The Next One about Justice

Sonofabitch.

Three months and not a word from this guy. If you were waiting, I'm sorry. If you weren't, well, I can't blame you. I mean, shit, it's been three months after all. What could possibly be the deal? As I sit shirtless waiting for Left 4 Dead 2 to update via my not-quite-instantaneous-enough broadband so I can slay zombie bitches alongside my exquisite wife, I regain perspective and instead of watching gun reviews and contemporary American philosophy videos by #Nutnfancy (albeit a worthy pastime), I aim my sights a bit higher toward self-actualization and rambling rants and complaints... That is - I blog.

Jusssstice...

When last I left you, we were talking assassination, and as we rekindle the relationship, I have an overarching idea pertaining to where I'd like this entry to go, but who knows?

I have to start with the not-surprisingly polarizing event of the Casey Anthony trial. I say polarizing but I don't know if there's anyone on the other side of the outrage. People whose opinions and thoughts I value highest seem to have been completely swept away by the molasses-thick melodrama surrounding this case. For-profit news media loves this case. These days, with beautiful High-def footage, multitudes of cutthroat journalists and prerequisite instant access, it's so easy to give the grisly details (do I get a prize for being the one-millionth asshole to enumerate them all in their full heartbreaking glory?) and then nudge the masses to sniff around to the closest suspect with a checkered past. Now we just kick back and watch the marvelously-predictable horde blow the too-recently settled dust off the torches and pitchforks, tar, feathers, nooses, shambling toward the town square.

Now I might make a guess as to what you're thinking: "You're a naive douchebag, of course she killed her daughter..."

This article is not entitled "The One about Casey Anthony Being Innocent." It's about something much larger than any single person could ever even aspire to be. As Americans, we have been blessed with the foresight of our forefathers. Thank goodness they had it in spades. They based our justice system on the idea that we are innocent until proven guilty. If those twelve jurors had convicted that woman of anything other than lying to police and abysmal parenting, the system isn't worth the paper it was written on. We live our daily lives knowing that if we have not committed a crime, then there shall be NO FEAR of being pulled out of our houses and wrongfully imprisoned, let alone executed. The Animals said "Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood..." Now, whether she is guilty or not, we have the obligation to carry out due process. This case was rushed to trial and it was built on circumstantial evidence. Those people who were (and are still) screaming for the blood of Casey Anthony have obviously lost touch with and are taking for granted the idea that although they are not on trial, they are reaping the benefits of American Justice every single day. On any given calendar square, they can drive down the street to their church that is protected by the state, no matter how backwards their rituals may be. They are allowed to assemble and protest literally any thing they feel is wrong or unjust. They can do this because they know that as long as they follow the law, they should fear no reprisal from the state.

If we convicted Casey Anthony, we re-initiate the sloping march back down the muddy path to the mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials and countless other instances of infamy. We live in a country that was founded on the idea of pure justice. That we should inevitably let some of the guilty go free so that the innocent will NEVER be imprisoned - that is the choice our founders made on our behalf, and I could never be more thankful for it. I am absolutely grateful for the ability to write this message in dissent. I have to admit that it is with some reticence I will compose, finish, and publish this post - and for what? For fear of persecution! But even now, I am emboldened with the sense that, No!, I can write this. The first amendment protects my right to write. I am innocent in my thoughts and deeds thus far, and I will continue. I dissent! God Damnit, I dissent. I digress.

I am struggling. With so many things, I am struggling. I feel as though the for-profit news media and inevitably 'outraged' pundits and Laura Ingrahams are taking our idea of justice from us and replacing it with the idea of revenge.

Imagine a beautiful, massive, heavy jewel that is polished yet dull, it is perfect; appearing new and nascent, but is aeons old. The translucent stone sits in a stories-deep, brightly-lit circular vault on a simple pedestal clearly built to support and cradle such a precious thing. A vault that exudes such silent reverence that inside of which no decent man would dare tread. The vault is our collective mind, the pedestal our individual intellect, the jewel - Justice. As a nation, we protect the idea of justice, and as individual jurors, we hold up the virtue of Justice.

