"The Liquor State Regulator of OHIO considers this
image unsuitable as a decent law-abiding label to appear
on a a bottle of fine wine from Bonny Doon Vineyards of
Santa Cruz, California. We have banned it yessir! No rootin'
tootin' sonofabitch gettin' passed us, no sir! We sure
as hell know what's right and what aint. Don't want no
figgin', non believin', wine drinkin', lowlife fink artist
gettin' away wi' profanities of this kind an makin' a
mockery r aur laws and good folk customs. Goddamn limey
bastard too!!"
Reply:
"Thank you for contacting me regarding CARDINAL
ZIN, one of the finest wines known to man. Why, I would
even use it for Holy Communion. It is a sacramental wine
as much as any other. If the blood of Christ is half as
good as it is then I am a believer. It is a wine blessed
by the Gods and created by a master wine maker, Randall
GRAHM, who himself must have been blessed by the good
Lord with the gift of extracting all the rich complexities
from a grape that the good Lord put into them. He is an
artist, and a humorist too I guess.
Just what is it that liquor regulators are there to regulate?
Do they not know that the Catholic Church has claws? That
they are also guilty of gross hypocrisy and blasphemous
misconduct in the name of all that is sacred? They drip
with obscene opulence while two thirds of their followers
worldwide live in poverty, and worse, must provide the
world with as many children as they can manage to swell
the ranks of Catholics everywhere. The religious far right
are at the bottom of this phony self-righteousness and
we haven't seen the last of it yet. Spoilsports never
give up in their quest to deaden the human spirit. To
quote NIETZSCHE: I can only believe in a God who can dance.
Well, cheers to that!
If God is watching he is also laughing at those who peddle
their piety like a blunt weapon. He may also feel sad
that his creation of a thinking man turns out to be such
a miserable experiment. He probably hoped that the miracle
of his work contained within it the seeds of aspiration
of the kind that Darwin had, and many others who spent
their lives challenging the whole Universe, and with humility
too.
Anyway, do ring me on if you would like to talk about
this deeply philosophical subject.
Kind regards
Ralph STEADMAN
I have just recalled the two NIETZSCHE sayings which
are part and parcel of all we are trying to say in our
various ways.
1. We possess ART lest we perish from the TRUTH.
2. It is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence
and the world are permanently justified.
Shoulda' remembered those. They lie at the heart of all
I hold sacred.
OK. Just thought I would give you all the ammunition
you may require.
Kick Ass
RALPH
