Category: Writing

any questions about fascism

Any Questions?
2005-04-13— Posted by: allegra

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

by Lawrence Britt

Spring 2003

Free Inquiry magazine

Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism (“Fascism Anyone?,” Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The excerpt is in accordance with the magazine’s policy.

The 14 characteristics are:

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

Supremacy of the Military

Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

Rampant Sexism

The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

Controlled Mass Media

Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

Obsession with National Security

Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

Religion and Government are Intertwined

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

Corporate Power is Protected

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Labour Power is Suppressed

Because the organizing power of labour is the only real threat to a fascist government, labour unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .

Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

Obsession with Crime and Punishment

Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

Fraudulent Elections

Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Copyright 2003 Free Inquiry magazine Reprinted for Fair Use Only.

do I have a heart

Off to work now and the cardiologist this afternoon. As John’s boss John remarked, “Ah, so they are going to find out you have one?”

In revenge, I will tell a small story. Our John bought Boss John a little brass sign that had his name and title (President) on it. He then ceremoniously affixed it to the bathroom door at work. His boss one-upped him by leaving it there.

Have a nice day, yall.

Oooh. Forgot to mention that Monny brought two ‘friends’ over last night. I don’t know which one is weirder, Fanny, who looks like lightning in a bottle, or Chachka, who pooped Mcdonald’s (trademark) toys all over my house, and I mean ALL over. If the little bugger had found a way to glue them to the ceiling he would have (he, she?). When I have a minute I’ll describe their visit in more detail.

Rabbits say, A single cloud feels lonely (full marks if you get the reference) and I say, “You didn’t think there’d be just ONE monster, did you? Remember, if there’s a monster under every bed in the world…. that’s a hell of a lot of monsters.” And yes, the little toys were gone by morning, like fairy gold, but it was still disconcerting to turn the bathroom light on and have Elastigirl (trademark) glaring at me while I tried to take a leak.

I’m just praying that a monster who followed me around for months when I was living in Toronto doesn’t show up here. You think Monny was ugly!? This guy is *so* scary and repellent. Brr.

John, did you know that Fungus the Bogeyman is a kiddie show in Britland? I was very amused to hear that. Monsters mean money.

Katie’s finished math. Yay.

shitposting in 2019 for 2005

RRRR! Can you believe it???? Somebody is reading this blog, deciding I’m being disrespectful to Paul, and emailing him for his comments. Paul, being very used to my ‘whims and humours’, reviewed the offending paragraph, and went hunh?

Well, buddy, you go back and read this blog, and you will see that when I am not whining about Paul, I am praising him to the skies. And it isn’t just the fact that he turns to mush when he sees baby animals, or how well he looked after Keith in the hospital, or how he prevented me from throttling Kate, or cuddled me after a nightmare, or sang “The Street Where You Live” in the car while I practically cried with happiness, or made me laugh a thousand thousand times, or loves to be read to, or he’s one of the most competent and well rounded people on the planet, or that he shares much of my spiritual outlook, or because he’s grown immensely as a person in the last 20-odd years, it’s because of this: Of all the people in the world who have reason to hate me, he’s definitely the one with the grievances. But he loves me, and he proves it every bloody day. Everything I know about forgiveness, which is the kernel and essence of love that lasts, I learned from him. So there. I suppose I could fold my hands together and never say anything bad about Paul again, but he’d just poke me in the ribs once in a while and say, “You KNOW you want to say it!” and bloooooosh, Vesuvius. He knows me, and I know him. I wouldn’t live with anybody else for all the oil between China and Taiwan! And I love him more than I could possibly say, although I have tried to put it in poetry, which you obviously haven’t read! And I’m not going to pretend I’m never annoyed with him, because that would really misrepresent what is essentially a growing concern. RRRR!

2019 SEZ Janice Murray, who was very cheerful about ensuring that Paul got out of his relationship with me a few years later, is the person I’m whinging about here. She can go fuck herse’f. I could say any manner of rude an’ actionable things, but…. nah. She’s got the life and the face she deserves, and I need no part of either.

some fave people

Pictured are a Badger, A Traffic Cone Fan, a Dr Filk and a Furry Socks, singing on the steps of the Musée.

