RS: Can you give us a quick rundown of your view of President Bush's economic policy?
It's complicated. Best way to break it down is to tell a story:
In my father's hometown, the mayor decided that the people needed some excitement in their lives. So one night he put on an elaborate costume he was saving for the day of the dead, a huge flowing regal get-up that gave the illusion that the wearer was big, and headless. Getting on his horse, he rode around the town square, making as much noise as he could, and always made sure to ride past the three drunks that slept on the steps of the church. He did this every night at midnight except on Sundays. Later in the morning, the three drunks were sure to relay the events of those early hours to anyone who would stop to listen. "The ghost of an angry federale", one said. "A soldier of the Devil", said another. Pretty soon, the town was buzzing with stories. And people were staying up at night to see the headless man's appearance.
The Mayor couldn't be happier. Not only were his townspeople happy as hogs, but surrounding towns were hearing the stories, and people from all over Sonora were showing up to catch a glimpse of the rider they were starting to call "Sin Cabesa".
Naturally, the Mayor wanted to give the people a good show, especially the one's that traveled miles through the desert from their own towns to see Sin Cabesa. The rider's appearances became more elaborate as time went on, culminating one night in Holy Week, when the Mayor got his niece to dress up like the Virgin Mary, and pursue him through the town square on a white horse of her own, much to the excitement and religious devotion of the people gathered.
The Mayor eventually became so involved with portraying Sin Cabesa, that inevitably his mayoral duties started to fall to the wayside. After a while, Sin Cabesa became more of an outside attraction, as the townspeople became accustomed to his nightly appearances. Taxes were inevitably raised, and people started to grumble. The Mayor was distressed. As a mayor, he was falling off, but as Sin Cabesa, he was still pretty popular. He got an idea.
Getting a grant from PEMEX,( which took a little palm greasing, no pun intended) the Mayor decided to film Sin Cabesa's Christmas Eve ride, and air it on the National Network for the feast of the Wise Men. So on Christmas Eve, sharply at midnight, with a healthy size crowd and a TV crew on hand, Sin Cabesa burst into the town square, with a flaming torch in one hand and a flag emblazoned "PEMEX presenta SIN CABESA" in the other.
It was a smash hit. Money poured into the town.
That's my take on it..
RS: The White House is now proposing a tax cut of about $500 billion in the next ten years. Is this a significant amount of money, in terms of govenment spending?
Another hard question (sigh):
There was an old man that used to go the mall I worked at as a kid. I was working one of those carts, where you take someone's picture and put it on a cup or a T-shirt (yes, I was that kid). The old man was friendly, and always had a story to tell. He'd been a private investigator in the 1940's and 50's, old school LA style like in Polanski's "Chinatown". He was on an assignment , when the Mexican mobster he was shadowing caught him in bed with one of his daughters, and tried to kill them both. They escaped the mobsters LA house with about $3500 cash, which was then a significant amount of money.
Anyway, they traded shots across the swimming pool, and wound up in a crazy pursuit all the way from East LA to El Monte, which was mostly orange groves back then. I don't recall what happened next, but I guess it turned out okay for the old man, cos he was alive enough to tell me the story, always pausing to comment lewdly on women walking by, especially the ones that were most likely born about 25 - 30 years after this adventure . He also told me to stay away from bad women & drugs.
RS: How does the Bush tax cut compare to the Reagan tax cuts of the 1980's?
Wow, good one. I'd have to say that Reagan's tax cut must have been better, cos I had a hell of a lot more toys back then, as well as quarters to play Space Ace, and time to run around the hills and not have to worry about working. That was nice time. What the hell happened? Bush must not know what he's doing. I don't even have change for coffee some days. I do, however, have a nice computer & Time Warner Cable .
RS: What's the time frame here? Five Years, ten years?
Five/Ten Years? More like twenty, man. You're talking 1983-84. '84 was a bad bad year for me. Only your therapist knows for sure, kids. God took a mighty dump on me in '84.
RS: If you're a politician, 2010 is the distant future. Most elected officials aren't thinking much beyond their next campaigns.
Do you think we'll still have elections in 2010? Not free ones. I was listening to CounterSpin (www.fair.org) and they said that the next wave of election technology is touch screen balloting. Sounds cool, right? Wrong. No paper trail, guys. And the guys that are designing/ manufacturing these things? Well, their bosses are staunch Neo-conservatives.
RS: So you think that the mind-set of the Bush administration is one of complete cynicism?
I think this administration is a wonderfully idealistic team of highly principled men and women, who are labouring day and night to rid the world of all the vestiges of Satan: evil Muslims, the diabolical gay community, decadent free thinking liberals, Individually owned media outlets & music venues, Catholics, Jews, vegans, subway musicians, mimes, freelance workers, foreign money, a working class polictical party with balls, the human mind, the female sex drive, black & mexican children that can read and write, my dad, Bob Dylan, vinyl 45's, statues with breasts, the legacies of great men who nevertheless fondled a consensual breast or two, free internet, public parks, the beat goes on.
