back to the Garden

That Love that can heal us:

Not that whole mess of
sex and jealousy
we mistake for intimacy
I see why you are confused

;


I am starting to conclude
that most of these Democrat
bashers are not trustworthy
people, but rather spreaders
of MAGA propaganda (with or
without their knowledge)

;

All these "differences" we might
not even notice as anything
more than random variations
-- the real affliction is mean,
even vicious, people


;

After the 4-week war
an eternity of untidiness
We bombed Iran;
they took Hormuz
Now the whole world's
a mess


;

deep, even unconscious,
bond, primal family
surround, succor

;


How does one act lovingly?
Gentle, attentive, kind
without affectation
When the feeling is real,
fills desire for connection

;

part of our animal nature:
to cooperate for the good of all

;

There are no perfect people.
For those seeking/expecting
perfection: give it up
there are better goals

;


people seeking meaning
looking for something to
attach to

;


So successful we've become
motivating enterprise by profit
But what motivations have we put
in place to encourage valuing
safety?

;


Sure is easy to rant about
simplistic scapegoat solutions,
assure the masses you are
their friend, while out on the fringes
pumping up anger against those
in charge.  But once in power,
not so easy to make that useful
difference while pummeled on
every side by those wanting to
make themselves a name as
opposition.

;

we don't need no stinkin' AI 

to solve our human problems -- 
they are mere unfeeling, really 
unthinking, machines coded with our 
worst aspects
we need actual humans to stop being 
stupid and make our world work


;


it's not as if they had wands to wave 
and demand our problems fixed
especially in a highly divided country where 
what are problems and how to fix them are 
far from agreed upon
but bit by bit, problems were being solved
now, even more than in his first term, Trump 
and friends are destroying the country and 
the possibility of fixing the problems we 
even all agree about
it does make a nauseating kind of sense 
when we realize the Trump administration 
is not about us, The People, at all, but only about 
what they can take from us

6/1-23/26

not a nation of superheroes

 

How is it that amalgamations of big, strong,
bully men are soooo afraid of teensy, tiny
minorities?

Katie Porter needs more advocates 

out promoting her for CA governor.

She clearly has the best positions, experience, 

and a go out and get it done attitude.

#Californians: #Vote on or before June 2 

for the best candidate:  Katie Porter

don't concede to polls -- 

get out there and promote Katie Porter 

because you know she has the best 

policies, experience and skills

polls change based on changes 

in public perception

Who do we think these politicians are?
What do we expect them to do?
This is not a nation of superheroes.
These are merely flawed people (like
all of us), each with their own
motivations, experiences, beliefs,
abilities.
Could we find people with abilities
and beliefs better suited to our aims:
Then it's up to us to find, promote,
vote them in.  We need to do
democracy.




It's not the product, however
good, bad, indifferent, godawful
It's their hype they have the
skills to sell us

What makes them "symptoms"
rather than behaviors/experiences?

Corporations are NOT people.

Too many people seem to believe
of too many situations that there
is nothing to be done -- nothing
they can do.  Sure, each individual
has limited power.  We can, however,
get together, devise situations, form
a formidable force.
And we each have our power/skills/
knowledge to put in to make,
inspire, suggest




They all say we can be saved
by loving kindness
But, what, exactly, does that 
mean in our every day hearts,
minds, behavior?
How observe in our, yours and
mine, world?

At heart I am a problem solver
Not puzzles or games -- actual
(or fictional) personal/societal
problems.  I feel called to solve.

Are you an enterprise for investment
-- all about accumulating assets,
the agreed on go-between we call
"money"?
In the real world, money is irrelevant,
not a value to be pursued.
What we need to invest in are
friends, skills, community.
No need to be distracted from
our lives by an enmity encouraging
imaginary go-between.

People can be so damned awful
How can we be expected to love them?
Love is not about appreciating
perfection.  Love is about appreciating
the flawed others whose flaws
complement ours

Overwhelmed with humanness?
I don't know how else to put it

If my false memories are to be
believed



co-opting language can be 
co-opted
take back our words instead 
of letting cynical assholes define them
We can do it -- if every time 
we are confronted with disinfo 
we counter it persuasively

astrology is a study of cycles 
which have been observed 
for millennia anchored to cyclical 
movements of celestial 
objects and myths developed 
as metaphors



5/23-31/26

societal bias

 

just been thinking, 
the way to go forward as consumers:
shop all we want at our local 
small businesses
avoid mega-corps, businesses run 
by billionaires (or trillionaires)



our mission, for those who accept it, 
is to go out there and care about 
ourselves and each other enough to take 
our world and make it work for us all



human races was a concept 
promoted by "white" men who desperately 
wanted scientific rationale for enslaving 
"black" people
Humanity is its own race, 
sometimes broken into tribes


it's not an actual special function 
room that Trump is demanding to save him -- 
it's the survival bunker beneath, which 
once he and his chosen are safely inside 
will allow him to nuke the world



how do you find the candidates 
you decide to vote for?
do you passively let your party choose?
do you actively look at who might do, 
talk with others in your position, promote 
folks who seem a good bet?
other?


