Lost Decade

Austin Dispatches
 No. 147
 Dec. 16, 2011

e147fig1 For the decennial of the attacks,  others have ably addressed the American power elite’s myriad failings and flawed presumptions since 9/11.1  

My criticisms and predictions then aroused strong response from my readership.  Dad wrote that I sounded “like a typical leftist journalist” – the only man on the planet remotely credible uttering that.2  And that was one of the more intelligent criticisms.3  The subsequent years have only confirmed my original views.

No. 31 was then the most difficult writing I’d ever attempted. I was commuting to San Antonio for a contract and reviewing Network+ certification exam study guides for an Arizona publisher when I returned home.4 The topic has since outpaced my ability to write about it comprehensively, or even to keep up with the literature. As of this issue, I have yet to read some 280 books written about 9/11 and subsequent matters, published since 2002, that I know of.

But consider: On Sep. 12, 2001, would you have imagined that 10 years hence the global war on terror would be administered by a president whom many believe is a crypto-Muslim, and a foreigner at that, constitutionally ineligible for the office?5  Or that an undisputed foreign-born Muslim could appear on network television and advocate an increase in taxes for Americans?6  Dhimmitude comes in several varieties.7

9/11 and its aftermath even adversely impacted my life.  Later in 2001, I lunched with a potential employer who’d taken a quarter-million-dollar hit to his income afterward, and thus couldn’t think seriously of hiring me. The lunch wasn’t even that good. For that alone, Osama bin Laden had to pay.8  

But the real damage happened to my social network. I schmoozed a lot that summer, and three groups whose members I introduced began to feed into each other.  That ended with 9/11, as people withdrew into their shells as part of a misplaced suspicion toward strangers. If anybody should’ve been suspect, it was a) government officials and b) Arab Muslims. Instead, the latter have swarmed into my apartment complex,  and the former rampage without fear. Locally, a Marine recruiter has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl.9  The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is deploying surveillance drones on the population.10 In the Fort Hood massacre, the Arab Muslim was a U.S. government official.11

By far the U.S. government’s grandest success has been cowing the libertarian movement, and particularly the Libertarian Party.12 After 40 years,13  the national leadership is begging for dollars to move out of its rodent-infested headquarters in Washington.14 Anybody following the party the last five years knows it’s infested with rats – and not just at headquarters. Since the Portland convention,  the faction controlling the LP  has been hell-bent on devolving it from a party with stated principles, including a strong pro-peace plank, into a group of hungry placemen looking for office at any opportunity. The fakes  tried to give the impression they’re the most sensible people to represent libertarianism and win electoral victories on its behalf, but soon enough they reveal their real interest is not liberty, but crank nostrums for their own sake – such as advocating structural changes to our voting system and redistricting practices,  in defiance of reality, or proposing a 100 percent tax on your property.15 One ex-activist, Don Wilis, thinks even this gutted, gutless LP is still too radical and left to form the Wyoming Country Party.16 Perversely, the planks he cites in his plaint – immigration, abortion – which are compatible with the worldview of the power elite wrecking America,17 are the ones people like him left in the platform, despite years of opposition from the rank and file and prospective supporters. So much for pragmatism.

Of course, the LP has fumbled the war issue since 9/11, in part because several party activists – you know, the type who can suck the oxygen out of a room – were in fall 2001 and winter 2002 pushing the party to frontally oppose U.S. military ventures supported by an inflamed public. They were right on the issue and wrong on the timing. We slapped them down hard, partly because they’d been asking for it for years, partly because we suspected their real motives were to relive their youths and succumb to knee-jerk anti-American Marxoid bullshit when they should’ve been recruiting new libertarians.18 If they’d been serious, they would’ve gone ahead and done the latter, but our opposition exposed their real motives, so they just sat on their asses and whined until they died. Just as well. The two I’m thinking of immediately were such self-righteous shitheads that permanent war and bloodshed almost seem preferable.

