Described simply as “A Novel” in its subtitle, Puck is really something quite more than that. A fictional story, yes, but also a tour of some of the “weirder” aspects of Gene’s universe — and mine.

Pick, pock, puck!

I won’t try to describe much that goes on, save to say that the story takes places in two parallel(?) universes, and sometimes in the spaces between them. You got your swords ‘n’ wizards fantasy adventure, you got your romance, you got your mystery and intrigue, you got your modern psychological drama, you got your science fiction — everything, indeed, that one could ask for in a modern novel.

But there’s more…

Puck is a book on several different levels. It’s loaded with references to mythology, anarchism, religious traditions, history, the odder bits of physics and a whole bunch of classical literature to boot. I consider myself a fairly learned guy, but Mr. Gene has been treading this planet a bit longer than I have, and his learning shines through brilliantly. To paraphrase another great novelist: this book is like a mirror; if a monkey looks in, no Korzybski looks out.

From page 105:

[Doc and Sophia] shared several passion-filled years, but by the time Doc was finishing graduate school — when the loudest political voices in the Village were proclaiming that AIDS was a government plot against the gay and minority communities, and were fighting pitched battles with the police over control of Tompkin’s Square Park — he had grown disillusioned with what he had come to regard as the posturing of bored, rich kids. It wasn’t that he had no sympathy for their grievances, but rather that he now perceived their activism as more a palliative for their own boredom and frustration than as a real attempt to address the injustices that were their purported motivation. He suspected that their protests were a contemporary manifestation of the same impulse that had motivated Uncle Franz’s Cabala studies. The radicals he knew seemed to believe that if only they could arrange their political slogans in accord with some occult formula, then the ruling elite peacefully would release the reins of power, liberate the masses, dismantle the military-industrial complex, and sow flower gardens over the obsolete missile silos.

Read with caution, ready to remember just how flimsy your paradigms are, and just how liable they are to slip, like flimsy masks, off the face of reality.

Puck you! Puck me! Puck everyone!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wt1ZjXv8Lg

ABC (After Bureaucrash) Action is a working group devoted to the creation of a new liberty activism organization.

From Xaq Fixx, on Facebook:

“ABC Action means After Bureaucrash Action – This group is dedicated to those liberty loving activists that have made BC great over the years but are exploring other options due to the new direction CEI and Lee Doren want to take the organization.”

I have been asked to start up a small sub-working-group, a task force, if you’ll pardon the term, of active people with the time, inclination, experience and knowledge necessary to provide and manage the technology infrastructure for this effort.

This will include, right away, setup and administration of a new ning.com social-networking site, and probably the same duties for a WordPress blog.

Longer-term, we need to create a new activist platform that goes beyond the capabilities of ning, and which could rival the reach and power of the online campaign management and fundraising systems used by groups like moveon.org, Campaign For Liberty, etc.

Anyone who would like to participate in this tech working group — or perhaps become its long-term leader — is invited to contact me directly, and right now!

Full contact info for me is at http://www.gogulski.com/contact.html

Yours in liberty,
Mike Gogulski

(original message follows, as it is posted within the walled garden of Bureaucrash Social, at my profile there)

Dear Fred,

Thanks a lot for writing to me, and elucidating some of the strategic thinking going on at CEI that has not been directly accessible to crashers.

As to whether or not CEI is being true to its values, I cannot know. I am personally well acquainted with neither the organization, its people nor its strategy, just, rather, with the Bureaucrash community, and that, even, for only the past year.

I agree completely that libertarianism is a big tent — one, indeed, I wish were better populated. Within that big tent, however, you will find me and some others propping up a radical pole which emerges both from what our definitions of liberty are as well as a devotion to consistency. Standing, as it were, at the back of that tent, some of us are often leery of folks who seem to come blundering through the door out of left field.

I agree with you very strongly that property rights, contract and the rule of law (with definitional qualifications not worth mentioning) are essential to a free society. I personally will differ, perhaps fundamentally, with you, however, on the notion that America is “one of the best hopes” for realizing that today, if it ever was. America is not exceptional except in the mythology promulgated by its partisans, with the reservation that it is, in fact, quite exceptional to hundreds of millions of people around the world — exceptionally evil.

