When Freedom is More Than Whatever the State Wants You to Be

Conformity in America is one of the most abhorrent thing about the country and the political situation just now is crawling with it.  Cadillac Man said Obama has sixty percent approval but that only goes to show what happens when you're tagged as a Communist if you don't believe him.  He's off to the basic Bill Clinton lecture tour / foundation gravy train now to finally dispel any idea there's one iota of difference between the corruption of white and black politicians.

I was advised minutes ago that Lady Gaga is a no talent slut by some Trump drone who probably doesn't even realize the simple role he plays.  I advised him talent exists regardless of his ability to recognize it which explains why she's a star and he's a Twitter carp.  I recommended he consider Taylor Swift, the virgin queen of sobriety and vacuity.


The Rockhouse is so sick to fucking death of the cowardice of conformity so any time I find someone stepping beyond it anywhere is a reason to celebrate.  My ol' Dad was a part of that cowardice in saying 'drugs destroyed the best minds of the generation' but the drugs didn't do that; the destruction was in failing utterly to give those minds any idea of what they could do.

In "Roots," Kunta Kinte held up his baby to the stars and said, "Behold the only thing greater than yourself."

That was great in a movie but the thing people are reminded constantly in America is the state is greater than yourself with the consequence nowhere in the world waves flags with greater fervor while killing Indians and poor people in Flint unless you move to Israel.

Ed:  are you really turning on your ol' Dad?

He made mistakes and I made mistakes so my observation is people make mistakes.  On that basis, there's no reason to indict anyone unless I indict everyone.


Lotho's thinking was somewhat limited in a similar way but in that case it became tempered with some actual field knowledge so it wound up being most focused on a war on heroin and many talk of doing something about it but he really does.  There's still the thinking that ganja robs initiative but, bro, that comes from the same crew which didn't even try to keep up with the giant hours I was pulling while I was trying to learn computers and systems.  It was the same crew which hooted when I tried skiing in Ohio.

Note:  the entire family wound up skiing Ohio ... before the ones who really got it branched out to mountain skiing although I'm not sure if anyone made it to ski the Alps.

From this stoner's perspective and real world experience, it's the straight ones who are lazy, lack initiative, and are reluctant to try new things.  That's been my observation ever since first hearing "Surrealistic Pillow" and then discovering it was banned in Cincinnati.  It's now fifty years later and the observation remains the same.

When the truth is found to be lies
And all the joy within you dies
Don't you want somebody to love, don't you ...


The above may in part come from the Eldest Brother Phenomenon which indicates I would be more likely to try things anyway.  The field test shows some truth in that since I was the one willing to go sailing off on the mattress in Sydney and I was the one who got my foot all cut to hell when I jumped ship.  Doc, my next younger brother, saw that so he didn't need to get his foot all cut to hell.

Ed:  so maybe you would have tried more new things if you had not started blowing reefer?

Good science does demand that possibility but, given the damage rate from the things I did try, I never would have lasted.  I was probably about ten when I got my foot all slashed.  As some of you saw when I cracked-up the scooter in France, that damage rate never really changed all that much.

Ed:  you hadn't been stoned in a year when that happened!

Yah, the science is tough to glean from the flow of things.


Cadillac Man may have something to offer on the Eldest Brother Phenomenon since my general observation is I was getting myself torn up all the time from trying things.  I had no noble motive of preventing my brothers and sisters from doing such things but they would see them and presumably think, 'no way I'm doing what that dumb ass just did.'


Ed:  will you ever get around to telling us what Chewbacca the Wookie is doing?

I know this much that he's wearing a costume for a dress rehearsal of something but beyond that I'm not sure except it's not just some lamer shooting yet another fake Bigfoot video.

Note:  fundamental rule of cellphone cameras is they are always in generally good focus except when taking pictures of Bigfoot or UFOs.


The repugnance at conformity is a large part of turning off the news.  I do see it but there's little worthy of comment beyond throwing off a Tweet but that's just taking Blows against the Empire and watering them down to twitter like fucking birds ... which means there's nothing to report from Twitter either.


The doctor said there's some damage to the optic nerve so he wants a better scan to discover the extent of it.  I deferred mentioning my frequent engagement with lasers of which the best blue one is one hundred and fifty times more powerful than the laser pointers they use in meeting rooms.  I really didn't need to hear, "You did fucking what???"

Note:  I'm well aware if I take that baby outside and use it indiscreetly then I'll be off to the Fed pigpen faster than you can say, "Bernie Madoff."

That was one of the lasers I used outdoors in TN at Lotho's place but all of them were aimed at the trees at the back of the property and there was zero potential for going airborne.  As observed in the glorious recent proctological plumbing paradise, there's zero damage to the rearmost aspect of my anatomy and I'm more than pleased to keep it that way as in continuing an exterior perspective relative to any jail.

Those lasers looked so damn cool up there and cinematic technology may not even exist which can fully capture live lasers projected outdoors.  I did try and maybe I can find the video.

Note:  there is zero crisis about this nerve damage as it appears to be mileage for old age and it comes to glaucoma with some.  There's not a history of that in the family so I'm not particularly concerned and it's slow in any case.


Irrelevant rock trivia:  Ken Bacon and his long-time wife got cleaned out by Bernie Madoff as he made off with their savings.  I mention that as rock trivia since he apparently likes to play a Fender Telecaster although I'm not sure in what capacity.

I'm glad I looked for the music.  Meet the Bacon Brothers and check out the harmonies.




That was a great surprise.  They're good at it and no pretense of any kind.  They get a good foot-tappin' vibe going and I kind of expected Bacon would be good but he's better than I imagined.

Hat tip.