December 6, 2001.Soon this call of perennial foolishness will begin echoing through the pages of political campaigning. “I am a businessman - I know how to meet deadlines and payrolls, turn a profit, and I will make this government run like a business! Just elect me!” What’s wrong with this, anyway? Well, it is similar to flying an airplane like a tractor, making a mirror bounce like a football, or frying your orange juice for breakfast. Business has profit for its sole guide. Its only responsibility is to “stockholders” who want to make money, and if they don’t get maximum profit, they will “leave” and go somewhere else. They are mobile and critical; they have brokers and advisors - they can pull everything out and leave and go somewhere else in one day. They owe no allegiance to any company and put down no roots there. They are not stuck with its leader for two years or four years or six years. If the CEO is stupid, and selfish, then it will be only his own company that he will have left to wreck, everybody else will be long gone. Also, business action has to go to where the money is. Food stamps and Social Security will always be money losers (even though they are almost completely pass-through providers to local merchants and business). Services are provided not according to need but to ability to pay. It may have been true that the “Business of America is Business” but the business of government is people.
And then – there's this dirty little secret that nobody ever talks about, but everybody knows.That is that the entire concept of "profit" is a fiction. "Profit" doesn't really exist, it's just an understanding that business will only cover SOME of the costs of running their business. What about the other costs of running a business? Who covers those? We know who does. It's the government. It HAS to step in when things get bad enough.
Thursday, December 06, 2001
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
9/11
September 11, 2001 “The World Trade Towers have been hit by an airplane.” I heard these words over National Public Radio and turned the volume down. I was thinking Cessna. A few minutes later the NPR radio was back to music, but shortly the announcer broke in to say “I really hate to interrupt this beautiful playing of Mozart, but we are transferring to NPR newsroom for the latest on the accident at the Twin Towers. A second aircraft has just hit the towers.”
That’s how the day of horror, which had dawned so nicely for me and many others too, now slowly began to reveal its capacity for catastrophe. The hijacks became known and then the the aircraft flying into the Pentagon. About 10:30 a.m., I turned off the TV and walked out on the deck. The world was as silent as it must have been on the first day of creation. No vehicles, no farm noise, no airplanes, nothing. Total silence.
But the TV wouldn’t stay off, and as the day churned on it became obvious that there was something missing: our national government. The governor and mayor of New York were there, visible and audible all day long, but our national governmental officials were on the run. Bush showed up briefly on a political trip at a school in Sarasota dressed in a brown suit and tan tie and reading a book about a goat before he vanished. Then he was in Louisiana for a quick videotape, now in a steel gray suit, blue shirt and red tie; then he was found in an underground bunker in Nebraska with leather jacket and light blue tie. Finally, we all saw him walk off his helicopter and stroll across the white house lawn, wearing a blue suit and dark blue tie, now, elbows sticking out in a swagger, looking suspiciously around like he sensed something was amiss. Next he did a 5.5 minute run across national TV, sandwiched in between expert testimony on most newscasts, now wearing a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and presidential-blue tie. I thought he looked totally lost. Cheney was conspicuous by being totally absent and absolutely silent. Rice was not there. Colin Powell was not there (later he showed up in Peru getting ready to come home). Runsfeld was talking war - or maybe not. Senator Orin Hatch was heard to say we should “get” Osauma bin Laden; Senator John McCain was heard to suggest maybe we might want to find out who did it first. Hastert and Daschel showed up for a brief session of about 8 minutes of video time with members of congress at 7:30 p.m. almost 12 hours after the attack began. Their video was shown as a tape delay between people who had more to say on most networks.
© John Womack, 2001. All Rights Reserved.
That’s how the day of horror, which had dawned so nicely for me and many others too, now slowly began to reveal its capacity for catastrophe. The hijacks became known and then the the aircraft flying into the Pentagon. About 10:30 a.m., I turned off the TV and walked out on the deck. The world was as silent as it must have been on the first day of creation. No vehicles, no farm noise, no airplanes, nothing. Total silence.
But the TV wouldn’t stay off, and as the day churned on it became obvious that there was something missing: our national government. The governor and mayor of New York were there, visible and audible all day long, but our national governmental officials were on the run. Bush showed up briefly on a political trip at a school in Sarasota dressed in a brown suit and tan tie and reading a book about a goat before he vanished. Then he was in Louisiana for a quick videotape, now in a steel gray suit, blue shirt and red tie; then he was found in an underground bunker in Nebraska with leather jacket and light blue tie. Finally, we all saw him walk off his helicopter and stroll across the white house lawn, wearing a blue suit and dark blue tie, now, elbows sticking out in a swagger, looking suspiciously around like he sensed something was amiss. Next he did a 5.5 minute run across national TV, sandwiched in between expert testimony on most newscasts, now wearing a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and presidential-blue tie. I thought he looked totally lost. Cheney was conspicuous by being totally absent and absolutely silent. Rice was not there. Colin Powell was not there (later he showed up in Peru getting ready to come home). Runsfeld was talking war - or maybe not. Senator Orin Hatch was heard to say we should “get” Osauma bin Laden; Senator John McCain was heard to suggest maybe we might want to find out who did it first. Hastert and Daschel showed up for a brief session of about 8 minutes of video time with members of congress at 7:30 p.m. almost 12 hours after the attack began. Their video was shown as a tape delay between people who had more to say on most networks.
© John Womack, 2001. All Rights Reserved.
9-11. The Day After
The other night after writing late, I stopped out on my deck to watch the stars go by. It was a quiet night and the faraway sounds slowly vanished and faded away. Then I heard the strangest sound. It was the sound of silence. A waning gibbous moon had climbed up through the white oaks and maples that surround our house and and was casting dark leafy shadows upon the moon-bright deck. I was reminded of the old nights, long ago, back when I was a kid and my home town, Vicksburg, would close down at 9 p.m. and silence would cover the city. Up here in the mountains that night, the silence came from the absence of man-made noises. There was still the sound of cicadas out in the dark trees, frogs were glumping away, and a cricket seemed to have a lot of questions. From out over a farmer's field came the cry of a nightbird, a killdeer; a sound normally heard on the prairies, but it seemed at home then under that moon. There came back old feelings of days so far away that people today do not believe them. My kids and grandchildren laugh when I tell them we had to "kill time" back then, or sit and think over the day, or enjoy the smell of the evening air. What a rare moment that late night was, last Sunday night. What I could not possibly know at that time was that two days later, I would walk out on that same deck at 10:30 on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, after turning off my TV set. Then, it was even quieter on that normally work-a-day morning. Total silence lay across the land. Outside of New York City and Washington, D.C. people sat speechless, almost not breathing in front of their TV and the world outside was deathly quiet.