As each American generation grows old and withers, the next is more complacent knowing there are bandits and wolves inside the vault. Corporate news media has always been pacing outside our sacred vaults, and started tiptoeing in some time ago. I feel they are stomping ever more loudly toward our jewel, brazen in their belief that we have already forgotten our most precious treasure. That they would seek to supplant Justice with the black brick of Revenge is self-evident. We (read: humans) held trials at Nuremburg and executions in Abbottabad. What changed? What the fuck changed?

In the timeless words of Robert Plant (inspired by Memphis Minnie in 1929), "If it keeps on rainin', the levee's gonna break." The rain is pouring on us from every angle, in the form of clever and divisive political and social commentary meant to divide and weaken our resolve and our principles as a nation.

Let's open up a spillway or two hundred and erase the legions of assholes that would attempt to steal the glimmering beauty of Justice! If this trend continues, I pray to whomever will listen that the good and decent people in America will soon awake with such a wrath that there will be scant a figure or mob who could stand in the way of such a virtuous ideal. That is the time when we should be blowing the thick dust off our torches and pitchforks.

Whew.

Well, a 40-minute software update has long-since passed. It's important for you to know that after writing this, I'm still able to grab a virtual shotgun and blast zombie bastards till the cows come home. I'm a normal dude. These are the thoughts that rattle in my brain. I appreciate very deeply that you've read my shit. Please just think (and comment). That's it!

Music fueling me as I wrote:

The Animals

Rush

Led Zeppelin

Punch Brothers

Jurassic 5

Flogging Molly

Aphex Twin

The One About Justice

This blog will be filled with melodrama.

So I was out dancing in the street Sunday night until I found out that the United States had authorized and successfully carried out a kill-op intended to eliminate Osama bin Laden.

I am on the brink of losing my faith. Not in religion, but in something harder for me to pin down. I am losing my faith in America. Up until this point, I thought I knew what a stranglehold the media (all 5 of them - TimeWarner, newscorp, disney, GE, and viacom) had on Americans, but I had no idea.

If you have read my earlier posts (I know it's been since September since I've posted) you may find that I am completely idealistic when it comes to this country, a hopeless romantic. I believe in the tenets that are the foundation of the leadership of our nation. Justice, honesty, the common good, freedom. There's been no sign of any of them in any recognizable form over the past three days.

"Justice has been done..." - From the mouths of experts and pundits and officials, from Geraldo Rivera to the President, I keep hearing about Justice and what an excellent job SEAL Team 6 did serving it. Now don't get me wrong. SEALs are bad dudes. They aren't heroes, they're fucking superheroes. THE Batman can suck nuts compared to these fools and their capabilities. However, it wasn't SEALs who designed and greenlighted this op, and it's not the SEALs trying to sell it to us, either.

I really am astonished each time I hear a talking head on TV and Talk Radio ( lol ) set up their current "open discussion" about whether we as Americans have the right to view photos and video of the body or whether we can now say "the war on terror is over" or whether we.... blah blah blah bullshit that doesn't matter AT ALL blah blah... I'm astonished when those discussions are set up with the line "Justice was served, don't get me wrong, I just wanna see the body, ya know? I mean, am I right guys? So we can get a little more justice outta this whole thing..."

Osama bin Laden. Not a sentence, I know, but that's how I said it. "Osama... bin... Laden..." We did not achieve Justice. Justice was not served. I heard a wet-eyed man sitting across from George Stephanopoulos (I don't pay for cable so we had to watch ABC's coverage on Sunday night... blech...) say "There is no court in the world, no court is high enough that could have brought that man to justice." And so the broadcast moved on. What message did we all take away from that? What message has been lying underneath the "National Discussion" around this? I'll tell you - it's this:

Only American bullets can serve pure Justice.

