Friday, October 29, 2010

politicking

politics


infinite regression of change and resistance

multi-rhythmed rhyme

singing into the winds of change

to move their vector more in line

with where we wish to arrive



Common Ground

They say them liberal critters
Got their heads up in the clouds
They haven't got a clue to how
to live here on the ground.
They give hand-outs to criminals
Can't tell a foe from friend
They're scared of guns and gumption
so ready to amend.
But there's something we agree on
If we're all on common ground
You help folks if they stumble;
don't kick 'em when they're down.



duelality

Duality, dichotomy, antipathy
All we see is
black and white
wrong and right
day and night
running blind into sharp edges
unneeded bloodshed
See:  the world round, encompassing dimensions



Prologue

Sun and Moon embrace
as one 
for brief eternity
all mystery within

Black and White
create gradation
radiate kinetic energy
We can achieve
believe, begin, begin, begin

Gardeners, planting flowers,
planting food,
planting souls in
nurturing soil

Healers
perceiving wounds
to be sewn
relieving loneliness
revealing pain
held in, denied
twisting ardent toil

Teachers
admiring their wards
finding with them
questions, keys and doors;
realizing history is only destiny
when explorations cease;
invitations from space and time
come complete
with choices

A choir of voices
from softest spark
to fervent blaze
Troops of effervescent players
Symphonies, 
drums at dawn
Inspiration and instruction
carried forth through song and stage
vibrant murals painting onward age to age
Taking up the challenge of the tale
that twists, turns, meanders
providing kaleidoscopic opportunity
ever to begin again



unLocked
 
In the state of nature
Laws are enforced by
necessity, not choice
The Contract plainly reads
"Do what you will --
and see where that gets you."



hatemongers

They take up space in the marketplace 
with nothing but putrefying rotten wares.
Why should we think they have anything to offer us at all? 



Bullies have always tried to demand respect with violence. The real point is to cut off the power of the bullies by refusing to acknowledge them as anything but what they are. What needs to happen is for the bullies to be treated as the fools they are, instead of respected as some kind of power or authority on who deserves bullying. That includes the bullies on the playground, in front of the classroom, in the home, in the work place, in the street, on the battlefield, in the media, everywhere.



The point of the First Amendment to the US Constitution is that we each be heard, all be represented, all get our say.


we at the bottom have always known you can defeat money with imagination



The good old days generally referred to are the post WWII times when we were full of vim and victory and most of Europe along with Japan were in shambles.

Those were days of high taxation on the highest incomes, if you will recall. Also, it was a time when community philanthropy was expected and respected.


Instead of putting all these resources into destruction of war, wouldn't it be easier (and a big boon to the world economy) to say run contests and give big awards to people who organize peaceful businesses in communities at risk?


If big business is really so socially responsible and the best way to get important projects done, why haven't these businesses taken on these projects. There is plenty of work to be done, and plenty of unemployed people to do it.

The thing is, kowtowing to big corp is exactly the wrong way to improve our economy. All those "regulations" businesses complain about keeping them from operating effectively are imposed by big business interests who buy themselves politicians to kill off competition. What we need for a thriving economy is small, local businesses providing for the needs and desires of customers in return for fair compensation, and so on, and so on, all around.

If big business is really the driver of employment, we do not need government involvement. However, do you see the millions of jobs these businesses have provided to bring us into near full employment today? I don't either.


A real stimulus would not cater to entrenched players with bad records. Where are all the innovative 21st century manufacturers? Is the US ready to enter the real world?


I am so tired, exhausted, over and done with these "parties" and their labels. Those old tried and true conservatives that really had important messages about, you know, conserving what is best in our country, keeping a tight reign on common resources, thinking clearly and deeply about what is truly of value, could not even get a fair hearing on Fox or from those rabidly proclaiming their allegiance to ignorance. There is nowhere for a real conservative to go.


Those quietly moving and shaking behind the scenes are the plutocrats pushing an oligarchic agenda. They have the best that modern psychology can offer to pick off those below with lies and fantasies. People become so conditioned, they just move along in line. It is all very sad.


The only thing I can think of to keep from totally going under with the shipwreck to be in Washington, D.C. is to go local, as much as possible, making it more possible every day to spit in the eye of Congress because we're making our world just fine ourselves.

With the national elections skewed by the focus of oligarchic special interests, it is ever more important to make a stand on the local level, where real people meet and work out regulations and services "on the ground". Because the vast easily manipulable electorate is not paying attention to the real issues affecting their immediate lives, those who do can make a real difference where it most immediately counts.

It's a midterm for the federal Congressional elections; but most of us also have State and Local governments, initiatives, referenda. The local level is where individuals can actually make a difference, where the rubber meets the road for immediate services and restrictions. To base the vote solely on the D.C. merry-go-round is to do a disservice to ourselves, to the concept of democracy, and to the communities in which we operate our everyday lives.

Serious about wanting people to vote? Get out there and promote -- offer assistance to get folks to and from the polls, to babysit, to help with whatever circumstance makes staying home seem a better option.