The next morning I photographed a subdued city. It was a very special opportunity to make pictures of a town on such a day.
How many days have we seen take such a turn of history? Maybe four, in my lifetime, Pearl Harbor, JFK's death,the moon landing, and this. The pictures I framed up seemed to have an erie glow about them, like images made after a great battle. This was Franklin on the first day of the new world. Sugartown was closed, it had a big "open" sign on it but it was closed, an American flag with a big black bow at its top had been spread across the front. There were a lot of tourists in town. Everybody looked at each other, staring into each other's eyes with half parted lips, everybody seemed to want to say something but couldn't find any words. It was a sad, slow day with people moving around slowly and doing things mechanically. It seemed as if their souls and minds had gone off somewhere else and their bodies had been left in charge, and they didn't know what to do.
© John Womack, 2001. All Rights Reserved.
The next morning I photographed a subdued city. It was a very special opportunity to make pictures of a town on such a day.
How many days have we seen take such a turn of history? Maybe four, in my lifetime, Pearl Harbor, JFK's death,the moon landing, and this. The pictures I framed up seemed to have an erie glow about them, like images made after a great battle. This was Franklin on the first day of the new world. Sugartown was closed, it had a big "open" sign on it but it was closed, an American flag with a big black bow at its top had been spread across the front. There were a lot of tourists in town. Everybody looked at each other, staring into each other's eyes with half parted lips, everybody seemed to want to say something but couldn't find any words. It was a sad, slow day with people moving around slowly and doing things mechanically. It seemed as if their souls and minds had gone off somewhere else and their bodies had been left in charge, and they didn't know what to do.© John Womack, 2001. All Rights Reserved.
Darkness - After Bush's Speech
March 19, 2003.
War is a funny thing. It is always different from what you thought it would be. There is a fascination about it. It amazes. All that action, all that tumult, all that flash and dash. Dust and fire, boil and bubble; the doggie’s shelter turns to rubble.
“We will win, of course. We have to, don’t we.”
“Don’t we?”
“Why you say it’s like gambling?”
“Roll of the die? You mean dice.”
“Die?”
“There is no way we could lose. We are strong. We are united. We are free. We are right. We have good leaders. They are well prepared. They know what they are doing. The nation wants war. The world needs war. God is with us.”
Oh la lah, lah la laaaah; la-la-lah, oh la la lah. World is falling, falling far, spinning fast and slipping deep.
“I know what we should do! Follow me and we’ll leave orbit. The sun has caused us all our problems. We don’t need it any more - we can make our own fire now. Every thing will be all right. Trust in God and follow me. We’ll go safely through the fire.”
Fire of our fathers, burning bright, our leaders will take us through the night; “ . . . grant us entrance to the land of light, and to the fellowship of all thy saints. . . amen.”
Glory is in the political realm. Inhabited by shadows like John Wayne who only saw war on a movie set. But he saw far more glory than those who fought. He did. He make his livin’ offa glory. He glory man.
People love Glory. You beat the drum, they shout and stomp - That’s what glory’s all about. Wave that flag, man!
“There is another aircraft that just struck the south tower “ That’s glory for somebody. There will have to be a response. There will be lots of glory to go around. Maybe even WE will get some of that glory.
Old men will look sober for the first time in years. They’ll appear to wipe away a tear. They send our boys off to war. They really wiped away another world.
Problems don’t need solving anymore. They’ll just go away. We’ll forget all about them but soon enough, we’ll wish we had them back.
“I thought presidents were not kings. “
“Oh, but weak presidents are like kings - they use emotion”
“How can emotion sway men’s minds?”
“Because we think we have to hate.”
“Why do we think we have to hate?”
“Well, it’s a long story . . . but we really do have to hate - don’t ask so many questions - we don’t have the time!’
I am the coolest, am I not?
I got my own domain name!
“Five . . . four . . . three ...”
“Stop!”
“Stop?”
“We don’t have time to count . . . they has got to be consequenches . . .Hit them NOW!”
“Who? Hit who?”
“Fly on, darkened angels, fly on into the war - ignore the curse of vengeful gods, just fly into the fire.”
“Let’s build a plan, confer with our allies . . .”
“Every nation on the earth must join up on our side; and those that don’t will also die, and burn in the blaze.”
“Weren’t there great principles that our nation was built upon?”
“And that’s why we are going to war!”
“Yes, wasn’t there supposed to be some miracle about democratic discourse.”
“Hush! The time is too short for talk - NOW is the time for Action!”
“Isn’t there something wrong with any nation which permits one man to make a snap decision committing all its people to fall in follow blindly?”
“Not if we are really MAD! MAD! MAD! FOLLOW ME - I AM MAD!”
© John Womack, 2001. All Rights Reserved.
War is a funny thing. It is always different from what you thought it would be. There is a fascination about it. It amazes. All that action, all that tumult, all that flash and dash. Dust and fire, boil and bubble; the doggie’s shelter turns to rubble.
“We will win, of course. We have to, don’t we.”
“Don’t we?”
“Why you say it’s like gambling?”
“Roll of the die? You mean dice.”
“Die?”
“There is no way we could lose. We are strong. We are united. We are free. We are right. We have good leaders. They are well prepared. They know what they are doing. The nation wants war. The world needs war. God is with us.”
Oh la lah, lah la laaaah; la-la-lah, oh la la lah. World is falling, falling far, spinning fast and slipping deep.
“I know what we should do! Follow me and we’ll leave orbit. The sun has caused us all our problems. We don’t need it any more - we can make our own fire now. Every thing will be all right. Trust in God and follow me. We’ll go safely through the fire.”
Fire of our fathers, burning bright, our leaders will take us through the night; “ . . . grant us entrance to the land of light, and to the fellowship of all thy saints. . . amen.”
Glory is in the political realm. Inhabited by shadows like John Wayne who only saw war on a movie set. But he saw far more glory than those who fought. He did. He make his livin’ offa glory. He glory man.
People love Glory. You beat the drum, they shout and stomp - That’s what glory’s all about. Wave that flag, man!
“There is another aircraft that just struck the south tower “ That’s glory for somebody. There will have to be a response. There will be lots of glory to go around. Maybe even WE will get some of that glory.
Old men will look sober for the first time in years. They’ll appear to wipe away a tear. They send our boys off to war. They really wiped away another world.
Problems don’t need solving anymore. They’ll just go away. We’ll forget all about them but soon enough, we’ll wish we had them back.
