Vn1 YVTT NnH 15 T.av '.m Down. and Smack-em Yack-em Tune 24. 1996 •.•,•,:.::.:::,::.:·:·,,:::..::..:,,:,:.......•,,•::.,,~• iiiiiisi!!::; ;~~~~:·:·:·:·:·:·:.i.:..:.:!:· .!:··: ~:i:i:i:::::•..... ~~iiil~~~:::~f::::.... :·:·:....:-·i.:..•·· ' : ....· iii........... iii·:i j::·:·:··.................................... ii~~·:·:·:· ....•·:··:·:·:·ii;i:ii:·:i: •!:: i~~~~ii ....· :j:::::i~iii~iiiii, .:.:fi} .::.:.: ,,.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: i·.··:·:'::.::.:.~. ... ·::::::::::::::::::::: .::::::::::::::::::::: · ·;' · ::~:::::::::::~i~i::s:::::::::::::·::i:::::::::: Dou g a:::!:?:?:i:i s iiiiii[,, i:?ii .·.·..·.·..·.·.:·.·.. irt ; ·:~·····.····'·· · ·-·· · ·.~ar.:1~~~~. m,.Pl~mn~;~~ P. O . D (" A n A d v e n t u r e in A c t i v i sm ) By Chris Sorochin must think we're either selling something or pimp- education, yet occupy some position in which oth- ing salvation. Ironically, many treated you like a ers must do as they say. He said it in such a way as Everyone who has the questionable honor of candidate for the lollipop factory if you take advan- to convey that he didn't really wish to help, so I sti- paying Federal Income Tax knows that on the tage of the political freedom everyone is supposed fled an urge to hand him some flyers and tell him to cover of the instruction booklet is a pie chart to be so high on. work the other end of the parking lot. He said we showing how our hard-earned national revenue is A Sears repairman refused information and mut- couldn't be on the property and would have to spent. The chart would have us believe that 22% ters, "They should give it all to the military", the move to the sidewalk. goes to the military. only negative reaction of the day. As he got into his Then, off he steamed, Bonzo in tow and probably Well, the War Resisters' League put out a new, Sears van and drove off, I tossed him, in the finest expecting a gold star and a pat on the head for hav- improved, more accurate pie chart indicating that Press tradition, a hearty Nazi salute. ing been a good little stooge. Or he objected to our military spending eats up more than half (52%) of Two others in a parked car panicked when one of "unpatriotic" message that arms spending really the budget. This discrepancy exists because in its us tried to approach, so I mimicked their consterna- harms the country. version, the IRS hides benefits to veteran ($39 bil- tion, "Oh, please, don't come near me with anything Anyhow, Bill, always positive, went to the side- lion) and the elephantine national debt, a whop- political", I whined and pulled my jacket up to walk to try to intercept cars and Jennifer took Daniel ping $338 billion, under more benign sounding cover my head, "You might contaminate me". into the post office for further discussion with Mr. categories, like "retirement" or "interest pay- Whereupon my companions told me to restrain Johnson. I fearlessly stood guard over the stroller. ments". For those of you that don't know recent myself, as they might later rethink their thinking. Mr. Johnson was not very supportive and even history, 80% of the debt is a result of Ronald We don't really know the exact legal parameters of threatened us with arrest, saying he refused to ehahte or fn nlulnp what rule we'd j\xcaiganso aLrJtUttLyulJuup. L Mysteriously, when cutting the violated. He said the post office budget is discussed, the focus is would be liable if anything hap- always on welfare, education, pened. He didn't explain just what school lunches, etc. No one, outside harm was likely to befall us or how of leftist malcontents like myself, we were different from regular cus- seems to ever bring it up. Could it tomers. Jennifer says he got quite have anything to do, I wonder, with nasty and defensive when she men- the fact that General Electric and tioned freedom of speech. I guess Westinghouse, two of the biggest that's to be expected in an employ- military profiteers own two of the ment milieu in which coworkers major networks? routinely address personality con- I obsess about this a lot, at no time flicts with the aid of an Uzi. more than when I'm on that joke So we skulked away, but one of known as the Lone Island Rail our more helpful contacts that day Road. Why can't we have a decent, modem, effi- Count'em. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 presidents. gave us the idea of the railroad station, convenient- cient train system like other, poorer countries, I rant ly located just a block away, where we managed to and rave to myself, and often to innocent passersby. what we were doing, but we figure there'll be a visit get rid of the rest of our propaganda quite handily Is it because we're wasting our resources on world from the postal authorities at some point. Shortly after and no one could tell us to scram, just like the domination? we arrived, an employee who looked as if she was Moonie's at airports. So I thought it would be groovy to mass copy the having a bad day before it even began, yelled "You're I suppose the Moonies had to take this to court to WRL's information, along with another fact sheet not supposed to be there!" and vanished inside the get their right to annoy passengers in airline termi- with equally arresting bar graphs, and distribute behemoth. Thank God for bureaucrats, I said. Most of nals. Recently, strides have been made to declare them at a major post office on the Saturday before them won't care just as long as we don't impede the shopping malls public space and allow political Tax Day, when folks are at their most resentful. glacial hum of their little rubber-stamp universe. activity in them. Maybe since we pay for federal I thought that since Hicksville is the biggest post Having worked as a bureaucrat myself, I should installations, we should insist that they also he open office on Long Island, it would be the perfect place for have known there was another variety, one that for public interest purposes. such a stunt. So I corralled a few of my activist friends enjoys exercising power and enforcing regulations. Along the same lines, the airwaves are also pub- and three of us (actually 3 1/2-Jennifer brought her Sure enough, after being there for at least a good 45 licly owned, yet they're dominated by for-profit precocious toddler Daniel) arrived in glorious minutes, and passed without comment by quite a commercial broadcasters, who don't pay any taxes Hicksville, City of Concrete, and set up outside the few intrepid civil servants, up came one with an for their use. That should be done and the proceeds mammoth heap of brown federal architecture that unlit cigar stuck in his mouth and yards of yellow should go to public affairs and open-access channels serves as a postal nexus for the region, but wouldn't "Police Line" tape wound around his arm. and programming. be out of place on a SUNY campus. Definitely a self-appointed authority type. The biggest part of the struggle for the soul and We leafleted quite a few people, many of whom were "Whadda we got here, tax forms?", he asked in a future of our world is educating people, and that IS very supportive. Others mumbled, "I know where my jovial manner. (Always beware the "good cop") going to be much more difficult in the days of dom- taxes go". I wondered if they really did. One man "No," I chirped idiotically, "anti-tax forms." ination by ever fewer media oligopolies and the growled, "Two thousand [dollars] just went to Rwanda", Well, Bonzo scampers into the building and rush to put nearly everything into the marketplace so maybe they've bought the line that it's welfare or emerged seconds later with a personage I take to be of privatization. That's why we have to start break- humanitarian aid that's sapping the treasury. the post master, a bald florid-faced man named ing the taboo that tells us it's not polite to introduce And some pathetic wretches said nothing and Henry Johnson. politics into everyday life because, in truth, the two scurried by without acknowledging us, behaving as "Can I help youse," he said using the pronoun of are inseparable. Just ask anyone who's been down- if we might just be giving out Ebola virus. They choice for those who lack a certain amount of formal sized out of a job in the victory jig of capitalism. -_.. ~ .0 AI ~HIAIITI- _ ,, II I I I --~- Ir~-~- , ,, -- - ~i- - The Stony Brook Press page 2 la~ - - - ~ -mr rs3~p·lre I I- i Ib ~ -- · a~-e. I - ~p~crs~er~e-~- ~s~B~ca~- --e · -~~~- ~e~ -- 1 -c ~L -- b--~~-a~l L~C_ _ 6_· ~CI I fh<1t€iew «q<4 R4At 4 '1/t^ Nv4ipwP4 F044),, 'h,4 %4efk I4 ;9W99f vi - -~-~--"I ~ar le IC-I ~ -- ~--~w l-- S---B--------- -~·1··-·~a~g-~c--~l-r~-- -~-- - - ------- LI"'F~YL-Y-·--~-----~8~··11111---·1_811~ By John Giuffo Kendall not being there, that they had both left the nutt. Sometimes to the proportions to where it band, and that explaining what had happened every can become scary, y'know...you have extended I spoke with Norwood the Wednesday after I night on stage made it seem like a funeral to him. I orgasms. saw Fishbone at The Wetlands. It isn't everyday could tell it was a sensitive topic, and I think it was you get to speak with someone from your reflected in the set, you guys played mostly new Q.