When The World Is Not Enough

[She'd reached the end of her rope. As a teenage girl she'd made her Checklist for Life, a list of all the things she needed in order to thrive and survive. But even having checked off every item on the list it made no difference for she had gotten them dishonestly. Old, fat, ugly and unwantable, she found herself trapped in a home and a life with a man she did not love - never loved - but had loved only the things he could give her.]

"...when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.
So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
Carl from "Caddyshack"

She rolled over on the plushly carpeted floor, one arm outstretched as if grasping onto the last few moments of life. Her eyes started to blur as she slipped from one world to the next. On the night stand an empty pill bottle betrayed her final despair. She was all out of love.

"You're too hard, God. You just don't understand...this planet is a hellhole, full of miserable people and miserable lives just waiting to pounce on you and tear you down...they never stop, get me out of here!...where can I go?...I had to do it...these things of mine...I needed these things to survive!...I had no choice...my children...I couldn't not have children, right or wrong...I got everything I said I wanted...these things...my marriage, my house...I don't get it...they aren't enough...I guess I wasn't as smart as I thought I was."

Then she passed into the Light.

***

"Am I going to hell?" was her first question.

"There is no hell, there is no heaven. There's only the love you make," replied the angel.

"Oh my."

Without knowing how she knew to do so, she followed the angel to the Cloud Of Light.

The angel showed no signs of judgement or scorn or approval, speaking thusly: "We shall see two versions of your life: the one you led and the one if life embraced - the one meant for you."

Immediately she wished to defend herself but again an unspoken knowledge kept her in quiet futility.

A projection on the cloud began as the pair watched her bright birth. Life started out well for her as she climbed the social latter of the living. A star among her peers yet all the while hiding a secret doubt. The angel asked the homecoming queen about this shadow - and she knew no lie was possible.

"It's hard to say, really. I felt undeserving, that maybe I wasn't really committed to anything. Wasn't really committed to myself I should say. I just had these dreams. Everyone else, they had some idea of a direction for their life, but me...well, all I knew were these wonderful dreams of living. I wanted to show the whole world how beautiful life could be!"

"Dreamers have the highest calling - and the highest duty."

In college, the shadow deepened. She watched as the voices of doubt won the battle for her confidence. She edged away from the light she so fervently espoused previously. The angel said nothing but...

"You don't understand. I had to go to college. There was nothing else for me to do. I couldn't be a writer or something definite like my classmates. My parents were teachers! How could I explain I wasn't ready to go, that I needed to find myself first? Everyone had such a high opinion of me, I wasn't going to lose that! All those expectations were just so...overwhelming. Maybe my dreams were just dreams, I thought."

She started to cry tears she kept invisible in the carnal world. "What a fool I was! No one can live my life for me! I was always living to make everyone else happy. I told myself I was strong to keep my feelings inside. But that was weak and cowardly. I was so sure the truth was never enough. I broke faith. The preacher doused me in water and said I was saved. But I never was."

She knew what was coming next. "Must we continue?"

"No, as you wish."

Three earth years later, she knew she must know. "Please continue."

She had forgotten that in college her gravest thoughts of suicide had come to seed. This isn't me. I have no future in a lie. It's obvious as the day I have no way to live! The suffocating role-play humiliated her in despair, pretending success in school was same as success in life. She could care less what her grades were outside the approval they brought. All she knew was she wanted out.

But like any bill to pay, the longer she waited the higher the price.

On the Cloud of Light dark events from the past are as visible as the blue sky. So very openly she watched as the voices of doubt called an enemy of her dreams into her life. "No, don't trust him!" She relived the first initial repulsion, the instinctive loathing by the remnants of her confidence. He was nothing but a parasitic twerp looking to suck the life out of her. He needed that to justify his own voices of doubt. He'd never had any dreams of his own.

Gradually, the truth within began to twist. "I need you..." he whispered in her ear. "I love your dreams..." he cooed. "I'll give you the world..." he hopefully bribed. It was direction she missed from her life and direction he would provide. Only now she watched wide-eyed in horror as the shadow couple walked hand in hand down the wrong path in mutual contempt of her dreams!