Theirs was a variation on the collapse of antiwar efforts, such as they were, after Obama’s presidential victory.19 In other words, people like me were right and the shitheads were wrong. As usual. Nonpartisan peace activists are only now realizing they have to appeal to Middle America. That’s a start. But these activists have a long way to go. For one thing, they should refrain from referring to regular people as “normals,” even if they can eliminate the sneer from their voices when they say the word, which they probably can’t. My bet is the peace activists will botch their attempt at outreach, because they can’t overcome their condescension toward “normals,” and because peace activists are really into preaching, preening and posturing instead of real results. McGoverniks and other old pinkos trying to forge alliances with the working class back in the ‘70s can tell stories about this.20 Then, once the peaceniks have botched their attempt, they’ll return to blaming Middle America for the perpetual warfare state erected by the power elite on the backs of Middle America. Thus the status quo will remain; nothing will change for the better.

Mo’ Worse Blues

e147fig2 One glimmer amid the global gloom: Tin-pot tyrant Mo' Cadaver ended his reign flushed from a sewer, sodomized, and shot in the head.21 It should've happened at least 40 years ago.22 Actually, the mob thought he was Ralph Nader and wanted to lynch him for that buzzer that goes off when you start the car ignition without clicking your seat belt.23 The biggest regret in all this is that “Saturday Night Live”’s best treatment of this sand pirate, an incongruous commercial parody, remains absent from the World Wide Web.24 How are we at Austin Dispatches supposed to suitably jeer at his death when the pertinent media clip is inaccessible?

That said, the Obama administration committed itself to meddle in Libya, potentially another quagmire, without even the pretense of consulting Congress.25  Building on false but unchallenged precedents dating back to the Korean War, and intensified during the past 10 years, the administration has taken the next step forward for the executive branch to untether itself from constitutional or congressional compliance.26 If we’re to restore our country, we must demand Congress impeach Obama and remove him from office. Think of it as a two-fer.

This Year's Amateurs

The local version of Occupy Wall Street lingers downtown, weeks after they’ve become laughingstocks.27 “What do they think this is, Nineteen Sixty-Eight?” Mom asked. Then zombie counterprotestors ate most of them on Oct. 21.28

Of course, if these protestors are going to talk about Austin being occupied, they might consult Austin Dispatches, which has built upon the work of Anthony Orum, Daryl Janes, David Richards, and Mike Clark-Madison at identifying the real local occupiers: Travis County’s power elite: outside usurpers, backed with federal largesse, who’ve seized Austin and crafted public policies to vex the rest of us since the early ‘70s. Nevertheless, they don’t set fiscal and monetary policies.29

And if Occupy Austin were serious about stopping the collusion between government and finance, its members could’ve proved it to the rest of us by working to defeat the county bond measures – $125 million in IOUs bought and sold on Wall Street – on the Nov. 8 ballot.30  

At first, the Chronicle, whose editorial staff belongs to this elite, sneered at the protestors.31 Anti-establishment antics are fine, until they threaten their power. Then, as the occupation held on, a few Chronicalistas weighed in on the protestors’ side, probably because they remembered they hate the rich (i.e., anyone wealthier than them. Maybe they should ask Louis Black for a raise.)32  All they did was flaunt their economic ignorance.

So if bonds are too hard to comprehend for the protestors, the power elite nevertheless provide plenty for them to protest. They won’t necessarily know it to read the Chronicle, even though it’s a valuable source for this august media outlet. We put the former’s stories in context.

For example, the City Council voted to keep municipal elections in May, with 10 percent voter turnout, instead of moving them to November to coincide with state and federal elections, with 60 to 70 percent turnout. Even the Chronicle’s Michael King wondered:
…[W]hether there is any legitimacy at all the polite but deepening fiction that City Council members – any of them – can be said to represent the whole community when they have all been elected by so few voters.33
Sounds like King needs to start reading Austin Dispatches, too. Otherwise he’d already know the Council doesn’t have any legitimacy.

