There are Far More Clever Ways for Revenge than the Sword

(Chateau Di'f, Edmond Dantes home for 14 years)

Several months ago I rented "The Count of Monte Cristo" (2002) from Movie Madness.

About a year ago, I listened to the unabridged version of Alexandre Dumas' classic, "The Count of Monte Cristo," produced by Books on Tape in 1996. It is read by Richard Mathews who does so many voices of so many different characters. He did an amazing job. I checked out the volume from the Multnomah County Library because it was the thickest book on CD I had ever seen and I had that book on a mental list I keep of classics I am interested in reading. It is 35 CD's for a total of 43 hours and 19 minutes of attention grabbing intrigue. I never got bored, and I'm not getting bored listening to it a second time.

Alexandre Dumas not only takes you into an amazing story of revenge, it is a story of a culture at a time long gone. Everyone in the book from high to low (as it were) are intelligent. The descriptive talents of Dumas have not been equaled in anything I have read. There is so much intricacy, intrigue, beauty, and a vast understanding of so many subjects and so much culture that go into this novel.

Edmond Dante's, the main character, is a person of natural leadership abilities who is sent to prison under false pretenses and escapes 14 years later and carefully plans his revenge against those who put him there and a sword is never raised.

The movie, "The Count of Monte Cristo," produced by Touchstone in 2002 and starring Jim Caviezel as Edmond Dantes was so disappointing as to require me to turn it off after 20 minutes of the 131 minutes, or 2 hours and 11 minutes, of American style swashbuckling bullshit that barely resembles the fantastic novel and story written by the great Alexandre Dumas. (There is a 1934 film version of "Monte Cristo" that I haven't seen yet).

Desiring to be entertained by the great novelist again while I make my three weekly journeys to Eugene as part of my employment, I again checked out the Books on Tape unabridged reading of "The Count of Monte Cristo." It is such an amazing tale. The revenge is so intricate, so well thought out, so planned as to pierce the very soul of the intended instead of giving them just a plain old boring American style swashbuckling stabby kind of death. This revenge is far more painful.

When I renewed this hold online, I noticed the movie version was there, and figured since I wouldn't be putting out any money for this horrible American movie version of a great classic French novel, I would suffer my way through it. I took two days, and Shusli sat beside me and watched this movie with repeated reports of how crappy it was. Not wanting to spoil any entertainment value she may have received during the tortuous 2 hours and 11 minutes removed from our lives, I did my best to keep my mouth shut, often times WANTING TO SCREAM.

My thoughts after viewing this have been that all involved with the filming should all purchase a cat of nine tails and flog themselves until they pass out as punishment for the crime of horribly destroying a truly fantastic tale and turning it into a HEAVILY dumbed down piece of American entertainment with swashbuckling sword play.

Americans have a tendency not to think as part of their entertainment. Jim Caviezel portrays Edmond as a weak underdog incompetent trying to improve his life. In the movie, Edmond Dantes is promoted to captain of the Farion, a ship he has sailed on for the Morel company and was 1st mate and then captain after the death of the captain in the first scene that sets up the book and the movie. During Edmonds interrogation prior to being sent to prison by Veilfor (sp? remember, I have not read the book but only listened to it on CD thus far) it is found out that poor weak little Edmond cannot read. OK stupid Americans, a man, weak in leadership abilities and incapable of reading is promoted to captain of a merchant ship...WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE FOOLING!?

The movie is complete American swashbuckling bullshit (and I usually like swashbuckling movies). I'm gonna ruin the end for you because it completely sucks. Edmond runs a sword through Ferlond (sp?) and again runs off with Mercedes and their bastard son. Doesn't happen that way in the novel. Not at all. It is much more beautiful and intriguing and so terribly clever and Edmond doesn't run a sword through anyone. Read it, or listen to it on CD. I do plan on reading it at some point in my life as well to get a flavor of the written word as well. I did that with George Orwell's, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," recently. I read it, I listened to it on CD, and I watched the movie. Each had a different flavor. Each gave me much for the story. "The Count of Monte Cristo" movie did nothing but disappoint and anger me.

Hollywood can, much of the time, screw up a fantastic story and turn it into dumbed down cheap entertainment that offers nothing to the lives of those that watch it. "The Count of Monte Cristo" movie is a great example of that.

"Braveheart," by Mel "I Love Blood" Gibson is a similar story. When one reads what the real William Wallace was like and about his life and how he lived, you become very disappointed in that thing that Mel made. This is comparable to the disaster that Touchstone did with "Monte Cristo."

Derrick Jensen

On Thursday, April 8, "Mitakuye Oyasin" radio collective will be interviewing Derrick Jensen live via the phone on the Mighty 90.7fm, KBOO. We will talk about his latest books and his views on civilization and ideas on what to do about this mess, and or whatever comes to mind.