People don't get Obama. On the one hand they don't see beyond his color and liberal supporters and think he is a promoter of a far left agenda. On another hand they don't see beyond their own projections and fault him for bending too far towards the right. In fact, he is and always has been a centrist. He is mainstream America from his hybrid roots to his capitalist vision of the American dream.

Well-regarded alternatives to big medical business are portrayed as quacks, scams, not allowed. This is not about "Obama-care" but has been the mainline paradigm for a very long time here. Why aren't the alternatives people want talked about?

Saturday, October 23, 2010

rebalancing

The line between politics and entertainment recedes
We have entered the 21st Century
 
 
 
Tango
Tangle
Twist and mangle
Whine and Wheedle
Thread the needle
mend the tear
become aware
within a muse's
winsome glare
dance alone or in a pair
or as a party to the fiddle
on the edge, out from the middle
rearrange stage from chair
move in tandem
or keep it random
lines at angle
long past parallel or paradigm
 
 
 
Bullying takes place because bullies get away with it. Bullies will find any identifiable "difference" to designate victims. It helps them that others in the greater cohort will willingly allow such victimizing.
 
Do not close off your thinking to decry gay bashing. Anyone can be bashed for pretty much any trait. It's not our differences that cause the bashing, but the same sad old story of the bully making big waves with loud obnoxious pugilence. The real point is to cut off the power of the bullies by refusing to acknowledge them as anything but what they are.
 
How about a concept: actual supervision. Maybe we can think of ways to reward good behavior. Maybe those who are playing nicely can be given fun new toys or be led in fun games. Bullies would have to reform, play nicely, before they could join in the fun. Otherwise, they could be ignored, except in cases where they need to be isolated.
 
It is not that the schools or any other institution needs to protect their charges from each other. It is the true responsibility of all of us to call out the bullies as the naked emperors that they are.
 

These kids are made miserable by more than bullying. They are made to feel they deserve the bullying, don't deserve defending, or, at best, that though they don't deserve it, they will always be bullied.
 
This is nothing new. Bullies have always tried to demand respect with violence. What needs to happen is for the bullies to be treated as the fools they are, instead of respected as some kind of power or authority on who deserves bullying. That includes the bullies on the playground, in front of the classroom, in the home, in the work place, in the street, on the battlefield, in the media, everywhere.
 
 
 
If police are so ineffective, and the neighborhood is so dangerous, wouldn't the logical step be to get together a neighborhood watch organization? You don't need guns -- just light on the problem and concerned awareness, and a small bit of actual courage to take back our lives.
 
 
 
Love,
amniotic ocean for the fetal dream
feeding on effulgence infused with faith
longing fulfilled
drop by drop
until the wake descends
 
 
 
We tell ourselves stories, display labels, devise descriptions to make it ok to be part of the human construct world. When we leave the construct, we just are. But, why do we leave this superconstruct? Why do we want to be other than interactive cells of humanity?
 
 
 
It seems to me that the essence is that what people need is back-up. Not drugs, not superiors telling them what to do or how to feel; people who are in crisis need to feel there is someone who is listening, really, a safe place where they can be totally real, and real hope that they can figure it out and get to some better understanding of themselves, their goals and needs, and their abilities. But really, people need to know that they matter, that they can learn and do what is needed, and that the stories of their lives are still being written and read.
 
 
 
dark evocation
tension, sensual and sad
branded bold, bad, dense
and pale in waning light
 
 
 
food, water, air, sexual reproduction -- these rightfully ought to be celebrated as our necessity for interaction, for deep meaningful understanding of our environmental connections.  We as individuals can never exist alone.
 
 
 
Anyone who invests human animals with "spirit" denied to everyone else is operating on prejudicial discrimination -- not some higher power.
 
 
 
If Love is universal
why limit it to the living
or possibility of life
Love freely, all that inspires
love, all the companions
and comforters,
all the blessings and brightenings
 
 
 

As you astutely observe, it is not the drug culture, nor the influence of druggy friends that create a downturn. They are in some sense a cure, or at least a palliative, for the sweet comforts of home. On the other hand, check out biographies of the artists who truly move us and even culture. We don't get to sing the blues effectively if we haven't paid the dues.
 
Getting "high" needs no excuse. Easing pain and other aspects of illness that interfere with the activities that are important to us is what is to be expected when possible.
or
No, let's be so in awe of the boogie-boogie of "DRUGS!"* that we joyfully embrace our suffering because it shows our strength in staying away from ... what big pharma doesn't profit on.
 
*Deny
Reasonable
Use
Government
Sanction
 

What are/were those "progressives" thinking? It ought to be a no-brainer that prohibitions are counterproductive, counter-progressive.
 
 
 
I've been thinking about this narrative as essence or pseudo-essence in terms of biosemiotics. Every bit of life a construct evaluating and acting out the narratives implied by collective and continuously collated data.
 
 
 

In deep field dreams
rustic woodfire comfort
blesses autumn morn
 

deadly sweet sister
howls into windy canyon
sad chants ricochet
 
 
 
gracious glorience
calcified webs of sparkle and synapse
Terra forms; delicate balance renders
 
 
 
Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Neo-Pagans, Zoroastrians -- no we can't trust any of them, because people can be a nasty, dishonest lot. It's not their gods; it's their blatant idiocy.
 
