The fat one, she never do no work.

Ed Flanagan was a man of iron. At least that's what his political supporters believed, as well as a good many of his enemies. They could see it in his massive forearms, and his poise and bearing when interacting with others, in the way his cold steely eyes seems to stab straight through people. Surveying his tavern on a cold winters night Iron Ed could see that he may be compelled to prove his reputation before the night was through. The tavern was packed to bursting with factory workers, bohemians, with a few cops scattered here and there. Ed despised the cops, but there was no keeping them out, they were part of the neighborhood, the working classes. There were others also in the smoky backrooms, doling out the jobs, the patronage, plotting the uplift of some, the downfall of others. He had a knack for matching faces to names. It was something he had learned early on, to remember peoples names and to call them by it. It left an impression on them and tended to inspire loyalty. Ed could recall the names and occupations of every single person who came into the tavern weather for business or pleasure. Not only was it useful in endearing yourself to people, Ed learned, it was also useful for rooting out those who might cause trouble. He could see trouble developing at the other end of the tavern near the fireplace. It came in the form of the two large men warming themselves near the fire. Veteran's Ed knew. Between the two of them they had been through every major battle of the Army of the Potomac. They still wore the war on them as part of their character. Ed had seen the elephant as well, seen more than his share at Gettysburg, but he had never held unto it. He used it to further his political ends but beyond that it meant little to him. It was over. Still he knew that was not the case with the two Confederates sitting at the table nearby sharing a bottle of whiskey. Both still had the look as if they had just gotten back from the march. A thin film of dust seemed to cover them both. They had been spies in the war, going from New York to Montreal and Vermont to gather intelligence about Union troop movements and sending them back in coded telegrams to Richmond and then unto the Commanders in the field. Both the Union men knew this, as few things were a secret among the regulars at the tavern, and were not pleased by their presence. They were Irishmen, and from what he had heard, professional fight starters. They lived to drink and fight, as if for them the war had never ended. The Reb's had their own axe to grind but from what Ed could see the Irishmen by the fire were the one's intending to start the trouble. They case disparaging eye's on the Reb's and were talking to each other in low tones. Ed knew it would be necessary to diffuse the situation. Ed poured two beers from the barrel and walked through the throng to where the Irishmen were sitting. 'You enjoying yourselves tonight?' He asked placing the two glasses of beer at the table. 'Aye, I suppose so.' The one on the left said. 'Good, then have another, on me.' They raised their glasses and drank. Ed's tone lowered,'Just one word of advice, if your thinking of starting something with those lad's over there, I'd advise against it.''Yeah and why's that?' the one on the right said who had been silent all this time. He had thick sideburns and a barrel chest. Ed's voice was calm yet firm. 'Because if you've got a problem with them you've got a problem with me. And I won't have that in my establishment.' Sideburns rose, he was six feet tall and wide about the chest, but he was too drunk Ed could tell, unsteady on his feet. The punch he threw Ed could see from a mile away and he easily ducked it coming up with powerful blow to sideburns stomach. The man doubled over and the threw an uppercut that connected with his nose. The man fell back on the table spilling the beers, his friend, who had remained still staring agape. 'Both of you out now!' He roared and the quiet man picked sideburns up from the ground and led him out. As he opened the door Ed could feel the cold blowing from outside and see the snow fluttering about. He hated to put anyone out in the cold, but those two had earned it, he thought.

Go crazy on you.

It's a dark fear. The reason I dread and avoid family gathering or seeing people who I haven't seen in a long time. That vile question that tormented me frequently hard during my early twenties 'What are you doing these days?' followed up of course, by the obligatory 'Are you going to school?' which would lead to me saying no. I am done. That period of my life is over although I would never say that. And indeed after that they would ask me why or something like that, or just engage me with a blank stare. As if anyone who has had problems in school or isn't attending school is some kind of moron who has no informed opinions on anything. Sorry maybe I don't have a hundred thousands dollars laying around to get a decent education but I could tell you a hell of a lot about Abe Lincoln. Maybe I am not formally schooled but that doesn't mean I can't read about history in my spare time. I feel like the issue of the content of what is being taught is schools is often neglected. George Bernard Shaw described school as a prison and Albert Einstien also struggled. It is tough when you feel like an outsider and alienated from all of your peers, when you feel like you aren't really learning anything. But no one has explored the idea that maybe school, as it is traditionally presented just doesn't appeal to some people. And maybe, just maybe, those people are not in fact total idiots but just for some reason don't enjoy it. Maybe they don't like dealing with all the people, all the crowds. Maybe its the homework. Should we, the people who don't fit in to the educational system as it is presented to us be sent to the worst paying jobs and made to toil at work with no benefits with the risk of being fired at any time? I don't think so. This observer thinks there should be a program or a training in place for precisely that, to take people strengths and inclinations and guide them on that path. Crazier things have happened.

Call headquarters, have you terminated.