"No, no! You don't have to do that!" She turned towards the angel. "It's so obvious now. Why didn't you tell me? Why let me walk down the wrong path? None of this is what I wanted. How could I believe it was actually OK to do what I want? It never mattered what I wanted down there. They would attack me for being selfish if I followed my own path. I had no protection!"

She sat in stone for another six months. "It was because I feared I was too selfish that I never did what I wanted. I didn't want to face myself. Once I started running, I couldn't stop. But I always tried to be objective about my life."

"Yes, we know."

It was her objectivity that brought her true love into her life two years into her marriage. She'd been crying out for hope and secretly embraced her dreams once more - but only because she had such an iron grip on her marriage she never feared she'd be without its crutch. The Cloud of Light made all her actions so obvious she wondered how she'd ever managed to fool herself.

"Now I'll show you the life you could have had with your soulmate. Shall I free you of your guilt?"

"Which guilt? ...oh that guilt..."

"We knew you had needs. We put them there. Wealth is not a sin for you. Neither is family and children. Without such things you would have died. It was the only way to keep your dreams alive."

"Exactly! I was saying that for years! No one ever understood. Was nothing to do with selfishness. I needed these things like I needed air to breathe. What a relief to find out I was not lying."

"But it only works if you marry your true love. Had you done so your wealth would have been one thousand fold your husband's ill gotten gains. As a couple you'd have been a shining beacon of light in the world - just as you always dreamed. You would have taught your children openness and honesty instead of darkness and deceit. All the things of life you needed would have been provided in overflowing abundance. And most of all your dreams would have come to life. You'd have been a free person just as you always wished."

"But there is no freedom!"

"And now for the life of your soulmate, alone and abandoned - "

"No, dont!"

She protested but did not stop the projection is his sorrowed voice. "Where are you? I'm so lost without you. You are all my dreams and fantasies come true!"

"This is unbearable! Stop it! Stop it now!"

"I'll never be anything without you. Life has no meaning. Just endless emptiness and wandering."

"Shut him up! He'll ruin everything! Shut his damn mouth or I swear I'll do it for you!"

"I'm missing you literally to death. Just one word from you could change my life. I have no future!"

"Kill him! Kill him DEAD! Don't ever let another word out of his damn mouth! Do you hear me? KILLLL HIMMMM!"

After witnessing the Conversation That Must Never Be Heard, she now lived in a time of Revelation, and she fell from the cloud sobbing. "I'm a murderer! I'm a murderer!"

For twenty years she cried as red stains appeared on her hands. She'd turned her back on the love of her life, never believing he could provide her with her Checklist for Life. Even as she so often wished for him to love her, the idea he needed her was a state secret to be suppressed at costs. To be revealed as a murderer after all she'd built simply unacceptable. Her life had been thrown away, wasted. As long as no one knew of the other path she'd hear no reproach in the world.

To her continued horror she saw the fate of her son. Like his banker father, he had seen only the seemingly direct approach to success. Looking for the easy way he signed on as a security agent for an oil company in the Middle East. What skills in life he could not sell, he cared for not. But in his pursuit of "winning" he'd been gunned down by friendly fire. His life too had been thrown away, he'd been taught well.

How to have faith? How to trust life? She had to get her precious things or she'd die. But now she knew she need get her things only through love or she'd die anyway. Everything she hated about feeling trapped she passed on to her children. Even so, had she merely confided in them, they might have bypassed her errors in life. But the lure of appearing responsible and honest prevented that. What's ever the point of lying?

What is point of the world believing you're successful when you're not? Where's the benefit? So she could keep her things? Well, she lost her things anyway! Why had she ever walked away from her dreams? So she'd never have to fear looking like a fool? But how foolish her dead poisoned body must have looked when discovered by a shocked and horrified family? All the universe had laid waiting before her.

How simple to see now: life is love.

Slowly, she ascended back to the cloud. "May I please go back?"

"Yes, only those who request it ever go. But of course your memory will be wiped clean of all this so that you may be reborn."

"I have to make amends. I can't live with this. This is hell! I won't forsake my dreams this time!"

