Your Not So Humble Narrator

Part IV, A New Direction

A Camera and a Gun

They're more similar than you think...

Both of them shoot...

Both of them have the ability to destroy lives and careers...

Both of them are linked to some level of guilt or responsibility...

Both can serve as evidence, in the right arena...

Both have the ability to change the world; and both have...

Both come in black...

Both can have telescoping lenses...

Both have sights...

Both have triggers...

Both can be rapid-fire...

Both can be modified to one's specifications...

Both can be dangerous, in the wrong hands...

Both can be concealed easily...

Both have cartridges of varying capacities...

Both have been used to take down political figures...

Both are seen as symbols of Constitutional Amendments...

Both require a human to operate them...

Both are viewed as symbols of revolution...

Both must be operated with proper timing and skill...

Both require training or instruction...

Both come in a variety of styles...

Both are found on all corners of the planet...

Enthusiasts of each are equally crazy...

Both can settle or escalate an argument...

Both have fatefully found people in compromising positions...

Both have been used by James Bond...

Both are found in most American households...

Both can be used as a tool; although, I wouldn't recommend using either one as a hammer...

Both can come with a strap and/or case...

Both are commonly used in the wilderness...

Both are commonly used by people working abroad...

Both are used by the military...

Both have been, at times, mounted on various vehicles...

… and personally, I don't like haring either one pointed at me.

Strange, isn't it, how two things so different can have so much in common?

Pointing a Few Middle Fingers

We saw it with the Massey Mining Company.

We saw it with BP, Transocean, and Halliburton.

And now, we've seen it with the West Texas Fertilizer Company.

We've seen it time and time again... profit over life... many of us have lived it, ourselves... and now, a pattern repeats itself.

We all remember the tragedies associated with these companies; yet, we fail to make the simple connection linking them all...

Not a single one of them thought enough of their piddly employees or neighbors to ensure their safety. When it came to improving conditions, they bought their way out of it with bribes to Congress by means of “lobbyists”... and their greed cost human lives, and continue to!

These bribes lowered standards and reduced the numbers of regulators to the point that they were too swamped to do their job...

… and now, in Texas, we have a SPECIAL case, in that Rick Perry BRAGS about the deregulation that's “bringing businesses to Texas.” First of all, the VAST majority of jobs that have moved in are MINIMUM WAGE jobs! What fuckin' good is that going to do for a father of two?

Minimum wage... do you realize what 'minimum wage' ACTUALLY means??? 'Minimum wage' means,

“... well, we WOULD pay you less, but we can't... you're really only a peon...”

… and, given the fact that businesses can get away with almost ANYTHING in Texas, minimum wage jobs are moving in, because employers KNOW that they don't have to give a shit about their employees there!

Do we REALLY need any more evidence that these douchebags don't give a fuck about the lives of ANYONE else??? They all knew the risks their employees and neighbors were taking, and they simply didn't care... as long as it saved them a few bucks.

Consider this... employer abuses now are as high or higher than they were... (are you ready for this?)... during THE GREAT DEPRESSION!!!

Yes, there it is again... the Depression... we've seen it in relation to worker compensation, wealth distribution, and reckless Wall Street behavior... and yes... working conditions.

They wanted child labor. They fought a minimum wage. They fought a 40 hour work week. They fought against safe working conditions. They fought it all, because it was eating into their paychecks... and they're STILL doing it today!!!

The upper echelons of the business world have become entirely held by sociopathic blue-blood narcissists, and THIS is what we get for it!!! You can't even call what we get “table scraps” at this point... we get the “pity” pay...

“Here you are... now, go away before you get your 'poor' on me... and don't touch the pool... I'd hate to have to drain it... stay on the plastic, please... off the carpet...”

So what if a few of the lost little lemmings die... there are SO MANY of them... and they just keep making more... they're so CUTE!

Don't you get it yet??? That's how they see us!!! If they didn't, they would have the conscience not to do the things that have taken the lives of so many of the people. If they actually DID care about their employees, they would actually put SOME effort into making safer conditions for the people who make them their fortunes!

Business these days is run like a slaughterhouse. For every one slaughtered, there's another cow coming right in behind to fill the exact same position. So, why take care of them, when they're so easily replaceable?

For a long time, they only paid people enough to keep them from bitching. These days, they don't care how much people bitch... you'll take what you get and you'll LIKE it, or you'll get FIRED for bitching when you should be working!

Employers have us by the balls, because they KNOW it's a shitty economy out there, and they KNOW that you HAVE TO take it, because you'll just get more of the same shit for less money at the next place that tricks you into joining their ranks with silver-forktongue promises without telling you that you have to be there ten years before you get a nickel's raise.

But is anybody in Washington talking about this??? FUCK NO!!! Why??? Because “We the People” don't have a LOBBYIST!!!

Wanna know the fucked up thing???

WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO HAVE ONE!!! That job SHOULD be filled by the ASSHOLES WE ELECT!!!

At what point does corporate “lobbying” get recognized for what it is... corporate oppression?!

My friends, we've been placing our efforts in the wrong places.

Many of us recognize this for what it is... a silent class war.

We tried to make a change with “Occupy”... but sights were set too high. We were attacking the wrong first target.

If you want the advantage, you first take out the infrastructure with which they arm themselves, so that when they're out of ammo, they're just out; and they can't fire any more shots.

Considering the fact that their ammunition is the money that's flooding into Washington, the first target should be the LOBBYING FIRMS; not the banks, themselves.

The banks are soulless. Asking them to change their ways is no different than asking Charles Manson politely to abandon “Helter Skelter”... which is why you have to take down the “Manson Family” first!