A few years back I used to scoff at old people who couldn't figure out computers. 'I can't figure out how to check my email.' Would be a constant lament. You just click on a fucking box and open it I would think. But now, reaching the ripe old age of 27 I can understand their pain. For I in the short amount of time I have lived on this earth have seen a lot of things go obsolete. Payphones, collect calls, a world where everyone didn't have cell phones loaded up with the internet and all that fancy mumbo jumbo. The old analog cable where you had those few channels on the upper block that were all fuzzy. I remember going to those channels which had porn on them late at night and watching the discolored scrambled images which would sometimes give me a fleeting looking at the naked female form. Internet chat rooms, where you could meet people from around the country and have somewhat interesting conversations. Yet all or many of those things are now gone, or at least not as prominent in today's societies. Then I think about someone who grew up in the 1920's or 1930's where radios was in its infancy and many of the same technologies I am talking about simply didn't exist. Where gas was mere cents a gallon and TV didn't exist neverind computers, and the many things that that generation has seen that is not only obsolete but non-existent. Then I understand.

Theres still I chance to save Han.

During a really funny Seinfeld episode Elaine starts dating a guy who was moving Jerry's couch. Earlier on in the show it is revealed that she is an ardent pro-choice advocate even going so far as to not order Pizza from a particular pizzeria whose owner gives money to pro-life groups. Later Jerry asks Elaine weather she knows her new boyfriends opinion on the matter. 'Well i'm sure hes pro-choice.' She says. 'How do you know? Jerry asks. 'Because hes so good looking.' Later on Elaine concocts a hypothetical scenario in which a friend of hers who got raped by her brother wanted to get an abortion. 'When we have enough people on the Supreme court we will repeal that law.' Her boyfriend replies much to Elaine's dismay. Still there is a lot of truth to it. I sure as hell know that I couldn't date some insane pro-life evangelical Christian no matter how good looking she was. We simply wouldn't square and it would lead to too many arguments. Things like this matter. Obviously to some people more then others. I got into a huge argument was a girl I was sleeping with once because she revealed she has a strange hatred of Middle eastern people. Everything before that about her seemed cool but then she went on to explain how they are the 'enemy.'Because of the war in Iraq and in fact viewed them as such. We got into a huge argument because well, I find that opinion abhorrent and quite frankly stupid. Its very easy to lump groups of people into one category and say a few things about them are always true. Black people aren't on time, Asian people are bad drivers, Jewish people are stingy, but it takes a hell of a lot more thought to realize that everyone is different and people behave differently. Of course sometimes the stereotype fits but in no ways does that validate the stereotype. I still find myself amazed that there are people who still use racist words unrestrained and still hold such views so strongly. I was talking to a co-workers of mine in Sommerville about a girl who worked there. I was saying she was cute and he lowered his voice and told me 'Yeah, but shes a nigger lover.' A felt goosebumps go up and down my spine and kind of shuddered. I thought I had stepped into a time portal into the fucking 1950's. Needless to say my opinion of the kid was lowered significantly.

Its not like these old school guys who just take it out when their inner voice tells them.

Traditions can be a good thing. Personal rituals the sometimes individuals have or even our holiday traditions. They can bring people together and harbor a sense of community among groups of people. But some traditions well, they need to be discarded. The Aztec's sacrificed thousands of people to the gods. A passage in the Old Testament of the Bible instructs readers to stone anyone who is not a believer. Also it proscribes the death penalty for anyone caught working on a Sunday. Thankfully the majority of Christians in the modern world do no follow these kinds of policies. Sometimes, however, traditions can be a obstacle to progress. Take the Catholic Church's recent anger over President Obama's requiring them to cover the cost of birth control as part of their health insurance. A furor. Really? In this day and age. Besides the fact that in my view the Catholic church has not moral leg to stand on what with the Spanish inquisition and the waves of pedophile priests recently outed, but this stance just seems outdated in this day and age. 7 billion people in the world projected to grow substantially in the next decade. Its true a few hundred years ago when a lot of people worked on farms and needed the hands having 6-10 children made sense. But in this day and age? And a majority of those children in those days would not survive to adulthood. Abraham Lincoln lost his mother, his father, his sister, his first love all in his youth. But things have changed. And I feel that as times change even long last institutions most change with them. Hell even the Amish will sometimes use a neighbors phone if they need to. Some of the extreme pro-lifers even oppose condoms in places like South Africa where AIDS is rampant. At some point this adherence to tradition simply blocks any kind of effort to move forward and does a disservice to humanity at large.