I neglected to mention that I have a Unitarian Jihad name now. I am Sister Birch Rod of Sweet Reason. Tam Tam, bless her, is Sister Molotov Cocktail of Compassionate Togetherness. Please email me with your Unitarian Jihad name; I need cheering up. If you need help, think of a weapon or torture implement, and then think of a Unitarian virtue. Use either Sibling, Sister or Brother at the front and you’re done. There IS a name generator floating around the inertnet but it sucks, so I’m not posting it. You can borrow these if you like:

Sister Branks of Strawberry Socials; Brother Sai of Potluck Dinners; Brother Bunker Buster of Streamkeeping; Sister Iron Maiden of Consensus; and then of course if you bust open a Munchkin game, you’re ALL OVER weapons, like the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment, Boots of Buttkicking, etc.

However, you could try Brother Nerve Disruptor of Silent Prayer; Sister Katana of Sister Phaser of Mediation; Sister Humvee of Playfulness; Brother FighterBomber of Earthwisdom; Sister Epee of Innate Worth; Brother ME109 of Balance; and I’m still trying to figure out how to work in some Ian M Banks names for space ships. Everytime I read the name “Frank Exchange of Views” or “Clear Air Turbulence” I crack up.

 

Check out www.freecycle.org …. Brother James passed this along. I think I will be joining this.

Talked to Liz

In the time it took me to get the camera, the dawn changed colour. Very annoying.

Tomorrow I go see the cardiologist. Today, I try to wring meaning from life because you already KNOW what the cardiologist is going to tell me. He’s either going to tell me to stop eating anything that makes life fun or he’s going to tell me I’m imagining things, possibly both.

Neglected to mention that I had a nice long chat with Liz the other day. Liz is my oldest friend from my long stint in London ON, and she and all of her clan are fine, except for the ones who need a slap upside the head to realign their neurons. We commiserated for a very long time over the death of the Pope (and anybody overhearing our conversation would have been calling 911 on the dangerous loonies) and then commiserated even longer on the joys of raising teenagers.

Liz, I will share with you what Jim A shared with me after I made a particularly ripe denunciation of Katie, about three years ago, at the lunch table at work. He said, All kids give an equal amount of trouble and heartache. Some do it all at once and get it over with… others spread it out over time. But in the end it’s all the same. I pass that along in case it helps at all. Time to stuff and shower.

I can’t find anything interesting on the internet. Who turned it off? I demand a recount. Okay, the stuff about nanotechnology on eurekalert.org. Specially the stuff about nanotech and the third world.

The holiday is over

And this morning I head back in to work.

The spit yesterday at Giraffe in White Rock was delightful, as always, and food exquisite.

Spent the rest of the day reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell; was very happy when Stephen killed the fairy king. Man, I don’t think I’ve wanted to see an author kill a character more since Dunnett invented Gabriel. Absolutely LOVE the characters of Childermass and Vinculus. It will be Childermass that the actors fight over… of COURSE they are going to film it; the guy who wrote Dangerous Liaisons has been hired to write the script, which is a relief; at least the script will be literate.

Previews of Hitchhikers Guide say that it makes the Phantom Menace look like a film. Sigh.

I am trying to get in to work a bit early to clear email, so I’m outta here for now, more later….. oh, and to the DD fans, Brooke is already on book III of LC, having started (yup) BUYING them. I innocently asked her if she likes Vikings. This is a joke that only DD’ers will get.

Epictetus, doorstops, gardening

Paul has started reading a Manual for Living, which is a re-vision of the philosphy of Epictetus (as written down by his students). He is very much enjoying it but says most of the advice is a lot easier to give than take. Seeing as how it is sometimes referred to as “the Mother of all Self-Help Books” I can see his point. It’s a tiny little book, too. Quite the inverse of what I will refer to later…

Paul’s off to Delta Air Park for the fly in breakfast… and yes, he’s driving there. I am off to a Spit at Giraffe in White Rock. I am very much looking forward to it – Spits are always grand fun. A Spit, as I explain again, is a gathering of Dorothy Dunnett fans.

