Joe Biden, 50 years ago

Age of wisdom

We learn over time - through our mistakes, through trial & error, and by witnessing what works and what fails. The more time, the more knowledge. If used to our benefit, we call it the wisdom of elders.

Joe Biden was born in '42 during World War II. His father is the same age as my father, meaning - he grew up in the Depression and witnessed the misery of hunger & despair, and how close America and the world came to a Communist and/or Fascist take-over of the planet.

But growing up with these stories, these points of reference, Biden knew what to do when pandemic could've meant global panic and chaos - get America back on track, whatever it takes. Because as goes America, so goes the free world. And if people can't work, can't pay bills, can't pay rent - give them the means to keep going. Give them hope, give them whatever they need to stay afloat.

And it worked. As it worked for FDR in the thirties. We survived the crisis, like it was just a bad cold (that killed a million people in the US and six million across the world). And if we had any grasp of what it means to come out of a global crisis, and get back to normal, and have life be good again, Biden would just say "you're welcome." Because the whole world would be saying "thank you."

 

Kat Rosenfield's novel "No One Will Miss Her" was fun reading. I enjoyed it. Which is perhaps the best thing you can say about a book.

The writing is very good, and the story is well-told. Plus, it has some meaningfulness that matters. So, what more could you want?

Well, a couple of things. Rosenfield's book isn't just a clever mystery. The intrigue is more about identity than detective work. And while the crime-solving adds tension & suspense to the telling, it isn't the driving force of the story. Which is the fun part, for me.

The key is an examination of identity - who we are as individuals, in an age where anyone can be anything they want to be - except themselves.

Rosenfield's maneuver is to posit a fake, Adrienne Richards, who is the composite of what she's supposed to be. She's the rich young beautiful trophy wife of a highly successful financial swindler. But since her husband got caught - exposed and societally condemned - she's adrift of the phony world that was their upscale paradise. They've avoided jail, as filthy rich people do. And kept most of their ill-gotten gains, as clever crooks also do.

But in the sham world of glam, they're socially ostracized, which is a fate worse than death when your whole life is make believe. So naturally, they end up in the middle of nowhere - the backwoods of Maine. 

In normal circumstance, we'd see the cottage on the lake where there's no one around to bother you; surrounded by trees, sunshine, squirrels and deers, as an idyllic escape from the hectic crush of the city. But in our upside down point of view, country charm is just a place to hide when no one wants to be seen with you. And the villagers who live there aren't real people anyway, just clowns and bumpkins to poke fun at, or not even notice at all.

So when one of the bumpkins is murdered in a grizzly horrible way, it seems almost inevitable. Even the locals aren't surprised. Because they'd long since figured out that the dead girl, Lizzie Ouelette, was the person least likely to succeed, even in a small town full of losers.

The only thing no one figured on was that Lizzie wanted to live too. But in a world of fake identities, anyone can take a life and nobody cares. It's not even sad, in a strange way. The trick is to kill someone that nobody would miss. The tragedy and the horror is, when no one is real, that could be anybody. 

The dead girl's revenge is in the hands of a dogged state cop, who's over-worked and too long on the road. The question is, does he alone care enough to get at truth for a girl who just doesn't matter. The answer is as plain as...

 

Race Fact & Fiction

Three white men murdered a black man in Brunswick. And three black kids murdered a white girl in New York. Are either of these because of the race of the people killed or doing the killing?

Are black kids taught from childhood that "white people hate you" just look at history. 

If so, why would anyone want to work for people who hate you. And why would anyone want to hire people who believe that you hate them? Or more specifically, why would anyone want to teach kids that they are hated?

You can't have any respect for a society that doesn't value your life. And you can't possibly respect the law, if you think "law and order" is how society keeps you oppressed. So if Bell and Crenshaw are correct, laws are the enemy of black people in America. 

One solution is to admit that America is an evil racist country built on the oppression of black people through slavery and Jim Crow laws; and the systematic killing of Native people so their land could be stolen and given to white colonizers. 

Then we could start dismantling this "systemic oppression" of "white supremacy" by teaching children the evil truth of America so that everyone's aware of what this nation really is. And we can all be "Woke" to what "whiteness" really means.

