"Specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart, this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved." Max Weber
Things met with in this world are tied to the forms of our thinking. We see what is before us, the present, the objective. Eternal being makes its temporal appearance in this way. The only way out of captivity in the forms, out of confinement in the prison of projections, the only contact with the eternal, is through freedom.
Nothing seemed to hurt quite so much as being ravaged by a vice that was not a top vice.
It had never greatly mattered, and mattered less than ever now, in the seventies. But a sexual madness was overwhelming the Western world. Sammler now even vaguely recalled hearing that a President of the United States was supposed to have shown himself in a similar way to the representatives of the press(asking ladies to leave), and demanding to know whether a man so well hung could not be trusted to lead this country.
- it was plain that the rich men he knew were winners in struggles of criminality, of permissible criminality. In other words triumphant in forms of deceit and hardness of heart considered by the political order as a whole to be productive; kinds of cheating or thieving or (at best) wastefulness which on the whole caused the gross national product to increase.
He wanted, with God, to be free from the bondage of the ordinary and the finite. A soul released from Nature, from impressions, and from everyday life. For this to happen God Himself must be waiting, surely. And a man who has been killed and buried should have no other interest. He should be perfectly disinterested. Eckhardt said in so many words that God loved disinterested purity and unity. God Himself was drawn toward the disinterested soul. What besides the spirit should a man care for who has come back from the grave? However, and mysteriously enough, it happened, as Sammler observed, that one was always, and so powerfully, so persuasively, drawn back to human conditions... All postures are mocked by their opposites. This is what happens when the individual begins to be drawn back from disinterestedness to creaturely conditions. Portions or aspects of his earlier self revive.
And everything soon must change. Men would set their watches by other suns than this. Or time would vanish...And we know from photographs the astronauts took, the beauty of the earth, its white and its blue, its fleeces, the great glitter afloat. A glorious planet. But wasn't everything being done to make it intolerable to abide here, an unconscious collaboration of all souls spreading madness and poison?
To some people, true enough, experience seemed wealth. Misery worth a lot. Horror a fortune. Yes, But I never wanted such riches.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Friday, November 18, 2016
Gangs, Guns and Violence - The In$ane Chicago Way
Gangs, Guns and Violence - The In$ane Chicago Way, John M. Hagedorn
With money comes power and with power comes respect. In order to maintain this respect and power they had to be willing to protect it by all means necessary. We taught the C-Notes$ they could do this by utilizing their resources. The boys had three pipelines for weapons available to them; one was from West Virginia, one from Texas, and the other from Wisconsin.....
The Texas connect was a member from the Ohio Street faction that was on the lam for several crimes that he was being sought for back in Chicago. He found that all you needed to purchase a weapon in Texas at the time as a Texas driver's license. Before long he opened up his new line of money-making, purchasing and selling guns illegally. .....
In fact, one tactic the C-Note$ employed was to take advantage of the Chicago police mandate to "get guns off the street." When C-Note$ were caught in a drug bust, the Note$ offered firearms to the arresting officers if the charges would be dropped.......Sal laughed and said it was a "win-win." The Note$ didn't go to jail and the cops got brownie points for turning in guns.
Law enforcement always wants to take credit when homicides drop but blame the gangs when it goes up. However, the reasons the Mexican cartel was has not spilled over to the US side surely reflect more than policing and include the conscious, rational decisions of both cartel leaders and powerful US prison gangs.
To better understand this dynamic, we can turn to the 2011 United Nations Global Study on Homicide. It points out that levels of homicide in most times are related to lack of development and inequality. It is the most undeveloped areas, like sub-Saharan Africa, with high numbers of desperate young men, that have the highest rates of killing. The report adds that when homicide rates shoot up stratospherically it is typically because gangs go to war, as in Colombia between the Cali and Medellin cartels, the 1990's mafia wars in Italy, and more recently the Mexican Sinaloa vs Zetas cartel wars. The report adds that violence often sharply declines when wars end.
The standard notion by US criminologists that "neighborhood characteristics" of social disorganization predict homicide rates makes little sense at times of war when murders double or triple in a single year.
"...To me, the instrumental culture of organized crime is a bizarre mirror image of the paramount importance of success in US society and its worship of money and power.
In the case of both SGD and the Outfit, accomplishing these goals often meant murder. Like Robert Merton, I think this success culture is embedded deep within our society, and some - Merton mentions Al Capone - use violence and corruption to get what they want. Public officials condemn this culture in organized crime at the risk of hypocrisy. The world of politics, sports, government, and business are filled with examples of men and women doing whatever it takes to win. As in A World of Gangs, I argue our main struggle with gang youth is a cultural one, and the target of our struggle should be mainstream, instrumental, hypermasculine, capitalist culture, not some deviant, vicious gang subculture. For me, there are other cultural values - such as nonviolence and human rights - that are more important than money or power."