Just because your nametag says manager doesn't make you better then me

Presidential candidate and general asshole (in my opinion) Newt Gingrich recently said that child labor laws were 'stupid' and that children in urban schools should help out and replace the Unionized janitors. Although Newt's statements are obviously moronic and callous they reflect a growing but perhaps veiled criticism aired by many of his colleagues in the Republican party. China is killing us, they say. A recent Wall Street Journal article touted that fact that when a few thousand factory jobs come up the Chinese can fill them easily. Its easy to find spots for jobs when you don't have to worry about paying people a decent wage or worry about things like working conditions. In this book I was reading recently about the labor Unions by Philip Dray 'There is power in a union' I have learned that none of this was given away easily. The heads of the major capitalists and manufacturers did not get together one day and decide they were working there people too hard. A campaign went on for a long time in the late 19th century for a 10-hour day which was vehemently opposed by business leaders. One CEO of a Pennsylvania railroad organization on strike suggesting that if the strikers had nothing to eat perhaps they would prefer a diets of rifles instead. Indeed the power of capital often won out leading to the summoning of the National Guard to quell strikes. What strikes me most is how the things that we enjoy as working people, overtime, holiday pay, weekends, had to be fought for so much by working people. Even things like unemployment insurance had to be lobbied by the people. Alfred Sloan of General Motors even once suggested that it took 14 years to repeal prohibition and it would take the same time to repeal the new deal. So despite the negative image the Unions have gotten as of late anyone who has ever worked any kind of menial job of any kind or most jobs owes a debt of gratitude to the Unions.

A working class hero is something to be.

Its 10 at night and I don't want to go to work. More then anything I see my freshly made bed with its warm sheets and I ponder just going back to bed. But besides the obvious fact that I need to work to live I also think about the many people in history who have worked, and who didn't want to and had to. The early mill workers in 19th century America working 12 to 14 hour days with only one day of reprieve. Of the soldier in the Civil War marching twenty to thirty miles sometimes with no shoes. Of the slaves toiling in the cotton fields of the south. Of the myriad of hardship and toil experienced by peoples of all races and genders throughout history. In reality in truth by that measure I have it easy. In fact me just being born in the first world with running water and toilets and heat I have it easy. So when I think of it from that prospective I throw on my work garb and head out into the cold starlit night.

The town is taken by its rats.

To me personally one of the most terrifying real dangers in the world is the angry mob. Hoards of angry human beings massing together and enacting their own brand of 'justice.' Lynch mobs breaking into jails to hang the person inside. The insane mob mentality. For several days in the hot summer of July 1863 the mob did just that. The New York draft riots the largest civil insurrection in the history of the United States. The Mobs were incensed by the Conscription act which required the enrollment of all male citizens as well as immigrants who had recently filed for citizenship. They were also incensed by a policy whereby anyone who had 300 dollars could hire a substitute to get out of the draft, which was more then most of them made in a year. On July 13 they attacked the draft office and spread out across the city. At first their targets were the rich those who could buy their way out of the war, but also it was towards the black population whom they blamed for the war. This is for me when it starts to get ugly. The mob begins attacking any black people they can find and even sets a black orphanage on fire. The complete abandonment of rational thought and to the mob mentality. The Mob went from house to house searching for blacks. The Irish feared the blacks because they competed for the same low paying jobs. For three days the mob had taken over the city overwhelming the police force. Herman Melville watching the scene one night wrote: 'The town is taken by its rats-ship rats- and rats of the wharves. All civil charms and priestly spells which late held hears in awe--Fear bound, subjected to a better sway than sway of self; these like a dream dissolve, and man rebounds back eons in nature.' Finally Federal troops had to be brought in to restore order. It makes me ponder weather we are so truly removed from the animals as we so like to believe.

I despise the law and I am not a law abiding citizen.

I was reading dear Abby in the recorder recently because that's just how I roll. And usually her answers to readers queries are reasonable and sound. However this time I just didn't agree. A reader sent her a question about a relative of hers who always brings in snacks and drinks and such into the movie to avoid paying the exorbitant charge of buys popcorn and snacks at the movies. Abby agreed with the reader suggesting the the movie theater makes a good portion of their money from concessions and that basically they were kind of screwing the movie theater. Another reader wrote in saying that they deal with kids in trouble with the law and that that kind of behavior basically says its ok to break that law. That is when I thought something was off. Violating a movie theaters snack policy will lead your children to a life of crime? They went on to say something that 'Its their policy,' but it made me think about people who believe in the law that much. Who believe that because something is the law that necessarily makes it just and indeed makes us as citizen obligated to obey it. I have to respectfully disagree. In face I would argue that if we as citizen of this nation have a history of lawbreaking in the most noble way. In the 19th century the Fugitive slave act made it a law that runaway slaves who were found had to be returned to their owners if found. Yet thousands of citizens defied that law and helped the slaves escape via the Underground railroad. They saw the law for what is was something that helped preserve the vile institution of slavery. The South had its Jim Crow laws and its voter registration laws which helped disenfranchise its Black population. My point being just because something is written as law does not mean its just, doesn't mean it makes sense and maybe shouldn't be followed. That is what struck me about the comment the blind obedience to something just because its policy. Or maybe they should have just made dinner at home before they go see the flick. Anyhow that's my two cents.