We could teach school kids that Lincoln didn't free the slaves, Frederick Douglass did that. And that the Civil War was won when black soldiers led by Shaka Zulu defeated the evil Southern slave holders.

We could teach kids that Native Americans never enslaved people; and Native tribes never fought each other for control of the land. And once we've convinced people (since childhood) that these are facts, we can then replace all white business executives with black people (preferably women), and all elected officials with black people (preferably women). Then defund the police and do away with all jails and prisons.

But of course, there're obstacles to this approach. For one, nearly 90% of Americans aren't black. So it's a hard sell to suggest that the concerns of this small minority should be the focus of American life. And for another, it's simply not true: Lincoln actually did "free the slaves" and white Yankee soldiers actually did win the Civil War. And while Jim Crow laws oppressed black people for a century, it was white US Congressmen who passed Civil Rights laws to end Jim Crow.

And the most basic of lies is that "all white people hate blacks." Because factual history (and everyday experience) prove otherwise.

 

Tearing It Apart

Black Lives Matter is an anti-American movement intent on dividing our country by race. Together with Critical Race Theory, it seeks to make every aspect of our lives hinge on the "evil of whiteness." 

Its success depends on incriminating the people who built America and Europe; and forming a coalition of the "guilty" and their "victims" to dismantle Western Civilization and traditional American values. 

To be clear - those who divide us by race - are Racists.

And those who ally themselves with anti-white racists are aiding and abetting self-destruction.

The fundamentals of America & Western Civilization rest upon freedom of speech, freedom of religion, self-reliance, hard work, and above all, traditional family structure. BLM & CRT aim at eliminating all of the above. And doing so in the name of righteousness.

You cannot speak out against CRT/BLM without becoming an outcast.

You cannot go to Church without being ridiculed.

You cannot oppose the lazy who won't work or learn; or the homeless who won't or can't even feed, clothe and house themselves, without being branded as the evil one. 

Worst of all, you can't even marry, and raise your own children, without being a traitor to "the cause."

Clearly, even a fool can see something's wrong with this. Even a fool can see that America and Europe have better living conditions for their people than any place else on earth, or at any time in history. Proof of this abounds - none of the anti-white Racists who so desperately hate America are fleeing to Canada or Africa. Yet every refugee who wants a better life for their kids, wants Europe or America as their new home.

People the world over need to "woke up" to reality and common sense. And stop those who are trying to destroy what's best about our shared planet.

Biden Our Time

In a time of global insanity and national buffoonery, Joe Biden is exactly what we need. 

Lunch Pail Joe near hunert year old and a multiple loser running for President, isn't witty, clever, or charismatic. 

He's just plain old Honest Joe, a decent guy with a big heart. And right now there's nothing we need more than decency and normalcy.

He aint no radical and they got no hold on him. When it comes to agenda, the Progressives will have wait in line alongside Conservatives and hope for compromise, i.e., Americans coming together to work out our differences. 

Biden doesn't hate minorities, women, or even Republicans. In this "worst of times" he is the best of us. And that'll do. We'll get used to the gaffes; in fact it'll be refreshing after the long national nightmare that was Donald Trump.

DC can finally be boring again, and we can all get on with our lives, sans the drama queen that was the Donald Dumpster fire. A breath of fresh air will sweep in and take that giant weight off our shoulders, like a slumbering bear in the warm glow of spring, shaking off the stagnation of long cold winter.

America will awaken with burst of energy and national pride as working men and women lead a charge we haven't seen since post world war: to rebuild highways, rail lines, on-line communications, and most of all, our imperiled communities that have long suffered under the strain of Trump divisiveness. 

There's a bold new wave ahead of us, and a bright new future. A brave new world that has good people in it. America is ready to lead, all we need is a leader - Joe Biden, a man who believes in the people.

The President's Men Called It "Rat-fucking"

 

A review of Steve Ely's "Ratmen."

Amazingly good stuff. I'd finished Sick City by Tony O'Neill, so of course was worried there'd be nothing else that well-written. But greatly pleased to find my copy of Ely's book. 

