When Adam and Melly asked me to take charge of the legal aspects of the intended Nokhon Nation Project I figured, sure, Good Ol' Uncle Doug can help the kids out, he's good at complex problem-solving. So I contacted some lawyers I knew and put together a legal team to handle all the paperwork generated by the NNP; property assignments, financial projections, government grants, etc. Much of which is financed by S&F Music, so we were also to administer the intricacies of an amazingly successful rock 'n' roll band; copyrights, salaries, taxes. There is a lot of money flowing through here, it has to be controlled and accounted for, which it is. All of that is under control, the complex stuff is not a problem. It's the simple stuff that's going to get us. Like the full moon. In my present capacity as Director of Legalities, I find myself suddenly personally responsible for an official definition of the ethical code by which the NNP operates. Congress wants to have the FBI infiltrate the Nokhon society before they surrender any more land to the "unwashed savages", saying they don't want giant hairy terrorists running around unchecked. Some religious groups want to send missionaries in to save the souls of those poor ignorant savages. The Media wants to invade their privacy and publish it worldwide. The Lumber Cartel wants us all to die horribly and leave the trees to them. And commercial Capitalism wants to know if they can make a buck off squatches (think they'd like to market shyøma once they found out about it?). I have to keep those people OUT of the new territories or they'll see what's going on and blow the whistle. But the loudest whistles will be those of the moralists when they find out about Nokhon Family Values. Not that we're technically doing anything illegal--it's already been established that native Nokhon culture and laws prevail inside the NNP territories-- but that won't matter when public opinion freaks out. I'm thinking about how lynch mobs tend to ignore legal niceties. So I'm just waiting for the pø to hit the fan. Which it will when the truth about our lifestyle is revealed--100% inevitable as more people become involved. As more "humans" experience shyøma it becomes less secret every day. What goes on every full moon at a kha-rat is enough to cause a dangerous backlash of moral superiority by self-deemed religious & righteous Americans. Eventually the judicial system is going to ask the question: say-- just what IS Nokhon Law? Actually, everything about the Nokhon Nations is a violation of Atli, so we sure ain't going by traditional Nokhon Law. And so far nothing is on paper except for the NNP Charter, which basically presents a simple guideline everybody can agree upon: no stealing, no murdering, etc. And absolutely no mention is made about social behavior; especially sexual. We've made sure not to mention it. When the NNP started a few months ago I ragged Adam about him having sex with Masnia, only because she could conceivably be considered underage by Washington State Law. There's no doubt that the lumber cartels would love to jump on that to cause the NNP legal problems. But then she goes and fucks everyone at the kha-rat anyway, so the problem was not just Adam any more but every male American involved in the Project (including myself, natch ). Maybe even male squatches, even though they are only adhering to their own cultural norm, but who knows how perfidious lawyers can twist everything around? So far the kha-rat is essentially still a secret-- although there have been some few leaks, accidental slips of the tongue --but most rumors have been disregarded as preposterous: orgies, Sasquatch aphrodisiacs, unknown hallucinogenics, magic, telepathy; all have been mentioned in the National Inquisitor, although usually beside an article about recent UFO sightings or the Loch Ness Monster finally revealed again. No serious breach has occurred yet, but there are journalists out to get us. I argued that we should be more careful, keep it all out in the woods, far away from the USA and the jurisdiction of Sheriffs, the FBI, CIA and other such moralistic barbarians. But instead we plan to have a Kha-rat every full moon, right on the Mother Meadow behind Hacienda Forest; it'll become a tradition. And therefore a problem. Don't get me wrong: I loved the kha-rat I went to, wouldn't have missed it. Maybe it's addictive, sex orgies can be fun, you know. But a kha-rat is also spiritual. The whole Nokhon thing IS magical, and just after a kha-rat I really believe in what we're doing and want to share it with all the world. Then I spend the rest of the month worrying about the rest of the world finding out. All they have to do is ask the right question: say, what exactly DOES go on every full moon night in the Nokhon Nation? I know, lots of other groups of people get away with untraditional social and deviant behavior in the name of "religion" or "free sex" or "swingers clubs", but this is not really about morality-- this will be about money, and lots of it.
