Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2002 11:19:12 -0400
To: Randall Packer <secretary@usdept-arttech.net>
From: Abe Golam <golam@usdept-arttech.net>
Subject: Knock Knock Knockin' On Heaven's Door: Why Are We Scared To/Of Death?

US Department of Art & Technology
Office of Political and Economic Insecturity
Abe Golam, Director
golam@usdept-arttech.net
http://www.usdept-arttechn.net

MEMORANDUM
To: Randall M. Packer, Secretary 
From: Abe Golam, Director of the Office of Political and Economic Insecurity
Re: Knock Knock Knockin' On Heaven's Door: Why Are We Scared To/Of Death?

As we know, the President's most important job is to protect himself while appearing to defend the American people. Since September 11, all levels of government have been pointing fingers like never before while our airports become Keystone cop scenarios and our border security remains a farce. We are in the process of producing and stockpiling more medicines to treat the disillusioned masses whose retirement plans have been plundered by the reigning oil-garchy now in power, those stupid white men and women who are still trying to regain their balance after having been knocked over by a ten-ton intelligence failure like none ever experienced in postmodern times. Even as they pretend to be taking steps toward improving information sharing among our intelligence agencies, and suggest in their media-manipulated spin doctoring that we are beginning to deploy more resources and personnel to protect our critical infrastructure, our federal investigators are still working with computer technology manufactured in the dark ages. Our children have access to better technology than our federal intelligence agents.

The changing nature of the threats facing America requires a new government, a new administration, a new way of looking at the world that protects the environment, that celebrates diversity, takes care of the poor, and prioritizes the development of new forms of art using advanced digital technologies that will help us find a cure to the "death-denial" of our present leaders.
Our current administration continuously churns out the propaganda butter while greasing up our virtual asses so that they can mind-fuck us better than Brando does Maria Schneider in Last Tango In Paris. We are asked to keep our eyes out for "invisible enemies" as if we were all Supermen and Superwomen with x-ray vision able to leap collapsing buildings in a single, helpless bound. We are told that these "invisible enemies" can strike with a wide variety of weapons and that America needs a single, unified homeland security structure that will improve protection against today's threats and be flexible enough to help meet the unknown threats of the future.

Whereas it's true that a great tragedy has struck America, and innocent people of all walks of life have unnecessarily lost their lives, our domestic agenda has been hijacked by far right wing ideologues and military-religious zealots who are trying to whittle away at the basic rights of all US citizens as guaranteed by our Constitution. As a result of these ruthless, unpatriotic acts against freedom of speech and the right to dissent, we have no choice but to become politically active ourselves and to demand change in the current administration's personnel make-up.

As part of our next major political action, we should form an exploratory committee to see if it is feasible to declare a candidacy for the Presidency of the United States of America. Under the banner of the Experimental Party whose motto is "Representation Through Virtualization" - we will recruit a candidate whose virtual identity is guaranteed to stir up controversy in the global computer networks, that "non-place" place where the true battle for democracy in America will be fought and won. As part of this exploration, we will attempt to locate The Real Moral Majority, those whose ethics and aesthetics will, without compromise, tell the truth so help them God or whatever other word they use to describe The Supreme Fiction.

We will not appease soccer moms or corporate dads, we will not pretend we have endless amounts of taxpayer money to give back to everyone so that we can essentially buy their votes while making sure their rights as a U.S. citizen die on the vine, and we will not let the super-rich steal continue to steal their hard earned retirement money so that they can buy another Lear jet to fly them out to Monaco where they can secretly buy old paintings previously stolen and hidden by the Nazis and their moneyed co-conspirators.

We WILL ask for sacrifice. We will ask for sacrifice from SUV trust-fund babies and get-rich-quick wannabes whose vaporware dreams of dot.com glory have turned to dust. We will demand the immediate impeachment of Vice-President Richard "Tricky Dick" Cheney. We are naming names, and the first to go has got to be the ex-CEO of Halliburton whose shady business dealings allowed him to pocket tens of millions of dollars while corrupting an already corrupt energy company that is leaving its ex-workers in the dust the same way the oil-garchy fund-raisers at Enron did during the hey-day of cooking books and stealing national elections. Remember, "Tricky Dick" is just one artificial heartbeat away from the Presidency. Once he goes, the rest are sure to follow.

As we know, the one thing Americans, perhaps more than any other nation on the planet, fear - is death itself. Under the protective guise of "Homeland Security", we find ourselves primarily a nation of insecure workers scared to death of our future, of our ability to consume corporate food at any cost, of our right to buy gas guzzling vehicles that double as tanks in case we encounter the next fucked-up mass murderer at the upcoming stop light. What's worse is that that fucked-up mass murderer may be your high school son, your pedophilic priest, your favorite football star, or your local Congressman.
As a nation of laws, we must always remember that our ability to prosecute the real criminals is crucial to our survival. Those who steal elections, rob Peter to pay Paul, deprive citizens of their basic constitutional rights to vocally oppose the egregious war policies of the present administration, are criminally unpatriotic, and need to be dealt with immediately.
For those of our fellow citizens who fear death, we should ask them to remember that death is an advisor. Death is always there, always with you, watching your every move. Death has only one thing to say to you and says it over and over again: live this life to its fullest and find security in your own heart, the way you act toward others, the things you create.