20/20 Gonzo 88: Think Tank Thoughts

Think of what a think tank does, research and advocacy.  These require completely different skills.  Research, that scientific research, the kind that has no hope, no emotion, only data.  Along with hunches and guts, these researchers should be relentless, they should work long hours, they should attend data translation conventions, they should learn the art of the question.  Every dime store think tank wanna be chump or chumpette has brilliant answers, but only the select few have brilliant questions.

Then advocacy, that art of all think tank arts.  Persuasion and the need for excitement, intrigue, and creativity.  Boil down all the thinking to the nut.  Actually, three nuts.  Persuasion is always best in threes, set it up and summarize, it's virtually impossible to numerate too much.  A common problem with think tanks is the researchers want to be advocates and the advocates want to be researchers.

 

Understanding this phenomenon can give a think tank a thinking chance, but it's rare.  Singers want to act and actors want to sing, dogs want to purr and cats want to growl, thinking gets lost and tanks go dry.  Usually, these think tank thoughts reflect shallow conformity and predetermined conclusions.  Water logged minds, soggy and full of dull confusion.  Useless, thoughtless beggars, thinking of how to make payroll.

Texico Music Night: Chili War

C/GGFC/FFCF/GGFC--x2.

Nobody talks about the Chili War.

They don't bring it up anymore.

But it had to be fought, had to be won.

For future of country, and future of fun.

Started out innocently enough.

International contest to end the fuss.

Finals came down to the final two.

A Texican gal and American dude.

Judges were chefs from around the globe.

From 16 bowls they decided gold.

Took a night of rest before the final round.

Before the final judging went down.

Russian liked his made with ribeye meat.

Fat cooked off with perfect heat.

Chucks of tomatoes stewing real nice.

Simmered on low with ideal spice.

French judge, she was a chili expert.

Early on all were put on alert.

Perfect taste is what she would need.

All came down to the cumin seed.

Judge from Peru was a mystery.

The one that could change all history.

Took a gulp of water after every taste.

Never let anybody see their face.

Next morning they all went into a room.

Chili War was gonna be decided soon.

Then all three judges started in.

Gonna finally put this war to an end.

Carried live on all the TV stations.

Streamed to the corners of every nation.

Gold went to the Texican gal.

Because beans in chili just ain't allowed.

Let's all, let's all, agree to agree.

If it's beans you want, if it beans you need.

Don't be reckless, don't be silly.

Eat beans with beans, eat chili with chili.

While we're at it let's discuss the sides.

Those extra ingredients that turned the tide.

Fresh chopped onions and crisp cilantro.

A big spoonful of Texico.

2020 Gonzo 87: Our Fine National Bird

 

Organizations are at stake, full of payrolls and self-sustaining procedures, steered by visions and guidelines, complete with missions and objectives.  Wrap all that in saran, keep it air tight, don't let the sunlight ruin utopia.  Save it for another day, put it on dark ice for the winter, the freezer won't burn.  With bloodshot eyes and mealy mouths, organizations fabricate, manipulate, and stipulate.  Rules to protect the organization, rules to eliminate disagreement, rules to eliminate the rule of reality, rules to insure ruling.

Institutions are cracked.  They were cracked from the beginning, but the Liberty Bell rang out anyway.  From Philadelphia, the most impressive bird of all birds, the regal, the stoic, the famous bald eagle.  Their talons grip ten times tighter than human hands, they dig those claws deep, prey is rarely lost, our fine national bird.  They thrive above the noise, in soaring peace, in natural silence, with speed and sight.

These shouting robbers, these cowardly goons, these runts of the litter.  Get off your horse and fight, let's see what you got, let's see if the shouting works, slamdance with some slogans, mosh in the shame pit, request surrender formally, come and take it.  Wake me when it's over, here's where it gets boring.  Uncomfortable conversations are the only kind worth having, but many people never listen, they are hiding, they are proclaiming, they are accusing, they are insecure.  Dumbed down and dim.

20/20 Gonzo 86: Unexplained Diddly Doo Sound

 

These cliches are impressive, an avalanche of empty suitism to the Nth degree.  Women, men, and all the others.  Spitting out phrases like they contagious, like they outrageous, turn the, churn the, burn the pages.  All day, all night.  Unity is for the defeated, and there's no surrendering here.

That thing, like an unexplained diddly doo sound seasoning the music perfectly.  Or an injected marinade making it all tender and delicious.  If it's cooked right.  Low and slow with liquid smoke, in a turkey sized cooking bag, simmering in juice.  Don't fuck up the bird.

The greasers are back, soaked in ivy, filled with shit, without ideas, without answers, flat out stuck up.  One of them insulted my wristbands, called me a white man, mocked my readers, and implied I was a lunatic.  The nerve!  I walked away, of course, turned the other cheek, there is nothing to gain by acting on unpleasant emotions.  Time is involved, and time should not be wasted.

20/20 Gonzo 85: More Nitwit Than Wit

 

The snide have no humor, assuming too much, more nitwit than wit.  Get another take, report from a low perch, let the blanks fill themselves in, let time click, paint by letters.  Throw to the wind your caution, it will do you no good.  Hypocrisy doesn't care, bribery doesn't care, grease doesn't care, they count on your caution.

The pressure's off, we can start living again.  These lazy fools, either cleaned or dumb, for there is no need to clean the dumb, they are already dumb.  The courts will court it up, everyone gets paid, the future can figure it all out.  The objective of government is to keep itself going, to exist in the end.  To not eat itself.

And the inspirational stories of survival are all around.  Expert sources estimate that 2 to 3 billion humans have stared down the dreaded, and deadly, Rona virus and lived to tell the story.  There is thankfulness, miracles of immune systems, actions of medical professionals, drugs.  There is grace.  But kindness can be mistaken for weakness, and grace is strong.

Texico Music Night: The Fall Of Fall

EmEmD.G.

The fall of fall.

When a cold wind blows.

Trees lost their leaves.

And the bars all closed.

The dark of dark.

We were warned way back.

The straw man say.

In spring we'll build back.

The dope of dopes.

Super idiot.

Calm it all down.

Come on get with it.

The rust of rust.

When the mind won't click.

When wires burn.

When you're mad and sick.

And dust to dust.

Like the ashes too.

Come for awhile.

Then we gotta cruise.

The fall of fall.

When the season turns cold.

Dark comes early.

And winter gets old.

20/20 Gonzo 84: Give Up Mutes

 

These legends are unknown, the names are meaningless, teams are nothing more than a roster.  The records are tainted, the bond is gone.  Interested observers are uninterested now, other pursuits of observation, other past times, other obsessions.  They sure could play.  Quick on the feet, living on the lines, grinding, gritting.

The silenced have surrendered, those give up mutes.  Shamed into denial of truth, two plus two equals five, you see.  Listen here, you see, addition is a travesty, subtraction is best, multiplication is dangerous, and division is righteous.  This is the new math, you see, division and subtraction, division and subtraction, division and subtraction.  Think it, don't say it, you see.

Freedom requires the loss of a little privacy.  When this finally occurred to me, two birds flew by.  Academic fraud.  The campus community will be shrinking soon, but they still got to make payroll, still got to clean brains, still got to research with researchers.  Tap into the massive offshore endowments, whatever it takes.