The Sister Law to the Military Commissions Act of 2006:

The "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122)" - a revision of " the Insurrection Act..." - "Public Law 109-364"

This law would bring war to the home front. With it, the President would be able to declare Martial Law without having to get approval from anyone. In fact, it does not even have to be called “Martial Law”, even though that is essentially what it would be.

With it, the Commander in Chief can "declare a 'public emergency' and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to 'suppress public disorder.'"

It also greatly reduces the decision making power of the National Guard - one of the few sources of economic advancement left in dwindling rural economies.

V [Click this link for full story and research resources] V
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php

Remember, it's your Representative who allows this type of thing to happen. The President has no power without them. Research meticulously to arm yourself with proper knowledge, let your Senator's and Congressmen know what you think, and tell your friends and family in the least passionate way you can.

We must let info pass to the public with out spin! We must let people make up their own minds and think. The best weapon against war is the insidiousness of war itself. People can see it by themselves. They just need to be armed with true knowledge. Your smart perceptions and wits are now a weapon.

The only war worth fighting is the fight against war.

To lighten the load a little, don't take yourself too seriously - Here's a good article from the Onion to help:

www.theonion.com/content/node/51140

In 06 I had "The 2nd Year Fever". This year I had what I would call "The 3rd year Ambivalence Blues". I had quite a few realizations this year that brought the reality of Burning Man to surface with a real harshness. I've come to realize that I hate people - especially "Burner" types.

Well, not all real Burner's. But there are a few that are soon to kill the whole Burning Man experience for everyone:

1. Fucked-Up Dude who throws his beer cans everywhere or sticks it in the Porta-Potty or your bicycle spokes. Probably came in an RV or his jock-frat friend's "theme camp". True goal - to get fucked up and see some titties. I think that BRC should form a DNR and start hunting seasons. With population growth reaching maximum capacity causing competition for dwindling resources and the cops holding back Darwinian principles, we should now have Open Season on intentional litterbugs. Let's start a new tradition of "Thwopping the Asshole".

2. Sense of Entitlement, The-Style-Is-The-Revolution fancy pants Burner. This is a dapper Burner type who is dressed perfectly to the T with most likely BM themed costuming that they purchased . He will not sit down at the Temple burn because the "ground is nasty" - even though there are already people sitting right behind him. He is successful at making all his friends follow suit. He has no sense of community except to his close friends (that have the same exact fashion).

3. The Tourists - My adventure from BurnyLand hit me hard as I rode around the Esplanade on Thursday night (now my least favorite night). Uggg - what ever happened to No Spectators. Piss Clear had a great name for the Esplanade - "Dorksplanade". I got really sad seeing the Touristy side of Burning Man - I dub it Burnyland.

4. Corporate Looking MegaRave camps. - I don't give a specific type of person here as this phenomenon has no soul. While there was some cool stuff coming out of these mega-money set ups, I saw no purpose in those large clubs being at Burning Man - they can make these experiences anywhere at anytime. How they filled the entire Playa with huge unoriginal THUMP,THUMP and gigantic dome light-wash was alienating to say the least. Though the money probably came from drugs rather then Corporate sources, I see no difference in their branding techniques. Don't get me wrong - I love electronic music - Green Moon, the Deep End and Green Gorilla Lounge were awesome. But when you take the underground, the talent and the originality out of the music, it looses it's soul.

-------

I did however have a good experience with some people. The old timers rocked. Thanks to the guy who loaned me his frame drum during a Center Camp drum circle. I had forgotten my drums and was using my tin coffee cup to play along. He handed me his beautiful drum. We got to talking about doing Sweat Lodges and music. He instilled a true sense of community in me.

David Best's camp was pretty cool. It was great to see him coming back from what looked like some hard work to see his entire camp around a huge medieval-type dinner table with food in hand singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". The camp was also right next to a fully built Wood-framed Irish Pub.

Again Earth Tribe rocked. As a village it was nice to be away from the Dance Dome of 06. Vegan food and Yoga was a blessing. There still was music, but not incessant. The Minimal and Ambient music was nicely played from the art car.

All in all I still had a good time; rainbows, Lunar eclipse, early burn drama, awesome art, amazing explosions, great dance catharsis, fun weather, another visit from my Dragonfly totem, good live music, fun drum circles, fun with friends and a refreshing outlook on humanities potential.