Our notion of Justice in this country is being perverted on such a level that is astonishing to me. Jon Stewart on the Daily Show could barely contain his giddiness (which I actually found surprising, but it helped me understand something, and it also spurred me to write this entry). THE DIFFERENCE between John Stewart and every other entity I've had the displeasure of hearing report "the news" is that John Stewart actually had the humility and the foresight to say the following: "I suppose I should be expressing some ambivalence about the targeted killing of another human being, and yet, uh, no. I just want details..." and "I am way too close to this whole episode to be rational about this in any way shape or form." At the close of the show he said "Tonight's program, uh, pure id. We will temper it over time." Hearing those statements helped me understand the mentality of those who actually were close to 9-11. I guess I have to recognize that "the death" does bring closure to many affected people, and I can appreciate that. However, we as a culture must be vigilant in recognizing the difference between closure and Justice. We must also be vigilant (since we were responsible in carrying out the mission) in recognizing the difference between Justice and revenge.

"In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior" - Sir Francis Bacon

Of course there was more in the planning and construction of this operation than I can probably ever imagine. Here is my problem with it: Reuters reported an official statement made which confirmed "...there was no desire to try to capture bin Laden alive..." (Yes it was reported on Huffpost but come on, they sold out their liberal bias a long time ago) WHY? Not even an attempt?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-dead-kill_n_856211.html

Why the fuck is no one asking this question? Were we so worried that he'd get away we might have to spend another hour or two (on top of 10 years) tracking him through suburb streets? SEAL Team 6 are the deadliest bastards on the entire planet. WHY NOT EVEN SPIN IT to say it was an 'attempted' capture mission?!

Look, even a sham trial would have portrayed Americans like we're not all bloodthirsty barbarians. Either way, he's still kicking at the end of a rope. What I really think, though, is that the images of us dancing in the streets and celebrating waving flags and chanting U-S-A over and over again - those images weren't meant for Al Qaeda management. Those images were meant for Americans. Everyday people like you and me. Media and politics (don't even pretend that the two aren't in bed on both sides) want us to believe (really, internally believe) that the WHOLE WORLD is dancing around like the drunk Sigma Chi (that's a fraternity if you didn't pick up on it) douchebags climbing trees and stoplights in DC and Times Square. We weren't. I wasn't. Were you? Or were you sitting quietly watching the news, trying to understand the implications of what had just happened?

I know I'm running long and I think that the feedback from this post will determine if I continue the thought in another post. But just bear with me for a couple more things.

Please don't let the media tell you how you feel about this. Just turn off your little glowing rectangular media-boxes and think about what is happening in the world, how you're personally being portrayed, and if you agree with it.

Also, yes, I know blogging like this allows me to anonymously (not really) lambaste those things and people I hate most, which is nice for someone so non-confrontational he has a hard time sending back poorly-cooked food at restaurants. We are a nation of followers. When we see looped "LIVE" video (and it was looped, you better believe it) of anonymous Americans crowding the streets where "the police tried to stop it, but America has to have this moment..." we immediately start to feel like that's the reaction all across the US. It wasn't.

I haven't heard a single person bring up Osama bin Laden at work, and I live in Baton Rouge, LA. The place (my job, not Baton Rouge) is filled to the brim with conservative hard-liners. And yet, it's like it never even happened. No one I know personally (actually maybe one person) is "excited" or "elated" that we rushed in and capped bin Laden's ass. Are people afraid to talk about it? Are they embarrassed? Ashamed? Too happy for words? I don't know, but when we lose our ability to discuss national issues like this within our own social circles, the only input is from corporate media, Liberal and Conservative. If we don't come up with a national voice of our own, through community, the talking heads become our voice. That's bullshit.

Don't let someone else do your thinking for you. That's bullshit, too.

That's all, lovesies!

Workin Man

Oh, hi. I didn't see you there. Come in, come in.

So I've officially been working one week and one day. I also got paid today. That, my friends, is awesome. Don't expect that kind of treatment working for the state. Private corporation, homeboy. Dig it. No wonder the private sector is so ridiculous here. State governments and publicly traded big ones need to learn how to treat their employees, shit!