I’m back in Doorstop country as of last night – I am reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and the damned thing COULD be used as a doorstop, it’s over a kilo, and I’ve got big divots outta my thumbs from holding it. I’m at page 316 and there are ONLY 782 pages. I’ve been told by all the reviewers that I’ll be sad when it ends.

Got the front flower bed adjoining the house straightened out last night, with most help from Paul. We mucked out the bottom of the compost bin; at one point the smell was so bad I almost pulled a Victoria Lady and tried to run away.

Spent a good chunk of yesterday drooling on the Lee Valley 2005 gardening catalogue. Why, o why, am I so sorcerously drawn to useful pots? Review of the spit later. Also, someone has sent me a cryptic email telling me to join the Unitarian Jihad. Can such things be?

Japanese War Tuba

2005-04-09— Posted by: allegra

I make no apologies for posting this picture.

In an earlier post, I mentioned a camel costume. Okay, what was he using the camel costume for????

The picture shown is of, not the dreaded Japanese War Tuba (just show me where to blow….) but an acoustic locator for aircraft. That’s the emperor and some other dude walking by it. I am indebted to Drew Curtis of Fark.com for posting the link that led me to this.

In other news, my dinner par-tay was a big success. Keith is not happy about the lack of Munchkin, but we sang and played. Since my mother will want to know, I will post the menu. Very rare roast beef. Butternut squash; carrots, potatoes and parsnips; green beans, salad provided by Peggy, garlic bread, beets with lemon juice and basil, rolls provided by Peggy. I scratch made two apple pies and tapioca for dessert. (Ben had seconds of tapioca, I was watching.)

We are going to turn the leftovers into soup, beautiful soup.

The sun just came out. I have to go out and pull weeds for a while. Or not.

Reserved police

reserved police
2005-04-08— Posted by: allegra

In case the editor shrinks the picture past the point of readability, the license plate holder says Places to Go People to Annoy. Taken in the 6th and 6th mall parking lot yesterday.

enough sleep
2005-04-08— Posted by: allegra

We’re all home today because the kids aren’t in school. This means that I can concentrate on cooking and somebody else can clean, although that shouldn’t really be a problem – the place is still remarkably tidy from last Sunday’s cleaning binge.

Everybody is in a good mood… the sun is shining, and life seems pretty durn good. If you want to stay cheerful, don’t go to copvcia.com today… it’s the usual spate of bad news.

ANFSCD, Have a Camel
2005-04-08— Posted by: allegra

From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, all rights deserved, etc etc. Something about this struck me as being extremely Canadian, as well as Australian. Many things about the Australian character much appeal to me. We could discuss it over a lager sometime.

Baggage handler dons passenger’s camel costume

A man who had a camel costume removed from his checked-in luggage at Sydney airport says the event raises questions about airport security.

David Cox was waiting to board his Qantas flight when he saw a baggage handler wearing the costume on the tarmac.

He says he was shocked to realise his luggage had been interfered with.

It’s the kind of larrikin thing that an Australian would do but given the current situation, particularly with Schapelle Corby, the issues of airport security and privacy and your luggage remaining secure, it’s obviously a poor decision, Mr Cox said.

Mr Cox says the airline dealt with the matter promptly but says it raises issues about airport security.

I obviously was flabbergasted, my jaw dropped to the ground, he said.

I went to the customer service desk that happened to be right behind me and said, Look I’ve checked my luggage through … someone’s obviously been through my luggage, taken something out, now is wearing [it] across the tarmac, what’s going on?

The Transport Workers Union has renewed calls for surveillance cameras to be placed in the areas where baggage is handled at airports.

The union representative Glen Nightingale says an investigation is under way into the incident and he is meeting with workers and Qantas today.

Mr Nightingale says closed-circuit television surveillance would protect both travellers and workers.

We’re concerned about the security and the lack of security at the airport and we’ve been rallying for the last three or four years for the Federal Government for the appropriate screening, not only of the workers but also of luggage that comes through these areas, he said.