“I thought presidents were not kings. “
“Oh, but weak presidents are like kings - they use emotion”
“How can emotion sway men’s minds?”
“Because we think we have to hate.”
“Why do we think we have to hate?”
“Well, it’s a long story . . . but we really do have to hate - don’t ask so many questions - we don’t have the time!’
I am the coolest, am I not?
I got my own domain name!
“Five . . . four . . . three ...”
“Stop!”
“Stop?”
“We don’t have time to count . . . they has got to be consequenches . . .Hit them NOW!”
“Who? Hit who?”
“Fly on, darkened angels, fly on into the war - ignore the curse of vengeful gods, just fly into the fire.”
“Let’s build a plan, confer with our allies . . .”
“Every nation on the earth must join up on our side; and those that don’t will also die, and burn in the blaze.”
“Weren’t there great principles that our nation was built upon?”
“And that’s why we are going to war!”
“Yes, wasn’t there supposed to be some miracle about democratic discourse.”
“Hush! The time is too short for talk - NOW is the time for Action!”
“Isn’t there something wrong with any nation which permits one man to make a snap decision committing all its people to fall in follow blindly?”
“Not if we are really MAD! MAD! MAD! FOLLOW ME - I AM MAD!”
© John Womack, 2001. All Rights Reserved.
Sardonic Mass
October 11, 2001.
The mythical inscription at Delphi told us we should each strive to know ourselves; military men tell us that if we would fight we must know our enemy. It seems likely that in this First War of the Twenty-First Century we know neither ourselves nor our enemy.
Why anyone might not love us (we Americans) is hard for us (we Americans) to understand. We are generous. We try to help all other people, we offer them our technology and are willing to share our modern economy with them. We even understand that they might find our suave techniques hard to understand and might not be able to use them properly at first. That anyone might resent such help is cause for amusement, then impatience; after that we typically show disdain, instruction, testing and eventually, consequences. All of this is, we say, for their own good.
We cannot fathom that America has evolved together with the Industrial Revolution and that we now function as priests and congregation serving a great economy that drives its former masters. We are part of an Economy that must expand forever, and it requires that we offer to it the devotion and personal sacrifices that are common with many other religions.
Should this economy fail to grow for even one quarter, we have a national catastrophe on our hands; should it fail to grow for two consecutive quarters, it becomes worse - that is called a Recession. War is preferable to recession (for us). Now, we would deny this statement of course, but the actions we would take, and do take, in "American National Interests" often lead us into confrontational stances with other countries and especially the environment, usually somebody else's environment.
The real measure of American economic expansion is not productivity, as is often cited, but purchasing. Almost 70% of the economic strength of our economy is determined by individual spending. What is actually purchased by those individuals is basically immaterial, the significant factor being only the exchange of money. Therefore, our economy is not only an ever-expanding entity, but one which becomes more and more dependent upon items which can be quickly and easily produced. Speed of production and quick turnover of purchased items become important. Quality, maintainability and permanence hinder such an economy. Pleasure, titillation, novelty, sexual activity and violence become desirable factors, while traditional family, tribal and moral values less so. Eventually those two forces must clash.
That is who we are.
That is also our enemy.
As we ended the 20th Century, our economy had become bloated. Its expansion continued only by massive advertisements, both direct and hidden, and marketing had permeated all aspects of our national life. Today, the market economy has become a Marketing Economy and we are probed and twisted to buy at deeper and deeper levels of our being. But now, as even that has run its course, the economy can continue to increase only by expanding into other countries - hence the Global Economy.
Never mind that some people in those countries see this as a flashing, dancing, sardonic black mass which seduces their children and threatens their national stability, security and moral values. Never mind that some see this expanding economy now washing into their homes as a form of Economic Imperialism, or Economic Terrorism.
This becomes cause, on our part, for that amusement, impatience, disdain, instruction, testing and consequences already spoken of but now quickened because our economy is in trouble. Now it becomes an enterprise undertaken with zeal and enthusiasm.
In short, perhaps President Bush really did not misspeak when he called this war a Crusade.
©John Womack, 2001
The mythical inscription at Delphi told us we should each strive to know ourselves; military men tell us that if we would fight we must know our enemy. It seems likely that in this First War of the Twenty-First Century we know neither ourselves nor our enemy.
Why anyone might not love us (we Americans) is hard for us (we Americans) to understand. We are generous. We try to help all other people, we offer them our technology and are willing to share our modern economy with them. We even understand that they might find our suave techniques hard to understand and might not be able to use them properly at first. That anyone might resent such help is cause for amusement, then impatience; after that we typically show disdain, instruction, testing and eventually, consequences. All of this is, we say, for their own good.
We cannot fathom that America has evolved together with the Industrial Revolution and that we now function as priests and congregation serving a great economy that drives its former masters. We are part of an Economy that must expand forever, and it requires that we offer to it the devotion and personal sacrifices that are common with many other religions.
Should this economy fail to grow for even one quarter, we have a national catastrophe on our hands; should it fail to grow for two consecutive quarters, it becomes worse - that is called a Recession. War is preferable to recession (for us). Now, we would deny this statement of course, but the actions we would take, and do take, in "American National Interests" often lead us into confrontational stances with other countries and especially the environment, usually somebody else's environment.
The real measure of American economic expansion is not productivity, as is often cited, but purchasing. Almost 70% of the economic strength of our economy is determined by individual spending. What is actually purchased by those individuals is basically immaterial, the significant factor being only the exchange of money. Therefore, our economy is not only an ever-expanding entity, but one which becomes more and more dependent upon items which can be quickly and easily produced. Speed of production and quick turnover of purchased items become important. Quality, maintainability and permanence hinder such an economy. Pleasure, titillation, novelty, sexual activity and violence become desirable factors, while traditional family, tribal and moral values less so. Eventually those two forces must clash.
That is who we are.
That is also our enemy.
As we ended the 20th Century, our economy had become bloated. Its expansion continued only by massive advertisements, both direct and hidden, and marketing had permeated all aspects of our national life. Today, the market economy has become a Marketing Economy and we are probed and twisted to buy at deeper and deeper levels of our being. But now, as even that has run its course, the economy can continue to increase only by expanding into other countries - hence the Global Economy.
Never mind that some people in those countries see this as a flashing, dancing, sardonic black mass which seduces their children and threatens their national stability, security and moral values. Never mind that some see this expanding economy now washing into their homes as a form of Economic Imperialism, or Economic Terrorism.
