STRAIGHT OUTTA’ DENVER

So how about I say a little about myself before everyone around here gets the wrong impression of me. I was one of your average run of the mill conservatives supporting the usual conservative view of the world and I still do hold true to most if not all of the typical conservative way of thinking. And that’s an easy thing for everyone around here to confirm, all you have to do is take a good look at my posts here about two years back and you’ll easily see that I had all of the talking points set and was committed all the way to the conservative cause. I’ve even been accused by Bieren of being the poster boy of conservatism and I was honored to receive that supposed cut down by Bieren (I still don’t consider that to be a cut down). I used to listen to talk radio at least 8 hours a day to the greats like Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager. And just like all of them, I still do think that Obama is just about the worst president we have elected in quite some time even though I do like the guy, I just never thought he was right for the job and with how the events have unfolded recently, looks like I was very much right about that. Along with all of the rest of the good conservatives, I fought hard to get McCain elected even though none of us wanted the guy but that we thought he would just be slightly better than Obama, and he did make us all happy with nominating Sarah Palin and calming our fears that we would just get pushed to the side once the election was done. But we didn’t win that one, and now I do find as least for myself that it was a good thing that McCain didn’t win. Not because I enjoy seeing this country going to shambles whenever I briefly have a look at the news but that I did get the chance to completely rethink the whole idea of the conservative movement and for that matter I started to find a problem with our entire political system as it is. The truth is: this system is completely unsustainable and impractical right from the time that we (as a country) started capitalizing on the industrial revolution. The unfortunate truth is that when we (as a country) started making capitalism the reason for why we exist then that’s when it started to no longer be one nation under God but rather one nation under the mighty dollar. As we keep on making the dollar and this entire system work for us, we keep finding ourselves enslaved to this system and even start finding ourselves enslaving other countries to it as well. Sooner or later something has to give, and the more and more our economical crisis continues, the more and more likely people around the world are going to be demanding more world government and more world economical integration. It’s not really a question of if this will be, it’s much more a question of when. The idea will keep looking and sounding reasonable on paper but if we start calculating the realities of human nature you’ll find that it’s just going to persist this problem. So may I suggest an alternative? How about an opt out plan?

The bureaucratic issue
We have a big issue going on in this country today! It’s just the fact that this country’s government is swollen with way too much bureaucracy that’s just sucking out all of the real freedom around here. In reality we are not much of a free country at all. We can elect a completely different group of people who say the exactly opposite thing but yet the same things just keep on happening. For example all of the people that really wanted us to stop all the wars and get out completely, they just do things the proper way and gather up support for Obama and push all the way to win the election! And Obama didn’t quite do as he promised by moving Iraq and instead did the same exact thing in Afghanistan that Bush did in Iraq! So may I ask what really is the difference here? They both say opposite things only to do the same actions. They both spend way too much money on things that don’t work and all these governmental programs just keep failing. So why exactly are we spending all of this money on things that don’t work? Why are we spending all of this money on a system that doesn’t do what it’s suppose to do?

Now it’s an easy argument for a conservative to say “well that’s because the liberals have abandoned the constitution and start making up their own law!” Now to an extent that is true because it was a liberal president named Franklin Delano Roosevelt who started a trend to nominate supreme court justices that would do as the president pleases rather than rule on what the constitution says. That sort of judicial ruling has showed up all over the country in situations like when California had used it’s supreme court to put same sex marriage in place despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of citizens in that state voted against same sex marriage. So ruling like that one have effectively made voter initiatives practically obsolete in this country. However, liberals would argue that it’s the big business in this country that’s tearing this country to shreds and that’s also true. With how financially irresponsible that most all of the larger corporations have been, it’s lead to the financial collapse that we see today. The large banks around this country liked making all of that money they were getting off of the bad loans they were handing out so much that they didn’t check to see what would happen if the housing bubble would pop. Thus, there were a lot of people left out in the cold when they couldn’t pay the loans they had. So there is plenty of blame to go around and most certainly lots of people around the country have been making sure they push that blame out there. All you need to do is turn on the news and you’ll see somebody (no matter who it is that’s on) blaming someone else for all of the problems of the country. This problem gets so absurd that certain people have made t-shirts saying “pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8.” Now that doesn’t sound so bad until you look up the verse and see “May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.” Well that’s not very good sportsman like conduct there and I find anyone who would use the bible in such a manner utterly detestable. So Why do we have to put up with this failed system? But still we’re not a the root cause of what’s wrong here.

The Irony of it all
You can actually trace all of these problems back to the American Civil War and even further back to the founding of our nation. The question here is why exactly did that war start in the first place? Considering that every southern state left the union because of slavery, that does mean that we started off as a nation living in violation of one of our most core values: that all humans are created equal. In order to change this Violation, we required a Civil War so that we can remove the inequality from our nation, but have we really started to live as our principals say that we should? So that we could win the civil war Lincoln had suspended habeas corpus allowing him to detain confederate soldiers without trial so that things could operate more smoothly and allow for a victory. Lincoln had also spent money that was not approved by congress yet and kept pushing all to win the war and never held back. While I’m not wiring this to demonize Lincoln, what he did had corrected a great injustice in our society that should not have been allowed to exist in the first place but yet to correct that problem we ended up having to throw away most of our principals to win. This did create a sense of pragmatism that’s created a false mindset in this nation: that we will go to any length to achieve our objectives no matter the rules that we have. This is an American problem that both political parties adhere to and this is shown in every element of our society from the way that it spends it’s money to the way that we talk. Everything is geared to making America the bright shining city on the Hill without thinking of what’s truly the right thing to do. The political talk is always about what is best for America rather than what is the right thing to do. Just as Lincoln had done in the past, so too, every president had continued following his example up to the present day in some from by placing America before all other concerns. As a result, we have ended up wiping out most of the native Americans, we have imprisoned Japanese without cause, we detain people of middle eastern decent and we keep people from coming into our country when it is not to our benefit. We demonize groups of people when they don’t line up with our core values when we have a political difference or a cultural difference. We place that we are first, right in what we believe and anyone that sees it differently is then someone who needs to change their perspectives to our view for things to come out right. We decide that we must implant our culture into other societies, regardless of the cost to them, because we are the ones who live right. We place blame on others when things don’t go right when they are not the problem. The true problem is how we think. We are a country that holds to the ideas on individualism and we think that each of us individually can make it on our own without any help from the people around us, other countries or even God Himself. We say “yes we can” prove that we are the great thing in the world when this is not true. We are arrogant.

A deceleration of dependence
In our founding document, The declaration of independence, the defining words are “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” At the time that was written, it was intended to convey to England that they do not have the right to take life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness away from us and that is a true statement. However, as we have aged as a nation, that statement has evolved even further to mean that our government must provide these things for us when our government can not provide. In order to provide life for our citizens then that means that we must go abroad and take life from others to ensure that we have it. In order to ensure liberty for our citizens then we have to take it from our own people so as to not trample on others rights. Finally, to create the possibility of the pursuit of happiness then we create a system that leaves many loop holes and allows for people to get caught up in and they never find what they were looking for. Most of the wars that we have fought were because other people were living in a way that we did not like rather than because we had to fight that war so that we would survive as a nation. The only two wars we have fought where we would not have continued existing as a nation if we had not won was the revolutionary war and world war two. With all of the wars that we keep on fighting, it only continues to keep fueling the hatred for our nation because we fight every war with the assumption that we are right that may or may not be the case. Thus, we continue taking life so that we can provide it for others. We enforce copy write laws to ensure that people to do not take someone’s work and use it for a profit when they themselves have taken that idea from someone else. There is nothing on this earth that is truly new and in reality, everything is just a recycled idea applied in a different way like having an internal combustion engine replace a horse or replacing a mud hut with wooden and steel houses. We stop certain people from releasing a song because they have certain words that are the same to another that may be right or may not be right. Or we take the house of another person so that we can build a highway to move people faster around the country. Thus, we take the liberty from others to ensure it for others. We have created the market economy so that the people that work the hardest are the ones that reap the most reward out of this nation but yet what it all comes down to is blind luck. Everyone in the housing market was making millions of dollars and was working really hard to get there only to find that we built too many houses and no longer needed so many thus causing them to loose out on what they worked so hard on. While at the same time a kid who has never worked a day in his or her life can just get all of the money their parents earned and just waste it away. At the end of it all, I keep finding that the most ambitious people in the world are also the most unhappy. So to ensure the pursuit of happiness usually ends up creating our own unhappiness. We don’t follow what we preach in this country!

