Of course, we are speaking in generalities here.
Topic: by Lenny
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-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Malec [mailto:root@scottmalec.info]
Sent: Sunday, November 28, 2004 2:28 PM
To: Lenny
Subject: Re: reinventing capitalism

Yes, yes to the moon, then to the stars. Ra ra. Horay, horay. Sounds like more crapitalist, social darwinist propaganda to me. Passion, but no compassion.

In short, I am the butt of this thinking, on the verge of extinction. I am aware of it of the boot coming down upon me, so cannot and will not praise my oppressor, the Man.

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-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny [mailto:lennyflatley@thefantastics.net]
Sent: Sunday, November 28, 2004 2:37 PM
To: 'root@scottmalec.info'
Subject: RE: reinventing capitalism

Bloom has an important POV -- he sees things (inc. human culture, humanity itself, the world) systemically. I wonder how he feels about PEOPLE.

Regardie, Buddha, Occultists and mystics understand human consciousness (and the flawed nature of being a humanimal) and how to personally transcend it but offer no answers as to the real world dilemma (so, you've become Jesus H. Christ... then what about the rest of us, buddy?)

What is needed is a synthesis.

Of course, I am speaking in generalities here.

Intelligent Design vs. Common Sense.
Topic: by Lenny
Intelligent Design breaks from Creationism in the sense that classically Creationism sets some very narrow parameters for the origin of humanity -- the earth is only 6000 years old, it was created in seven days (including lunch breaks), etc -- while ID seems to be more inclusive of the science of evolution.

ID is being pushed because it can bill itself as "science" even though it's very core is religious. Instead of being agnostic it requires belief in something ultimately unprovable (God). This is the trojan horse where the religious sneak God into the classroom.




Evolution is almost universally accepted by science, yet 48% of Americans believe in Creationism.

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Thoughts on the media and the election.
Topic: by Lenny
A Corporation is a Virus.

TV news is a business and, like most business it's number one concern is it's own perpetuation. A Corporation is a Virus.

Blame the Middle Class.

Myself, I blame the Middle Class. The guys with the money are few and there is no doubt in my mind that we could take 'em, if we really wanted to. The poor are victims of violence and are kept down mostly by a Middle Class that thinks that one day, if they try hard enough, they will be very rich.

The Media Is The Muddle

With the Major Media existing as one arm of an obnoxious profit-making structure we naturally get distortions -- muddles -- that are dictated not by a supposed "objectivity" but blinkered "special interests" that are all the more insiduous because they are denied by those that are supposed to report the news.

Suggested reading includes: Jamie Whyte's Bad Thinking, Manufacturing Consent by Herman and Chomsky, and Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising.

A Country Divided

1. How do the election numbers really add up? Sick of that stupid graphic with a big red swath down the middle of the country?



(click here and here to see how things really added up.)

2. Michael Moore: The Kid's Are Alright: "If there was one group who really came through on Tuesday, it was the young people of America. Their turnout was historic and record-setting. And few in the media are willing to report this fact."

3. Over two thirds of the country didn't vote for Bush... they either wanted him out of office or were sharp enough to realize that politics is beneath them:

CANDIDATE / VOTES / percentage

Bush / 59,459,765 / 32.122%
Kerry / 55,949,407 / 30.225%
Nobody / 69,696,269 / 37.652%

(sources: CNN.com, Ameristat.org.)

4. Who really won the election, anyways?

Vote fraud evidence: here.
More vote fraud evidence: here.

5. Don't mourn, organize!

Says David Grenier: "It's time too ask yourself why you wanted to see Kerry win. Was it an end in itself, or merely a means to an end? Did you want to see Kerry win just because you like him as a person, or because you want better health care, better jobs, or an end to the war in Iraq ... If it's the latter, then you need to simply keep fighting." (more here.)

Posted by mediafaction at 12:01 AM EST

Updated: Monday, 29 November 2004 10:09 AM EST

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The "sounds flat" blues.
Topic: by Lenny
Some middle aged white woman is cackling the "sounds flat" blues over the PA of this once serene cafe. Between lines of "lord have mercy, lord have mercy on me" a middle aged accountant picks out an indecipherable line on his hollow body guitar, each note more improbable -- and more unsonorous -- than the next. These instrumental breaks are highlighted by the arrhythmic twitch of the tambourine, which sounds more like a rattlesnake than a percussive instrument.

They stopped! Announcing a nine minute break. Silence has never sounded so good...

It was then the angel sang his melody.
-- Rainer Maria Rilke, "Annunciation To Mary."

The end of history may sound like a good idea, but...
Topic: by Lenny
If the truth can be told so that it is understood it will be believed. What is the truth that we have to believe? History has failed us, so history is coming to an end...
- Terrence Mckenna, RE:EVOLUTION

"yeah..."
- Billy Idol

About ten years ago, the big scary Year 2000 [common era] was looming just over the horizon. Nobody I knew had realized that cyberpunk mouthpiece Mondo 2000 was done publishing. Timothy Leary was as interviewing Billy Idol on network television, my own publishing concerns were being realized with the help of a Commodore Amiga 500 and there seemed to be a very real concern among myself and my friends with ways to make "free" long distance phone calls. I spent most of my time in Edinboro, Pennsylvania and only had friends during the fall, when the university was in session, but I probably would have found the really good drugs if I had befriended some of the local farmer's kids.

On this day ten years ago I almost certainly had the car out at the lake with Damen, playing crappy "rave" compilations on the new dashboard CD player, smoking pot, and killing time before we made our break to the "big city." Damen's mom was some sort of priest in the Church of Scientology and every once in a while Damen would be sent to a camp for a week or two and come back with some very strange ideas. But who was I to judge? I have always had strange ideas and, after all it is the end of history.