Which was sent to me by the publisher Geraint Hughes with the message "whadda think of this?" I'd ordered a Ridgwell, and asked if he had anything else that good.

Also mentioned he wasn't aware I lived in the States and shipping charges are outrageous! Told him to thank W Bush for destroying US Postal Service by trying to privatize it, as he'd done to the military. 

Whereby all entry level jobs in food service, carpentry, personnel, heavy equipment, and so forth, are now done by private contractors like Bush's friends Halliburton (which Dick Cheney used to run) and Blackwater (run by Betsy Devos' brother).

Anyway, I regress. So Hughes sent me the book ten year ago, and I began reading after finishing the Ridgwell and fearing there'd be nothing that good left to read. But "Ratment" was so excellent, I started reviewing it at The Guardian whilst halfway through the book. (I used to send my reviews as comments in their reader section 'til they got wise to that.) And then all this stuff happened, and I quit reading and writing for lotta years.

So, back to the book. You know all those shows on Netflix, Amazon, HBO, that are 'sposed to be so clever? I betcha Steve Ely could write screen plays 'bout an eco-warrior that'd raise the hair up off the back yer neck down to yer arse. Cuz he writes that good, and seems to know exactly what he's writing about. So if everyone would read the book, we could all discuss it at Sam Jordison's discussion group, and try to figure out what it means.

I asked all these questions a decade ago: who're the rats? Immigrants flooding to Europe, minorities in other parts of the world, anyone who doesn't look like us? Or just filthy little vermin at war with humans for control of the planet, re: Bill Ectric's story 'bout Easter Island. If so, could be a metaphor for the Covidicus wot currently gots us in its grip.

But you see why we need a big discussion group for to input everyone's opinion. And so Hughes gotta re-publish it so everbuddy gots a copy. Anyway, I oughtta say something about the the book. Ely tells a great story - he's good at it. And writing like you're not gonna find elsewhere. The tone, the mood, is quiet deliberate desperation like ticking before it all blows up. One scene I'll mention: the kid on the bus going to work, sees the goth girl fondling her pet rat. She smiles and lets him hold her pet. He drop kicks it down the aisle and into the bus window. And the boss tells him "settling little scores got nothing to do with settling bigger scores."

Yeah, seriously good stuff.

Cancelling Culture

Ever been to confession? "Forgive me Father, I've had impure thoughts." "Yes, my child, that's about the only thing nature wants us to do." 

So...how's that a sin? Worse yet, how can anyone tell us what to think. These are the basic questions of existence. 

And if you wanna trash Columbus for being impure, please consider plucking out thine own eyes. (Just do it, you'll feel better being blind deaf and dumb.)

Better yet, get some Inquisition-ers to decide what's okay to think, and what isn't. "Works for me" Uncle Joe Stalin, Mao Zedong (Mousie Dung), Heinrich Himmler, et.al. Them boy wrote letters too - sign on, if you don't approve of free thinking.

I feel like I'm wasting my time with the intellectually defective. But I always feel that way. That's the trouble with a lifetime search for truth and the knowing of things. It's a lonely path. But we gots a theme song "I don't wanna take advice from fools..." So, wot the fock, methinks I'se better off.

Even though the sad fact of idiots is their numerical superiority, I take comfort that they never amount to much. They don't run things, build things, or really get anywhere in life. Their only power is that of a mindless mob. Like Hitler's crowd. 

It's troubling when they find a false god to lead them. But even Adolf didn't last, or Jim Jones, or Joe McCarthy. They can wreak a lotta havoc though. Mao destroyed China, Pol Pot murdered two million people.Others have done worse.

And if'n y'didnt know, folks came to America to get away from that kinda shit. Quoting Santayana "history can be a bitch." Especially since "Scotty doesn't know." So...look at yerself and tell me "are you Scotty?" Or you got the balls to try & find out wot life's about? 

It's a free country...for now. Don't fuck it up, just cuz you can. The search & rescue folk at Howard AFB told me it was a foul rotting mess, removing all them bloated corpses from Jonestown.