Jack Burns Lives!

A good friend recently asked me why more Democratic politicians don’t stand up to fascist fucks that run our country.

First of all, they’re part of the problem. They support the same system. Just call ‘em Republican Light. They’re all about spreading the wealth around and keeping the military industrial complex rollin’ along. Just like the GOP. Got to keep those durable goods rolling off the assembly line. Keep those new houses being built. Manufacturing.

Keep all the key economic indicators indicating growth and advancing metastasis.

Better on the environment? Maybe so, but that’s just a ruse to make people think they have a choice. There’s no choice! Are you nuts? Look around you.

Industrial capitalism and war are the raison d’être for all these assholes and nearly all of their contituents. Just look at the “voting” record.

The reason more people don’t stand up to fascist assholes is they are cowards.If I thought a Che like revolution would work in this country, I’d gladly lead it. Trouble is the egalitarian revolver is of no use against the authoritarian weaponry of the ruling class.

So, you just make sure you have good smokes, vino, books, a place to escape and good, trusted friends to confide in. Take care of those close to you and stick your middle finger in the face of all the rest of ‘em. And all the rest of ‘em means 90% of Americans. 90% of Americans are stupid, fucking louts, clueless about what’s really going on in this country and in the world.

That, and do things that make a difference in your community. TAKE DIRECT ACTION.

Voting is a failure of democracy. Want democracy? Get your ass in gear and take direct action.

I’m so tired.

Tired of writing and bitching about everything that’s wrong in the world. Tired of trying to communicate solutions to wealth building, apathetic, selfish, self-serving fucks. Tired of trying.

Just when I think things are looking up, reality knocks me back down.

Yeah, I guess I’m feeling sort of stormy and cantankerous. Fretful. Dissolute. Like a rake. But I’ll dust myself off and be back. Just wait.

It’s time to step it up. Time to try something else. A new tactic. Something more direct. Something with some teeth in it. Yes, I’m calling for direct action against oppression and tyranny. I think it’s time to draw a line in the sand and say “enough is enough!”

Who would stand with me? Not many. Maybe not even one. Abbey once said “Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul. One brave deed is worth a thousand books.” That’s so true. But there are very few truly brave folks in this world. In fact, I don’t know one. Not one.

And just when I finally think I meet someone I think I can trust, well, it seems maybe I can’t.

Rachel Corrie was strong and brave. She was a 23 year old activist killed by a coward driving a Israeli military bulldozer. What an honor it would have been to have met her. Are there any more Rachel Corrie’s out there? Would love to hear from you. Would love to join you.

Today’s podcast includes a reading from Edward Abbey’s The Journey Home, “Fire Lookout: Numa Ridge.”

For more information on Numa Ridge, click here.

In the reading, Abbey presents an alternative opinion to Derrick Jensen and his call to “bring down with civilization.”

I’ve been reading a bunch of Abbey lately. Earlier in the year, I started going through some of the non-fiction works again, and just recently started the fiction. Finished The Monkey Wrench Gang last week.

Probably won’t do Black Sun again, since I’ve already read it about ten times. Most of the others at least twice.

So, why do it? Why read a book three or four, possibly more, times?

I’m always amazed at the little things I notice for the first time with Abbey. Often, things that should have been obvious the first time, but perhaps weren’t for one reason or another. Maybe too much tequila. (I’ve consumed more than my share since late November, 2000)

Abbey’s books provide so many simple truths, lessons and clever observations about the condition of man and how man’s condition seems frequently have a negative affect everything else. I never grow tired of reading them, and I learn something new every time.

Yesterday, I was reading Good News, an under appreciated book that effectively examines two starkly contrasted ideas about society. One, the top-down, hierarchical world of power and tyranny we’re all too familiar with, and two, the anarchistic and egalitarian world many of us (yet too few) hope for.