"I understand your words. But know this: that's what you said last time."

Occupy Servants' Quarters: The Rich Strike Back!

In a "turnabout is fair play" move, millionaires and billionaires across the country are staging catered "sit ins" in their servants' quarters, protesting workers' rights and other cumbersome burdens the "mainstream media refuses to cover", says one Arnold S. of California. "Fuck one maid and you'd think the world had come to an end! Bad enough we have to put up with paying the socialist mandated minimum wage! Oh, the humanity!"

"Tell the maid: I'll be back!"

Many are recalling their lost youth as Hippie protesters in the 60's. "It's so thrilling to recapture our lost idealism. I have goosebumps all over me. It's been over 40 years since I've stood for something and I have to tell you it feels good!" said one protester, referring to herself only as "Goldbeam" ("Used to be Moonbeam!"). "People ask us all the time what we want. The answer is simple: more!" Goldbeam later led the protesters in a chant of, "All we are saying, is give greed a chance!"

Dreaming of future BMWs

Some of the more militant millionaires have taken to the streets, outraged over being forced to view "unsightly homeless shelters" from the back of their limousines, picketing with signs saying, "Guilt is for losers!", "Let me eat (your) cake!" and "Kiss my Maserati!" There were also reports of protesters locking arms to prevent a homeless man from entering his cardboard box. "Why aren't you serving us champagne, you bum!" Police arrested the homeless man for disturbing the peace.

Uncivil rights count too!

"What the poor don't understand are the burdens of the rich," lamented Donald T. of New York. "They say we lost all their money in a game of casino-like betting and that is true. But we can't have everyone being rich! We need delusional working slaves thinking they're free, and fighting for our right to be rich. That's what makes this country great and we will fight to keep it that way! And besides they can always get their money back in the rigged casinos we set up for them. The best ones rhyme with the word 'dump'!"

"I'm a job creator. It takes four different people
just to keep my comb-over in place."

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In More News Of The World!

Chasing Bicyclists: The Sport Of Kings

District Attorney: LAW ONLY APPLIES TO THE POOR

In July 2010, Martin Joel Erzinger, a hedge fund manager for extremely wealthy investors at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, was driving his car near Vail, Colorado, when he hit a bicyclist from behind and then sped away. The Vail Daily reported that the victim, Steven Milo, suffered "spinal cord injuries, bleeding from his brain and damage to his knee and scapula," which left him facing multiple surgeries. The newspaper's account of the incident makes clear that Erzinger should have been prosecuted for this incident.

Committing a hit-and-run is a felony in Colorado, and leaving the scene of a crime constitutes a felony as well. Nevertheless, the district attorney, Mark Hurlbert, announced that Erzinger would be charged only with a misdemeanor, which carries no jail time. Hurlbert's explanation for not charging Erzinger with any felonies was blunt: "Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession."

In other words, Erzinger engages in such vital activity that charging him with a felony would be wrong because it might seriously disrupt his work: managing the money of multimillionaires and billionaires. According to Worth magazine, Erzinger "oversees over $1 billion in assets for ultra high net worth individuals, their families and foundations." If he were charged with a felony, he would be required to report that fact to licensing agencies; a felony conviction could result in his fund manager license being rescinded. Apparently, as far as the district attorney was concerned, it would be terribly unfair to subject someone like Erzinger to the risk of damaging his career, though presumably someone with less to lose could -- and would -- be charged as a felon without any such worries.

Yes, folks, justice may be blind but she can still see green!

***********************************

Taking customer service into his own hands

WHEN YOUR BANKER IS A CRIP!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday estimated there are some 1.4 million gang members in the United States and they are turning to white collar crimes as more lucrative enterprises.

Gangs like the Bloods and the Crips are engaging in crimes, such as identity theft, counterfeiting, selling stolen goods and even bank, credit card and mortgage fraud, said a new FBI gangs threat assessment.

"We've seen it, but we've seen them doing it even more now and we attribute to the fact that the likelihood of being caught is less, the sentences once you are caught are less, and the actual monetary gain is much higher," said Diedre Butler, a unit chief at the National Gang Intelligence Center.