Let us take a step back for a moment and realize certain truths of this world that we can not change. Life is not ensured because at any moment you can die in millions of different ways. So in reality, the very fact that you take another breath is actually a gift because you may not take another. Liberty is never ensured because anything that you want can become something that controls your actions and thus you end up enslaving yourself to your desires. To truly be independent of everything means that all of your actions must be devoid of all passion. Happiness is something that things can not provide for you but it is something that you have to choose to be on a daily basis despite what this life brings you. So the more and more that we keep on focusing in on how to fix problems that are part of a world that we can never change, the more that we will keep spending and fighting and working we keep on pushing ourselves into slavery. Every single person on this planet is a slave to something and your only choice is what you choose to be a slave to. So given all of this, what can we possibly do about our problem here? The only answer here is to take everything that we have in this world with gratitude and live the best that we can and allow forces that are greater than us to correct what is wrong in this world. We need to push aside our arrogance and admit that we don’t know everything and that we can’t correct everything in this world. We need to live a little simpler with our minds set on where we are truly headed all together as a whole. We need to realize that everything in this world is a gift and that we are only still living by grace that this world have not taken our lives yet. We need to stop thinking of what we are entitled to but rather what we can do to celibate the fact that we are still living. We need to declare that we are dependent on each other and need to keep focused on the people around us rather than focusing on things that we can not change. I propose that we change the way that we think.

Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do despite your country
We are a country were most of the population clams to be Christan but yet the funny thing is we rarely act like Christians in this country. So it’s really quite funny to see every president tout their Christaness about when they never do things that are “Christan.” For one, Jesus was never concerned about popularity and in fact usually said things to purposefully drive people away when He would start to get popular. Also, He never cared much for government workings and in fact usually attracted hatred from government officials. However, for the purpose of this post I am not talking of evangelizing people, that is a subject that I have talked about and will spend a lifetime talking about but for now I’m focusing in on how we act and think. For example, our founding fathers had the Boston Tea Party where we destroyed the property of the British to make our point that we didn’t like the taxes England was placing on us. But on the other hand, England was paying for a costly war that we had benefited from and they had bills to pay. Now was it right for England to be placing all of the high cost on us and enforcing the control on us? No but we were also not right in destroying what was not ours. And we constantly keep doing this by butting our heads into conflicts that are not ours to deal with. So why didn’t we go about this another way? Why didn’t we work off the dept that we had accumulated for that war and then continued on living our lives as if the king of England didn’t matter to us? But we can’t change what happened in the past so we can’t possibly know what would have happened if we had followed that course. So let’s just fast forward 234 years to the present and ask the same question, why don’t we live as if the federal government doesn’t matter? Well then that means that we won’t be worried at all about who’s in office and might not even bother to vote at all. That doesn’t mean that we keep ourselves out of the loop and not know what’s happening but instead of worrying about the things that we can’t control, we keep focused on what we can control. We can’t control what Washington is going to do but we can control what we say and what we do. So if we live life with the principals that government is by about and for the people (even though it’s not) then that means we don’t have to stress ourselves over everything the government is doing. We can better focus on the people around us and our local communities if we’re not worried about government. We don’t have to waste our money on a system that’s completely broken and almost useless. We don’t have to keep fixed into the 9 to 5 work week and then go home and quickly lock the door to make sure the neighbors are thous scary terrorist that we keep hearing about. No, we can get to know our neighbors and actually find out for sure if they actually have bad intentions. We can turn off the TV and and just not care about all the useless hype that we have going around the country. We can instead look to helping out the people in our own back yard instead of relying on a system that doesn’t the people that it hands out checks to. May I suggest that we stop relying on the government.

Now don’t misunderstand me here– I am not suggesting that we start another revolution or march on Washington and demand changes. No, I really mean pretend that it doesn’t matter. Not that we decide to not pay our taxes or anything illegal like that but just that we live without the government in our heads every day. So in order for us to start moving us forward in a manner that allows for us to correct our local problems despite what the government is doing I have a few points to think over.

1. First things first– smash your TV! or at lest stop watching the political news and hyped up television that will have you constantly griped by by the culture. All of the constant reports are just things that will keep you worried over one thing that you can’t change to the next thing that you can’t change and so it’s just something that’s just going to keep draining you out. It’s wise to know what’s going on in the world but news papers and other such media formats are less intrusive and allows for deeper thought than TV news.

2. Find a community– Churches or your local temple of your religious believes are by far the best places to go for this or if you happen to be atheist or agnostic then I suggest you try one, it might just be a good experience for you. And pay close attention to the people there, find out what they are like and what they need and help out if you can. Don’t look at it like it’s a place for getting good and services like your local market but more like a second home with people that you can help and can help you. Let it enrich your life with cares that have nothing to do with the government.

3. Form a new identity– We all have been living in a culture of being Americans first that overrides everything else in this life and we need to break from that habit. We need to care more about the people around us and the world at large rather than our country or creed. America is not the most important thing in this world and someday it will fall just like all of the empires and countries in the past have also risen and fallen but the world keeps on going on despite that. So don’t let that trouble you! Instead, try loving the people around you just as you love yourself and place more value on being part of your community rather than a citizen of America and this also goes the same for all of you living in other countries as well.

4. Work with others– Start living a little simpler with what you have! Instead of rushing out to buy that nice car you always wanted, find one that meets your needs. Don’t rush out to buy the big nice house but find one that meets your needs. With the excess of money that you save here then you can pour it into your local community to help out with others helping build an establishment that you all can benefit from. It’s easy to tear down but it takes generations to build up places of shelter and comfort. As you work and commit to a place to build up, you start to leave good traditions in your children and the people around you.

5. Take joy in your life– None of us was given the choice to be born into this world and none of us has the choice on when it will end. So take hold of that! Live your life as if it were all as song of praise for all that you have been given. Yes, you will have pain in your life and yes you will be hurt and will hurt others, this is inevitable but your only other option is to end it prematurely. But that would be a horrible same for you to do such a thing! If you have people around you that love and care for you, then take hold of that for that’s more precocious then all of the finest gold in the world. Fame will fade in time and countries will eventually die out but the people that you encourage and love will turn around and bless others. That’s what changes societies!

None of what I suggest is going to be easy but if we are to move forward in this country then we are going to have to start learning how to straighten out our priorities. We have lost our way completely! We no longer do what is right in this country but rather what is more expedient and easy to do and that’s caught us in a terrible snare. Life will go on despite what this country does, so why should we let us control us? There’s so much more out there than this country has to offer.

0 comments.

Dear Girl sitting in front of me eating dates and knitting pt 2

Posted on April 22nd, 2009 by Bear.
Categories: Death Penalty, Ethics, Abortion, Constitutional Law, Terrorism, Philosophy, Republicans, Parental Advisory.

Wale is not a delicious meat. You shouldn’t eat it, because most people would consider that cannibalism due to the fact that you’re fucking huge. It’d be like me saying “Yeah, they don’t have laws in Japan about peopling, but I understand because people are delicious.”
Wales are awesome. You’re not.
Fuck you,
Sam

5 comments.

Ipod shuffle 3 part 1 (Pete can be redeemed in the sencond part)

Posted on April 8th, 2009 by Dark Poet.
Categories: Creative Writing, Drugs, Stories.

