Hammer Mill Days

Sweepin' up after that big storm. Man, the weather these days. Good goddamn thing that global warming story turned out to be a hoax. If it'd been true, we'd be worried about all this extreme weather. But no, no.... everything's fine. Experts agree. No, today's not contrary Wednesday. It's contrary every freaking day here at the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill, our adopted home. I'm spouting that stuff about global warming in hopes of ingratiating ourselves to a potential corporate sponsor. Who, you may ask? Well, it's someone Big Green worked with before - Hegemonic Records and Worm Farm, Inc., king of the extractive industries. Tearing Earth a new Asshole since 1953 ™. From the tar sands of Alberta to the gold mines of Irian Jaya to the fracking fields of Pennsylvania, the name Hegemonic has been synonymous with ... well, with making big piles of money out of big piles of slag. Who better to shake down for some cash, right? Oh, yes... I know what you...

Another Memorial Day come and gone. PBS played the annual extravaganza in Washington D.C., replete with stars of stage, screen, and studio, in some respects bizarre beyond description. It always strikes me as odd that a day reserved to commemorate the dead from this nation's wars should carry such hyper-patriotic overtones. As I watch, I keep wanting to say, "Take it down a notch - that's the kind of talk that got them all killed." It's long been my contention that the very ostentatious hero-ization of our active military and veterans is, at its heart, an effort to make our pointless wars seem somehow noble and just. The laptop bombardiers crowing "hero!" most loudly are the ones who gladly see their heroes shipped off for a fifth tour of duty. Doesn't bear close inspection. Perhaps even stranger is the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the American war in Vietnam - like that was something to celebrate. Obama spoke to this poi...