Life's Little Injustices (Take VII): We Got A Robo-Scam Call (And Lived To Tell The Tale)

From the moment that the Squawker nudged me awake, right around 9 a.m., I sensed that something was up.  However, the emergency didn't register right away, since I'd pulled a brain-melting all-nighter.  "Right, what's the problem, then?" I asked

"We just got a phone call saying, 'You're being sued by the IRS. We've tried to reach you, but this is just to let you know'...'"

Now I snapped awake. "Really?" I asked.

The Squawker frowned in my general direction. "I'm so tired of this, it's always an emergency around here, every minute..."

"Wait a minute." Now it was my turn to crease a brow or two. "What else did they say, exactly?"

"I didn't get a live human being," Squawker replied. "It was a robo-call."

"Ah, now I think we're getting somewhere!" I grabbed the portable phone and squinted at the number. "It's got a 202 area code, which is Washington, D.C. But would Uncle Sam pay for a long-distance phone threat, when they've got toll free numbers for this stuff?"

"Yeah, fair point," Squawker agreed. "Every time they threaten us, they usually do it in writing first."

"We've been paying them every month, like clockwork, while we wait for them to rule on our Offer In Compromise." I gestured at Squawker's laptop. "So I don't think we've actually done anything to get sued over. But why don't we do a reverse lookup on that phone number?"

And so, Squawker duly punched in the offending digits (202-BLA-BLAH). "Looks like some kind of online scam," Squawker reported. "Basically, people are getting these calls, saying there's warrants out for your arrest if you don't pay up right away."

"I suspected as much." I sank back down under my covers. "But next time we get such a call, don't waste your time listening to it...we'll just check it out together." (For further reference, see the Stack Exchange link below, which has some good tips and info.)

Note to scammers and bureaucrats: one thing doesn't change, whether it's a robo-call, or a real life robot is quacking away at the other end of it...you're not monarchs, as much as you'd like to think of yourselves that way. Your attempts to run roughshod over us are running thin -- and, while I'm not a betting man, I suspect the next such attempt will bring forth a torrent of harsh words (some printable in polite company, some not). Put it this way: there's a reason why we dumped all that tea in the harbor 200-odd years ago.

STOP PRESSES (UPDATE): Just when you think that dealings with public agencies can't get anymore surreal, they do....toward the end of the week, we got another phone call....but this time, the robot was live, and it had some news, which thankfully didn't sound like something out of Lost In Space ("Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger!"). Apparently, our settlement offer has been approved, and some official communique to that effect will wend its way soon here to Ramen Noodle Nation HQ.

Having lived with this monkey on our back for just over half the decade (see "Talking With The Taxman" link below for the full scoop), this development is obviously welcome, but the Squawker and I have elected to hold our breaths until we actually see the paperwork (as in: one swallow doesn't make a summer...we've learned not to praise the day until the twilight comes...and so on, and so forth). When that happens, I'll post some kind of update...till then, the devil's in the details. --The Reckoner

PS (3/17/16): The government accepted our offer: a one-time payment of $500, plus all future taxes paid in full, on time, over five years. Now that we've sighed relief a few hundred times...it's time for the real work to begin. We'll let you know how it turns out. Time will tell.


Links To Go (Read 'Em Before All Your
Interest & Penalties Skyrocket Again)

Ramen Noodle Nation:
Stack Exchange:
Robocall Claiming To Be IRS
Saying They Are About To Sue: Is It Legit?:
http://money.stackexchange.com/questions/55088/robocall-claiming-to-be-irs-saying-they-are-about-to-sue-is-it-legit

Talking With The Taxman About Poetry (Take II):
(Send Out For The Advocate):
http://ramennoodlenation.blogspot.com/2015/04/talking-with-taxman-about-poetry-take.html  (For some reason, this one's not firing up -- just cut 'n' paste the bloody thing into your browser, as I'm too tired to think of a cleverer way around the tech issue!)

The New York Times:
Tactics For Getting The IRS On The Phone:
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/tactics-for-getting-the-i-r-s-on-the-phone/?_r=0

"People Have The Power": So Where Does Bernie Sanders Go From Here, Exactly?