But seriously. I'm an IT guy. I fix issues. It's great. I seriously am digging the best of both worlds right now. One one hand, I am troubleshooting typical corporate issues every insurance company computer geek would deal with. "Hey, I lost my printers," or "hey, my email signature doesn't have that little circle-y thingy in it anymore," etc. I also get the tougher project-based stuff from on high like "Our automated email's unsubscribe link is getting blocked by Outlook in some Windows 7 machines, figure out why..." That's awesome. Real challenges along with facetime with clients is a great blend. Oh right, and that's just 'the one hand.'

On the OTHER hand, I have 5 radio stations, their jocks, their salespeople, their managers and executives to take care of. We have a pretty basic production studio (where you record commercials for local businesses) just riddled with simple audio issues that are fun to fix and get me valuable time with the radio peeps. I secretly want to get myself on the air at the Friday night midnight spot. I'm 100% positive that all the stations are automated at that point, ESPECIALLY on the weekends. Wow do radio people know how to take a long lunch and cut out early. My favorite quirk is the 3rd floor bullpen of advertising sales "executives" that upon our entrance into their cube farm will yell "I.T. on deck! Minimize! Minimize!" It's hilarious. But they're seriously just looking at porn all day. Whatever. They get paid on commission anyway.

It's a glamorous life, I know, stop being jealous for two seconds please.

Today though - yowsers. My director interviewed a dude for the open System Administrator (guy that runs the servers) position. Probably makes around 45K a year. Seriously, the dude showed up in a polo shirt and 'khaki' cargo pants with a belt and a Bieber haircut. Alright, so the haircut isn't a big deal but still. WTF. MAYBE, and this is a hy-po-thetical (Bob from Office Space voice) but if he had worn the Mac polo shirt with a tie, just maybe it would have been permissible.

Gahh.. I was hoping this post would have turned out better. But anyway.

I got paid, I love my job, be jealous.

Lovesies

Jobbed!

Yeah, if you didn't know it by now, I appreciate you reading this blog (actually, I appreciate everyone who reads this blog) because that means I might actually be interesting enough to get real readers. Despite my blog's emo title, I try to be introspective enough to actually write something meaningful, but at the same time, I don't try to get your attention by screaming about my dad. Or skateboards. Or, well you get the point.

So yeah! I have a job. I'm - wait for it... - an I.T. guy! I work for the Guaranty Corporation (not nearly as corporately ominous as it sounds) which provides life insurance products as well as runs more than a few broadcast radio stations in lovely Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That's right - I'm a born-again societal contributor. Yeck. That sounds yuppier than ... well anyway. Don't worry though! I'm still busily raging against the awful political nonsense that governs all of our everyday transactions, from the bank to McDonald's. Yep. Even though I'm back to paying taxes, I haven't just flicked on the Republican switch.

Kaycie actually bought us Ann Coulter's "How to Talk to a Liberal (If you Must)," and let me tell you - it's a doozy. (Dusey?) Anyway, it's ridiculous.

The book's first chapter alone helped me realize what Ann Coulter's role in society is. It's not to actually know anything (although I'm sure she does) or argue valid points (which she doesn't do in her book, while I'm sure she could quite adroitly debate many issues with valid points). Her role is not to engage liberals in real arguments, it is to publish books that infuriate us to such an extent that WE write books to counter her ridiculous arguments - MEANWHILE - republicans run the country because we're too offended by her crass pulp to do anything but defend our honor. It's brilliant.

SO - "How do we respond as sentient beings," you ask? Well, I've taken the liberty of publishing my own book. Read on:

"How to talk to Ann Coulter (If you Must)"

Chapter 1:

Don't.

The end.






Stick it in your eye, Ann Coulter. I have bigger fish to fry.


That's all for now. I'll tell you people later what my new job's like, once I've been there a full week (tomorrow).

Lovesies.

Counting Chickens Before They Hatch...

