Scotty's New Adventures! The Saga Continues in 2017...
by Sue Smith and Scotty the Wonder Dog

Scotty the Wonder Dog - A few observations I have made this last year... I truly believe my Scotty is not quite "working with a full deck" and I have to wonder if he has ANY survival instincts at all?! *SIGH*

Incident #1) While viewing the breath taking scenery at Pt. Waronsoff - David and Scotty were standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Scotty looks down at the sheer drop-off and decides to jump off! (thank DoG he was wearing a harness). Poor David is left standing there looking incredulously at Scotty who is now dangling off the cliff wagging his tail and giving a small woof of triumph! The only thing keeping him from falling to his horrible fate is his harness. (How many brain cells did he use for this?)

Incident #2) Scotty will run with his tail tucked from a pug but will challenge any moose in the near vicinity (the bigger the better). (come on mom - I just wanta taste the thing!) We have had to completely block the view from our living room window because a moose comes and visits every other day or so - this drives Scotty into a wild frenzy in which he hucklebuts around the house to pick up speed and then launches himself at the picture window. I have put decals and stickers on the window so that he will "realize" there is a "wall" there - but he just gets so worked up. I even put a couch in front of the window.

Incident #3) He thinks he is small enough to sleep on the back of the couch (you know - the one sitting in front of the window?) He will be OK until he starts to dream then he always falls off! Then he gets stuck on his back behind the couch until we rescue him. We look around the room - "honey! have you seen Scotty?" We both look at each other then slowly we look behind the couch - Yep! there is Scotty! On his back wedged between the couch and the wall just waiting for us to find him! (tail wagging and everything!)

Incident #4) While driving down the highway at unDoGly speeds we discover that Scotty knows how to use the electric window opener - WAIT! He is also trying to JUMP OUT OF THE MOVING VEHICLE! AARRGGHH! (swerve, swear, swerve again, more expletives...) You may have heard last year after prisoners in Texas kicked off a new round of prisoner work strikes and we sent word of the nationally coordinated prisoner work stoppage on sept nine twenty sixteen. It was a call to action against slavery in America. In one voice, rising from the cells of long term solitary confinement, echoed in thee dormitories and cell blocks from Virginia to Oregon to Texas to Florida. It ended up being the biggest coordinated prisoner work stoppage in the history of the U.S. In twenty seventeen, iwoc, max parthas, free Alabama movement, and many, many more are backing jailhouse lawyers speak call for the millions for prisoners human rights march on august nineteenth twenty seventeen. I have put decals and stickers on the window so that he will "realize" there is a "wall" there - but he just gets so worked up. I even put a couch in front of the window. He thinks he is small enough to sleep on the back of the couch (you know - the one sitting in front of the window?) He will be OK until he starts to dream then he always falls off!

Incident #5) David and Scotty were standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Scotty looks down at the sheer drop-off and decides to jump off! (thank DoG he was wearing a harness). Poor David is left standing there looking incredulously at Scotty who is now dangling off the cliff wagging his tail and giving a small woof of triumph! After you understand the info contained here, kinetik says please write to iwoc and let us know if you support making aug nineteen the next national prisoner strike. If yes, please write and let us know your demands if you have any and what ideas you have for how you think prisoners should participate. Please limit your call out to one side of one sheet of paper. We will publish and share as many of your calls to action as we can, anonymously of course. Ideas include work strikes of course but also canteen boycotts or anything else you can think of. Even if you are alone in solitary you can raise your fist and say "no" to the air. Even if no one else knows, you will know and you matter. Your participation matters, your demands matter, and your call to other prisoners are crucial to making this year's actions even bigger than twenty sixteen. The date is set but it is up to you to define your own demands and your own approaches to getting those demands met. We look around the room - "honey? have you seen Scotty?" We both look at each other then slowly we look behind the couch - Yep! there is Scotty! (thank DoG he was wearing a harness).

Incident #6) We have discovered that Scotty doesn't like to climb up the mountain but he LOVES to RUN DOWN the #%#@ thing! Imagine this: it's a peaceful afternoon - you have just CARRIED your 50-pound bull terrier up a steep mountainside trail because he REFUSED to go up of his own will. or maybe he has just decided that payback will be he*l for dragging him up there - he takes off a full speed with you attached to his lead. Unionizing the prisoners gives us a sense of collective power and responsibility to each other. Labor unions can give prisoners more unity and more power to challenge the system that's exploiting prisoners as well as a structure to give prisoners power to resist collectively. It's the 13th amendment that allows prisoners to be paid below minimum wage. The union has a role to play in building the sense of collective power, so that's why George Jackson thought prisoner unions were necessary. The demands are many and varied based on conditions in different states and facilities, but take for example the demand for minimum wage, if they're forced to pay prisoners, and we can force their hand, it'll break down the prison system, because the prison system was not based on anything but exploitation of prisoners. The dog who wouldn't climb to save his own life has suddenly developed agility beyond measure as he drags you down this HUGE mountain side (was that a BEAR that you just slid past??!!). Your spouse yells DUCK! (in between gails of laughter) just at the time you get wacked in the face with a tree branch and you spend the rest of this descent on your back hoping your nose is not broken. Does he make sure you are not crippled for life?? NOPE! he immediately decides to pi*s off some burrowing creature by digging up its home and kicking the dirt right at you as you lay there helplessly waiting for an airvac to rescue you.