Because I can
2005-04-08— Posted by: allegra

Feeding folks tomorrow. Got a very nice slab of prime rib, hopefully it will be somewhat edible. Made lasagne and chocolate banana muffins for dinner… I think the kids could really get used to me not working, but it’s back to work Monday, and thank God, after all the appointments and the holter monitor and having to take Kira to the vet tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow morning Paul is taking me to drop in yoga.

Paul nearly caused me to expire from the effort of controlling my temper today. He appears to be under the impression that getting powers of attorney and representation agreements should be like 40 dollars or some reasonable amount of money. That’s four documents for two people for about 700 and taxes, and the RA MUST be drawn up by a lawyer – it isn’t legal unless it is. Since you need the same info twice, it’s actually reasonable, but the way Paul was going on about it you’d think I was planning on blowing 700 bucks on the frikking slots. The joys of married life.

However, I know perfectly well that he is capable of lifting a phone and asking a bunch of other lawyers for representation agreements and how much it would cost, but I was lazy and went for the first lawyer who actually called me back! Can you believe it? Between the two of us we called half a dozen law offices and only 1 had the courtesy to return the call. I said, He’s got the business; I prefer to deal with someone whose staff actually know how to apply their index fingers to a keypad in the effort to keep their paycheques coming. The rest…. well the pic tells the story, and my butt is damned near that big.

I must say I liked the lawyer. I always meet lawyers prepared to despise them, but this guy is fine. The last rays of the setting sun are bouncing off a building down on 6th street in New West, and it’s very beautiful, in a cubist sort of way. And that is one of my favourite colours, molten gold….

one froggy evening

Not Enough Sleep
2005-04-07— Posted by: allegra

Is everybody holding their breath for the Pope’s funeral? It’s like there isn’t any news happening, or something.

Canada leads the world in the delivery of government services via the Internet. Hmph. However the Accenture study still says that none of the government departments ever answer their bleedin’ phones (emphasis mine, and not stated well or accurately). I left a phone message to get a certified copy of my divorce decree and subsequent to a bunch of emails got it for free, so I guess I can’t complain about the state of service delivery in this fair land.

Unless I get up at 6, which I no longer do because I’m going to bed as soon as I can, like 9 o’clock, and getting up as late as possible, like 7, I have to cede the computer almost immediately to Keith so he can do his morning routine.

Had a dream about frogs last night, it was most amusing and the last thing I dreamed before I got up. There was a frog highway in the trees, and some of the bigger frogs kept missing the exit ramp and tumbling. The kids were no longer their current age – they were 10 and 8 again – and the three of us stood around giggling because it looked so funny.

Mary Prankster

2019 SAYS SHE IS NO LONGER ‘ACTIVE’

Mary Prankster
2005-04-05— Posted by: allegra

John came home night before last from his eastern rambles, bearing (among other things) a CD with a couple of tunes by Mary Prankster. If Nancy White woke up with a potty mouth, a penchant for casual sex and a punkass band, she’d sound exactly like Mary Prankster. The first time I heard “The World is Full of Bastards” my jaw dropped open and by the second verse I was laughing helplessly. I can’t even post the title of the second song, but I was laughing even harder. As soon as Katie got home last night I sat her down and said, “OMG ya GOTTA listen to this.” Katie laughed! She thought it was funny. Well, now I have to go and get a holter monitor. My arrhythmias are going to go from legend to fact, or so I hope, and if you can frikkin believe it I got a cardiologist consult in less than a week, so it’s pretty bif bam boom in terms of timing. Still haven’t thrashed out the details of the representation agreement (living will) with Paul, but that will be today after I get back – and I’ve printed out the checklist. Thank God I am not yet so hirsute in the chest that I will have to be shaved for the holter monitor. The joys of growing older! The politician who wrote me back said, “Good luck getting any more responses, I get 400 emails a day.” This is a paraphrase, but true to the spirit of what he wrote. I had a somewhat better night’s sleep, but that might have been the beer. Still don’t understand why drinking beer makes my heart work better…. it all seems pretty strange to me. Okay, back to the dishes. Okay, not quite yet. Paul washed the comforter off the bed and hung it to dry in what appears to be the only good weather we’ll get this week, so the bed smells “line dried clean” right now. Ah. Domestic bliss.

first response
2005-04-05— Posted by: allegra

I got an intelligent and grammatical response to my letter already, actually written by the elected official – who isn’t even from my riding. I am thrilled. I responded and thanked him profusely. Since I don’t intend to make fun of him, I will include him at the end of this process and prior to the election as one of the angels, so that if you are so inclined, you may let it influence your vote.