The broader strategic issue you raise is one of considerable import to an organization such as yours. Funds must be allocated, campaigns conducted, activity focused, and all of that done in such a way as to convince the organization’s members, funders and supporters that effort is being expended in the best way possible. That there are people passionately committed, in the name of liberty, to doing these things — at CEI and elsewhere — is cause for celebration.

What seems to emerge here, though, is that Bureaucrash has over its history coalesced and grown a group of energetic activists coming from all over the libertarian landscape. Perhaps the most influential of these have tended toward identification less with the strategic concerns of the day than with devotion to a radical consistency: liberty, now, for all, forever, without compromise.

The appointment of Lee Doren as Crasher-in-Chief, in my mind, is problematic for two reasons: ideology and approach. Large chunks of Lee’s expressed ideology are in direct conflict with that of large segments of Bureaucrash’s most influential members, among whom I seem to surprisingly find myself by virtue of your addressing this message to me. Additionally, Lee’s approach has caused immediate distrust among those members of his person, his ideology and his plans while casting shadows over CEI’s devotion to liberty and its intent in hiring him.

It remains for you and your colleagues to determine whether or not Lee can effectively continue the freedom activism which has gone on at, been nurtured by and been spun off from the Bureaucrash community — or, indeed, whether that concern is germane to CEI’s broader strategic goals. Since you are no doubt aware of the majority negative reaction to the appointment, I will simply add my own voice as an unambiguous footnote:

Remove Lee Doren as Crasher-in-Chief. He will not succeed in this role.

Best regards,
Mike Gogulski
Bratislava, Slovakia

Dear Mike:

Libertarianism and (more broadly) classical liberalism or economic/market liberlaism is a large tent. You’ll have to make your own judgments as to whether CEI has (or has not) been true to its values but (in my perhaps biased view) I do believe we have.

What are those principles? In my view, the core element is that civilization is best advanced by the co-evolution of freedom and the instittuions that ensure the responsible use of that freedom. Property rights (definable, defensible and divestible), enforceable voluntary agreements and (more generally) the rule of law are the core pillars on which free societies are built. Civilization can be viewed as the gradual emergence of these institutons of liberty which permit more of the peoples of the world to engage in voluntary exchange, to advance their own dreams. America – with its many drawbacks, more today than ever — remains one of the best hopes of that process continuing. Thus, the need to mount an inclusive outreach effort to develop the forces that might best combat these trends.

The values of liberty have long been under attack but the severity of that attack has massively increased in recent years as statists have taken advantage of the financial collapse (see Bob Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan for earlier examples) to gain power. Liberty is indivisble but the two main components are economic and civil liberties – sometimes one is more under attack, sometimes the other. My judgment (others may disagree) is that today, the battleground is predominantly (for the issues that CEI was formed to address) lie in the nationalization of great sectors of the American economy, the rapid growth of the entitlement redistributionist state (non-sustainable, of course), and the rapid shift from the “honest” socialism of the past to the “regulatory” (and much more difficult to combat) socialism of today. Thus, CEI – and i believe – Bureaucrash need to address those concerns.

Is this wrong?

Fred Smith

Why?

Dunno. It occurred to me. I used to have this “friend”, see, who in between loading the three-foot “weed eater” for the next bong hit would occasionally belt this one out. An odd thing, perhaps, for a Jew to sing.

And no, we really didn’t have any good friends who just happened to be black… or communists… or Christians.

Let’s hope he got it from someplace… someplace pure. Someplace like The Doctor Demento Show, for instance.

Anyone know who wrote this piece of Ameri-horror-cana?

Speaking of random thoughts which crawl out of the depths of one’s mind late at night… anyone remember the scene from Airplane! where the well-dressed, polite boy comes to sit next to the well-dressed, aristocratic little girl on the plane, bearing a tray of beverages?

“Coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

“Milk?”

“No, thank you. I take it black. Like my men.”

Yeah, I thought you did.

Stand up and be counted, show the world that you’re a man
Stand up and be counted, go with the Ku Klux Klan

We are a sacred brotherhood, who love our country true
We always can be counted on, when there’s a job to do
We serve our homeland day and night, to keep it always free
And proudly wear our robes of white, protecting liberty.