Desperate people do stupid things,
too overwhelmed to care about
outcomes
acting out in this moment of
raging despair


It's not a polarity
but a system of layered
multi-polarities -- an
expectation of antagonism
tearing us apart


Excessive ambition
generally lauded as a
means to success, is
ultimately poisonous.
If it does lead to success,
it is not a success based on
the pleasures of the project,
but on fulfilling an onerous
demand
If success of the kind the
ambition requires does
not occur, the misery that
creates may overwhelm any
potential pleasure.  Such
ambition overrides personal
relationships, personal
achievements, personal
acceptance and self-regard.
It also has great potential for
doing a variety of harms
against all potentially affected.
Potential for unnecessary pain,
outweighing potential narrow
gain.


I finally get it! (Ok, so I'm slow)
This societal bias toward Values,
statements, assumptions of "The
Right"
The GOP is the party of big
business, those "of means"
They therefore obviously have
all the resources they need to
propagandize successfully.


5/9-21/26

what every US citizen can do

 
Dear Congressperson:

I have voted for you in the past, and am still a member of your district.
If you want me and my friends to vote for you again, please do everything in your power to Impeach President Trump.
We are all quite aware that he is ruining our country in every way he can.
He has destroyed our economy and many of our businesses. He has us entangled in a very stupid war, and has ruined the reputation of the US throughout the world. He has arranged for thugs to terrorize our neighborhoods, our cities, our governments. He has destroyed many vitally important programs and agencies. It does go on and on and on.
We have no idea if the November midterms will even be allowed, or usefully allowed.
Please, as far as I can see only impeachment, conviction, ousting, and sending to the legitimate courts to be tried for his many, disgusting crimes can save us.
Yours sincerely,

https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/article-ii-section-4/

if enough US citizens wrote/emailed/phoned/screamed
outside their office to our congressional reps to IMPEACH
or face voter outrage ending their career, and kept it up, we could regain our #democracy

People together as a force to be reckoned with
Spread the word

https://www.congress.gov/members

If you know of actions bringing people together as a force
to be reckoned with, while the world is up in arms against
Trump for so many reasons,
when the economy is getting ever worse …
then Spread the word for those as well

#uspolitics #democracy

while we still can
https://vote.gov/register

Voter registration deadlines vary by state and territory.
Once you register, you can vote in national, state, and local elections.
CHECK YOU ARE REGISTERED REGULARLY,
THEN EXERCISE YOUR CIVIC DUTY AND ACTUALLY VOTE!

citizensimpeachment.com/

do better

I don't need your approval
I never had it
yet, here I am

Due to our foolish two-party
structured Congress, it is important
to vote in a Democratic majority
in both Houses to take back our
democracy from the oligarchs.
State legislatures also need to be
majority Democratic for state-level
democracy.  We must do our
due diligence to vote for candidates
that actually represent us.  Pay 
attention to who the candidates
are, what they have done.  This
attention is good practice for when
(hopefully) we are again doing
democracy.

Originally, in the pre-US, the
assumption was a republic by and
for the elite lang-owning class.
We evolved into a democracy, of
by and for the people at large,
for as long as the people each do
our part to make it work.

Could the promoting of this
"Nazis on Substack" concern
be created by those Nazis
to take resources from their
opponents (often excellent
journalists using this route to
support themselves), perhaps
take over the platform?

for any point of time and space
it is what it is

Trump and buddies run roughshod
over us because too many don't want
to rock the boat
Yes, we have our brave resisters,
sometimes bold; sometimes amazing
Yet, a lifestyle of protest becomes
untenable, or tragic, not
sustainable -- like our planet

Inexorably  portraying prophecy
Descending
Letting evil men have their way
Ultimately, we've accepted
Just Look!  Such stupidity
Let it all unravel 
What a great way to be free

They always look only to find
differences they can use against
you.  Their opinions are not worth
listening to.
You can do better; you do, every
day, than their self-imposed
limitations could imagine.




what is this common knowledge 
that Democrats suck?  Yes, some do.  
Then, all people do sometimes, 
some much more than others.  
Being a Democrat does not increase 
one's suckage.  It's a disinformation myth.  
It's GOP projection.