See? The youth of the today aren't stupid. They're listening to us VERY well!

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Finding the perfect pumpkin!

WARMONGERS HATE HOT SEX

If you had to guess what attire would be appropriate for a pumpkin patch, booty shorts probably wouldn't fall under that category.

Poor Courtney Stodden -- the 17-year-old teen bride of 51-year-old Doug Hutchison, just didn't get the memo on what's appropriate to wear .... pretty much anywhere.

It turned out Courtney wasn't kicked off of Facebook for being too sexy, but Stodden and her husband were booted from a pumpkin patch in the Santa Clarita Valley this weekend, reports RadarOnline.

But it wasn't just Courtney's denim booty shorts and cleavage-baring shirt that was too much for fellow pumpkin patch visitors. The couple made quite the scene with Courtney jumping into Doug's arms, straddling him provocatively, and making out in front of families who were just trying to spend the day finding a perfect pumpkin.

Assassinating "bad guys" and innocent civilians around the world: MORAL. People expressing sexuality: EVIL! Show me someone who's for the wars and I guarantee you I'll show you a sexual deviant. The two go hand in hand.

Click below for some more Hot Legs!

"Margin Call" (Film Review And Commentary)

Margin Call is set in 2008 right on the brink of the financial collapse, the effects of which we still suffer from today and will for years to come. It details a firm's obliviousness to its perilous financial state until a whiz kid trader (a literal rocket scientist from MIT) finishes formulating an equation started by a recently fired employee. What he finds is the firm is upside down in its holdings to the point its possible liabilities exceed its worth. Ouch!

For an understanding of this we'll use the commodities market model which is where the term "margin call" comes from. In a margin situation you are able leverage your money many folds over in a high risk/high reward gamble by not having to pay full price for what you purchase. For an example, one can purchase an oil contract worth $100,000 for only $5,000, which gives you a 20 to 1 leverage rate. So just imagine if you could rig a situation - however temporary - where the prices went only up. The profits would be staggering!

If oil is, say, $100 a barrel at purchase time and then goes up to $105, that's a five thousand dollar profit, doubling your initial investment! Obviously, if you had paid full price for the contract you would have made only a measly 5% profit. What wants that? The downside is if oil drops from 100 to 90, you just lost $10,000, wiping out your initial 5,000 plus putting you another 5,000 in the hole. When that happens that's when you get a "margin call" to cover your losses. Scary, huh?

Well, it's scary if you're playing with your own money. Investment firms play with the public's money so why give a shit? If you think that's outrageous don't forget both Bush and Obama (and any future President) couldn't bend over quick enough to bail out the banks - on their terms. You're kidding yourself if you think anyone is out there standing up for you.

Anyway, that's the premise of leveraging and is the simple version of how these firms were able to sink themselves so easily and massively as mortgages sank in value on very highly leveraged commodities that had made huge profits on the way up. So it's a premise of the film that the Firm (as its referred to in nameless fashion throughout) has no idea it's holding more losses than it can sustain. That's debatable point number one: Did the investment banks know they were actually trading worthless mortgages before the bubble burst?

Regardless, the Firm does find out and its answer to this problem reveals its true character: sell the worthless commodities before everyone else finds out they're worthless. Since the mortgages were repackaged and re-layered to the point no one knew their exact value, they were sort of a black box to be pawned off to let the unlucky buyer get the ugly surprise later on. Even if pawning off their losses onto other companies then sinks them, the Firm is OK with that. Survival at all costs, baby.

I read one positive review and one negative review. The negative review called the film "lifeless" and I agree. It takes place over 24 hours as the Firm goes into crisis mode once its doom becomes evident and the characters work throughout the night and into the next morning. Very claustrophobic. Both reviews called it a story of human weakness. The negative one claims the film was trying to illicit sympathy for the players while the other claimed it was a film with no good guys in it. I agree with the latter interpretation.

I rooted for everyone's demise. But I also realize 95% of the people placed in their situation would have acted just the same. Oh sure, some had reservations about their dastardly deeds of outright swindling but in the end no one could answer the question: what other way is there? Over and over the phrase "no choice" is repeated as it's applied to various individual situations leading to a totality of "no choices" as if on a runaway train.