There’s a scene where the simple beauty of anarchism is played out. Burns has safely delivered the young, wounded Barbara back to the hidden, anarchist safe house, and is asking for his sidearm and horse so he can leave and return to his search in the city for his son.

The leader of the clan is a professor, but the professor is not present.

“Afterward he again requested the return of his weapon and his horse. They tried to dissuade him from his plan but was determined. Stubborn as stone. Red Beard, who seemed the most influential member of the gang-the professor was one and apparently they had no leader; as one explained, ‘We are all leaders’-finally yielded and gave Burns his gun.”

And there you have it. An anarchistic clan where everyone is equal, struggling to survive a city dominated by the Chief and his motorcycle squad comprised of henchmen and murderers. Much the same as the little anarchistic groups and bonds that exist in the shadow of tyranny and oppression today.

The beauty of anarchism illustrated in one simple phrase: “We’re all leaders.”

Marsha and Rumi Making Me Feel Safe

Representative, Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, just sent out her “Summer Report,” which is full of the typical GOP spittle about growth (got to keep the blob moving along), terrorism (got to keep everyone terrified so we can keep military spending sky high) and drilling in ANWR (got to keep those Hummers humming along, too).

She’s so ignorant it’s sad. Pitiful. Just plain pitiful, and her mom should be ashamed. I know I am.

I don’t expect anything out of the letter I just sent, other than I wanted her to know there are people in her district that aren’t buying her crap.

Here it is:
I just received your “2006 Summer Report,” and I’m dismayed by your opinion regarding gas prices.

Certainly, you have access to all the data everyone else does, and that data does not support your conclusions.

The oil in ANWR will do little to solve the nation’s energy and fuel problem, Marsha. No thinking person could truly believe otherwise, so trying to make the point that it does is nothing less than propaganda to support a failed strategy.

When your society is propped up by a non-renewable resource, the only sensible solution is to look for alternative methods of energy and reduction in use. Nothing else is sustainable.

If you haven’t already, I’d suggest you spend some time researching Peak Oil and the impact of Peak Oil on our society. It’s an eye opener and is well understood by some of your Republican peers.

Communities must be reconstructed to support a dramatic reduction in fuel use, so people can walk and cycle to work, to the store and to schools. Pushing redevelopment in existing areas that supports that model is effective leadership. Pushing the continuation of the oil splurge and at the expense of wild places is not effective leadership.

Some of us get our news and information from places other than CNN, FOX and “The Commercial Appeal.” We do research, compare alternatives and reach conclusions based on careful non-partisan analysis. And we’re fully aware of what’s going on in Washington, which in my opinion, is nothing more than a continuation of business as usual, the status quo and an expansion of the military industrial complex.

Which all requires oil.

And by the way. I hear all this talk about the need for economic growth. Can you please explain how we can sustain economic growth ad infinitum in a world of finite resources? Have you considered the correlation between growth and expansion and the effect on ecosystems? Please explain how this can all be sustained?

Oh, and regarding the terror threat. We’d have a lot fewer problems if you folks would stop sending U.S. forces and U.S. proxy forces around the globe opening up markets for trade. You’re sending citizens to their deaths in support of U.S. expansionism, and you know it.

You should be ashamed, and yes, you have blood on your hands, Ms. Blackburn.

Regards,

We’re having some technical difficulties today. Apologies for things not displaying correctly….

Jack Burns Lives! Episode 2: When Green Ain’t Green

Last week, a co-worker brought me a copy of dwell magazine, a thick, glossy architectural rags that features million dollar homes and high dollar furniture. The September issue is titled “Green Goes Mainstream.”

It gets kudos for an article titled “Architecture for Humanity,” for featuring an architect that built his home out of recycled materials, and for what I realize are overall good intentions. The editor was even thoughtful enough to write a very cogent reply to an e-mail I sent questioning her call for “top down governmental solutions” and an article on bamboo flooring.

