So I finally got an assignment. Lisa e-mailed me and asked me if I wanted to write something unavailable about all this "reform the SGI" stuff that's going around. Seems some clown wrote her a letter about it.

I had to do a little research, but the fridge had plenty of beer in it and I haven't had a date in eight years so I figured "what the hell?" Here goes.

First thing is I check out these web sites. One of them is www.daimoku.com and another one is www.victoriousamerica.com. Holy crap, that's a lot of reading! My first comment is that those people have WAY too much time on their hands.

I checked out the "mission statement" for the first one. That's a bunch called the IRG, which stands for Independent Reassessment Group. They couldn't just say "reform" or something? And, if they're SGI-USA members, like they say, what the hell are they independent from?

Anyway, they make some okay points, I guess, about wanting the org in the USA not to be so damn Japanese. That's not the way they put it, but that's the bottom line, seems to me. I can't argue with that, actually. I'm all for mom and apple pie and the flag and all, and this IS America!

They also talk about all the noise about fighting the "evil Nikken sect," and how it's a crock and we ought to find better things to do with our time. That's not exactly the way they say THAT either, but you get the idea. Works for me. I can see how they'd be pissing off a lot of the SGI-USA muckety mucks, though, since those guys all get a paycheck for doing exactly that.

All in all I think these guys have an okay idea, but here's the problem: No sense of humor. Christ, the way they wrote it you'd think somebody died, or was about to. What's the big deal? Me, I figure there's always something else on TV, if you know what I mean.

Then I checked out these Victorious America guys. Wow! I thought the IRG guys talked too much. These VA people could work for the Encyclopedia Britannica! They're more into a particular beef with the org in New York, where they got tossed from being leaders and such, and there "ain't no justice" in the way it went down. Near as I can tell, it's a legit beef...but damn! They could've said all that in about 500 words, instead of 50,000!

They go on about starting these PRCs, people's committees to watch the leaders and call them on their shit. Not a bad idea, really, but it sounds sort of commie.

They also want to go to war with the Nikken folks and storm Taiseki-ji and reclaim the DaiGohonzon. Me, I don't much care about that. Oh well, to each his own. Remember Billy Crystal in The Princess Bride? "Have fun storming the castle!"

But these VA guys are worse than the IRG on humor. I mean they make the IRG look like Saturday Night Live. They're probably teetotalers.

I checked around some of the other sites, discussion boards and such. Seems a lot of people have too much time on their hands, so I guess there's plenty of audience for all this.

I guess my take on it is that they should fire away if they need to. It's a free country. A lot of what they say isn't bad, but I can't see having any of them as drinking buddies. Probably'd want to argue about all that crap instead of just watching the game, if you follow me.

Well, almost outta brews, so I better make a 7-11 run. Probably said enough. Shoulda done gongyo first, I guess.