. I’ve witnessed firsthand too many young amateurs taking too much liquor or too many drugs who fall victim to the Icarus Syndrome. The point I’m trying to make is that the ephemeral delight one experiences from listening to music, that magical electricity which courses through you and gets people of all ages to get on their feet and dance (or at least bob to the beat in a hypnotic state) is best obtained under the conditions created from a gathering of souls. You can get close to the euphoria of music by just listening to good stuff; I get really close to that feeling when I jack in my headphones and plant myself in front of a canvas to paint. The best hoodoo comes from a live band in a staunch locale-it could be a music club, it could be someone’s house (like Jax’s place), but when some promotion company contrives a night of hard rock, most times it falls short. Those venues do still exist (my personal experience recently watching Alice in Chains perform live was certainly a show to remember) but shows like that cost big bucks and not everyone has the bread to spread around anymore. Concerts used to be affordable but they, like so many platforms of art and culture, have bent to the mighty dollar.
I think what happened was, people fell victim to the beast of simplicity, greed and technology. Great live performances decided to make purchasing tickets and managing the money easier for them so online ticket sales became the norm for concerts, which placed a hefty price on top of the ticket cost. Merch tables, security and costly problems from both sides of the aisle (promoter and attendee) sent prices spiraling to the point where now a good band can run you well over a hundred dollars to get a decent seat. The good news is, good music still exists out there on the hungry streets and can be witnessed for fractions on the dollar, pretty much free, which in turn supports local artisans.
The evening went on that night until around four in the morning and we only suffered one more casualty to liquor-the birthday girl finally fell victim to all the Jim Beam she had swilled down. After the bands finished up for the night it was their turn to get drunk and everyone appreciated the fact that they held off drinking until after their performances. We all went outside around 3AM and sat by a bonfire in the back yard and slowly the adrenaline rush of rock n roll seeped away into the night. We talked for a while and one inebriated fellow fell into the fire but managed to get out before turning into a human torch. So in closing I should say to the guy complaining that the radio station bleeped out the word faggot on the radio, don’t rely on conventional airwaves to bring about the magic because I believe there is a definite recipe to experience it. Support your local establishments who my only charge you $5 cover. If you’re brave enough, do like Jax and have your own party-although most people wont be as fortunate as her when it comes to neighbor tolerance of such affairs, but you never know. The talent that is out there will amaze and move you but you have to find it. Its like hunting for mushrooms in the forest in the regards of having to search out the true gems. Rock still lives, but not on the radio.

I Know It’s Only Rock N Roll

Someone came into the office where I work about a week ago and made statements which reminded me of something that happened a couple weeks prior. My mind went back to that Saturday evening; live hard pulsing punk rock was being slashed out by a group of local musicians while my friend Jax writhed her dancing pelvis against the birthday girl. Hard fucking music blasting in our ears while the attendees swilled down beer and bourbon and smoked blunts. Everyone stomped their feet and bobbed their heads as if we were transfixed by some unseen magic-and we were transfixed from the power of true rock n roll.
What made me think of that evening was this guy coming into the office to visit a fellow employee. We keep a radio on to deaden the sound of silence and machinery where I work but I don’t really pay too much attention to it. I pay little attention to whats playing because its always on some local station and this is, after all, work. This is not the place to funk out. The guy who came in made mention of how the local station was playing the censored version of Dire Straits song Money For Nothing. The part where the lyrics say the little faggot with the earring and the makeup, yeah buddy, that’s his own hair is completely void of vocals at that point, then streams back into the song with no apologies. This really grinded at the guy who started going off on the radio station for cutting out the word faggot-which I could understand his frustration, but he had to remember; this is radio.
Radio stations covertly pull songs aside and dub out what they deem unfit for human consumption.. Steve Miller, John Mellencamp, lots of rock songs have been altered all in the pursuit of clean airwaves and its been going on for some time now. The decency in broadcasting police came out and started branding rock songs that contained subversive lyrics with stickers to warn parents; something which smelled to me very much like the Jewish star stitched on clothes back during the Hitler years. Sponsors threatened to pull advertising dollars if stations didn’t clean up their act and radio execs thought they could dupe the public into believing they were still top notch rock stations by merely censoring the song and putting it back on air. This was like watching The G rated version of The Godfather, with all the violence and language cleaned out.
Jax’s place was the perfect spot for a party. Her house has no direct road that leads to it-you have to know which alley to drive down and park at to find her place. Once I got there the bands were beginning to show up-four bands in all. One of them actually drove down to Indy from Chicago just to play at her party and we were all thankful and admired their commitment to the rock scene of the evening. We passed the plate to get them gas money back. Everyone pitched in with monetary compensation for the band, extra arms to carry in the heavy equipment (old school tube amps, the hefty ones) and refreshments to distort our minds, we were all ready to celebrate the night away. The honored guest of the evening was a friend of Jax whose birthday it was. As the night progressed I wondered how long the birthday girl would keep on her feet. She was hitting the bourbon really fast and heavy but as soon as the first band began to play, energy engulfed all of us and the party began.
Rock isn’t going to be found on your local FM station. You’ll hear rock music, but its not rock n roll you’re experiencing. The true groove can only be appreciated and experienced in a live situation where the band is performing and blasphemy against the establishment-the Man-is pounding out of you like a jackhammer. Rock was born out of a poetic air of grievance that resulted from too many restrictions, too many bad things holding one down. It is an unspoken feeling that melts your frustrations and has you coiled up in a mindspring of delirious euphoria. When the Who took stage and Pete Townshend smashed his guitar, that was rock n roll. When Elvis shook his hips and caused television stations all over to aim their cameras above his waist, Elvis was making rock n roll. When I was a teenager and the band King Crimson came to play, the staff at the coliseum shut down their amps and turned on the lights to make the band stop. The crowd responded with shouts and threats and it got so scary for these workers that they turned the power back on so the band could finish….that was rock n roll.