This becomes cause, on our part, for that amusement, impatience, disdain, instruction, testing and consequences already spoken of but now quickened because our economy is in trouble. Now it becomes an enterprise undertaken with zeal and enthusiasm.
In short, perhaps President Bush really did not misspeak when he called this war a Crusade.
©John Womack, 2001
The Garden of Evil
October 29, 2001.
To forget is human; to remember, expedient. Already we have forgotten that the sun set September 10, 2001, on a nation wallowing in problems.
Airlines, communications, newspapers, TV stations, cable companies, electric companies, all were falling into disarray and unable to provide reliable service, sliding deeply in debt, and raising prices quickly. Blackouts and brownouts appeared ready to race across the nation. Stock markets were roiling and bucking, ready for a big fall, but churning huge profits for those with insider information. New cars were rolling over when their new tires blew out, back windows were falling off of new SUV's as they drove along the nation’s byways. Handguns prohibited in NYC and DC, but easily bought elsewhere and importable everywhere led to a happy headline that only 32,436 Americans had been killed by guns in 1997 - good news, because that figure was down from previous years.
We had been attacked by international terrorists on several occasions, and were foundering in the wake of profiteering generated by international crime organizations and international drug traffickers, those trafficking in both illegal and legal drugs.
We were disentangling from the rest of the world, tossing aside a nuclear test ban treaty, refusing to go along with a UN plan to limit small arms, saying that people have a right to defend themselves no matter where they live - never mind that we are the largest producer and seller of small weapons by a "long shot".
Initial attempts to curtail global pollution and green house gasses were rejected out of hand by us as being a threat to the continuing growth of the American economy.
Palestine had been told to make its peace with Israel or face consequences. We were bombing in Iraq. And we were invulnerable.
The American people were busy. Running. Running. Racing. Sprinting. Working with a vengeance. I watched the Atlanta Braves play baseball on the Turner Broadcasting System. Between innings, I watched in astonishment as buildings exploded, guns fired on fully automatic mode, cars crashed, people hit each other, kicked each other, stabbed each other, shoved each other, shot each other; more explosions, crashes, people fell from tall buildings, fire and flame, more explosions then suddenly there was baseball again, after the commercial advertisements for "coming events" (how mystically prescient!) had shown up to 85 flashes of violence in 60 seconds. Baseball was back, smiling as if nothing had happened. It seemed as if we were worshiping at the altar of the Great God of Violence. But we were also working, and also worrying. Hurrying. Running. Running. Running. Making money money money. "If the money wasn't this good, it wouldn't be worth it!"
Then it happened. The running stopped. The gods we had been praying to had granted our prayers. That dream of violence and evil we had held so close to our heart for so long had materialized into action. We watched on TV news as explosions occurred, crashes took place, and people fell from tall buildings into fire and flame,
Abraham Maslow said: "If the only tool you know how to use is a hammer, pretty soon all your problems will begin to look like nails." Maybe he was right. We took our hammer to Afghanistan, and went to work. Talliban - Bam! Kabul - Bam! Kandahar - Bam! Pakistan - Bam! ABM treaty - Bam! The UN - Bam! International Courts of Justice - Bam! The Environment - Bam-bam! No longer the World's Policeman, now the vengeful JUDGE of the World, Executioner of the World and God of the World. You are with us OR against us - Bam! you are either good OR evil - we will decide - Bam! You will do things our way or get out of our way OR we will kill you - Bam-Bam-Bam!
How did we elect such a poorly prepared executive administration? Back in the beginning of the campaign, no one wanted Bush at first, including Bush himself. No one wanted Gore either, except Gore himself. The two political organizations that have hijacked the American government chose draft horses for their special interests and selected these men to run for reasons totally unrelated to their preparation for the job or personal integrity.
The campaign was a farce. Only Bush and Gore were permitted to debate; Great Money solved other campaign issues. Bush campaigned on the sole issue that he was not Al Gore; this was so successful, that Gore also ran on the issue that he too was not Al Gore. Even though Al Gore got most of the votes, the final fiasco was saved for the vote counting. It turns out that American votes don't always count, especially if they could make a difference in the outcome. Hallway Hooligans in Miami bought time for the Supreme Court so that a judge appointed by Bush's father could seal the deal.
The current administration is one built expressly for war. The only exception is Colin Powell who is the only one of the group who has ever been in a war. So it will be a war conducted in a business-like manner using management principles, like the War in Vietnam was done.
The man now in charge of powerful new police powers, Ashcroft, is so fundamentalist Christian that he anointed himself (by his own admission) with Crisco (other oil being not available - one can’t help but wonder where were the feathers?)
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld keeps mumbling about nuclear weapons, seems he’s seeking and searching for ways to use nuclear weapons against the Talliban or Saddam or somebody, while Vice President Halliburton, is one of the major purveyors of "private police forces" (terribly handy in future airport security, eh wot?) , and nuclear energy. Guess where we're going, gang?
Anthrax has come into the postal system. From where? Who did it? We don’t have a clue. But we see this administration telling postal workers not to worry while all the President's men and women are taking the magic pill themselves. We see incredible giveaways of not only future and present, but even PAST tax revenue to corporations, all of whom provided the Great Money for the campaign just past! The social security lockbox? It went on the first bomb run - it now lies somewhere in Afghanistan.
When asked if America was "running our of targets", Rumsfeld laughed, and said "Afghanistan is running out of targets!" Within the week we were bombing villages, produce stands, old folks homes and International Red Cross warehouses (same one twice - what went wrong? 1) We are terribly inept, or 2) we don't give a damn, or 3) we really wanted those Red Cross warehouses to come down, or 4)? ).
Now the toll of clearly innocent people both dead and injured appears to be rising quickly. The terrorists may have hit the World Trade Towers, and those buildings may have been what we all saw fall - but what seems to have been really exposed is that the American government now appears to be exactly what the terrorists were saying it was: A corporate sickness of arrogance that is addicted to money and power and that will destroy and kill anything that stands in its way to economic imperialism. Of course, we Americans know this is not true. . . you know, though, I still can't contact my president, representative or senators. That seems strange for a democratic republic. When they do answer my emails, they thank me for supporting them (guess I'm part of the 91%); most of the responses are from robots are from robots are from robots are from are from robots are from robots are from ro. . .