At various times we hear the rationalizations of the traders as they speak of their unwarranted rewards but I don't know how much of the attitude reflected is accurate. I mean, I'm sure there's some sort of rationalization going on - there has to be - but if they displayed the same thought processes as real life traders I don't know. One thing did ring true on "fucking the public", about how people like to play all innocent and look the other way just as long as they get what they want. The trader explained that's how his greed profits from their greed. Hear, hear.

We pretend otherwise but money is the name of the game, the bottom line of our entire structured system. We pretend it's not our fault, that Nature will not allow any other way, "no choice". I hear fools complain of how corporations are dedicated to profits over people. But have we not agreed as a society that's the way it has to be? We have to make the dollar our god just as the ancients made stone statues and wooden idols. Yes, we're just as dumb as we've ever been.

In the search for an answer, one must first eliminate everything that is not an answer. How twisted is a mind that says there's "benefits" to polluting our environment. Yet, we say it every day: "It costs too much to do right." But as long as we are more concerned with artificial monetary costs than we are human costs, as long we continue to pretend to not face the answer, our situation will continue to decline and we'll all act innocent and surprised by our demise - by the very things we've mandated!

500 Questions

Spending all my time on the streets I come across quite a few unusual situations. I'll never forget that wedding rehearsal gone awry with the bride and groom having it out on the sidewalk in front of the fancy hotel whose ballroom they'd rented. Abject failure that I am in relationships I must admit seeing that brought me quite a bit of joy.

Of course, another thing I do while walking along is talent scouting. Plenty of hot, leggy women around here in Dallas and I do oh so appreciate those women kind enough to display their wares for public consumption. If only I could return the favor! So I see this self-involved chick furiously texting on her smart phone in front of one of those very upscale nouveau riche loft places. She had this long, silky blonde hair nicely contrasting with her well-arranged black outfit - a dynamite package! And she smoked too! Always a sign of low self-esteem in a woman. Sweeeet!

My mind was racing on how I could somehow introduce her to my penis. Hell, if I just got any part of her time I'd be happy, she was so unreachable. Try as I might not to, I'm always self-conscious of my street clothes and my semi-vagabond look I just can't hide. You can put me in a tailored suit and I'd still feel the same. It was obvious she was a woman floating down life on a river of perpetual affluence and easy male attention. It's with those kind of women with whom I have the greatest barrier - and peril.

So that put me in quite a pickle as I struggled to speak out to her when I noticed an extremely heavy piano hanging several stories above her head on a hoist where the rope was beginning to fray. But it seems I have this huge credibility problem whenever I speak the truth. Lie all day and I get along with people just fine. But try and speak honestly and out come the knives! Quite frankly, this has cowed me into cowardly silence. Not wanting to get yelled at, I searched in vain for a valid voice. Unfortunately, once again my sound trumped my words as I stammered out news of her precarious position, daring to interrupt her day.



I winced at the all too common reaction.

"Piano? What piano? What color is it? How many keys, eh? You don't know how many keys then you're lying! Is it in tune or out of tune, do you even know that? What is its height and weight? Where was it made? Who owns it? How can you prove it even exists? Is it just a figment of your imagination? You're a dreamer out of touch with reality. Don't bring your negative philosophy bullshit religion to me. I know math. I know science. REAL things, not somebody's magical wishful thinking. That's called being a person of reason. You have suspended critical thinking just like everyone else. Do you know the frictional coefficient of gravity on an orb of this size? You don't, do you? You're just a fucking idiot wasting my time -"

Yes, I am an idiot. Regardless, I was pretty sure I wasn't wasting her time in this scenario. It really is true there are none so blind as those who think they see the whole picture but see only a fraction. "If you would just look up from your phone for just one second - "

"Oh, you'd love that wouldn't you? Invading my personal space because you got no life of your own. Fuck off and die, loser. How about that for an answer? Stupid men are always coming on to me. I see right through you, you're not fooling anyone! Men are pigs! Sex is all you can think about. Why should I listen to some horny toad pervert? I'm a knockout and I know it. But you just can't get passed that to see my inner beauty. Men are, like, soooo shallow. And it's obvious you're not even successful. How much money do you make wearing crappy clothes like that? What makes you think I could want someone like you? Problem with men is they need to grow the fuck up and listen to what people are telling them - "

By this time the rope had snapped, starting the piano's descent. That's when I realized I'd have to employ the wisdom of Themistocles and deceive her for her own good. "Hey, look, up there! A 50 percent off Gucci handbag sale!" As if yanked by a string, her head shot upwards to face her fate - a fate that could still be avoided if she moved instantly without speaking.

