It's getting strange out there. After going to school (Berkeley City College), to enroll (Which I did! Just need twenty bucks now and I can be a student once more, and receive my financial aid in just three short weeks?!), I head for my spot, in front of John's Ice Cream. After a couple minutes someone points out the BBB are cordoning off the bus stop area on the southwest corner of Kittridge and Shattuck (next to the Berkeley Public Library). They have "caution" tape up, all over the Public Space.
Then, a couple of them stage a farcical inspection of the garbage can next to where I'm sitting. What is funny (and sad) about all of this is, this is how it begins. It starts as a simple "clean-up" venture, and it slowly turns into something far more insidious than anyone would first believe.
The reason people never see the Evil coming is because the Evil is good at hiding. It is good at disguising itself as something else, i.e. "A Wolf in sheep's clothing."
Also, and this is important to note, too: this organization ('Block By Block') is being supported ('sponsored') by conservative entities (such as 'SMS Holdings.'). Make no mistake, this is also a political move by conservatives in this country. Berkeley is a "Liberal Stronghold," and conservatives would love nothing more than to get their heels dug-in to a-town-like Berkeley, California, which has not yet relinquished its' Liberties, as of yet. But I do hear the wolves howling, just off in the distance....
Berkeley, California has become the modern-day Alamo.
Check out the front page. On one of the possible links you can access, it reads, "Our Cities."
Whose Cities???
http://blockbyblock.com/...
What if I don't want their brand of "help"? Am I not allowed to forge my own path? Who are these people to tell me anything? I'm a writer... leave me the hell alone. And, my artist friends, too... leave them alone, too. What I want to know is: are the BBB trained to handle artists as opposed to someone else they believe has a "substance abuse problem"?
Update on the "outreach program": Apparently, through information obtained by one of my sources, they have discontinued that program. At least here in Berkeley. Not that we (Artists) want their brand of help anyway. But I think it is important to note that they have suspended it ('community "outreach"') because it shows they have no desire in "helping" anyone, anymore. Only to "get rid of," apparently.
http://blockbyblock.com/...
And, here is the real culprit behind the BBB:
http://smsholdings.com/
What is sad is, the rest of the nation has capitulated to this Neon-Yellow Menace because they are fearful and do not want to see the result of their Criminal Enterprise Government, because they would have to do something (tangible) about it. They would actually have to do something other than just say, "Damn, that sucks, what are we doing for dinner hon?"
We are at "critical mass," everyone. Right now, it's not at your (most of America's) doorstep, yet, but you're next. Once they "clean up" the streets of the people you are tired of seeing, they will come for you next. Maybe not Block By Block, but an extension of that sort of arm will reach out and most certainly grab you, and it will probably come under the guise of "for your own good."
I am not the "boy who cried wolf," although "wolf" is appropriate in this piece. I am not a "Panicking Nancy." I am not screaming the "sky is falling!" for my own gratification. I am screaming it because it actually is falling. Actually, it fell a few weeks back when our wonderful Commander and Chief signed that bill stating that we (United States Citizens) can be detained, without due process, for an indeterminate amount of time, of their choosing.
That sound like the America you grew up in? Not me. I don't know what this is. Oh yeah, I do: Fascism.
It's obvious. I just didn't think the small businesses would turn this way. I didn't think they would start pushing around the poor because those above them are pushing them around, but I should have. Human behavior is anything if it's predictable.
So, I decided to violate the "internet black out" today, because I feel the situation out here (in Berkeley) is getting worse and worse, and had to get it out. So, my bad. I wanted to be part of it, though. But I've done mine in the past, and have a heavy caseload for the future (unless someone wants me 'shut up'), so... this is necessary. This (for me), may as well be the first salvo for the Federal Government to peruse... I am not afraid. If I were (fearful), that would mean I am no longer in the country I believed to be growing up. But that feeling, that... dark, creeping feeling is just at my back, and I am not giving in to the Fear and Fascism (formerly 'Loathing'). And we all have to stand up to it, too. To use the Government's own vernacular, "Stay Vigilant." Keep your eyes open for something that doesn't look quite right, even if it looks "official."
Especially if it looks official!
And tell others. The best way to expose Fascism or any other "ism" is to shed light on it, so stay alert and stand strong. They (BBB) do not have any authority over you, and if they persist in trying to engage with you even after you have told them to go away, you can have the police come and have them removed from the area. That would be "harassment." So, unless you are violating some sort of law (or petty ordinance most likely), don't engage with them. If you're breaking some law, let the police handle it. That's what they get paid to do. The Block By Block people do not have that power. They are here to "clean up" the city.
Just because I'm paranoid does not mean they are not out to get me (and everyone else who opposes 'them').
Too bad they used to terminology of: "We're going to 'get rid' of 'them,'" ('Block By Block') and, "We're going to be 'coming down hard' on the 'homeless,'" (Berkeley PD) otherwise, they may have just gotten away with it.
"There are spies everywhere."
-Hunter S. Thompson