When you are trying to solve problems you must find the unseen forces that work behind the scenes to produce them. I am not a therapist, but I do know a good deal about both war and management analysis. When a company has problems, it does no good to treat its symptoms, although its leaders will pay you well to do so. It shows others that they care. It does little better to try to solve their problems either, because problems are never where the action is - problems are always "understandable"; there are always "good reasons" for problems. In management analysis , "problems" relate to "causes of those problems" as Jung might say as Persona is related to Self. If you want to find the Cause of an organization's problems, and work on that, that's when you get fired, because the Cause of the Problem is always too close to the corporate heart to let anyone find it, it is always embarrassing and at the same time it is too precious to give up. Real causes have to be either "unknown" to management or very well hidden. To correct the Cause means everything will have to be different!
In America's present case, attachment to violence is obviously one of the primary problems. Now, do we want to try to see what "causes" us to be so violent? Causes always come from deep and very Fundamental beliefs that usually lie below our conscious horizon, and they could be as close to us as our own vision of God.
Why God? The clue here is the word so often repeated by members of the administration: the word "Evil" seems to be the banner going on before. With the blessings of "Evil", Occam's razor can slice through subtleties of diplomatic action and international cooperation. “They” (the other guys) now become defined as Evil; therefore we, who are “not They”, cannot be Evil. It is a core belief of all desert religions that God is never Evil; therefore, God must be “Good”. Since we are “not Evil”, therefore, in fundamentalist logic, we must be”Good”. Our mission then becomes God’s mission; it is clearly to accomplish God's will. How would God treat Evil? Is our God vengeful? (then so are we) Is "He" a God of hatred and fear? (then so are we) Does our God draw lines in the sand? (then so do we) Does "He" require eyes for eyes and teeth for teeth? (then so do we) Is "He" one who requires we worship "Him" for our own salvation? (then so do we) Do we have original sin because we were created in "His" own image? (hmmm. . . now that's really an interesting problem.) But . . . think for a moment about how deeply our religious institutions, Christian, Jewish and Moslem seem to be contained and constrained within the lower three chakras, rising over thousands of years just to reach the third level, the level of Law and Power.
Perhaps the only hope for humanity is to transcend the apparent barrier above the third chakra and to rise into the fourth. "Not to abolish the Law but fulfill it." Who can show us the way to do this? There are many who already have: Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Martin Buber, Thomas Merton, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Martin Luther King, Jr , Thich Nhat Hahn, - This is only a beginning of a lengthy list - add your own candidates - and when you are through, add your own name to it too!
How do you reach the fourth chakra? The only way we know of is through love. What is love? Warm and fuzzy hugs and kisses? Maybe it is more like respect and honor, a sacred form of understanding that the great holy scriptures are written within each one of us, including you and me, including our family, including our tribe and nations, and including those other guys, all of them.
Evil, clearly, is not God's problem. It is our problem, and as a human condition it requires that we work together to deal with it. Cats create cats, dogs create dogs; Evil creates Evil. The Garden of Evil is anyplace where Victims grow. Who could plant and prune those twisted awful plants of hate? Who could do such evil work and with such keen and loving care? Is this the Devil hard at work? Or is it done by Victims, just like we ourselves? Oh, Mary, Mary, let’s be contrary . . . let’s plant the garden WE want to grow.
©John Womack, 2001
To forget is human; to remember, expedient. Already we have forgotten that the sun set September 10, 2001, on a nation wallowing in problems.
Airlines, communications, newspapers, TV stations, cable companies, electric companies, all were falling into disarray and unable to provide reliable service, sliding deeply in debt, and raising prices quickly. Blackouts and brownouts appeared ready to race across the nation. Stock markets were roiling and bucking, ready for a big fall, but churning huge profits for those with insider information. New cars were rolling over when their new tires blew out, back windows were falling off of new SUV's as they drove along the nation’s byways. Handguns prohibited in NYC and DC, but easily bought elsewhere and importable everywhere led to a happy headline that only 32,436 Americans had been killed by guns in 1997 - good news, because that figure was down from previous years.
We had been attacked by international terrorists on several occasions, and were foundering in the wake of profiteering generated by international crime organizations and international drug traffickers, those trafficking in both illegal and legal drugs.
We were disentangling from the rest of the world, tossing aside a nuclear test ban treaty, refusing to go along with a UN plan to limit small arms, saying that people have a right to defend themselves no matter where they live - never mind that we are the largest producer and seller of small weapons by a "long shot".
Initial attempts to curtail global pollution and green house gasses were rejected out of hand by us as being a threat to the continuing growth of the American economy.
Palestine had been told to make its peace with Israel or face consequences. We were bombing in Iraq. And we were invulnerable.
The American people were busy. Running. Running. Racing. Sprinting. Working with a vengeance. I watched the Atlanta Braves play baseball on the Turner Broadcasting System. Between innings, I watched in astonishment as buildings exploded, guns fired on fully automatic mode, cars crashed, people hit each other, kicked each other, stabbed each other, shoved each other, shot each other; more explosions, crashes, people fell from tall buildings, fire and flame, more explosions then suddenly there was baseball again, after the commercial advertisements for "coming events" (how mystically prescient!) had shown up to 85 flashes of violence in 60 seconds. Baseball was back, smiling as if nothing had happened. It seemed as if we were worshiping at the altar of the Great God of Violence. But we were also working, and also worrying. Hurrying. Running. Running. Running. Making money money money. "If the money wasn't this good, it wouldn't be worth it!"
Then it happened. The running stopped. The gods we had been praying to had granted our prayers. That dream of violence and evil we had held so close to our heart for so long had materialized into action. We watched on TV news as explosions occurred, crashes took place, and people fell from tall buildings into fire and flame,
Abraham Maslow said: "If the only tool you know how to use is a hammer, pretty soon all your problems will begin to look like nails." Maybe he was right. We took our hammer to Afghanistan, and went to work. Talliban - Bam! Kabul - Bam! Kandahar - Bam! Pakistan - Bam! ABM treaty - Bam! The UN - Bam! International Courts of Justice - Bam! The Environment - Bam-bam! No longer the World's Policeman, now the vengeful JUDGE of the World, Executioner of the World and God of the World. You are with us OR against us - Bam! you are either good OR evil - we will decide - Bam! You will do things our way or get out of our way OR we will kill you - Bam-Bam-Bam!
How did we elect such a poorly prepared executive administration? Back in the beginning of the campaign, no one wanted Bush at first, including Bush himself. No one wanted Gore either, except Gore himself. The two political organizations that have hijacked the American government chose draft horses for their special interests and selected these men to run for reasons totally unrelated to their preparation for the job or personal integrity.