"Oh, my God! There's a piano falling on me! You little fucking twerp, why didn't you tell me? You made this happen, didn't you? If you hadn't been standing over there distracting me with your patheticness that piano would not be falling! There's just no living with you people! You're so damn busy projecting your own phobias and insecurities on to everyone else you don't realize it's not me who has the problem but you! You ever think of trying a little self-examination in your life? Might do you some good. Not going to kill you, you know! Sorry for the sarcasm but you people just get under my skin. I have a life. Put some objective thought into your head! Stop trying to fix others and fix yourself. Then you will be more like I am!"

"But you're dead." Her crushed and mangled body never heard those words. Come to think of it, she didn't hear any of the rest of them either.

Alas, this isn't the first time I've seen a piano fall on someone's head. What to do?

I IZ SMART! I GOTS 53 CENT!

Hooooray for 53 Centers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REED AND WEEPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







See peeples? Yous got a box then yous gotta home! Doant lissen to dumm libatrds alwayz wining! Bee a winner like me!!!

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"He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker."
- Proverbs

I've been around the block more times than I can count. By rights I should have perished long ago. There are times when I look back and wonder how I ever survived. Surely, I lived as the birds, provided for by the ways of Nature.

I've been stranded - friendless, near broke and alone - sweltering on a hot summer day with a crap car broken down as I frantically looked around for the kindness of strangers so that I may cling to life in this world. I remember looking up to a sun I thought meant to kill me; that this was a pain that inhabits the air - there's no escaping it. I also remember asking to die. Somehow I scraped by but it was not by my own doing.

I've experienced first hand life under the thumb of predators and their proxies. I realized I was lied to about doing "honest work" to get an honest deal. People who push "hard work" are merely people trying to play on guilt. What I have found when you get to the bottom of things is everyone inherently wants to do good work and be useful. All our rules of blackmail are unnecessary chains we place upon ourselves. In the age that is to come - the Age Of Living - all those rules will be dead and gone forever!

Pity those who say "I got mine - go fuck yourself". They will be left behind as we inevitably move towards light and life. These fools call 'Life' death and therefore do not choose it. Treat them as you would someone who's about to drink from a glass of poison, where you would naturally say, "Stop! Don't do it!" If they are proud of their defiance they will be defiantly dead. Lament the loss of a soul who could have added another sparkle to the universe.

"One thing I can tell you is you've got to be free."

You can't "win" by withdrawing from the system or even by profiting from it if the system is unjust. We'll all lose in the end (We're in the finger pointing stage now, where truth is "objectively" considered just another point of view!) Everyone wishes to be free of the burdens of money. The deceived say, "We must trust in human greed" but if you really want to win, trust in the human spirit. All of human history in essence is about our unstoppable desire to live. It's just a matter of time.

Bonnie & Clyde Days 2011 (Photo/Video)

Pilot Point is located less than an hour's drive to the northeast of Dallas. On October 8, the city held its second annual Bonnie and Clyde day festival. I missed last year's so I was very anxious to not miss this one. I also saw on a provisional schedule author Jeff Guinn was scheduled to appear in the afternoon. Jeff's book on Bonnie and Clyde (along with a history channel special) is what sparked my interest in the dastardly duo.



Believe it or not, there's still some hard feelings towards our bank robbing bandits. Descendants of those who'd had unpleasant encounters with the couple tend to hold a grudge. Also, it's still strictly verboten to show any condoning of the pair's behavior especially now that we've been educated the only good thievery is done through a hedge fund and not through direct stick ups. (Every time you fill up your tank with gas you're being robbed. If you only knew!)



