Friday, March 15, 2024

Irish Ides

 

George Washington, the First POTUS,

strongly warned against political parties.

Yet, the US government has become

based on a two party system, which forces

that kind of ugly adversary politics that

divides We the People.




 There's got to be a better way

between viciously anti

and fawningly for




Let's just get over ourselves and

admit we all such sometimes.

And yet, we each have our moments

of transcendance when we rise

above our limitations to do what is

right, or kind.




There ought to be (is there?) easily

accessed, well advertised, sites where

data is clearly posted about bad doctors,

bad police, bad businesses engaged in

fraudulant practice, where we can all

be warned.




If they want you to do evil,

they are not in the service of good.




We've always suffered the slings and

arrows of bullies and assholes.

And now they are merrily destroying

the world where we need to live our

simple lives, because that's what they

do, so confident in their self-perceived

normalcy.




3/9-14/24

Friday, March 8, 2024

post-reality world

 



We want to save the world

but we don't know what to do

No world saving rules appear when

Googled.

How do we sooth the savagery

we see everyday

So many wheres

conflicts building layers beyond

simple repair abound

Go to ground?  Hide, or fly to

go higher until we've found

usable clues, enough people who

choose to create better plans, learn

to understand what we can do,

rouse the will and means,

remake our world se we may be

sane and free and able.




I understand

why these so-called Christians

insist "Jews will not replace us"

because they've already replaced

the Jews as worshippers of that

angry and sadistic Old Testament

God -- whom they have replaced

for Jesus.




The point is that

we hate our lives,

so welcome Armageddon




Even if you have decided you won't

vote for Biden, or Trump, that

doesn't mean don't show up.

Leave the POTUS slot blank, or

write-in a person of your choice, but

be there to vote down ballot

Especially if you disagree with he

who does become President, it is

vastly important to elect Congressional

representatives that will more likely

vote as you would prefer.  And then

there are the initiatives and such, and

participating in your democracy.




What is gained by identifying ourselves

and each other within the restrictions

of gender norms?  Why try to find what

is "masculine", "feminine", how do I

measure up, become that ideal?

We are each an individual with our

own idiosyncracities, talents, diabilities,

attractions, desires, ways of being.

Isn't our best life goal to learn, to be

the person we are most happy being?




Creating panic, fear 

tactics for political gain

has caused vast unnecessary pain,

horrible policies, hate crimes, chaos

where once was calm and peaceful

community.

How dislodge such harmful practices,

make political tacts meet some

critieria of sanity?




hey, how about a dual currency/accounting system where they get all the wealth money they want (redeemable in special wealth establishments or not if you just want to hoard); we get the full faith and credit, redeemable everywhere that people buy and sell goods and services 





certainly we should use our power as citizens to protest bad policies, acts by our government officials we want to make sure they know we loathe -- that ought to be business as usual in a democracy


but business as usual also needs to be clearly seeing who we are voting for and against in terms of the world/nation we want to be a part of, and clearly understand that under the rule of a narcissistic authoritarian those citizen acts would no longer be business at all because we would no longer be living in a democracy





get over your isms -- a well working economy is one in which the needs of the populace are met or exceeded, which would generally tend to be a public-private hybrid




We're heading for a post-reality

world

Enjoy the ride ...




2/23-3/6/24

Saturday, February 17, 2024

breathing into the sea

 

The tragedy --

too many wasted lives

on the pyre of ignorant hatred




Do as you feel drawn to

If it feels good, continue

If uncomfortable, explore the reasons




All the escalating trauma

trying to live on an ever more

hostile home world




LBJ famouslyy helped his

country leap forwarddd socially,

yet brought down by an unfortunate

allegiance to a horribly unpopular war.

The Democrats couldn't be

bothered to nominate a candidate

the people wanted.

Such a time of unrest -- Old School

America fell prey to a media

manufactured yearning for law and order.




For the focused and effective,

time gives us perspective,

long term relationships with

those we come to know well,

regrettable experiences we learn from,

and experiences that force us to

confront and better understand ourselves.

Given a strong genetic constitution,

excellent medical care and advice,

strongly supportive family and friends,

well educated, trained, skilled, effective

staff, abundant resources, expert, experienced

advisers, in an age when so much of memory

generally has been relegated to technology,

still the long grown experience which creates

amazing intuition and reflexive wisdom

is certainly an asset.

Not even our savior AI (with no human context)

can encompass the benefits of such experience.

We all make mistakes, take chances that don't 

pan out as we had hoped.

Real leaders accept their humanity,

do what they can to lift us all, with the

humility and reflection that comes from

their connection to our common cause.



2/10-15/24 

Sunday, February 11, 2024

a you thing? a we thing?

 

Americans generally seem to be

ignorant of what our government

actually does or can do.  We seem 

to expect our POTUS to be a god

who commands the laws and policies

we must live by.  We seem to believe

our government is an all powerful

creature that we have no power over,

yet expect our tantrums to persuade,

rather than merely a human made

institution meant to organize our

societies in the ways we, over time,

choose.

