Pressure relief valve entry

Here's a drawing that I made using my computer's art program. It's titled "Apple Banana Orange Worm". Its price is $50,000 USD.

Dear diary,

For a spell, I stopped recording my daily thots and began to work on a continuous text called Same Story. I wrote about twenty or more sections of that composition, but now I’m gonna take a break from that and go back to aimless writing.

Actually, I’ll either write or not, aimlessly or adding to the ongoing saga, whenever I like.

But I need to pull back from writing, because I’ve been writing too much, and in consequence I haven’t been getting any work done on this house — as you know, I bought a bad house that needs to be made better, and too many days are passing without any progress.

Yet despite my intention to ease back from writing so much, I’m writing an entry today because…

No reason.

So, anyway, what’s been going on?

Nothing. The holidays passed, and I got overstressed as usual. In short: fun times.

And now the election season is upon us. I watched the last of the Democratic primary debates a few nights ago, and it was rock-bottom stupid. I really enjoyed it. (Truly, I hated it; but I live in the suburbs now, so I must lie about everything.)

The American Revolution was a colonial revolt which occurred between 1765 and 1783. The American Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War with the assistance of France, winning independence from Great Britain and establishing the United States of America.

That’s a quote from an encyclopedia. My favorite part about the American Revolution is that it was the first non-violent revolution ever to happen. Because the U.S. broke away from Britain so that the Civil Rights Movement could be established. What happened is that Britain was against the concept of Goodness, but the United States wanted to treat all people equally and have a nationalized health care service. So the American Patriots performed a series of non-violent protests, which had the effect of causing the British populace to vote for the independence of the Thirteen Colonies (thus they deserve thanks). And, from that point forward, Britain made a fortune trading slaves, while the U.S.A. became the world’s top automobile manufacturer. Profits from both countries were shared by all, and now mankind lives exclusively on Mars.

What else has been happening?

Well, it’s been snowing a lot. We’re supposed to get a blizzard this weekend, in fact. The threat has been penciled in to start today, at 12:06 noon, and it’s scheduled to last until 6:13 pm on Saturday. Very strong northwest winds gusting to 60 mph (which happens to be the speed limit on most highways around these parts) will develop on Sunday, and this should blow our Christmas lights down. I’m talking about the Christmas lights that we, specifically — the Ray Family — hung from our roofline. (We’re not really a family: it’s just me and my sweetheart.) The reason for this is as follows:

Christmas is commanded by the Bible to exist for two weeks, not a day more; but, this year, Christmastime has extended well into January — that’s more than a month! Or at least not much less than a month. And when God needs to deal with a moral outrage, he sends in his winds. That’s why so many towers and bridges throughout human history have toppled over and blown up. This explains the Lisbon earthquake.

Also I’ve been thinking about how we can manage to enjoy another revolution, but without all the bothersome marches and sit-ins of the initial revolution, which created this country. And I see the problem as centered in a few specific areas:

1. The police
2. Armed guards of all kinds (who protect private enterprises)
3. Military forces on land, air, & sea

These are the groups that will make it difficult for any rebellion to become sufficiently revolutionary. Cuz what happens is this:

You wake up each morning and shout out the window to your neighborhood, “Give ear, O neighborhood, for I am addressing you now. Lo, it is still dark out, the sun has not yet risen, therefore WHY ARE WE ALL PLANNING ON GOING TO WORK AND ALLOWING MONEY TO RUIN EVERYTHING AGAIN!?” For, every single day, we all get up from our creaky bed, take a shower, then eat one donut & drink six cups of coffee, smoke many cigarettes, make a nosedive into our car and then sit in traffic. We never even reach the office. Then we cash our paycheck at a bank, and we pay the same bank to allow us to drive our own car & to sleep in our own house.

Now if the bank sez “We’re stealing your car from you, and we’re stealing your house as well.” You of course do not want this. So you protest by writing a letter back to the bank and saying “I prefer to keep our baby.” But then the bank sends over the police: they knock down your door and murder you. Case closed: Fate wins.

This is why I wonder: Who would emerge victorious, in a battle of the police versus the U.S. military? A non-thinking person might think that the military would win, because the military has forces that live on land, underwater, & up in the air. But you’re forgetting one thing: The police have military-grade armaments now. So it would be a draw.

But the police would never fight the U.S. military, because they are friends. You never hurt the ones you love.

OK, so what about the armed guards who stand in front of the glass doors of the bank. What if the U.S. military and the local policemen all lost their houses, because the bank sent them all hatemail? And even a few policewomen lost their squad cars, cuz they couldn’t keep up with the payments. Then what?

Then you’d get to watch a battle royal: the U.S. military and all the police in the world would stand on one side of the globe, and the armed guards and mercenaries of private corporations would stand facing them, aiming their tommy guns, on the opposite hemisphere.

So, who would win this skirmish? Obviously the private corporations would survive, for they are the fittest; also because government is incompetent, and the local police and U.S. military are just offshoots of the government, whereas mercenaries, hired thugs, and mobsters all work for the private sector.

But what if all the private corporations were to infiltrate the government, and take over the police and the military, so that they get all their guys and gals working on the inside, and these so-called public servants are taught how to use the revolving door so that they may join the private sector after their government stint concludes (thank God: that was as boring as jury duty)? In this case, which clan would prove victorious?

