invasion of america - written on the walls

Annapolis - Jackson, Michigan - Day One

Day two of the march on Washington:

If you can get to DC early enough, and you're in decent shape(all of your limbs are working, you can touch your toes, you can run and your bladder could shame a camel) with very little baggage to carry(just some money, a camera and photo ID) and a sense of direction that even the Gods don't possess(ever been lost in a library?) then you can see everything there is to see in DC in one day. OH, and you'll have to take cabs everywhere or ride a horse.

We took in the outdoor landmarks the night before so today was primarily inside work starting with; The Smithsonian; The Capital building; The Library of Congress; The National Archives; The White House; and other various structures. Yes, it can all be done. But like I said, you have to be in decent shape, with very little baggage and have a good sense of direction. Two out of three ain't gonna cut it here. This is the proverbial mountaintop of Museum viewing. This is the largest information orgy of the mind that one can experience in one place at one time.

I have seen most of the Smithsonian museums on previous visits so I just wanted to focus my efforts on a few key buildings and thus be able to take in more than the average touring bear. I felt very cleaver. So off of my list are the National Art Museum; The Portrait Museum; The Natural History Museum.; And all of the ancillary museums that are tucked into the mall such as the African art museum, the Native american art museum and the Holocaust museum. Why these three groups get their own specialized museums is beyond me. I think it's a racist thing. Where are the Latin and Asian and European art museums? Where is the Chinese Holocaust Museum(lesser known, but more people died)?

The day started with the first "must see" Smithsonian building - Science and Industry - being closed. One might think this a huge set back, but no! I was really only there to gaze upon the typewriters anyway, so it didn't kill me to have to walk away. A brief walk and some foul language directed at the government later, I was at "must see" Smithsonian building number two - Flight. I love flying. Planes, helicopters, rockets - it's all love from me. Helicopters and I go way back to a time when I was younger and nerdier and I used to assemble helicopter models in my room. I must have put together at least twenty of them and they were all hanging from my ceiling during my early years of high school. (this little bit of trivia should never be repeated to anyone). I would still be a model helicopter guy but they jumped up in price and I was always moving in those years and they were constantly breaking, so I just gave it up(I guess they would make a good Daniel Day present... hint).

The flight museum is filled with all of the major flight vehicles of modern times; Glennis, the plane that Chuck Yeager flew to break the sound barrier (with a broken rib). The Spirit of St. Louis, the plane that Nazi lover Charles Lindberg flew across the Atlantic, solo. Apollo 11 that landed man on the moon(or did it??). Mercury 7, which was the first American manned flight into space. Gemini, which took two men into space. Then there are the planes that you know little about but are still pretty cool, I will spare you the nerdy, out of breath, details. They're all really boss though.

The building was filled with interesting pieces of history and all sorts of learning tools. Of course, the longer you're in the building, the more you begin to sense that flight - like all other things that are invented today - has been sullied by the war machine which is the common practice for all great inventions in modern day America. Rockets are for bombs, or spying, or killing... Planes and other assorted dreams, all turned into mechanisms of death (see September 11th, 2001 for more details). I had to leave. I couldn't take any more of my dream being tainted. I headed for the door but before I could get out of the buildin, a small pexiglass box standing in the center of the exit, caught my eye. It was put there to collect money from the general public. The Smithsonian, which gets more money than any other museum in the nation, was in need of more cash. Of course, with the present administration, you're not going to see a lot of humanities get the support they're accustomed to. Especially not ones that stress education, talent, or knowledge. As I see it, Republicans would rather have stupid, trigger-happy, paranoid, television watchers, that are easy to confuse and control (in much the same way a parent treats a small child) than see the people get out, share with neighbors, learn the truth, or learn how to think - and then be hard to lie to when a good lie is called for. Republicans are not good at telling the truth so they need people that know how to accept a good lie on the fly. Do I think the Smithsonian will get some cash? Yup. But only the parts of it that stress military history and patriotism. It's no wonder that the Holocaust and the Indians and the black people get museums of their own - those museums are all about conflicts. America needs its people to understand the justification for it's mishandling of certain "events" (especially if they are all reasons to go to war) If the museum is pro-war, or it celebrates war, then it gets the money it needs. If it's just a painting or a sculpture - it's fucked. You can't kill someone with a painting, and it's hard to make a lot of money off of sculpture, so how could the Republicans support them?

Sorry......

The Library of Congress - There has never... and there will never be a more perfect place on all the planet. Inside the sacred walls of this living ode to humanity is the single largest collection of man's greatest achievements - His writing - and all that they represent; His collected abilities, his languages, his beliefs, his discoveries, his failures, his passions, his evolution, his story. This is the epicenter of man's grand tale. It's a museum where the painting and the sculpture are made of words and all emotions are creates within the visions of your mind. I cried. I can not begin to describe to you the beauty of the building and it's art work, but I will say this - If you do nothing else in your life time, see this place before the Gods of War burn it down and turn it into the museum of American marketing.

The Capital - Two hours of standing in line. Thirty minutes of a walking tour. No orgasm. It was a big let down. Some minor facts to share with you that I found interesting: Every state has a statue inside the building that was given to the capital by that state. The statue has to be marble or bronze and it has to be of someone from your state that best represents you and that is dead. Virginia sent Robert E Lee. Missouri - Benton. Utah - Bringham Young. Florida - Florida sent the man who invented the ice machine.