This story starts “South of the border”. People were “crazy in Love” with this thing, this thing called cocaine. Pete Wingfield is “18, with a Bullet” in a “flight test” for a new Cessna that can carry more of the stuff north of the border. And so, after awhile, this plane Pete Wingfield has “Jump[ed] Around” in enough times to be noticed and NOT cared for. When seeing Pete’s plane, the Border Patrol agent just say , oh, that’s just Pete Wingfield, always taking people up for a ride. Pete Wingfield always delivered “A [uno] Cubano” - Orishas. Pete Wingfield used that bullet, and the Cubano’s “Life [didn’t] go[] on”- 2Pac. Pete Wingfield then got into the business with the Cubano’s business partner; a shrewd Jew (”Hava Nagila” - Harry Belafonte). The Jew wasn’t too upset over his business partner’s demise, and to show he Biltz the Ballroom - Tia Carrere. “California Love”s the stuff, which Pete Wingfield was mainly selling to. In California, the only opposition for the moment is the church (”Track 08″), but “The Devil’s Been Busy” in a major church in San Diego; long story short, San Diego is game for business. The region, too. Cocaine flowed as cash did into the pockets of Pete Wingfield and the Jew. The life was getting faster and faster Pete Wingfield and the Jew. “When [they] Ride” - 2Pac, police would not stop them because they were paid not to. If the policeman did, then they were soon paid not to.
The theme of expansion and growth was always on the mind of Pete, so Pete tried to expand transportation of product to shipping. He was looking into a transport ship that looked “Like a Ship”, but that was the “End of the Line”;
A customs agent got a hold of a whole entire shipment. The customs agent asked the FBI agents in charge of incinerating the stuff to “Handle With Care”. Pete Wingfield was furious, he was on the phone trying to reach the FBI agent in charge. “What’s [His] Phone” - 2pac, number?! Once he found outz where they were going, he had one his best thugs destroy the convoy. The thug said, “I’d die for You” and left. Pete got his boat back, a asked the Jew to “Come Sail Away” while the dust settles. The Jew said he had stuff to do. In a “Wilbury Twist” the shipment of coke was not aboard. Pete Wingfield was mad, but sailing away.
Now, up until now in the story Pete Wingfield was in Mexico testing a new aero plane, being evil as he can. He killed the Cuban, and took his place. Who, perhaps, helped him do such? Well, a man who presently has the “Young Lover Blues”, was “Down In Mexico” with Pete. The guy was a producer of the product, a chemical engineering genius. The guy always asked, “How [pure] Do You Want It”? - 2pac. Unfortunately, Pete was “In The Waiting Line” for product always, and, also, having to keep the product in a “Cool Dry Place” - The Traveling Wilburys. But keep this guy in mind for future reference in the plot of this story in part two.
Pete went back to California, and discovered the Jew was in prison, and murdered in prison. After retribution of death to the Jew’s killers, Pete also found out he had more competition to “Run Tha Streetz”. Pete, Pete’s thugs, and the competition were all “Wanted Dead or Alive”, but that’s what made it exciting.
“It’s like Romeo and Juliet”; California and cocaine. Life started to get really fast by then. If someone wanted cocaine in California, half the time it was the bell of Pete’s dealers that they were ringing (”Ring My Bell” - Anita Ward). Pete and his inner circle of lieutenants were in the fast lane, calling everything with two legs their “Butterfly”. In one case the lady had only one leg, but they wouldn’t remember; they barely remember when “Check Out Time” was at the local hotel when they check in on how business was doing in that sector. Several had “[Gone] Through The Big D” - Mark Chesnutt, and went to “Do it Again”. Life was fast, and money and coke went through their hands fast, too.
A lady named “Clementine” took Pete’s heart, or so he says when every lady passes his way. This one was/is different, though. She’s devout Christian (”Track 02″). Pete said very convinced to his thugs one day, “If I Can’t” have sex with Clementine, then I’m going to mad and go to straight out war with the competition. She still went to a church that still was not corrupting to cocaine, though (”track 05″). Change happened to Pete. He didn’t know what was happening to him. The religious fervor of these people got to him, and the concept of God. “She[ still wasn’t his] baby” - The Traveling Wilburys- even though at times he says to her “You Took My Breath Away”. She still rejected him, and he went to a “Lowdown”. Business ebbed.
When he come out of the “Lowdown”, Pete wasn’t mad at any of the competition (”I Ain’t Mad At Cha” - 2Pac). Not until the “Ruff Ryders”, shot up one of his dealers, and then, an other three more dealers got killed. Pete got “Skandalous”, he got even via the police, FBI, CIA. He observed the “Ruff Ryders”, and took notes of everything. Pete also got notes from Paying some of them, and taking notes from what he knew of his business with them. Pete started to give those notes to the FBI, and money stopped for the “Ruff Ryders”. He gave more notes, cocaine shipments disappeared from ledgers; More notes, “Ruff Ryders” started to drop dead with 9mm bullets in them or surrendered to be put in prison. In prison, Pete’s guys would shank them dead. So the police would confine them to solitary cells. On one occasion, when moving a Ryder from prison to prison a sniper put a bullet through his head.
Police did not really need to put a surveillance teem on the leadership the “Ruff Ryders”, because the news media picked up the stories fast, as if someone was suppling them with info. “All Eyez [were] On [the leader]” -2Pac - of the “Ruff Ryders”, he couldn’t go out of his house with out being followed by the media. Low grade “Ruff Ryders” were arrested for trying to buy weapons to fight, and 90 % of the time arrested for selling coke. Other low graders quit. If a mid grade Ryder got arrested, then five to ten low graders would be arrested just afterwards. Pete dealt the “Dirty World” card to the “Ruff Ryders”, “7 Deadly Sins”.
“I Love Rock and Roll” was playing at a Ruff Ryder party at a warehouse. In back room, the top guy for the leader was in the process of buying a big quantity of coke from a contact of Pete’s. Outside across the street in another warehouse, FBI were saying “Congratulations” to each other for tracking down this deal, that if busted, will deal a deathblow to the “Ruff Ryders”. Someone was “Sing Sing Sing[ing]” - Louis Prima- in prison. The raid teams and FBI snipers were standing by. “holla at me” for the go signal, the SWAT team leader said to the FBI agent in charge. Long story short, Pete did not have to deal with the Ruff Ryders anymore; they came to a stop at their road (”Winding Road” - Bonnie Somervi).
Money went faster through the hands of Pete and his gang. He bought a house in the middle of his zones of control. Paid Dire Straits to play just one song at the open house party, “Sultans of Swing”. Vacationed and then bought the “Balinese” in Mexico, in “[] The Sea” - “Beyond The Sea” - Bobby Darin, in the Gulf of Mexico.

2 comments.

Addiction and Idolatry

Posted on March 19th, 2009 by Darth B'strad.
Categories: Ethics, Law, Philosophy, Creative Writing, Religon, Christianity, Cultural, Stories.

One of thous stories that I don’t remember but my parents would tell me about when I growing up, was about how I would always keep bashing my head into the ground (probably the reason why I don’t remember any of that!) They say that I would start pushing around my toy truck around the house and then when it would get caught on the kitchen table, I’d get really mad and upset and start to bang my head on the ground! I would do this constantly, every day, several times a day. I did it so much that I had a perpetual bruise on my forehead and that wouldn’t go away! It got so bad that my parents were afraid to bring me to a nursery cause they didn’t want to explain why I had thous bruises on my forehead. Man was I horrible to them for making them have to explain “ahh, no he does that to himself.” But then again I don’t remember any of it so we’ll have to let the Dark Poet confirm that. After awhile it got so bad that my dad deiced that he would take action. So he took my head and hit it a little bit harder than I expected! Well that shocked me! I didn’t want that to happen again, so I stopped banging my head. But now that time has gone on I’ve now realized that the banging of my head didn’t really stop at all! I’m actually still doing it! It’s moved on to a different from– a different way.

A phrase that shattered a mind
I was going along with life and everything was going great last November. I had it all together and I knew what all life had in store for me and nothing was going to get in my way, besides, I had God on my side here. I was doing everything He wanted so that means that I was going to get everything, right. Well that all seem to be true to me until one of my great friends sent me an e-mail and said something that really dumbfounded me (I always learn so much about life from her). She told me “People do not exist to be receptacles for enjoyment and comfort in my life. No, quite the opposite. I exist to bless God and to bless people. and blessing people should not be something that I do when it is convenient for me, or when I know that I will get something out of it. That is missing the point! And God is teaching me that lesson right now.” Right then I felt that everything in the world was wrong. The world went from perfectly peachy to a hell of a nightmare. For some reason I start thinking “what would posses her to say such a thing like that to me.” I couldn’t understand what was going on! But why did it strike so hard to me? Because she accurately pointed out a serous flaw that I had. I was getting under the impression that because I was doing all my best to do what God wanted, then He owed me something. Well that was some foolishness! I wouldn’t have any life to begin with and that Guy just keeps saving me from myself all the time so I already have way more than I deserve! For as God told us in Job: “Who has given me anything that I need to pay back? Everything under heaven is mine.” (41:11) So what makes us think that we can ransom God into doing what we want? We try to barter agreements with God but the majority of the time God’s laughing at us saying, “come on now, I know far better than you.” And for someone who has all of the wisdom and knowledge at His disposal, why wouldn’t we trust Him when He tells us he’s going to do something or that He isn’t. God doesn’t need us one bit! For as it says in the Psalms:

Psalm 37:18-19
Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent,
and they will receive an inheritance that lasts forever.
They will not be disgraced in hard times;
even in famine they will have more than enough.

So He doesn’t need us for anything! And none of us is great enough to throw off His plan or capable of fouling it in any way! If you aren’t going to do what He want’s of you, then He’ll find another. If we have a better look at Job 41, we find God is comparing Himself to a Leviathan. As we go through verses 1-8 we see this:

“Can you catch Leviathan with a hook
or put a noose around its jaw?
Can you tie it with a rope through the nose
or pierce its jaw with a spike?
Will it beg you for mercy
or implore you for pity?
Will it agree to work for you,
to be your slave for life?
Can you make it a pet like a bird,
or give it to your little girls to play with?
Will merchants try to buy it
to sell it in their shops?
Will its hide be hurt by spears
or its head by a harpoon?
If you lay a hand on it,
you will certainly remember the battle that follows.
You won’t try that again!

And it’s certainly right! Have you ever tried a wrestling match with God! Let me tell you that it’s not fun at all! You’ll start finding yourself way outmatched and out gunned even more than this Leviathan that described like this:

Job 41:12-34
“I want to emphasize Leviathan’s limbs
and its enormous strength and graceful form.
Who can strip off its hide,
and who can penetrate its double layer of armor?
Who could pry open its jaws?
For its teeth are terrible!
Its scales are like rows of shields
tightly sealed together.
They are so close together
that no air can get between them.
Each scale sticks tight to the next.
They interlock and cannot be penetrated.