"Mitakuye Oyasin" is an Indian radio program where we talk about all things related. "Mitakuye Oyasin" means all my relations in Lakota, in a greater sense, we are all related. "Mitakuye Oyasin" airs every Thursday from 6pm-7pm PST and can be heard at 90.7fm in Portland, or on the web by clicking the above link.

"Mitakuye Oyasin" Potluck

On Thursday, March 25th, from 4pm to 8pm, "Mitakuye Oyasin" radio collective will be putting on a pot luck at the mighty 90.7, KBOO, 20 SE 8th, Portland, Oregon, just half a block south of Burnside across the street from the Imago theater. You can't miss it as it now has an amazing mural on the front of the building. Hope to see you there.

"Mitakuye Oyasin" is a radio program that has been on the air on KBOO for some 14 years now. The collective consists of Jim Craven, Eugene Johnson, Louis Sowa, Dean Lookinghawk, and occasionally when she has time, Shusli Baseler. On "Mitakuye Oyasin" we discuss all things related from many points of view with an Indian root to better understand the relatedness of indigenous issues today.

TOTALLY TOOTHSOME RADIO!

Coffee Stopper

I actually quit coffee cold turkey on Thursday, March 18. Until yesterday I had pretty much constant level two headaches. After just headaches the first day, my neck, shoulders, and upper back were added. Next day, lower back, hips, thighs and knees ached. It was very uncomfortable.

Yesterday was the first day without too much pain of any kind. Just a bit of a headache that wasn't constant. Today is even better.

Things I notice that are different are I sleep better. Not necessarily longer, but better.

I also feel a little more energy on a regular basis.

How I Read History

I have recently listened to the unabridged CD version (14 discs) of "A History of the Middle East," by Peter Mansfield. It was a pretty good overview, but certain insinuations and glossing over of some of the more interesting bits of history made me view the book with some skepticism.

He glossed over the Armenian genocide. He only covered it with a few paragraphs and made it sound more like an attack and that the Armenians have since been looking for some form of revenge. What the Turks did to the Armenians was genocide. Pure and simple. What the Armenians want is justice. Just like us Indians. The Americans and their Euro predecessors have and continue to commit genocide against us Indians. We want justice.

He also glossed over what the Mongols did to the Mesopotamian empire. The Mongols completely destroyed it. I mean that in a literal sense. The Mongols had a habit of simply killing everyone in sight when it came to warfare. In 1258, Hulagu headed a Mongol force onto Baghdad, and killed everyone that wasn't a Christian (they were allied with Christians at the time). The population of Baghdad at the time was around 800,000, but many people had sought protection within the walls of the city from the Mongol invaders from the surrounding areas. Thus, in a period of 6 days in the month of February 1258, some 800,000 to 2,000,000 (a number alleged to have been given to the French King by Hulagu) people were slaughtered. Bodies were piled into two massive towers and the stink was so bad that battle hardened Hulagu even had to leave the city from the horrific stench. Baghdad was completely destroyed and has NEVER recovered. (Read Edwin Black's "Banking on Baghdad").

Peter also stated that Saddam's August 2, 1990 invasion came as a complete surprise. Peter Mansfield wrote "A History of the Middle East" in 1991, so he has excuses. However, with the ensuing release of information, one finds out things like mass murderer and genocidal maniac Norman Schwarpzkopf had done 7 military exercises for a U.S. invasion of Iraq from 1986. Four of these invasion scenarios included dealing with an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. (Read "The Fire This Time: U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf" by Ramsey Clark). And as we all pretty much know now, April Glaspie, U.S. ambassador to Iraq at the time, told Iraq president Saddam Hussein that the U.S. takes no position should he choose to invade Kuwait, so he did. It was also stated that the Iraqi military committed many attrocities in Kuwait during their occupation. Another lie fabricated in part by the Kuwaiti ambassadors daughter to congress in order to further the desire for mass slaughter of Iraqi's for U.S. control of their oil.

I am really grateful to have an overview of much of this history. Though "A History of the Middle East" is a good overview of what has been going on there for many centuries, especially in the current form, be careful when you read editorializing on some of the history you read. There is usually a lot more to it.

Anarchists Propell Sales of Leirre Keith's Book, "The Vegetarian Myth," with Cayenne Cream Pies

In an act that can only be described as "cruelty," vegan anarchists pied Lierre Keith with cayenne pepper cream pies at the Anarchist Bookfair in San Francisco this weekend where she was invited to speak. Attacked in true vegan anarchist form...from behind...she was hit with three pies by masked vegan anarchists, and one pie, or maybe part of one that landed in the audience, flew from the audience as well. Here is a good blog post to read about it and see the video.