"And my senses newly opened 
I awakened to the cry 
That the people / have the power 
To redeem / the work of fools"
--Patti Smith, "People Have The Power"

By any standard, Bernie Sanders enjoyed a terrific night in Monday's Iowa caucus. Fighting the presumed front-runner Hillary Clinton's money machine to a statistical dead heat is no small achievement, especially since -- as Sanders noted in his speech -- he had no money and no name recognition when he started campaigning nine months ago. His movement is real, and it's not going away. What's even more amazing is that Sanders has pulled it off as the king of small donations (which average $27, as CNN's pundit team reminded us all night).

As I wrote Sunday night, I'm finding myself among those "feeling the Bern" -- so to speak -- because the plodding, often fruitless realpolitik that the Democratic Party has practiced over the last 25-odd years or so hasn't benefited many people, including yours truly. As a close friend reminded me on Sunday, he recalled a waitress saying during the Clinton Era: "Yeah, he brags about creating 15 million new jobs. I have three of them."

I relate to that comment, as someone holding down four or five ongoing editorial gigs myself. If nothing else, Monday's result shows that Sanders has made his point, which is glaringly apparent from CNN's exit polling. For example, on who's more honest and trustworthy, the margin came out 83-10% in Sanders's favor. On who cares more about voters' problems, the margin was 76-24%. With those numbers, how does Clinton, if she does get nominated, reach the finish line in November? And that's before the FBI shoe drops on the email scandal that she and her supporters currently pooh-pooh away as no big deal. (Shades of that "third-rate burglary" that brought down Tricky Dick, right?)

In fact, it's probably fair to say that without Polk County -- Iowa's largest, most populated jurisdiction -- Clinton might not have gotten the life preserver she needed to eke out her wafer-thin victory. As President Obama;s former top adviser, David Axelrod, pointed out, Clinton's "I've got a great resume" stance is problematic -- because, as he pointed out, "it's all about her. When Barack Obama ran in 2008, he didn't say, 'Yes, I Can," it was, 'Yes, We Can.'" 

I couldn't have said it better myself. However Sanders fares, it was exhilarating to see the response that he drew -- for a moment, it's possible to envision something better, instead of the crap that the donor classes keep shoveling down our collective gullet. I'm tired of the litany of lowered expectations we've heard for so long; if activity breeds activity, then excuses also breed excuses.

"The power to dream / to rule 

To wrestle the world from fools 

It's decreed the people rule
It's decreed the people rule"

Now that the dust has settled from all of the caucusing and coin-tossing, a bigger question looms: where does Bernie Sanders go from here? Well, that depends how he presents his message. A cynical PR type might shrug, "It's all in the packaging." Look at the GOP''s right-wing firebrand, Ted Cruz. He's an Ivy leaguer (Harvard), and his wife works for Goldman Sachs, who bankrolled his first Senate campaign (see the link for how that little transaction played out).

The way Cruz talks, you'd think he's some fire-breathing populist, too -- but he's not, as you might surmise from his proposal to end corporate and payroll taxes, as everyone coughs up 10 percent of their income to Uncle Sam. In other words, this is a guy who doesn't think there's enough inequality in America. That Cruz voters ignore such contradictions without protest speaks volumes in itself, yet underscores one of last week's big lessons: in politics, perception paces reality (just like everything else).

However, if there's another takeaway from last week, it's that "kitchen table" issues still matter quite a bit. As Sanders heads into contests like South Carolina (February 27), I'd suggest that he stick with the kitchen table stuff -- but use it as a hammer to confront the demon of electibility, which is one issue that causes ripples of skittishness among core Democratic voters.

Put another way, as my friend noted in our conversation, manufacturing and textiles all over the South took a pounding after the ink dried on the infamous North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). I don't think it hurts Sanders to remind folks who shoehorned that deal through (uh, this little inequity is brought to you by the letter C), and connect the does to his core argument: if you want "same old, same old," I have a sneaking suspicion where you'll go. if you wanna make history...well, let's have a little chat first before you pull the trigger.