“When it sneezes, it flashes light!
Its eyes are like the red of dawn.
Lightning leaps from its mouth;
flames of fire flash out.
Smoke streams from its nostrils
like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.
Its breath would kindle coals,
for flames shoot from its mouth.

“The tremendous strength in Leviathan’s neck
strikes terror wherever it goes.
Its flesh is hard and firm
and cannot be penetrated.
Its heart is hard as rock,
hard as a millstone.
When it rises, the mighty are afraid,
gripped by terror.
No sword can stop it,
no spear, dart, or javelin.
Iron is nothing but straw to that creature,
and bronze is like rotten wood.
Arrows cannot make it flee.
Stones shot from a sling are like bits of grass.
Clubs are like a blade of grass,
and it laughs at the swish of javelins.
Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass.
It plows up the ground as it drags through the mud.

“Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion.
It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment.
The water glistens in its wake,
making the sea look white.
Nothing on earth is its equal,
no other creature so fearless.
Of all the creatures, it is the proudest.
It is the king of beasts.”

So you get the Idea! this ain’t something that you want to mess with! But this creature is as much a little pet to God as an ant would be to us. It couldn’t do anything to him! But for as much as I fought with God on so many things, I find that it’s much better to wrestle with Him than the devil. Not that the Devil is in anyway stronger than God but that unlike the devil, God will do things to help you get better where as the devil will keep pushing till it kills you (but I talk about that further here).

That arrogant painful feeling
I was hanging out with some good friends of mine in a coffee shop downtown one night having a great conversation. After awhile Invot mentioned that when he first saw me, he thought I was a total duch bag! Then he met me and realized that he was completely wrong about. When I asked him further about it he said he saw to things in my eyes, arrogance and pain. That was something that seemed to be really odd at first but thinking back on life I knew that I didn’t want to be an arrogant person and I had suffered pain in life. So I told him that it sounds like the things that I’ve been struggling with. I left that in memory logged with the heading of “weird thing a Invot told me.” I moved on and taught a Sunday school class for my church and the absolute hardest part of that whole speech was standing there listening to everyone clap for me. I had that place a little more pack out than usual and everyone kept on talking about how good I did. I didn’t really want to hear that too much so I said “Well I try.” Then after the service I had to go meet the brother of music leader who came that day. I love our music leader in our church so I had to meet her brother. So I walked up and introduced myself and asked me about my lesson and hauled off and said “well my pastor forced me to do it.” He came right back at me asking “well that’s interesting. How much forcing did he do.” He called my bluff! I’d been getting away all morning with lines like that to try to stop any praise that would come my way and this guy went ahead and asked the one blatantly obvious question that no one else was willing to ask. So I had to admit that I really wasn’t forced at all. I wanted to do it but I felt arrogant in wanting to do it. Here I am the youngest person in the room except for two and I’m the one teaching everyone! I even said so before starting my teaching. But after some thought, I had realized what I was doing, I had been wrestling with the devil over a massively important issue instead of turning it over to God. I had built an Idol! I had gotten so worked up in not wanting to sound arrogant so much that I would find something to beat myself with all day long so as to make absolutely sure that I don’t ever sound like an arrogant person. As if not being arrogant was more important to me than serving God. That’s the sin of idolatry, and anything can make it’s way there but it’s always destructive to us. Like how I was a kid banging my head against the ground, I’ve still been doing that! Only now it’s in a different from– a mental one. But just like banging my head on the ground as a kid, that too is going to form bruises! You can’t be beating your brain all day and not expect to see some mental bruises! (and they came out with a lot of thous poem that I’ve been posting up here) Thus the more I beat myself to prevent arrogance the more pain I would feel. But that too is something that can completely get in the way of where God want’s you to go. As He told us in Isaiah:

“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.
Does a clay pot argue with its maker?
Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying,
‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’
Does the pot exclaim,
‘How clumsy can you be?’
How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father,
‘Why was I born?’
or if it said to its mother,
‘Why did you make me this way?’”
[45:9-10]

I have to let go of this self beating.

Numbing a pain that just won’t go away
So now we get to the addiction part! Ain’t that great! Well with every addiction, there is always something else that causes it. I’ve worked this post a little backwards, usually you start with the addiction and work your way back to the cause. And I did that as well but I decided to do this post differently (don’t ask me why). But as the time went on and I kept beating myself for a lot of things I couldn’t control. That in turn generated a lot of pain that I didn’t didn’t want to feel anymore when the day was over, so I stayed up drinking to numb the pain a little bit. But as it goes with all addictions, the more you drink the more your body learns to deal with the alcohol and the more it takes to get the same numbing effect. All the while your not really dealing with the idol that you’ve built up in your heart, your ignoring it and using something else to help you cope with the effects of the idol you’ve built. But in every sin we commit there is always some sort of idol or something that you trust in more than God that’s at the center of your sin. At least for a time you’re not believing in God and trusting Him but going your own path. Continuing down thous paths will always lead you to a place of destruction. The more you place something before God, the more you start to chase that thing down until you crumble it. Theirs a reason that God put idolatry as the first commandment: because every sin stems from that sin. Where He says:

Exodus 20:4-6
“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

It’s not even that God is jealous at all! It’s because He knows it’s best for us to keep close to Him and make Him first in our lives because when we place something more important than Him then we hound that thing until we destroy it. But we have to remember that everything given to us is a gift from God that we need to cherish and be thankful for and that without Him we wouldn’t have anything. As Paul told us:

Romans 14:7-8
For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

And it’s when we live for ourselves that we start to loose gratitude and end up destroying ourselves when things go wrong.

Man! I love that woman!
One of thous really classic love stories of the bible is of course Jacob and Rachel. And man! He did love that woman! You can go reading through Genesis 29 and you’ll find out all that he went through to get her. He worked for his uncle for 7 years so that he could marry Rachel and then in the morning he finds out that really he ended up with the not so pretty older daughter who he really didn’t love at all (Leah). So then he works another 7 years for his uncle and finally ends up with the woman of his dreams! So you think that’s all just a nice little love story, but then you find out that his idolatry of Rachel really ends up tearing his family to shreds! So we see at the end of chapter 29 that God starts making things hard for Jacob:

Genesis 29:31-32
When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.”

So now Leah’s having the kids and that’s making Rachel jealous! So what does she do:

Genesis 30:3-8
Then Rachel told him, “Take my maid, Bilhah, and sleep with her. She will bear children for me, and through her I can have a family, too.” So Rachel gave her servant, Bilhah, to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and presented him with a son. Rachel named him Dan, for she said, “God has vindicated me! He has heard my request and given me a son.” Then Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. Rachel named him Naphtali, for she said, “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I’m winning!”

Here start banging the maid so that I can have some kids to raise! That’s a really strange way to go about it but it seems that Jacob’s happy, he’s getting plenty of action! But this keeps getting worse:

Genesis 30:9-13
Meanwhile, Leah realized that she wasn’t getting pregnant anymore, so she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Soon Zilpah presented him with a son. Leah named him Gad, for she said, “How fortunate I am!” Then Zilpah gave Jacob a second son. And Leah named him Asher, for she said, “What joy is mine! Now the other women will celebrate with me.”

So now Jacob has four women after him all the time because he placed Rachel above everything else in his life instead of trusting in God first and loving them equally. Just as his father had loved Esau more than him, Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. Although that’s something that next to impossible to get right when where talking about a romantic love. But instead of trusting God with the situation he kept charging down his path to get what he wanted until he met God. As some of you may know the story Jacob had fooled his father into giving him the blessing that was reserved for his older brother Esau. Isaac had loved Esau much more due to the fact that he was the bigger and stronger brother. He liked doing manly things! Going out hunting and sinking them and all that stuff. While on the other hand, Jacob was a moma’s boy. He stayed back and helped mom cook and all that. But Jacob so much wanted the love and appreciation from his father. So when it came time for Dad to give out his blessing to his favorite son before he died, Jacob stole it. Isaac was old and couldn’t see well and Jacob had put some wool over his arms to that he’d seem like his older brother. He did the stupid thing just to try to hear thous words! Of course Esau would come back and find out and get really mad and Jacob knew his brother could smash him like a pine cone! But he did it anyway. He was scarred stiff of Esau ever since then till he had a night to wrestle with God:

Genesis 32:22-30
During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

“What is your name?” the man asked.

He replied, “Jacob.”

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

“Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.

“Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”

And that’s always the place where you meet God: alone, broken, terrified. Searching for some way to fill thous holes in your heart that you just can’t seem to fill. That’s where I’ve found Him. That’s where you have to learn to trust Him with your hole in your heart that someday he’ll make you new. But when you find Him you have to be broken, you have to be looking for his blessing. But as I found, God gives you another pain and doesn’t make everything right for you because He needs your trust in Him for Him to bless you. He needs you to start thinking of others and start doing your best to help them. Why? Because He made you that way and when you start using the gifts and talents for Him that’s when you see His blessing coming through. You get off of thinking of yourself and start thinking about how you need to be to help others.

Genesis 33:1-11
Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and his two servant wives. He put the servant wives and their children at the front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. Then Jacob went on ahead. As he approached his brother, he bowed to the ground seven times before him. Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

Then Esau looked at the women and children and asked, “Who are these people with you?”

“These are the children God has graciously given to me, your servant,” Jacob replied. Then the servant wives came forward with their children and bowed before him. Next came Leah with her children, and they bowed before him. Finally, Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed before him.

“And what were all the flocks and herds I met as I came?” Esau asked.

Jacob replied, “They are a gift, my lord, to ensure your friendship.”

“My brother, I have plenty,” Esau answered. “Keep what you have for yourself.”

But Jacob insisted, “No, if I have found favor with you, please accept this gift from me. And what a relief to see your friendly smile. It is like seeing the face of God! Please take this gift I have brought you, for God has been very gracious to me. I have more than enough.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau finally accepted the gift.

It’s when your thinking of helping others is when you start to find, they’re really helping you back

Reforming life so that life could be given
The more and more I kept looking to the things that went wrong in my life, the more and more I was forgetting the very reason that I had been given life to begin with. I kept on looking at the hole in my heart that wouldn’t want to heal up and just keep weeping over it. So then I started looking for every opportunity to make that hole bigger because I was upset with God for not grating my dream. I told Him that he owed me this when all along I didn’t deserve anything at all. I had placed this well above everything else in my life and when it didn’t go right, I let myself go crazy over it. But I wasn’t placed on this earth to obtain the things of this world but to help God build the things of the next world. I was given life so that I could encourage faith in God and the more I went away from my propose in life the worse things were in my heart. I used to be the happy guy at work. Everyone loved me there! I bring smiles to the biggest frowns, because I’ve felt worse frowns than them. In a world today where everyone is trying to look for the specific thing that went wrong and place the proper blame, they’ve all started to miss the point. The more and more we keep trying to look for the thing that went wrong with ourselves the more self-absorbed we get. Can you ever really say that deciding to make yourself right makes the world a better place? Well that depends on what your doing it for. If you’re trying to make yourself look right to get the things that you want, then the more and more you’re going to look arrogant and heartless. But if you’re doing it to so that you can make an example for the people you know and help pull them up, well then you don’t look arrogant but caring. Can it be done perfectly: No, but you can try and if others reject you then theirs nothing more that you can do. You can only try the best you can and love everyone to the best of your ability and the more you try to find solutions to others problems the more you end up stumbling upon your own solutions. The parable of the prodigal son is most likely the most head truing story you could have ever heard if you actually pay attention to it. It’s actually completely misnamed: it should be the parable of two sons. Jesus was talking to some Pharisees, who are the super religious people of the time and had everything down right, when he told this story explaining why he would associate with the absolute scum of the time:

Luke 15:11-12
To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

So another words the younger son was saying “I wish you were dead so that I could have you money.” Not a really nice thing to say to your father and in thous times that would really catch people’s attention ’cause you could get killed for saying that. But instead of killing the dumb kid like the law said you could, the father gave the kid what he wanted. So that would got all of these law holding citizens wondering “what the heck is up with this guy!”

Luke 15:13-16
“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

So of course the son blew it all away and ended up in the gutter. So all the people are sitting around right now thinking “well no duh! What did you think was going to happen!”

Luke 15:17-19
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

Can’t you hear the people listening to this story thinking? They’re thinking right now “well fat chance of that happening. You get back to daddy and he’s going to whip you real good and that’s if he doesn’t kill you first!”

Luke 15:20-21
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.

“He ran and kissed him! that stupid son spit in your face and you ran and kissed him! This father is nuts!”

Luke 15:22-24
“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

“killing the fatted calf!” The fatted calf was one of thous once in a lifetime sort of parties. You give that at a wedding or something of that sort but not when a son that spit in your face comes back. So these people are thinking this guy is completely nuts!

Luke 15:25-27
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’

So now the older brother is sitting their thinking “what the heck is my dad doing!” and If you can picture it, I’m sure the servants looking at him thinking “don’t ask me buddy, your daddy’s crazy!”

Luke 15:28-30
“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

Well of course the older son is getting angry! He’s seeing his fatted calf be eaten by his younger dumber brother wearing his fine robe, saddles and ring. All his stuff is getting squandered on this stupid kid! So he makes sure that he brings out the squandering of money on prostitutes even though Jesus said wild living and not necessarily prostitution. But he makes sure that he pushes that in there to make it hurt.

Luke 15:31-32
“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

And that’s the end of the story. Kida a big cliff hanger ain’t it? Where’s the rest of the story? Everyone’s sitting around thinking “well what does the older brother do?” Jesus didn’t give you that part of the story because you’re living that part of the story right now. Both brothers had a real big problem: they both were concerned about getting the fathers stuff and not with the father. But the father was concerned about the well being of his sons and didn’t care one bit about the things He had. So if the older brother really loved the father then wouldn’t he have seen the pain in the father’s eyes every day that his younger brother was gone? If he really cared for the father then wouldn’t he have gone to look for the younger brother? And if he had then wouldn’t the father really been motivated to work as hard as he could for the son that brought his lost son back to him? Wouldn’t he have been that much more grateful and then the older brother would have been in a grand party for his accomplishment of bringing the younger brother back? Thank God that there is an older brother like that! His name is Jesus Christ. You should get know Him cause he’s a really great guy. We could work everyday of our lives to be good but we’ll never truly be good until we start trying to help Him find younger brothers.

Happiness is a serious problem
That just so happens to be a title of a really good book by Dennis Prager. And that title is completely accurate: it’s a really serious problem! It’s a constant struggle especially today since we do have a seriously self-centered society! That also makes it the society that produces the most younger brothers that need to be found. And it’s so easy to get caught up in that cycle. It’s so easy to keep looking at yourself to keep trying to find that one thing that’s messing your whole life up. But as you keep looking through it all you keep finding more and more things that are messed up in yourself. Is that really how you want to live your life: in constant search of what’s wrong with you? I’m telling you, I’m probably far more messed up than you in a lot of ways but I have decided not to live that way. I realized that just the opportunity just to wake up the next day is a blessing. Will there be pain opening thous eyes the next day, absolutely! But you could also just as easily have not opened them at all the next day without knowing why. Remember Jonah? God told him to go preach to these evil people and he refused and ran away. Then God made a storm for him and the guys on the boat thew Jonah overboard and he got swallowed up by a big fish. That’s where he was alone and crying out to God and said:

Jonah 2:7-9
“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.

“Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the LORD.”

Do you see how Jonah came back to God again? He first came broken hearted to the lord, then he confessed his idol and then he sung praises to God. And that’s the same thing that Job also did:

Job 42:2-6
“I know that you can do anything,
and no one can stop you.
You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’
It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about,
things far too wonderful for me.
You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!
I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.’
I had only heard about you before,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
I take back everything I said,
and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”

It’s not that God wishes you to suffer but it is that wants you to trust in Him. For he knows the right path for your life and He knows the ways you can follow. When you seek Him and look to please Him, that’s when you’ll start to find solutions. When you move out of yourself and look to helping others, suddenly then, you start finding solutions to your own. For you can never see yourself clearly but you need others to reflect your true self back to you. That’s why Jesus was so big on loving everyone including your enemies. You may not want to put on a happy face, but others do need a happy face. They need to see that someone can care for them and try to uplift them. And when you put on that smile, even though there is no good reason for you to have it, you might find someone smile back at you. For the real key to happiness is gratitude.

May God bless you and keep you,
may He make His face to shine upon you,
may you learn to come to Him–
when your troubles plague you,
and may you keep remembering Him–
when you reap great joys.
May the Lord keep you safe–
though all of your days,
and may you be grateful–
to the One who holds–
all wisdom and power–
forevermore.
Amen.

7 comments.

ADX Florence

Posted on March 15th, 2009 by Bieren Skidels.
Categories: Political, Crime, Local.

No, this isn’t a review of a recent punk album, nor is it the name of an Italian rail line. This is the name of the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado - the only Supermax prison - in fact, it’s usually referred to as “Supermax”. Most of this post will be quotes and links - it’s an experiment in how simply observing or reflecting upon the technical facts or stories about a structure can be emotionally impacting (without even thinking much about the particular humans involved). Here we go:

Of course, here is the wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Institution,_Florence

“ADX Florence was constructed as a response to an incident that occurred on October 22, 1983, in which two inmates murdered their accompanying guards at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. Relatively lax security procedures allowed each prisoner, while walking down a hall, to turn to the side and approach a particular cell so an accomplice could unlock his handcuffs with a stolen key and provide him with a knife.”