The same Council approved a resolution to provide smart phone technology to residents who want to report real-time violations of handicap parking spaces. None of the officials cited in the November Community Impact Newspaper appear to have questioned whether such spaces should even exist.34

The Statesman and KVUE-TV report the City has spent $6 million in the past six years on outside lawyers to pay $14.5 million in legal claims against it.35

Developers of a proposed downtown hotel say their project isn’t viable unless the City grants a variance to zoning rules. One wonders how much other business development has been thwarted because zoning exists.36  

Electric Cab of Austin complains to the Business Journal that City regulations are stymieing the business’ attempt to operate low-speed electric vehicles downtown.37 In fairness to the City, every vehicle downtown is low-speed. Similarly, the Statesman’s Ben Wear concludes that changes to the Sixth Street northbound on-ramp to MoPac Expressway are a wash in terms of convenience or safety, especially during the evening rush hour.  Even after hours it’s risky.38

The weekend of Oct. 22-23 saw nine events crammed between downtown and the U district, with predictable consequences. Event organizers say City rules and the bureaucrats who “interpret” them are to blame.39 The City is considering picking up the tab for Friday night and Saturday MetroRail service. Estimated cost: $2.7 million. The mayor says it’s a “ ‘one-time, interim thing’ ” – like anybody believes that.40 Community Impact Newspaper reports more than 1,100 collisions along Burnet Road and North Lamar Boulevard in the past two years.41

The City Resource Recovery Department snubbed a kitchen sink disposal manufacturer’s offer of help toward eliminating food waste going into landfills.42 The City spent $12 million to build a new animal shelter with a no-kill policy, yet resembles the suicide center from “Soylent Green.”43

The company that ranked best cities for technology jobs for Forbes magazine attributes layoffs and overseas outsourcing to Austin dropping into the bottom half of the list.44 Surprisingly, a Statesman story about the shortage of software developers doesn’t turn into call for importing more foreigner laborers.45 Maybe employers are starting to wise up.

A spat between environmentalists and nonwhite activists scuttled $600,000 worth of weatherizing 54 units of the Mount Carmel Village apartments in East Austin. Of course, if everybody involved wanted to be cost-effective, instead of profligate with other people’s money, they could’ve bought the occupants blankets and heaters for a lot less.46  

Instead, they wanted to imitate the Austin Police Department, which just bought battery packs to run video hardware in its squad cars – battery packs the former manager of the garage that services APD vehicles thinks are costlier and trickier than alternative choices.47 After spending $1 million on a new process to diversify the composition of fire crews, the Austin Fire Department has the same number of minority hires – and sometimes even fewer.48  

SXSW just turned into its parents. The organizers are suing a Washington promoter and a rapper for trademark infringement, among other things.49 3rd Coast Music reports that Robert Plant, a limey warbler of some repute, has bought a house in Austin.50

Occupy Austin claims to have withdrawn $430,000 from major-banks branches and transferred the money to credit unions on Nov. 5.51 What they don’t realize is that credit unions have a lot of the same annoying features as banks: inconvenient hours, vague rules, chiseling fees, restrictions on what you can do with your money, and a seeming inability to balance your accounts as well as you unless you march into the office once in a while and complain to the manager.

As for this local crowd, despite all the breast-beating about Austin’s uniqueness and status as a world-class city, the protestors are just the latest example of Austinites behaving like a bunch of provincial hicks aping the latest style from New York City.52  

Let Them Eat Tofu

e147fig3 Overall, Occupy Wall Street advocates what Ishmael Reed identified as “Moocherism”:
Moochers are people who, when they are to blame, say it’s the other fellow’s fault for bringing it up. Moochers don’t return stuff they borrow. Moochers ask you to share when they have nothing to share. Moochers tell other people what to do. Moochers talk so much about “integrity” when in fact they lead scattered, ragged lives. Moochers are predators at the nesting grounds of industry.53
Furthermore, their stereotypes are out of date. To hear the protestors, you’d think J.P. Morgan was peering down his nose at them in Zuccotti Park. – protestor-occupied private property, incidentally.54  In reality, as far back as 1993, “nearly a third of American households had a mutual fund investment of one sort or another.”55