"I believe everything we dream 

Can come to pass through our union
We can turn the world around
We can turn the earth's revolution
We have the power
People have the power...."

The reactions to Sanders's candidacy and Iowa showing also remind me of a saying by the French philosopher Voltaire: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize." How else to explain the comments made by Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, in calling Sanders's challenge a "dangerous moment": "“It has the potential to personalize it, it has the potential to be a dangerous moment. Not just for Wall Street, not just for the people who are particularly targeted, but for anybody who is a little bit out of line."

In other words: "How dare you criticize the almighty Goldman Sachs CEO, the man who knows what's best for the economy that doesn't work for anybody, except folks like him?" Surely, an unimpeachable source on kitchen table issues if ever there was one, right?

Of course, the potential to rack up more baggage didn't prevent Clinton from giving three closed-door speeches to the Goldman Sachs crowd, which she's "thinking" about making public -- we'll see how that one pans out -- for $675,000. Baggage or not, the lure of the dollar is a pretty powerful one (especially for the Clintons). Still, as Clinton told Anderson Cooper during last week's Democratic Party Town Hall, she had no problem with taking the money. Why? "That's what they offered." 

Where I come from, they have a phrase for statements like those: "The gift that keeps on giving."

A more appropriate quote -- beyond the song that I've chosen to soundtrack this post -- is the one that Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur offered last week to the Boston Globe, in explaining the force of Sanders's appeal: "The issue that has been the most cutting for the American people has been their economic welfare. Over the last quarter century, they have been dealt such heavy blows. I have always regarded Senator Sanders as one of the most pristine voices on their behalf, whether it was auto workers in Ohio or farm workers from New Mexico."

There you have it: Exhibits A, B and C about "how we got there from here." One speaker nailed it, while the other two wound up dropping the hammer on their foot. But that's no surprise, given the dismal record that the "adults" in the room have racked up -- Iraq Wat, Afghan War, 2008 bailout, lack of economic mobility -- and continue to rack up. So it's no surprise that a fire brigade is coming to put out the Bern....because they'll never get it right, not if they live for another 100 years.  --The Reckoner

UPDATE:  Add former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and feminist icon Gloria Steinem to the adults who don't get it: the former, for suggesting that electing Clinton is the "real" revolution, and the latter, for implying that Sanders' young female supporters are just flocking him "because that's where the boys are," as she claimed to Bill Maher.

Both comments take the cake for chutzpah, though it's harder to tell who's more tone deaf. Albright, apparently, is deploying the "loyalty" argument that Team Clinton is rolling out to sandbag Sanders' embryonic revolution, especially when she states: "There's a special -place in hell for women who don't help each other!" To which the only sane retort may be: "There's a special place in hell for people who keep pulling the trigger in the voting booth for the same people, and getting the same result."

Steinem's comment, on the other hand, is the kind of flip really that established figures like herself use to dismiss or minimize what doesn't make sense. Either way, though, it carries an all too familiar ring to the bottom 99%: Grow up, get on with the program, and get out of the way, 'cause we know better than you do.

My response goes like this: "Nothin' doin'!"  And, from what I'm seeing play out across the land, I'm not only the one. Thank God. Where it goes out from here will be interesting to watch.

"Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize

What you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is

Rapidly agin'.

Please get out of the new one

If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin'."
--Bob Dylan, "The Times (They Are A-Changin')"

Links To Go (The Dark Money Crowd Is Aroused):
NPR: The Ted Cruz Goldman Sachs Loan, Explained:
http://www.npr.org/2016/01/14/463093708/the-ted-cruz-goldman-sachs-loan-explained

New York Magazine: Jimmy Carter Lends A Hand To Ted Cruz:
Goldman Sachs Does The Same For Bernie Sanders:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/02/jimmy-carter-lends-ted-cruz-a-hand.html#

New York Times:
Gloria Steinem And Madeline Albright
Scold Young Women Backing Bernie Sanders:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/us/politics/gloria-steinem-madeleine-albright-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders.html?_r=0

