Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Reactions...

My childhood friend Scot (A Lutheran Pastor), has this to say about the Mother Earth piece:

"Can you put it in your will that I do your funeral when one of the right wing malitianaries shoots you and then drags you into his home and calls it justifiable, since Mother Earth News said, "In some states, you can use force (even lethal force) to remove someone from your house,..."

I also enjoy looking at the advertisements on Mother Earth News to the right of the articles. Check out the ones next to the article on the "Basics of Trespassing Laws." 1 by Minuteman Signs, 2. for wind energy, and 3. for lawyers. Heehee. :-)"

Thanks Scot! And yes, you can do my funeral. I'd like to be wrapped in a sleeping bag (like Ed Abbey) and buried next to the septic tank at the Solar Compound.

Jeffrey St. Clair, editor of the website: "Counterpunch" writes to say the he enjoyed the Mother Earth News piece and that he e-mailed it to Doug Peacock. Doug was the inspiration for the "Hayduke" character in Abbey's novel: The Monkey Wrench Gang. Evidently Doug is getting a hip replacement right now. I guess we are all ageing. Good luck Doug!

The environmental writer Joshua Frank wrote to say he "dug" the piece.

And feedback from my lawyer:

Be a bit careful up there, Allan, about walking about and tearing down signs on property owned by others...Not everyone thinks like you do and you're entering a place where there just isn't much law to protect you...Ranchers and meth cooks can be very ornery critters and usually carry big guns with them everywhere they go...

Thanks Anne!

And this from my favorite Auntie:

Keep it up ......although I was a bit concerned with your pulling out those signs. As your Mother isn't hear to tell you to be careful I feel I can tell you that...You know better than most people that there are crazies out there that might take exception to actions like that and wish to do you physical harm. Enough about that.

And, of course, the Forum on the Mother Earth site is filled with calling me names. A drunk. Lawbreaker. One guy gets it right though. CecilHayduke:

Ummm, have any of you actually read Abbey?

All of this concern about the sanctity of property rights and so little about the article's focus on the degradation of the rural experience and the establishment of individual private domains. Uncle Ed was an anarchist through and through and as noted, didn't give a f*** about the "property rights" of sign owners.

Readers would probably be better served by reading Abbey's Desert Solitaire. And if anyone decides to read that after reading this piece, then I think it will have been successful.

As for the Monthly Review zine article on the "Sacredness of Emergency Rooms". An author of a couple of Labor books has this to say:

This has got to be the single stupidest article I've ever read on this website!!! Emergency rooms, sacred??? You have got to be kidding me here!!!

I don't think I'll be reading his books.

I've heard from Mother Earth that they will be featuring the "No Trespass" piece in the August issue. They don't know if they will print the whole thing; quote it; or just direct people to the web-site. Personally, I think they should print it, as then they will send me a check.

I've let my feelings be known regarding this to the Editor in Chief.....

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