Stand up and be counted, show the world that you’re a man
Stand up and be counted, go with the Ku Klux Klan

[trumpet solo]

The Bible, cross, Old Glory, too, our symbols of a man
A sword and water, robe and hood portray our noble Klan
In search of peace and liberty, we pledge our hearts and hands
We must defeat the communists to save our Christian land

Stand up and be counted, show the world that you’re a man
Stand up and be counted, go with the Ku Klux Klan

Stand up and be counted, show the world that you’re a man
Stand up and be counted, go with the Ku Klux Klan

[My translation from original Slovak at the Priama ackia ("Direct Action") website. All errors mine.]

Priama Akcia’s call: “We don’t intend to pay for the crisis!”

Activism opportunity in Slovakia and the Czech Republic

12 November 2008

A world summit will take place on 15 November 2008 in Washington at which 20 of the most economically powerful countries in the world (including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) will debate regarding reform of the global financial system. It is the day on which the elite will decide upon the salvation of capitalism. This meeting merits our attention because its outcome affects even us. Come what may, we are not going to just sit back and watch the whole crisis. There are many possibilities for beginning activism related to the crisis.

OUR POSSIBILITIES IN SLOVAKIA AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The politicians, bosses and bankers settle things and take care of their own. And we should do the same. The only way we can succeed in not being forced to pay for this crisis is to know ourselves, to have contact among ourselves and to help each other. The objective of this call is to take the first step toward presenting an approach to the crisis from the perspective of ordinary people rather than liberal economists and politicians.

We say this openly: ordinary people – workers, students, retirees and unemployed alike – should in our view take advantage of this global financial crisis to build contact among ourselves. Regardless of how or even whether the capitalists manage to salvage their system, the problems will not go away. They will always arouse discontent and the striving to resolve it by our very own energies. The current situation is an opportunity for establishing contact and thinking about setting up a contact network amongst ourselves. In the process the crisis can be built upon in terms of aid and solidarity regarding the various problems what await us in the near future.

CONCRETE ACTIONS IN OUR TOWNS AND WORKPLACES

During Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and subsequent days we will publish a flyer, a poster and a questionnaire at our website, www.priamaakcia.sk.

• We suggest distributing flyers basically everywhere. Places where people gather (cafes, clubs, etc.) are good, but distributing them in trains is also very good. All you have to do is get on before the train leaves, throw a few flyers into the cabin and get off before departure. Quick and effective.
• Posters for transport stops, schools, workplaces and elsewhere can also draw attention to this activism.
• The questionnaire will be able to be filled out right on a web page and is part of an international project by militant workers. More information coming soon.

Only two things are needed for anyone to get involved in this activity immediately: the urge to do something and the ability to print out materials. These will be prepared in PDF form for open download in Slovak and Czech. Even now you can talk about activism options with someone near you with whom you might be able to do something today, tomorrow or the day after.

OTHER ACTIVITIES GOING FORWARD

Other activities are planned as well. If you want to get involved, let us know at priamaakcia(at)priamaakcia(dot)sk. We will provide information on the website about further activism opportunities and we would be especially pleased if more people – including readers of this text – took part in our ideas. Should you get involved in any way (such as by distributing flyers), please let us know.

We can’t count on chit-chat saying that the crisis will impact us to a weaker extent than it will other countries. The fact is, it’s already impacting us through layoffs at US Steel, in the auto industry (the firms Riba Nitra, Dura Stupava and Johnson Controls), in machining (PPS, Embraco), etc. This will by no means be where it ends…

For spreading this call farther – among your acquaintances, friends or colleagues, via discussion forums, blogs, web pages, myspace, hi5, facebook or other information channels – we thank you in advance.

This is the impulse. What else, and how, is up to you.

WE DON’T INTEND TO PAY FOR THE CRISIS!
Watch www.priamaakcia.sk

PRIAMA AKCIA
Priama akcia (“Direct Action”) is the Slovak branch of the International Workers Association (IWA), a confederation which unites trade unions and initiatives from 16 countries of the world as a membership base.