AND THE VICE-PRESIDENT DESCENDED ON OUR PART OF THE GLOBE...

Cheney Bo-Reiney, Banana-nana-bo-beiney, fee-fi-fo-feiney... Cheney! visited our region yesterday spreading war cheer to the KVI faithful and, if the news was to be believed, elicited cheers and whoops from the soldiers at McChord as he raised the roof with morale-boosting exhortations such as "Defense isn't enough. We need to go on offense, and that's where you come in!" and the killer "We tremendously appreciate what you're doing!" adding that military personnel are "... putting your necks on the line."

Here, I hasten to point out to Cheney that it is he and this administration putting the necks of American soldiers on the line. I do not think, that as a gathering of individuals, American soldiers would one day elect to put their necks on the line and invade a fractious, cobbled-together nation full of hostiles. Maybe a few would, who knows. Anyway...



Following the war rally, Cheney, with the Missus in tow, hopped into their little jet and headed up Boeing Field way where they were shuttled to a Bellevue fundraiser for Republican Senatorial candidate, George Nethercutt, he of the Great 2000 Election Term Limits Campaign Pledge Fiasco and the Great 2003 "The story of what we've done in the post-war period is remarkable! It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day" Fiasco. It is an understatement to note how gratifying it is to see so many tax dollars spent to bankroll fundraising shuttling.

Naturally, nobody would like to see incompetento-extremo Patty Murray expunged from her Senate seat than me. The socialist Snore Whine from Shoreline has been party to all kinds of bad legislation, at home and in the Senate. George Nethercutt is a paltry alternative, a big government conservative the likes of which typify the Washington state Republican. I don't even know who the Libertarian candidate is and besides... it's probably a patchoulitarian whose platform issue is drug legalization and little else anyway.

While Nethercutt and Cheney were whooping it up inside the Bellevue Hyatt Regency on someone else's dime, the protestors and the counter-protestors huddled in the foggy streets outside and, remarkably, both sides were civil. I say "remarkably" because this is, after all, WTO Town. Every protest I have ever been to here has been a whacked out affair.

What gets me is that people will come up with, drive to, and participate in a rally for the gross misspending of their tax dollars. It's not lost on me that the Republican electorate is staunchly in the less government camp, even if shakily so, so why get all a-tizzy at official hypocrisy in action as if it's a good thing? Cheney should be doing his "job" as the Senate tie-breaker, not out campaigning for underlings while someone else foots the bill and in a sane world this would be recognized.

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING...

I'm one of those folks, rightly described as "jerks", that when they go gift-shopping tend to the purchasing of items that see worth for themselves in. In keeping with my tradition of shopping in this manner, today I went shopping for my father. My father, much like myself, is a man fond of the Western. The sparse vistas, the black and white morality plays, the frontier politics, the rugged individualism... what's not to love? Anyway, I bought him two oaters today, "Winchester '73" and "Shenandoah", both starring the indomitable Jimmy Stewart. Of the two, "Winchester '73" is the one I have seen most recently and liked it enormously as I know my father likewise does. This was the conciliatory purchase.

However, I piped up about "Shenandoah" the other day to my father, who deemed it "okay". I hadn't seen "Shenandoah" since I was about, oh... eight. At the latest. But, quite naturally, my interest was piqued by the ringing endorsement of the Mises site. To wit:



Shenandoah (1965)

This film starring Jimmy Stewart portrays a widower named Anderson at the time of the War between the States who refuses to join either side and just wants to be left alone. His crusty independence and anti-war attitude have made this film a libertarian favourite. As an exercise in nostalgia, Mr. Anderson's rugged individualism is enjoyable. But don't forget how impractical it is... What if Americans all started minding their own business like him? Imagine if all Americans, like Mr. Anderson, focussed primarily on raising virtuous, hard-working children and cultivating their own property instead of "accepting responsibility" as world leaders and getting involved in every two-bit border conflict on the globe and starving Iraqi children out. Here's some favourite quotes from the film:

"Virginia needs all of her sons, Mr. Anderson."
"That might be so, Johnson. But these are my sons. They don't belong to
the state. We never asked anything of the state & never expected anything."
"What's confiscate mean, Pa?" "Steal."
"Like all wars I suppose... The undertakers are winning it."