An investor essentially tests his understanding of reality against reality itself. But nobody cries when the investor loses money, in contrast to what some pseudo-lumpenproletarian on the street with 15 facial piercings and $35,000 in debt for a master’s in puppetry expects. Bad enough everyone’s portfolios are being whipsawed by a bunch of Greeks.56  

And let me tell you something about these greasy, half-Turk bastards: The loudest talkers of anarchy in Greece were the bandits, who if successful enough became official tax collectors for the occupying Ottoman Empire.57 Today, their descendents aspire to spend their years in college protesting the government before they get a government job paid for by the rest of Europe.58

Their American counterparts, the occupiers, comprise liberal arts majors who’ve realized they’ve gone into debt for useless degrees without the corresponding jobs they’d come to expect. In short, suckers in a bubble.59  

Such protests during the tech boom seldom occurred because the people who’d be protesting, or at least fulminating about “economic injustice” were getting a piece of the action. Never mind they were doing nothing for golden crumbs from an unsustainable business model, they were getting a piece and that’s what mattered.60 Just as now the same types are getting nothing and shouting “Unfair!” What they really mean is “Gimme!” Their secondary message comes through despite the muddle.61  

As for the occupiers’ main point, protesting the government bailout of financiers, it’s been said earlier and better, usually by libertarians.62  Just not the fake faction kind.

The Social Fretwork

Oct. 29: Near Houston’s southbound Interstate 45/Loop 610 intersection, on the way to visit my friend Chris, I satisfactorily witnessed a fender bender between two oversized pickups because one driver gunned the engine a tad too vigorously in the stop-and-start flow of that stretch of 45. My delight stems from seeing reckless idiots in their predictable choice of vehicle get some of what they deserve, instead of us getting what they deserve.

Nov. 18: Kings of Salsa would be more accurately called Eight of Diamonds of Salsa, since I hadn’t heard of the group until “Melanie Ordones Welker” e-mailed me about the show. We were among 200 attendees at a place that seats about 3,000. “I hope the organizers space everyone out because of the attendance,” she said while waiting outside the venue.

“Since this is Austin, I’m sure there are plenty of people spaced out already,” I said.63

Dec. 2: Pat Martino, a participant on the “Bar Wars” album,64  among other fine recordings, played The Continental Club for his Austin debut.65  

Dec. 10: The co-host of the Sep. 24 private salsa party invited me personally when I encountered him at Dallas Nite Club.  I must’ve made an impression. I was reluctant to attend, because I could do without the reoccurring social awkwardness that happens when Welker’s around. But my choice was either to attend or stay home and write this Webzine, and I spent too many Saturdays nights without social diversion.

The party started slow, so for a long time Welker were sitting in the living room in our jackets, just talking and getting to know each other slightly better. She almost managed to listen to my anecdotes without checking her cell phone. This would’ve been an ideal encounter, back when I was still interested in her.  Also, I noticed she drank steadily throughout the evening, so after three hours she was very friendly to me. That didn’t improve my mood. I’d seen this before with other women. Why can’t they act this way around me when they’re sober?

Media Indigest

Refreshingly circumspect homosexual newsreader Anderson Cooper tried spinach for the first time.66 Cooper’ll take a penis up his ass, face-down in a men’s room stall, but he won’t eat a vegetable that works well with a variety of foods, including pasta, enchiladas, steak pinwheels, and balsamic vinaigrette. It’s the sort of anecdote that proves again to the rest of us that pansies are, well, unbalanced.  

Cultural Canapés

Using the journalistic “rule of three,”67 I’ve discerned this year’s cinematic trend: remakes of ‘70s action movies: “The Mechanic,”68  “Straw Dogs,”69  and “Drive” (precedent: “The Driver”).70 Surprisingly, “Killer Elite” is not a remake of the 1975 Sam Peckinpah actioner.71  Nevertheless, at this rate, every movie ever made will be redone by Hollywood.