When Adam announced his Nokhon Nation Project to the world it was well-received: he demonstrated that the mythical Bigfoot people actually did exist (although Adam himself has been proof of that for over 20 years). He presented them as an indigenous "tribe", rather like American Indians, who although living in secrecy, have been here in the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years. Now some of them wished to join our civilization. Adam maintained that they should have the same rights as all Americans, having been born within the continental United States. And that their lands and homes should be protected from the ruthless onslaught of environmental destruction. At exactly that time Adam and his band were very popular--worldwide--and his new squatch friends also became media darlings (especially Masnia), so public opinion was on our side. We established several land grants to protect the natural forests from being completely eradicated. Actually, most of the areas involved were already National Forests, and would remain as such, the only difference being that any Sasquatches living there were now officially acceded the right to be there--which had not been the case before, since no one had even known they were there. It was just that now they could not be driven away from their homes, which should have caused no economic problem for anyone, basically business as usual. However, the lumber industry had always been trying to open most of those areas for cutting and now they were firmly shut out. Many of them had already made plans to harvest all the virgin timber, generously offering to replant new trees-- just as soon as their lobbyists in Washington DC had made the right deal. USA's protected national forests have been whittled away year after year, and the lumber industry sees no reason why they should not get to take them all eventually. So they became our legal opponents in a series of litigations. If you look on Internet (and who doesn't?) you can Google the "Lumber Cartel" and you'll see that (A) it was a "facetious conspiracy theory" and (B) that "There is no Lumber Cartel". Perhaps that was once true, but now there is. Oh, not officially, that would generate problems concerning antitrust legislation. No, officially the NNP is only in a minor legal conflict with Riverside Lumber, a minor family company located in Aberdeen, Washington. Not a cartel. Last year, just before the NNP had come into existence, Riverside Lumber was about to go bankrupt, one of about 20 lumberyards in the area. There had been negotiations to be overtaken by the Holtz Lumber Conglomerate, but the sale fell through. At least, that's their story. However, somehow Riverside now has the capital to wage an expensive legal war against the NNP. The big companies don't want the bad PR of being unsympathetic to the poor Bigfoot refugees, but if a pathetic little family lumberyard wins the case against protecting the forests for the Sasquatches, ALL the Lumber Companies also get to cut all the trees down as fast as they can before any new legislation can stop them. By then there will be no virgin forest remaining and it will hardly matter. Officially, the lumber companies have never had legal access to those forested areas, although there have always been illegal incursions. One of the most notorious incidents in California was while the Redwood forests were being considered for a logging ban and it was discovered that the tallest tree in the world, a Sequoia sempervirens, was standing on the land in question. A gang of lumberjacks sneaked into the area one dark night and cut it down so that it was no longer a justification for protection. That was supposed to have happened in the 70's. Honestly, I don't really know if it's true or not, but I like to use it to make me angry anyway-- because I need to be. For the true situation is that just within the USA ten thousand acres of timberland are cut down per hour, much faster than we can ever grow it back. Americans become scandalized by what's happening along the Amazon-- those ignorant & irresponsible Brazilians are killing the jungle-- but it's also happening here. I won't say that all lumber companies are greedily raping the land with no consideration for any future forestation, but some of them are. Such as the Holtz Conglomerate, who are concerned with today's jobs and profits rather than the devastation of the world we --not just the Nokhontli-- all live in. Every time a rain forest (like much of Washington State) is clear-cut the retention of rain is decreased, the rivers get smaller, the ground is eroded. What's left is perfect for a shopping mall, but not much else. Okay, I'll get off my soap-box now. Better just get back to work. Adam and I are due to attend a hearing in Seattle tomorrow. Humble little Riverside Lumber has a complaint against the NNP for "unfairly interfering with their livelihood". It'll be interesting to see what absurdities Holtz Lumber's team of lawyers has come up with this time.
|