March 07, 2011

Around Town

Received the Spring 2011 issue of Fred Woodworth's The Match! today and, as usual, two hours later I've finally put it down. In this issue Fred discusses his protest of the BODIES EXHIBITION that lasted every day of 142 days through the searing Tucson heat. As usual Fred draws our attention to yet another item we simply choose to walk past without regard and focuses our attention to it in dramatic fashion. That these cadavers, skinned, posed and plasticized, are obtained by dubious means (some are Chinese police torture victims, some are homeless people, none ever gave permission for the use of their bodies) and translated as objects of "art" or "education" (a plasticized cadaver with a basketball in hand? Really?) for a gullible and desensitized American audience visiting the macabre displays by the hundreds of thousands. Until Fred brought to light the source of the bodies I myself thought nothing of it. But these are the victims of a police state. And his recording of justifications given by customers passing his protest (including "who cares, they aren't Christians.") are enlightening. This along with Fred and cohort's usual articles - including in the regular feature "Crap-Detection Department" which excoriates the hilariously hypocritical reactions of this country to the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords in his own town and the mind-numbing "words of wisdom" from President Obama and the chief of Homeland Security that followed; Fred once again demonstrates that there is a legitimate third and sometimes fourth way of looking at things. Whether you go along with his "Journal of Ethical Anarchism" or not, it remains the best magazine in the country. It's free for the asking, but send some stamps anyway to The Match! PO Box 3012 Tucson, AZ 85702.
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I'm going through my own entanglement right now regarding the individual facing the "corporate structure." My old job - which I left February 18 - still owes me a little over $5300 (before taxes) for salary left unpaid to me over the last few weeks. I have today sent them a certified mail letter explaining that though it is my right to do so right this second, I am giving them until April 15 to make final payment to me or I will be going to the state and seeking the aid of the Wage Collection Act. Looking at the form the state requires me to fill out makes me think the second I do it he's doomed. As soon as any investigator tries to reconcile my stating there are 5 employees there with the fact that only two ever got paychecks that took taxes out of, he's screwed. It's only because of past kindnesses that I'm allowing a window before applying for my rights. More than that, though, I'd rather not drag the government into it on principle. They clearly state it may take up to a year to collect the money from the offending company, and the whole process skirts by the right way to do it - which is to handle it between individuals without the intrusive involvement of a corrupt state like Illinois. Part of me wants to handle it face to face and part of me feels a bit impotent in the face of promises already broken. I hate to be an active critic of government and then rely on it to function in my behalf. There's something very Tea Party about that and it bothers me to no end. I hope he just comes up with the money he owes me.
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I'm very much enjoying the fact that it is Monday afternoon and I am still on my weekend, that I have been on since very early Friday morning and won't end until tomorrow at 3:30 in the afternoon. 24 more hours of liberty as I write this... it's fantastic, I must admit. The bad thing that happened is that I gained almost 2 pounds because I slacked my eating habits last week toward convenience. My goal this year was to get under 200 pounds and stay there. I started at 213 and last week was at 197, but am back to just a tick over 199 now. So the "oh what the hell" stops for Whoppers and Egg McMuffins is hereby over. I'm such a damn hypocrite sometimes. And then I laugh about it. Not good.
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There's going to be some exciting news around here in the field of the written word (no not the book that is currently making the rounds with an actual agent but just as fun) and it's going to include a familiar name or two, so stay tuned.
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I think I need a small libation right about now because, y'know, it's still the weekend like I said. Catch you all later.

7 comments:

Brian said...

I hate to be an active critic of government and then rely on it to function in my behalf.

Enforcement/protection of property rights is a legitimate function of the state to all but the most hardcore anarchists. You're good.

Tea party hypocrisy is more along the lines of bitching about government spending while supporting pointless (and expensive wars) without question, or losing your shit when someone suggests raising the SS retirement age by a year.

Gino said...

brian beat me to it, and i suppose he meant the enforcement of contracts to be included, which would be your wages.

i remember, i think, this employer held people around out of loyalty not wanting to toss them to the curb when the going got rough.
i'd say offer him a payment installment plan.

btw, if he BK's, everybody who hasnt gotten paid loses. employees pay is treated as just another creditor.

Verdant Earl said...

That Bodies exhibit always seemed morbid and awful to me, but I never really looked into it. Hearing of the dubious means in which the bodies were acquired just sickens me.

Dave2 said...

Despite my more anarchist leanings as time marches on, there are still functions our government seems suited for. Mostly when it would keep individuals from having to extract justice by their own hand. You're owed money earned. I'd much rather this be a function of government and law enforcement than you getting a gun and having to take care of it yourself. It's not like you're screaming STOP SOCIALIZED MEDICINE! one minute, then turning around and screaming DON'T TOUCH MY MEDICARE! the next.

sybil law said...

I think everyone else already said anything I'd want to say. Plus, I know about what's coming up. I freaking LOVE that cartoon, though. :)

RW said...

Just by way of update. My letter arrived yesterday and by now they have assimilated it.

Gino brought up a point that needs a little discussion. Yes it is true that in the past this employer did extend loans to people and keep them on as long as he could though they were sick or facing trouble. And that, plus his basic kindness to me at the outset, are the reason that I'm not right this second going to the state and demanding they get my money.

However, you can't not go to appointments I set up for you to see about measuring new jobs, let money owed to the company for years sit there and laxly pursue it - if at all, hire me to give advice and direction and then listen to nothing I say, and not pay your vendors or your employees for months and expect they'll all just "understand how it is."

The man and the company have holdings and a bankroll. They have the wherewithal to cash in what they have and pay everybody (vendors and employees alike) that has been CARRYING them through the winter.

It is NOT OK to disappear in the morning of paydays and not mention to anybody there'll be no check today, and then take two seconds to apologize for that on Monday before giving out orders for what you want done that day.

I've waited since Christmas Eve for a check and just only recently, before I left, got the paycheck I should have gotten in December that they missed. I have also waited now unto March 9 for money owed me since the first or second week of January.

That I am giving them until April 15 to come up with the money before I get the state on my team, I think, is leeway enough. I already know I'll never be reimbursed for the free use of my car that I gave the company to do errands.

So, no. April 15 is time enough. Screw it. I want to get my money before he totally disappears out of his own ineptness.

Candy's daily Dandy said...

Don't you wish you could just say, "I want my goddamned money. You owe me and I'm entited to it."


Wish it were that easy. Good luck.