Insufficient rest

nowhere close to enough sleep
2005-04-04— Posted by: allegra

I had a great time last night feeding the folks and playing Munchkin (I got whupped, and Keith drew the Divine Intervention Card so Liz won). Holy cow, sleep was evasive to say the least. I also had a couple of really weird dreams… I dreamed I was lying away and I could hear music in one ear, and I said to Paul “Can you hear the music?” before I realized both of us were asleep. And a horse tried to run me down.

Pimp My Ride is branching out into Pimp My Airplane. I’m not sure whether to file this under “Sign of the Apocalypse” or “The last gasp of the Oil Culture.”

Pic was taken from Fark… I thought it was cute, in an odd way.

Paul is all happy because having company made us clean the house.

letters and thoughts

letters to politicians
2005-04-03— Posted by: allegra

I have now forwarded the letter shown previously to the editors of the Sun and Province, and to 20 MLA’s including my own local one. I will be judicious about posting any responses; I am trying to establish dialogue, not demonstrate something about politicians and newspaper editors that most of us already knew.

Oh, by the way…. if any of the constituency office staff delegated to deal with my letter are smart enough to find this website (which is not easy to find because nobody can spell my name and I don’t do the live link thing) be advised that I only get 3K hits a month to this site, so you can cheerfully ignore me – media wise, I don’t even rate as a drunken heckler. And besides. I’m not left wing, I’m actually an anarchist or I CALL myself an anarchist, so I’m even lamer, politically, than those NDP warhorses you’re so bored with. I must state publicly, however, that my religious beliefs prevent me from being personally violent unless you actually hit me first. That means, essentially, that I don’t care about your spoken politics. I care a lot more about what you do. (It also means that other people who call themselves anarchists disown me, because I don’t have the chops to perform direct action. Give me a break kids, I’m 46 and my hip hurts! But I’ll hide you while the cops are looking for you, so I have my uses.) And I will cut immense amounts of slack for a politician, any politician, no matter his or her party, who gives me a response in a human voice, as per the Cluetrain Manifesto, quoted earlier in this blog. So dear constituency assistant, congratulations! I send you a big hug and hope you’re giggling to yourself, now that you’ve found my belated Easter Egg.

I light a candle for John Paul II. I really wish he’d been a little easier on the birth control issue (and I would have forgiven him, teeth gnashing, on both the ordination of women and homosexuality had he lightened up about population control) but he made a good death, and I have to grant him that.

Paul’s off at church. Good on him! I’m going to finish up here and start cooking for Rob and Liz.

FDR quotes
2005-04-03— Posted by: allegra

Dear (politician, newspaper editor, religious leader, business leader):

The world is running out of cheap oil, and this will trigger events that require a measured response, rather than whining or partisan posturing. What are you, personally and politically, doing about the end of cheap oil?

Sincerely, me.

You know, I was thinking I should write a goddamned diatribe, but I can’t. The facts are now plain. I’m leaving out climate change and environmental destruction and all the other things I could throw into a letter, as that would just be me touching myself inappropriately in the hope of getting off (so to speak) some gonzo shots. It’s the oil that is going to break us… the question is, how badly, and at one point are the politicians gonna think about Franklin Roosevelt and Mike Pearson instead of Jeb Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Which reminds me. Somehow – books are like this – I inherited a history book called Pageant of Europe and I bought, at the amazing Renaissance Books, one of the best used book stores in the known universe, a book called Light from Many Lamps. Let me excerpt in large part from these books

These, quoted from Lillian Eichler Watson’s Light from Many Lamps, are the last words FDR wrote for public utterance. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage the next day. Think ye o readers of a day when men were elected President who actually *could* think and write like this.