Well, damn it. I'm easy prey to these kinds of endorsements. So, I fed the Missus' bad Pop Punk/Emo habit by plunking down way too much money for the new A.F.I. disc and the two films for my father as well. He might be underwhelmed at the notion of getting "Shenandoah" for Christmas, but I dare postulate he ought to be thankful he got anything at all from his ingrate son and that, together, we will enjoy the shared experience of watching "Shenandoah", in all its individualist Technicolor glory, on Christmas afternoon while the shorties are obsoleting their new action figures.

And speaking of A.F.I., let me echo the words of Amazon customer "Scudpool":

"How does a band who's written great punk anthems like 'I Wanna Get A Mowhawk (But My Mom Won't Let Me)' end up writing sappy feel-sorry-for-yourself junk like 'The Great Disappointment'?"

My sympathy goes out to Scudpool, wherever he is.

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW

The other day I was listening to the over-produced sounds of Swedish anti-capitalist punk rock sensations THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY . Once upon a high school aged youth, I probably would have stood to the left of them.



They're pretty stylin', ain't they? Surely, they're thankful for the progression of technology that capitalism has wrought, elsewise how would their hair stay so stylishly tousled or their clothing be rendered from the finest synthetic material? Thankful, did I say thankful? Of course, I didn't. How could I?

Anyway, while immersed in this sonic soup several thoughts struck me. Naturally, I'm struck by the preponderance of collectivist views in supposedly individualist spheres like the arts. I'm far from the first to notice this contradiction but to the best of my knowledge I'm one of the few to agitate for a response to the call.

One of my favorite bands to this day is English Anarcho-Punk agit-prop superstars CRASS. What Crass are largely responsible for is codifying the punk equation with Anarchy, at least of the Kropotkin variety. To this day, the genre of "crust punk" or "peace punk" persists, though next to none of the new school approaches the cunning and brilliance of Crass (even the new projects of ex-Crass members, projects like Conflict and Schwarzeneggar). Punk has since it's generally accepted infacy flirted with politics of all kinds, but Crass were, for my tastes, the first to exemplify a consistent train of co-ordinated political thought and, most importantly, actually strove to live by those values.

Today, on a more mainstream front, we have Rage Against the Machine prior to their break-up and The (International) Noise Conspiracy selling Marxism to the kids and selling it well. Both bands compile in their liner notes "further reading" for their fans on the issues that concern them, a bibliography of Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky readers for the market to digest. I disagree, vehemently, with the political and economic ideals of these bands, but respect their way of doing the thing they love (which I defy them to do in their chosen economic systems were they to ever be implemented) and sharing their beliefs with their consumer base. This has been incredibly effective, even though both bands have been derided from certain sectors for being "sell-outs" for their appearances on MTV and, in the case of Rage, distributing their records through corporate conglomerate Sony.

Today, the classically liberal minarchist or anarcho-capitalist philosophies are in a kind of upswing. Our views have gained credence in sectors once thought unheard of and, as Lew Rockwell points out often, those in the know in "bureaucracy" tremble at the name "Rothbard". Mises.com sees tremendous amounts of web traffic and as I peruse over Amazon.com Lists, I find many that recommend a bibliography of liberty. I could almost say that I am truly optimistic.

But then, I consider art. Art is inextricably tied to commerce. Art is commerce. It wouldn't be there were there not a market and a supply for it. Governments deem it vital (to it's propagandistic end, sure). Art is, thankfully, everywhere. Yet it persists that art is linked to leftist causes and visions. Artists expound at length about their "visions", even as they tow a political line that is collectivist in nature and not traditionally (try ever) kind to individual points of view, especially as regards art.