RS: Does the White House really believe we can grow our way out of anything?
There was a guy that lived across the way from my grandmother's old apartment, named Moe. Sold weed. Now that guy could grow his way out of anything. I knew a guy from Boston who lived in the same complex. He was huge, had to be at least 6'4 250lbs, a real tank. He had like three teeth. His name was Jimbo. He got arrested on his deathbed for operating a meth-lab out of his apartment, after it exploded. Exciting stuff.
RS: Do the Bush people ever address this?
How'd you know about the Bushpeople? You know, growing up, we were always looking for Bushman. He was a little guy that lived up in the hills and kidnapped dogs and kids. They almost caught Bushman somewhere in Azusa Canyon one night in the autumn, but he got away. A real slippery character. Weird too. I saw something weird one night after a Marble Index gig, driving north on Grand Avenue, passing the college. It was fast, and small, and hairy as shit. I almost ran him over in that crap Hyundai I was driving. It looked like a little fat chinese boy with hair like shag carpeting, and reflective teeth. Must've been Bushman. To answer your question, I don't think the Bushpeople do meth, but I'm not an expert on Bushmen lore.
RS: If this tax cut is so bad - and our fiscal future is so grim - why isn't there more outcry against it?
"A chicken is it's quietest as the axe is being raised". You ever hear that before?
It rhymes in Spanish.
RS: What about the two Republican Senators - George Voinovich of Ohio and Olympia Snowe of Maine - who've said that they won't vote for any tax cut that's larger than $350 billion?
Good for them. I personally won't vote for any tax-cutter that's bigger than 350 lbs. Remember when Lawrence of Arabia was asked about his homeland, and replied that Britain was a "fat country full of fat people"? I've actually put on a few pounds in the past few months.
RS: Where's the media in all of this?
Let me use this question to say one truly serious thing, people.
On June 2nd, Congress is going to vote on a bill allowing for even more massive dregulation of Corporate Media Ownership. I've sent a few emails about this, but the gist is that if this bill is passed, companies like Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, and Clear Channel Communications will be allowed to gobble up not only TV stations, but print media as well. You only need to look at the state of Radio today to see what happens when one company makes all the decisions for media programming. Our diversity and our freedom of choice are in danger, people.
Please contact your congressman, and let them know that this is completely unacceptable. They want to hear from you. In public meetings around the country, FCC agents have been shocked to see that when given the information, the public's disapproval of these changes are OVERWHELMING. When asked how many people actually supported the deregulation bill, one FCC agent thought for a minute, and said "Out of 5000 people I've heard, one
Person supported the bill. That person was a Clear Channel Employee."
C'mon guys, the ratio here is like 98.9% against this thing. Make your voice heard, and let's stall this insane bill.
Go to www.commondreams.org, and www.fair.org . Or email me for info.
Now back to the fun stuff:
RS: Right now are we basking in the afterglow of military triumph. How do you view the war in Iraq from an economic perspective?
Triumph? It was Muhammad Ali versus Emmanuel Lewis. How can you call this bullshit a triumph? We starved a country for ten years, and when we felt like it, we bombed the country that gave us the Code of Hammurabi into complete anarchy. I loved it when Herr Rumsfeld said "Freedom is Untidy. These people are free now and free people are free to commit crimes and do bad things". Wow, Donald Rumsfeld: Anarchist. Who woulda thought? Wish he'd been in LA about twelve years ago. When we saw all those minorities looting their stores and getting tear gassed by the cops, I could have sworn they were breaking the law and disrupting society, at least that's what they were telling me then. I know now that they were just being untidy and free. Did you see how flippant he was about the looting of the Baghdad museum? I'd love to see people get chuckled at as they walk out the front door of the Met with some Van Gogh's. Economic perspective. I'm sure for Bechtel Corp., Halliburton, and Chevron, the economic picture is o so rosy. Maybe Clear Channel can set up a couple stations out there, and get Kelly Clarkson & Dick Clark to do New Years Rockin' Eve from our newest little territory. Of course Disney's on it's way with a whole Aladdin-dominated theme park. Jesus, that fucking blue Robin Williams genie is gonna be all over that poor city.
RS: How serious is the problem of corporate governance?
Pretty bad.
RS: It's tough to predict the future, but would you be willing to look into the crystal ball?
People will move to rural areas, independent agencies will oversee distirbution of goods, with less government involvement. Life overall will simplify. But not before we endure a shitstorm of apocolyptic proportions. See you at the races.