I may or may not go next year. If I do go, it will only be to bring along some friends who haven't been yet.

I did learn one important lesson this year: Don't scream at the Burning of the Man with your mouth full of water. I give apologies to my girlfriend's face and the people in front of me. heh heh - Too much fun makes you forget the simple things.

I think I'd be a little sick to my stomach to see American flags strewn about the Playa (like after 911 when flags were lying about the ditches and gutters after they fell off the cars). Though I love social irony and iconic abstraction, on this subject I see it too often every day. Is there ever going to be an political campaign again where the candidate doesn't rip off, dissect and abstract the American flag in some way? That's worse then burning it in my eyes.

So until I can personally make a working American Dream in the Default world for everyone (not just rich executives who give away all our best technology secrets to make a quick buck), I don't think I deserve to have a party under such a theme.

The only reason I was probably going to go next year, was to bring friends who haven't been. Now I'm not sure I will.

For my contribution to the the Man for the 08 theme, I am going to fullfill my own ironic dream - I'M SPENDING THE MONEY TO GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY!!! (just on vacation of course - cause I love this country).

It just occurred to me as I was posting to the Darkwad thread on the Burning Man Tribe. Is it possible that "American" has shown up in the theme as a conscious or subconscious intent to support the Regionals idea? I think I read in Piss Clear (sorry I won't bother to cite here) that the lame themes are a push to support Regionals.

www.pissclear.org/PDFArchiv...t_2007.pdf

Is it a push to start saying that BRC is the AMERICAN regional? Was there a LNT theme once? Did a Belgian piss Larry off last year or something?

I'm super-duper excited to go. It's a waste that they are paying me at work because I am so useless to them - reading the Burning Man Tribe Site, looking at previous year photos and constantly checking the weather reports.

Yesterday I spent too much time making my "Gone to Burning Man" avatar. I perused my past year's photo's and other peoples to make it.

Rocio and I still need to finish/clean up the shade structure. We're a little anxiety ridden from hearing the wind/dust reports from people already on the Playa. I'm concerned about the Bamboo being a bit aged and weakened, so I'm bringing twice as much extra pieces than I need too. This time I've spent a good amount of time De-MOOPing the bamboo. Since it's dryer then it was last year the leaves are a little flakier - I'm cutting and sanding off any loose particles I find. Rocio has been kicking ass on resewing the canvas as last year we didn't really know how to use the sewing machine. We're adding another parachute layer as the canvas got too hot during the day. So we'll roll up the canvas and still have a little privacy. I'm also going to bring way more Rebar then I have to.

I found some literature from an organization called The Environmental Bamboo Foundation. I am going to laminate it and hang it outside of the structure. Bamboo is indeed the solution and best alternative to Rain Forest deforestation. It's too late for me to do, but their website also tells how to treat bamboo so it last more then just a few years:

www.bamboocentral.org/index1.htm

I've been having fun playing with Solar garden lights and figuring out how they work. I'm also making my own blinky lights - I finally figured out how to solder - I still suck (gloopy mess) but at least the wires stay attached. The Solar light are all cheap-ass shit made in China. Their solder points are terrible. I guess I better watch out for the high lead content too :P

I've been trying not to buy things from China, but it's almost impossible. What have American politicians and businessmen done to this county? They sold us out to the lowest bidder. We used to have a highly technologically advanced society - we invented the computer but we essentially just gave the technology away outright. And all because it is apparently to expensive to manufacture here?

Well there is one exception, to buying China. There is a Bamboo fortified Beer that is apparently "good" for you that I've really gotta try:

www.wanfangdata.com.cn/qikan/...105.htm

Funny enough, this year Rocio and I made it a point to try and not do anything. Last year we did SOOO much that we feel we missed out on things. I don't know how we did it last year. With what little we're doing this year I'm still overwhelmed with what needs to be done.

I'm at work trying to reintegrate myself back into society. My "I care" level is really low. Camping on the way home from the burn was a must. The Hot Springs were a perfect unknown gem (Thanks to Ari pointing us in the right direction). Camping in Yosemite was a good slow immersion back into society.

Now I'm back at work, people are wearing clothes and are generally miserable.

BM06 went way too fast. Though we were there for most of the week, it was not enough. Now I need to find a way to fill my life with similar experiences.

F*ck work! Maybe I'll make my own business where I can pretend its Burning Man all the time ... Hmmm... There ARE some ideas I got while there - you'll be seeing them come to fruition very soon - something to do with visuals, the environment, parties and education.