Don't do this. Do you know what percentage of fertilized chicken eggs hatch into live birds? Yeah, neither do I. I bet it's better than it was when that saying was relevant though. I don't even know how chickens reproduce, anyway.

So the figure of speech up there is in reference to the P/T position I posted about earlier. It's actually morphed into a F/T position (awesome!) through no fault of my own. The interview went as well as I could have hoped, better than any I've had to date. I've slowly come to grips with the fact that feeling good about an interview, however, can be a jinx. And I don't believe in jinxes. Hence my current dilemma. Either feel good about the interview, or begin to believe in jinxes. Damnit.

SO anyway. I had the interview. I'm filling out the official application now, I'm going to drop it off in a few.

What I will do is take this opportunity to suggest something to any other job seekers out there - I posted on www.freecycle.com about my need to find employment. The way freecycle works is simple - you either Want or Offer something for free. People in the community respond to your Wants or Offers, and you both benefit. I put up free home tech support in exchange for promising job leads. In addition to getting a few [leads], word actually got around to the person who interviewed me today that I had posted on freecycle. She said it was 'innovative.' I'll take it. But seriously, check it out, it's a great cause, especially if you need or need to get rid of baby clothes. Lots of baby clothes.

More to come about my life later. That's the nature of a blog, you see?

Au Revoir

No, Really, Thank You.

First things first, still unemployed. Interview for a P/T position on Tuesday, but hey, at least it's in IT. I'm seriously considering joining the National Guard, at least I could pay off my school loans in one fell swoop.

But on to the meat of the blog entry today: Giving Thanks. I'd like to first thank my neighbor. "Thank you, neighbor whose name will be omitted 1.) because I'm not sure I remember it and 2.) because I'm a coward and I'm going to call you a c-bag in it. Thank you, O neighbor! for training your dog to religiously shit in my yard, in the same place, almost every day. That Saint Louis Zoo monkeyhouse smell really appeals to me when I'm sitting on my front porch, admiring too the ubiquitous dinner plate-sized brown spots of dead grass in the yard from your other dog's awful piss. My wife and I just *LOVE* those. They really tie the yard together in a kind of "white-trash zen" way.

You are a c-bag.

Every time I mow my lawn, my faith in humanity to just *not be assholes* diminishes. I'm not sure by what measure, but it diminishes nonetheless. I don't want to be hyperbolic, either. I'm not even asking for much, not losing my faith in humans to *be awesome* or even *be polite* at all. Just don't be an asshole. Well, maybe next Sunday by some miracle of canine bowel movements the dog will have cut the duke on the other neighbor's lawn.

I almost launched into a metaphorical tirade about how our elected representatives in Congress are also shitting on our collective lawns, but it seemed like an abrupt departure from my cynical rantings as a neighbor. I think I'm just in a shitty mood. Glenn Beck's stupid rally was yesterday, and I've been spending about an hour fighting in forums and honing my rhetoric and logic. It's not going too badly. It makes me sad though, because it means that Glenn Beck's tactics are working.

Americans spend *SUCH* an inordinate amount of time fighting with each other about gay rights, abortion, and religion (not all mutually exclusive arguments either, lol) that we completely dismiss that glaring fact that 60+ year-old-white-dudes in DC golfing with lobbyists from the NRA-ILA and AFL-CIO might not actually have our best interests in mind.

And I like the NRA-ILA and what they stand for, what they represent. I don't, however, believe in their ability to have virtually unfettered access to Congresspeople. I feel like for every minute spent with "interests," those same representatives should be spending an equal amount of time with "people."

It's a kind of backwards idea, I know. The forwards approach is to realize that while we see the NRA-ILA as a group with limitless money and persuasion tactics, that we - the "people" have something the NRA (and any other corporation or interest group) doesn't - a vote.