The struggling artist today would do well to consider the fates of the fabulous achievements of the Soviet Avant-Garde in the 1920s. An outpouring of artistic brilliance and technical virtuosity flowered in the immediate days after the collapse of the Tsar. Dziga Vertov and V.I. Pudovkin and Sergei Eisenstein pushed the boundaries of film and their work stands as brilliant to this day. The Suprematicists pushed the boundaries of architecture and, even as socialists, made valuable contributions to Futurism. Agit-prop derived it's strengths from the diversity of the artists who contributed to it. While not at all Communists, Mikhail Bulgakov and Yevgeny Zamyatin were banging away at typewriters creating works of amazingly precient fiction (which of course led to their suppression later). Within a decade, all of this was gone. All art, as is the case in the hard left reality of bad ideas made policy, had become "state" art. Individualism was frowned on as a matter of policy and "Socialist Realism" was the only accepted standard. The danger to art that statism proposed was realized in the worst of ways as many artists faced imprisonment and destitution (destitution, it must be noted, that they shared with the rest of their countrymen) or, perhaps worst of all to the mind of the artists, were forced to create art they would never put name to in a free society.

Yet, strangely, artists continue to agitate for this kind of tyranny.

The Mises site is a true treasure. While simultaneously selling printed copies of works such as Mises' "Human Action", the site also offers such works for free as downloads. What fantastic altruism! The Mises Institute puts it all on the line for it's beliefs. Recognizing that, sadly, the Austrian School of economic thought remains an obscure curio of academia even as it gains new adherents every day, the Institute deflects the prospect of continued obscurity by actually, wonder of wonders, getting the word out.

But how effective is all this when the Left maintains a near-monopoly on the arts? Recognizing that the arts is truly the most public mouthpiece for getting their ideas across to a public at large that will consume socialist agit-prop as readily as it will a can of cola, Statism has gained the upper hand through it's feigned patronage of the arts. I truly believe that. More than any other resource, it is art that firmly cements the support for Statism in the mainstream. It is rare that I see the Mises contributor suggest or the liberty blogger actually suggest countering this stranglehold with an effluence of agit-prop art swinging the other way. Of course, that has everything to do with their own interests which may not coincide with a desire to manufacture art. Understandable.

Which is why I today issue a call to arms. The Austro-economic, classically liberal ethos needs a public face. Our views are as revolutionary and as radical as that of a band like Crass' anarcho-socialism was. So, like the flyer you'll find in any Indie record store, I'm putting out an advertisement.

SEEKING: Austro-economic classical liberals with a modicum of musical talent to play BASS, GUITAR, and DRUMS... and provide SAMPLES... for shit-kicking poli-rock band. Vocalist/lyricist frontman entrenched.

Remember the familiar visage of Che Guevera on a red background? The best-selling (ironic) poster of the Vietnam-era? Picture a Pop Art visage of Mises peering down regally from a college dorm room poster because some fantastically creative and popular band, at least on college radio playlists, promoted the writings he so selflessly left us.

THE WALL IS PEACE?

Jonathan Kay of the National Post has written a piece on the beautiful, peace-affirming, trade-friendly wall being constructed in Israel. Naturally, I'm not inclined to loll beneath the olive tree peering through rose-colored lenses at this one. I came across the article, again, on the message boards I'm striving to get away from. My retort:

Maximalist Palestinian delusions aside, the fence is in everyone's interests.

Right there, I take instant exception. Everyone's interests? Wishful thinking. This, quite obviously, negates the interests of those whose properties have been confiscated to build this wall (Israelis and Palestinians alike), primary means of sustenance altered if not outright destroyed by state seizure, neighborhoods and districts torn asunder by the arbitrary building of a razor-wire lined wall through their centers, and other state encroachments on private property. To excuse the negation of private property merely to accomodate state fiat is to excuse any other belligerent encroachments by the state.

What refrain do we always hear from the "Pro-Palestinian" crowd? That Israel's true intentions have always been to steal land. Since the construction of the Wall radically turns suspicion into reality, were this true or not before, it certainly lends legitimacy to the Palestinian position now. Further, mounting evidence indicates that much of the wall seems built to encapsulate water reservoirs in Israeli territory, IE, Israeli government fiat is seperating Palestinian municipalities from their traditional water sources. That's outrageous, and far from sating Palestinian discontent, expect these totalitarian measures to exacerbate it in spades.