What’s wrong with bamboo flooring? Nothing, as long as you don’t over harvest it, and it comes from your bioregion. But that’s not what’s featured in the magazine. It features exotic bamboos from all over the planet, all of which require massive amounts of fossil fuel to make it to your bungalow in LA.

And that got me thinking. What’s up with all this “green” marketing and “green” hype? Is it all really green? Is it all based on sustainable practices?

Listen to today’s podcast to find out what I think and to hear a reading from Edward Abbey’s “Good News”.

Jack Burns Lives! Podcast; Episode One: A Reading From “Beyond the Wall,” “A Walk in The Desert Hills”

Well, I’ve decided to enter the interesting world of podcasting, and here’s the first episode.

As this is my first one, I’d ask for a wee bit of patience in case I’ve committed some blunder or major faux pas in my first episode.

This track is short, about ten minutes, and in it, I describe the purpose behind Jack Burns Lives!, a little bit about my home, the deep south, and there’s a reading from “Beyond The Wall”, “A Walk In The Desert Hills.”

You can access the track here in M4A (works with iTunes) or MP3 (for Windows Media or Quicktime-bigger file, however), or you can subscribe to Jack Burns Lives! via Feedburner here. As soon as I figure it out (hopefully today), you’ll be able to subscribe on iTunes, as well.

“It is a man’s duty to speak for the voiceless. A woman’s obligation to aid the defenseless. Human needs do not take precedence over other forms of life; we must share this lovely, delicate, vapor clouded little planet with all.”-Edward Abbey, from “Beyond The Wall”, A Walk in the Desert Hills”

8:25 PM in the Lower Delta. The merciful end to a day marked by oppressive heat and high humidity.

As night approaches, I gaze upward to the sky and notice a few birds, the last of the happy hour crowd, heading back to their nests. A dragonfly circles, then quickly zips toward an oak tree and disappears.

Then suddenly, with a quick, erratic motion, something else appears against the darkened sky. Then there’s two. As quickly as they appear, they disappear and return yet again. They move like Japanese Zero fighters, crossing one another in a show of speed and agility and with a wing cadence that’s much different from anything I’ve seen in class Aves.

It’s thrilling when one dips low, perhaps only twenty feet or so above my head, and I can get a closer look at this nocturnal marvel of the evening sky.

We’ve been blessed with an abundance of bats in the Lower Delta this summer, usually Nyctieceius humeralis or “Evening bat” as they’re commonly called. They’re here every year, but seem particularly more abundant this season, and this is good news.

Bats are essential to nature’s balance. More bats means fewer insects which can be a problem in the hot, muggy Southern summer. But for some reason, bats, like spiders and snakes, are frequently referred to as “pests”, misunderstood, vilified, associated with evil and all sorts of superstitious mumbo jumbo that started way before Bram Stoker.

Vampires? Yes, but they exist only in Washington, D.C. Only three of the over one thousand species of bats feed on blood or invertebrates. Those that aren’t insectivorous eat fruit, nectar or pollen.

A realistic concern about bats are pathogens, but if you don’t try to handle bats, the chances are virtually nil you’ll become infected. Less than 0.5% of bats carry rabies. Your yard could be swarming with bats and the chances still are exponentially higher you’ll be killed in a car accident.

Or, maybe you’ll die of ignorance from watching too much tee-vee.

Stay out of cars. In fact, go ahead and shoot the tee-vee, throw it at your car and welcome the bats.

That’s our creed at Casa Burns.

Nyctieceius humeralis young are born in June and early July, so there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing some of the little pups flying about real soon. At least we hope.

They roost in trees and buildings, but no one seems to know where they go in the winter. Good chance it’s not a shopping mall or fast food outlet, which is where you’ll find most humans.

Bats are the only mammal in the world capable sustained flight. The bats of course do it naturally, using sonar to maneuver and hunt in the dark. Humans do it unnaturally, although we’ll doing much less of it once Peak Oil settles in nicely around the planet.

Here’s to you, bats. May the moon light your way and may that path always be above my house.