And what’s with this Twilight craze? I gather one of the protagonists is a cultured, centuries-old vampire. So why’s he hanging around an American high school? Failed trigonometry? Or trawling for jailbait?72

Beavis and Butt-Head are back.73 The entire run of “Barney Miller” is now available on a DVD box set.74  However, the entire run is also free at a fan site.75 Tony Bennett is the focus of possibly the largest comprehensive CD box set ever: Seventy-four discs of every recording he’s ever made, even though he told Down Beat a few years ago he wasn’t going to do that because of material included under label pressure.76

Neighborhood News

On Oct. 28, I witnessed the aftermath of a smash-up at Stonehollow Drive and Gracy Farms Lane. On Nov. 26, I witnessed the aftermath of a car wreck on the southbound lanes of MoPac Expressway across from The Domain.

Community Impact Newspaper reports a profusion of breweries in Northwest Austin, most of them in the neighborhood.77  The breweries join an optometrist, clothing store, and 500 new apartments at The Domain, and a preschool on Tomanet Trail.78 Also, a software developer is moving its business operations to the Braker Pointe office park.79

On Dec. 3, I attended the Gracywood Neighborhood Association potluck dinner at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church. The food was almost as bland as the conversation. Someone at my table though I’d just graduated from college, instead of just having turned 42, with approximately half my life squandered waiting on or for other people.

It’s a Land Deal, Charlie Brown

The family trust of Charles Schulz is selling some property just south of downtown.80 A technology manufacturer that lacked the discernment to hire me is uncharacteristically doing well, according to the Business Journal.81 A company has created an automated coffee kiosk that allows customers to custom-calibrate the ingredients in a cup of joe.82 The post office mailed a circular touting purchase of stamps by mail. It’s still quicker for me to wait in line to buy them in person.