Salon.com: American Capitalism Has Failed Us...:
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/04/american_capitalism_has_failed_us_were_overworked_underemployed_and_more_powerless_than_ever_before_partner/

The Washington Post: The Daily 202:
Hillary Clinton Makes Her Wall Street Problem Worse:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/02/04/daily-202-hillary-clinton-makes-her-wall-street-problem-worse/56b23083981b92a22df007c1

"Ghosts": Up Against The Establishment With Bernie Sanders (& The Jam)

“Why are you frightened, can’t you see that it’s you
That ain't no ghost, it's a reflection of you
Why do turn it away, an' keep it out of sight?

“Oh, don't live up to your given roles
There's more inside you that you won't show"

--The Jam, "Ghosts"

The "adults" in the room are panicking. They're visibly nervous and sweating, even shaking a little bit. You can practically see the clamminess glistening off their palms. What other conclusion can you reach when Hillary Clinton sends her Hollywood buddies -- who work once a year, even as they remind us, "I'm just like you" -- to verbally pile on her opponent, Bernie Sanders, for having the nerve to question how she can call herself a reformer...

...when she and her husband, Bill Clinton, have hauled in $125 million in speaking fees since they left the White House in 2000. Seems like a rational question to me, but that's probably why you won't hear Clinton broach that subject on the campaign trail. Still, as we head Monday into the first Democratic contest in Iowa, it's time to touch on why a vote for Sanders might actually mean something.

The Squawker and I have weathered a hellish month. Our ordeal began at the end of December, when an ice storm killed two days of power -- forcing us to spend $150 that we didn't really have. Like most households on pinched budgets, this situation created a budgetary tsunami of massive proportions.

I've had to borrow money for food, and pay my phone and car registration. I paid my car insurance premium on the last possible day (before they charge for two months, instead of one). Last Tuesday, I had a tire blow out, which forced me to find another $100 from out of the blue. We've gone to food pantries and community dinners to stretch an already slender food budget. If I could summarize the mood, it might be: "Been There, Done That, Torn Up The T-Shirt."

Same as it ever was.
Same as it ever was.
Same as it ever was.
Same...as it...ever...was.


“But there's no need, just 'cause it's all we've known
There's more inside you that you haven't shown”

Such experiences naturally make you ornery, which is only one reason why I won't give Clinton my vote. The media calls her a better campaigner than in 2008, but I don't see it, especially as you ponder her positioning as "the candidate of continuity," which I'd paraphrase like this: "If you loved the '90s, you'll love me. Help me bring back those heady days of Soul Asylum soundtracking the Inaugural Ball, and the go-go finance that kept the Slacker Generation safely on their couches."

However, nostalgia is often a lie, and Hillary's brand of hullabaloo is no different. Though she often claims that her husband helped the little guy, that doesn't square with my own experience. During that era, I held three jobs, which paid raises of roughly 75 cents to $1.50. Needless to say, I didn't get them all in one sitting. Talk about leaving pennies on the kitchen table! Meanwhile, Clinton presided over one of the most sweeping deregulatory frenzies in recent memory -- and one that exceeded the expectations of the most diehard government-hating Reaganaut.

The bill came due in 2008, when the economy tanked, and the banks -- bigger and flusher than ever, thanks to their Clinton-era goodies -- came cap in hand, asking for more money. Obama showed little more stomach for a fight than his Democratic predecessor, so he crowbarred his congressional allies into coughing up the $800 million that the banks demanded as the price of propping up the economy (read: Bahamian vacations, bonuses, golden parachutes). By contrast, when Iceland weathered a similar crash, its government responded by breaking up the biggest banks, sending the most flagrant violators to prison, and returning the money to its people. Hmm...maybe I should buy a plane ticket for Reykjavik?