The campaign was a farce. Only Bush and Gore were permitted to debate; Great Money solved other campaign issues. Bush campaigned on the sole issue that he was not Al Gore; this was so successful, that Gore also ran on the issue that he too was not Al Gore. Even though Al Gore got most of the votes, the final fiasco was saved for the vote counting. It turns out that American votes don't always count, especially if they could make a difference in the outcome. Hallway Hooligans in Miami bought time for the Supreme Court so that a judge appointed by Bush's father could seal the deal.
The current administration is one built expressly for war. The only exception is Colin Powell who is the only one of the group who has ever been in a war. So it will be a war conducted in a business-like manner using management principles, like the War in Vietnam was done.
The man now in charge of powerful new police powers, Ashcroft, is so fundamentalist Christian that he anointed himself (by his own admission) with Crisco (other oil being not available - one can’t help but wonder where were the feathers?)
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld keeps mumbling about nuclear weapons, seems he’s seeking and searching for ways to use nuclear weapons against the Talliban or Saddam or somebody, while Vice President Halliburton, is one of the major purveyors of "private police forces" (terribly handy in future airport security, eh wot?) , and nuclear energy. Guess where we're going, gang?
Anthrax has come into the postal system. From where? Who did it? We don’t have a clue. But we see this administration telling postal workers not to worry while all the President's men and women are taking the magic pill themselves. We see incredible giveaways of not only future and present, but even PAST tax revenue to corporations, all of whom provided the Great Money for the campaign just past! The social security lockbox? It went on the first bomb run - it now lies somewhere in Afghanistan.
When asked if America was "running our of targets", Rumsfeld laughed, and said "Afghanistan is running out of targets!" Within the week we were bombing villages, produce stands, old folks homes and International Red Cross warehouses (same one twice - what went wrong? 1) We are terribly inept, or 2) we don't give a damn, or 3) we really wanted those Red Cross warehouses to come down, or 4)? ).
Now the toll of clearly innocent people both dead and injured appears to be rising quickly. The terrorists may have hit the World Trade Towers, and those buildings may have been what we all saw fall - but what seems to have been really exposed is that the American government now appears to be exactly what the terrorists were saying it was: A corporate sickness of arrogance that is addicted to money and power and that will destroy and kill anything that stands in its way to economic imperialism. Of course, we Americans know this is not true. . . you know, though, I still can't contact my president, representative or senators. That seems strange for a democratic republic. When they do answer my emails, they thank me for supporting them (guess I'm part of the 91%); most of the responses are from robots are from robots are from robots are from are from robots are from robots are from ro. . .
When you are trying to solve problems you must find the unseen forces that work behind the scenes to produce them. I am not a therapist, but I do know a good deal about both war and management analysis. When a company has problems, it does no good to treat its symptoms, although its leaders will pay you well to do so. It shows others that they care. It does little better to try to solve their problems either, because problems are never where the action is - problems are always "understandable"; there are always "good reasons" for problems. In management analysis , "problems" relate to "causes of those problems" as Jung might say as Persona is related to Self. If you want to find the Cause of an organization's problems, and work on that, that's when you get fired, because the Cause of the Problem is always too close to the corporate heart to let anyone find it, it is always embarrassing and at the same time it is too precious to give up. Real causes have to be either "unknown" to management or very well hidden. To correct the Cause means everything will have to be different!
In America's present case, attachment to violence is obviously one of the primary problems. Now, do we want to try to see what "causes" us to be so violent? Causes always come from deep and very Fundamental beliefs that usually lie below our conscious horizon, and they could be as close to us as our own vision of God.
Why God? The clue here is the word so often repeated by members of the administration: the word "Evil" seems to be the banner going on before. With the blessings of "Evil", Occam's razor can slice through subtleties of diplomatic action and international cooperation. “They” (the other guys) now become defined as Evil; therefore we, who are “not They”, cannot be Evil. It is a core belief of all desert religions that God is never Evil; therefore, God must be “Good”. Since we are “not Evil”, therefore, in fundamentalist logic, we must be”Good”. Our mission then becomes God’s mission; it is clearly to accomplish God's will. How would God treat Evil? Is our God vengeful? (then so are we) Is "He" a God of hatred and fear? (then so are we) Does our God draw lines in the sand? (then so do we) Does "He" require eyes for eyes and teeth for teeth? (then so do we) Is "He" one who requires we worship "Him" for our own salvation? (then so do we) Do we have original sin because we were created in "His" own image? (hmmm. . . now that's really an interesting problem.) But . . . think for a moment about how deeply our religious institutions, Christian, Jewish and Moslem seem to be contained and constrained within the lower three chakras, rising over thousands of years just to reach the third level, the level of Law and Power.
Perhaps the only hope for humanity is to transcend the apparent barrier above the third chakra and to rise into the fourth. "Not to abolish the Law but fulfill it." Who can show us the way to do this? There are many who already have: Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Martin Buber, Thomas Merton, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Martin Luther King, Jr , Thich Nhat Hahn, - This is only a beginning of a lengthy list - add your own candidates - and when you are through, add your own name to it too!
How do you reach the fourth chakra? The only way we know of is through love. What is love? Warm and fuzzy hugs and kisses? Maybe it is more like respect and honor, a sacred form of understanding that the great holy scriptures are written within each one of us, including you and me, including our family, including our tribe and nations, and including those other guys, all of them.
Evil, clearly, is not God's problem. It is our problem, and as a human condition it requires that we work together to deal with it. Cats create cats, dogs create dogs; Evil creates Evil. The Garden of Evil is anyplace where Victims grow. Who could plant and prune those twisted awful plants of hate? Who could do such evil work and with such keen and loving care? Is this the Devil hard at work? Or is it done by Victims, just like we ourselves? Oh, Mary, Mary, let’s be contrary . . . let’s plant the garden WE want to grow.
©John Womack, 2001
Sacred Evil
March 21, 2003, 0100 GMT - the moment of the Vernal Equinox.
War is such a sacred evil,
with fascination and obsession.
Fatal attraction for dreamy boys,
hidden genius of rich old men.
An altar for the common person
to approach and lay their children down
Jesus-like, the sweetest gift.
“Go out and die”, a mother whispers
into that ear she knows so well.
Most who go forth will come back,
but they’ll all return
a little dead.
And now people gather as if to pray,
mentally kneeling before their screen.
“This Just In!” like a word from God,
Listen! - “Bang! Bang!”
Sirens scream - shots ring out - screen goes black!
“And now!
- a word from our sponsor.”
© John Womack, 2006, All Rights Reserved.
War is such a sacred evil,
with fascination and obsession.
Fatal attraction for dreamy boys,
hidden genius of rich old men.
An altar for the common person
to approach and lay their children down
Jesus-like, the sweetest gift.