Once a measure of security is restored in the region, Israel can slowly start making Palestinians richer, and help them build the institutions they'll need when they ultimately do get their own state.

By placing a gigantic barrier to trade right in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian co-operation, the author expects to see greater co-operation rise in time? Fat chance. Encircled and cut-off economically, how does the author in a million years expect to see Palestinians grow richer as a result? Oooh, wait, I see... "Israel can slowly"... try glacial-pace... "start making Palestinians richer". What are we talking about here, wealth redistribution? I can't fathom any other meaning from this statement in light of the reality of the Wall, which can have no other purpose other than crushing Palestinian... and even Israeli... economic prospects.

Netanyahu, who emphasized economic growth during his time as PM...

... and economic self-destruction now.

... describes an ambitious plan to create a train link from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean that would compete with the Suez canal for the transportation of Asian cargo to Europe.

Built by whom? The state or private interests? Why bother asking... it's the Israeli government, with the possible help of other governments I'm sure. With the net effect of benefitting mostly government coffers and bureaucrats and with no consideration for the true economic costs of the thing. I wonder... how over-budget will that go?

The West Bank (and perhaps even Jordan) would be linked into the rail network so that Palestinians could take part in the global economy.

As soon as their part in it can scale that Wall, right, Johnny Boy?

Another plan calls for joint industrial parks to be set up along the West Bank's border with pre-1967 Israel.

A plan? By whom? The Israeli government? So, they build these industrial parks (probably on some amount of confiscated land), there's still no guarantee any sane business would want to occupy these industrial parks once they're built. And will the IDF allow for any of these brave companies to provide for their own security once they take a chance on setting up shop there? No. That's the monopoly of the state in Israel.

In the present climate, all of this sounds like a pipe dream.

In any climate. It's top-down socialization of an economy and a heap of the totalitarianism that such socialization implies.

But recall that Mr. Netanyahu himself presided over just such an economic blossoming half a decade ago, a time during which Jews flocked to Ramallah's shops and Jericho's casino.

"Jews flocked"? What? Was there segregation there too?

No, I know. These are West Bank towns. I would posit that, unlike the author's point of view, it isn't exactly threat of death and dismemberment keeping Jews out of the West Bank now, it's their own government's military operations as much as anything else.

Those successes came to naught because Mr. Arafat and his lieutenants launched a terrorist war against Israel when Ehud Barak offered them their own country at Camp David.

Oh, yes. The Palestinian side isn't short on their own list of stupidity and statist excess either.

Once the fence is fully erected, they will no longer have that option.

Innovation arises in the damnedest of places. Has any IDF strategist ever heard of the catapault?

No doubt, Yasser Arafat and his PLO cronies do find the situation "urgent" -- but not, as Ms. Buttu suggests, because a tiny fraction of the West Bank's Palestinians will now have to pass through security gates to tend their olive trees. What they want is for the bloodletting to drag on until Israel gives in on everything, including the right of return for millions of Palestinians. As Mr. Netanyahu told me, "the reason [Palestinians] hate the fence is that it disarms the suicide bombers. That's why they're opposed to it -- because it's a weapon of peace."

Actually, "because a tiny fraction of the West Bank's Palestinians will now have to pass through security gates to tend their olive trees" has everything to do with it. All this piece is, is an apologia for State and a tirade against property rights and trade. Lenin would be pleased.

Palestinian leaders and activists despise the fence -- or, as they call it, Israel's "Apartheid Wall."

For one of those rare moments, the Palestinian "leadership" (gang of thugs more appropriately) is on the mark. It is an Apartheid Wall. Not only are the Palestinians restricted in this sense from engaging and cooperately peaceably with Israelis as well as, per the wishful thinking with the thing, the more nefarious inclinations... so too are Israelis from engaging with Palestinians. This isn't a panacea, it's the mistaken result of fervently believing that two wrongs will make a right. I'm very partial to Israelis as a people, but their government, like all government, plainly stinks.