More Tales From the Bus

I’ve had a few people ask me what it’s like using the public transit here in Sleepytown and each time they do I find myself bowled over with a plethora of feelings; is it good? Is it bad-is it safe? You tell me…’safe’ or ‘good’ are subjective terms. This is what the bus is-or can be:
Waiting for a bus that’s heading east and it’s already twenty five minutes late. I had big intentions of cussing the driver out or at least giving them the stink eye when eventually it pulls up. Before I can go into a rant with the driver she cuts me off by saying “Where were you twenty minutes ago when I needed you baby?” This totally diffused my anger all I could say was “I was standing out here waiting for you…baby.” She went on to explain how she had hoped there was a strong man on board who could’ve taken care of the belligerent drunk who got off the bus only two stops back. She said he was being a total dick and used the excuse that he was in a wheelchair, which gave him the right to be a grumpy fuck. Apparently he was cussing her up one side and down another and then I started feeling bad, not just for her, but because I missed a golden opportunity to help throw a handicapped guy off the bus.
Riding in on the bus to work one morning a young man ran up to the bus at a red light and banged on the door to get in. The driver patiently yelled to him and told him she could only pick up passengers at designated stops. She repeated this twice and pointed to the stop not more than one hundred fifty feet from the stoplight so he ran to the stop and waited for us to turn. As soon as the bus stop he jumped on and as the driver waited for him to pull out fair a small hatchback comes flying around the corner and does a dead stop directly in the front of the bus, squealing tires to a halt, blocking the bus from leaving. A frantic middle aged woman runs out of the car and jumps on the bus and begins explaining to the driver that this young man was off his meds and needed to go back to mental facility where he resides. He had escaped and this wasn’t the first time and when he escaped he got on buses and it could take hours to hunt him down. Now as she continued to explain all this to the driver the guy jumps off the bus and goes running down the street to catch a bus on a different line. The lady sees this and curses her own stupidity for letting him go and jumps off the bus to get back in her car to hunt him down. At that point a police car pulls up, blocking the lady in and the whole explanation story has to be retold at an even faster pace because the kid is getting further and further away.
A middle aged man was trying to get across a busy street to catch the bus (same one I was getting on). He had his hands full of grocery bags and the traffic was relentless…here came the bus, only a block and a half away and traffic wasn’t letting up. He was probably going to miss the bus and I felt his frustration so I decided to take the leap of faith and walked right out into traffic holding my hands out like some traffic cop. People can to a quick halt and started blowing horns and cussing at me but I could give a fuck. They had cars and this guy didn’t. They could wait a few extra seconds to let him pass. He passed and we both got on the bus. He sat down right behind me and thanked me for stopping traffic. “Man they could have run you over.” he said and reached into one of the bags and pulled out a beer. He handed it to me and opened one for himself, all the time peering up to make sure the driver wasn’t looking. Laws being what they are, apparently you aren’t supposed to drink liquor on a bus but we both figured we weren’t driving so….we proceeded to drink. The beer was warm but it felt good and we made sure to take our empties with us.
I have balked quite often about the lack of good service on the Indianapolis bus lines and will continue to do so but what it lacks in efficiency it more than makes up for with human oddities to entertain and educate you. Perhaps if the buses did run on time and were more pro-active in attracting more customers to ride the bus the whole attitude would change; but would it be for the better? If more business types did ride the bus on a regular basis they might start complaining about the sordid lot that uses it regularly, like the guy sitting in front of me today that was barefoot in this chilled autumn weather, sores all over his back (which he exposed when scratching) and sitting with his eyes closed, praying, I assume, for God to either help him out or take his life now. If more business types did use the bus, would IndyGo start raising the standards on what you needed to look like or how you needed to act in order to ride the line? Not all buses adhere to the ‘no loud music playing’ rule and definitely not the ‘no swearing’ rule. Maybe we should leave the bus as it is; an inefficient convoy for the strong willed to navigate; a sardonic trip for the hapless that becomes a beacon for those off their meds to come running for. No matter how erratic the people on the bus become, I believe I will always find interest within these public jaunts as they constantly remind me that there, but by the grace of chance, go I.