There was a tape going around at the time, a song by the Shamen, which featured a spoken word performance by Terrence Mckenna, coauthor of The Archaic Revival. In it he spoke of rave culture, shamanism and the end of history, which he apparently proved mathematicaly with his brother, before it was pointed out that some of the math was wrong.

Anyways, I became a "raver," as it were, mainly because they caused exponentially more trouble than the punk rockers. My friends and I were fascinated by all the new technology: email, internet, CD players, because we sensed that something was coming, something big...

I put the "H" in "ADD"...
Topic: by Lenny
One.The computer is not a machine that manufactures thought (as some naive Artificial Intelligence fans believe) but an electronic micro-mirror which reflects back processed clusters of electronic thought signals. The computer can be programmed to help the individual become a thought-maker, spinning out dozens of new ideas an hour. Computers encourage us to change our thoughts.

I just might have ADD. If, in fact, it exists at all. Some folks see ADD as a "disease" that can be cured with a magick pill (amphetamine sulfate), and some folks don't recognize ADD's existence at all. And if that is your view, you're probably right. It doesn't exist...

In my humble estimation ADD seems to be a constellation of behaviors, some biological, some behavioral, that one may or may not manifest at a particular time. I have read compelling arguments both for and against the very existence of ADD and both for and against specific treatments (the use of amphetamine, for example, is controversial). The more I read about this topic the more I am of the opinion that all these people are defining ADD different ways. But they all want to call it "ADD" (or "ADHD").

For a compelling argument that ADD is a biological disorder (or, rather, that several possible disorders that have been lumped together as ADD) check out Dr. Amen's excellent book Healing ADD. For an equally compelling view of ADD as a behavior that one can adjust to, check out Thom Hartman's Healing ADD.

See what I mean? These people can't agree on what they're comlaining about and they can't even think of an original name for their books!

Two. I simply cannot imagine living before computers.

When composing music I create sound parts (beats, synth patterns, guitar parts and the like) and assemble them, cut and paste style, on the computer screen. It's the only way that really makes sense to me.

If I am reading something, and I really want to digest it I need to outline it in Microsoft Word. It's almost as if I need things to keep one part of my mind occupied while another part handles the data. Or perhaps it is because my mouse hand is tied to my left brain, much as the laryngeal muscles are tied to thought (when humans think, their vocal chords move ever so slightly, so that you are in effect talking to yourself).

I write and compose music (just two examples) much differently than I would without these tools. The idea of cut and paste (whether with literature or with sampling) is completely natural to me.

Cassette Tape Evangelism.
Topic: by Lenny
I fell asleep this morning listening to a subliminal hypnosis tape called "Stop Procrastinating... Or Do It Tomorrow." When I awoke at 7:40 AM it was with the violent urge to finish moving, so I loaded the car up got a pile of boxes out of the house.

On my way back I was listening to a tape that I found when I was packing. Apparently in August of 1994 I had a radio show where I played KMFDM. Who knew?

The radio show got unbearable very quickly (probably why I had suppressed the memories) and I put in my new favorite tape, the Dee Dee Ramone "rap" album: "Dee Dee King: In The Spotlight." Down the road I spotted some dude standing at the bus stop wearing a Ramones T-shirt. I stopped the car and gave him the tape... he seemed kind of excited, and not really awake. I bet he is listening to it right now.

This spring I spotted some kid with a Can't Face The Falling sticker on his bumper and gave him a copy of the 5 song CD I was recording for the band (the project is unfinished).

Dude, if you're out there, and you still have the CFTF tape, drop me an email... it was my only copy.

Typhoid Lenny
Topic: by Lenny
The clock above the door of something called "Cuts 2000" at the strip mall read 12:00 PM. I awoke this morning with a violent cough and a metallic taste in my mouth, which underscored the obvious: I still have pneumonia, and it's only getting worse. I don't really have the money for the Route 6 Emergency Walk-In clinic. By the time I take care of the co-pay, the co-pay I still owe for the last visit, $20 for an old bounced check and pay the co-pay for the antibiotics that are helping transform this infection into some sort of superviral contagion, I will be out over a hundred dollars.

I'm sitting in the car eating Taco Bell, being stared down by a beady-eyed pigeon, much larger than any I have ever seen. Someone's mother is in the station wagon parked next to me, eating something and reading a newspaper circular with no apparent self-consciousness.

Is this fiscal responsibility? I save over a hundred dollars by not going to the doctor so I spend five dollars on Taco Bell. I can afford this slight indulgence because I have been living off Tina's microwave burritos (five for a dollar at Stop'N'Shop). I ate shitty burritos so I could afford to go to Taco Bell and buy a burrito... I feel like the guy on death row that ordered "shit on a shingle" for his last meal.

Seven Day Weekend.
Topic: by Lenny
Today is my last day of work, like, forever...

I have been writing at a feverish clip, so look to this space starting next week for some red hot literary business.

Until then, remember what Sam Peckinpah wrote:

C'mon, Have A Hart...
Topic: by Lenny
the Steve Hart "No good reason for this interview" interview...

SH -- Steve Hart
LF -- Joe "Lenny" Flatley

SH: First off, which do you prefer, Joe or Lenny?

LF: Well, short answer, my name is Joe, but my friends call me Lenny. Call me Lenny.

SH: What are you doing right now, Lenny?

LF: Pecking away here at the keyboard, working on something I have been putting off, comparing "magick" - that's with a 'CK' - with technology. Now I am never gonna get this done. Can I put this interview on my website?

SH: Sure.

LF: Great. When are you gonna be using this?

SH: Well, the project is due tomorrow, so hell. . . I may have the transcript done tonight.

LF: You can do it faster than that! Just hand in the tapes, do it now, wake that professor up! (laughs)

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