Then we’d go back to the first stupid jokey answer and say: With friends like these, there is no need to be enemies. At this point, we’d have devised the first global empire that is truly successful. The first one that does not need to support itself by overextending its military and thus starving its populace, because its populace IS its military. They’re all one and the same. It’s like when the whole earth converts to Christianity: everything goes well from here on out. Nobody argues over the price of ham anymore, because we’re all friends here. And everyone is armed to the teeth, because we’re all private militiamen, therefore the universe is safe: cuz the only way to beat a crazy gunman is with a crazier gunman.

Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”

(The quote above is from Matthew 10:34. The quote below is from Luke 22:36-38.)

Then Jesus said unto them, “Now, if there be a man that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For the things concerning me must have an end.”
      And they said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords. One for each hand.”
      And Jesus answered them, “That is nearly enough.”

Seriously tho: Why do we continue to send our daughters to school? You know they’re not learning anything there. They’re not learning history; and they’re not learning poetry; and they’re barely learning math. And they have no idea what they’re going to do with their life. Why do we keep replenishing the supply of daughters!? Let the shop-owners replenish their own workforce.

What if we all went on strike, everyone in every single profession, all together? Even the police and the military personnel and the armed guards! What would happen?

Here is the reason that people awake every morning and contribute all over again to this lousy system: They’re afraid that they’ll run out of food if they don’t cash their paycheck.

And they’re right: They’d starve and die in the street if they skipped a day of work. And then their daughters would die, unless they could find a good job as a prostitute. In that case, they could support the whole family.

But that would suck, to be born as a wise and attractive woman, brought into this world by some lowlife who refuses to serve his time in the retail industry & pay his debt to existence as a seller of cloaks — and you yourself didn’t even ask to be born to this world (you actually had your eyes on the next world over: the one with all the free love; but instead you fell into this world of buy-now-pay-later hatred) — and then to need to sell your own body to feed your replacements (for most children replace their parents).

If you stopped loving your family, you wouldn’t need to feed them. Then you’d only need to sell enough love to feed yourself. You might eventually be able to subsist as a successful merchant.

I’ll never stop marveling about how it’s wrong to sell sex, but it’s right to sell time. One sez: “My time is for sale, from 9 to 5, every day; but my sensual embrace is off limits: I will waste it as I please.”

Why is your time not your own? Why is your energy not your own? Why are your various expertises or the fruits of your mental faculties saleable — “intellectual property” — but your flesh may not be sold? It’s almost an idolization of the flesh, at the expense of the spirit.

Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion.

[—from William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell”]

Yeah, but here’s what would happen if everyone quit their jobs: The nearest farm would suddenly have a whole bunch of extra helpers, happy to lend their assistance. Cuz if nobody had any other pressing concerns, they’d go lend aid, free of charge, and work as volunteers on farms that grow radishes, and just deduct the hours spent there on their federal tax form as “charitable contributions” — cuz we all enjoy food. (No one declines the gift of a basket of radishes.)

So, if the entire world were to go on strike, then all the farms would become super happy, cuz they’d be places where people join hands and sing songs while they work as a SOLID COMMUNITY. And the radishes would sprout up much quicker and in greater abundance than they did in previous seasons. We’d enjoy a feast! Everyone would eat their fill: If you can handle eating seven radishes, you’d get seven; and if you only want one, or just a half of a radish...

Seriously, do you ever wonder what woulda happened if we all had simply refused to fight in World War One? (What would that have done to all the glory and honor that came out of World War Two? Would so much combat be permitted to abort itself the womb?)

Basically, any war that comes your way will try to get you to care about it deeply. It’s a war, for Christ’s sake. You MUST participate. If you don’t join in the carnage, you’re antisocial. Now, you don’t want your fellow-village-folk to label you Antisocialist. Come join the war.

And yet, how can you drum up enough enthusiasm about the war’s purported REASON to bring yourself to commit physical violence? That goes against the non-violent birth of your nation, the U.S.A.

Ask yourself: When’s the last time that you engaged in an argument, say, with a family member or a co-worker, and the talk turned to blows? Can you see yourself pulling out a gun during a chat with your mother? How about with your brother or sister? Or with Steve at work, who operates Machines 4 & 5? Or Jim who works Machine 9? (I’m drawing from my years spent working at the eyeglass factory: If Steve or Jim ever read this, they’ll be tickled.)

CONCLUSION

One time, back when I believed in God, I had an argument with my best friend (at the time, he was my best friend; nowadays we no longer speak), and our dispute was philosophical: he kept trying to get me to admit that God does not exist, and I kept refusing to say any such thing; in fact, the more he tried to make me admit that God has no place in the realm of logic, reason, and science, the more I pushed back and valiantly touted God as actual and living, real, holy and immanent.

Then, at a certain point in our heated talk, my friend could no longer tolerate my stubborn opposition, so he made a fist & raised his arm & said, “You make me wanna punch you.” So he ALMOST resorted to defensive military action, but he stopped short of beating me to a pulp. So I’ve always respected him for that; I mean, for his restraint. To this day, I consider him to have won our little argument.