After the murder of the guards, the Marion jail went into “control” lockdown. Basically, every inmate is under permanent 23-hour lockdown. These events led to the design of Supermax. Built in Florence, Colorado - the prison was welcomed as a provider of jobs to a failing economy:

“ADX Florence opened in November 1994. The residents in Florence’s surrounding area, Fremont County, welcomed the prison as a source of employment in a time of economic hardship. At the time, the county was already home to nine existing prisons. However, the lure of between 750 to 900 permanent jobs, in addition to another 1,000 temporary jobs during the prison’s construction, led residents in the area to raise $160,000 to purchase 600 acres (2.4 km²) for the new prison. Hundreds of people attended the groundbreaking construction of ADX Florence, which cost over $60 million.”

Supermax houses the most famous and dangerous prisoners in the United States. It is built around the 23-hour lockdown:

“About 22% of inmates have killed fellow prisoners in other correctional facilities; 35% have attempted to attack other prisoners or officers. As a result, most individuals are kept for at least 23 hours each day in solitary confinement. They are housed in a 7 ft (2.13 m) by 12 ft (3.66 m) room, built behind a steel door and grate. Their free hour is spent exercising alone in a separate concrete chamber. Prisoners seldom see one another, and the inmates’ only direct human interaction is with correctional officers or other prison staff. Visiting from outside the prison is conducted through glass, with each prisoner in a separate chamber. Religious services are broadcast from a small chapel.

Part of the prison is a “stepdown” program, designed to encourage less antisocial behavior and eventually transfer prisoners out of the ADX and back to the Maximum Security population. The program is three years in length each year allowing more freedom and social contact with other inmates. Any violation during the program means participants revert to year one.

Most cells’ furniture is made almost entirely out of poured concrete, including the desk, stool, and bed. Each chamber contains a toilet that shuts off if plugged, a shower that runs on a timer to prevent flooding, and a sink missing a potentially dangerous tap. Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light, a radio, and a television set that shows recreational, educational and religious programming.^[4] These privileges can be taken away as punishment. The 4 in (0.10 m) by 4 ft (1.22 m) windows are designed to prevent the prisoner from knowing his specific location within the complex because he can see only the sky and roof through them. Telecommunication with the outside world is forbidden, and food is hand-delivered by correctional officers.

The prison as a whole contains a multitude of motion detectors and cameras, 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors, and 12 ft (3.66 m) high razor wire fences. Laser beams, pressure pads, and attack dogs guard the area between the prison walls and razor wire.

Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber, lamented in a series of 2006 letters to a Colorado Springs newspaper that the ADX is meant to “inflict misery and pain.”

Consider, this short list of a few of the prisoners in Supermax:

This list displays prisoners assigned to Florence due to political reasons, along with those assigned because of problems in other facilities.

Name Details

Omar Abdel-Rahman Islamic terrorist, nicknamed “The Blind Sheik”; involved in 1993 World Trade Center bombing

Anthony Casso Mobster and former underboss of the Lucchese crime family

Wadih el-Hage Conspirator in the 1998 United States embassy bombings

Matthew F. Hale White supremacist leader; convicted of soliciting the murder of a federal judge

Larry Hoover Leader of the Gangster Disciples Nation based in Chicago

Jeff Fort Co-founder of the Black P. Stones gang in Chicago, and founder of its El Rukn faction

Theodore Kaczynski The “Unabomber”

David Lane (deceased) Neo-Nazi leader, involvement in the murder of Alan Berg

Juan Matta-Ballesteros Drug trafficker, co-conspirator in the Enrique Camarena case

Zacarias Moussaoui Conspirator in the September 11, 2001 attacks

Terry Nichols Oklahoma City bombing conspirator

Richard Colvin Reid Islamic terrorist, nicknamed the “Shoe Bomber”

Eric Robert Rudolph Christian Identity^[7] terrorist; 1996 Olympic Park bombing

Dwight York Leader of the Nuwaubians; convicted for child molestation, racketeering and financial reporting charges

Ramzi Yousef Islamic terrorist, 1993 World Trade Center bombing

Timothy McVeigh (deceased) Oklahoma City bombing (executed on June 11, 2001)

Kenneth McGriff Drug trafficker and organized crime figure

H. Rap Brown Former civil rights activist convicted of murdering a Fulton County, Georgia, deputy Sheriff

Thomas Silverstein Convicted of murdering Federal Correctional Officer Merle E. Clutts

Luis Felipe Founder of the New York chapter of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation

Howard Mason Drug trafficker who ordered the murder of police officer Eddie Byrne

Barry Mills Leading member of the Aryan Brotherhood

Charles Harrelson (deceased) Texan hitman, convicted of murdering federal judge, father of actor Woody Harrelson

Jose Padilla Convicted of aiding terrorists

Michael Swango American surgeon and serial killer; convicted of 3 fatal poisonings, with many more unproven

Mahmud Abouhalima Islamic Mujahideen leader, 1993 World Trade Center bombing implication and conviction

Richard Lee McNair Convicted murderer and escape artist

Robert Hanssen former senior FBI agent serving life for espionage

Name		Details
Omar Abdel-Rahman		Islamic terrorist, nicknamed “The Blind Sheik”; involved in 1993 World Trade Center bombing
Anthony Casso		Mobster and former underboss of the Lucchese crime family
Wadih el-Hage		Conspirator in the 1998 United States embassy bombings
Matthew F. Hale		White supremacist leader; convicted of soliciting the murder of a federal judge
Larry Hoover		Leader of the Gangster Disciples Nation based in Chicago
Jeff Fort		Co-founder of the Black P. Stones gang in Chicago, and founder of its El Rukn faction
Theodore Kaczynski		The “Unabomber”
David Lane (deceased)		Neo-Nazi leader, involvement in the murder of Alan Berg
Juan Matta-Ballesteros		Drug trafficker, co-conspirator in the Enrique Camarena case
Zacarias Moussaoui		Conspirator in the September 11, 2001 attacks
Terry Nichols		Oklahoma City bombing conspirator
Richard Colvin Reid		Islamic terrorist, nicknamed the “Shoe Bomber”
Eric Robert Rudolph		Christian Identity^[7] terrorist; 1996 Olympic Park bombing
Dwight York		Leader of the Nuwaubians; convicted for child molestation, racketeering and financial reporting charges
Ramzi Yousef		Islamic terrorist, 1993 World Trade Center bombing
Timothy McVeigh (deceased)		Oklahoma City bombing (executed on June 11, 2001)
Kenneth McGriff		Drug trafficker and organized crime figure
H. Rap Brown		Former civil rights activist convicted of murdering a Fulton County, Georgia, deputy Sheriff
Thomas Silverstein		Convicted of murdering Federal Correctional Officer Merle E. Clutts
Luis Felipe		Founder of the New York chapter of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation
Howard Mason		Drug trafficker who ordered the murder of police officer Eddie Byrne
Barry Mills		Leading member of the Aryan Brotherhood
Charles Harrelson (deceased)		Texan hitman, convicted of murdering federal judge, father of actor Woody Harrelson
Jose Padilla		Convicted of aiding terrorists
Michael Swango		American surgeon and serial killer; convicted of 3 fatal poisonings, with many more unproven
Mahmud Abouhalima		Islamic Mujahideen leader, 1993 World Trade Center bombing implication and conviction
Richard Lee McNair		Convicted murderer and escape artist
Robert Hanssen		former senior FBI agent serving life for espionage

Supermax was designed by the DLR group. Go to their website: http://www.dlrgroupjustice.com/

Here you will see a very tasteful flash presentation, opening with birds flying thorugh a jungle scene. It then proudly proclaimes

” listen.Design.deliver.

DLR group unites talent from diverse locations to design places that last with commitment to our clients, the environment, and design excellence.

Celebrate the experiences of everyday living. We design to make the ordinary extrordinary. Connecting personal, social, and commercial relationships.

Foster a lifetime of living. Our design inspires a students mind, body, and spirit to achieve all that is possible and more.”

Here you can see pictures of Supermax: http://www.dlrgroupjustice.com/#/3.12.2/

The following was written by a CNN reporter who visited Supermax:

Bureau of Prisons officials stressed that 95 percent of the Supermax prisoners are the most violent, disruptive and escape-prone inmates from other federal prisons, and they were transferred to ADX to help control those other facilities. At ADX, every prisoner has his own 86-square-foot cell.

Despite the brutal nature and violent history of most of the inmates, not a single major assault against a corrections officer has occurred since the first inmates arrived in 1994.