DON'T LOSE IT

An AP article in my local paper covering the death of Sgt. Joseph Suell, ruled a suicide by the Army, was accompanied by a photograph that just tore me up this Thanksgiving; that of the broken widow of Sgt. Suell, Rebecca, cradling a portrait of the couple in happier times. The poor woman's seeking answers for her husband's puzzling death. I wouldn't hold my breath in anticipation of her receiving any satisfactory word, but my heart's with her in her quest and the rebuilding of her life from here.

The article was actually pretty good, even including at its tail end reference to a case that has troubled me since I first got word of it. The case in question is the unfortunate story of Staff Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany, who has "earned" the unfortunate distinction of being the first soldier charged with "cowardice" since the Vietnam War. Sgt. Pogany's crime, you see, was that he had the unmitigated gall to unfortunately bear witness to the mangled, torn-in-two body of an even more unfortunate Iraqi civilian and actually being human enough to be physically shaken by it. Compounding this infraction, he actually had the nerve to seek help for his rattled senses. The Army, in its profound and benevolent way, responded and took decisive action by ordering Sgt. Pogany home to face a court martial. The charges have been reduced to "simple" dereliction of duty, but it remains beyond the pale that he still faces a court martial at all.

Note to deployed soldiers in hot zones the world over: If the stress of combat starts to wear on you mentally, DON'T SEEK HELP. It's better to flake out in the field, isn't it, rather than to face prison time back home.

EDIT: Apparently, a married couple faced cowardice charges during the Gulf War but were not convicted. No U.S. combat soldiers have been convicted of cowardice since Vietnam.

THE SHAPE OF THINGS

Yeah, thus far the blog is piss. Easily explained. The author of said blog knows next to nothing of HTML. Easily overcome as well, as it is all simply a matter of one teaching oneself that which he does not yet know.

Or...

Is foolish enough to blunder headlong into a brisk series of tutorials that will leave nary an imprint and leave the student none the wiser. I am not chastened. It could very well be, like most human technological and scientific advancements, that through a combination of foolish pride and poking around where one probably shouldn't in any other conceivable model might actually result in something good and beneficial and... the point really, interesting.

One hopes.

ASTROPOLIS

People who know me and have long agitated in waves of radical paroxysm on a par with the English Corn Riots of the mid-19th century for the creation and regular maintenance of a blog by yours truly, at long last... you shall be sated!

I had grand, marvelous designs for that which would realize itself as my first blog post. Great blueprints were drawn, long-distance phone calls were placed, expensive consultants were hired. But in the end, we here at astropolis blog Inc. opted instead for the lo-tech, low-key approach... that is to say, cheaply wallowing in ego-centrism and hyperbole.

About myself for the uninitiated. Hmmm... well. Where to begin, where to begin? At the beginning then...

On Valentine's Day, 1976, I was conceived. I, like you in my audience, do not wish to be burdened by the icky details of my physical creation, so we shall fast-forward approximately nine months to November 16th, a day that found me gulping in my first fresh oxygen and witnessing my first light of day on the 13th floor of St. Joseph's Hospital in Tacoma, Washington. That same afternoon, Mr. Universe and struggling actor Arnold Schwarzeneggar was visiting the sick and the infirm quarantined and shacked up within the walls of that very same hospital. What glorious (if not vicarious) beginnings!

Now, 27 years and a day later, I find myself self-professing to be a "minarchist" bordering on "anarcho-capitalist", or "classically liberal", or just plain "libertarian". By trade, I am what millions worldwide describe as a "struggling, unemployed screenwriter seeking to direct". I live in scenic Tacoma, Washington again after failed stabs at living in other municipalities and daily I find myself fuming at the Soviet Socialist Republic my state of birth has made itself. This blog shall find me obsessing on those things that interest me most, namely:

MYSELF. FILMS. MUSIC. ECONOMICS. AND A BUNCH OF OTHER SHIT.