So, what we SHOULD be doing, is making it as hard as possible for these lobbying firms to conduct business! Every time they have a meeting, someone should be RIGHT THERE with a microphone and a video camera!

Those assholes should be shadowed the same way the Paparazzi follows Britney Spears!!!

In fact, TMZ, I'm tired of your shallow, exploitative bullshit! Why don't you direct your efforts somewhere that's ACTUALLY productive for society! Why don't you start following the assholes that might be committing FELONIES, rather than the people who might at some point commit a 'nip-slip?'

I don't give a FUCK about 'who got fat,' or about who's pregnant with who's kid, or who's cheating on who...

NONE OF IT MAKES A FUCKIN' DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!!! IT'S NONE OF OUR FUCKIN' BUSINESS!!!

You have so-called “journalists” who can find out that J-Lo has a mosquito bite on her ass from three miles away, but you can't use that same team to expose the lobbyists and Congresspeople for the douchebags they are??? Come the fuck on... do the right thing for a change... then, maybe... JUST MAYBE... America won't be seen as the shallow assholes we've become to the rest of the world...

… for fuck's sake...

Colorado is NOT A "Purple" State!

Perhaps this post is ill-timed, given the fact that election season is over, but I feel this has to be said...

I'm tired of people in the media describing Colorado as a “Purple” State.

I've been here my whole life, and I can tell you, with most certainty, that Colorado is neither a “Red” State nor a “Blue” State; but we're not “Purple” (meaning, our elections could go either way).

While it's true that Colorado went both times for Bush and both times for Obama, I can tell you with absolute certainty that this is not a determinate factor in our politics. Those factors barely scratch the surface of our dynamic.

Here's the truth (whether you like it or not)... Colorado is more of a Libertarian State than one that “swings.” The voters here are somewhat savvy when it comes to rationality and understanding of complicated issues.

Colorado is a very intelligent State by the numbers. As a State, we have the third highest number of College Graduates per capita in the Country. Here in Denver, libraries are easily found, as well as book stores coffee shops (like the place I choose to write all this shit... shout out to Fireside Books and Coffee, on Hampden and Delaware... stop in and have a look around... this place is GREAT). We're a very literate state!

We also have the highest concentration of breweries in the Country; which dictates our love of diversity and originality in tastes. This is also given emphasis by our eclectic collection of international cuisine.

Colorado is a haven for people who have a hard time finding where they belong. I've always been a very social person, so I wind up talking to lots of different people at the bars I frequent (like Sancho's Broken Arrow, the Doghouse, and Armida's Karaoke Bar). Somewhere between a third and a half of the people I meet have the same story... either they know someone here, or they heard this was a cool place, so they moved here and fell in love with Colorado.

The majority of these people felt “out of place” in their former home for one reason or another. As a result, Colorado (or, at least, Denver) has become the cultural equivalent of the “Island of the Misfit Toys.” We have a very large LGBT population, a very large geek population, and a SHITLOAD of stoners (which is a GOOD thing... and supposedly, Woody Harrellson, one of the “stoner kings,” is rumored to be moving here in light of Amendment 64)!

Our small towns aren't as “rural” as the small towns in most of the rest of the country. We have some VERY “liberal” small towns, like Breckenridge, Colorado City, and Monument. The “Conservative rural town” isn't as present here as it is in other parts of the country.

Colorado's politics are basically controlled by our four largest cities: Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder, and Fort Collins. These four cities might as well be separate countries. Boulder is the most “Liberal” of the four cities, being that it has several colleges; and Colorado Springs (the City I try to avoid like the plague... it's a whole different universe) is the most “Conservative,” being the home of the Air Force Academy and the original home of “Focus on the Family” (which recently moved to Highlands Ranch; the most wealthy and conservative suburb of Denver... Mike “The Lying Douchebag” Coffman's district). Denver and Fort Collins, however, are not as “Liberal” as the rest of the country would like to believe.

People here have a strong attachment to individual rights and a “mind your own fuckin' business” attitude with regards to law making. This is why we were able to decriminalize marijuana, legalize medicinal marijuana, and eventually fully legalize marijuana. This is also why I believe that we will see marriage equality in the near future (our Statehouse already legalized “civil unions” this year).

Being mostly rational, intelligent people, we have found a balance; not between Democrats and Republicans; but between Liberals and Libertarians.

Maybe it's just the crew I run with, but the majority of the people I meet tend to fall right down the middle of this dividing line.

I'll be honest... I like it that way. The Libertarians here are much more rational than Teabaggers or “typical” Republicans. You can ACTUALLY have a REAL conversation with people, without it dissolving into “YER JUST A LIBURUL DEMUCRAT COMMIE!” People openly and freely express their opinions, and discuss them at length (and yes, even in bars... I know... that's supposed to be a “no-no”; but it works here).

I love the friendly, approachable nature of our populous. We're easy and fun to engage; and place great pride in the fact that we can have a reasonable conversation about virtually any topic; even the ones that are somewhat “touchy.”

As a result of our somewhat Libertarian populous, the determinate factor in a State-wide or National election isn't so much WHO'S running, but what they represent. However, if voters in Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins sit out an election (as we saw in 2000 and 2004), the Theocrats in Colorado Springs have a disproportionate voice to the rest of the State, which makes us LOOK “purple.” When this happens, the rest of us RATIONAL people get pissed. However, we learn from our mistakes, so when these things happen, they usually get corrected in the next election cycle.

Colorado is the greatest place on Earth! Come and see for yourself... you'll quickly learn that everything I've said is accurate and true!

To the media, I'd like to say this...

STOP calling us a “purple” state! If you want the straight beef, ASK THE PEOPLE HERE! We LIKE to engage in these conversations! We LIKE to talk about politics! Any chance we get to share in the glory of Colorado, we take it!