Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

(A lof of my fans are Deadheads, but my own musical style isn't as cmpatible
with that sound as people tend to think.  But that's not for this topic.
<inkwell.vue.107> has more about me.)

I am not sure it's necessary or worthwhile to indict the Grateful Dead for
not being more political.  I think maybe they were making sure that there was
a place to celebrate no matter what else was going on.
  

    


I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that deadhead Senator Leahy is
co-sponsor of the "Rave Act"...  the most absurd piece of drug war
legislation yet (with the possible exception of the Methamphetamine
bill that got squashed a few years ago.)  The "Rave Act" of course
would have made the sponsors of the Trips Festivals subject to lengthy
jail terms merely for providing the space...   In fact, technically it
would make the sponsors of any Grateful Dead, Other Ones, Willie
Nelson, Whitney Houston, Eminem, Bob Dylan, baseball, football...  etc.

Anyway, this is a nice love-in we're having here, but really... what
ABOUT Al Queda, and weaponized smallpox, and Jihadism?  Since 9/11, I
feel like "we" (counterculture lefties) are as much on automatic as
they (mainstreamers and rightwingers) are...

Things have changed... complexified enormously.  Any solutions?
  

    
Well if they had LISTENED to US (counterculture lefties), a long time
ago, NONE of this would be a problem.  U.S. foreign policy has been a
disaster and has had the effect of radicalizing -- actually
"reactionizing" -- whole groups of Middle Easterners.  But I agree that
the question is what do we do know?

I wish I could say, "pull out of Israel and stop supporting the Saudis
and everything will be all right" but the genie is out of the bottle
-- no Hollywood Arab stereotypes meant here -- and I don't how to get
rid of him/them.  We should feverishly be building alternative and
green energy sources, of course, but I don't know how long that would
take to get us off the Mid-East teat.

I hate Islmamic fundamentalists but also hate Christian and Jewish
fundamentalists.  Personally, a jihad against ALL religion would be
fine with me, but I -- ahem -- don't think there'd be popular support.

I'm not sure there IS any hope, Sirius (there's me doin' the yo-yo
dance, Krass).  Personally, next year -- Canada, sounds like a viable
option.

I just woke up so I am lacking pith.  But I agree that your question
is the important one.  How do we reconcile our freak flags and
libertarian communism while Al-Qaeda is flying planes into us?  
  

    
Of course the option of capturing Osama and giving him a sex change op
has always seemed like the Yippie solution.
  

    


From Christopher Meyer:

> I can understand where you're coming from on your "jihad on all religion"
> comment, but i'd have to say that it's misinformed.  It seems liberals
> today dismiss Chrisitanity as Republican-made, because of the image
> portrayed by, say, the Conservative Coalition (which i shudder to capital-
> ize, pardon the pun), which would lead you believe that Christianity is all
> about establishing capitalist theocracies, being a "good citizen," and
> drilling for oil.  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth!  Jesus
> was and is all about the poor, the biggest pacifist ever, and anything but
> a "letter of the law" conservative.  Do you think the Prince of Peace is
> glad that George W Bush is shipping israel weapons in His name?!
  

    

Reminder: off-WELL readers are invited to send comments or questions to
inwell-hosts@well.com for posting in the discussion.
  

    
Simmons: Yeah, I agree, in the sense that there is a countercultural
continuity, so that  for example the Ruckus Society is a sort of
descendant of the Yippies even if members never heard of them, just as
many comedians today are descendants of Lenny Bruce--who served as a
pioneer for the free speech they take for granted--even if they never
saw him perform.
  

    

> even if members never heard of them

I wonder about this.  Reinventing the wheel is actually a lot of fun
but having models to crib from allows for faster evolution.  Maybe 
the Web and its searchability can begin to give underground satirists 
and political artists the advantages of true continuity, where they can 
steal from their predecessors an not just run on reaction and creativity.

On the other hand, a youth movement needs that rediscovery. I think.
Wasn't it important that the old farts mostly didn't get it?  

Paul, do you still get speaking gigs on campuses and other places where 
people are able to distrust those over 30 these days?  I bet you do. 
Has that circuit and audience changed in the last decade?  

(I should probably say Hi here -- I was in group that was briefly listed 
in your speakers bureau years back, the Plutonium Players ... featuring 
Ladies Against Women, Reagan for Shah and other ficticious satiric 
inorganizations.)
  

    
Reading here made me hunger for more, MORE Krassner! I just subscribed
to the Ironic Times.
Mmm, delicious! 