Because of their dietary choice and their discipline and determination around it, I used to admire vegans. However, the more I dealt with them, the more I realized they wanted to kill me, my whole family, most of my people...they wanted to kill everyone who eats meat. They had given themselves the self-righteous power of ABOVE all gods and spiritualities and given themselves the right to kill, though not to act on it. Of course, agriculture brought them the civilization where they enjoy the privilege of an actual dietary choice, but let's not look at that.

I used to admire anarchists as well, until I found out they were terrorizing many folks for doing the most heinous of anarchist crimes, calling the police. They've threatened and terrorized the soft targets (just like the U.S. government) in order to get their points across. I know a man whose mother they have terrorized because he had called the cops. Wow, big brave anarchist vegans. KMA! I read about anarchists by George Orwell in his experiences in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's. These folk were cool! They were organized and helped out wherever they could. Anarchy seemed more like a form of everyone looking out for everyone else. Not these modern black clad masked vegan anarchists. They seem like a bunch of self-righteous assholes who enjoy using terrorism light as a tactic in an attempt to force people...to...what? Become like they are? A bunch of self-righteous privileged assholes?

Anyway, the vegan cream pies were loaded with cayenne pepper in a direct attack on Leirre Keith in order to cause her undue harm. Actual cruelty and violence against a woman. These alleged brave anarchist vegan types didn't pie the meat eating Indian, Ward Churchill, during the Anarchist Bookfair. Let's see: Ward is a man, tall and threatening looking, and is known to own an AK-47. Leirre; woman, not as tall, easy target. Anarchist violence against women. Misogyny. Anarchists practice violence and misogyny. Anarchists practice violence against women.

I haven't gone to the other websites, but I have heard that these anarchist vegans are certainly having a great time stroking each other off about their brave act of violence against a woman, Lierre Keith, author of "The Vegetarian Myth."

Lierre Keith, who has pain in her eyes and an ear infection due to this brave anarchist vegan attack from behind, has not suffered in book sales. In fact, her book sales are increasing. Thus, I will link her book on Amazon if you are all interested in purchasing a copy.

Me, I'm gonna go to my local library's website and put a copy on hold. Everyone should see what Lierre has to say. It must be important if folks like brave vegan anarchist types are willing to attack a woman from behind.

"I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

In some ways...OK...in MANY ways, I've grown up under a rock.

Several weeks ago, Shusli asked if I had ever seen the movie, "Network." My answer was, of course, "no."

"Network" was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet. It stars Faye Dunniway, Robert Duvall, William Holden, Ned Beatty, and Peter Finch plays the great Howard Beale.

As a larger faceless corporation works to take over the UBS Network, one of the first things they wish to do is restructure the news which loses 33 million a year in revenue. Thus, Howard Beale, the news anchor, is the first to get axed because his numbers are terribly low. Howard decides to kill himself on the air and tells his audience that in a week he will blow his brains out on television. The ratings start to rise. Howard, over the ensuing days, starts to let loose. He starts to explain to the news audience how he sees things more clearly and thus, the "Howard Beale Show" is born.

Looking back, as I was alive during this time, I was raised by the television as Howard tells folks during one of his programs. Family life wasn't the best, it definitely was not the worst, but the greatest distraction was the television. TV taught me everything I needed to know about life. Stuff my parents were incapable of teaching me. I never watched the news. Not at that age.

Network news is nothing more than infotainment these days. What got me to hating network news was about 12 years ago, when with my first wife, I was watching some network news and got "MAD AS HELL!" when I saw a five minute plus in-depth report on...wait for it...HAMMERS.

In one of the most quoted and memorable scenes of the movie, Howard Beale really lets people have it:

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad.

You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,

'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:

"I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

And the way watching that in depth report on hammers made me feel was like throwing my television through the front window. And had I actually done so, and had I seen this fantastic movie, "Network," I would have been willing to cut my hands on the broken shards of glass as I leaned out the window and started shouting at the top of my lungs as well:

"I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Don't be afraid of your anger. Getting mad doesn't mean you have to hurt or kill others. It gives you permission to vent your frustration at a world that doesn't seem to give a shit about you or anyone in it. It gives a shit about PROFITS. And there really doesn't seem to be a whole lot you can do about it, but you have to start somewhere. Might as well try. What else are you gonna do? Watch TV? Watch network news?

On the last "Mitakuye Oyasin" radio show, Jim Craven was letting people know that as they gain knowledge and share it with others, you become unpopular. You create enemies. You also create friends. You also create alliances. You also open other doors where some doors have been closed. And...occasionally...those doors reopen and some of those folks who disapproved of you sharing truths with them will come over and stand beside you again. Not always, but it does happen.

"Network." A must see. Get "mad as hell," then do something, help others.