I know, this we is not merely you and

me, who may discuss and decide.

This we is much larger and broader,

in needs, beliefs, experiences, world

views.  Thus, this government concept

gets more complex.  Then, I guess,

most of us don't want to bother to

understand -- so we just get mad.




What we need are real communities --

people committed to their common good.




A successful democracy requires extensive

civic education, such that all citizens

understand our rights, responsibilities,

duties and methods to have impact,

make changes.




 A national leader of the nature to do

their best for their nation generally

has a wide variety of people with

different needs, desires, hot button

issues, and so forth.  Remember, the

leader is trying to do what will serve

all of these, along with all the emergent

events that must be addressed.  Thus,

even your best-meaning national leader

will not necessarily do what is best for

you and yours.




2/5-9/24

Saturday, February 3, 2024

This is not a metaphor

 We do what we do

to fill and nourish our time

until it's replete




Trust is not an appropriate term

for what we feel for strangers, 

public figures we know only as

the character they project.

Trust is an intimate relationship

between people who have immediate

evident of who we each are.




Is the real Trump appeal

the misogyny?




We worry about threats to

democracy, to our fought for

and expected rights.

Who is talking about the real 

and underlying threat -- rule by

violent intimidation?




When I was young, I was

suicidal, but I manifested that

desire to die as bravery, standing

up for what I believed.




Perhaps part of the disconnect

between the US coasts and the

intervening states, is that coasts

are where ever new waves of 

immigrants from everywhere enter,

and often settle.




A world on fire

Under fire

Engulfed in molten flame

Burning hot, getting hotter

Is this a place we all desire

to extinguish?

to self-immolate?


This is not a metaphor




People suck-- which is why it

is so easy to manipulate us -- just

give us permission to go wild, be brutal



1/27-2/3/24

Friday, January 26, 2024

si se puede

 

It's not about those lauded

policies

It's about entertainment and

revenge




How about devising systems

for people adversely affected

by businesses or government

groups, to easily report their

issues with verifiable assurance

that these reports are consideredd

an important service of information

for the employees of that system

to figure out appropriate and

effective responses that do

clearly improve these situations.




The trend to concentrate Wealth

and Power leaving very little for

the great bulk of us --

We are so very many, if we could

but find our way to get together,

we could, if we would, make that

real change that trends toward

everyone having our fair share




I can't do it.

People more likely dismiss me

as weird than respect me for

my outsider observations.

I can't convince or persuade 

people to accept citizen

responsibilities, do the work

-- yes, on top of all the brutal

work of daily living --

even knowing it takes so long,

and is never all you wanted,

hoped for.

I can't convince you to give that

monumental effort, to learn and

discover ever more that can be

done, and how.  After all, my failing,

aging mind and muscles are ever

less able to continue what I once

could do --

I am no role model.

I offer this confession of inability

as a plea.

I can't.

Please, do what you can to

give us all a better change.




We love them

because they are them

or it doesn't count




What characteristics do you want

to see in a political candidate you

would be glad to vote for?




These nonconforming people you

fear, treat as enemy, merely see our

world differently.  They are not

seeking violence against you.

Because they see differently they

can sometimes solve problems you

can't, do work you don't understand.

Not competitors, but complementary.

Instead of wasting all that energy and

treasure in hating, defending against those

who offer no harm, use those resources

effectively that we all have more and

better.




I see Biden as a basically decent man,

who wants to do what is best for the US.

Yet, there are so many countervailing

powers, needs and desires, making it

quite difficult to know what will be the

best poliies that can be implemented.

For Trump, it's so much easier.

Without moral compunctions or any

interest in others' benefits, he can merely

impose his own best interests on all of us.




1/23-26/24

Saturday, January 20, 2024

when everything changes

 


As the ever increasing devastation

from Climate Change overwhelms

regular issues due to its greater

impact on social norms, the danger

of allowing a raging megalomaniac

like Trump to  take over the 

American Way far outweighs

problems with Democrats -- any

benefit you hope to gain from a

Trump Presidency will crumble

under the oppression of his actual

reign.




The concept of differing human races

was created so people who made their

wealth by oppressing groups of others

could explain that they had a right to

do so because those people were less

than human due to being of an inferior

-- what do we call it -- race.

You can tell, they look different from

us, when we concentrate our gaze

on seeing them that way.




It is self-defeating to take slurs

personally -- they're not about you.

They are about those so threatened

by you that they feel a need to put

you down.




Those commercials to send money

to aid poor tortured children in

foreign places, do they act as

reminder to pay attention to those

in your own community who are

hungry, homeless, being beaten or

otherwise abused?  What can you

do for them?




All this hype about Trump's

inevitability to regain the

Presidency after confirming the polls

to win the caucus in an (some might

say pathologically) evangelical state

on a super cold night when MAGA

cult pressure brought the most loyal

out to show their neighbors.  And yet,

a healthy percentage of Iowa Republican

Caucus goers on that cold winter work

night, got themselves out to vote

against the designated fuhrer.




1/14-20/24