“One day you'll walk by, out of this life
And then you'll wonder why you didn't even try"

By contrast, it's not hard to see why Bernie Sanders draws record crowds. He asks us to imagine a better future than the dog-eat-dog hell we've been creating since the go-go '90s, when the safety net started shredding at indecent speed. How well Bernie's big plans pan out remains to be seen, assuming that he can make it past Iowa, and New Hampshire, which seem like good demographic matches for him -- but verbally, at least, his rhetoric marks a major advance on the tip-toeing timidity that characterized the Clinton and Obama eras.

Sanders is often dismissed as starry-eyed and unrealistic by detractors who prefer to ignore their own mulligans -- like the endless Afghan and Iraq wars that bankrupted the country. Funnily enough, I don't recall anybody asking many hard questions about those ventures. They certainly didn't come from the countless Baby Boomer-era journalists who embedded themselves with the military to live out some warped Ernest Hemingway-esque fantasies -- only Ernest would probably have asked a few harder questions. Nor does the wave of mainstream media endorsements for Clinton -- including the Boston Globe, Des Moines Register, New York Times -- impress me. After all, the newspaper industry is struggling, and undoubtedly dreams about some kind of life preserver getting tossed out by a prospective Clinton administration.

Yet, in spite of this dismal litany, Clinton and her allies ask us to hold our noses yet again, because -- God forbid -- you don't want some nasty Republican behind the desk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, right?  This dilemma is typically described as tactical voting, which -- as the term implies -- is commonly done to pursue a strategic objective, like keeping an undesirable candidate from winning an office. Examples include the Edwin Edwards-David Duke gubernatorial slugfest in 1991, which forced a truly unenviable choice on Louisiana voters: elect the rascal (Edwards), or his ex-Klan opponent? 

And, as that Shakespeare chap once suggested, therein lies the rub. Tactical voting hardly implies happiness with your lot. How could it, when you're often presented with that evil of two lessers dilemma? However, if you accept the realpolitik argument (Sanders can't win 'cause the Republicans will paint him a nice shade of pink, blah-blah-blah), and cast your vote for Hillary on that basis, don't expect anything. Clinton's willingness to scoop up dark money and finance industry money makes her an uncertain advocate, at best, for the kind of reform that this country desperately needs. Trust me: I'll keep a box score on that one, if she wins.

“So why are you frightened, can’t you see that it’s you
At the moment there’s nothing, so there’s nothing to lose
Lift up your lonely heart and walk right on through”

Like many political decisions, mine just simply comes down to good old-fashioned gut feeling. If nothing else, the contentious Clinton-Sanders matchup has shone a bright light on the Democratic Party's glaring disconnect between its troops in the trenches, and the donor base that actually writes the checks. Going by the last two Democratic presidencies, that gap isn't getting any better -- because once the ink dries on all those campaign promises, the troops in the trenches get shut out and shit on. But they're just the mooks whose job is to shut up (and suck it up) once the last image of the electoral victory party fades from the screen. To the donor base, that's just the natural order of things.

In my view, however, it's exactly this warped dynamic that has pushed our country to the brink of disaster. As I've observed before on this subject, realpolitik doesn't improve real people's lives. Yes, politics is a game of inches. I get that. However, if you end up settling for weaker policies -- or gutted ones, or sidetracked ones, or postponed ones -- then what have you accomplished? That's an uncomfortable truth often lost in all the cattle trading.

America's dance with voodoo economics has lasted since Reagan's election in 1980, with predictable results. I've watched this two-step play out for half a lifetime now. How much longer must I wait for something else? I'd rather reach for bigger possibilities than accept another round of the same-old, same-old -- which is why "Ghosts" remains one of my all-time favorite songs (appearing on the Jam's last album, The Gift (1982), during the equally noxious Thatcherist era). According to its composer, Paul Weller, "I was trying to call out to my generation, a rallying call in the name of inspiration and fulfillment." Keep those words close to your heart, wherever you're heading to the ballot box. And don't let anyone tell you any differently. Especially the donor class. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Read 'Em & Hurry
Before More Dark Money Falls Off The Tree):
Common Dreams:
Iceland Jailed Bankers
& Rejected Austerity: And It's Been A Success:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/06/12/iceland-jailed-bankers-and-rejected-austerity-and-its-been-success