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NOTES
1 AD No. 138n100 (Jan. 13, 2011); Bergen, Peter L. The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and al-Qaeda. New York City: Free Press, 2011; West, Bing. The Wrong War: Grit, Stragegy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan. New York City: Random House, 2011.
2 Eisler, Mike. “Re: 9-11.” E-mail to Dan Eisler, 9 Dec. 2001.
3 E.g., Vernon, Rosemary. “Austin Dispatches.” E-mail to D. Eisler, 18 Nov. 2011.
4 AD No. 72n13 (Oct. 24, 2004).
5 Corsi, Jerome R. Where’s the Birth Certificate?: The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President. Los Angeles: WND Books, 2011.
6 Zakaria, Fareed. “Complexity Equals Corruption.” Time 31 Oct. 2011: 27.
7 D. Eisler. "Re: Fwd: Dhimmitude -- What does it mean? A MUST READ!!" E-mail to M. Eisler and Rob Eisler, 16 Jan. 2011.
8 AD No. 56n31 (Oct. 1, 2003).
9 Grisales, Claudia. “Marine Recruiter Accused of Sexually Assaulting Teen Girl.” AAS 5 Nov. 2011: B1.
10 Stanton, Robert. “Drones Prompt Privacy Fears.” HC 1 Nov. 2011: 2.
11 Schwartz, Jeremy. “Cleric Could Impact Trial.” AAS 1 Oct. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
12 Doherty, Brian. Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. New York City: PublicAffairs, 2007: 608-612.
13 Benedict, Wes. “LP Monday Message: Libertarian Party Turns 40.” E-mail to D. Eisler et al., 12 Dec. 2011.
14 Hinkle, Mark. “$41,000 Short – Please Help!” E-mail to D. Eisler et al., 9 Dec. 2011; Hinkle. “LP Monday Message: Libertarian Party HQ Must Move.” E-mail to D. Eisler et al., 24 Oct. 2011.
15 AD No. 125 (June 20, 2009); Doherty, op. cit., 56; Holtz, Brian. “Why Tax Land Value?” 9 Feb. 2010. Knowing Humans < http://blog.knowinghumans.net/2010/02/why-tax-land-value.html>; Kelley, Robert. The Transatlantic Persuasion: The Liberal-Democratic Mind in the Age of Gladstone, rev. ed. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1990: 83.
16 “Wyoming: County Party Submits Signatures, Constitution Party to Do the Same.” 9 Dec. 2011 Independent Political Report <http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2011/12/wyoming-country-party-submits-signatures-constitution-party-to-do-the-same/>.
17 AD No. 47 (Feb. 15, 2003); AD No. 135n24 (July 21, 2010); AD No. 141n18 (May 17, 2011).
18 D. Eisler. “Re: New poll for TCLPActive.” E-mail to TCLPActive et al., 13 Apr. 2002; D. Eisler. “Re: WSJ.com - A Far-Right Texan Inspires Antiwar Left.” E-mail to TCLPActive and Angela Keaton, 12 Mar. 2003.
19 Raimondo, Justin. “Peace Out.” The American Conservative 20 Apr. 2009: 20-22.
20 Cowie, Jefferson. Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class. New York City: The New Press, 2010: 68-74, 87-124, 182-184, 189-190.
21 Taki [Taki Theodoracopulos]. “High Life.” The Spectator 5 Nov. 2011: 69.
22 Tyler, Patrick. A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East – From the Cold War to the War on Terror. New York City: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2009: 145.
23 AD No. 119n9 (Dec. 7, 2008); Grayson, Melvin J., and Thomas R. Shepard. The Disaster Lobby: Prophets of Ecological Doom and Other Absurdities. Chicago: Follett Publishing Co., 1973: 190.
24 “The Khaddaffi Look.” Saturday Night Live. NBC-TV. 3 Oct. 1981.
25 AD No. 141n19 (May 17, 2011).
26 Berger, Raoul. Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1974.
27 Chan, Aleksander. “#occupysesamestreet More Than Just a Meme.” DT 19 Oct. 2011: 9-10; Hadjigeorge, Nick. “Occupy Austin Marches in Opposition to Big Banks.” DT 5 Dec. 2011: 1-2; Johnson, Kayla. “Occupying in More Ways Than One.” DT 28 Nov. 2011: 1-2.
28 Harris, Allison. “Zombie Crawl Protests Politics.” DT 24 Oct. 2011: 5.
29 Dunbar, Wells. “Agreeing to Disagree.” AC 7 Oct. 2011: 14.