“Go out and die”, a mother whispers
into that ear she knows so well.
Most who go forth will come back,
but they’ll all return
a little dead.
And now people gather as if to pray,
mentally kneeling before their screen.
“This Just In!” like a word from God,
Listen! - “Bang! Bang!”
Sirens scream - shots ring out - screen goes black!
“And now!
- a word from our sponsor.”
© John Womack, 2006, All Rights Reserved.
Why Saddam Doesn't Need a Fair Trial.
First of all, he isn't going to get one anyway, so this is all moot. But he really is the only person on the planet who does not need a fair trial. That's not so much because we already know he is guilty, but because it could confuse things real bad. He doesn't really need to have to sit and watch as grim survivors, or relatives, or friends of victims come and stand just a few meters before his face and recite in stark and bloody detail some of those things that happened at his beck and call. They may need to come and let the rest of the world know what he did and how badly that hurt them but he doesn’t need that. Other would-be Saddams might profit from seeing a fair trial take place like this, but Saddam doesn’t need it.
Other nations don’t need for Saddam to go on a real trial either. That could be embarrassing to some of them. What about other Arab nations? Think of them. They don’t want to have Saddam implicate them in anything messy. Israel probably won’t care, but Britain might just as soon see Saddam’s lips sealed forever. Russia might have more than a few concerns.
What we can do is to charge him with a “small” crime, and convict him of that and then go and kill him. That way we won’t have to get into “confusing issues”. Like – was it true that he ever did have WMD? Did he REALLY have chemical and bio-warfare weapons? Hmmm, wonder where did he get the chemicals and his starter kits? Did he REALLY buy them from American chemical, fertilizer or pesticide companies? Did Don Rumsfeld REALLY help him with this? Did he REALLY have communications with Dick Cheney, back then? Did he have REALLY help from the Bush family?
Obviously we can’t let Saddam have a chance to present evidence too. That's why we all know intuitively that he will never get the fair trial that really is rightfully OURS. We can only stand just so much Shock And Awe.
Other nations don’t need for Saddam to go on a real trial either. That could be embarrassing to some of them. What about other Arab nations? Think of them. They don’t want to have Saddam implicate them in anything messy. Israel probably won’t care, but Britain might just as soon see Saddam’s lips sealed forever. Russia might have more than a few concerns.
What we can do is to charge him with a “small” crime, and convict him of that and then go and kill him. That way we won’t have to get into “confusing issues”. Like – was it true that he ever did have WMD? Did he REALLY have chemical and bio-warfare weapons? Hmmm, wonder where did he get the chemicals and his starter kits? Did he REALLY buy them from American chemical, fertilizer or pesticide companies? Did Don Rumsfeld REALLY help him with this? Did he REALLY have communications with Dick Cheney, back then? Did he have REALLY help from the Bush family?
Obviously we can’t let Saddam have a chance to present evidence too. That's why we all know intuitively that he will never get the fair trial that really is rightfully OURS. We can only stand just so much Shock And Awe.
Saddam is gone
Gone through the hangman’s hole - Koran in hand.
Tightly clutched until the jolt,
when Allah’s word came down to earth.
Saddam’s trial was one of the great farces of history. Even though real courts such as the one in the Hague and the International Criminal Court were already established and were in place and ready to do their work, Saddam was tried in an ad hoc Iraqi circus. It was a deadly circus to be sure, with several of his lawyers or members of their families killed, and others who felt forced to quit the case for their own personal safety. Even the judges took turns coming and going, at least one being replaced because he was considered “too easy” on Saddam. Some witnesses testifed against Saddam with their faces hidden, their voices scrambled and their identities unknown and withheld.
Saddam was tried and convicted of killing 148 Iraqis in war. That was the official reason for his death in an early morning hootenanny. And he was hanged in an west Texas "necktie" party on the most sacred day in Islam, Eid al-Adha, the day of Holy Sacrifice which commemorates the day Abraham killed his son, Ishmael, to honor Abraham's god.
What about all those other unspeakable sins he was alleged to have committed? Well, people will continue to talk about those but History will eventually have to reflect that there were no allegations introduced, testimony taken, or evidence tested and proven about any of those, and all that will begin to mingle, throughout the millenia, with other grudges, complaints and hearsay comments about him, slowly assuming their place as part of a web of unproven and untested folklore about a great martyr.
Saddam was going to be killed - there was no doubt about that from the beginning. So in that sense, the outcome of his trial really meant very little to him. The real loser in all this was us, the people of the world and civilization itself. Saddam’s trial - the one he didn't get - was not really for him. It was for us - all of us. It is in our great interest that all killings of civilians by government leaders, and all acts of genocide and those who initiate such actions be investigated and those responsible be brought to justice - and again, their being brought to justice is not for their punishment but for our ability to endure as a civilization.
©John Womack, 2006. All rights reserved.
Tightly clutched until the jolt,
when Allah’s word came down to earth.
Saddam’s trial was one of the great farces of history. Even though real courts such as the one in the Hague and the International Criminal Court were already established and were in place and ready to do their work, Saddam was tried in an ad hoc Iraqi circus. It was a deadly circus to be sure, with several of his lawyers or members of their families killed, and others who felt forced to quit the case for their own personal safety. Even the judges took turns coming and going, at least one being replaced because he was considered “too easy” on Saddam. Some witnesses testifed against Saddam with their faces hidden, their voices scrambled and their identities unknown and withheld.
Saddam was tried and convicted of killing 148 Iraqis in war. That was the official reason for his death in an early morning hootenanny. And he was hanged in an west Texas "necktie" party on the most sacred day in Islam, Eid al-Adha, the day of Holy Sacrifice which commemorates the day Abraham killed his son, Ishmael, to honor Abraham's god.
What about all those other unspeakable sins he was alleged to have committed? Well, people will continue to talk about those but History will eventually have to reflect that there were no allegations introduced, testimony taken, or evidence tested and proven about any of those, and all that will begin to mingle, throughout the millenia, with other grudges, complaints and hearsay comments about him, slowly assuming their place as part of a web of unproven and untested folklore about a great martyr.
Saddam was going to be killed - there was no doubt about that from the beginning. So in that sense, the outcome of his trial really meant very little to him. The real loser in all this was us, the people of the world and civilization itself. Saddam’s trial - the one he didn't get - was not really for him. It was for us - all of us. It is in our great interest that all killings of civilians by government leaders, and all acts of genocide and those who initiate such actions be investigated and those responsible be brought to justice - and again, their being brought to justice is not for their punishment but for our ability to endure as a civilization.