"History tells us that gangs, corruption, and organized crime will probably never go away, no matter what we do, but it does matter what we do.... One lesson of this book is that Chicago has always had a serious gang problem because it also has always had a serious problem with corruption and police brutality. In Chicago and elsewhere, history shows the gang problem is broader that just a problem of gang members."
With money comes power and with power comes respect. In order to maintain this respect and power they had to be willing to protect it by all means necessary. We taught the C-Notes$ they could do this by utilizing their resources. The boys had three pipelines for weapons available to them; one was from West Virginia, one from Texas, and the other from Wisconsin.....
The Texas connect was a member from the Ohio Street faction that was on the lam for several crimes that he was being sought for back in Chicago. He found that all you needed to purchase a weapon in Texas at the time as a Texas driver's license. Before long he opened up his new line of money-making, purchasing and selling guns illegally. .....
In fact, one tactic the C-Note$ employed was to take advantage of the Chicago police mandate to "get guns off the street." When C-Note$ were caught in a drug bust, the Note$ offered firearms to the arresting officers if the charges would be dropped.......Sal laughed and said it was a "win-win." The Note$ didn't go to jail and the cops got brownie points for turning in guns.
Law enforcement always wants to take credit when homicides drop but blame the gangs when it goes up. However, the reasons the Mexican cartel was has not spilled over to the US side surely reflect more than policing and include the conscious, rational decisions of both cartel leaders and powerful US prison gangs.
To better understand this dynamic, we can turn to the 2011 United Nations Global Study on Homicide. It points out that levels of homicide in most times are related to lack of development and inequality. It is the most undeveloped areas, like sub-Saharan Africa, with high numbers of desperate young men, that have the highest rates of killing. The report adds that when homicide rates shoot up stratospherically it is typically because gangs go to war, as in Colombia between the Cali and Medellin cartels, the 1990's mafia wars in Italy, and more recently the Mexican Sinaloa vs Zetas cartel wars. The report adds that violence often sharply declines when wars end.
The standard notion by US criminologists that "neighborhood characteristics" of social disorganization predict homicide rates makes little sense at times of war when murders double or triple in a single year.
"...To me, the instrumental culture of organized crime is a bizarre mirror image of the paramount importance of success in US society and its worship of money and power.
In the case of both SGD and the Outfit, accomplishing these goals often meant murder. Like Robert Merton, I think this success culture is embedded deep within our society, and some - Merton mentions Al Capone - use violence and corruption to get what they want. Public officials condemn this culture in organized crime at the risk of hypocrisy. The world of politics, sports, government, and business are filled with examples of men and women doing whatever it takes to win. As in A World of Gangs, I argue our main struggle with gang youth is a cultural one, and the target of our struggle should be mainstream, instrumental, hypermasculine, capitalist culture, not some deviant, vicious gang subculture. For me, there are other cultural values - such as nonviolence and human rights - that are more important than money or power."
"History tells us that gangs, corruption, and organized crime will probably never go away, no matter what we do, but it does matter what we do.... One lesson of this book is that Chicago has always had a serious gang problem because it also has always had a serious problem with corruption and police brutality. In Chicago and elsewhere, history shows the gang problem is broader that just a problem of gang members."
Monday, November 7, 2016
Election Day
another day or two and we shall have decided
between one or the other
amongst the vitriol and debate.
If only it could end once and forever
and bring us together along the paths we take
that might lead us to that most perfect of unions
we once dared to dream and state
between one or the other
amongst the vitriol and debate.
If only it could end once and forever
and bring us together along the paths we take
that might lead us to that most perfect of unions
we once dared to dream and state
A Broker in the Woods
Once a man came to visit me while I was busy doing nothing out in the woods,
he was dressed fine with a leather case and shoes that matched.
He said he were a broker, and explained to me
he was a man that goes between one thing for sell and another who does the buying.
I explained to him how busy I was and he offered that was ok,
he would just accompany me while explaining all the security he could offer me.
He seemed so enthusiastic and kind that I could hardly refuse him
and so we walked amongst the woods
all the while he explaining to me all these things that ensured my pleasant way of life
while drilling for oil and building skyscrapers and automobiles and computers
and all those things so necessary for the happiness of a man like me.
I tried to offer him some insight into the ferns found along the path
and how they were amongst the oldest of plants to be found on earth.
He seemed not very impressed as
I mentioned that unlike most, ferns reproduced not from seeds or from flowers,
but from spores that floated upon currents until residing wherever they alight
and formed a totally new thing reproduced from their very own eggs and sperm.