A Quick Homage to Musk

July 21, 1969, man stepped on the surface of the moon and from that point forward most every program to venture further into space slowly decayed. World space programs continued to develop new craft and even managed to put a station out there in orbit above us but for the majority of people on Earth these investments of time and money were a huge waste of our financial resources. Many complained that there were no tangible reasons to continue exploring space that seemed to harvest any realistic ideas; it was a waste of time and money…and then along came Elon Musk.
The South African entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal and Tesla Motors (as well as Hyperloop, Zip2 and Solar City) brought the dream back by investing one hundred million dollars of his own money to create SpaceX, a radically forward thinking operation which took space exploring by the balls.  Currently Musk is working on a solid plan to inhabit the planet Mars with ‘millions of people’ which to some may sound far-fetched, but others believe he’s just the man to pull something like this off. We’re talking about the guy in charge of the first private company to resupply the ISS (International Space Station). Not only did his rocket resupply the ISS, it did it at one third the cost of the space shuttle flights. Musk is a dreamer and a doer; something we need more of these days in opposition to the enormous numbers of political figures who fill our hearts and heads with promises of hope and change but bring about very little of either. I won’t sit and harp on one individual politician or one particular party; my nihilist attitude toward politics leaves me believing that they are all monkeys chasing monkeys and will rarely achieve much more than slinging shit at one another.
I have people debate me on the importance of space travel. They insist the decades of time that would pass before we could ever see any results make it too costly an operation. I personally see this as a much more fruitful approach to spending money than throwing it into more weapons and wars. We certainly should be contributing more to things on this planet like health care and feeding the hungry but we really do have an assload of cash folks – proof alone by looking at the amounts we spend on military engagements which end in stalemates at best. Space exploration and colonization are a far off beacon but we should not stop trying to reach it. This planet will, eventually one day either blow up from natural disaster or be blown up by omur own stupidity. In order to preserve humanity we should be thinking about seeding it on other planets. This sounds far-fetched to a lot of people but fifteen years ago 3d printers would have sounded just as crazy an idea and look where we are today with that.
I suggest you go online and read more about Elon Musk and think about his achievements. Think about what he has already achieved – and he’s not done yet. Think back on what Steve Jobs gave us. Think of all the developments our handheld device society has grown to become. There is so much we can do nowadays thanks to the advancements of technology, science and engineering…let’s not waste all of it on crappy games and bombs. There’s a huge fucking universe out there with wonders that will blow our minds; let’s go get it.

The Fish is Back

While all of us settle into the month of October that includes a new NFL season and a vacant Congress, large herds of people sip on suicide cider wishing for a quick death, a way out from politics as usual. As if proof were needed, all we have to do is look at the headlines of recent reporting Mitt ‘Filet O’ Fish’ Romney back on the campaign bandwagon….sort of. He’s taking small steps to get up on that wagon but believe me, he’ll be up there soon. After months of denying he’d run again the whitebread Mormon boy wonder told the New York Times “We’ve got a lot of people looking at the race”, and when asked if he would be running replied “We’ll see what happens.”
The seemingly non-committal statement is the same type parlor game most the standard usual political suspects are playing right now. Hillary Clinton was doing the same thing and her stance is slowly shifting to appear before the public as a presidential hopeful. More and more will start dipping their beak in the rum barrel to get a taste and feel the excitement jizz out of them as they ponder 2016. We’re closing in on two years away which has become the standard timetable for candidates to begin the circuit appearances and Mitt certainly has revived from the ass lashing he took in the 2012 election.
Republicans are beginning to beat their sabers to rally the troops. Once again this coming election looks like a race to see who we hate more rather than who we like most. I feel staunch Republicans will no longer care about religious affiliations from their candidate because in their minds the nation elected a Muslim and they made it 8 years under his watch so religion is a moot point for any candidate they end up following. Granted those opposed to the Obama Administration screamed and howled throughout both of his terms but even they could see that the country has not gone down in flames – yet – which gives them hope in reclaiming whatever delusional image of America they have. They are expecting ISIS to come thundering onto our shores under the guidance of the Great Hope and Change so really their biggest concern is to take back the White House; the House and Senate would be nice too but the big enchilada is to put a Republican Commander-In-Chief in the Oval Office come 2016. Once that happens they can sit on top of the dung pile to claim themselves King of the Hill.
Pray, the GOP really does want a viable candidate, but right now they just want someone electable. Rick ‘The Texan’ Perry came out swinging early and flew to close to the Sun when he was booked on charges for abuse of power and coercion – in typical cowboy fashion, after Perry was booked and fingerprinted he headed to a local burger joint for some ice cream and tweeted a picture of himself…god I love Texas. Other Republican candidates from the barrel of repeat offenders appear crazy or impotent by comparison to Perry so this leaves the GOP with very few options other than to attach themselves to the bland boy who lost two runs for the White House. I sit and wait to post more information on this 2016 election as it slowly unfolds but for now, I present to you the front runner for the moment; the tasteless fish sandwich of politics, Mitt Romney. Eat’em up folks and Welcome to the Church.