Remember when a vote used to mean something? It still does. Americans have lost faith in "the system" and feel like their vote is wasted, because all the evidence shows that votes are wasted. We can't come together because we're so divided by a system we firmly believe is permanent. It's not. A third party vote is not a wasted vote. A vote for a dude who sucks less than the other dude: now that's a wasted vote. The third (and eventually fourth, fifth, and fiftieth) party will bring true change to the US. And I got a C in political science. It is remarkable to me, a guy who *never* got into politics, that I only needed a month of unemployment to let my mind roam and actually think about something other than my 45 hours a week. That 45 hours a week consumed me to such a point that I spent all my free time just forgetting about the 45 other hours. Now, I don't have to forget about anything, I am only looking forward.

Sam Adams said this in 1776: "If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."

That's a very exciting notion. Also terrifying. The moral of the story? Keep your dog shit to yourself.

Au Revoir.

No news is not good news when you're unemployed.

Well on the bright side, I'm getting to know my new kittens pretty well. On the dim side, they're kind of bastards most of the time.

I have a large-format yellow post-it with bulleted items that I scribble down when I come up with a potential blog topic. The top one on the list is about cats, and since I started with cats not even thinking about the list, I'll run with it.

Ryan Kerrigan knows all too well that Gary Larson ( here ) knows what dogs are saying to us, each other, and everything ever.

If you didn't click the link, suffice it to say that every bark or noise a dog makes translates to "Hey!" Unbeknown to my conscious self, I've been training my kittens in a similar manner. In addition to the classic we're-going-to-squirt-you-with-water-when-you-do-something-undesirable training (vs. the "oh so inhumane" declaw), I decided in my wisdom to add an audible cue so that in the event we need to discipline one of the kitties and don't have a squirt bottle nearby, that perhaps the audible cue will substitute for the water.

So what do I say? "Hey!" Just like the Far Side dogs. I thought it would be appropriate. I'd say it works about 35% of the time in lieu of the water, if it's about 90% effective at getting their little cat attentions at least. Behavior training a cat is like finding a job, in a way. We get lots of 'opportunities' to move forward, but most of the time we just end up exerting a lot of energy for the sake of feeling like we're making some sort of headway.

I'm applying for what would basically be the best job prospect I've had so far, but at this point I've learned not to get my hopes up until I'm signing an I-9 or shaking hands and saying "See you Monday!" The job is a basic tech support role (which I love), but with training involved as well. Anyone who knows me (Mallory, since you're my only subscriber as yet) knows that I make an OK tech geek, but a much better teacher and trainer. I have patience, lots of patience, and a knack for translating heaps of babble and jargon into humanized, non-robot terms. I want to do this. I might have to buy a suit. I can't believe that at this point I don't have one. What am I going to show up to an interview in?

Why hasn't this come up yet? Oh, that's right... Employers don't f***ing interview applicants any more! I've taken so many placement/logic/aptitude tests wearing board shorts and flip flops, administered by outsourced corporations (Pearson VUE, etc) that really just don't give a shit about you or what job you might be applying for. It's ridiculous. I see people arriving to these places expecting to take the test across from the hiring manager, fully suited up, briefcase and resumes in hand. It's just sad. We live in a different time now. Employers don't want to conduct an employee search any more than we want to continue our job search. So what have they done? Figured out how to write a test that will narrow down the applicants statistically so they don't even have to choose.

I'm waiting to hear back from a potential employer (fortune 500, menial position), but I keep realizing that they may not even be 'hiring,' they just have a position that's constantly posted so in 6 months when they DO need an "Outside P Technician" they can call me, because I scored a perfect on their test. It's horseshit.

Do you suppose the big bad 'economy' is just a ploy by our government to get us all to join the Army/Navy/Marines/Guard so they can bootcamp and brainwash us? I bet there's a book in Powell's about that very topic.

Signing off for now, I've had too much coffee, need to run it off while I wait on an email that either says "Hey, come in for an interview in 5 minutes," or, "Hey, thanks but no thanks. Sorry to have kept you waiting for 5 days."

:)

Thank you very much for your time, I look forward to hearing from you in the fut....

Sorry, thought I was somewhere else.

Au Revoir~

E