30 Authers, John. The Fearful Rise of Markets: Gobal Bubbles, Synchronized Meltdowns, and How to Prevent Them in the Future. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: FT Press, 2010: 27; Kanin, Mike. “Travis Bonds: Roadways & Park Ways.” AC 21 Oct. 2011: 16-17; King. “November Props & Bonds.” AC 14 Oct. 2011: 24; Wear, Ben. “Road Bonds Up for Vote.” AAS 24 Oct. 2011, final ed.: A1+; Whittaker, Richard. “Election Results.” AC 11 Nov. 2011: 20.
31 Dunbar, op. cit.
32 King, Michael. “Holiday Hunger.” AC 25 Nov. 2011: 19-20; Martinez, Ramon. “Occupying the Future.” AC 21 Oct. 2011: 18.
33 King. “Unrepresentative Government.” AC 14 Oct. 2011: 17-18.
34 Longoria, Bobby. “Smartphone Application Enlisted to Help Control Local Parking Violations.” CIN Nov. 2011: 9; Doherty. “Unreasonable Accomodation.” Reason Aug./Sep. 1995: 18.
35 Plohetski, Tony, Marty Toohey, and Keli Rabon. “Extra Legal Aid Costs City.” AAS 21 Nov. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
36 AD No. 133n13 (May 4, 2010); Lyon, Cody. “Hullabaloo Over Hotel Continues.” ABJ 4 Nov. 2011: 3+; Corace, Don. Government Pirates: The Assault on Private Property Rights and How We Can Fight It. New York City: Harper, 2008; Wolf, Michael Allan. The Zoning of America: Euclid v. Ambler. Lawrence, Kan.: UP of Kansas, 2008.
37 Garza, Vicky. “Electric Cab Co. Shocked by Rules.” ABJ 14 Oct. 2011: A1+.
38 Wear. “Results Mixed on Lane Changes for MoPac, Entryway.” AAS 3 Oct. 2011: B1.
39 Toohey. “City Rules Are Hurdle for Events, Group Says.” AAS 22 Oct. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
40 Wear. “City Considers Picking Up Tab to Add MetroRail Weekend Runs.” AAS 23 Nov. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
41 Behunek, Sara. “City Transportation Department Seeks to Improve Mobility on North Lamar, Burnet.” CIN Oct. 2011: 11
42 Kanin. “City Chews on Food Scraps.” AC 4 Nov. 2011: 20.
43 AD No. 135n31 (July 21, 2010); Rosenblatt, Josh. “Walking the No-Kill Tightrope.” AC 4 Nov. 2011: 22-25.
44 Strickland, Megan. “Austin Ranks Low as City for Technology Jobs.” DT 23 Nov. 2011: 1-2.
45 Hawkins, Lori, and Kirk Ladendorf. “Help Wanted.” AAS 11 Dec. 2011: A1.
46 Smith, Amy. “Storm Surge.” AC 2 Dec. 2011: 19-20; Toohey. “City Loses Chunk of Stimulus Funds After Plan Is Held Up by Officials.” AAS 9 Dec. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
47 Smith, Jordan. “The Xtreme Solution.” AC 2 Dec. 2011: 30+.
48 George, Patrick. “Little Change in Minority Hiring.” AAS 1 Nov. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
49 Garza. “SXSW Goes to Court to Protect Its Brand.” ABJ 2 Dec. 2011: 3+.
50 “John the Revealator” [John Conquest]. 3CM Nov. 2011: 7.
51 Hadjigeorge. “Occupy Austin Protestors March to Wells Fargo Bank.” DT 7 Nov. 2011: 1-2.
52 D. Eisler. “Steve Adams Didn't Mention the Half of It.” E-mail to TCLPActive, 4 Jul. 2003.
53 Reed, Ishmael. The Last Days of Louisiana Red. New York City: Random House, 1974: 16-18.
54 Cox, Stephen. “The Return of Coxey’s Army.” 16 Oct. 2011 Liberty Unbound < http://www.libertyunbound.com/node/673>.
55 Nocera, Joseph. A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 1994: 403.
56 Cheng, Jonathan, and Steve Russolillo. “Investors Say Boo in Final Session of Strong October.” WSJ 1 Nov. 2011, Eastern ed.: C1-2.
57 Johnson, Paul. The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991: 678-679.
58 Burweila, Aya. “Anarchistan in Athens.” 22 Jan. 2010 Taki’s Magazine < http://takimag.com/article/anarchistan_in_athens/print#axzz1gfduM1Z5>.
59 Ferguson, Andrew. Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 2011: 178-180.
