[Vision2020] The Auntie Establishment and Brother Carl Show(March 5, 2006)

[Carl Westberg]

Actually, this post has nothing to do with the subject line.  I just find 
it....attractive.  Rather, this is to remind you of the soiree tomorrow 
(Wednesday) night at Bookpeople starting at 7 pm celebrating the release of 
Joan Opyr's opus  "Idaho Code: Where Family Therapy
Comes with a Shovel and an Alibi".  Joan is, of course, too shy to plug this 
herself, so I thought I'd do it for her.                                     
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
              Carl Westberg Jr.


>From: joekc at adelphia.net
>To: "g. crabtree" <jampot at adelphia.net>
>CC: Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>,        Lois Blackburn 
><lblackburn at turbonet.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The Auntie Establishment and Brother 
>CarlShow(March 5, 2006)
>Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 21:14:31 -0500
>
>Mr. Crabtree,
>
>I keep meaning to reply to this line of argument but I've been busy with my 
>day job.
>
>It is not a sign of inconsistency that one points out a moral flaw for 
>organization A yet not a similar flaw for organization B, even though A and 
>B are equal with regard to said flaw. This was the point of the Tommy 
>story. Many of us see people doing things we dislike everyday -- failing to 
>stop in a crosswalk, for instance -- and only once in awhile do you choose 
>to say anything about it. Doesn't make the folks who escape without 
>criticism right.
>
>This is a complicated point and I'm not trying to make it too simple. Lots 
>of businesses trade with China. That in and of itself does not justify such 
>trade; nor does it require that one can only criticize one of these 
>businesses without criticizing them all. This is a huge problem. If we want 
>to change things, and respect the idea that all persons have rights, we 
>have to start somewhere. Some of us choose to start with Wal-Mart, since 
>they are symbolic of the general problem.
>
>You might say that this is inconsistent but to that I reply that "a foolish 
>consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
>
>--
>Joe Campbell
>
>---- "g. crabtree" <jampot at adelphia.net> wrote:
>
>=============
>Ms. Opyr, Your conviction and enthusiasm for human rights in China and 
>elsewhere is laudable. Just to be sure I understood you correctly, are you 
>telling all of us here on the list that you will not be patronizing *any* 
>business that sells products that are in *any* way connected with the afore 
>mentioned countries? Or does your righteous indignation begin and end with 
>Wal-Mart?
>
>G. Crabtree
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Joan Opyr
>   To: Tom Hansen
>   Cc: Moscow Vision 2020 ; Lois Blackburn
>   Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2006 10:28 PM
>   Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The Auntie Establishment and Brother Carl 
>Show(March 5, 2006)
>
>
>   On 5 Mar 2006, at 17:20, Tom Hansen wrote:
>
>
>     Greetings Visionaires -
>
>     This afternoon's show, although not likely to be mentioned on this 
>evening's
>     Academy Awards Show, was definitely not worth missing.
>
>     After a trio of songs dedicated to Phil Nisbet, a recently silenced 
>voice of
>     Moscow's Vision 2020, Auntie and Bro "C" commenced to lampoon 
>President Bush
>     and Dick Cheney, while generously flavoring the show with an excellent
>     selection of music.
>
>     Those of you who failed to tune in, possibly due to a post-Mardi Gras
>     hangover, may download the show from:
>
>     http://www.tomandrodna.com/Auntie_Establishment_and_Brother_Carl
>
>     Aside from this afternoon's show I would like to make a couple 
>dedications
>     myself:
>
>     1) Posthumously to Phil: Your opinions, although criticized by many
>     (including myself), have served to provide backbone and strength to 
>the
>     Vision 2020 "soap box". This is only Sunday and already your voice is
>     missed. Although I am not Jewish, this one's for you, Phil:
>
>     http://www.tomandrodna.com/Sounds/Shalom_Aleikhem.mp3
>
>
>
>   Thanks, as always, to Tom for recording the AE & BC Show and making it 
>available online. For those who are interested, Carl and I played a trio of 
>songs for Phil:
>
>   "Hallelujah" by k. d. lang (the live version she performed at the Juno 
>Awards)
>   "Never Saw Blue" by Hayley Westenra
>   "Cowboy Take Me Away" by Dixie Chicks
>
>   All are beautiful songs. lang's "Hallelujah" is, in my opinion, one of 
>the most beautiful songs on record, along with Jane Siberry's "Calling All 
>Angels" (recorded with lang on harmony) and Eva Cassidy's cover of "Danny 
>Boy." In addition to books and poetry, Phil and I exchanged music. What a 
>surprise -- our tastes were very different. The first time we ever met in 
>person (about a week after we'd buried the hatchet, thanks to his 
>incredible willingness to sincerely apologize and to take that awful, 
>heart-stopping risk of rejection) he brought me a great book about Jewish 
>women and some truly awful klezmer music. I thought about playing the 
>klezmer music tonight, but then I thought, no, I hate that stuff. And I 
>told Phil that I hated that stuff. Instead, I'm going to go my own way and 
>play some songs that reflect how Carl and I felt about Phil. It seemed to 
>me that that might be more personal . . . and more annoying to Phil.
>
>   I'm not a superstitious woman, but a strange thing happened when I got 
>home this evening. I opened up my email to find that my most recent 
