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Vol.4. NO.11...........................................................Pages14-15 Minimum Wage—Maximum RagePart 3. Santa Fe Strikes
Back or Once In A While You Can Get Shown The Light by
Ron Ramsey As a result of the war, corporations have now been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow…until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed.” —Abraham Lincoln In February of 2003, the Santa Fe City Council fought back. They voted in the Living Wage Ordinance. Minimum wage in Santa Fe will be raised to $8.50 an hour. Starting January 2004. A local economist recently determined: based on Santa Fe’s high cost of living, the minimum wage here should be…$15.19 an hour. And not a penny less. So the City Council got it half right. I did a little research. I applied for a few jobs. The Marketplace Natural Grocery Store had an opening. They start everyone at $8.00 an hour, with a three month review. The Santa Fe Reporter needed a Display Advertising Assistant. $9.00. Roller Printer offered a customer service position. $11.00. A friend recently took a job at a downtown B&B. $9.00 an hour, plus tips, plus perks. These are not highly skilled positions, you could learn ‘em in a week. So, a random sampling of local businesses determined that they already offer starting pay over $8.50 an hour. Who, then is the Living Wage Ordinance aimed at? I talked with J. Rather Hoopington IV, an attorney for (Bleep)-Mart Depot. (Mr. Hoopington requested anonymity, so will be referred to as ‘Attorney X-4’) Attorney X-4: “First, let me go on record. (Bleep)-Mart Depot is currently the largest employer in 21 states.” Sun-News: “Your point?” Attorney X-4: “If (Bleep)-Mart Depot says jump, you find a cliff. Your Living Wage Ordinance? Never happen. Politicians blow smoke, citizens choke. Dozens of cities have tried passing living wage laws. They never stand up. At worst, you have to pay up if you do big business with the city government. Anyway, they invariably pass these things with a rider exempting out-of-state-owned chain stores.” Sun-News: “Santa Fe’s ordinance includes chain stores.” Attorney X-4: “Pardon a cynical smile. Do you think (Bleep)-Mart Depot will stand still and let anyone dictate what they have to pay? Wrong! I command an army of attorneys. We’re talking billions of dollars here. You guys are punks. We will crush unions, and all wage mandates. We already have a plan to eliminate employees altogether. Replace ‘em with info-phones and U-scans. Are you a gambling man? Bet on it. Living wages? Fuhggetaboutit. This is the 21st century. We ARE New World Order America! Let them eat cake!” The room stank of burning flesh. His eyes blazed like red hot coals as he wiped the green foam from his chin. I tapped my watch. “Hey, J.R. willya look a the time? Gotta run. Somewhere I gotta be. Make it so with that cake thing.” Now I’m a rational man, I seek explanations. I ask myself: What manner of beast is this that walks the Earth? Be they vampires? Are they mad ? Are they…possessed?
“The
enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is
the end of the world.” —Matthew 13:39 Every old, decaying American city has a downtown. In those oft deserted streets are the ancient downtown department stores. They have escalators that will take you down, way down to sub-basement 2. This is where you find the bargains, the left-behinds, the unwanted merchandise they can’t sell upstairs. The air is stale, there are no windows. No bright city lights. Hidden away in the farthest corner, in the shadows, is another Down Escalator. No one will tell you about it, but it is there. This final escalator goes down to the place where no one may venture, without abandoning all hope. Seeking truth, I abandoned all fear, and went forth to meet the Dark Prince himself…Lucifer. I descended into the lower depths. It was dank, and smelled of the deepest Earth. At the bottom, illuminated by a dim bare bulb, was a padlocked door, and a note: “Meet me at the sidewalk café around the corner. I’ll order for you.” –L “How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning!” —Isaiah 14:12 He sat by himself, nursing a latte. Unnoticed by anyone. Not old, but ageless. His eyes were unmistakable. Piercing, like searchlights through the fog. Yet, strangely kind. He bade me join him. My favorite drink was waiting. I was staring at him, when a lifetime of witnessing evil boiled over. “Satan, you son-of-a…” “Ah,” he silenced me with a raised finger. I sat back unable to breathe. “You have me mixed up with someone else. Satan. From the Muslim word ‘Shaitan’. Meaning ‘adversary’.” “Adversary?” I blinked. “Adversary to the Mother Church.” Lucifer explained. “To convert the Heathens, to grow the Flock, they needed a Boogie Man. They always do. I took the heat. Drink your coffee. It’s good.” I took a gulp to gather my thoughts. “You mean…” “Satan is merely an illusion—in the minds of men.” Lucifer tapped my forehead, and then my chest. “It’s all right in there. It’s the stories you tell each other to make sense of The Void. I am no adversary to mankind. In fact, I’m here to help.” Suddenly he appeared as a giant crow, staring at me. I almost leapt from my chair. Then he changed back to his bad old self. “If you saw me as I really am you would be terrified. Overwhelmed.” Again he transformed, this time into a green skinned smoke breathing demon, with goat horns. Right before I wet myself, he changed back and burst out laughing. “Enough with the tricks. You’re dying to ask me a question.” I blinked furiously and calmed myself with more coffee. “But…weren’t you expelled…” “From Heaven?” he cut in. “Hardly. I simply wanted to know the Mind of God. What better way to know the Creator than to observe his creations? What better place than here? This Earth is the place of evolution. To know, to grow, to become aware, you must see all sides. It is the perfect challenge. There is no light without dark. Fear not. Embrace your demons, honor your angels, dance with evil, share all that is good. I have faith. One day mankind will see the Big Picture.” For a split second I glimpsed a towering pillar of light, with wings. So bright I had to shade my eyes. Then it vanished, but I heard his voice from a distance. “Be sure to come back. I’m here to help.”