My plans for Burning Man 2006

1. We made a model of a bamboo done that's waaay too complicated. It would require 170 five foot sections of bamboo. Unless I run across a forest of bamboo, and a crew of 20 people; it's not going to happen. (See pictures below)
<---- Click on "Overly Complicated Bamboo" on the left to see details.

2. Rocio and I have finished construction on our shade structure - a simple frequency dome made of bamboo from my yard. It is really big! It's was simple - it required 25 ten foot poles tied together with rope:

We made it from these plans:
www.stevelerner.com/geometry/

I just have to get a covering (I want to find a black parachute and combine it with found fabrics and silver tarp. Perhaps even some space blankets thrown in.

<--- Click on "Sense of Scale" the see a picture.

My friend Michael made a good point however: I should be aware of what noise the material makes due to the wind. Nothing's more annoying than flapping plastic (well, generator noise is more annoying.)

3. I'm hoping to be a part of the Black Rock Philharmonic.

4. We have plans for a theme camp and a combined effort sculpture - a bamboo dome with an abstracted Orrery (planetary machine) inside. We also want to try and get solar power to run the lights and mechanics. The group is splintering, hard to motivate and maybe more trouble than it's worth - too many lofty ideas and power plays that aren't leading to anything foreseeable getting done. I might perhaps just expend my energies on my own projects. But, above and at the end of this paragraph, is a link to the Tribe we created. Who knows, perhaps it might gel into a cohesive positive energy conglomerate. Rocio made the Tribe site: tribes.tribe.net/quantumcamp

< ----- See Initial presentation plans by clicking on "NonLinear Reality Model - Initial ideas".

5. A friend of mine just gave me a great idea. The last tenants in my house left a pretty heavy duty industrial sewing machine made by Juki. It's overkill for what I need. She has a fashion designer friend that could use the machine - I'm going to trade her for a smaller machine and some help with creating the dome covering (parhaps a use for the Juki before it goes away).

6. I'm starting to recruit people to help - regardless if they are going to be camping with us or not.

I'm no longer a virgin. After more then 10 years of not going for various reasons (had to work, no art project, no friends that could go, laziness, money, sick of silly people raving about it, etc.), I finally just said "fuck it" and went.

I can't believe I haven’t gone yet. It is an obvious example of humanities' evolutionary next step. The whole time I was there I had major Deja Vous. I felt that I had ALWAYS been there. Life should be lived like that EVERY day. It just makes sense.

Sure, there's major drugs/partying, some FU'd stupid people, buttloads of techno dance music and general ruckus. More importantly though, there was also phenomenal art everywhere, amazing people and conversations, surreal nature, a gorgeous night sky (I was in space man), and wacky concepts galore.

Every minute I was there I was buzzing with a general creative surge - a need to create something - anything.

Things I did to appease the beckoning call: built the living structure (this year I did a simple tepee out of bamboo), dressed up in fantastical costuming, meditated at the temple (crystal Tibetan singing bowls almost made me levitate), set up video projections and finally finished and then burned a painting that had been haunting me with failed attempts for over 6 years. Even just riding around on my chopper bicycle and trading gifts with other people had a purpose. Life and living became an art form in itself.

My only beef was that there was a small contingency of Frat-boy like attitudes. The weekend brought on some party people with no respect for the environment’s (social and physical). As I left on Tuesday the burn bins were no longer meaningful effigy and artwork burns, but piles of rugs, boxes and beer cans (that weren’t even burned but piled next to the bins – as if someone else has the job to do that for them). I can imagine as the event gets more mainstream that this will only get worse. With this, I just try to remind myself that humanity is generally good and that this goodness will eventually overcome the stupidity (hopeful thinking I know).

My favorite experience: falling in love at the temple - staring into her eyes through a fungal haze and feeling the energy of the universe rushing through our now connected bodies - Intense!

A conclusion that I came home with: Life is nonlinear. Our memory works only half way. As we remember the past, we can also remember the future. My Deja Vous may have been from the past, but it is also me remembering the future. I have never been a BM virgin. I was there millions of years ago, and WILL BE there millions of years in the future. More pictures to come.

"... you can never have equality, because the person you want to be equal with is not standing still and waiting for you to catch up. By the time you get there, he or she will be somewhere else." - Fools Crow from "Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power"