©John Womack, 2006. All rights reserved.
The Unasked Question.
The hijackers who struck the United States on September 11, 2001, have been studied like few people in history.
Government officials in many nations have reviewed the activities of these individuals prior to the attack. Some of these studies reach back several years.
Media personnel have combed through the histories of these men, and we now know an enormous amount of information about the attack down to the most minor detail.
Except for one extremely major point. There one question we have not asked.
We know WHO these people were. We even have interviews with some of their relatives and they tell us who they really were. Reporters have talked with their teachers, even their close family members. We know who they were like we have known few people from their country ever before.
We know WHERE they came from. We know where they went to school – and they were mostly very well educated – and we know where they lived and we know where they went on their journey from their homes and places of business to the training schools, and where they went to enter the United States just prior to their attack.
We know WHEN they decided to become martyrs. We know when they went to their killing schools, and when they joined their organizations and when they came to America.
We certainly know HOW they did their awful tasks. We know how they trained and how they studied and prepared for the attack. We know how they commandeered the aircraft and how they flew them into the buildings.
We know WHAT they did. We know this in excruciatingly reconstructed detail. We know what happened to the attackers and what happened to the aircraft passengers and what happened to the people in the buildings and what happened to the survivors and what happened to their families.
So this all fits well into the American way of thinking and analysis. We love to measure and to detail and reconstruct. These are all wonderful questions and their answers are such that they seem designed for a TV screen or a movie production.
There is only one question remaining. And that is the question we have not asked, and nobody in America knows its answer although most of the people in the rest of the world do know. We haven't asked the question because we wouldn’t understand its answer – and we wouldn't understand it because we don’t care about how they felt.
That question we did not ask, have not asked, and probably never will ask, is why? Why did they do it?
Government officials in many nations have reviewed the activities of these individuals prior to the attack. Some of these studies reach back several years.
Media personnel have combed through the histories of these men, and we now know an enormous amount of information about the attack down to the most minor detail.
Except for one extremely major point. There one question we have not asked.
We know WHO these people were. We even have interviews with some of their relatives and they tell us who they really were. Reporters have talked with their teachers, even their close family members. We know who they were like we have known few people from their country ever before.
We know WHERE they came from. We know where they went to school – and they were mostly very well educated – and we know where they lived and we know where they went on their journey from their homes and places of business to the training schools, and where they went to enter the United States just prior to their attack.
We know WHEN they decided to become martyrs. We know when they went to their killing schools, and when they joined their organizations and when they came to America.
We certainly know HOW they did their awful tasks. We know how they trained and how they studied and prepared for the attack. We know how they commandeered the aircraft and how they flew them into the buildings.
We know WHAT they did. We know this in excruciatingly reconstructed detail. We know what happened to the attackers and what happened to the aircraft passengers and what happened to the people in the buildings and what happened to the survivors and what happened to their families.
So this all fits well into the American way of thinking and analysis. We love to measure and to detail and reconstruct. These are all wonderful questions and their answers are such that they seem designed for a TV screen or a movie production.
There is only one question remaining. And that is the question we have not asked, and nobody in America knows its answer although most of the people in the rest of the world do know. We haven't asked the question because we wouldn’t understand its answer – and we wouldn't understand it because we don’t care about how they felt.
That question we did not ask, have not asked, and probably never will ask, is why? Why did they do it?
Monday, September 10, 2001
Prologue - 911 - The Day Before
September 10, 2001 A man in an office store in Franklin, NC was talking to the clerk, a young woman, as I walked in. “ . . . that’s right!” He exclaimed loudly, “ . . . and most Christians are not even aware of it!”
He was medium height, slender build, blue jeans and cowboy boots and a tee shirt which proclaimed the virtues of gun ownership on the front and death to those who don’t understand the importance of guns on the back. He was topped with a cowboy hat, although his hat was made of straw and seemed not a thing one might associate with real cowboys
“ Yeah!” He continues “ . . . they’re all over the place!”
His hair was remarkable, braided in pigtails, and it looked like even his sideburns had been braided and they all came down to his shoulders. He pointed his finger at the young lady, “Christians are fools if they don’t pay attention, Jesus wouldn’t put up with it!” He wiped a drip of tobacco juice from his lips with the knuckle of his right hand. He glanced at me then lowered his head as if looking over glasses at the lady. “Look at the Statute of Liberty - that’s a REAL good example!”
The woman behind the counter looked at me like she wanted to wait on me, but the cowboy went on: “That ain’t no Christian face, that’s the face of some heathen god – that’s the face of a Greek goddess!” He wiped tobacco juice with his left thumb from his lips, puckered for expression. “Jesus don’t WANT that!”
She looked at me and he looked at me.
“Kin I hep you, sir?” she asked.
“Yeah, I need your advice.” I showed her the work I needed done and she looked at the cowboy with the straw hat. ”scuse me, I got to go hep this man.”
“I got t’go too . . .” he said, “but you re-MEMber, they’re all over the place, they’re even on yer MONEY, and they repugnant to Jesus . . . an’ they gotta go, ALL of em! “
He was medium height, slender build, blue jeans and cowboy boots and a tee shirt which proclaimed the virtues of gun ownership on the front and death to those who don’t understand the importance of guns on the back. He was topped with a cowboy hat, although his hat was made of straw and seemed not a thing one might associate with real cowboys
“ Yeah!” He continues “ . . . they’re all over the place!”
His hair was remarkable, braided in pigtails, and it looked like even his sideburns had been braided and they all came down to his shoulders. He pointed his finger at the young lady, “Christians are fools if they don’t pay attention, Jesus wouldn’t put up with it!” He wiped a drip of tobacco juice from his lips with the knuckle of his right hand. He glanced at me then lowered his head as if looking over glasses at the lady. “Look at the Statute of Liberty - that’s a REAL good example!”
The woman behind the counter looked at me like she wanted to wait on me, but the cowboy went on: “That ain’t no Christian face, that’s the face of some heathen god – that’s the face of a Greek goddess!” He wiped tobacco juice with his left thumb from his lips, puckered for expression. “Jesus don’t WANT that!”
She looked at me and he looked at me.
“Kin I hep you, sir?” she asked.
“Yeah, I need your advice.” I showed her the work I needed done and she looked at the cowboy with the straw hat. ”scuse me, I got to go hep this man.”
“I got t’go too . . .” he said, “but you re-MEMber, they’re all over the place, they’re even on yer MONEY, and they repugnant to Jesus . . . an’ they gotta go, ALL of em! “
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