It was a good day (I didn’t even have to use my AK). Things ran rather smoothly on the ride down to Llojeta, and I allowed my mind to wander as I contemplated the important things I tend to contemplate as I am led into contemplation.

By the way, today’s installment goes good with Strange Fruit. (Embedded at the bottom)

I think it was as I passed Sector Maximum Altar Of The Cross C-47B (or something) of the glorious Garden of Death, that my mind shuddered to think about the impending Tuesday and what it could all mean depending on how things go… I’ve been so far from home for so long now that I tend to forget that…well…these things matter.

You see, Smallville beginning a new season down here on The Warner Channel is an exciting thing. I like that show. Despite what many of you may think. Fuck you. It’s a fun show. And I’ve avoided spoilers… And I want to know what happened to Clark and Lex as the Fortress came toppling down and they got buried in the ice. 

What did you think I was talking about?

Oh.

That…

Well… Here’s praying it all swings in our favor – for all the good that will do. For what it’s worth, I remain optimistic.

But I was not allowed to contemplate this for very long because something caught my attention. This is by no means the first time I have trekked down this hideous piece of land. But, for some reason, it was the first time I noticed a little something I would like to share with you (the only one) that is reading. Because I seriously would like to know what you, pray tell, make of this:

Now… That is not a scarecrow. I can tell you that much. And if you want some more info, well, there’s another one of these things a couple of blocks down the road…

This was taken with a shitty camera that is one of the features in an odd Chinese “iPod” (quotes mine) that only my good friend Ram knows how to actually use properly. You can’t see the cardboard sign hanging on its (his?) neck clearly, nor can you make out the crooked red letters that look as if they were written in lipstick by little Danny Torrance.

It says: LADRON

This is the Spanish word for Thief.

Not James Caan, mind you, THIEF.

So, again I ask you: What do you make of this?

…

Here’s What I Think
We’re living in a pretty insane society, ok? There is a part of me that wants to say: I am all for the concept of Social Justice. And I am. I don’t support the death penalty per se, but I understand the thinking that leads to supporting it.

“If some sick bastard raped and killed your daughter, wouldn’t you want that motherfucker dead?”

Of course.

But is it the state’s duty to deal in my vengeance?

I say: If you want to support the death penalty then have some balls. You go in there and stick the needle in yourself and look into that man’s eyes as the lids close and see if it gives you peace to know that whatever pain he caused you has been avenged… And then go home and feel better if that is, indeed, what it will take to grant you peace.

But it won’t and it can’t and that’s why the death penalty is a bullshit idea.

But it’s also why I look at things like what I’ve just shown you and think: Man, how cool is it that I live in a place where I can see a thing like that!

So… I can interpret the message pretty clearly: Steal and we will string you up and crucify you on a telephone pole.

Rape? 10 years. With good behavior.

Murder? Maximum sentence – 30 years.

Steal?

We’ll hang you on a pole high above a highway and put a cardboard sign around your neck that says “Thief.”

Amen.

And then they wonder why people in the Andean neighborhoods get lynched by their fellow Andinos.

Guess you shouldn’t have stolen Mr. Mamani’s car, Cacho…

I love the Bolivian justice system.

By the way, if someone comes at you with a knife and you use a gun to defend yourself? You go to jail. (Unfair advantage in use of weapons)

Makes perfect sense.

Seriously.

Oh… Today’s regimen was pretty much the same. But I was sore from Monday so I was slower than the character Sean Penn played that time he was really aching for an Oscar. That one time.

Feel much better now… Thank you.