Go ye therefore and teach all nations…teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world. —Matthew 29:19,20
I can‘t figure out, if it’s the end or the beginning? —Jerry Garcia
ADVERTSING DEADLINETo advertise in the November
2003 issue of The Sun-News
by dale jungk BOOK REVIEWS (UNFORTUNATELY THE BOOK REVIEWS FOR THIS MONTH ARE NOT AVAILABLE) BOOK PROPOSAL How to Live With a Technologically Advanced Cat or What happened to the November Issue of The Sun-News Online? By Donette Smock, online editor and Webmaster of The Sun-News Online. Introduction It all started one November day in the year 2003. My kids were grown and I being the workacoholic that I am, I had decided several months earlier to try to get back in the graphics and web designing business. I started doing book covers for a company out of New Mexico called Sun Books. I decided to immerse myself in this project. My job as a practicing psychotherapist was getting boring. I made great money and my clients were disappointed that I had decided to quit counseling them; the call of being a starving artist was just too strong. I had gained some weight by sitting in the office day in and day out and to go without food for a week or too might do me a bit of good. This went really well. I started creating book covers and redesigned websites incisively. The publisher that I worked for also had a small newspaper that he put out once a month in Northern New Mexico called The Sun-News. I had already upgraded his websites, completed about 30 book covers and, launched a bookstore into cyberspace. But it just wasn't enough. In my desire to fulfill my calling as a true starving artist, I knew in my heart, I knew I had to do more. The only way that I could really fulfill my destiny was to become a starving, sleepless artist! It was like a sign from above, I just knew I had to volunteer to put the newspaper online. The publisher accepted my offer, much to my delight. The Sun-News Online was born. The publisher encouraged me to come to New Mexico to make this task easier, however, I knew I had to make this task as difficult as I could for both of us to truly realize our calling. All went smoothly; then on one fateful evening late October or early November it happened.... I fell off my path…I followed temptation on my friend's birthday. I ate a large meal and that night slept at least eight hours! I knew I had The Sun-News to get online and I started slipping farther and farther. I was actually beginning to enjoy food and sleep! I was so afraid to tell my boss that I had slipped that I decided to get help for my problem. A friend had told me that he knew of someone who was in a similar situation that had put a TAC (technologically advanced cat) in his home and no one ever found out that he had slipped. I began my search for a TAC, as a way to help me get on track. TACs were so hard to find I wasn't sure I was going to be able to find one... then I saw a small ad in the local paper, "Black male kitten, 3-4 months old, $10.00 to help pay for ad, good homes only. (Starving and sleepless artists preferred, TAC) I knew that my prayers had been answered. CHAPTER ONE My partner and I arrived at the home of Ms. Davis to do a short interview on the skills of her TAC. She assured us that even though "Aidan", was young he had definitely shown that he had shown strong signs of being a TAC. I was a bit nervous that people who visit my home might figure out that I was the owner of a TAC, She assured me that he knew how to behave just like a normal kitten, climbing curtains, knocking things down, terrorizing her older male cat, being up all night and sleeping all day. I decided to give it a try and so I stopped by the dollar store to pick up some litter and kitten food and arrived at home with my new kitten, hoping that he would quickly show signs of being a TAC. At first I wasn't sure that he would show his abilities as a TAC, and the time was ticking away. It was November 10th and The Sun-News was still not online. But he finally, much to my relief, he started to show some potential. Being such a little guy, I wasn't sure he could be focused enough to help me. He finally figured out how the use his claws to get the cover off the front of the big screen and change the programming codes. I was delighted! Then he knocked my wireless mouse off (I think he thought it was a real one) and broke it. I took me a day or so to find a mouse that, I thought might be easier to use for graphics, but I finally made the switch. Before long, I began to catch glimpses of him walking across the printer, causing it to print blank pages. One day he even reprogrammed it for me rendering the copy function totally inoperable. I started to sleep less and eat just a little on the run again. It was working. The great demonstration of his abilities was when he decided to help me edit the product descriptions of the inventory I was adding to the online bookstore. I realize he was saving me time because we had decided that those books probably wouldn’t sell that well anyway. I was still behind I decided to re-download some of the files that I needed for the November Issue of The Sun-News. At this time, I realized that Aidan was a true TAC. I noticed some things feeling different about some of my programs, I knew he had been working on the keyboard, training himself on how to delete things and even "cut" text, he hadn't figured out "paste" yet, but I knew he was young. I tried to fix a few things that he had deleted but time was ticking away. Finally, almost completed, my TAC sent the Book Review Section and the In this Issue Section somewhere into the deep recesses of the 1,000's of files on my computer, maybe even into cyber space. I knew that he was really a Technologically Advanced Cat. He had shown me that the only way to not be a month past my dead line was to set the paper up incomplete. I decided to get him started right away on the December Issue... Book to be released in early 2005 ! Order early as supplies are exepected to be limited
Aidan, A True TOC IS YOUR NEIGHBOR GROWING SCARY DRUGS? On a secret farm in
northeastern Colorado, an experimental genetically
engineered pharmaceutical corn is being grown that can
never be eaten and is so dangerous, no other crops can be
grown within a mile radius. The plant is still in its
development phase, but has such a high risk of reeking
havoc on the environment, human health and the
agricultural economy, it is being grown in an undisclosed
location more than 3,000 miles away from the company who
“invented” it. According to toxicologist
Suzanne Wuerthele, “Producing pharmaceutical
compounds in food crops is a really, really bad idea. The
chance of it contaminating the food supply is great, and
once that happens, it will destroy our export
markets.”
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/biopharm093003.cfm
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Inside This Issue (NOT AVAILABLE)
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