conspiracy theory number 11562.6 in an infinite series

One of my pet peeves is the sloppy way iUniverse, who is the publisher of record on three of my books, publishes royalty statements. If you're not a writer, this won't mean much to you, but even if you're not a published author, you still might understand I don't like it when people don't meet self-imposed deadlines.

iUniverse, the POD (Publication On Demand) titan, gives writers a schedule on which we can depend to see what our royalties are for a given month or quarter. That's nice of them.

But, as often as not of late, when I go to check the statements online, the totals aren't posted on or by the date they list...and usually on the next day, the day after the deadline, they change the deadline date published, wait a few more days, then publish the statements, without comments or even a "Ooops!"

Such is life, but it aggravates me, as I like to track these things.

Tag and I had a pleasant discussion at the local Barnes & Noble, included in it is all was the master strategy for world domination through poetry books and reading. Anyone can seize absolute power through force of arms, bloody revolution, extortion, subversion of moral outrage or money. We're doing it the hard way. We're made of sterner stuff.

I heard an interesting conspiracy theory the other day. This fellow I was casually dicussing politics with is convinced that "the powers that be" are on their way to perverting the US into a totalitarian state. Their logic is shaky, but interesting. They point out that the recent governmental/media cooperation on raisng public anxiety on the issues of terrorism and sexual predators is convincing voters to allow the government to clamp down on civil liberties in the name of doing what is good for us. This increases the government's potential control level.

Now, you will argue that the mere fact they have the muscles to flex doesn't mean they'll flex them. Yeah, just like giving the standing President the authority to invade Iraq doesn't mean he'll just go ahead when he feels like it and destroy the US budget and send thousands of our brave young men and women to their deaths so he can sit on the Board of Directors of Exxon when he steps down? There is a class of mind in the world that believes once authority exists, it must be used. These are the kind of people you do not want in power, or even working as a police officer ("You issued me a gun, I presumed that meant I was allowed to shoot a juvenile petty thief in the back when he tried to run...") A Democracy lives in constant threat from these individuals and their alliances with like-minded people.

The pendulum will, in all historical parallel, swing. Another punishing "global warming is a liberal lie" season with New Orleans becoming a soggy national cemetary will break their backs. The defensiveness of the military-industrial conplex over Iraq (and Iran) will add to it. It will be like the 50's, when in one blinding flash on the road to a media Damascus, the American people will wake up, realize they've been flim-flammed, and wreak a bloodless coup at the ballot box.

I don't diagree with him, this friend with the theory. In fact, I find it a not-insane notion. We shall see.

I'm too busy worrying about my own plans for world domination, and if the looks that too-young-for-me woman at work keep giving me means I need to be thinking of retiring the sackcloth...

'bout damn time.