Now, I need to buy the book. 
I noted in Carlin's intro that he still has his back copies of The
Realist, stored in a red, white and blue bag from the convention in
Chicago, 1968. I wish *I* did (a sad lesson learned: don't store your
stuff at your parents' house, even if they _are_ old lefties, because
someone _else_ might come along and "clean out" the attic). 
Do you have enough archived to sell any of the old issues, Paul? 
  

    
To Christopher:
      Firstly, I'm not a liberal.  I'm somewhere between an anarchist,
a communist and a surrealist.  
       Secondly, I'm fully aware that capitalist Christianity is an
oxymoronic concept.  I also believe in freedom of religion, so do what
thou wilt, to quote Aleister Crowley.  I also think that people who
worship some cat who died 2000 years ago as being anything other than
an effective activist (i.e., son of god, etc.) are deluded. 
Theoretically the First Amendment gives me the right to say organized
religion has been mostly disastrous and you the right to praise Jesus
however you see fit.
      I say "theoretically" because the Constitution has been at least
partially suspended by the Christian currently sitting in the White
House as well as the Christian Attorney General who rubs Crisco into
his forehead, thinks dancing is a sin, and spent 8 grand to cover up a
single tit on a statue.
       One of my best friends is a practicing Methodist lay minister,
albeit a left-winged one, but even he laughs when I refer to Christians
as "lion-bait". 
  

    
Actually I've decided "what" I really am.

I'm a fundamentalist relativist.
  

    
Hi, Gail--yes, I occasionally do a one-person show at colleges and
other venues; I'll be performing at the Beverly Hills Library at 7 on
Monday, December 16.  The audiences transcend the so-called generation
gap, having in common that they are hungry for intelligent satire
instead of easy reference jokes as seen on TV and in comedy clubs.   It
seems that the greater the repression, the greater the need for
irreverence.
  

    
Hey, Jenny--Ironic Times is run by a couple of friends, but I'm not a
contributor, although I'll pass on your enthusiasm to them.  Are there
any specific issues of The Realist that you're interested in? 
Actually, Murder At the Conspiracy Convention includes some recent
pieces from The Realist, as do a couple of my other books;  check out
my Web site, paulkrassner.com
  

    
Simmons wrote: and spent 8 grand to cover up a
single tit on a statue.
• • •
and how much does it cost to cover up a married tit these days?
  

    
Simmons wrote: 

I'm a fundamentalist relativist.
***
I was once listed in Who's Who in America as an independent dupe.
  

    
Haha!!

About Ironic Times. Oh. Silly me. I should have known. Though quite
funny, it didn't exactly have your depth of...somethingorother. Depth. 

I have checked out your website, of course, and will order the books.
Liked Kurt Vonnregut's intro very much, by the way. 

I'd dig ANY of the great old The Realists, actually. I'll email you to
ask for further info.  

Meanwhile, since I haven't read the books yet, I don't know what to
ask you about your take on more current affairs. (Thinking perhaps you
may sometimes tire of reminiscing, though of course, we would love any
stories you have, I'm sure). 

Who else is in the Counterculture Hall of Fame, I wonder? 
  

    
Jenny writes: 

Who else is in the Counterculture Hall of Fame, I wonder?

Bob Marley, Louis Armstrong, Mewzz Mezzrow, Jack Kerouac, Neal
Cassady, allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Ina May Gaskin (founder of
the midwife movement).

Incidentally, my e-mail is pkrassner.com

Keep flying...
  

    
Jenny, my take on the most current affair is that this may be the
first time in history that a country is being forced to disarm before a
war against them begins.  And here's a brief oldie but goldie: during
the '60s, when abortion was illegal, I ran an underground referral
service.  I received many phone calls, and one time a woman called
about lateness, and I told her I could put her in touch with a safe
doctor; she didn;t know what I was talking about since she was calling
about the lateness of her subscription to The Realist.
  

    
Oops!  Jenny, I goofed on my own website!  It's
pkrassner@earthlink.com
  

    
Jenny, I can't believe this, but my actual--not website, but e-mail
address--is pkrassner@earthlink.com    the message here is that too
many .coms spoil the brash.
  

    
doesn't come up for me at either earthlink.net or earthlink.com.
  

    
This is really crazy.  I did it again and then acted as if I didn't. 
Okay, now, for the last time, my e-mail address is
pkrassner@earthlink.net    Whew!!!
  

    
OK, that explains why it doesn't load, but are you sure it's not:

pkrassner@earthlink.net
  

    
Slippage, with the real goods.
  

    
I've  heard the old  joke about the gypsy recipe that begins, "First
you steal a chicken..."--but what's the context of  "First you steal a
bicycle?"