If we were indeed an intelligent race (that's homo sap, not some divisive idea about "races"), we would honor and respect each other as a matter of "of course!"
 
 
 
We are not being suffocated by illegal immigrants. Most of them are here because employers are employing them to do tedious or dangerous work for low wages. We are being suffocated by our own frankly insane ways of working out our differences.
 
 
 
Instead of hunting for a job, it might be more productive all around to hunt for a market.
 
 
 
If big business is really the driver of employment, we do not need government involvement. However, do you see the millions of jobs these businesses have provided to bring us into near full employment today? I don't either.
 
 
 
I don't get why anyone would not be able to name the person they want as intermediary when they are too sick to speak for themselves. Often a next of kin might have very different ideas about what is to be done than the person being done to.
 
 
 
Nietzsche believed will is exploration
far beyond the need of expiation
I am and thus breathe in reality
breathe out subjugation
to Lords
 
 
 
Eternities' glow, transform, trip fantastic light
Timeless journeys cycle into life
We breathe, entangle air and Earth
perceive other stars and hearts, wishes
to believe our fates have fire
 
 
 
Life's song can rise and fall in tone
Encode the call we each alone
can hear and dance with
through fear, romance, death,
learning to repair, to own the tune we play
expand and jam throughout each day
maiden to crone
Creating symphony, notated memory
of how we've grown
 
 
 
I wonder about the mindset that makes sense of hoarding resources in the hands of any few elite. Wealth is not money or even precious jewels. Wealth is active commerce thus that resources are used to create better resources.
 
 
 
The thing is, kowtowing to big corp is exactly the wrong way to improve our economy. All those "regulations" businesses complain about keeping them from operating effectively are imposed by big business interests who buy themselves politicians to kill off competition. What we need for a thriving economy is small, local businesses providing for the needs and desires of customers in return for fair compensation, and so on, and so on, all around.
 

Women are subjugated as part of the mindset that favors ownership of the means of production for the benefit of oppressors.
 

I've been thinking about fear and anger. Fear is often to a large extent paralyzing. Anger is energizing.
 

I too prefer to vote for someone I like seeing on tv. However, being of more intellectual persuasion, I like to see them making useful arguments and explaining policy. Probably why I prefer C-SPAN to reality tv.
 
 
 
Serious about wanting people to vote? Get out there and promote -- offer assistance to get folks to and from the polls, to babysit, to help with whatever circumstance makes staying home seem a better option.
 
 
 
Blame the politicians, the parties, the President, the tea and coffee crowds, whatever. I like to blame the education system that doesn't. But, honestly, if the people who are so concerned about progressive issues would get in gear and fire up some imagination and grit, we could overwhelm all the nasty nyah nyah "right wing" trash and swing that American Dream.
 
 
 
so-called Republicans confuse me. They insist on doublespeak such that they're activities totally belie the tenets they traditionally claim to uphold. The party of rah-rah America sells us out quite literally. The party of limited government puts the law into our bedrooms. The party of fiscal responsibility spends on a system of voodoo economics. The party of family values gives no value to family needs. The party of Christian values angrily spits in the face of the mere idea of brotherly love. I think we get the idea -- they are institutionally insane.
 
 
 
Money, much like bureaucracy, effectively acts as a separator of actors. If I can give you money, I don't have to interact with as much as if I had to trade directly.
 
My impression of mainline Republicans is that they don't like to get too close.
 
 
 
It occurs to me that those who are truly "elite" in the sense of having more clearly defined ideas about social good would not, by the nature of the clarity of their ideas, be oppressive to anyone. Rather, it would behoove them to lead by example.
 
 
 
work and love
expression and assimilation
need for food, air, stimulation
ideation, imagination, succor
self-aware cells, each with place
and passion
busily interchanging
at market and field
combine wielding power, growing
beyond boundaries
permeable to trade, elation
creative generation
each lives to give
essence 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Emerging Visions #19 seeks Submissions

upcoming issue of Emerging Visions visionary art 'zine:
 
The theme is to be "Spacing Outward".
 
If you are interested, the link to the Submissions Guidelines is near the top of the "Contributors' Page" --
 
scroll down through the current issue: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
feel free to send this message Outward

Sunday, October 10, 2010

forest lore (for 10/10/10)

Consciousness 
conscious 
self-aware 

simple fare, not denied 
to self-organization 
we call life. 

We come alive in narrative. 

Structured tales 
tether history, 
scientific discovery: 
We saw, surmised, tested, 
told for you to see. 
All of artistry suspends in story, 

society, politics, religion, 
myths of tribes and 
nations; war and tribulations, 
arguments for peace, for justice, 
philosophers' laboratories, 
suggestions, syntheses 
Grey matter cogitates, spins 
memory far beyond 
sense perception, 
evolving interaction within 
an eco-sphere. 

A tree may speak of self 
within its frame 

But feels no need to form 
fantasies of ancient trees, 
explain the lore of forest