The one-on-one killers who slashed or strangled other inmates, earning a trip to Supermax, are the inmates one would most worry about. Contact with others comes only after the inmates have adhered to a strict program for group recreation. Two inmate-on-inmate homicides have led to even tighter restrictions.

I was allowed to briefly talk at random to a few of the inmates. One man who identified himself as Jack Stancell of South Carolina told me he’s doing time because, among other things, he’d stabbed somebody and murdered somebody else. He’s been in prison for 33 of his 65 years. He says Supermax is actually better than some places he’s been.

“You get used to it,” he says without emotion.

5 comments.

the blind water from her hands (Great Hormones at Bedtime)

Posted on February 27th, 2009 by invot.
Categories: Orig. Literature, Drugs, Parental Advisory.

“Of all the people I’d expect to see sitting in front of the dollar store…”

My attention shifted to the man standing in front of me. “Why not me?” I said hapharzardly.

“You dissapeared pretty quickly. And now you poof right back to Belgrade. What are you doing back here?”

He really didn’t have the right to be asking me that question. Actually, he didn’t have the right to say anything to me at all, not after all that’s happened. However, the phrase “love thy enemies” stumbled past my mind perfectly in step with my desire to smear this man’s face into the curb. I threw my gaze into the giant sky and replied, “…Bible college.”

He laughed out a white cloud of breath.

“I’m going to be a youth pastor.” I tried to say this as seriously as possible.

“Where is this Bible college?”

“Bozeman.”

“I was going to be a youth pastor too.” It was clear that he didn’t believe me. He continued, “but I dropped out. I decided I’d rather smoke pot.”

“Really now?” I sighed. “Nowadays, I didn’t know it was a decision between one and another.”

“So you still smoke.”

“No.” I gave up trying to sound serious.

“You just haven’t had the chance with all these Bible people around you. That’s why.” I listened to the words I’ve told so many people, including him, time and time again. “You should come over to Rick’s this evening. He’d be happy to see you. We can reconnect, smoke a bowl, and enjoy life.”

“No thanks.” I gave up trying to sound pleasant as well, and watched the traffic intently. The thought of seeing Rick sourly enticed me for a moment, I have to admit. My hands emptied from my pockets and I reached for a pebble lying near my foot. I studied it’s form silently, each second an annoyance for the man who stood in front of me.

“You should be in California where you belong.” He said, to break the silence.

“You should be dead.” I said quietly.

“And you shouldn’t be?”

I looked him in the eye. “You should thank me. If it wasn’t for me you’d be dead right now. You’d be decaying underground instead of harassing people outside of the dollar store. You have no idea…”

“You’re so full of shit, Jared.”

“You and I both, Matt. But I’m not making this story up. There’s no reason for me to.” A car pulled into the parking lot and I forgot what I was saying. After a moment, I sat back down. “Mars hates you, you know.”

“You and Mars both. So what?”

“So, she hates you because she thinks you were the one who stole from us. And I just happen to think that too. You need to be careful, you’re not safe in this town. Especially Bozeman. She wants to see you die.”

Matt smiled. “…so that’s what, eh?” With that he pulled out a cigarette and jokingly offered me one as well. “How do you even know this? You barely knew Mars at all.”

“I know her better than you think.”

“You obviously don’t.”

I thought of all the things I could say to him: all the days her and I spent together, how much I loved her, the chaos and the harmony that was our lives… I thought of how he didn’t deserve to hear any of it.

“Her name is Heather.” I blurted out suddenly.

Now it’s I who observed the silence, waiting for the man standing in front of me to respond. His posture changed, and I recieved the feeling that he suddenly believed what I was saying. At first I think it’s strange, that this random fact, that I could just as well have made up, was what stifled him into silence. But then I realized, he knew her name too. “Heather.” He repeated to himself strangely.

“Her name is Heather.” I said again.

“No.” He muttered. “Her name was Heather.”

“What?”

He attempted a smile but failed. “So you might know Mars, but still not as well as me. If you did, you’d know she died last winter.”

“Fuck you.” I stood up and turned to leave.

“Is that the kind of language they use in Bible College?” He shouted.

Without turning back to face him I replied, “You’re so full of shit, Matt.”

“You and I both, Jared. But I’m not making this story up. There’s no reason for me to.” His voice subsided as he continued. “They found her body in Livingston pass. She just started walking, nobody knows where she was planning on going. The police found her naked, she took all her clothes off as she walked. Nobody knows shy she did that. They say she died of hypothermia.” I observed him through the reflection of the store window as he continued to talk. “After that everyone went into hiding. We stopped selling. The whole town pretty much shut down as far as I’m concerned. She was the reason we all did what we did.”

I didn’t know quite what to say, so I turned to face Matt. His whole body looked crunched up and tired, like he just ran a marathon. There really was no reason, except the way he looked right then, for me to believe a word he said.

“So… she’s dead?” I asked strangely. “For real?”

Matt sighed. “Something you don’t know about me and her…”

“I don’t want to hear it.” I said, and quickly paced away.

1 comment.

The Lament of our Bones (Her body was a sad, sad song)

Posted on February 1st, 2009 by invot.
Categories: Crime, Creative Writing, Drugs.

She wore a thin white dress, fringed at every edge and stained with dirt and rainwater from earlier that day. The white lace was thin enough to show the hue of her skin that lied within it. It wraped around her arms gracefully. gently. -ruffling out across her brittle frame. An array of colorful cotton bracelets rested around her wrists - frayed along their entire peremeter, amplifiying her silent skin and even more silent eyes.

Her long, blond hair was hidden beneath the white hood of a sweater, spilling out here and there onto the square roof tiles that surrounded her, knotted and bustled. Her limbs sprawled from her body in her own trademark fashion as she lied so perfectly before me. I thought that if I touched her she would simply melt into a pile of ash she looked so fragile.

She looked so beautiful.

My long coat wrapped around my legs as I bent over to kiss her lips. The wind was cold and hard but her lips were warm and soft and kissing her made me feel like I could forget the meaning of a cold winter altogether…

…and I felt so timeless because love is timeless. And around her love is all I ever felt.

In her eyes the world lost all it’s value. Her body looked so frail lying there on the rooftop… her lips so warm.

She said she was dreaming. She said that I was a dream. I didn’t know if that should make me smile or not, but I did. I always smiled around her. It’s an unsurpressable urge. “If I woke up, what would I see?” She asked.

“How could you know, unless you did?” I responded gently.

“Would you be there?”

“I hope so.”

“Me too.” Her hair was redirected by the wind as she breathed the words out her mouth. “What do you think that world would be like?”

“Something amazing. If you’re in it.” I said.

“Is this world amazing?”

“You’re in it. Aren’t you?”

“Am I?”

With that my eyes strayed from the lines of her body to the happenings below us. A truck had settled in the allyway behind us -two men leaning aganst it’s side, blowing cigerette smoke into the cold air.

This is the climax we’ve always been hoping for, Mars and I. My hands lifted her body and I smiled as she opened her eyes and rested against me…

…and all I could think was: “this must be what eternity feels like.”

4 comments.

A journey into the political ideas of Distinguished Bean… (Compare/Contrast with the Congressman from Texas)

Posted on January 17th, 2009 by Distinguished Bean.
Categories: Political, Abortion, War, Law, Constitutional Law, Terrorism, education, Economics.

When i began to develop politically, morally, and economically, i took on specific views on most of the issues spanning the political spectrum of today. I began to take stances and apply my own intellect onto the issues, however, something was weird. I was raised old fashioned Republican and thought it was faultless, however, when i began my journey i began to contradict myself and confuse my past. My views didn’t fit one political party, let alone a single frame of thought. I suddenly realized that there was a party out there that, for the most part, was saying what i was thinking. However, even then, i felt very confused. Suddenly i read and studied the history and ideas of the 10 term congressman Ron Paul from Texas. I was absolutely amazed on how much i lined up with his political thoughts. I truly and honestly believe that if people could step past party boundaries, politicians like him, who actually thought ‘outside the box’ , would have a chance at positively influencing the country. I have recently read his book Revolution: A Manifesto. I felt like he did an incredible job of covering the issues pressing our nation today, so i have decided to post brief summaries that i found on the site http://www.ontheissues.org/Revolution_Manifesto.htm, that sum up his views and political thought.

Abortion is murder
A popular academic argument for abortion demands that we think of the child in the womb as a parasite.but the same argument justifies infanticide, since it applies just as well to an infant outside the womb.newborns require even more attention & care.

People ask an expectant mother how her baby is doing. They do not ask how her fetus is doing, or her blob of tissue, or her parasite. But that is what her baby becomes as soon as the child is declared to be unwanted.
Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 59-60 Apr 1, 2008

Roe v. Wade decision was harmful to the Constitution
The federal government should not play any role in the abortion issue, according to the Constitution. Apart from waiting forever for Supreme Court justices who rule in accordance with the Constitution, Americans do have some legislative recourse. Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over a broad categories of cases.