I am so completely sick of all 
of this race as color, national origin, 
gender identities, created to keep 
humanity at war with ourselves
Get Over IT, people -- we are all 
people trying to make this world work for us
This has been going on for my whole life, 
and long before.  Do better!




it becomes ever more important to 
protect our children, all of us really, 
by teaching them/us to be aware, 
and to learn the actual facts, 
think critically, don't take anything 
at face value, and in every way 
enhance our humanity




far from being banned from today's 
primary source of information and 
connection, children and everyone else 
need to learn these social skills, to think critically, 
to check multiple sources of different kinds, 
to question, query, look for the logical 
inconsistencies, to be able to act effectively 
in the world we have made

4/18-5/7/26 

that social sphere

 
Why do we choose to punish our 
dependent children for the crimes 
of under-regulated mega businesses 
and our own lack of time/energy/ability?  
Many children, the most vulnerable, find 
their only friends, people like them with 
whom they can find kind belonging, 
on social media.  
You don't want kids exposed to the evils 
and can't reign in  those exposing them, 
give them good places online to participate 
with each other, and, better, good places irl.
(of course, we tend to hate our children,,
and are in thrall to monied interests, celebrities.) 

as so many people remind: We in the US

are already paying for our universal healthcare --

we just aren't getting it

That social sphere where extroverts live

It takes engaged introverts to notice

what extroverts are too enmeshed to see

Those so few introverts who are able to be

heard become responsible for the bulk of

discovery, invention, creation

Sometimes just getting through,

dealing with what becomes unbearable,

day by blessing, unrelenting

Born less than advantaged,

that layer like concrete between

what is/what could be

All of that accreting luggage

above what any of us signed up for

Nobody minds when we finally break down

Who does that inconvenience?

Nobody that matters

Only we who could have used/valued

your wisdom, if we had any inkling

what is it with Republicans abusing children -- 

sexually, physically, economically

is it because it makes them feel powerful? 

Is it because that is what they experienced 

when they were being formed?  

Is it that joining the Republicans and abusing 

children come from the same place?

voting is the fundamental duty of a citizen of a democracy to deny citizen's their vote is Treason The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason... www.annenbergclassroom.org/article-ii-s...

Article II, Section 4 – Annenberg Classroom

The impeachment process begins in the House of Representatives with a vote to impeach. Then the president stands trial for the accusations in the Senate.

www.annenbergclassroom.org

we, humanity, are having a deep problem with loneliness and yet, here we have all these lonely people seeking each other we need to do a better job of connecting, not dismissing

We tell ourselves

better to defend with aggression --

Never take a chance on trust-based

cooperation

We fail to recognize our power,

even as we misuse it

to keep us down

4/12-17/26

MAGA = "Make America Go Away"

 

White Christian Nationalists are well aware from 
their favorite Bible book, Revelations, that before 
the Second Coming and Judgment Day, we need 
the reign of the AntiChrist. 



There appears to be a Democrats as failures
 story that keeps spreading without bothering 
to thank those many Dems who do their jobs 
far above and beyond, some even being 
murdered for doing what was not meant to 
be a dangerous position.  I blame big tech 
disinformation and American bad education

We keep kids in schools for a large
part of their time, so this is their
greatest influence on understanding
the world they live in.  This time is
sold as vital education. Yet, we
get exposed to far too little of what
we ought to know to be successful
citizens, to have meaningful interactions
and actions as part of a successful
society.


It is common for many people to 
spout off about situations they have
little actual knowledge of.
When they express common complaints,
they may be widely respected, repeated,
agreed with.


This is not my overall experience of
how things work, who people are.
Yet, I keep seeing these statements,
complaints, as if of course everyone
knows this.  Seems more like
insidious propaganda than useful
information.


The real enemy is not so much, or
just, the Nazi scum, but all those
normal folks, just living normal lives.


Lives abused, used up, turned dross
in service to regal cruelty


Apparently MAGA truly means:
"Make America Go Away"


Relax, like a bee flitting from
flower to flower, enjoy the ambiance


Just another old person, born and
raised in the USA
who expected a very different today.


If We, The People do not take our
power back, none of this stuff has
any chance of mattering at all.
Let's self-educate to self-rule!


3/30-4/9/26