60 Authers, op. cit., Ch. 9-11, 13-14; Cassidy, John. Dot.con: How America Lost Its Mind and Money in the Internet Era, rev. ed. New York City: Harper Perennial, 2003; Gleick, James. What Just Happened: A Chronicle From the Information Frontier. New York City: Pantheon Books, 2002; Gottlieb, Lori, and Jesse Jacobs. Inside the Cult of Kibu and Other Tales of the Millennial Gold Rush. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Publishing, 2002; Sinclair, Carla. Signal to Noise. San Francisco: HarperEdge, 1997; Williams, Greg. Boomtown. New York City: Sewanee Writers' Series/The Overlook Press, 2004; Wolfe, Tom. The Bonfire of the Vanities. New York City: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1987: 237; Wolff, Michael. Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet. New York City: Simon &  Schuster, 1998.
61 King. “One, Two, Many Occupations.” AC 11 Nov. 2011: 15-16.
62 Bagus, Phillip, and David Howden. Deep Freeze: Iceland's Economic Collapse. Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2011; French, Douglas E. Walk Away: The Rise and Fall of the Home-Ownership Myth. Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2010: Ch. 1-3, 5-10; Paul, Ron. End the Fed. New York City:  Grand Central Publishing, 2009: Ch. 9; Randazzo, Anthony. Rebuilding Wall Street: A Review of the White House Proposal for Reforming Financial Services Regulation. Los Angeles: Reason Foundation, 2009; Salerno, Joseph T. Money, Sound and Unsound. Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2010: Ch. 21-22; Sowell, Thomas. The Housing Boom and Bust, rev. ed. New York City: Basic Books, 2010; Tempelman, Jerry H. "Austrian Business Cycle Theory and the Global Financial Crisis: Confessions of a Mainstream Economist." Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics Spring 2010: 1-15; Tucker, Jeffrey. Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo. Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2010: Ch. 13, 37, 62; Woods, Thomas E. Jr. Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2009: Ch. 1-4, 6-7.
63 D. Eisler. Letter to Mary Ruth Kiser, 26 Nov. 2011.
64 AD No. 79n32 (May 22, 2005).
65 Coryell, Julie, and Laura Friedman. Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, the Music, rev. ed. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corp., 2000: 166-171; Hernandez, Raoul. “Soundcheck.” AC 2 Dec. 2011: 76.
66 Rosen, Amy. “Greens Unforseen.” National Post 12 Oct. 2011, national ed.: 15+; Smith, Warren Allen. Gossip From Across the Pond: Articles Published in the United Kingdom’s Gay and Lesbian Humanist, 1996-2005. New York City: chelCpress, 2005: 123.
67 Bragman, Howard, and Michael Levin. Where’s My Fifteen Minutes?: Get Your Company, Your Cause or Yourself the Recognition You Deserve. New York City: Portfolio, 2008: 127.
68 Dargis, Manohla. “Hit Man Is Back, Teaching the Tricks of the Trade.” NYT 28 Jan. 2011: 6.
69 Starr, Robert. ‘Straw Dogs’ Remake Not Original Enough.” DT 16 Sep. 2011: 9.
70 Tobias, Scott. Rev. of Drive. The Onion 15 Sep. 2011, Austin ed.: 20.
71 “Killer Elite.” RS 13 Oct. 2011: 71.
72 Sweeney, Sarah-Grace. “ ‘Twilight’ Saga Insires Local Moms.” DT 18 Nov. 2011: 9-10.
73 Smith, Benjamin. “ ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ Return, Recapture Audience of Original.” DT 10 Nov. 2011: 9-10; Widner, Cindy. “Forever Dumb.” AC 28 Oct. 2011: 45.
74 Brenner, Wayne Alan. “Santa, Baby.” AC 2 Dec. 2011: 53.
75 D. Eisler. “The Multilayered Joke.” E-mail to Bruce Corman et al., 9 Mar. 2011.
76 McDonough, John. “Survival by Song.” DB Oct. 2006: 34-41.
77 Deis, Amy. “NW Austin Sees ‘Explosion’ of Breweries.” CIN Oct. 2011: 1+.
78 Lyon. “Next Phases of Apartments in the Works at The Domain.” ABJ 9 Dec. 2011: 6; “Now Open.” CIN Nov. 2011: 4.
79 Lyon. “Software Firm Bulking Up Austin Office.” ABJ 2 Dec. 2011: 2.
80 Novak, Shonda. “Choice Tract in Austin for Sale.” AAS 12 Nov. 2011: B6.
81 Calnan, Christopher. “Tablet PC Maker Turning Around.” ABJ 18 Nov. 2011: 1+.
82 Cherner, Lindsey. “ ‘Robot’ Kiosk to Personalize Coffee Orders on Campus.” DT 10 Nov. 2011: 10.