Still he went on, hardly taking notice of anything that I had said,
all about being rich and able to enjoy a life of ease and comfort.
So I moved on to the old oak tree that stood so majestically and mightily rising high above us.
I told him how the oak we now stood under was probably as old as the country itself
and very agreeably he smiled and suggested
I could be sure what he had to offer would survive longer than me,
and even longer than the oak tree itself.
I returned his smile even though I was more than a little disturbed by his restlessness and certainty
about this thing he suggested to be as grand as the mighty oak tree itself.
This thing I said to him that stands between me and you, my dear sir,
had best outlast those you suggest are for so sure.
He assured me that one is not exclusive to the other
and in fact each complements the other.
I smiled and walked him back to his car
and thanked him for his time and enthusiasm
telling him that I needed to return to the woods
while they still stood amidst the cloud and haze of all that he had offered me.
he was dressed fine with a leather case and shoes that matched.
He said he were a broker, and explained to me
he was a man that goes between one thing for sell and another who does the buying.
I explained to him how busy I was and he offered that was ok,
he would just accompany me while explaining all the security he could offer me.
He seemed so enthusiastic and kind that I could hardly refuse him
and so we walked amongst the woods
all the while he explaining to me all these things that ensured my pleasant way of life
while drilling for oil and building skyscrapers and automobiles and computers
and all those things so necessary for the happiness of a man like me.
I tried to offer him some insight into the ferns found along the path
and how they were amongst the oldest of plants to be found on earth.
He seemed not very impressed as
I mentioned that unlike most, ferns reproduced not from seeds or from flowers,
but from spores that floated upon currents until residing wherever they alight
and formed a totally new thing reproduced from their very own eggs and sperm.
Still he went on, hardly taking notice of anything that I had said,
all about being rich and able to enjoy a life of ease and comfort.
So I moved on to the old oak tree that stood so majestically and mightily rising high above us.
I told him how the oak we now stood under was probably as old as the country itself
and very agreeably he smiled and suggested
I could be sure what he had to offer would survive longer than me,
and even longer than the oak tree itself.
I returned his smile even though I was more than a little disturbed by his restlessness and certainty
about this thing he suggested to be as grand as the mighty oak tree itself.
This thing I said to him that stands between me and you, my dear sir,
had best outlast those you suggest are for so sure.
He assured me that one is not exclusive to the other
and in fact each complements the other.
I smiled and walked him back to his car
and thanked him for his time and enthusiasm
telling him that I needed to return to the woods
while they still stood amidst the cloud and haze of all that he had offered me.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Truth ... truth
One is always interested in the Truth. just as long as it is the truth one is interested in.
“Anyone who is too attached to material things or the mirror, who likes money, lush banquets, sumptuous mansions, refined suits, luxury cars,” he said, should avoid going into politics—as well as the seminary. Instead, political leaders must lead by example, living frugally and humbly.
Francis also offered some advice on how to fight terrorism and oppression, saying, “the best antidote is love. Love heals everything.” Pope Francis
Friday, November 4, 2016
Good Things Come to Me Now
"GOOD THINGS COME TO ME NOW"
Just a personal prayer spoken softly, quietly in my mind, aloud if I'm alone. I hope this don't seem silly to you. I know the power of things like this, the rhythm, the repetition of a soft harmonic chant sets magic in the air, pulls, draws, give the believer power to attract and power to receive.
Gary Gilmore in letter to Nicole Baker Barrett. Sept. 22, 1976 from the book The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer.
"If you were really scared, and went through it, and came out on the other side intact, then it was hard not to believe for a little while that you were on the side of the gods."
"whole fields of the soul could be defoliated and never leave a trace."
"You couldn't drag me up there," said Noall T. Wooton, the country attorney who prosecuted Gilmore, "I've done my job, I asked for it and got the death penalty - and I believe in it. But execution is a dirty, messy job and I don't want to be part of it."
Just a personal prayer spoken softly, quietly in my mind, aloud if I'm alone. I hope this don't seem silly to you. I know the power of things like this, the rhythm, the repetition of a soft harmonic chant sets magic in the air, pulls, draws, give the believer power to attract and power to receive.
Gary Gilmore in letter to Nicole Baker Barrett. Sept. 22, 1976 from the book The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer.
"If you were really scared, and went through it, and came out on the other side intact, then it was hard not to believe for a little while that you were on the side of the gods."
"whole fields of the soul could be defoliated and never leave a trace."
"You couldn't drag me up there," said Noall T. Wooton, the country attorney who prosecuted Gilmore, "I've done my job, I asked for it and got the death penalty - and I believe in it. But execution is a dirty, messy job and I don't want to be part of it."
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