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Veggie Stir-Fry

Hi!  I’m checking in after a brutally long and twisted day, that thank god, is almost over.  I triumphantly turned in a ten page paper on marijuana and prisons today, despite the fact that I’ve been tortured for three days straight by lawyers –and Jesus, maybe Hunter was right, they will soon rule the earth. The only hope for survival is to hire a team of them yourself.  It’s insane and terrifyingly simple: either hire them, or be killed by them.  If I weren’t so busy, I’d weep for my innocent days before I knew what a settlement contract was.

             This poor woman who tried and failed to sue the estate has hired a group of lawyers who’ve allowed her to fill up dozens of pages of requests to justify their wages. Becuase she was not owed any money, they’ve filled the pages with hopeful items such as stuffed lamb taxidermies, blow up dolls, alcohol flasks, beads, old bricks, plastic forks, rope, wire… the dusty scavenger hunt goes on for pages. Each item is designed to create several hours of agony — even trying, unsuccessfully, to make me relive those days after Hunter’s death, the worst in my life so far, to satisfy her niggling curiosity as to who sent whom condolence cards and what their addresses are.  It’s utter insanity that has actually been going on for half a year… and all because of a “settlement agreement.”  So, take my advice, NEVER, EVER assume a “settlement” means peace. Watch paperwork like a hawk, but more important, watch people like a hawk. Hunter predicted this would happen, and he was right about so many things, especially about people. 

            So, when I got home, I thought I’d celebrate the fact that I did deliver the essay in the nick of time despite the grief. I ordered Chinese take-out and as always, reached for the fortune cookie first:  “Any day above ground is a good day.”  Yep, the lamest fortune cookie ever.  It was time for some REAL wisdom…. I opened up  “Fear and Loathing in America" to a random page.  It’s from a letter to Selma Shapiro in 1969.

 

I’ve never paid much attention to the Black/Jew/WASP problem; it strikes me as a waste of time and energy.  My prejudice is pretty general, far too broad and sweeping for any racial limitations.  It’s clear to me – and has been since the age of 10 or so – that most people are bastards, thieves and yes – even pigfuckers”

— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in America

The irony of all this is regarding the paper I wrote about marijuana laws and slave labor in prisons. If there were no lawyers, there would be many, many more people in jail.  Lawyers are indeed the last buttress between blue skies and iron bars.  Maybe that’s why it’s so painful to see hundreds of valuable lawyer hours spent negotiating blow up dolls. 
 

Until next time, your friend, eating veggie stir fry,

Anita Thompson

 

 

 

p.s.  A U.S. Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a record 7 million people — or one in every 32 American adults – were in the system (locked up, on probation or on parole). And 2.2 million actually in prison or jail. We now imprison more people for drug law violations than all of Western Europe (I think has double the population of the United States.)

 

 

 

 

 

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