“Let me assure you that my hand is the steadier for the work that is to be done, that I move more firmly into the task, knowing that you – millions and millions of you – are joined with me in the resolve to make this work endure.

The work, my friends, is peace; more than an end to this war – an end to the beginnings of all wars; yes, an end, forever, to this impractical, unrealistic settlement of the differences between governments by the mass killings of peoples.

Today as we move against the terrible scourge of war, as we go forward toward the greatest contribution that any generation of human beings can make in this world – the contribution of lasting peace – I ask you to keep up your faith. I measure the sound, solid achievement that can be made at this time by the straight edge of your own confidence and your resolve. And to you, and to all Americans who dedicate themselves with us to the making of an abiding peace, I say:

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.”

The passage in quotes is taken from Pageant of Europe. After asking Congress to agree to send munitions and material to the democracies fighting Hitler, on January 6, 1941, this is part of what FDR said, “In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in (his) own way everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear – which, translated into world terms, means a world wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbour – anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.”

Setting aside the terrible irony inherent in some of his words, doesn’t it sound wonderful? You’d think he had actually read the Constitution and the Bible and decided to try to apply them in real life! <*?Anyway, I’m off to fax this letter to the unsuspecting opinion makers and politicians of the GVRD. May Cthulhu have mercy on all of us.

Thunder of God
2005-04-03— Posted by: allegra

It was very strange but fitting that the Pope died the same day I went to Chor Leoni’s Thunder of God concert. The Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring that they sang was dedicated to his memory. The organ at Christchurch Cathedral is awesome but new, and so a little ‘buggy’. But it was still a great concert. I kept thinking that both of my parents would have enjoyed it tremendously.

Calling Emperor Norton
2005-04-03— Posted by: allegra

By virtue of the power invested in me, with the assistance of the moon and a bad tempered mule, I issue a Proclamation Of Things That Shall Cease To Exist.

Ordnance larger than 50 calibre.

Disney retail stores.

Bill Gates, except as a legend to scare children with.

My arrhythmias.

People who spam indiscriminately.

Bedside clocks with alarms.

Bad Shakespearean ecktors.

People who think they are as witty as John Cleese, but aren’t.

Indigestion.

Starving children.

Big hair. I mean ARTIFICIAL big hair.

Duly witnessed by a dust mote exhaled by Caesar as he expired, I remain Dowager Empress Allegra, channeling my spiritual ancestor, Emperor Norton.

fact finding mission

Global dog food sales in 1998 amounted to 9.237 million tonnes and cat food to 5.424 million tonnes, totalling 14.661 million tonnes.

Source, http://www.afma.co.za

Recommendation: with respect to consumption of resources, specifically meat, either start feeding your animal raw food, put it down, or don’t replace it when it dies. If you don’t already have a pet, don’t get one.

With the total value for the C&T market reaching new heights of US$228.9 billion in 2004, the list of products that fall under the personal care category are like wise incrementing in sales and variety. Brand developers are continuously launching new products that treat and pamper the consumer’s every real or perceived need.

Not quite sure what C&T stands for; I think it means cosmetics and therapy, source http://www.globalcosmetic.com/.

The amount quoted is interesting to me for several reasons. I don’t wear makeup largely because my mother doesn’t, and it didn’t stop her from ‘landing a good man’ and ‘having babies’, which after all, is all that women really want from life. I am being sarcastic, but anybody who really knows me, knows that I am not being VERY sarcastic, unless you’re gay, in which case I’m being an idiot stuck up on my heterosexist privilege, for which I humbly apologize; however, I am given to making broad sweeping statements, and this is just another one. Okay, I’m being more acidulous than vitriolic, if you want precision. And if I come on too strong about makeup, every tranny from here to NYC is going to threaten to kick my sorry ass.

ahem… where wuz I. It’s also interesting to me because the yearly aggregate dollar amount traded in the global cosmetics and pet food industries could put a) clean water in the mouth of every child on earth b) put birth control into the hands of every man and woman who wanted it and c) immunize every child on the planet against measles mumps pertussis and tetanus, with a side of fries.