I was pissed that I didn't get to see either the Senate or the House assembly rooms because that is really all I wanted to see. If there was ever a museum worth visiting it would be the Assembly rooms where the freeze-dried souls of the politicians are on display for everyone to see. Sadly, they kept the tour to a few select rooms and that was it. I walked out without looking around. I have seen a lot of statues and historic paintings and I don't need to see more white people - of the one God - justifying their brutality and rape of America. I bet you that in ten years, Thomas Kincaid will be in here painting a mural about George Bush's greatness.

The National Archives - Right in front of you. Mere inches away from your sticky-acidic little fingers are the Constitution of the United States; The Manga Carta (yes, THE Manga Carta!); The Bill of Rights; The Declaration of Independence, and ten million other articles of note that deal directly with America. Things such as notable speeches, records, notable diary entries, captain's logs, personal journals... You know... All things archival. No flash photos can be taken. The last time I was here you could read Mark Twain's letters. They're gone now. Very symbolically - The Constitution is fading to the point where it's illegible, so if you're a wise boy, you'll see it before it's gone. (hint - hint)

The White House - You can walk all the way around it. You can stare at it. You can ask yourself the same question as everyone else making the one mile walk around it, "If I walk around this seven times and blast my trumpet while I walk, and if I do this for seven days, will it fall?" One can only hope. You can take tours of the White House one "wing" at a time per visit but only if you get here early enough. I wasn't here early enough. Not that I was too disappointed, I look at the White House the same way most people look at the houses where famous serial killers used to live. "THERE!!!! That's where he ate all those little girls! Right in there!" and then you walk on by. That's the White House to me. I'll come back when Rudolph Guliani lives there.

It was a long day of walking for miles, gawking at history and listening to the sirens of DC go off every ten seconds. In DC, everyone of note gets a police escort whenever they travel. The length of your escort determines your seniority on the political totem pole. For instance, the Prez gets a whole bunch of cars, motorcycles, vans, a fire truck, a chef, a butler, a speech writer, a body double, an ambulance and a bomb squad thingy But the lowly Representative from Delaware just gets a tooth pick and fifty cents so he/she can call someone should he/she come under attack. Get it? The only thing missing from the Prez's motorcade was a Lifeguard and a reading instructor.

The damn sirens go off every time someone goes anywhere. Streets get locked off for blocks in every direction and people get shoved around without much concern for their safety. Any non-compliance to the security staff that is locking off the streets and it's off to sunny Cuba for an extended stay. It's bad. When the security car drives by, everything goes back to normal. I don't think that even the lights in the cross walk change for the Delaware rep. He/she has to wait there like everyone else.

The last bit of the tour was Arlington National cemetery, where I like to go and visit my old friend John. I love JFK with the same passion that only James Dean and Elvis freaks can understand. JFK was my boy and I miss him, even though he died 9 years before I was born, he's still my favorite Prez. His grave is massive tribute to his greatness and impact on the world stage. The eternal flame that burns above his head is a more a reminder to future Presidents that THEY can take you out when ever they want to and that THEY never sleep, more than it's a tribute to his eternal memory, but I still like it. His wife and one of his son's is buried with him. John Jr, was buried at sea. Carolyn will most likely opt to be buried next to momma. I doubt that any of the rest of the Kennedy clan ever comes here to visit. Ted has lived in Washington for over 40 years and I bet he's only been here three times. Once for Bobby's funeral. Once for JFK's and then again for Jackie's. If he outlives Carolyn, he might make it an even four trips. I doubt it. I think this place keeps Teddy in line.

I love this grave site and it chokes me up to see it every time. Bobby's is just down the hill from Jack's grave, but his is nothing by comparison. In fact, it's just really sad. Just a simple headstone, a cross and some dead grass. That's what you get for being just a lowly Attorney General.

My last day in the capital and it was quite the tour stop for me. I loved it all. Where New York is filled with boundless energy that makes you want to be something, DC is a vacuum that makes you believe that you could do BETTER than THEY are. It inspires you to be a better person by default. This place makes you want to throw your hat into the ring and really make a diffence - You could be the Senator from Minnesota. You could be the Prez. These politicians that you see all around you, and all these buildings you're touring around in - they are all filled with the history you'll need on how to run a country. So if you don't know something or you need a reminder, you can simply walk down the hill and get a refresher course. THAT's what's great about DC. It makes you want to do better. If not on the world's political stage, at least in your own life.

If only Georgie boy would just walk down the hill and take in one building a week, he would be the smartest man in the world. Just one building a week. That's reall what the Smithsonian is for. And the National botanical garden and the aquarium, and the zoo, and museum of natural history, and the art museum and the portrait gallery and the mint, and the National archive... I'm rambling. But just imagine how smart he would be...

The last thing I did before I left town was to stop in and see the Pentagon. I have a friend that works there and she took me around and showed me the scars that this building bears, the shopping mall that it contains inside, and the tiny courtyard in the center of it. The courtyard, as I see it, is there to remind the people that work at the Pentagon that there lives are not without beauty and that even in the very heart of darkness there is a garden with magnolia trees where you can go to feel whole again. The pentagon, which for years stood as the epicenter for all wars around the globe, is really nothing more than a gawdy office building. It's just a large recruitment center for all five branches of the military. It's just a huge office park. The real epicenter, as many of you might know, is the modest building across the street from the Aerospace museum. It's the odd little building that houses the Department of Energy. It's from there that all of our present wars and laws are created. Don't believe me? Look into it.

Nine hours later I am standing in a field in Shankesville, PA. I am staring at a field that five years ago was the only misfire for the 9/11 attackers. I can't stay long, they're bears here.