The Washington Post: Bernie Sanders Is The Realist We Should Elect
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanders-is-the-realist-we-should-elect/2016/01/26/6af4d268-c392-11e5-a4aa-f25866ba0dc6_story.html

Think Progress:
Iceland, Where Bankers Actually Go To Jail
For Committing White-Collar Crimes:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/10/23/3715775/iceland-jails-bankers-and-survives/

Judge Stops Debtor's Prisons

Finally a judge with some common sense and mercy. Private companies having a play in corrections,  is absolutely wrong. Too many conflicts of interests. Private contractors should not be involved in the justice system. There are too many who have a profit motive in locking everyone up they can. A 132 dollar fee to do community service is insane. People should not be jailed for bills they can't afford. This country is losing it on multiple fronts. --The Squawker

It's Called Stress!

They are accurate about the "fight or flight" instinct. For the rich, it's not an insurmountable problem, they have the money, the stress levels are far lower. It's not about being smarter.--The Squawker

Greetings From (A Town Called Malice)

Better stop dreaming of the quiet life

'Cause it's the one we'll never know

And quit running for that runaway bus

'Cause those rosy days are few

And stop apologizing for the things you've never done

'Cause time is short and life is cruel but it's up to us to change

This town called Malice
--The Jam, "A Town Called Malice"

<i.>

Released in February 1982, "A Town Called Malice" ranks among the more durable 45s released during the Jam's so-called "soul mining" period (mind you, anybody with ears would have heard those influences from the start, but that's a discussion for another time). The song shot straight to #1 UK -- holding the top spot for three weeks -- and marked the Jam's sole US chart entry, too (#31 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks). "Malice" also won New Musical Express's "Best Single" award that year, as well.

The song has retained a strong foothold in pop culture, turning up in movies like National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), Billy Elliot (2000), and The Matador (2005). You can also hear it showcased in TV shows like the sci-fi cop drama, Ashes To Ashes (episode 3.5), and the BBC cop drama, Criminal Justice (first and last episodes) -- plus the "Rock Band" video game.

All in all, not a bad return for a song that the Jam's frontman, Paul Weller, cited as a snapshot of his experiences as a teenager in Woking, and a play on Nevil Shute's 1950 novel, A Town Like Alice (though he claimed not to have read the book) -- which recounts a woman's struggles to bring prosperity to a isolated Australian outback town (using her inheritance as the springboard for its development). The novel, in turn, has been adapted for a six-part mini-series (1981) and radio drama (1997).

<ii.>

Rows and rows of disused milk floats

Stand dying in the dairy yard

And a hundred lonely housewives clutch empty milk

Bottles to their hearts

Hanging out their old love letters on the line to dry

It's enough to make you stop believing when tears come fast and furious

In a town called Malice, yeah

For my money, "A Town Called Malice" stands among the savviest statements of the Jam's later career. Built around an uptempo, fingerpoppin' guitar and organ groove, the song carries an irresistible melody that dares not to clap along -- until you stop and hear what it's actually about. It's an old songwriter's trick that works quite well, as this writer can attest.

However, it's also remiss to consign "Malice" to the that-was-then bin -- by writing it off as "the sound of the precints," or some such nonsense (as I recall one reviewer doing). Today's world bears an eerie resemblance to the one that Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and their free market acolytes drooled about -- corporate power left to wreak unrelenting havoc, thanks to a perfect storm of shredded safety nets, gutted unions and a working world that looks like a 19th century robber baron's wet dream of a permanently insecure underclass (ithe 99%).

More relevantly, "Malice" talks about the forced austerity that keeps people forever powerless and marginalized, simply becuase they don't have enough money to make everything right. For the Squawker and myself, the last six months have served up snapshots that feel all too familiar: pay this medical bill now, or buy a couple more packages of chicken? Put off the radiator hose another week, or pay the phone bill in full now, so they're not dogging us later? And so on, and so forth....wash, rinse, repeat.