Now since my dad makes Malthus look like a Dallas Cheerleader on crystal meth and he’s already going yeah, but, I have to interject at this point that YES I know that throwing money to third world countries on development projects is a mug’s game, we’ve all seen that on our TVs. I would add that small scale development projects controlled by locals using local resources work really well; unfortunately these are scarce and unevenly applied. The planet just doesn’t have a human distribution system that works without raping and killing the biosphere in the process of delivering goods and services. So supposing, just supposing that I DON’T want to throw up my hands and go, ya know, this problem is too big for one person. What would I do?

Well the first and most obvious thing is to sell the car. Paul and I are looking at our options about that, because the Soob, in every other respect a fabulous vehicle, is a complete frikkin gas hog. The next most obvious thing is to stop eating meat. The third most obvious thing is to support land and nature conservancy efforts, at least the ones that appear to be working. The fourth thing is to start growing as much of our own food as possible. Then there are a whole bunch of things that flow out of these things, but they are all really little. The big ones are gas and meat. Now I know that my consumption reductions, such as they have been, mean nothing. And I’m angry that private aviation and drag racing and muscle cars are going away, which means that I’m not really very grownup about all the changes that are facing us. But at least I’m past the point of feeling inert. I’m going to go around and be my true self. I’m going to be an unpleasant cow, and I will post the results here. Up next; letters to local politicians.

W
2005-04-02— Posted by: allegra

W, after work, on a Friday, in the golf course club house where we repair to suck back beer (and tequila shots) and eat nachos (and drink wine) means, not el Presidente, but work. Work this week has had a surreal, Gonzo quality that is hard to exactly describe. I just went back and read the terms of my employment, and with that sobering document seared into my cerebellum, I deleted the next two sentences. It’s not bad, it’s just… impolitic.

Tonight was amazing on So Many Counts. First, 3/4’s of the original lunch bunch, from the old days, reunited. Our 4th, the wonderful man, is currently in India wandering around by himself having epiphanies. I didn’t even think to raise a glass on his account, but that’s okay. Next count… I took my bra off without taking off my shirt. I love doing that. It’s so much easier to be that kind of extremophile than pay for tattoos – if you’re going to be extreme and bizarre. Count off the next thing…the twins were there. They aren’t twins, but they are dynamite together. And Jim drove me down and Jerome took me home. I FINALLY HAVE his nephew’s name, it’s Julian. All the Dunnett fans will snicker behind their hands, if they don’t pull a face, but before I knew about the House of Niccolo series, I thought Julian was a great name and I’m happy with it. And found out that Jim is thinking of girls’ names like Madeleine (or however he and his lady wife Carol wish to spell it).

Brief aside; I don’t think I ever explained, ma, what I mean by “your lady wife”. When I say that, in conversation or in print, I mean three very specific, linked things. I am saying “I respect your marriage”; I am saying “your wife/s.o./partner is worthy of respect” and I am saying “it appears to me that you treat her well”. So I am compressing many positive opinions into three words… but if I don’t explain what I mean by that, it’s hard to appreciate why I say it and why I never say it sarcastically, although I may say it with asperity. Ma, I know how you are about winkling the last shreds of meaning from the shell of every word, so I thought I’d be discursive.

What else was wonderful. The waitress. What a doll.

And there was other stuff – crikey, I missed the new gal, who is an engineer. She seems really nice, but a bit overwhelmed by how we are. I mean, all this talk about dancing with Lashkar, nautch style, and then having my bra explode – this is the best part of ten years ago now, and I’m by no means as wild as I useta be – and it didn’t really explode, it kinda disassembled itself – is enough to put a nice girl off. And she’s a woman, OF COURSE, when I call her a girl it’s a backhanded way of saying I feel super old. But right now, I’m thinking good thoughts about good people, and we hardly talked about W at all. And I’m thinking about watching one coworker creep up the stairs to fart in another’s sleeping face. Actually, his boss’s sleeping face. That happened at the first party with coworkers at this company that I ever attended, almost 8 years ago now. They were both sitting across from me tonight, and they still know how to laugh.