But Pilot Point has brushed aside those concerns and embraced its outlaw heritage however tenuous it might be in reality. Clyde committed no robberies in the town in real life (though he meant to) but the 1967 film most certainly staged a robbery here. With rumors the couple often passed through the town it was enough for Pilot Point to declare a day of celebration and use the couple's celebrity to draw visitors to town.



The Pilot Point area is horse country pure and simple. The gentle hills and small towns occupying them draw you in like a soft breeze, making you wish you could stay forever. One fellow told me his wife holds corporate retreats just down the highway. Uninitiated clients turn their nose up at first at the prospect of a boring time in the country. But once visited, they can't wait to get back to the relaxing atmosphere and nature's serenity.



Though some modified more than others, many of the buildings in the town's classic town square are the same as when Bonnie and Clyde peered upon them in the early 30's. One has to wonder what they're reaction would be to a day celebrated in their name. I think they would very much like it and revel in the attention. But really, it was about more than just them, it was about the times they lived in.



Booths lined all four corners of the square, hawking everything from old fashioned sodas to pet blankets and art prints. In the bank (now an art gallery) robbed in the movie, the UNT Television Department staged their own robbery complete with cops and guns, chasing cars and lingering smoke in the air. But before all the fireworks a parade ran throughout the square, the kind you're only going to see in a rural small town.



I thought the turnout was very good though the numbers did thin out by the middle of the afternoon. Jeff Guinn was not able to make an appearance after all as he was out promoting his new book. But there certainly was much to take in during the course of the day, even hearing the story of a hitchhiking boy picked up by Bonnie who revealed a BAR gun covered in her lap. Overall it was a blast and I definitely plan to attend next year. Be at the square or be square!

Below are a few photo essays (I made up my own stories):

The Robbery!

Unsuspecting customers enter the bank!

A paper boy sees cops only as potential customers

But "the Laws" aren't going to tolerate any tomfoolery!

The bank's been robbed ! They're getting away!

Copper's aimin' to stop them cold!

Police are in a high speed pursuit, but alas, Clyde's Ford V8 was just too quick.

A "G-Man" from the fledgling FBI is on the scene. He's the only one authorized to track Bonnie and Clyde from state to state.

Characters:

Man in orange co-emceed the event.

Tough guys for tough times.

Film actress looking very much the part hanging out in the UNT film control tent.

A prison break was staged

Wish I had gotten a better shot of the depression era boys as they were clearly the most charming of all.

Town Square:

Straight out of central casting for old time barber shops!

Don't make doors like this anymore.

Close up of the sign.

The bank before filming

Eve mural on the side of the bank

Old fashioned cafe.

And just in case you had any doubts we were in horse country:



Click here to view the entire set.

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Here's the entire parade. The two girls with the professional camera sitting just below me are UNT students. It's highly recommended to watch this and the next one on full screen.



Here's the robbery of the bank:

Occupy Dallas: Updates, Outrage and Video

Photo by the urban fabric (all rights reserved by photographer)

On October 6th I joined the Occupy Dallas protesters in the march to the Federal Reserve Bank. Since that time they have remained camped out at Pioneer Park in downtown Dallas near the convention center. They are feuding with the city of Dallas for the right to remain as the City requires the protestors to post a $1,000,000 bond.

The Dallas Observer, an alternative (i.e. honest) weekly paper, posted a blog on the march which sparked 241 comments. I admit my reaction to the movement was lukewarm at first but seeing the bitter consternation it engendered in conservatives tipped the scales completely for me. I thought I'd share a few of the more choice engagements:


I haven't really been able to figure out what the organizers of "Occupy Wall Street" are protesting against and what they are asking be done. To hear some of those interviewed, it's just a bunch of folks with too much time on their hands complaining about everything they can think of with no real objectives.