Wasteful government spending backed by both parties
Truth is treason in the empire of lies. There is an alternative to national bankruptcy, a bigger police state, trillion dollar wars, and a government that draws ever more parasitically on the productive energies of the American people. It’s called freedom.

School prayer is not a federal issue
[Limits on Constitutional authority] holds true for issues like prayer in schools. Such issues were never meant to be decided by federal judges. The whole point of the American Revolution was to vindicate the principle of local self government.
Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 61 Apr 1, 2008

Private funds for arts work better than government funds
Some Americans appear to believe that there would be no arts in America were it not for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). While the government requested $121 million for the NEA in 2006, private donations to the arts totaled $2.5 billion that year, dwarfing the NEA budget. NEA funds go not necessarily to the best artists, but to people who happen to be good at filling out government grant applications. I have my doubts that the same people populate both categories.

Free trade agreements threaten national sovereignty
I opposed both the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization, both of which were heavily favored by the political establishment. Many supporters of the free trade market supported these agreements. Nearly six decades ago when the International Trade Organization was up for debate, conservatives and libertarians agreed that supranational trade bureaucracies with the power to infringe upon American sovereignty were undesirable.

The “living Constitution” is the death of democracy
A living Constitution is just the thing any government would be delighted to have, for whenever people complain that their constitution has been violated, the government can trot out its judges to inform the people that they’ve simply misunderstood: the Constitution, you see, has merely evolved with the times.

Those who would give us a ‘living’ constitution are actually giving us a dead constitution, since such a thing is completely unable to protect us against encroachments of government power.

Replace Medicaid with volunteer pro-bono medical care
In the days before Medicare and Medicaid, the poor and elderly were admitted to hospitals at the same rate they are now, and received good care. Before those programs came into existence, every physician understood that he or she had a responsibility towards the less fortunate and free medical care was the norm. Hardly anyone is aware of this today, since it doesn’t fit into the typical, by the script story of government rescuing us from a predatory private sector.
Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 84 Apr 1, 2008

Private medical savings accounts, not government meddling
The most obvious way to break this cycle is to get the government out of the business of meddling in health care, which was far more affordable and accessible before government got involved. Short of that, and more politically feasible in the immediate run, is to allow consumers and their doctors to pull themselves out of the system through medical savings accounts.
Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 89 Apr 1, 2008

Conscription is unconstitutional–including National Service
Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government given the power to conscript citizens. The power to raise armies is not a power to force people into the armies.

Lesser forms of the draft, such as compulsory “national service” are based on the sam unacceptable premise. Young people are not raw material to be employed by the political class on behalf of whatever fashionable political, military, or social cause catches its fancy. In a free society, their lives are not the plaything of government.

Contract with America was a toothless cop out
The Republican leadership urged these freshmen congressmen to focus on a toothless, soporific agenda called the Contract with America that was boldly touted as a major overhaul of the federal government. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The Brookings Institution in effect said that if this is what conservatives consider revolutionary, they have conceded defeat.
Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 3 Apr 1, 2008

11/5/07: Set fundraising record of $4 million in single day
I was a reluctant candidate, not at all convinced that a sizable enough national constituency existed for a campaign based on liberty and the Constitution rather than on special interest pandering and the distribution of loot. Was I ever wrong.

On November 5, 2007, we set a record when we raised over $4 million online in a single day. Not only is the freedom message popular, it is more intensely popular than any other political message.

Terrorism is just like any other murder: you look for motive
People were bound to start wondering eventually, why we were attacked? Not because they sought to excuse the attackers, but out of natural curiosity regarding what made these men tick. Looking for motive is not the same thing as making excuses; detectives always look for motive behind crime, but no one thinks they are looking to excuse murder.
Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 15 Apr 1, 2008

War in Iraq was senseless invasion of sovereign state
The war in Iraq was one of the most ill considered, poorly planned and just plain unnecessary military conflicts in American history.and I opposed it from the beginning.
Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 21 Apr 1, 2008

Mandate declaration of war before military aggression
In 2002, as war with Iraq loomed, I proposed that Congress officially declare war against Iraq, making it clear that I intended to oppose my own measure. The point was to underscore our constitutional responsibility to declare war before commencing major military operations, rather than leaving the decision to the President or passing resolutions that delegate to the president the decision making power over war.

And finally, due to the recent heat of the conflict in Israel/Palestine, i have found an excerpt from a speech he made concerning the conflict.

“collective punishment” against Palestinians is immoral.

“Many innocent children are among the dead. While the shooting of rockets into Israel is inexcusable, the violent actions of some people in Gaza does not justify killing Palestinians on this scale,” said the outspoken Republican.

Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27 against Gaza to put an end to rocket attacks launched from the coastal enclave.

At least 888 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli operation, while some 3,700 others are reported wounded. At least 10 Israeli soldiers have died in the now 16-day onslaught.

Hamas, the democratically-elected ruler of the impoverished strip, demands a cessation of an 18-month Israeli blockade on Gaza before it stops rocket attacks on Israel.

The US Congress endorsed a resolution Friday to support Israel in its offensive in Gaza, “recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza.”

Congressman Paul, however, says the resolution “clearly takes one side in a conflict that has nothing to do with the United States or US interests.”

“At the very least, the U.S. Congress should not be loudly proclaiming its support for the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza,” Paul added.

The Israeli operation has entered its third week now, despite international calls and a UN Security Council resolution which urge an immediate end to the attacks against the densely-populated strip.

0 comments.

Synesthesia (Shedevil)

Posted on December 8th, 2008 by invot.
Categories: Creative Writing, Drugs.

How it all began kind of alludes me. The strangest dream just fell out of my head, I wake up, and have to ask where I am. Heather is perched on a rock, and at that moment I swore she has angel wings.

“It’s time to go now.” She says. I still don’t know where we are.

There’s a pause as I try to lift myself up from the ground, but my arms flow like curry out in every direction. Giving up, I look at the pine trees surrounding us, moving like Hawaiian dancers. I turn to my side and begin to speak words that look and sound like trumpets: “Are we bad people?” It feels like there’s a pause after that question, but there isn’t.”No. We’re not. What we do, what we teach, is the science and art of bliss. We teach people how to turn on, or how to go out, of their minds. By ‘turn on,’ we mean ‘tune in,’ to get beyond your routine ways of thinking, acting, and experiencing. In order to use your head, you have to go out of your mind. You have to observe. You have to escape.”

“We have to escape.” Says Heather silently. A burst of cold air flies up into her long, blond hair, making it sparkle in the pale light of sunset. “It’s time to leave.”

“Where are we?” I say. “Where are we going to go?”

“That’s the big question, isn’t it?”

From my jacket I pull out a book. “The Power of Now… I want you to read it. It’s good. You’ll like it.” I say, and Heather drops her legs to the ground. She leans over to grab the book with one hand, and leverages her body with her other hand pressing into my forehead.

That moment I remember looking up into the air and seeing absolutely nothing but her and I -in that pose. Right then I feel evil. Right then I know something is wrong.

It’s time to leave.

9 comments.

I’m nothing better than the worst of my habits

Posted on December 5th, 2008 by invot.
Categories: Crime, Psalms.

Fall we may
within a life to lose
and leave decay.
A pride of choral screams,

it sings beyond and breathes for me.

The effect becomes a destination.

Life’s hold is lifted
when the hands of consciousness withdraw.
I did not create it,
I cannot maintain it,
not the way it was meant to be.

Reach that thought so slick on your tongue
often for only a glimpse;
could we have held it
had our senses not been pruned?

Sometimes I can see right through myself
(revealing the unexplainable)
and that’s when I know
in birth we were swallowed whole.
you
and
i

Gather all the wretched hands
that tremble with debts of promise
What can a man do
to lose his knowledge?
To forget the places
where his disgorgement lie?

What rags are all virtue…
and perfection but a thought…
Who am I, and who are you, to adapt to blindness?
to trust in momentum?
to push until made numb?

this is when it hits.

it sings beyond and breathes for me.

The effect becomes a destination.

head is heavy
vision undulates
breaks on the shore
fadeout.
like an old friend
face meets the floor.
say hello like you mean it
’cause you’re a star now, babe
you
and
i

0 comments.

Law

The Authors

Categories

Articles

Bieren Links

Darth B'Strad Links

invot's Links

Index for posts concerning Law

Don’t vote, Do something!

Dear Girl sitting in front of me eating dates and knitting pt 2

Ipod shuffle 3 part 1 (Pete can be redeemed in the sencond part)

Addiction and Idolatry

ADX Florence

the blind water from her hands (Great Hormones at Bedtime)

The Lament of our Bones (Her body was a sad, sad song)

A journey into the political ideas of Distinguished Bean… (Compare/Contrast with the Congressman from Texas)

Synesthesia (Shedevil)

I’m nothing better than the worst of my habits