Phoenix, Arizona: Saving the world one crime-novel at a time
Somebody out there needs to step up to the plate and save the world from total
destruction -- and do it right now! But almost nobody else seems to
be doing anything about saving our world. Nobody seems to even
notice or care that just the single factor of "war" alone (and the
pollution it causes) is heading us straight towards Doomsday. So if I
want my world to be saved at all, looks like I'm gonna have to do it myself.
And so I went off to a murder-mystery readers' and writers' convention
in Phoenix AZ last week in order to get some ideas. The first question I
asked, of course, was "Who done it?" Giant corporations, weapons
manufacturers and crooked politicians. The usual suspects.
"What?" exclaimed a local Tea Party member. "You're saying that it's not
the homeless, food stamp recipients, undocumented workers and welfare
queens who are destroying the world?" Sorry, no. Just look at your
average homeless person -- cold, hungry, unhealthy and
sleep-deprived. Capable of destroying the world? Hardly. So if I'm
determined to save the world, it's clearly not gonna happen by me
hanging out on skid row!
But I did score some free crime novels at the convention and planned to get some ideas from them. http://www.leftcoastcrime2016.com/
Timothy Hallinan has a new book which is about to be released called "King
Maybe" (I got an advance copy!) and its about an anti-hero burglar who
steals from the rich. Now there's a great idea for saving the world. http://www.timothyhallinan.com/junior.html
Lisa Brackmann also has a new book in the works that's about to be published. "Go-Between" is its name, and the heroine takes on the for-profit prison
system at one point, another great idea. I would love to be able to
save the world one prisoner at a time -- starting by putting as many
corporate CEOs, evil banksters and weapons manufacturers in jail as
humanly possible. Alcatraz, San Quentin, Attica, Sing Sing,
Leavenworth, Rikers Island. Just throw out all the prisoners now in there
for stupid crimes like smoking weed and replace them with corporate
jailbirds. Great idea! http://www.lisabrackmann.com/books/
Phoenix, for some reason, is a very easy city to get lost in because
it's so flat and nondescript. So I walked five miles east instead of
five miles west (or was it north?) and ended up in front of the infamous
Maricopa County Jail. Yep, Sheriff Joe Arpio's bailiwick.
"But we love Sheriff Joe!" cried one Phoenixonite. "There's almost no
recidivism on his watch!" Booyah. Let's send him to Washington so that
he can put our corrupt politicians in pink jump suits instead. Then
let's send him to Wall Street to make corporate CEOs live in prison
tents in the hot desert sun. Works for me.
At one point, Hallinan's anti-hero burglar quotes some guy describing
the USA after World War I. "America is the great unspanked baby of the
world." No one should ever
spank a baby. Ever. But Sheriff Joe is obviously spanking the wrong
crooks. Paraphrasing Hallinan's burglar, "Senators are just crooks with
better healthcare."
PS:
Here's another report I just received from my anonymous friend in
Aleppo, Syria -- this time about the water, power and ceasefire crises
there. His report is entitled, "Yesterday, today (and hopefully tomorrow) in Aleppo, Syria," and can be read at http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2016/03/yesterday-today-and-hopefully-tomorrow.html.