Many people around the world are struggling with these issues -- as in Greece, where media coverage of the recent rioting there focused mostly on corruption and a social system that allows people to retire at 45. What went largely unmentioned, however, was that even the International Monetary Fund questioned the bailout loan terms as overly burdensome. If an agency like the IMF -- which is in no way a radical entity -- has problems with the arrangement, someone should listen, right?

No such luck, of course. And that's why the next Grecian riots are only a question of time, since the people know the austerity they're being forced to accept is one that will come solely off their back. For the people on top, the endless blur of country villas, imported foods and never-ending limo rides will roll on uninterrupted. For them, austerity isn't likely to enter the conversational equation any time soon. If ever.

Struggle after struggle, year after year

The atmosphere's a fine blend of ice I'm almost stone cold dead

In a town called Malice, ooh yeah

A whole street's belief in Sunday's roast beef
Gets dashed against the cop
To either cut down on beer or the kids' new year,
It's a big decision in a town called Malice, ooh yeah

Ooh, the ghost of a steam train echoes down my track

It's at the moment bound for nowhere just going round and round

<iii.>

Even then, no matter how carefully you plan, it often feels like some malevolent force is rolling the bones against you dream. The Squawker and I got that impression when an ice storm left roughly one-eighth of our county (31,000 customers, give or take) without electricity this week. Monday ticked by in a blur of "what the f#ck" decision-making: tough it out,, 'cause we don't wanna spend half our latest emergency stash ($100) on a motel? Or get a room now, where there's at least some warmth (and a bit of electrical current)?

So we  spent the night shivering under a heap of blankets, even as our apartment complex quickly took on the aura of a ghost town, once most of our neighbors reckoned the lights weren't coming back up too soon. Eventually, we gave up on sleep altogether, and drove around town....first, dining out at McDonalds, then cooling our heels in the hospital ER till 1 a.m.-ish, hoping that things might work out.

We returned to a still-dark, still-freezing complex -- which we braved a few hours more, till 7 a.m. -- and finally agreed that a warm motel room beat the hell out of whatever we were enduring now. I called a friend, who agreed to fund a second night, if needed. As it turned out, the power came back up at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, just as I was gathering more pillows and blankets for the Squawker...who was (finally) getting to sleep off the ill effects of the previous night.

Just then, the kitchen lights kicked back on, and the TV revved up for another mindless volley of infomercials, past-their-prime sitcoms, and God knows what else. We ended up finishing out the night, and dragging ourselves back home Wednesday morning. Between food and lodging, we spent roughly $150 that we didn't really have, which meant I'd come up short on two bills -- the car registration, and the phone -- whose deadlines loomed only a week away.

So i called a relation who was willing to lend a hand this time, which meant that I could pay the basic monthly bills (electricity, Insurance, Internet) without a hitch. This is the struggle that plays out daily in every Town Called Malice, without pause, without missing a beat -- and will continue to roll on, for the short run, until some previously unseen social force or collective expression of popular will finally changes the tide.

For now, at least, we're finally grateful to have gotten a few days of peace and quiet. So goes life in this Town Called Malice. --The Reckoner

Playground kids and creaking swings

Lost laughter in the breeze
I could go on for hours and I probably will
But I'd sooner put some joy back in this town called Malice, yeah ooh

In this town called Malice, ooh yeah

Punk Rock Poetry Corner: Haikus 2009 (By Don Hargraves)

<Haikus 2009>

Goodbye to the year

    that never should have become

        the year we went through:

The Stock Market Dropped

    and a woman's life turned into

        noisy agony

    and is now held together

        by Valium Eucharists

Jobs came and jobs left.

    I held onto mine closely

        As millions lost theirs…

    My wages didn't move down

        For which I am SO grateful…

Promises were made

    which in the end were better

        left aside broken

    but pride forces shit along

        that should never have been done.

Deaths came fast and thick

    as the year came to an end;

        ugliness followed:

    One came with middle fingers

        another: bad memories.

And through all of it

    a striving that seemed finished

        only to cut off:

    I watched the rich hoard like hell

        and the poor were forced to pay

So I say goodbye

    to a year that should never

        be mentioned again...

                    --Don Hargraves