>computer disaster -- I tripped over my Apple's power cord and broke the 
>copper charger off in the machine -- meant that once power was restored and 
>the battery recharged, at the top of my email was a message from Phil. It 
>was a week or two old, and I'd drafted a response but I hadn't sent it yet. 
>Phil wanted me to know that he'd been plugging my book on a 
>poets/screenwriters' chat group he belonged to called zoetrope. The 
>zoetrope chat group is serious business, and Phil was a serious poet. (Phil 
>said that Francis Ford Coppolla had been known to hang out there.) Anyhow, 
>having read the first chapter of my book on my website, Phil said he had 
>high hopes for me and that he was going to contact some screenwriter 
>friends and send them copies of the book. What a damned generous guy. He 
>also sent me some more of his poetry to read and to comm!
>  ent upon. Jeez. I had some preliminary comments for him, both praise and 
>criticism, and now it's . . . well, hell. Just for the record, I feel like 
>a complete shit-bird. Phil called here on Tuesday night, and he talked for 
>a long time to Rose because I was doing something or another and couldn't 
>-- or rather didn't -- come to the phone. And you know, it's funny -- if 
>you've ever had a phone conversation with Phil, then you'll know that when 
>you talked with him, you had to hold the receiver about four inches away 
>from your ear because he wasn't just passionate, he was loud!
>
>   He reminded me in many ways of my late grandfather. Obstinate. Funny. 
>Stubborn. Difficult. Complex. Provoking. Charming. And, as I mentioned 
>before, passionate and generous. Quiet voices are silenced and they 
>disappear, but a good, loud, strong voice . . . that you don't forget. You 
>don't forget a worthy opponent or a stirring debate. Moscow has lost one of 
>the many strong characters that make this place so interesting, and we are 
>the less for that.
>
>   Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
>   www.joanopyr.com
>
>   PS: In memory of Phil, I've decided to stick not just my hand but my 
>head into the hornets' nest. I have sound economic and ethical reasons for 
>opposing Wal-Mart, but just to make things more interesting around here, 
>let me offer up a confession. I believe, as Donovan has so often accused, 
>that it is wrong to shop at Wal-Mart. It's wrong to shop at a company that 
>relies on slave, child, or prison labor. Don't talk to me about percentages 
>-- if any company uses a single prisoner, a slave or a six-year old, that 
>company is wrong, and you are wrong to buy from them. It's wrong to shop at 
>a predatory retailer that screws its workers and its suppliers. Once you 
>know exactly how Wal-Mart is able to sell you four water glasses for a 
>dollar, it is morally reprehensible to choose to benefit from the misery of 
>others. When you shop at Wal-Mart, you and your dollar bills are saying 
>"F**k those Chinese child workers" or "My American pocketbook is more 
>important than your Honduran civi!
>  l rights." We are what we buy, and I don't buy abuse. And here's a hot 
>one for you, Donovan/Gary/Jeff/Dale Courtney -- I don't think you should 
>have the unfettered right to buy abuse either. Pat Kraut believe George 
>Bush has the right to wiretap without a warrant; I believe that I have the 
>right to trample on your stinkin' buying power.
>
>   Wal-Mart sells 60,000 products? Hoo-ray. What percentage of those are 
>cheap-assed versions of better things available at better stores? What 
>percentage are things you could get for even less at Goodwill? I'm not 
>buying a toy for my kid that's made by a kid even younger than my kid. You 
>catch my drift? I'd rather buy less, shop less, and own less than consume 
>on the backs of pennies-a-day foreign labor. And, what's more, I'm willing 
>to step out to the very edge of my swaying limb and say, "Not in my 
>backyard, Donovan. Go buy your cheap shit in Pullman, Gary. Take the 
>Wheatland Express, Jeff Harkins. Ride your bike, Dale Courtney. Hoof it, 
>the lot of you." I don't give a monkey's brasses if that inconveniences any 
>or all of you. Why? Because the free market be damned; I don't want to look 
>at a 200,000-square foot store squatting on a piece of ex-farm land 
>adjacent to the Latah Trail, directly across from the Moscow Cemetery, and 
>that will obstruct my view of Paradise Ridge. !
>  Call me selfish. I'll agree; I am.
>
>   I guess this polemic makes me the un-Bruce. Oh, well. Bruce is always 
>reasonable; I'm often not. I got a good look at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in 
>that hideous collection of strip malls they call the Tri-Cities. It was a 
>giant carbuncle of a building, an ugly behemoth, a complete and utter 
>bastard. I don't want one of those beasts here in Moscow. The contrast 
>between that . . . thing . . . and downtown Portland, or our own beautiful 
>and lively downtown, couldn't be more striking. Let others make the 
>reasonable arguments. I've given up. >From now on, I'm going for the gut. 
>Keep that hell-hole out of my town. Keep its crap products and its cheap 
>prices and its tire and lube center away from the Troy Highway and way the 
>hell away from me. Go find somewhere else to wreck. Moscow's too good for a 
>Super Wal-Mart. Way too good.
>
>   BTW, you can hop right on that last sentence, Jeff Harkins, because I 
>mean it to be both absolutist and elitist. That's what keeps me (unlike 
>Donovan) off the Pepcid AC. Hot dog!
>
>
>
>
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>_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>