Darren Schmits and 21 more liked this

This is about exhaustion. People who are tired of watching the vast majority of the country waste away. People who are tired of privatized profits and socialized losses. This about the top 1% of the population controlling nearly 40% of its wealth, while the bottom rungs have less than 1%. This is about corruption and the influence of money at every level of government, in both parties, in all places. There are many, many voices in this movement: leftists, liberals, tea partiers, libertarians, labor unions, anarchists, independents, black, white, latino, old, young, working class, middle class, etc. The call for accountability is being made. Once those in power hear that, then we can begin to make our demands, each one of us, and map out a future for everyone.

drklassen and 33 more liked this

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What a waste of time on a beautiful fall day in Dallas.

Go to the fair, ride the ferris wheel and eat a corny dog.

You'll feel better right away.

Darren Schmits and 8 more liked this

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Lol! You could get a job and earn $ you know. I'm an actual taxpayer, with a job, and i don't owe you communist wannabes anything. Btw, don't forget...The top 10% of wage earners pay 50% of taxes...The bottom 47%? Not one cent...

Andy Nold and 5 more liked this

You want to prove your claim that the bottom 47% pay no taxes? Remember, "taxes" includes sales taxes, property taxes, gas taxes, payroll taxes, and a wide range of taxes beyond income taxes.

I ask because you won't be able to actually back that statement up with proof, seeing as how it isn't true.

drklassen and 6 more liked this

I love it when people throw out that figure.

Yes, the bottom don't pay a cent in income tax - why? BECAUSE THEY"RE POOR! You don't pay an income tax if your under the poverty line!

Taxes on food, water, property, gas, clothes and other purchases? They pay those. Social Security? Yeah, they pay that, too.

And that top 50% you're in love with? The trust-fund babies pay 15% in taxes and never work a day.

drklassen and 11 more liked this

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Want the rich to pay more taxes and suddenly you're a dirty hippie; want an American-born President to produce a birth certificate and you're grass-roots democracy in action. And they say the media is liberal.

Jay Hawk and 18 more liked this

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The new slogan of American culture: Hate anyone who has a better idea and/or better work ethic than you. I mean, how dare anyone think that they deserve more pay and a better quality of life just because they try a lot harder in life overall and take full responsibility for themselves! The nerve!

Mister_Mean liked this

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get a job

connielowe1 and 15 more liked this

I don't you noticed but after the financial institutions ruined our economy with out of control irresponsible practices and malfeasance and other companies shipped jobs overseas in the pursuit of higher corporate profits there aren't that many jobs left.

Coleman and 20 more liked this

If you cant get a job your not a very good worker or are afraid to work or your skills are outdated and you need to seek retraining

pak152 and 4 more liked this

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Sad, but not unexpected, to see some of the comments here.

Yes, there's not a lot of coherence in this movement or its goals right now. The thing is brand new. Coherence will emerge. Right now, there are thousands of people spouting off tens of thousands of agenda points. It'll get more clear.

If you don't get the gist of it by now, try this: http://bit.ly/nmr004

Douglas Rushkoff tried to help make this thing a little more understandable: http://bit.ly/mS5q1p I think he did a pretty good job.

Educate yourselves. Doesn't it worry you that so much of our nation's wealth is concentrated in the hands of so few? If it doesn't worry you, please help me understand why it doesn't.

John2247 and 12 more liked this

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Personally, I think it's too late to protest. Rare is the soul who trusts nature over money. As long as money has ultimate say in our society then doom is inevitable and inescapable. It's not the job of money to provide justice or even to provide our survival - we just pretend it is, a grand collusion to one day be defrocked. We let money decide everything for us, even who lives and who dies. As John Lennon said, it's not about what you're against, it's what you're for that counts.

But those who truly hate social justice, who despair of living for anything but greed, who find an open mind the most terrifying of all human conditions, are rightly mortified by these protests. All movements start with breaking the silence about the abuse. Those who fear they'll be left behind lash out and defame those who've broken away to a new and better future.

To me, I don't really care about the specifics of this movement. What it's really about is the human spirit. As we slowly, oh so tentatively embrace our humanity and learn to trust it, as money worship goes the way of witch burning and all other superstitions, a new dawn will emerge for those willing to accept it. When that time comes, these gods who live in ivory towers of steel and glass will see their confines for what they truly are: a prison.

Here's my video of the march on the Fed: